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Hi, I am Sig (junge1),
I was born in Dominikus- Krankenhaus in Berlin-Hermsdorf, Bezirk Reinickendorf in December 1939. Bezirk Reinickendorf was one of 20 Bezirke that made up Gross-Berlin before World War II and one of 12 Bezirke that made up former West-Berlin, the other 8 Bezirke were Russian occupied and became East-Berlin after the war. Moved from Berlin to Neurohlau (Nova Role) Sudetenland (now Czech Republic), in August 1943 (our entire block of apartment buildings was bombed out in November 1943) and returned back to Berlin in November 1945. Saw my dad the first time in my life in August/September 1946 after he returned from POW camp. Attended elementary school in Berlin-Waidmannslust, high school in Berlin-Hermsdorf, and trade school in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Was an apprentice for the trade of Klischeeaetzer (photo engraver) at Burrath & Schmidt on Friedrichstrasse between U-Bahnhof Kochstrasse (near to what later became Checkpoint Charlie) and Hallisches Tor.
While watching Allied planes supplying West-Berlin by air during the Berliner Luftbruecke in 1948-49 I developed my love for aircraft. I guess I could be considered a 'Berliner Grosschnauze", or at least I used to be.
'Wanderlust' led me to leave Berlin in summer 1960 to emigrate to Toronto, Canada and in February 1962 to move from Canada to New York City, NY, USA. In January 1963 I joined the United States Air Force, one step ahead of Uncle Sam drafting me. Became a United States citizen within 7 weeks after it became a security issue because of my military career. One day after I was sworn in as a citizen in Seattle, my entire unit left for Southeast Asia in June 1966. After nearly 5 years of active duty (extended 11 months to make it an 18 months overseas deployment) I got discharged and moved to New York City. In 1973 I moved to Phoenix, Arizona and two years later joined the Arizona Air National Guard.
Received my higher education at Arizona State University and the University of Georgia and worked for 22 years for the Arizona Department of Water Resources in various capacities. Upon military retirement in 1999 and State retirement in 2005 I looked at a number of things to keep me occupied. Traveling and joining 'renderosity' in September 2007 were a couple of them,
Sig..
Comments (35)
MagikUnicorn
Wonderful rapidtrain Love it Big project here to come...Montreal to NewYork TGV
Richardphotos
must of been an experience of a life time.excellent capture Sig
bazza
Wow this looks great being a train buff I love this.. Travelling at that speed would be amazing pity their so fare away lol...
lior
Superb!
shadownet
Nice
dbrv6
Hard to imagine traveling on a train at that speed.
Faemike55
I would love to travel on either if not both trains then go to Japan to ride theirs.... but then there's something to be said about traveling by Amtrak!
dragonmuse
Sounds fascinating. They look fast just sitting still.
bebert
EXCELLENT POV !
jocko500
wow that fast. i know you like to fly too so this is the best there is to flying on the ground
renecyberdoc
must be a hell of afeeling though sitting in a formula 1 how about the g/ pressure??
MrsLubner
They look so futuristic...but then, I guess they are. Great capture.
junge1
On the ICE and TGV there was no pressure when passing a train going in the opposite direction. On the EUROSTAR there was. What I thought about when going nearly 200mph (both the TGV and ICE are capable of going faster- on they do on certain segments) what if one train derails and they hit each other with almost 400mph? I don't think there would be much left!
kgb224
Superb capture my friend.
auntietk
Wonderful image of these trains! I can imagine you there, taking note of everything. Excellent image!
blinkings
Oh wow they sure do look faaaaaaaaaast!
farmerC
Fantastic shot.
flavia49
excellent picture!!
Minda
beautiful picture very nice shot sig..
ysvry
great foto. Do you have fotos of american highspeed trains too?
debbielove
Yeah....I did mention this to young Bill ..its a shame the U.S. has no beasts like these... They roar along at vast speeds! He told me that there was no big set up for passengers in the U.S. Freight ...yes! And I saw lots.. Never ever saw a passenger train in all the almost three weeks I was there! A service like this would go well... Cool shot again.. Rob
flora-crassella
interesting shot!
sandra46
great capture
psyoshida
Great shot! Sounds like terrific fun. Shame the US lags in civilized mass transportation. Bring one back. Lol.
lyron
Great capture!!
vkoontz
Here in the States we have Amtrak's Acela which is an electric(motor)train that runs the Washington DC to Boston corridor. This is the legacy from Pennsylvania's GG-1 and Amtrak's General Electric E-60 "rectifier". While not as fast as the ICE the latter could also haul freight. Had to delete earlier post as R doesn't allow double posting on the same subject.
Alex_Antonov
Outstanding work!
lucindawind
those are amazing looking trains ...I wish we had them here ...wonderful shot
Buffalo1
Very cool RR station shot. They look fast! I couldn't help to think about Claude Monet's painting of the old Saint Lazare station with steam chuggers belching smoke!
junge1
If we had trains like these here in the US and train schedules like they have in Europe I doubt that I would fly again.