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| 1565 has just passed through Pinhal Novo with a train of loaded steel coils for the works at Siderurgia Nacional. 16/05/23 |
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| 1903 on the final approach to the unloading terminal at Praias Sado with the mineral train from Neves Corvo. 16/05/23 |
We had been considering for some time that we really needed
to head to northern Spain to photograph the Pajaras ramp before services are
finally diverted into the new base tunnel, expected, potentially, to maybe open
this year. Unfortunately our timing was poor as we received information (Thanks
Phil) only a day before flying that the route was going to be blocked for our
entire five day visit and we would therefore see no trains!
Consideration was given to cutting our losses and cancelling
the trip completely, but having not really been to Spain for trains and with
various non-refundable elements already booked including the time off work the
decision was to fly out to Madrid as booked and then work out what to do next…
Saturday 13th May
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| ALSA's class 321 ALCO fires up at Principe Pio. 14/05/23 |
Straight from a night shift to Gatwick, fortunately the
strike service still providing the journey I needed. Flying with Iberia Express
I landed in the impressive terminal 4, and then had a little while to wait for
Rob’s flight to land, if only I could find it on the arrivals boards!
Eventually I worked out that Ryanair fly into a different terminal. Rendevouz
completed we made our way by Metro to Chamartin where we were staying in ‘The
One’ hotel above the station. The hotel was fine, but the station was quickly
diagnosed as a bit of a dump and a fair way from Central Madrid. The location
had been picked as it was less expensive than some other options and also put
us in position for our train to Oviedo on Monday morning- which was now presumably
a bus.
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| A RENFE class 447 unit arrives at Escorial. 14/05/23 |
One thing we could still cling on to was the ‘Fillipe II’
excursion train which was running both days this weekend using ALCO’s from the
ALSA stable. I had a shot planned of the returning train from El Escorial but
only guide timings for the evening departure. Unfortunately when the train shot
past the window of our commuter service, which we had eventually purchased
tickets for (the staff at Chamartin valiantly trying and failing to produce a
FIP discount) it was time to call time on the day. Back to Principe Pio in case
the stock was still there. It wasn’t, except for standby loco 2148 which was stabled.
Cutting our losses we went for a quick walk around town and a Paella for dinner. Back at Principe Pio
later the stock from the tour had returned. Eventually, having managed to buy a ticket
we returned to Chamartin on the painfully slow suburban train.
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| 334006 and 009 at Badajoz. 15/06/2023 |
Back at the hotel a bit of a planning session ensued before
I expired. After exploring many options we ended the night with new flights
booked home from Lisbon. There was no point in wasting time heading to our pre-booked flight from Asturias
(Oviedo) on a bus not to see the trains. This would also allow us to sample the
disjointed international journey via Badajoz. Unfortunately the 334 hauled
Talgo doesn’t run on Sunday so we could not escape Madrid and its confusing
ticket machines as quickly as we would perhaps have liked! As a consolation we
booked on the ALCO trip for the morning.
Sunday 14th May
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| 2150 makes a fine sight as it powers towards Torrelodones with the return working of the Tren Philip II from El Escorial. 14/05/2023 |
Another ticket machine farse (the English button helpfully
only translates a few words) and after assistance we managed to buy a ticket
for the wrong train. Having spent an age on the suburban service last night
today we wanted to try the metro. It wasn’t much quicker!
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| ALCOs at Prinicpe Peo. 14/05/23 |
Fortunately things picked up at Principe Pio- the train was
in the platform, the sun was shining and despite booking seats in ‘coach 1’ we
successfully made ourselves comfortable in the empty ‘coach 4’ which was
actually at the front of the train. 2150 was our power to El Escorial, and with opening windows the 50 minute trip was very enjoyable. Tickets for the train
include entrance to the Monastery (or other attractions if you pay a bit more)
and a bag of jelly beans! The steward was disappointed we would not be visiting
the monastery, but understood our situation ‘I am surrounded by train lovers’- her husband
was the driver! To her credit she could not have been more helpful and made
sure we got a look in the cab at our destination and also ensured the station
staff would let us through the barriers.
