Interrail Report

[theblackwatch]

Last week I returned to the UK after a 10 day Interraail ticket. I've started writing a report of the trip, as much for myself as for anyone else, here's the story so far. (Day 4 onwards will appear in due course, when it's been written!).

Day 0 – Monday 1st June
The outing began on the 18.00 Jet2 flight from Yeadon to Dusseldorf. My first ‘proper’ train of the trip wash the 23.12 overnight from Dusseldorf which I was catching to Karlsruhe, so in the meantime, I caught a pair of top and tail Class 112s from Airport to Dusseldorf before heading for the brew pub a few minutes from Dusseldorf Hbf for a couple of beers before my train.

The overnight ran via Koln and Mannheim, where the portions were shunted (my train was shunted twice) and I ended up with a different Class 101 in charge for the run to Karlsruhe where I alighted at 04.37.

Day 1 – Tuesday 2nd June
My reason for alighting at Karlsruhe at 04.37 had been to catch the 04.55 Munchen service the short distance to Bruchsal for a Class 425 ‘Kart’ to Heidelburg in order to pick up the 05.20 Frankfurt-Stuttgart which is booked for Class 103 haulage. The ‘Kart’ was pretty empty when I got on, and I fell asleepagains my bag. I woke up 10 minutes later to find it full and standing! The Germans clearly like to set off early, it wasn’t even 06.00.

The Class 103 (103113) appeared as booked, and I caught it to Stuttgart. The station here is in the process of being rebuilt, and has for some time I believe. I spent most of the morning covering Class 111, 143 and 146 locos in the area, along with a short trip behind a Class 218 on an Ulm bound service. There was an incident with one train – the 11.05 ex Stuttgart failed to stopand Bad Cannstatt as booked. I thought it was going a bit fast on the approach, and the train braked sharply as it reached the station and came to a stop beyond the platform end. After about 30 seconds we just moved away on to the next stop where passenger for Bad Cannstatt had to alight.

I then made my way to Mannheim, where I caught an ICE to Paris Est, on this day planned to be diverted via Strasbourg. It spent if first 90 minutes or so staggering out of Germany and in eastern France before finally hitting the high speed line. Once in Paris, I caught the Metro to Paris Austerlitz to meet up with Jordy prior to us heading for Orleans. The train departed Paris 30 late, and we had to change at Les Aubrais for the last leg into Orleans itself. That train was also 30 late, so it gave us time to visit a mobile ‘chuck wagon’ outside where we were able to buy a freshly made pizza cooked in a wood fired oven.

The final leg, taking us the short journey to Orleans, was behind ‘Sybic’ 26121, hauling another loco. Nothing special we thought, but I was later advised that this engine is a freight one, so perhaps quite rare? The hotel was just a few minutes away from the station and after checking in and dumping bags, we headed to the town square for a couple of beers, finding a place with a good selection, something that is quite rare in France!

Day 2 – Wednesday 3rd June
The first aim of today was to cover the 67400 diesel on the Montlucon-Paris, which is diesel hauled as far as Bourges. This turned out to be a spectacular failure – the train started at Bourges with a single car DMU being provided as a connection from Montlucon to Bourges. The 67400 was parked up at Bourges, and clearly hadn’t worked to Montlucon the previous evening. Oh well, on to Paris….

The second half of the day was more successful, travelling over the Paris-Belfort line, which is operated by 72100 diesels – one of a small number of InterCity diesel routes in Europe. We managed to ride behind three different examples, but efforts to eat in Vesoul failed – it seemed nowhere was serving food until 6 or 7pm. It dies seem a lot of Europe is very inflexible when it comes to eating times.

After arrival at Belfort, we caught an EMU the short distance to Mulhouse, where we had a hotel booked. There was a lack of eateries in the centre – we saw an expensive restaurant, a kebab/Chinese place and McDonalds, so (as it was 21.30 by now) had to settle with the last of these.

