India USA Romania Austria – Hungary – Slovakia.
Part 1 - Austria
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| 1216 024 climbs the north ramp of the Brenner Pass approaching St. Jodok with EC85 from Munich to Bologna. 26.10.2021 |
Introduction:
Global travel was supposed to be easier in 2021? Well- at least that is what we were told in 2020, and on that basis leave was booked at the beginning of the year to spend three weeks enjoying the railways of India, after the 2020 attempt was obviously aborted. Of course our good friend Covid-19 had other ideas and with the Indian borders still firmly closed to tourists during October another destination would need to be found.
The next obvious place for a lengthy trip was the USA
which I had not visited for a few years and which still has many rail wonders
to explore- but of course that was not going to open up to foreign travel until
I was back at work either.
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| ÖBB's 1216 025, the world record holder having attained 137kph leads a lightly loaded rolling road at Gries am Brenner. 26.10.2021 |
Something in Europe was clearly the sensible option
and therefore a detailed plan was put together for a return to Romania where Covid
cases were low at the end of summer and restrictions appeared to be relaxed-
plus it was on the UK governments, at the time ‘Green’ list. Given we had some time
to spare there was the opportunity to tick off a few things on our other lists
as well, a foray into Hungary in search of M41’s and a brief return to Slovakia
where I was keen to have another go at the broad gauge line from Kosice as well
as pick up a few more of the dwindling ‘Laminatka’ class 240’s.
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| In their striking, but maybe better viewed up close liveries, MRCE's 193 640 and 193 550, the former celebrating the link between Verona and Munich (so in the right place) descend the Brenner pass at St Jodok. |
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| 1144 261 crosses the Krauselklause Viaduct with EC158 from Zegrab to Vienna. 25.10.2021 |
Bookings had been held off until the last possible
moment to minimise the chances of a Covid bowl-out. It turned out to be a good
move as in the weeks leading up to the trip the case rate in Romania started to
take a worrying upward trend- maybe not so concerning itself since we were all
fully vaccinated and the UK seemed unlikely to prevent us coming home, but
certainly an annoyance when the reinstatement of some restrictions started to
be mentioned. On the Friday just two days before we were due to fly out the
trip had still yet to be booked, and the attempt at a government in Romania
made their move on restrictions; Masks to be worn in public at all times (including
in the streets), restrictions on travel overnight and early closure of
restaurants and bars. This was not what we needed for our trip and therefore
the plan was binned at the 11th hour. What to do instead? I had for
some time had the mountain passes of Austria on my list – the weather was
looking much better there than further east and with a reasonable flight
available from Luton to Vienna on Sunday afternoon a new plan was quickly
cobbled together.
Sunday 24th October:
Not a train day really, in fact rather than meeting at the airport the trip participants met in my living room for a last minute planning session on our revised itinerary – including booking accommodation for that night. I would say the journey to Luton was uneventful but some idiot (me) managed to loose part of their luggage on the train. It is fair to say I hadn’t planned on making an extra trip to Bedford before the flight, but somehow still managed to make check in! One thing that must be said for Wizz air over Ryanair is that they do seem to have a vested interest in actually getting you on the flight you have booked- speeding you through check-in if the time is getting a bit tight. I understand Ryanair simply tell you that you should have got to the airport earlier!
One panic over it should have been plain sailing, well,
flying to Austria- but this was not the case.
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| 1216 003 approaches Jenbach on the Inn Valley. 29.10.2021 |
We were aware that FFP2 masks were a requirement on public
transport in Austria, and had therefore attempted in vein to procure some before
leaving the UK. What we had not anticipated however is that we would be told at
the gate that they were also required for the flight. This wouldn’t have been
such a problem if it were not for the fact that as well as the Boots we had
tried back home, all of the airport retailers had sold out. The only source was
a painfully slow vending machine near the gate which had approximately 6 masks
in it. They didn’t last long when circa 50 passengers attempted to buy them!
Fortunately due to the good nature and better preparedness those of us without
were able to beg steal and borrow some masks from those in the queue and
everyone made the flight. Disaster number two averted, and I’m really pleased
to say that for the next 12 days there really wouldn’t be any more!
