The legend continues! AFter having been assigned to the DB loco shed at Darmstadt in the 1950s, the last of eightteen tank engines of Class 65 (DB, not the much more numerous Class 65.10 of the DR) spent a brief spell at the Deutsches Dampflokmuseum after being decommissioned in 1977 before the Rotterdam based SSN bought 65 018 in 1981. Since the SSN has no tracks of her own, deploymend of 65 018 on main line rides always was a bit of a problem due to the rather limited water supply she could carry with her. Mostle deployed on rather short hops or shuttle trains Gouda<=>Rotterdam during the SSN's Open days, she was a natural guest to the VSM during their Terug naar Toen Festival for years. When SN had to decide to shrink their fleet (mainly due to the thread of redevelopment of their area), transferri8ng 65 018 to the VSM was an obvious choice -much to the delight of VSM and many a steam train fan, since the VSM's tracks between Dieren and Apeldoorn are a natural habitat for 65 018 -the only member of het Class that remains. Here 65 018 runs round at Apeldoorn after having hauled one of the annual steam trains on 4 September 2022.

Leonardus Schrijvers 29.09.2022, 209 Calls, 0 Comments