DaiGog
Member
Standard gauge - not sure, can't recall seeing any recently. The metre gauge Rhaetische Bahn has two mixed trains on weekdays, however.
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TRIVIA: Things you saw travelling on mainland European railways that you don't see today
- Thread starter AY1975
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Standard gauge - not sure, can't recall seeing any recently. The metre gauge Rhaetische Bahn has two mixed trains on weekdays, however.
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They still operate on the fabulous Rhätische Bahn - train R4718 0753 Ilanz-Chur is/was such a service (and is booked for a Ge6/6II). The Tirano line also sees mixed trains, often hauled by one of the Stadler ABe8/12 sets.
Not Europe , but the V line loco hauled sets out of Melbourne appear to have a goods wagon attached .
Two trains per month. Or at least so it was last time I looked. It is unfortunately a mandatory passage for going from Europe to India by train, something I dream to do once but until today the travelling conditions and lack of most basic security in Pakistan retained my efforts.
Calderfornian
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Trains on boats, went from Germany to Copenhagen on the train ferry in the late 80s. All good fun until we our compartment was sleeping gassed on the return leg and all our cash / travellers cheques were stolen. That was a slow morning in Koln police station!
AlexNL
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Those still exist, although nowadays the Germany - Denmark service is operated using DSB IC3 DMUs
Paper tickets in the Netherlands - now completely replaced by "OV Chipkaart" smartcards at least for Dutch domestic journeys, although I think foreign visitors who do not have an "OV Chipkaart" can still get ordinary tickets but they are issued as single-use disposable smartcards.
Going back even further, Edmondson card tickets - I think they were once universal in most of Europe (or western Europe at least). They had probably gone in most countries by the 1970s or '80s, although Portugal still had them when I went there in 1991 at least on the Lisbon to Cascais and Sintra lines.
Going back further still, permanently staffed ticket barriers - I think most countries in mainland Europe phased them out in the 1960s and '70s, earlier than in Britain, although France still had them at least at main stations until about 1978 when they were replaced by ticket validators ("composteurs"). Also, SNCF has recently installed access gates at some main stations, the Netherlands now has them at many stations as part of the "OV Chipkaart" scheme, and Italy sometimes has manual checks at platform entrances at stations like Milano Centrale and Roma Termini (see also the thread on how fare evasion is dealt with abroad compared to the UK at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/how-is-fare-evasion-dealt-with-abroad-compared-to-the-uk.177639).
Going back even further, Edmondson card tickets - I think they were once universal in most of Europe (or western Europe at least). They had probably gone in most countries by the 1970s or '80s, although Portugal still had them when I went there in 1991 at least on the Lisbon to Cascais and Sintra lines.
Going back further still, permanently staffed ticket barriers - I think most countries in mainland Europe phased them out in the 1960s and '70s, earlier than in Britain, although France still had them at least at main stations until about 1978 when they were replaced by ticket validators ("composteurs"). Also, SNCF has recently installed access gates at some main stations, the Netherlands now has them at many stations as part of the "OV Chipkaart" scheme, and Italy sometimes has manual checks at platform entrances at stations like Milano Centrale and Roma Termini (see also the thread on how fare evasion is dealt with abroad compared to the UK at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/how-is-fare-evasion-dealt-with-abroad-compared-to-the-uk.177639).
The catering on the platform of a station in the Netherlands is gone, because the windows can not to be opened. We had later trolleys through the trains. In doubledeck train at both ends there was a kind of escalator to move it up- or downstairs. This applies only for the 86, 87, 94 and 95 if i am correct. Now there is a person like a circusartist with all the food and drinks tied to her/his body.
Well that's better than nothing!
I believe that at one time Dutch trains often had someone going round just selling coffee - nothing else.
I think Belgian Railways also got rid of refreshment trolleys on all Belgian domestic trains in about the early 2000s (and have not reintroduced any form of on-train catering unlike in the Netherlands). SNCF also doesn't have many trains (apart from TGVs) that still have on-board catering - again they used to have a trolley (called a "vente ambulante à consummation") on many of their ordinary long-distance trains (most of which have now been superseded by TGVs).
Unfortunately I think many train operators have found that as the number and choice of refreshment outlets at stations has increased (which can offer a much wider choice of products than any form of on-train catering can) on-train refreshment services have struggled to remain viable.
farci
Member
Ask many German rail travellers what they remember from the past - ‘reliable on time DB trains’ ...?
MisterT
Member
"Paper" tickets can still be bought by anyone in the ticket machines or at the counter.
And I said "paper", because they are indeed single-use disposible smartcards. The true paper tickets have not been in use for quite a few years already, as many stations have been equipped with gates. The smartcard part of the ticket is used to open the gates and to activate the paper ticket (tickets can be sold as a 72h-ticket, which means that it will activate those 72h the first time you touch in).
paddington
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I think the disposable smartcard is a waste (of metal and money), it seems that many ticket barriers can now scan barcodes so why not just print a barcode on a piece of paper (like e-tickets)?
We still have paper tickets with a chip in it. You pay a surcharge of 1 Euro per ticket. So with 8 trips you are paying less. Question remains what is cheaper the ticket or chipcard if you change from operator (NS/Arriva and v.v.). Also if you along your trip take a break and visit a certain city. For example Groningen - Rotterdam.is 26,50. But if the stay in Zwolle and Utrecht is too long for the chipcard to see it as 1 journey than it is 19 + 16 + 11 = 46 Euro
MisterT
Member
We have print-at-home and mobile tickets with a barcode too. The problem with those tickets is that it takes longer to scan, as the camera has to scan the barcode, and then validate the bar code against the database of valid codes. This takes a bit longer, which is not a problem with one person using this kind of ticket, but with many people, the extra time that is required adds up quickly.
LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Do they still have "Aussichtwagen*" open air wooden carriages with bench seats on the RhB?
Must be 38 years since we went over the Bernina Pass in one.
Fabulous views of the glaciers (which must be a bit shorter now).
* and in all the other Swiss languages
Class 132 Soviet (Ukrainian, built in Luhansk) diesels hauling DR passenger trains in the DDR.
Some of them (DB class 232 now) are still there (eg at Eisenach) working on freight.
The "Weisse Flotte" paddle steamers on the Elbe at Dresden are still plying their trade, under a different name.
The Communist Youth groups out for a hike are absent, however.
Dresden has been largely rebuilt since reunification. The Frauenkirche is just superb.
Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin has lost all its grimness, very tame in comparison to 1979.
The Tranenpalast is still there as a museum, but it's not the same without the DDR guards!
Must be 38 years since we went over the Bernina Pass in one.
Fabulous views of the glaciers (which must be a bit shorter now).
* and in all the other Swiss languages
Class 132 Soviet (Ukrainian, built in Luhansk) diesels hauling DR passenger trains in the DDR.
Some of them (DB class 232 now) are still there (eg at Eisenach) working on freight.
The "Weisse Flotte" paddle steamers on the Elbe at Dresden are still plying their trade, under a different name.
The Communist Youth groups out for a hike are absent, however.
Dresden has been largely rebuilt since reunification. The Frauenkirche is just superb.
Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin has lost all its grimness, very tame in comparison to 1979.
The Tranenpalast is still there as a museum, but it's not the same without the DDR guards!
Aussichtwagen departure in summer:
Davos - Filisur 10.18 16.18
Filisur - Davos 11.06 17.06
St. Moritz - Tirano 9.48 14.48 16.48
Tirano - St. Moritz 9.41 11.41 13.00
Chur - Arosa 10.08 14.08
Arosa - Chur 11.48 15.48
Landquart/Chur/Trin - Ilanz 7.58 13.04 15.17 (sunday)
Ilanz - Chur/Trin/Landquart 10.48 14.31 15.58 (sunday)
Davos - Filisur 10.18 16.18
Filisur - Davos 11.06 17.06
St. Moritz - Tirano 9.48 14.48 16.48
Tirano - St. Moritz 9.41 11.41 13.00
Chur - Arosa 10.08 14.08
Arosa - Chur 11.48 15.48
Landquart/Chur/Trin - Ilanz 7.58 13.04 15.17 (sunday)
Ilanz - Chur/Trin/Landquart 10.48 14.31 15.58 (sunday)
paddington
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Sure, but I think 99% or more of passengers use a regular OV-chipkaart, so would it really cause chaos if all ticket machines were converted to just issue "print-at-home" tickets?
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
Vertical Integration...
ChiefPlanner
Established Member
Good points - and the other thing lost" when the DDR went was a "normal" service on the extant narrow gauge lines , well into the evening and items such as light freight and newspapers carried . Also standard gauge wagons carried on transporter wagons. Glad to have seen all this. That and Mitropa diners where hard currency always provided non menu "extras" !
AlexNL
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I have the feeling that print-at-home tickets were an afterthought when the OV-chipkaart system was designed. Everyone in the Netherlands would travel with an OV-chipkaart after all, international passengers would get keycards which would allow them to pass through the barriers.
The roll-out of barcode readers didn't start until a few years later, which means the hybrid readers had to be retrofitted onto existing gatelines. At that time, by then the TVMs had already been modified to issue disposable smartcards.
duesselmartin
Established Member
Although still in some parts of Ireland and possibly Portugal.
Railway crossing houses. The picture below is from the first crossing (Paterswoldseweg) on the west side of station Groningen. The source is current Rail Msgazine. As a young child entered the building many times. Right is a sign with number; that is for the 2nd crossing of the Peizerweg. Already automatic barriers.
Then you could add to that the many signal houses that used to dot the country side, just to maneuver signals only used to maintain train separation. Automatic block systems made them redundant years ago, but I still had the opportunity to see and even visit some of them when I was a teenager. And in a few years, it's the lineside signals themselves that will go away.
dutchflyer
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Youre very wrong there-when I follow with my eyes out of boredom the very rare conductor who checks, i estimate that roughly about 25-33% of those checked have the onetimetix-on the Schiphol airport leg of course many more-till maybe 90%.
Machines are not able to issue ordered @ home tix-they also never were. @home tix you print yourself or you hold them on the NS-=app in fone. Many features you now look at like outdated are outdated-the basics of the chipcardsystem here were laid some 12-11 yrs ago and were never changed, only more features added to later. In the ministry they are now busy with laying out and convincing the rail-operators to adapt to the new times-most think it will be with GPS-based fones. (Psst! some nast tongues even tell, that due to enormous everlasting strife between the rail-operators it were the programmers who finally decided how the system should be set up then-they're probably right)
Also NS-gates cannot NOT handle 72 hr tix-they can only handle tix for the day untill 4 hrs next morning and then additional days. This differs from the validators on board bus/tram.
Edmonson tix were still being sold in Thailand untill well after 2000 for some short trips. Now its all on those old-style printed with holes on the side for getting thru the printers-also quite outdated today.
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