Day 3 – Thursday 4th June
A relatively early start today, which was to enable us to travel from Switzerland right through to Milan via the Gotthard loco-hauled on the one through train a day which isn’t operated by a unit. The 06.16 from Mulhouse to Basel was electric hauled (an unexpected bonus, was expecting an EMU), and after buying some quite reasonably priced biscuits in Basel, we joined IR2313, which provided two RE 4/4s for haulage – one to Luzern for another to Arth Goldau.

There were literally hundreds of people at Arth Goldau waiting to join the train as I alighted, and one group provided a good source of amusement. Bloke, woman, dog, bikes and bike trailer… The bike trailer was quite wide and I thought to myself “That won’t fit through the door into the coach”. I was correct – despite the efforts of the owner and a member of staff, it wouldn’t fit, and the train departed without them.

The Milan service was worked by another RE 4/4 as far as Chiazzo. The Gotthard line features some spectacular views and is well worth travelling over before the tunnel opens next year. The RE 4/4 was replaced by an Italian 444 at Chiazzo for the run to Milan, where we alighted and were immediately hit by the heat – there had been a sudden rise in temperature from that in Switzerland, and it would remain hot for the rest of the trip. I wondered why I’d bothered to bring a jacket with me…

We caught a high speed train to Florence/Firenze, traction being a pair of Class 404s – are the locos or power cars? Answers on a postcard please. We had time to sample a few Class 445 diesels for haulage (plus a couple of 464 electrics) before heading into town to find a restaurant, where we both had lasagne to eat, and then grabbed a takeaway ice cream. Well, this was Italy after all!

Overnight accommodation for the night (or part of it, until 03.41!) was an overnight service bound for Vienna, which departed at 21.05. We had a compo to ourselves, which enabled a decent amount of sleep to be had. The train was hauled by 402024 to Tarvisio Boscoverde, where an OBB Taurus Class 1016 took over. We alighted at Villach in order to catch another train, heading into Slovenia and Croatia – more details in ‘Day 4’.

 

[DarloRich]

WOW - that is all very interesting! how do you arrange something like this?

 

[eastwestdivide]

Five countries in three and a bit days - not bad so far!
I'll second the Gotthard route recommendation.
Was that an unusual train from Switzerland to Milan? Thought they were normally those silver tilting units.

Comic typo alert - Chiasso rather than Chiazzo... chiazzare is to stain or splash, so chiazzo means "I make a stain".

 

[30907]

EC153 and 158 back are booked for conventional stock which makes them unusual, as the other ECs are ETR tilting units (and run from Zürich), while the fastest internal services are likewise ICN.

http://www.reisezuege.ch/reisezuege/index.php?action=5&znummer=158&fp_id=11

 

[theblackwatch]

WOW - that is all very interesting! how do you arrange something like this?

It took a large amount of planning, as I'm sure Jordy will testify! Some trains required compulsory reservations, or we had to book overnight accommodation (in the form of couchettes or sleepers) and, where possible, we booked these using online methods. Unfortunately, there were some where this just wasn't possible, and we had to use the firm where we bought the Interrail tickets from or other agencies. I'll be mentioning these when I get round to covering the next few days, which probably won't be until the weekend.

 

[DarloRich]

It took a large amount of planning, as I'm sure Jordy will testify! Some trains required compulsory reservations, or we had to book overnight accommodation (in the form of couchettes or sleepers) and, where possible, we booked these using online methods. Unfortunately, there were some where this just wasn't possible, and we had to use the firm where we bought the Interrail tickets from or other agencies. I'll be mentioning these when I get round to covering the next few days, which probably won't be until the weekend.

Thanks - i have long toyed with something like this but didn't really know where to start or have enough knowledge of european railways!

I think i will be too old for inter railing now

 

[eastwestdivide]

...
I think i will be too old for inter railing now

Nooo. Pick a ticket that offers something like 5 days travel in a month, and stop over between travel days. Or pick a single large country so that you can go back to base at the end of the day.

