Thousands of enthusiasts from across Europe flocked to the historic German plant at Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works in central Germany to see steam-hauled trains from across Germany. Founded in 1914, ...

The talk at breakfast was of pistons and gauges and running boards. We spoke of leaf springs and brake shoes. And then we moved on to bogies. Anyone who knows about steam trains knows about bogies.

I was wasting my breath. Hitherto I might have been thought suave and sophisticated but now I had been revealed in all my geekish glory. I am someone who lurks on station platforms, eating fishpaste ...