Afternoon, everyone…

As you will see, I did not just leave it at merely thinking about hitting the rails with my camera! (Yes, both it and the rails are still in one piece, just to preempt any possible punning… ) I but will admit that the "Plattenbau" housing blocks suggested by the title will not be the single dominant topic, actually.

I first rode out to the sizeable reversing loop at Paunsdorf-Nord in the east of Leipzig. The loop itself, set such that it connects both to Line 8 and to the shared section of Lines 3E and 7, is fairly nondescript really, but does, theoretically, allow for running in circles endlessly! See for yourselves:

Arriving on a Line 7 turn, 1349 "Windorf" and 1334 "Engelsdorf" are seen here across the fairly large empty ground in the middle of the loop, running along Heiterblickallee which bisects one of the larger "Plattenbau" housing areas in Leipzig.

Prior to certain software updates, Leoliner pairs could be formed only of two 1st batch or two 2nd batch cars – the latter most easily recognised by the coloured destination displays – but while that restriction lo longer applies as such, mixed pairs should normally be formed with the 2nd batch car at the head. I'll have to investigate whether there is any technical reason for this or whether it might just be due to LVB wanting the cars with coloured destination displays to be in front!

As the outer section of the tram route to Taucha is largely single-tracked and allows for a minimum interval of 20 minutes only, every second Line 3 turn – signed as Line 3E for disambiguation – turns south at Portitzer Allee to terminate at the Sommerfeld loop near the "Paunsdorf-Center" shopping mall. Here, 1332 "Leutzsch" is on one of these Sommerfeld turns.

After that, I rode Line 8 from its eastern end at Paunsdorf-Nord to its western terminus at Grünau-Nord, again in the middle of Plattenbauten. This loop is not that well suited for photography due to the mound in its centre, but 1144 "Erich Kästner" did not evade my camera anyway!

Off Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz at the southern edge of the city centre, I then captured 1104 "Clara Schumann" on a Line 10 turn…

…and 1207 "Stuttgart" turning left into Grünewaldstraße on Line 16 against the backdrop of the massive edifice called "Ring-Café" – actually a post-war building on Roßplatz which was completed in 1956. The namesake café with 800 seats in four separate areas was the GDR's largest café at the time.

A bit down Grünewaldstraße, 1135 "Theodor Körner" is on a Line 9 turn for Markkleeberg.

Looking roughly west along Windmühlenstraße, 1226 "Bremen" on Line 16…

…and 1154 "August Bebel" on Line 2 for Naunhofer Sraße are seen with the New City Hall – built 1899 till 1905 – forming the background. The New City Hall was built on the site of the Pleißenburg castle and explicitly designed with a prominent tower to evoke the appearance of Pleißenburg's keep.

And with a typical GDR era housing block off Windmühlenstraße in the background, 1221 "Brno" on Line 16 crosses the Bayrischer Platz intersection…

…while 1117 "Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz" on Line 9 turns right into Arthur-Hoffmann-Straße.