 

[theblackwatch]

Thanks - i have long toyed with something like this but didn't really know where to start or have enough knowledge of european railways!

I think i will be too old for inter railing now

We both had ideas regarding places we wanted to visit, plus a few friends offered suggestions ("why not go to....") and eventually things came together. There were many evenings spent coming up with ideas, studying loco diagrams and checking timetables.

And I'd say you're not too old - though I know some people who would be! To be honest, ours was quite intense, and if/when I do another one, I may well have a day's break in the middle, staying somewhere for 2 or 3 nights, which is one of the beauties of the 10 days in 22 ticket.

 

[Techniquest]

Loved the read so far, and I've now got a desire to do another InterRail adventure!

Bring on the rest when it's ready!

 

[Bodie]

This must be a great thing to do. I've been thinking of doing something of the sort.

What were the costs?
Were there any restrictions?
How does the cost compare to similar UK tickets?

Thanks

Bodie

 

[theblackwatch]

Thanks for the comments folks, I will try and address any questions later on. In the meantime, and apologies for any dodgy station spellings, here are the next two days....

Day 4 – Friday 5th June

Today’s report begins at a rather ridiculous time of just before 4am, when we alighted from our overnight train from Florence/Firenze at Villach. It’s a good job I am not too unfit, as my first job when we alighted was to rush past around 10 Motorail/Car Carrier vehicles to the end of the platform to identify the 1016 which had brought us from Tarvisio Boscoverde.

Then it was over to one of the other platforms to board the 04.15 service through to Zagreb, which had come from Munich. The train was a ‘compulsory reservation’ one, but on attempting to reserve seats on this train, it was not possible – DB’s response was that they didn’t allow people to join there as it would disturb the other passengers in the seats. However, we did find it was possible to book couchettes (surely it would disturb those asleep more!?) so we settled for that at a cost of just over £9 each. We both thought this was a bit of a waste of money, but to be fair, we both managed a reasonable amount of sleep in the four hours or so, despite there being two passport ‘grips’ (the first of many over the next few days) during the course of the journey.

We’d planned to have some 90 minutes or so at Zagreb before our next planned train, but the sight of a Class 2044 diesel on a service to Varazdin proved too much to resist, so we caught that a few stations out for a unit back during what would have been some free time.

The daytime move today was a big circular one, taking is into Hungary, and then back to Zagreb via Slovenia. Our train at 10.08 was an InterCity and Regional service bound for Budapest and Osijek – two coaches for each, or so we thought. It turned out that, when the train split at Koprivnica, it was two for Osijek, one for Budapest and one taken out of service - so off we went to Hungary on our one coach IC train!

We alighted at Gykenes (just over the border into Hungary), catching an MAV electric one stop to Murakeresztur for a following M41 diesel (418320) as far as Zalaszentivan, where we had a quick change onto our train to Ajka. This was an interesting journey as it involved a reversal and shunt onto the back of another train at Boba – accomplished with total ease despite it involving loco-hauled services. I’m sure the UK would struggle to carry out such a manoeuvre with a couple of DMUs or EMUs.

The reason for heading to Ajka was to pick up the ‘Citadella’ service, EC246, which runs from Budapest to Ljubljana and features haulage behind a Slovenian Class 664 diesel for part of the journey. Haulage for the first leg, to Hodos, was behind a MAV 431 electric, and during this leg we sampled the on-board restuaurant – broccoli soup followed by goulash & dumplings (though not the sort of dumplings you get in the UK) and a couple of beers, for around 7500 HUFs which is about £8.50 each.

The run from Hodos to Pragersko behind 664108 was entertaining and the loco provided us with plenty of noise – it was probably the loudest diesel working encountered during the trip. At Pragersko, it was replaced by a 363 electric, and we continued as far as Celje, where we alighted for another service (hauled by a 1141) back to Zagreb, arriving just before 23.00. It was then off to our accommodation for the night, which although advertised as a hostel, was just like a hotel room. Zagreb seemed to be a lively place, almost western, with busy bars. It was straight to bed for us though as we had to be up for the 06.30 train the next morning.

