eastwestdivide
Established Member
Just a short report on a trip to Benelux a couple of weeks back.
Part 1
Thursday morning, the 0915 from a relaxed Ebbsfleet a little late... dep at 0925. Nearly stopped at Folkestone, into tunnel at 0949. Out at 1109. Lille: long stop, lots getting off, my connection was now a bit doubtful, but the helpful train manager said it would be OK, plat 11 and use special "connections" corridor. He even confirmed that there was a sandwich shop in that corridor. Arrival at Brussels 1215.
I momentarily lost the Panos sandwich shop (it was right over low platform numbers side), but found it just in time for the 1233 IC97 (aka EC97) to Luxembourg (and onwards to Basel) -
at the front, Belgian loco 1353, then some Belgian coaches - some compartments, some opening-window opens (about 10 coaches, Belgian, at least at the front). Not very full initially, but picking up more at the other 4 Brussels stations.
Dep at ... 1242. Rolling wooded country to Namur. Only rearmost coaches (6?) go all the way to Basel so there was a mass exodus of people when the guard came round. More and more forested, and very soporific at a smooth 75mph or so. Lot of improvement work taking place, including wrong-line running past machinery on the other track. Even with cranes/diggers working.
Luxembourg arrival on time at 1550.
Friday I was a tourist in Luxembourg City, but as it's a hilly city with lots of fortifications, there were a lot of good viewpoints of the various viaducts, and with a frequent train service, you never had to wait long to get a train on a viaduct (even if it's a toy train):
Double-deck EMU:
loco + double-deck coaches:
Luxembourg/Liège service:
One of the viaducts was being supplemented with new construction, at Pulvermuehle (see http://www.cfl.lu/espaces/infrastru...on-dun-viaduc-de-dédoublement-au-pulvermühle) -
Discovered that the local language, Lëtzebuergesch, at least when written, resembles German as spoken by the policeman out of 'Allo 'Allo (Good Moaning), with roughly the right consonants but seemingly all the vowels different.
More to come shortly...
Part 1
Thursday morning, the 0915 from a relaxed Ebbsfleet a little late... dep at 0925. Nearly stopped at Folkestone, into tunnel at 0949. Out at 1109. Lille: long stop, lots getting off, my connection was now a bit doubtful, but the helpful train manager said it would be OK, plat 11 and use special "connections" corridor. He even confirmed that there was a sandwich shop in that corridor. Arrival at Brussels 1215.
I momentarily lost the Panos sandwich shop (it was right over low platform numbers side), but found it just in time for the 1233 IC97 (aka EC97) to Luxembourg (and onwards to Basel) -
at the front, Belgian loco 1353, then some Belgian coaches - some compartments, some opening-window opens (about 10 coaches, Belgian, at least at the front). Not very full initially, but picking up more at the other 4 Brussels stations.
Dep at ... 1242. Rolling wooded country to Namur. Only rearmost coaches (6?) go all the way to Basel so there was a mass exodus of people when the guard came round. More and more forested, and very soporific at a smooth 75mph or so. Lot of improvement work taking place, including wrong-line running past machinery on the other track. Even with cranes/diggers working.
Luxembourg arrival on time at 1550.
Friday I was a tourist in Luxembourg City, but as it's a hilly city with lots of fortifications, there were a lot of good viewpoints of the various viaducts, and with a frequent train service, you never had to wait long to get a train on a viaduct (even if it's a toy train):
Double-deck EMU:
loco + double-deck coaches:
Luxembourg/Liège service:
One of the viaducts was being supplemented with new construction, at Pulvermuehle (see http://www.cfl.lu/espaces/infrastru...on-dun-viaduc-de-dédoublement-au-pulvermühle) -
Discovered that the local language, Lëtzebuergesch, at least when written, resembles German as spoken by the policeman out of 'Allo 'Allo (Good Moaning), with roughly the right consonants but seemingly all the vowels different.
More to come shortly...
Attachments
-
Brussels-Luxembourg train.jpg37.9 KB · Views: 80
-
Brussels-Luxembourg train interior.jpg23 KB · Views: 79
-
IMG_4472.jpg30.7 KB · Views: 74
-
IMG_4473.jpg62.5 KB · Views: 78
-
IMG_4486.jpg54.1 KB · Views: 74
-
IMG_4503.jpg49.8 KB · Views: 73
-
IMG_4512.jpg68.7 KB · Views: 76
-
IMG_4514.jpg47.2 KB · Views: 75
-
Luxembourg-ish and German.jpg57.3 KB · Views: 73