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| The Gotthard pass in all it's glory. An Re 10/10 11678 and 11280 head a southbound intermodal through Gurtnellen. 11/5/2016 |
Monday 9th May-
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| The likable E444's are now probably the most interesting electric loco used on passenger services in Italy. A pair headed by E444 095 have worked an Intercity into Milan Central. 09/5/2016 |
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| Probably the most interesting Italian loco we saw- E652 132. |
Fortunately it wasn't quite the first train in the morning
to get me to Gatwick airport for the Easyjet flight to Milan Malpensa- either
way it wouldn't have mattered too much as we arrived at the airport to find
that it was the only flight all morning which was showing 'delayed'. This meant
time for an overpriced Weatherspoons airport breakfast before we eventually
took to the air around 80 minutes late.
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| One of the almost ubiquitous class E464 with a TreNord service at Milan Lambrate. |
We were naturally later than we expected to be into Milan,
and the journey in from the airport was hardly an 'express' service either.
After taking a bus from the 'cheap' terminal to the station we then had to work
out the ticket buying process- not aided by the slowest ticket machines in the
world. Eventually, having just missed the train we were going to take, we
concluded that the fare was the same for the 'Malpensa Express' as it was for a
regional train. The journey was tediously slow and not helped by a drunken
nutcase Italian woman who was wandering up and down the train shouting and
throwing crisps around. We were rather relieved that her only weaponry was a
bag of crisps and paper bag as she was causing quite enough terror with these!
Ada the guard obviously hid in the driving cab but did call the police to
remove her later on in the journey. All this meant that arrival into Milan
Central was not until around 15:30- rather later than I had anticipated having
got up at 05:30!!! We checked into 'The Best' hotel (it was ok) about 10
minutes walk from Central station and then went in search of some lunch and
some trains.
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| 'Peter Witt' verses 'Slug'- I know which I would pick! |
We headed to Milan Lambrate as with time ticking on and
nowhere better planned it seemed a good place to see some trains, my two
friends Rhys and Jon had not really seen Italian trains before, and I had only
travelled round it on a semi-normal holiday so everything was going to be
interesting- even the E464's. The station is busy and photos weren’t too bad
(no hassle) with a range of EMU's and E464's on local TreNord services as well
as various High Speed trains and some E444's on IC's with the solitary E402. We
only saw two freights, one with E652 132 and another with a pair of Captrain
Traxx locos. Another E652 was seen light engine. Next time for a quick spin to
Central and back with some E464's for a quick photography session before back
to Lambrate to pick up one of the old 'Peter Witt' tramcars on route 23 to the
Duomo and dinner.
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| Our first (and one of few) full sun shot on the Gotthard, RE 4/4 11191 approaches Erstfeld with an IR from Lugano. 10/6/2016 |
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| A final look at some 'Peter Witt' 1500 series tramcars in Milan |
Our time in Milan was only short, and we didn't get up as
early as intended (this was to be a recurring theme)- but we did feel better
for it. We headed first to the main station to sort out our tickets into
Switzerland later. Jon had pre-booked on the 12:25 to Bellinzona, but the rest
of us were on FIP. The ticket Ada was very helpful and booked us on the same
train, even seated around the same table- excellent and painless (Well... more
on that later!). We then headed by metro and tram down to the Castle area to be
tourists and to photograph a few more of the Peter Witt tramcars, which I
absolutely love- I'm sure Croydon needs one or two?!
A quick dash as always as we left it to the last minute to
collect our cases and buy pasta & prosecco for the days ahead meant we
didn't get to the station until about 12:20 for the 12:25 train. Tight. You can
imagine then our dismay when the ticket lady looked our tickets and said 'no'.
'What?- we have booked on the 12:25!'. Unfortunately it turned out plain as day
that Ada downstairs had booked the two of us on the 10:25- 'These tickets are
not for this train', and they weren't. With 3 minutes until departure there was
no chance we were going to get them changed, and Jon wasn't about to book
another full open fare for the next train (none of us were keen on waiting 2
hours either)- fortunately after much pleading common sense eventually
prevailed and the barrier lady agreed we could as ask the guard on the train.
Fortunately he was more sympathetic and while the tickets were no good it would
be ok if we stayed in his coach, but only as far as Chiasso. His coach happened
to be 1st class, and we enjoyed a very nice, if slow ride eating our pizza
slices up to Chiasso. Once there we then had to get off... speak to the new
Swiss crew and plead to be allowed to stay on to Bellinzona. Fortunately the
Italian crew passed the message on and when the grip came through we were
brushed aside with a 'Ah- it is you'.
