Plandampf (German for ''schedule steam'') means the hauling of regular trains by

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s, often in conjunction with

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

of the same era. The idea came into being in (West) Germany in the late 1980s, after the

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

had abandoned the use of steam engines in 1977, and effectively had them banned from their rails with the :de:Dampflokverbot, applied also for ''Sonderzug'' chartered trains. The intention was to portray DB as a modern, fast and clean enterprise aiming for electrification, rather than the slow and dirty choo-choo-train of old. Thus, privately operated small lines were not affected. With the 150th anniversary of German Railways coming up in 1985, the steam engines were partially readmitted. In the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(East Germany), which had to rely more on coal and lignite, steam was phased out by

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

in 1988, shortly before unification in 1990. At the beginning, only the additional costs for the steam service were to be borne by the operator. The background was that there were still many operable steam locomotives on the territory of the former GDR, the infrastructure (e.g. sheds, water cranes, coal handling systems, sanding systems) was still in place on many lines, and the usually low maximum speed permitted the use of steam locomotives. Scheduled steam events are becoming increasingly rare because the necessary infrastructure for steam operation is being lost in the course of modernization of routes. The planned steam at the beginning of the 1990s in East Germany was still relatively common. After modernization, train speeds increased, and the timetable was designed accordingly, so steam locomotives could not meet the speed requirements. Another factor was stricter safety requirements, such as automatic closing of doors. Most planned steam events involve passenger trains but there are also a few freight workings. In southern Germany, the

Bavarian Railway Museum The Bavarian Railway Museum (''Bayerisches Eisenbahnmuseum'' or BEM) is a railway museum based in the old locomotive sheds at Nördlingen station in Bavaria, Germany. It is home to more than 100 original railway vehicles and has been locate ...

(BEM) established itself as a scheduled steam operator from 2016. It has its own railway line, and has a stock of sufficiently large locomotives ( BR 01, BR 44, BR 50, S 3/6 and BR52), its own route and customers with suitable freight volumes.Plandampf im Ries 2019

References

{{reflist Preserved steam locomotives of Germany Heritage railways in Germany