Day 5 – Saturday 6th June

Another big circular trip today, this time covering Croatia and Slovenia. Our first journey was from Zagreb to Rijeka, which was almost four hours behind the same loco. There was some pretty stunning scenery on the last 30 minutes of the journey, with views of the sea. We had time to visit a supermarket for some all-important soft drinks (essential due to the heat) and snacks before finding a bar for a quick beer prior to catching the 11.55 train to Ljubljana.

A Croatian 1141 took us the short journey to the border at Sapjane, where it was replaced by a Slovenian 342. In normal circumstances, this would take the train right through to Ljubljana, but an ice storm in early 2014 has meant that much of the route has had to be re-wired. Work is yet to be completed, which means that trains have to be diesel dragged part of the route. As a result, 664111 was used to haul the train from Rakek to Borovnica.

Once at Ljubljana, we caught another 342 back to Ljubljana Tivoli (3 mins away), which put us in a better position for a look round Slovenia’s capital city as well. We had around three hours here, which gave time for a wander as well as the chance to have something to eat and drink. We found a restaurant overlooking the river with tables in the shade. I tried polenta for the first time –it looked like a wedge of cheese but is in fact made from corn and flour so tastes totally different. It was served with pork and a plum/cranberry sauce.

We were back at the station with an hour or so to spare, so I decided to take a few pictures. Unfortunately the station security didn’t like the idea of me taking pictures of their modern EMUs covered in graffiti (perhaps they were ashamed of them?) so I had to wait till we departed and take pictures of the ones parked outside the station as we went past instead!

A loco change took place at Dobova (a Croatian 1142 replacing the Slovenian 541) and we arrived back at Zagreb at 20.53, giving some two hours before our overnight trip to Split. We’d booked sleeping berths on this train, which was worked by an 1141 electric to Ogulin and a 2044 diesel to Split. The compartment was ridiculously hot, and the window appeared to be locked. The Ada attendant came to unlock it, but it still wouldn’t open – that was until two of us tried to pull the window down together, at which point it opened. The issue with this window proved to be quite useful to know the next evening…. (report to follow!).

 

[33056]

I think i will be too old for inter railing now

Not at all, there is even a discount on the global pass for 60+ year olds (I'm sure that I am nearer that age than you are!)

What were the costs?

Global pass , One country passes

Interrail passes can be bought from other outlets and note that they are not valid in your country of residence.

Were there any restrictions?

There are some, mostly trains with compulsory reservations ( start with this page ) but do carefully check validity with private operators in some countries, especially Germany and Switzerland.

How does the cost compare to similar UK tickets?

They are far more flexible in number of days validity and better value than the equivalent ALR in the UK.

Regards
33056
Who has had dozens of Interrails over the years but never bought an ALR, not even a priv one, so you can tell where my interests lie!

@ "theblackwatch" most interesting trip, we are off to Hungary on Thursday and will be following in some of your footsteps both there and in Slovenia / Croatia.

 

[Techniquest]

I've never heard of many of these places, but certainly enjoying the read! An amazing time had for sure by the looks of things!

 

[30907]

This must be a great thing to do. I've been thinking of doing something of the sort.

What were the costs?
Were there any restrictions?
How does the cost compare to similar UK tickets?

Thanks

Bodie

To add to 33056's post, there's a good summary of the pros and cons for different countries on www.Seat61.com.

 

[Techniquest]

Worth pointing out that Interrail adventures are amazing fun. I've just looked at it, £205 for a Global 5 in 10 pass, at adult rate of course. It was showing youth prices originally, which made me want to get moving asap! I'm now looking at using one and not millions of advance tickets when me and a good friend tackle Europe. I'll do a seperate thread for that though!

 

[Kristofferson]

Cracking adventure there! I can only imagine the logistical challenges

 

[eastwestdivide]

Worth pointing out that Interrail adventures are amazing fun. I've just looked at it, £205 for a Global 5 in 10 pass, at adult rate of course. It was showing youth prices originally, which made me want to get moving asap! I'm now looking at using one and not millions of advance tickets when me and a good friend tackle Europe. I'll do a seperate thread for that though!