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| D15 (a Gmeinder D 75 BB-SE) approaches Schlitters-Bruck on the Zillertalbahn. 28.10.2021 |
Arrival in Vienna was slightly late and as expected
the direct trains to the Hauptbahnhof had finished for the night. We were
treated to a couple of their very nicely appointed new units for the journey on
the suburban network arriving at our hotel not long before midnight. Finally in
Europe there was just time for a beer in the hotel bar.
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| 1144 009 pilots 1293 027 over the Krauselklause Viaduct on the Semmering Pass. 25.10.2021 |
Monday 25th October:
We had hurried out to Vienna the previous night as
the forecast had been good today, and indeed the day dawned to clear skies. We
were bound for the Semmering pass and elected to take the Morning EC151. This
turned out to be an great move both netting us a 1144 rather than the expected Taurus
and also providing us an excellent freshly cooked breakfast in the Slovenian
dining car. Having already concluded that we did not find the FFP2 masks we had
borrowed comfortable we would spend much of our time within Austria enjoying
restaurant cars – while the masks are compulsory on public transport they are
not in restaurants, including if that restaurant happens to be on the train!
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| 1216 250 with a matching Czech RailJet descends towards Innsbruck. 25.10.2021 |
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| 1144 224 and 109 pilot 1116 130 and its train of scrap metal at Wolfsbergkogel. The former Kurhaus hotel dominates the background. 26.10.2021 |
Since my quick trip in 2016 I had been keen to return to the Semmering- another of Europe’s beautiful railways threatened with a base tunnel (due to open in 2027). The sinuous route comprises a number of magnificent double-stacked viaducts as it winds its way around the mountain, requiring both pilot locos and bankers to cope with the heavy grades.
A scramble up to the difficult side the Krauselklause
Viaduct was our first port of call, followed by a couple of hours on the ‘easy’
side watching a variety of trains- many piloted by 1144 locos, as well as the
frequent procession of RailJet’s. There were several other photographers at the
spot on the ‘easy’ side south of the Viaduct, one of whom informed us that
today was a quite day for freight, though he had access to the OBB system and
could see what was coming. Not much than an hour later he had to retract his
statement saying that actually, it had been busy!
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| One to try again in the summer! A RailJet crosses the Kalt-Rhein Viaduct, not quite lit by the low Autumn sunshine. 25.10.2021 |
Our next vantage point was the Kalt-Rhein Viaduct which curves across the valley- the only issue was the sunlight which had still not really come round enough for the shot we wanted and was rapidly disappearing behind the mountains. Concluding that it was not going to return we headed off along the ‘Bahn Wanderweg’ trail in search of other spots. This was the same path I had taken in the snow back in 2016 and it certainly felt different without the white stuff and with some company this time.
After being caught surprise by a light engine private
2043 we came across the Adlitzgraben Viaduct but by now, at not even 16:00 it
was in shadow- we had underestimated how quickly we would loose the mountain
light and photography for the day, really, was over. We continued along the
railway path, stopping off at the famous ’20 Schilling View’ which we would
revisit in the morning.
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| A pair of 1144's pilot a 1216 with a tank train seen crossing the Kalt-Rhein viaduct from above. 26.10.2021 |
It had been a long day with a lot of steps (that we really could never have done with the cases!) but we had some good pictures. We finished the evening with a very nice meal in at a nearby restaurant- we were grateful to have found somewhere open and the food was good to boot!
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| The magnificent '20 Schilling View' of the Semmering pass with a southbound car train. 26.10.2021 |
A minor setback rather than a disaster this morning-
we got out of the apartment, having curiously spotted a 7047 railbus out the
window in a garden well away from the railway – to discover that the BILLA
supermarket was closed. Having not picked up any food the night before, and
knowing there was no option to buy it once we left town for the day this was
definitely not ideal! After a few moments trying to work out what had happened it
became apparent – it was a bank holiday; Austria Day. That would surely affect
train movements as well.
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| The Krauselklause Viaduct viewed from above as a Railjet makes its passage through the Semmering Pass. 26.10.2021 |
Complete disaster was averted when we found another
hotel which was able to make us some breakfast to take away. We headed on a
little later than planned to the ’20 Schilling view’ which should be right for
the light in the morning. Again the Semmering trains did not disappoint and
there seemed to be an extra EC this morning. Unfortunately the clear, crisp
light that we wanted simply wasn’t there as the valley was in something of a
haze. Still the sun was at least out which was the better side of the forecast
we had seen.