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| Carrying it's new UIC number RE 4/4 420 322 leads RE 6/6 11663, the only loco we saw in the old green colours, with an Intermodal near Erstfeld. Together the combination is commonly referred to as an RE 10/10. |
Of course due to late running we missed the hourly
loco-hauled Regional train over the Gotthard, and as we had been looking
forward to the RE 4/4 we elected to wait around in the gloom for the next one
from Lugano. This arrived with 11243 and, to our pleasure some 'fresh air'
coaches at the front.
The Gotthard is a spectacular line and we enjoyed the climb
up to the tunnel at Airolo. As we burst out of the northern portal at Goschenen
we were all absolutely amazed to see clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine-
the southern ramp and all of Italy had been enveloped in gloom! A change of
plan was made and rather than taking the train through to Arth-Goldau we got
off at Erstfeld to get some pictures- the forecast was awful for the week so we
weren't going to waste any more of this sunshine.
We stayed out as long as the sun did and then made our way
back to Wassen using the bus (which seemed to accept our FIP coupons with no
problem) and our accommodation for the next 3 nights the 'Gotthard Backpacker'
hostel, which was absolutely fine, especially as we were the only ones there!
We joined another group after dinner at the nearby Hotel
Gerig and listened to tales of their day of perfect weather. Fingers would have
to be kept cross that we had similar luck.
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| An SBB cargo RE 10/10 led by 420 344 makes a colourful picture heading up the Gotthard north ramp at Erstfeld. 11/5/2016 |
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| Another Re 10/10 now descends the north ramp at Wassen crossing the impressive mid-level viaduct back up the valley. |
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| Another of my favorites from the trip- 11199 with the IR to Lugano heads through spectacular scenery at Gurtnellen. The weather didn't last. 11/5/2016 |
The weather did not dawn bright and by the time we had slept
in and made breakfast it was gone 10:00. Our first stop for the morning was on
the high level line at Wassen where we spent a couple of enjoyable hours
watching the trains go by. The line was fairly busy and by the end of our time
here the weather had dramatically improved and there were even a few spots of
sunshine- not at the same time as any trains though! After lunch (sandwich) we
moved by means of the bus back to Erstfeld where we wanted to have another go
at a shot from the previous day, hoping the sun would stay out. It wasn't to be
and after an hour or so where the sun insisted on shining only when trains
weren't passing it was time to move on for some better light. Next stop was
Gurtnellen which netted what were to become our last 'full sun' photos in
Switzerland. We had an excellent few hours here until the sun started to dip-
at least getting one decent shot of an RE 10/10 in the sun in the right
direction. Unfortunately while dithering we missed the passing of the evening
southbound postal train, though the sun had moved across to the other side of
the valley anyway. During the faf we had also totally missed the bus back to
Wassen and with a 50+ minute wait we decided instead to embark on the walk.
This was most pleasant and located a few more photo spots to maybe come back
to. Finally we finished with a stint in the famous churchyard at Wassen as we'd
not yet visited- another place to come back to when the weather was better.
Tonight it was the turn of that pasta and prosecco from Milan. It turns out I
hadn't bought enough sauce, but two bottles of prosecco and a bottle of wine
went down rather too well. By the time we had finished playing one of the
Hostel's board games (which I think we mostly understood eventually) it was
02:00! Ah well... lie in again if the weather was poor.
Thursday 12th May-
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| 11198 emerges from one of the Biaschino loops with the IR. |
The weather was more than poor. We woke to discover that Wassen was basically in a cloud. By the time we had cooked sausages for breakfast most of the morning was behind us. We decided to head back through the tunnel to see if the weather might be any better on the South ramp (it couldn't have been much worse). Travelling by way of Biasca (with RE 4/4 11196) and then the postal bus back to Biaschino loops where trains can be seen at all three levels. It had stopped raining by this point but the weather was far from what we had hoped for. Still the wonders of the Gotthard did somewhat make up for it.
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| Deh 4/4 91 ascends the rack railway from Goschenen up to Andermatt on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. 12/05/2016 |
After a few hours we were damp enough to head back on the Postal bus up
to Faido to pick another RE 4/4 (11198) up back to Goschenen. The weather here
hadn't improved and the rain had reached levels where you really did get wet.
It wasn't quite time for dinner yet so we filled in some time taking a ride to
Andermatt and back on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn narrow gauge railway. I'm
sure the journey would have been even more spectacular had we been able to see
more than a few hundred meters! Deh 4/4 94 too us up the hill and 95 took us
back again. We couldn't quite work out how to buy a FIP ticket at Goschenen so
relied on speaking to the guard on the train- only there wasn't one! We
therefore did the honest thing and purchased returns from the ticket office at
Andermatt. This is a really fun railway I'd like to spend some more time with
(and in better weather).
Back at base we headed back to Hotel Gerig for our final
meal in the Gotthard, and final evening with Jon who would be flying back the
next day.