Another option is advances to get somewhere (different route out and back) plus a one-country interrail for when you're there. Advantage can be leaving most of your stuff in the hotel/B&B for some days, depending on your itinerary of course.

 

[Techniquest]

Worth pointing out that Interrail adventures are amazing fun. I've just looked at it, £205 for a Global 5 in 10 pass, at adult rate of course. It was showing youth prices originally, which made me want to get moving asap! I'm now looking at using one and not millions of advance tickets when me and a good friend tackle Europe. I'll do a seperate thread for that though!

Another option is advances to get somewhere (different route out and back) plus a one-country interrail for when you're there. Advantage can be leaving most of your stuff in the hotel/B&B for some days, depending on your itinerary of course.

Indeed so, for this trip I'm planning that's not doable but certainly you've given me something think about!

 

[theblackwatch]

Here's the next installment, Days 6 and 7. Apologies for any dodgy spellings of place names:

Day 6 – Sunday 7th June
I awoke a few hours later, by which time the train had changed directions and we were now being hauled by a Class 2044 diesel. The journey to Split is well worth it for the scenery, although obviously we didn’t see a lot, being in a sleeping berth asleep! We’d planned to do a ride from Split to Perkovic, covering some of the route in daytime, but unfortunately, the daytime service on this route went over from loco-hauled (with a 2044) to DMU a few weeks earlier. We still thought we may ride it later in the day, after a break from the trains by visiting one of the islands which are in easy reach of Split.

After visiting a café and checking the ferry timetables, we headed for Supertar. It was rather hot there, and after a short walk round the town, we found ourselves under a parasol on the beach. I ended up buying some shorts and flipflops and going for a swim in the sea – something I’d not done for many years! By the time we decided to head back to the mainland, after soaking up the rays, there wasn’t time for a run to Perkovic, but after some rather intense day’s travelling beforehand (and more to follow) it was good to have a bit of a break from all the travelling. We stopped off for a beer on the way back to the ferry, where we both took advantage of the plug points on board.

Back at Split, we headed to a restaurant away from the tourist area (take the back entrance from the station) – wild boar and dumplings for me. It was then time for a stroll round the old town, a very nice place if you like culture. After a while, we both started to feel a bit ‘demic’, presumably due to the heat. After a sit (in the shade) we found a bar for a very low alcohol but refreshing beer, in fact it was pretty much a fruit juice!

Returning to the station, we found the entrance was littered with luggage – some of the people travelling on the overnight to Zagreb had far too much baggage with them! When the stock rolled in, we were disappointed to find the rake had been re-marshalled and the sleeping car, which we were booked in, was once again at the back – it had been at the rear on the outward journey, and we’d assumed it would be at the front for the return. We also found the berth we were booked in had been set up for three people, so we hung around on the platform to speak to the attendant who was busy sorting out the couchette passengers. While on the platform, we got chatting to a German lady who also had a problem with her berth, it was too hot and she couldn’t open the window. See the last paragraph of Day 6 – she had the same berth as we had on the outward, so we went in and opened her window for her, knowing how it was done. We had quite a chat with her after, she had been visiting family, and we discovered it was about 6 degrees Celsius hotter than it normally is at that time of year. I also found out a bit more about getting to/from Dubrovnik from Split, useful for if or when I have a non-railway holiday in Croatia – better than a rancid 5 hr bus journey!