After a pleasant couple of hours during which the
light did not improve, we headed on to the next spot we wanted to try looking
over the Viaduct at Wolfsbergkogel. The sun had not quite come over the hilltop
here and we wouldn’t find out if it did as the light was soon to disappear into
the looming cloud.
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| 1144 093 approaches Wolfsbergkogel with EC158. 26.10.2021 |
After a good few trains it was time to call it a day,
at least photographically on the Semmering. The original plan had been to
travel on to Graz in the afternoon to try our luck at the diesels of the GKB
system, however aware that there were engineering works on this route and that
it was a Bank Holiday this option was abandoned.
Instead we opted to move on from our accommodation we
had booked for that night and travel straight on to our next location, Innsbruck,
so as not to miss any daylight since the forecast was still good further west.
Accommodation was booked on the train and dinner enjoyed on the RailJet from
Vienna to Innsbruck where after the long journey we arrived around 23:00.
Wednesday 27th October:
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| Possibly the shot of the trip- Lokomotion 139 260 banks a train up the Brenner Pass at St. Jodok. 27.10.2021 |
My other big target for Austria was the Brenner Pass.
The start wasn’t too early as we knew the sun would not come over the mountains
until at least 09:00 and it was about 10:30 before we had found ourselves a
position at St Jodock. Despite our original plans not to stray into the famous ‘forbidden
field’ it was soon realised why everyone does- it is by far the best of very few
views available here!
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| Lokomotion's 186 441 descends the Brenner at St. Jodok. 27.10.2021 |
It would appear there are two parts of the field, and
I understand the one slightly further up the hill has the slightly less angry
farmer. Either way, when approaching from the top of the field there is a clear
sign forbidding access and photography to get past- we were not the first group
to do so! (When accessed from lower down there is a sign in the fields
requesting ‘photographer friends’ not to walk through grass when it is long-
not an issue on our visit).
Fortunately we didn’t have to wait long to snap a good variety of trains, with 8 downhill freights in our first hour! The highlight however was Lokomotion’s 139 260 banking a train up the hill. I wasn’t sure that these locos still appeared here, so this was a real bonus and we were in the right place at the right time.
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| Double ÖBB Vectrons - 193 060 and 055 on the curve at St. Jodok. 27.10.2021 |
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| 186 245 leads 186 440 towards St. Jodok. 27.10.2021 |
The next spot, north of the station, didn’t last long
at all until it was consumed by the ever-encroaching autumn shadows, and I was
slightly surprised to find that the angle I had bookmarked for later on the
curve above the town had also been totally lost to the shade. It was 13:00 and
it looked like our photography might be done for the day- at St Jodok at least!
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| In it's slightly PKP EU44-esque 'Strada Bank' livery 1116 129 leads a rolling road through Gries am Brenner. 27.10.2021 |
Back at the station there was maybe another hour of
usable light while we waited for a train to somewhere sunnier. We made the full
trip up to Brenner and for a few moments considered that we were probably now
in Italy. We didn’t impress the guard too much by trying to buy tickets on the
train, clearly this isn’t allowed. She did however relent when she conceded that
she too didn’t know where the ticket machine was at St Jodok (it’s on the
Innsbruck bound platform as it turns out).
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| High above the valley at Gries am Brenner, 1116 216 leads an EC towards Brenner and Italy. 27.10.2021 |
A few further hours were spent at Gries where the sun
lasted a bit longer, but we knew the photos we were getting were not as good as
those from the morning. The short days and short journey did mean an unusually
sociable arrival time back in Innsbruck with time to explore the city a little
before it got completely dark and to find dinner- at the Augustiner Stiftskeller
– pleasantly reminiscent of Bavarian trips from the past.
Thursday 28th October:
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| D15 has just departed Strass on the Zillertalbahn as it works up the valley to Mayrhofen. 28.10.2021 |
Today we would have our first look at Austrian narrow
gauge with a trip to the Zillertalbahn at Jenbach, a roughly 30 minute ride
from Innsbruck. Research over the past few days had revealed that along with
the diesel loco hauled push-pull trains freight services had also re-started
this year with wood trains between Jenbach and Fügen, something we would be
very keen to see.