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| The famous shot of the Wassen curve with the church in the background. Shame about the weather! 13/05/2016 |
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| 111200 emerges from the cloud on the mid level at Wassen. |
Not quite such a late start but still the rain persisted.
Either way it was our last day on the Gotthard and we had barely touched the
photo spots at Wassen. We began in the churchyard and then headed down to the
curve on the lower level. Freight levels were not huge but there was enough to
keep us entertained despite the rain. Did I mention it was raining? Our shoes
soaked through, there was one more location on the mid-level to try before we
finally got out of this sodden valley. The photos over the mid level viaduct
were interesting, but sadly not the glorious views with mountains behind but
instead the train appearing from out of a cloud! Oh well.
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| Deh 4/4 93 on the narrow guage at Goschenen. |
RE 4/4 11198 was our chariot out of the Gotthard from
Goschenen to Lucerne where 11245 took over after the train reversed. By the
time we reached Basel the sun had almost come out it had stopped raining and
was time to search for a reasonably affordable dinner. We stayed at the Hotel
Schweizerhof just outside the station which I feel should have cost more than
we paid for it. Maybe the construction site outside the window had something to
do with it?
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| 11109 in 'Swiss Express' livery was a nice surprise for our final photos in Switzerland. 14/5/2016 |
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| Semi-attractive trams in outside Basel SBB. |
We had the morning at our leisure in Basel before beginning
the long rail journey back to the UK through France- even the sun had come out
now we were leaving the country. We had elected to find a cheaper breakfast
than the 25CHF offering at the hotel and ended up in a very nice cafe across
the road. Our new breakfast was cheaper but being chingged around 60.8CHF for a
small orange juice (not far off £5) was a bit of a wakeup call! A few tram
photos then we headed over to the main station. Gotthard liveried 460 079 was
in the station, so having spent a few days on the line we got on for a quick
spin down to Liestal. From here we took 460 070 on another short hop to Olten.
From Olten 460 007 was picked up for the run back to Basel, well... that was
until we overtook a pair of BLS 'Brownies' outside Liestal. Quick change of
plan and we bolted off the train for a shot of RE 4/4 174 and 190 passing
through.
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| One of several locos in promotional 'Gotthard 2016' paint schemes, 450 079 pauses at Liestal. |
It wasn't long to wait for our next option back to the city with RE
4/4 11197. A few more shots of Basel SBB before we took the suburban train (our
first unit for days) across to Basel Bad Bahnhof- just to see what was there.
Suddenly everything had changed colour and we felt well and truly in DB land! A
DB 111 was stabled with a set of N-Wagons for presumably a peak working later,
a couple of DB 120's (110 and 141) and DB 101 100 were stabled along with
Hectorrail Taurus 242 502. A DB 146 was seen leaving with a regional service
and at the north end of the station was a variety of BLS traction including
465's and five of the 'Brownies'. The station is clearly fairly busy for
freight and two trains were seen during our short visit, a pair of Crossrail
Traxx locos on a southbound train and a Railpool/BLS Traxx on a southbound.
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| BLS 'Brownies' RE 4/4 173 and 190 at Liestal. 14/5/2016 |
As we took a tram back across the city the heavens once
again opened and we dashed back to the hotel to get our bags before heading
into the station for the final time.
SBB had one final treat for us with 11109 in 'Swiss Express'
on old stock working the 13:07 to Zurich- up on the boards as an ICE, so
presumably a failure?!
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| It was decidedly wet again as we left Basel behind BB26149. |
We crossed the old frontier into Basel SNCF and entered
France with BB26149 on a TER 200 to Strasbourg. There was just time for lunch
here (well... to buy a baguette) before boarding the first of our regional
trains to get us back towards Paris. Of course the plan had been to head back
the 'traditional' way with a big CC72100 on Line 4 via Belfort, however SNCF
had other ideas and had withdrawn all these trains for digging at Nogent sur
Seine in the Paris suburbs forcing a re-think.
The train from Strasbourg to Nancy was a very crowded
Regiolis, the first I had had the displeasure to travel on. It was ok. Nothing
special. Nancy however seemed a very pleasant city, which was not quite done
justice by a 1 hour visit. Outside the station we discovered the strangest
sport named 'Disco Foot' which appeared to be some sort of football where all
the players constantly danced to disco beats... when the music slowed down they
did too. Only the ball didn't as the pitch was on a slope! Odd!
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| BB26007 flys through Bar-le-Duc. Just a shame that it carries a non-livery! |
An AGC took us on to Bar-le-Duc from where we could finally
take another 'proper' train for the last leg into Paris. We got a picture of
BB26007 passing through in good light with Corails, what it was doing I have no
idea as I didn't think loco hauled trains came out this way other than the
Champagne-Ardenne TER's?
