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Second train to celebrate ‘The Berliner’

Initially, Train of Events planned the operation of the train – a cold war icon that linked Berlin with West Germany that ran through hostile communist territory – as a one day only special, but demand for seats has filled a train form May 12, 2012, with an additional train on the following day, Sunday 13th May, also half-filled.
     The British Military Train was born in the wreckage of defeated and broken Germany, and spent its life on the front line of the Cold War. It was operated in a unique and highly politicised partnership between British Army railway operators and the two state railways of the divided Germany.
     There had been nothing like it before, and it is unthinkable that we will ever see the like of it again. It ran without fuss, with a very British understatement of the political minefield surrounding it.
     Over the weekend of May 11-13, 2012, the recreation of this remarkable train will acknowledge and celebrate the calm professionalism of railway people, civilian and military, British and German, who did the job, day in day out, without triggering a Third World War.  
     Hauling the train formed of 1960s carriages, including a dining car, from Berlin to Hannover and back, will be former Deutsche Reichsbahn ‘Pacific’ No. 03.1010, with a former DR Class 119 diesel, affectionately known as ‘U-boats’ as standby.
     Proceeds from events on board the train will go to Royal British Legion in Berlin. The dining car will serve a typical Royal Corps of Transport menu and wine list.
     During the journey there will be a break at the old border station at Helmstedt for a visit to the border museum.
     Full details of the special are on website www.trainofevents.co.uk or contact Railbookers on 0203 327 0760.

• Train of Events is a group of retired and semi-retired railwaymen who first came together in 1999 and ran the now-legendary ‘Train for Life’ that took vital humanitarian aid from the UK to war-torn Kosovo.