We in the 298th Army Band were told quite emphatically when we went out to the Zone on the duty train (usually the Frankfurt train, but on occasion the Bremerhaven train too) NOT to use the rest room when the train was stopped.
Somehow, I knew several bandsmen who would get a case of the turkey trots just as the train waltzed into the Soviet checkpoint at Dreilinden. And of course, the contents simply had to be excised down on the tracks just so the Soviets could get a waft of good ol’ American cooking after the fact.
In supporting the 11th ACR in the Fulda and Bad Hersfeld area (something we did quite a bit in the mid-80s), we would take the Frankfurt train but get off the train in Giessen at about 0400. Then we’d climb onto Army buses and head out to Bad Hersfeld or Fulda. The train did not halt very long, so we had to get off the train quickly, get our instruments out of the baggage car, and wrestle all that stuff down the track, into the tunnel, and up on the other side.
Sometimes, guys wouldn’t wake up when the train stopped and rather than simply hurry, they had to get frantic in getting off that train….
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