Friday 28th June - Tuesday 2nd July
This is my third, and probably final, visit to Berlin. Each visit has been at roughly 15 year intervals and, boy, has it changed since 1991. Then it was two distinct cities and two distinct cultures making it unique - cranes offering bungee jumps on the old No Man's Land. Now it is one homogenised mass of commercialism which only pays lip service to the former East Germany because 'they lost'. [see
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/german-reunification-in-the-1990s.183735/ for further reading]. In the old Berlin, the overly-commercial western showcase Ku'damm was always the most soulless part of Berlin. I think the glass dome on the Reichstag is rubbish and out of place. I shudder at seeing a Primark in Alexanderplatz, the heart of old East Berlin ... and can't even find the statue of Marx and Engels any more. When I first visited, I fell in love with Berlin and thought I'd like to live there for 6 months when I retired. Now, I have no inclination to visit again. The destruction of the Palast der Republik is the true story of Berlin and I made a point of listening to Einstuerzende Neubauten's gig there shortly before its demolition when I got home. End of rant, back to the trains.
On the first day there, I made a point of recording the traction of S-bahn rides which we used mainly since it was slightly cooler in the stifling heat than the U-bahn. The S-bahn trains, however, seemed to be random formations of 481 and 482 units without apparent rhyme or reason to numbering and so I gave up.
We also managed a ride on an 885 on S fortysomething. Sunday 30th June when the temperature was predicted to touch 40 was reserved for a trip to the Technikalische Museum and we were hopeful for air conditioning ; we weren't lucky. For some reason, much of it was closed (maybe due to the weather) and it wasn't the impressive collection that we remembered from our previous visit. Luckily the engine sheds were still open though, allowing a squint at the V 200.
The next day, we accidentally bumped into former East German express 175 015 at Berlin Lichtenberg after having visited the Stasi Museum; a mighty fine sight.
Then it was time for the long trek west. For the homeward leg, we had booked an ICE from Berlin Hauptbahnhof but, again, I deemed it would be easier to go to Spandau since we had much lugguge in tow. In actual fact, the train started at Berlin Gesundbrunnen which would have been easy for us but took an inordinate amount of time to get to Hauptbahnhof. So we caught DMUs 648 121 and 648 110 to Spandau, passing the surprising sight of a BR 132 in the yards on the way.
Again, some middle cab action was observed on arrival at Spandau.
Our onward journey was on ICE 2 pairing 402 027 - 808 027 on the Berlin - Koeln run. Knowing the length of journey, I had made seat reservations and outlined to my son the diagram on the station platform which showed the train formation and where we would be sitting ... only to find that the unit had been switched around and so we had to walk through 8 carriages to find our seats. Needless to say on finding our seats, they were occupied and so I had to use my best German (although probably not my politest having had to walk through 8 carriages) to throw people out of them.
The ICE made a nice change from our, by now, usual regional offerings and the 4 hour 20 minute journey flew by. I particularly like the leaflets that come on the ICE which detail the intermediate stops and the connections that you can make at them. The train was fairly rammed until Hannover where the majority alighted and was quite lightly loaded onwards. The German network is such that in most cases to travel from Berlin requires doing the Berlin - Hannover hop if going south (e.g. Munich) or east. At Hannover, we were treated to the sight of another couple of stabled 218s (831 and 834). Somewhere between Hamm and Wuppertal, we pass 272 201 which does a passable impression of a Class 58
We arrive at Koeln in time for a quick PNB and wander to have a good squint at the cathedral before catching ICE3 No 406 085 (or 4685 as it says on the tin) to Brussels.
Before arrival, we are treated to sweeping views of Schaerbeek depot in all its glory and catch a glimpse of some glorious diesel beasts lined up, presumably awaiting their trip to Belgian Booths.
