kindle530:
I always thought the sign itself was bigger than that, i dont know why as i was a regular passing it every week.
Well, that’s a bit like Wagon Wheels and Curlie Wurlies, everything seemed bigger when you were younger. 
Haha!!! Very true H.
I’m going to post this photo again, but this time with some tags. I did post it before, a couple of years ago on TruckNet, but it didn’t show up when I searched for it when I read this post. It is a piece of history for many continental truck drivers, maybe one day it might be restored.
Hopefully with some tags it will now show up in searches when I am pushing up the daisies and for ever after.
[/quote]
TAGS- Elzer Berg, Elzer Berg sign, Hessen, Cat’s Back, Cat’s Back sign, Germany, Runaway, Cat, Trucks, A3, Diez, Limburg.
Harry Monk:
I did post it before, a couple of years ago on TruckNet
You certainly did: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=45959&p=523828&hilit=cat%27s+back#p523828
When I saw it, I knew I’d seen that picture on here before, so went armed with a torch into the deep, dark Trucknet archive et voila!
Harry Monk:
kindle530:
I always thought the sign itself was bigger than that, i dont know why as i was a regular passing it every week.Well, that’s a bit like Wagon Wheels and Curlie Wurlies, everything seemed bigger when you were younger.
Curlie Wurlies were a lot bigger when I was a kid… so was a Ford D series.
Jeff…
Harry Monk:
…Well, that’s a bit like Wagon Wheels and Curlie Wurlies, everything seemed bigger when you were younger.
One exception there Harry…■■■■■!! 
Must be something in the water nowadays!! 
And in more breaking news, the permanent truck overtaking ban on the northbound (uphill) carriageway has now been removed.
Traffic flow, with speed restrictions and possible truck overtaking bans, will now be controlled by the new overhead gantries as and when necessary.
So, big up to the Hessen massive from all of us who like to crack on and not get stuck behind the modern version of “F Troop” on this erstwhile tedious hill.
Now, if they would only do the same on the A7 south of Kassel, I would personally volunteer to have their babies…
I went northbound up the cats back about 1988. first trip up there, caught a load of trucks up and thought whats going on here.
Thought they were crawling behind some Roumo so I went past the lot all the way to the top, numerous horns were sounding, mainly in jealousy
Got flashed in by a brit at the top and slipped in. learnt a lesson though. 
I found a high-definition image of the cat’s back sign on a German forum.
The person who posted the photo linked this thread, so it’s only fair that I link to their thread…
reccymech:
I went northbound up the cats back about 1988. first trip up there, caught a load of trucks up and thought whats going on here.
Thought they were crawling behind some Roumo so I went past the lot all the way to the top, numerous horns were sounding, mainly in jealousy
Got flashed in by a brit at the top and slipped in. learnt a lesson though.
A typical Reccymech then 
One of those daft little memories that spring to mind with this type of thread: I remember once double-manning a Scania 143:450 and tilt down the Cat’s Back. It was in the '90s and the regular driver watched as I eased up to drop a few gears and make use of the exhauster. As I got down to the left-hand top of the H-pattern and started to make my final change down, he commented that I might find low-range a little on the low side. Then I changed down to 6th in high range (which, if you remember on the Scania 10-speed box was a dog-leg shift opposite reverse). He couldn’t understand what I’d done. ‘How many gears has this lorry got?’ I asked. ‘Eight forward and one reverse,’ he replied. In the silence that followed, I weighed up whether to keep quiet as it wasn’t my lorry, or to gently break the news to him that he had two more gears to play with than he thought! Sigh. Robert
The elsa burg cost me 110 dm in 1980
Klunk
Yeah you got it Simon,
Take everything that come’s your way, do it your way in your own time then take any consequence’s after.
Oh yeah, long arms as well.
Long arms? I think you mean short arms and deep pockets lad
My job was to bend 'em. So you could come along, haul it out of wherever I’d put it, n take it to one of your mates to mend 'em 
If I recall this was between Munich towards Ulm on the A8.Two lane road,which was very unmotorway like,around mountains.Pain in the arse with polizei vans and cars around every corner.
Oldies courtesy of Seamus Cullen_0070 by Niall Daniels, on Flickr
IMG_0084 by Niall Daniels, on Flickr
IMG_0083 by Niall Daniels, on Flickr
whiplash:
If I recall this was between Munich towards Ulm on the A8.Two lane road,which was very unmotorway like,around mountains.Pain in the arse with polizei vans and cars around every corner.
Could the first one be The Dragons Back, not far from Ulm towards Stuttgart?
The motorway splits, Ulm bound on one side of the mountain, Stuttgart bound on the other.
It’s the Dragons Back because there’s a village there called Drakenstein (Dragonstone).
I’ve seen that second sign. I’ve got no idea where, or how long ago I saw it, but it was in the last half a dozen years or so.
Here you go, guys. Information overload: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drackensteiner_Hang
The 1st and 3rd pics posted by whiplash are on the Stuttgart bound carriageway at the top of the hill.
The 2nd pic is an information shield for the “Urweltmuseum Hauff” in Holzmaden. This is on the Ulm bound carriageway just before the Aichelberg exit.
The A8 rises in 2 sections up onto the top of the "Schwäbische Alb" between Stuttgart and Ulm:
The Aichelberg section was renewed in the early 90s with a new 6 lane section of motorway and a new tunnel.
The Drackensteiner Hang is a more ambitious project involving 2 tunnels and 2 viaducts and is due to be completed as a 6 lane highway in 2025
Inselaffe:
The Aichelberg section was renewed in the early 90s with a new 6 lane section of motorway and a new tunnel.
Still no overtaking for trucks all the way up that bloomin’ climb from Kirchberg though 
Inselaffe:
Here you go, guys. Information overload: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drackensteiner_HangThe 1st and 3rd pics posted by whiplash are on the Stuttgart bound carriageway at the top of the hill.
The 2nd pic is an information shield for the “Urweltmuseum Hauff” in Holzmaden. This is on the Ulm bound carriageway just before the Aichelberg exit.
The A8 rises in 2 sections up onto the top of the "Schwäbische Alb" between Stuttgart and Ulm:
The Aichelberg section was renewed in the early 90s with a new 6 lane section of motorway and a new tunnel.
The Drackensteiner Hang is a more ambitious project involving 2 tunnels and 2 viaducts and is due to be completed as a 6 lane highway in 2025
Good research! Robert