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| BB15007 at Bar-le-Duc waiting to work the 19:37 to Paris Est. |
BB15007 was our haulage on the 19:37 to Paris- regrettably
not one of the attractive 'Grand Comfort' livery locos which often ply this
route, but we couldn't really complain with a nice Corail compartment to
ourselves for much of the trip. Being a nice day and the right time of the year
it was daylight for almost the entire run in to Paris Est which made it a very
pleasant trip.
All that was left was to check into Hotel Avalon (fairly
average in my opinion) and head into town for a late dinner.
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| BB26163 hauls the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express through Le Raincy Villemomble Montfermeil as it heads into Paris Est. |
Our last day was supposed to have a leisurely start, but
we'd had quite a few of them and had noticed the previous night at Paris Est
that both the VSOE and Moscow sleeper were due in the morning. The day dawned
sunny again (why couldn’t it do this when we needed it at Wassen!?) which meant
that there was nowhere reasonable to photograph these inbound trains. We headed
on the RER E to Le Raincy Villemomble Montfermeil (quite a mouthful!) to catch
the trains and then decided to try the new station at Rosa Parks for the return
shots. This didn't go too well as the view isn't fantastic, the Sleeper didn't
leave and an RER train got in the way of the VSOE! Back at Est CC72179 with
it's messy front arrived from Culmont-Chalindrey- was the line not shut after
all??
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| Electric locos on loan from Mulhouse taking part in Le Grand Train in Paris. |
Half the reason for coming to Paris was to have another go
at 'Le Grand Train' at the former depot at La Chapelle- this time it was open!
I have to say I thought the display of locomotives was very good, particularly
those inside the shed and we easily spent 90 minutes wandering round and taking
photos. Being early in the day the place wasn't too busy which probably helped.
It is worth noting that not everything is accessible and there are several
fences between the public and CC72049, BB9301 and A1A-A1A 68523. This was a
shame as I really wanted to photograph these, but instead I rather fell for
CC65001 inside the main shed. I wanted to support the event by buying lunch
here- but either didn't fancy the offerings or just couldn't work out what they
were. Sandwich from the supermarket it is then!
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| My favorite loco of the trip- CC65001 at La Chapelle. |
On
arrival at Amiens the situation had changed a bit and buses were showing on the
screens for Abbeville. The information lady with drawn on lips advised me that
buses were about to leave from Gare Routier for Abbeville and that a train
connection would then continue to Boulogne- still a chance of the diesel then,
and just as importantly, maybe I would get my required track between Rue and
Etaples (You'd not think I needed it from the number of times I'd visited this
line would you!?). The buses took 45 minutes to reach Abbeville using the local
roads and as we approached the station we could see the welcoming site of
Corails. Then we saw a nice blue diesel (BB67570) on the south end of the
train- so that wasn't going to Boulogne. It turned out this was the next southbound
Paris train which was being held for at least an hour before hoping to continue
down the line. Our train to Boulogne would be the AGC unit in the other
platform. A disappointment, but I have to hand it to SNCF, the train had waited
for the buses to arrive and everyone made it to Boulogne only 40 minutes behind
schedule.
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| Our final domestic train, picks us up at Boulogne Tintelleries. |
The trip really felt nearly over now, there was time to
wander around Boulogne (we did eventually find the nice bit) before boarding
our final AGC to Calais Frethun. We had over an hour to wait until boarding of
the Eurostar home, but there wasn't a lot we could do about that. As A final
annoyance I wasn't allowed to take a picture of 3201 arriving into Frethun- it
was required as well! This was the only problem with photography all trip, I
guess it was understandable.
Conclusions-
This was a good trip with great company (thanks again Jon
and Rhys) which sadly had the edge taken off it by the poor weather up on the
Gotthard. We did each take away a couple of pleasing shots, but
several locations, including the whole of Wassen really didn't feel like they
had been covered as we had hoped. I guess this is what happens when you leave
it until 2016 to visit the line. It will be interesting to see how quickly
services migrate over to the base tunnel after it opens in June, and until all
the traffic has I won't rule out another visit especially since I never tire of the Swiss locos.
Italy was barely touched on this occasion but I do feel like
it is only a matter of time until a trip is due- especially with some of the
older electrics still working on freight.
SNCF was its typical self in the end. Some bits went well,
some less, and I've still not made it loco-hauled all the way between Paris and
Boulogne or Belfort. I'll be back I'm sure.
A special thanks to Rhys for the research into photo locations on the Gotthard!
A special thanks to Rhys for the research into photo locations on the Gotthard!
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| I've saved this one for last- The view of the Biaschino loops with all three lines visable. Trains on all three lines makes an impressive sight- but is it for real? Well- no, sadly not. The high level train has appeared with the aid of Photoshop- not to say this scene isn't possible though- at least until the base tunnel opens later in the year. 12/6/2016 |
