When the Kolarczyks set off on a trip to the Highlands three years ago, they had no idea of the devastation events of the day would cause.
In August 2012, Gerhard Kolarczyk, then aged 87, had hopes of taking one last fishing trip near Rannoch, to relive the days he had spent with his uncle as a child.
With age getting the better of him, it was becoming harder to visit his son Gary, who lives in Caputh, Perth with his wife Alison, and so he travelled from Germany with his youngest son Paul but no one in the family anticipated what was to later unfold.
Gary, 63 and Alison, 56, were travelling by train to meet their relatives after spending the day in Fort William while they waited to pick the men up and drive them back to Perthshire.
“Our train suddenly slowed and came to a stop,” recalled Gary.
“The driver told everyone the delay was due to sheep on the line, but I couldn’t see any sheep and I hadn’t seen any for miles.
“I just had a funny feeling about it, and so did my wife.”
The couple, who had been sitting in the back carriage, then saw railway staff appear at the rear of the train and realised there had been an accident.
“We saw someone put on surgical gloves and we knew it wasn’t sheep.
“The first thing that jumped to both our minds was that it was my father and Paul as we knew they had been fishing in the same area.”
When the offshore worker was allowed off the train, he learned the train had hit his dad and brother, which was only the beginning of a downward spiral for the family.
Paul, who was 52 at the time of the incident, was airlifted to Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital with serious injuries, while Gerhard, then 87, was flown to Belford Hospital in Fort William with cuts, bruises and a bumped head.
“I went in the helicopter with my dad,” said Gary.
“He was released that night, which I thought was quite strange because of his age.
“He was disorientated and I remember being worried as I didn’t think he was ready to be discharged.
“I was actually quite disappointed with the treatment he got as they checked him over and that was it – it was also quite late at night when he was released.”
Paul, who has two adult children in Austria, on the other hand, has still not fully recovered from the accident. After being admitted to hospital, he remained in a coma for about a month, became blind in one eye and lost the use of his right leg. He spent a total of three months in hospital.
Shortly after the incident, it transpired that Gerhard and Paul had trespassed on the railway line, and could have faced prosecution. Due to the circumstances, however, the offence was waived, but no compensation was offered.
Alison, who runs her own dog grooming business, however, said: “We never even thought about it.
“I actually felt really sorry for the train driver. I’ll never forget his face after it all happened, he looked terrible.
“I hope he got all the support he needed from his company.”
As the men walked along the steep embankment next to the track, Paul heard the sound of an approaching train. He tried to warn his dad, who is deaf in one ear, but he didn’t hear. In an attempt to protect his dad, who lost his wife more than a decade ago, he grabbed him and pulled him into a ditch. As the train passed, it caught Paul’s rucksack and dragged him along the track.
“They were architects of their own disaster,” said Gary.
“My father used to fish in the area with his uncles when he was younger, so he knew where he was going.
“This was to be his last visit, as it was getting harder for him to visit Scotland because of his age.
“He just wanted to experience it one last time.”
Shortly after the incident, Gary told the Press and Journal that everyone was looking on the bright side.
“My father was just dazed. I don’t think he realised just how serious it all was.
“They could have been killed. It could have been so much worse.”
When the injured pair eventually returned to Aschaffenburg, Gerhard, now 90, was forced to become his 55-year-old son’s carer as he fell into a pit of depression.
Gary said the situation put a great deal of pressure on the family, and whenever he visited, his father and brother would be at each other’s throats.
Before the accident, Paul had a job in a factory which he cycled to every day. In the summer months, he was a keen swimmer and led a very active life. Although Gary doesn’t think his brother will ever return to work, he says his brother is slowly starting to get better.
“There’s a care centre near his home which he’s just started going to everyday. He eats breakfast there and they have activities available for people with disabilities.
“It also gives my father a bit of a break from looking out for him.
“He was pretty negative about everything after the accident so it’s good he’s getting out again.
“Whenever I phoned, he sounded really down, which is a shame as he was really positive before the accident.
“At one point he told me: ‘If I was a dog, you would just put me down’.
“It could have been something like post-traumatic stress he suffered from,” said Gary.
“There was a point where he lay in bed all day. He was just in a trance that he wasn’t coming out of.”