You may be interested in a journey I made in early June 1968 from Regua to Salamanca via Barca d'Alva.
Departure from Regua was at 7.05 on the mixed train to Pocinho hauled by inside cylinder 4-6-0 "Claude Hamilton" No285. This train was well known amongst enthusiasts as a "must do" when in northern Portugal. The consist was a large number of freight wagons plus four ancient carriages at the back, the last of which had a veranda. Next to the loco was a water tanker from which women would fill up their earthenware pots with water and then carry them home precariously balanced on their heads. The train stopped everywhere sometimes for more than half an hour while wagons were dropped off and picked up. It was possible to go for a coffee in a local cafe providing you let the guard know. On this particular day ,beside myself ,there were two other English enthusiasts, two French ones and the late Irish railway historian R C "Bob" Riley. In fact Bob gave us some interesting information,namely that the Barca d'Alva to Fuentes de San Esteban train was in its last week of steam operation and the ex FC del Oeste 0-6-0 tender locos were to be replaced by extending the morning CP Bud railcar from Oporto to Salamanca. The mixed train was assisted by a bank loco, 4-6-0 No 285 running tender first, from Freixo de Numao into Pocinho. Here there was a fair bit of activity, a narrow gauge 2-4-6-0 arriving on the morning passenger from Duas Igrejas-Miranda, E41 the ng station pilot in steam, E52 "Vizeu" the only named loco on the CP and outside cylinder 4-6-0 no238 on a train from Barca to Oporto.
At Pocinho we transferred to the railcar from Oporto for the short journey to Barca where we had lunch in the station cantina. Eventually the Renfe train turned up behind 030-2568 and we departed at 14.55 for Fuentes de San Esteban. The line over the frontier was rocky with many tunnels and during the journey our passports were taken from us. The train consisted of two ancient wooden coaches and a number of vans. Our passports were given back to us at La Fregenada,the Spanish frontier town ,and we had been deemed acceptable to enter Franco's Spain. It was about two and a half hours to F de E where we changed onto a train for Salamanca hauled by an ex MZA 4-8-2 which I photographed and got told off for doing so by a man in uniform.At Salamanca we bunked round the shed, a bit foolhardy in a fascist country,where we saw mostly oil-fired 2-8-2's and 4-8-0's. The next day I said goodbye to my friends who were trying to get through strike ridden France back to the uk. I returned back via the Douro valley and headed for the Vouga ng network.
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