Contributors
Origin of EGTRE
EGTRE has its origins in a publication entitled 'Passenger Trains Over unusual Lines in Belgium 1979-80' by Nigel Eacock and the late Angus McDougall. This was greatly expanded to become 'The Branch Line Society Travellers' Guide to the Low Countries 1981-1982', by the same authors.
Further expansion took place, with Angus McDougall taking sole charge and using a small group of fellow enthusiasts for consultation and proof reading. The title changed to "Enthusiasts Guide to Western Europe" for a 1986 edition and a 1988 second edition. The 1993 third edition was entitled "Railway Enthusiasts Guide to Western Europe" but had already started to cover more easterly countries including the reunified Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The first ‘electronic’ incarnation was in 1997, hosted on Paul Steane's own web site and initially based on the text from the most recent version of the "Enthusiasts Guide". This guide was continuously updated with information from other contributors, including coverage of more countries.
The limitations of a site written in HTML and maintained by only one person became more evident as the site grew, so in late 2010 it was transferred to a MediaWiki-based site as a trial exercise. Following the success of the trial, the present MediaWiki-based site went live in mid 2011.
Contributors
In addition to the two originators, the following (in alphabetical order) have contributed to this site since its inception:
- Martin Baumann (Derry/Londonderry)
- Greg Beecroft (Skelmorlie, Ayrshire)
- Werner Bischoff (Germany)
- Geoff Blyth (Billericay)
- David Broster (Bavaria)
- Michel Dupuis (Paris)
- Hellmut van der Flier (Amersfoort)
- Dieter Galles (Neu Esting)
- Paul Griffin (Warwickshire)
- Norman Griffiths (Neu Isenburg)
- Peter Handley (Hertfordshire)
- John Hansen (Luxembourg)
- † John Harrup (Southend on Sea)
- Jörg Hänsel (Dresden)
- Stuart Hicks (Reading)
- N.J. Hill (Sheffield)
- Robert Holliday (Basingstoke)
- Fehér Holló (Vancouver)
- Ian Hutton (Ilford)
- Ralf Kaufmann (Aschaffenburg)
- Martin Kopetschke (Leipzig)
- Matteo Latella (Albissola Marina)
- Peter Lehnhart (Wien)
- Henning Makholm (Denmark)
- Lennart Malmsten (Stockholm)
- Richard Maund (Crewe)
- Ian Mortimer (Stockport)
- Nelson Oliveira (Caldas da Rainha)
- Björn Perneborn (Falköping, Sweden)
- Jon Piesing (Brussels)
- Hans-Jürgen Schulz (Weimar)
- Iain Scotchman (Shenfield)
- Paul Steane (Altrincham)
- Ken Strong (Hornchurch)
- Chris Totty (Jersey)
- Tibor Varga (Budapest)
- Marcel Versteeg (Netherlands)
- Mark Waller (Cambridge)
- Götz Walther (Berlin)
- Theijs van Weilj (Netherlands)
- Reinhard Wohlfarter (Wien)
- Peter Zondag (Netherlands)
Many thanks to these and others who have helped with information.
Please visit Contacts for details of how to contribute any comments on or updates to the Guide.