Even though we were at the back, we could still hear the 2044 as it climbed out of Split towards Perkovic. The loco had very bright headlights, and it was interesting to see them light up the area around the track as it weaved its way round the many curves. Then time for bed…

Day 7 – Monday 8th June
We were back in Zagreb just before 06.00, where we had time to get a drink and snack for breakfast before our next move, taking us to Osijek. The first leg, to Koprivnica, retraced the route covered on Day 4. At Koprivnica, the train reversed direction, with the electric being replaced by a 2044 for the 3 hour journey to Osijek. We had over 2½ hours to kill in Osijek, during which time we expected to grad a meal and drink. However, this time was reduced to an hour (still time for something to eat in the conveniently located café outside the station) when we found another 2044 working vice a DMU on the line to Beli Manastir. New track and a diesel – well, it would be rude not to…

A rather hot and sweaty ‘kart’, which appeared to have been imported from Scandinavia, took us to Vinkovki, connecting with the service taking us out of Croatia to Belgrade. We had our passports checked and stamped upon entering Serbia, and much of the journey was a stagger – the line is in the process of being upgraded. We eventually arrived in Belgrade around 30 minutes late, luckily our connection was one of over an hour. We had to obtain some Serbian currency (there was a money exchange office at the station) in order to be able to buy some supplied for our next journey – a 10 hour overnight trip down to Skopje in Macedonia.

We’d reserved seats on this train, which was formed of 4 coaches, although we didn’t sit in them – there were no actual reservations on the train, and there was a bloke smoking in our booked compartment. The stock in both Serbia and Macedonia is extremely run down, most of the loos don’t have locks, a seat, paper towels or loo roll. If you’re lucky, they might have some water… Departure was at 18.50, and our Serbian loco took us as far as the border station at Tabanovci, where a loco change took place at 04.xx (some 30-60 minutes later than booked as the train was late). There were also two passport ‘grips’, one to leave Serbia, and another to enter Macedonia. We arrived at Skopje soon after 05.00, and the story will continue on Day 8.

 

[Techniquest]

Crikey you had some rough stock on that last bit there! I'm hoping I don't get anywhere near that bad a train when I head to Europe. Rather concerned beyond Berlin...

 

[47403]

Just caught up with this, gonna have to google to see what some(well most of them) of these loco's look like, must cost a small fortune for books covering these loco's, right accross Europe.
Brilliant read though, seems like one helluva trip and a huge amount of planning has obviously gone into it, sounds like your thoroughly enjoying the fruits of your labour.

 

[30907]

Crikey you had some rough stock on that last bit there! I'm hoping I don't get anywhere near that bad a train when I head to Europe. Rather concerned beyond Berlin...

You needn't be, unless you're going well into the Balkan.
Some of the semi fasts in Poland have fairly antique stock, but they are at least serviced!

 

[Techniquest]

I should be OK then, going only as far east as Budapest before returning to territory I feel safer in, ie Western Europe!

 

[Kristofferson]

Did you buy a (wait for it...) split ticket for that last leg?

Still following this intently - just no time to post afterwards sometimes! Seeing Europe through your eyes is far more interesting than a TV show... Because those tend to forget that a rail journey is about the trains!

 

[Jordy]

While theblackwatch is writing the rest of the report I thought I'd start adding some photos. Will add more later!

Day 1


26003 prior to departure from Paris Austerlitz


26121 at Orleans


Orleans town square

Day 2


A single car DMU just like the one that worked the Montlucon - Paris train as far as Bourges...


A 72100 arrives at Vesoul


Belfort, sadly our train was an EMU and not this push pull set!

 

[Jordy]

Day 3


Our first train in Switzerland was this RE4/4 from Basel to Luzern


The loco swap at Chiasso, our RE4/4 makes way for an Italian E.444


Locos or power cars? A class 404 at Milano Centrale


Italian class 445 diesel


Our train into Austria as seen at Firenze before departure

 

[theblackwatch]

It's taken me a bit longer than I expected to get things finished, but here is my report covering the remainder of my trip....

Day 8 – Tuesday 9th June
The initial impression of Skopje could be summed up in one word – dump! If you think Birmingham New Street is in a bit of a state during its rebuild, it’s nothing compared to Skopje. Hopefully it will be a lot better when it’s finished, and there is more than just a pokey entrance from the bus station, where taxi drivers hang about attempting to get you to use them. We found a café for breakfast, attempting to dodge one bloke who seemed very keen on us using his cab, offering to take us on a tourist trip round the sights. We bumped into him later in the day as well….