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| One of the Zillertalbahn DMU's crosses the Inn on its approach to Jenbach. 29.10.2021 |
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| Little and large as diminutive 760mm D1 stands next to standard gauge D01 sitting on a roll-wagon in the yard at Jenbach. 28.10.2021 |
We started the day on the 08:50 regional service which I had correctly predicted would be loco hauled, well, pushed. At Jenbach we attempted to make some enquires about the freight services in the Zillertalbahn booking office but didn’t really get very far, establishing only that there was no steam at this time of year, something we had already worked out. It was however clear that there was no activity in the yard. We weren’t sure on ticketing either but came out with two, two-person region tickets which would allow the three of us to hop on and off the train all day. Unfortunately had we known about these in Innsbruck they would also have covered the journey to and from Jenbach which we had just brought return tickets for!
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| D16 crosses the river Ziller near Zell am Ziller with a service to Jenbach. Taken with the drone it was touch and go whether I would get this shot- initially as the drone didn't want to launch, and then with the shadows mountains chasing the train. The view was lost entirely to shadow within 30 seconds of the train passing! phew! 28.10.2021 |
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| The bridge over the Inn from ground level again with D16, this time hauling a train to Mayrhofen. 28.10.2021 |
We flagged the first Zillertalbahn train as it was a unit
but were rewarded with one of their virtually silent Gmeinder D 75 BB-SE
locomotives on the next. All three of the locomotives were out in the morning covering
three of the five passenger diagrams, all now being vinyled in slightly
different blue advertising liveries. Unfortunately despite staying fairly close
to Jenbach no freight was seen, and it was looking very likely that there would
be no activity today. Stopping at Fügen this was confirmed as there was work
going on in the freight yard; one of the workers telling us that the train
would maybe run tomorrow. While the line and it’s 760mm locomotives could scarcely
be described as exciting it was a pleasant enough way to spend a day, including
a very enjoyable lunch out in the sunshine at Mayrhofen. Certainly the route
will be less enjoyable for the enthusiast when it converts from diesel to Hydrogen
with a new fleet of HMU’s from Stadler which are due to enter service in 2022.
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| The S-Bend at Zell am Ziller is shown to good effect as a DMU heads south for Mayrhofen. 28.10.2021 |
Since our local area tickets were valid on all the
public transport in Innsbruck the opportunity was taken to sample a tram from
the station back to the hotel- I was beaten by those walking!
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| 185 241 and 278 make a lucky appearance at our morning spot east of Jenbach. The majority of freight traffic bypasses this line using the Münsterer tunnel on the New Lower Inn Valley railway. 29.10.2021 |
This was to be our ‘mopping up’ day on the Brenner,
but since we didn’t really feel there were many more shots to be had at this
time of year we instead decided to stick to the Inn Valley. Our first port of
call was Jenbach to check whether the Zillertalbahn freight was running- we
managed to get some much more useful information from the man in the booking
office this morning, who made a call, and confirmed that due to work in the customers
terminal it would not be running until the following Tuesday. At least we knew.
Photography on the route along the Inn valley is
difficult – effectively between Innsbruck and Wörgl this is a four-track railway.
The only problem is that the new ‘fast’ lines of this four-track railway are in a tunnel for much of its length removing almost all of the loco-hauled
passenger and freight traffic from the original route which is served by a
frequent EMU service.
Our first spot east of Jenbach is bypassed by the
tunnel, but sees a good number of the express passenger services which surface
to serve Jenbach itself. A few freight trains were also seen, though clearly the
huge majority were using the tunnel. We also realised that the loco hauled REX
train we had taken to from Innsbruck to Jenback in the morning was pretty much
the only service of this nature all day since we had seen no more!
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| 1144 239 heads towards Innsbruck as it gets away from Inzing with a regional service. 29.10.2021 |
After a few shots were achieved here we moved back towards
Innsbruck finding a location at Terfens-Weer. This was a mistake! It quickly
became apparent that our assumption that trains serving Jenbach would be above
ground here was totally wrong as all we saw were units- to make matters worse
we had not had lunch and there was absolutely nothing in this small town.
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| 1144 124 pauses at Völs with a service to Landeck-Zams. 29.10.2021 |
Having identified the tunnel entrance between us and
Jenbach on google maps we abandoned the position, heading on the next train
west to the other side of Innsbruck. We ended up at Inzing, where thankfully,
there is no tunnel! Less good was the fact that we had lost a valuable hour or
so of light and the valley was starting to cloud over. A good number of trains
were still seen, and this is a location to perhaps revisit. An added bonus here
is that many (but not all) of the hourly Innsbruck – to Landeck-Zams were in
the hands of a mix of 1144 and 1216 locos on push-pull sets.