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| My favorite of the museum exhibits, a classic Talgo loco and coaches. 14/06/2023 |
Nice as El Escorial looked we had a different agenda and
headed back to Madrid to explore the railway museum. This was the busiest
railway museum you have ever seen- as it also doubles up some weekends as a
flea market. The upshot of this was free entry, the downside was the prevalence
of people everywhere and trade stalls in front of many of the locos.
After our visit we walked to Atocha to buy our FIP tickets for the following day’s IC before making another attempt at our lineside shot of the ALCO’s having now confirmed the departure time (17:20). Our half an hour at Atocha was insufficient to get to the front of the ticket queue so that would have to be a problem for later.
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| ALSA's 2148 is now in charge as the set performs some complex shunting outside Prinicipe Pio. 14/05/23 |
Arriving at our spot at Torrelodones it looked like the increasing cloud was going to get us – but thankfully it didn’t and finally we had achieved a worthwhile photograph in Spain! We chased the train back to Principe Pio now with knowledge form the driver that there would be some shunting (and there certainly was, involving both locos, though we are still not entirely sure what it achieved!). We then headed to the ticket office here for another go at buying our tickets for the morning. We had cut it a bit fine before the office closed, but emerged after much work from the staff with two FIP tickets/reservations for the morning which cost a lot less than we expected .
Time to retire for a cocktail and some dinner.
Monday 15th May
Time to get out of Spain!
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| 334006 and 334009 have arrived at Merida and will now run around the train before continuing to Badajoz. 15/05/2023 |
I think we have just about worked out the metro ticket machines by now but it still took attempts to find the right set of platforms at Atocha for IC190 to Badajoz. I believe this train usually starts at Chamartin, but for reasons unexplained it is Atocha today. 334 006 and 009 are provided for our Talgo train, a winning class for both of us. I was surprised how quickly we left the wires behind and settled into this long diesel run. At various points the train switches between the classic line and various sections of the new high speed line which is being built largely alongside it. The difference in speed is certainly noticeable! Unfortunately the café car has no seating, but some reasonably priced refreshments are instead brought back to our coach seats.
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| RENFE bi-mode trainset calls at Talavera De La Reina bound for Madrid, as our train awaits the pathway forwards towards Portugal. 15/05/2023 |
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| Allan railcar 0362 forms the cross border service from Badajoz to Entroncamento. 16/06/2023 |
There is a delay to our journey at Badajoz as while the Allan railcar to take us on into Portugal is in the station, it has presumably arrived late and the staff are still on their break. Once we are off around 30 minutes late we soon cross the border and sort out tickets with the CP staff on board, these don’t seem to be able to be booked through from RENFE stations. The first few miles of the line are newly electrified, which is a surprise, but this soon ends (presumably where the one day connection to Evora would diverge?). Our solitary coach is left to trundle on to Entroncamento, slowly losing a little more time and only passing one other train, the afternoon Allan going the other way.
It hasn’t been a bad journey, but it has hardly been the Sud Express, and we are glad to see Entroncamento. Tickets are purchased to Pinhal Novo, since again for some reason we can’t book through to Setubal. We have a good half hour to get a beer and enjoy watching 'Portuguese 20' 1466 engaging in a bit of shunting. 5602 is our traction south to Lisbon Oriente where we should have another loco hauled train forward. |
| 5604 is a couple of minutes out of Pinhal Novo as it prepares to take it's IC train across the Tagus towards Lisbon. 16/05/2023 |
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| CP EMU 2275 (2240 class) approaches Palmela with a train to Praias Sado. 16/05/23 |
There is a bit of a disturbance on the outskirts of Lisbon. We pass a freight train in a siding and what is this… a flash of orange! Sole surviving operational Alsthom 1905 is at its head, lights on and ready to go! Having been my biggest target on a previous trip this wasn’t easily going to be let go. A quick check of the ‘Train Status PT’ app confirmed that it would follow around 30 minutes behind our train to Oriente. A quick re-plan was needed and fortunately we could drop back onto a later loco-hauled train and still make Setubal in reasonable time. Luckily 1905 used the ‘right’ platform at Oriente and we had a pleasing sunny shot. It may not have made much noise, but what a turn up!