It’s fair to say that the rail service in Skopje is run down and sparse. Most branches only have a couple of trains a day, and there are gaps of over an hour between services out of the capital city. The main aim of the trip was to travel on a diesel or two, hopefully one of the Class 661s, before the new DMUs which are on order arrive. Currently, Macedonia has three (I think) DMUs and some locos which run on the branches, although we’d been advised which services often produced a loco, these being the 06.42 to Bitola and the 08.05 to Kicevo. Strangely, one of the departure boards at the station looked like it had a sticker over the 08.05, which had been attempted to be pulled off.

The Bitola service turned out to be a 3 car DMU so we didn’t bother with it (3 hrs plus each direction, no thanks), hoping that the 08.05 to Kicevo might be hauled. We saw the train come in from Kicevo, loco and coach, so our hopes went up, expecting it to run round and go back. No luck though, as we went to the platform, a member of station staff/security stopped us. No 08.05 train, catch bus. That explained the sticker….

There was little chance of a diesel appearing for several hours, so we caught the 09.00 electric-hauled service to Veles, where the loco was booked to sit for 90 mins or so run round then come back. Veles seemed a pleasant place, among the traffic we saw a couple of horse and carts. A walk through a park took us to a bar, where we had a beer before going back to the station for the electric (441108 for anyone interested) back. The train paused for a few minutes at Lisice, which we thought nothing off until the train set off, clearly with a diesel on the front! It appeared that the power had been switched off around the station, hence 642401 being used to drag the train on its final leg…the diesel was also used to shunt the electric round the stock, and departed with it on its next working.

Another 642 was on the 15.20 to Kocani – a line which sees an incoming working from Kocani to Skopje in the morning, and a return at 15.20. We knew the 16.20 to Prishtina (in Kosovo) would be hauled, and wanted to be back for that, so we took the 642 to Lisice, and hailed a taxi back to Skopje, cost around £2. (We just missed a train back, and the next one was a tight connection, and most trains were running a few minutes late.)

The 16.20 was formed of 2 highly rundown coaches, one of which was a former couchette vehicle, hauled by 661223, much better noise-wise than the 642. We caught it to Skopje Sever, to the north of the city, where we waited for the 16.50 to Kicevo. This too was hauled by a 661 (661234), providing a second member of the Class for haulage. There is no train back on Kicevo, so we had 2 options – go all the way through and get a long-distance bus back (arriving around 22.30), or catch it to the next station, Gjorce Petrov, and catch a bus back in to Skopje, giving us time for a look round the city as well as something to eat. We chose the latter, and had a cheap meal plus a litre beer in the Irish pub (for around £6 all in).

Our accommodation was at a motel around 5 minutes from the station, with apartment rooms arranged around a courtyard – good value at 25 Euros for a twin room!

Day 9 – Wednesday 10th June
Breakfast was from 08.00, but as we were booked on the 08.20 train, we told the lady running the place we wouldn’t be able to have breakfast when we checked in the previous afternoon – she immediately said she would come in early, so at 07.45 we were sat outside in the sun having coffee and toast. The resident cat, who had recently had six kittens, helped out by having my boiled egg!

Our trip on the 08.20 departure was a long one, all the way back to Belgrade, where we were due to arrive at 18.22 – so we’d stocked up on food and drink for the journey (no buffet car or trolley!). We’d done this journey overnight on our way to Macedonia, so it was good to see it in the light. The train was hauled by a Macedonian 441 to the Border and Tabonovici, where a Serbian example of the same class took over for the remainder of the journey.

