Help with some European railways.

[Quantumspotter]

Hello everyone.

Hope everyone is well today? Just a quick post. I am a relatively new convert to the wonders of European railway systems etc. I was wondering if anyone knew of some good websites or books, preferably in English, that you can point me in the right direction of please? Anything from rolling stock info, through to operating systems and the like. Any help at the minute would be great. Many thanks.

Quantumspotter.

 

[cactustwirly]

Hello everyone.

Hope everyone is well today? Just a quick post. I am a relatively new convert to the wonders of European railway systems etc. I was wondering if anyone knew of some good websites or books, preferably in English, that you can point me in the right direction of please? Anything from rolling stock info, through to operating systems and the like. Any help at the minute would be great. Many thanks.

Quantumspotter.

What sort of thing are you after?
The man in seat 61 has some excellent information, if you're more for information on locos etc, then Wikipedia is a good start! (the native language pages are very good if you have chrome and Google translate)

 

[eastwestdivide]

There's a website www.egtre.info, The Enthusiast's Guide to Travelling the Railways of Europe
Lots of info, arranged by country

 

[33056]

Have a look at http://www.railfaneurope.net, plenty of basic details and pictures arranged by country.

 

[Quantumspotter]

There's a website www.egtre.info, The Enthusiast's Guide to Travelling the Railways of Europe
Lots of info, arranged by country

Many thanks for this. It’s a good starting point.

 

[Quantumspotter]

Have a look at http://www.railfaneurope.net, plenty of basic details and pictures arranged by country.

Thank you . It’s a good starting point.

 

[Quantumspotter]

What sort of thing are you after?
The man in seat 61 has some excellent information, if you're more for information on locos etc, then Wikipedia is a good start! (the native language pages are very good if you have chrome and Google translate)

I have used the excellent Man in Seat 61 website. And Google only goes so far. I was looking things like the history of certain railways, for example info on the Paris metro and things like that. I do read the likes of Modern Railways & Today’s Railways Europe magazine etc. However they are very limited in space. Are they any other magazines, preferably in English, that maybe available?

 

[JonathanP]

Of course if you remove the "in English" part you can get anything you like(I believe Platform 5, publishers of TREU, even distribute some of them in the UK). The only other english language print magazine dedicated to European Railways that I know of is https://www.minirex.ch/railway-update.aspx, but compared to TREU it's quite 'dry' and not so useful for travel information, consisting mostly of large numbers of short news articles, and highly detailed technical articles.

Also worth mentioning is Hidden Europe https://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk/, which is a travel/culture magazine not a Railway Magazine, but often has articles about interesting rail journeys. The authors are also authors of the book of rail tour suggestions Europe By Rail https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-Rai...=europe+by+rail&qid=1555223197&s=books&sr=1-1, which you night find worth a read.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's a wealth of information on Wikipedia, but often buried in local language pages.
The English page version is often truncated to generalities.
For example, most of the main lines in France are best covered in pages like "Paris-Strasbourg Railway".
Just compare the detail given in the English and French pages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris-Est–Strasbourg-Ville_railway
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_de_Paris-Est_à_Strasbourg-Ville
You can always use translate buttons to get a pidgin-English version (but don't expect technical details to translate well).
Most of the detailed route diagrams have links to connecting lines, so you can step from one line to another easily. Works particularly well in Germany.

The series of pages like "History of Railways in..." generally produces a good background for each country, with links to more detail.
For instance there's a chart in the page on Austrian railways which shows the way all the original railway companies merged into the state railway (kkStB).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Royal_Austrian_State_Railways

Some countries are covered better than others.
German-speaking countries seem to do best, but it's harder to find comprehensive information for newer states like Poland and "Yugoslavia", where the railways were mostly built by previous empires, often more than one - Poland's railways were built by German, Austrian and Russian owners.

For maps, I find http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/maps.php very useful.
It has country maps and all sorts of local operational detail.
However I believe it has not been updated for a while.

For rolling stock, try https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=CD&cislo=172&rok=2012&lang=en
It will give you train formations for all long-distance trains in Central Europe and further afield, and a host of operational detail.

 

[TRAX]

RailcolorNews is a great place for what you want.

 

[themiller]

Try https://www.minirex.ch/railway-update.aspx

 

[Adlington]

The only other english language print magazine dedicated to European Railways that I know of is https://www.minirex.ch/railway-update.aspx, but compared to TREU it's quite 'dry' and not so useful for travel information, consisting mostly of large numbers of short news articles, and highly detailed technical articles.

The table of contents of the current edition is free to read.

 

[JonathanP]

I hope that illustrates my comments. Can you imagine any other railway magazine publishing a feature article called "Speed controller for trains with longitudinal oscillations" ?