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| 1116 128 + 282 head towards Zurich with Euro City 164 from Innsbruck. Note the observation coach carrying the 'Connecting Europe Express' livery, recently used on the train which toured 26 countries (not the UK) promoting their rail connections. 29.10.2021 |
The light over by 17:00 it was time to retire to Innsbruck, catching one of the Vienna CAT (City Airport Link) Taurus locos at the main station – the CAT is currently suspended due to Covid 19 with the locos finding other work.
Dinner was once again at the Augustiner Stiftskeller where the last two portions of duck were enjoyed! Excellent!
Saturday 30th October:
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| 1099 010 waits to depart from Mariazell with the 'Ötscherbär' heirtage train to St. Polten. 30.10.2021 |
The last day in Austria and time to transit to our accommodation
for the next two nights in Budapest. I had been keen to make this journey in
daylight, and much of the scenery through western Austria was indeed
spectacular. Much of it however was unseen as thick fog descended between Wörgl
and Kufstein which never really cleared until we were most of the way to Linz!
It is worth noting that the RailJet services between Kufstein and Salzburg run
non-stop through Germany. Something we were not necessarily expecting, but
obviously reducing the mileage somewhat. It also leaves a very annoying gap on
my track map between the station at Rosenheim and the two chords of the curve
which we traversed on the Railjet!
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| 1216 015 appropriately carries the Italian flag as it heads towards Innsbruck from Italy at St. Jodok. 27.10.2021 |
It is not a short journey between Innsbruck and
Budapest so we were keen to have a break at some point. A bit of research the
day before identified a couple of narrow gauge lines that we might be able to
stop at along the way. The Pinzgauer Localbahn was discounted as being both too
far away from our route and also substantially closed following storm damage,
which left the Mariazellerbahn from St. Polten. This turned out to be an
excellent option as the arrival of our RailJet from Innsbruck would leave just
enough time for a full round trip on the line- better still this was the last
running day of the season for the heritage ‘Ötscherbär’ service which we could
use for the return trip.
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| 'Himmelstreppe' EMU ET3 departs from Mariazell. 30.10.2021 |
All regular services on the line are worked by Himmelstreppe EMU’s from Stadler, which are
comfortable if not exciting. Specials are however worked by both steam locos
and a small retained fleet of the original ÖBB 1099 class electrics dating from
1911. It was 1099 010 that would work our train, the loco is turned out in a
very smart new livery, a cross between the original brown colour and the
current gold scheme used on the EMU’s. Standard tickets can be used, and while
advanced booking is recommended there was no issue with space on this occasion.
As had been typical of our Austrian journeys we set up camp in the restaurant
car and ordered both lunch and some beers while we enjoyed the ride. Also in
the restaurant car we bumped into Andreas who is instrumental in ensuring that funding
for the heritage services is forthcoming from the local authority. He was busy
checking on the quality of the service and of the beer – we all agreed it was
very good!
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| Scenery of the Mariazellabahn. 30.10.2021 |
The railway is spectacular- much more than the
Zillertalbahn – and climbs high up into the mountains on it’s roughly two hour
run. All too soon we were back at St. Polten to make the quick connection on to
our forwarding RailJet to Budapest. At the border the buffet staff were quick
to tell passengers that they no longer needed to wear their face masks and they
were now in Hungary and were no longer therefore required on public transport. ‘Oh!
Is there no Covid in Hungary?’ questioned one passenger. Despite these somewhat
odd times there was no form of border check between Austria and Hungary and we
arrived into Budapest Keleti as scheduled. It took a little longer to reach our
hotel than normal as we had to negotiated the bus system- metro line 3 being
closed through much of the city centre.
Determined to have a relaxing evening I left the hotel around well after 22:00 for the Rudas Thermal Spa which had a late night bathing session and was excellent, if rather busy. My departure was delayed somewhat by the useless hotel reception who decided that after assigning my room they would also allocate it to the couple behind me in the queue. Both of us were fairly surprised when they then used their key to walk into my room!
To be continued…