The run to Belgrade was one with quite a bit of interest. At Presevo, where there were a load of vagrants asleep on the platform, it appeared a group of young guys were being rounded up ready to join the army. Later on, we were joined in our compartment by a Serbian guy, who explained to us that he didn’t have a ticket – it was, according to him, cheaper to pay the guard. He went to see the guard to pay him, but came back for his wallet as “the guard wants more money”. Clearly, some ‘fares’ are negotiated…

Other entertainment was provided in the form of a horrendous thunderstorm, which got worse and worse, and the train eventually stopped. It would appear the storm had caused the signalling to collapse, and we stood for more than an hour, before staggering from signal to signal for the next hour or two. We had a 3½ hour connection for our next train at Belgrade, during which time we’d planned to have a look round the city and find somewhere to eat and drink. We were now starting to worry whether we would make our connection, of if we’d be looking for accommodation in Belgrade. In addition, we were collecting our couchette reservations from a representative from Wasteels who was due to meet us on arrival at Belgrade…we doubted he would be there, several hours later.

As it turned out, we arrived at Belgrade with around 50 minutes to spare, and to our surprise, the chap fom Wasteels was waiting for us with our reservations. “All part of the service” he said! Unfortunately, there wasn’t time for a proper meal, so we had to make do with a fast food pizza from one of the takeaway shacks outside the station.

We were pleased to discover that we had a couchette compartment to ourselves, despite it being one for 4 or 6. Departure was on time at 21.48, behind Serbian electric 444006, which took us as far as Subotico, the border station between Serbia and Hungary.

Day 10 – Thursday 11th June
The final day of my Interrail. Our overnight move from Belgrade was to Budapest. If anyone else is thinking of doing this, be warned you are in for a night of disturbed sleep! We were first woken at 01.30 for a Serbian passport grip (to leave the country), followed by a Hungarian passport check at 02.35. Ten minutes later, it was Hungarian customs. The most bizarre one was about 03.15, when the attendant came and woke us as we had to moved compartments – we have no idea why either, and he was most apologetic (I think, bit of a language barrier issue). Whn I queried why we were moving his reply was ‘yes yes yes’, and I don’t think he quite got the irony of me replying ‘no no no’ to him!

We arrived in Budapest Keleti to find rail services there in a state of disarray. We had a circular trip planned, taking in a M41 diesel from Bekescsaba to Szeged. However, this meant an 8 minute connection at Bekescsaba on the train from Budapest, and we departed around 30 minutes late – so we abandoned the move at Szolnok. After a trip out to Gyoma, we headed back in towards Budapest for a few moves on electrics ending up heading across to Kelenfold for a M41 in to Buapest Deli. The plan was to head from here to a restaurant a few minutes away that I like, ‘The Clock’, but upon arrival we discovered it was closed. There was a sign outside which I think translated that they had gone to get stock and would be open at 18.00, so we gave up and headed for the Golden Park Hotel by Budapest Keleti, where I was booked in for the night.

Suitably refreshed, we decided to eat at the restaurant on Budapest Deli station – Hungarian goulash of course… It was then time for us to head our separate ways, Jordy departing for Germany on an overnight, while I did a quick trip to Godolla and back (just to kill time really) before heading back to my hotel for a relatively early night.

Day 11 – Friday 12 June
Not really a day as such, just had time for a leisurely breakfast and a few electrics for haulage prior to heading for Ferihegy station for the bus to the airport in the late morning. Then onto my flight, 13.35 back to Yeadon for the bus back home – all in time for a pair of Class 20s to Skegness the next day, which I was working on!

 

[Techniquest]

One helluva adventure there, it must be said! Sounds like some right proper grim places you visited too!

 

[47403]

Brilliant read. I love reading ALL the trip reports on here but that was a very interesting read, to me planning that trip would be a logistical nightmare, nevermind chasing up couchette tickets.
My knowledge of Europes loco's extends to the German Bunny's and the exported British loco's and GM ones that served in the UK ofcourse. Something completely different, thanks for sharing.

 

[CC 72100]

Front end of CC 72140 looks a bit bare - missing usual SNCF logo, 'En voyage' lettering and the badge which is normally on the central circle. That unit vice loco-hauled is a bit of a come down!