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| The last orange Alsthom, 1905 approaches Lisbon Oriente with a rail train. 15/05/2023 |
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| 1565 returns to port with empty steel carriers. 16/05/2023 |
5610 then took us forward over the Tagus 30 minutes after we
originally planned- we were already happy we had made the decision to come to
Portugal. At Pinhal Novo, as if this needed confirming Takcargo MLW 1563 burst
through the station unexpectedly with a train of steel coils making a right
racket – driver complete with ear protection!
We stayed at the Lunar Esperanca Centro Hotel, incidentally
the ‘wrong’ hotel that we tried to check in to in error on our last visit here!
This turned out to be an absolute bargain with a nice room and breakfast for a
fraction of what we had paid in Madrid. We had arrived a lot earlier than our
previous visit and had time for a lovely fresh fish dinner before trying to
book a hire car back in the room.
Tuesday 16th May
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| One of the standout shots of the trip was Alsthom 1903 'Eva' passing Monte Novo-Palma with the loaded train from Mines Neves Corvo. 16/05/2023 |
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| 1565 slogs uphill from Setubal port with loaded steel coils for Siderurgia Nacional. 16/05/23 |
It turns out the hire car booking had been unsuccessful, but once the Avis office opened [late] we did manage to book our hire car and still made it out for the first Takargo MLW shuttle we were hoping to see. Given we had no plan we did well to get a sunny shot of 1563 on this. We then had time to find a good position for its return.
Aside from the MLW’s the other target had to be the Neves
Corvo mine train, the last totally reliable bet for an Alstom ‘nez cassé’ 1900.
Again the Train Status PT app had tipped us off as to the likely candidate and
persuaded us to come south- it was Medway’s yellow 1903 ‘Eva’.
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| 1466 is one of the station pilots at Entroncamento. 15/05/23. |
I had identified a shot at Monte Novo-Palma which should
work, and fortunately the train did indeed come this way on the classic route
rather than taking the more direct Alacer cut-off. 1903 sounded great and we
were able to just about chase the train back to the Somnicore unloader at
Praias Sado, where towards the end of the shunting process the loaded train then
de-railed!
While we left Medway to sort the mess out we headed back to
Pinhal Novo to attempt the evening MLW shot that we never got last time. With
delays to the train it again started to look dicey, but thankfully on this
occasion the train did run and we got the picture we wanted, plus a couple of
5600’s which we also managed to miss on our previous visit.
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| 1565 brings another load of steel coils from Setubal Mar to Siderurgia Nacional, pictured above from a drone. 17/05/2023 |
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| 1456 shunting between the docks in Setubal. 17/05/23 |
Driving back to town via Praias Sado revealed that most of
1903’s train had now been put back on the rails where it should be. This was
good news for the morning.
It had been an excellent day and it was time for a beer and
nice meal in Setubal’s old town. Even if we saw nothing in the morning we would
be happy with our successful visit to Portugal.
Wednesday 17th May
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| In a favorite spot, 1565 bursts onto the street scene at Setubal Mar with empty steel carriers from Siderurgia Nacional. 17/05/2023. |
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| 1463 is stabled next to Alsthom 1904 within the depot at Praias Sado. 17/05/2023 |
There wasn’t a lot to do today, but fill some time before
heading to the airport, with some trains ideally! The day had dawned fairly
overcast but it was still worth going to see and hear 1903 heading down to the
mine before breakfast. After that it was a fairly relaxed schedule to catch the
Penalva car circuit behind 1565 at Praca do Quebedo and then attempting a drone
shot of 1563 by which time the sun had reappeared.
We finished off by catching 1456 shunting the port and then a
repeat of our favourite shot at Setubal with 1563 emerging from the tunnel. A
quick look at Prais Sado revealed 1904 and 1463 between duties. The final train
was a Medway container service before driving to Lisbon Airport and home.
Portugal had been good to us again. Pajares would have to
wait until when and if we can muster the appetite for another go.
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| 1903 'Eva' heads outbound across the saltmarshes shortly after leaving Praias Sado with its empty train headed for the mines at Neves Corvo. 17/05/23 |