Rather than make the final leg of the journey to London, we have booked to go to Antwerp to stay the night and have a look around and we change for that purpose at Bruxelles Nord. We hop aboard the train to Antwerp which is travelling DVT first and revisit the glorious sight of Schaerbeek again. Obviously, our interest in trains doesn't go unnoticed and on the approach to Mechelin we receive some gold-plated gen from the Belgian gentleman across the aisle who informs us (in broken English that is much better than my Flemish) that there will be some interesting freight trains on his side of the line in a minute. I venture over and get the opportunity to photograph 4 of the aforementioned diesel beasts on engineering trains constructing the new lines (and platforms) at Mechelin.
I thank this wonderful gent profusely ; but he's not finished. Outside Antwerp he informs me that there is a special train coming up and so it is ... Infrabel ECTS 165 202 is parked up.
which (from what I can gather) is part of the new Belgian fleet compatible with European Train Control Systems (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Train_Control_System). How wonderful it is to have a local rail guide with the gen !
We arrive in Antwerp Centraal to find that our traction for the journey had been SNCB 2735.
Not for the first time on this journey, we are hoping to explore a place more than we had done previously. Our previous visit had been at the end of a camping holiday in 2005 which had seen 40+ temperatures and we had been confined to a hotel in Antwerp docks area, only venturing into town for a quick smash-and-grab on a pizza. This time we get a more leisurely visit and explore more. For those who like their trams I attach a picture of one of their wonderful 'legacy' trams which, at first sight, I think is a tourist novelty tram until I realise that actually they are just in regular service (although soon to be replaced). They do seem older than those on the Kirnitzschtalbahn which we visited a few years ago.
We eat pizza out and to round off our last night, I buy 3 local beers to celebrate, blissfully unaware of the existence of Kriek. Whilst my wife and son get normal ones, I am left with the Kriek that I ordered. Strange that cherry beer can be so bitter ; if you have never experienced one, you really should.
After overnighting in Antwerp (not a very positive airbnb experience) it is July 3rd and we head to Antwerp Centraal for an early morning train back to Bruxelles, this time powered by SNCB 2154.
We arrive in Bruxelles without a hitch and with enough time to have a quick stop and look around the grand central square in Bruxelles / Brussels which my son doesn't remember visiting 10 years previously; the Belgians certainly know how to do a grand square. We give the weeing boy statue a miss. We then head back to Centraal to hop on a train to Zuid / Midi - (kind of getting lost in an English/French/Flemish language warp now). Haulage is by SNCB 1806 but the stock is quite exceptional and exquisitely retro. In fact, it is so unusual that two youngish women are so freaked out that they ask whether it is a first class carriage presumably thinking it is akin to the Orient Express.
We arrive at Zuid and proceed to the Eurostar waiting area which is hot, humid and airless for our jaunt back to Blighty. Today, our chariot is 373008 which seems to be one that is dodging the cutter's torch. At Calais, our attention is drawn in the yards to a 67 which looks much like its counterpart UK class 67. Unfortunately, we are so distracted that we miss ID'ing a double-headed freight with DBC grey 92s (which would have been winners) and, on arrival in the UK, we ID duds 92032 and 92044 at Dollands Moor but fail to ID a further grey DBC 92 (which would have been a winner). Spotting sucks sometimes.
Having left a goodly amount of time to transfer, we proceed up the Pentonville Road to get a cold sandwich (it's strange the things you miss in Euroland) from the Sainsburys Local and tube it to Marylebone to sit and eat it. Whilst Marylebone is a nice station, all seats seem to be taken by the looks of it by people called Harriet or Rupert. 68010 is about to pull out, but unfortunately not on our train. We ID 3 x 165 winners (012,034,038) and our chariot back to Banbury is 168001 which is a winner for everything.
Wembley CS throw up another couple of dud 68s (where is 11 ?), 3 more 165 winners (001,023,035) and 172102 which heralds the firing of a microclass clearance water pistol (172/1s). Preserved shunter D3018 puts in an appearance at Princes Risborough and arrival at Banbury is accompanied by an additional 165 winner (014).
... and there ends my essay on what I did on my summer holiday. Thanks for reading and apologies for the tardiness of this final chapter.