This was a holiday trip incorporating a few nights in Florence and a rail-based organised tour of Sicily which had been postponed in March 2020. Having received clearance from medical authorities (my wife is immunocompromised) and obtained travel insurance we were finally able to book at the end of January.
We used a 7-day 1st class Interrail for the main legs (plus a TI Advance for the 8th day); it was the most cost-effective and flexible option at that relatively short notice (not least because we live in Shipley so our LNER travel was covered).
Day 1 (Monday) Saltaire-Paris:
By the time we booked the 1222 Paris train, the first convenient one for us, was unavailable in 1st so I ended booking us at 1301 to Dijon via Lille and Paris. Then came the SNCF "mouvement social" so we had to shift our overnight stop from Dijon to Paris - only mildly inconvenient, apart from the higher hotel price (we were using used Ibis Styles, which are OK - IMO the brand has gone downmarket in the 10 years or so I've known it though).
0728 Saltaire-Leeds was about half full, and the 0815 from Leeds wasn't particularly busy. We'd gone early to get the full breakfast, which arrived by Doncaster, and there was more than enough juice, tea and coffee on offer (though I miss the toast and marmalade of old).
Despite a 37-min delay (all down to stormy weather) we still had time to spare, so we used the LNER Lounge, which was reasonably busy at 11am, before heading across the road. Check-in at St Pancras for the 1301 to Lille (swapped from a 373 to a 374) was speedy - too speedy, as the 1222 Paris hadn't yet boarded and the departure area was too full for comfort (memo to self - leave checkin till 20-30min before the previous Eurostar).
The Eurostar trip was uneventful; lunch was the usual cold collation - which is actually quite filling. Our onward TGV from Lille Flandres to Paris - a double Duplex - was busy, as only about 40% of the service was running, but not heaving. To minimise the walking we used the 91 bus to reach our hotel - one advantage is that you can buy on board for an extra 40ct.
Day 2 (Tuesday) Paris-Florence:
The strike timetable meant an early start (for us!) on the 0753 TGV Lyria, the inevitable Duplex, which was quite busy as far as Dijon but quiet thereafter. We alighted at the remote junction of Frasne in the French Jura, and caught the connecting CFF class 522 to Neuchatel; this ticked off a line I'd wanted to do ever since I read "Railway Holiday in Switzerland" in the mid 60s - quite remote, very few passengers, but typical limestone scenery; it also meant avoiding the TGV Lyria supplement (almost as high as Eurostar but without the food).
The weather, sadly, was cold and damp, which spoilt the views - it cleared as we went south, but was still cold in Brig.
A straightforward change at Neuchatel put us on a BLS S-Bahn (Stadler class 525) to Bern, where we navigated the station (it's a bit of a building site currently) to pick up our IC to Brig. This was an IC2000 set, and we headed for the restaurant car where we were the only passengers taking lunch - not cheap, microwaved, but decent quality; we could have waited in Bern for our train to Milan, but then we'd have had to eat Trenitalia food, as we had to on Day 5
.
Brig was cold and quiet mid-afternoon, the limited excitement being RRBs on the MGB line in the station forecourt owing to a train breakdown - and seeing our double-deck set leaving with an extra Re460 loco and "normal" coaches added (it would reach Zürich in the evening peak). Onward to Milan, including the lakeside stretch through Stresa, was the expected Pendolino, and the final leg to Florence a FR1000 set, neither particularly busy; sadly, Business class no longer offers Prosecco as a welcome drink, only water. Our apartment was just a stone's throw from Santa Maria Novella station, to which I paid the odd visit.
Both days were almost 100% punctual - the exception being our LNER which was delayed by a level crossing failure near Newark and was x late into London.
The next few days were devoted to exploring Florence in leisurely fashion. We did make a day trip to Siena, though (ordinary tickets from the machine each way), plus a bus ride up to the city (conveniently, there are standardised fares across Tuscany, so we bought our bus tickets in Florence). The line from the junction at Empoli is largely single track but has been considerably, if not completely, modernised; most trains seem to be in the hands of D445 Bo-Bos and push-pull stock, with a few ALn501 "Menuettos" (which have 3 coaches and 4 bogies, was it a musician who chose the name?) and the odd older ALn663/8; by contrast Florence's other diesel route to Borgo S Lorenzo and Faenza (not travelled) is predominantly Menuetti.
Our return was on a Menuetto to Empoli and then a "Rock" double-deck EMU which was pretty busy, it being a Friday afternoon.
Day 3 (Sunday): Florence-Rome
A straightforward Frecciarossa trip onward to Rome Termini, this time in an ETR500 unit, where the tour operator had booked us into a nice hotel close by.
Day 4 (Monday): Rome-Messina Centrale
Most of the tour group were travelling on the late morning through train, so we joined them in the Syracuse portion. Reserving seats in the right coach took some fiddling with the OeBB website, but was successful (OeBB don't charge Interrail's admin fees!). After Naples the journey becomes very scenic (in between occasional long tunnels) with a mixture of coast and valleys. Our train was top-and-tailed by two E464 power cars, and composed of two matching "4TC" sets marshalled driving trailer-to-driving trailer; catering is limited to a couple of snack vending machines and a coffee machine in each set - we had come armed with Paninis from a local supermarket. The train was slackly timed, arriving at various stations 7-8min early and on time into Villa San Giovanni, where we were eventually shunted on to the ferry, the train being split in two.
As I have posted elsewhere, the shunt still requires the use of a diesel shunter, either D145 or DE18, 2 reach wagons and a driving trailer (for shunting staff), which keeps the locos off the ferry; however, the daytime trains are now shunted complete with loco (these end up at diagonally opposite ends of the ferry, thus spreading the weight presumably). Arrival at Messina Centrale was on time at 1935, 90min after reaching VSG - the planned operation with battery-fitted E464s could easily save half an hour, and that's without any acceleration on the mainland.
Photos below (3 from the return journey) show the reach wagon formation at Messina, D145 at Villa SG, and the two ends of the ferry deck.
We used a 7-day 1st class Interrail for the main legs (plus a TI Advance for the 8th day); it was the most cost-effective and flexible option at that relatively short notice (not least because we live in Shipley so our LNER travel was covered).
Day 1 (Monday) Saltaire-Paris:
By the time we booked the 1222 Paris train, the first convenient one for us, was unavailable in 1st so I ended booking us at 1301 to Dijon via Lille and Paris. Then came the SNCF "mouvement social" so we had to shift our overnight stop from Dijon to Paris - only mildly inconvenient, apart from the higher hotel price (we were using used Ibis Styles, which are OK - IMO the brand has gone downmarket in the 10 years or so I've known it though).
0728 Saltaire-Leeds was about half full, and the 0815 from Leeds wasn't particularly busy. We'd gone early to get the full breakfast, which arrived by Doncaster, and there was more than enough juice, tea and coffee on offer (though I miss the toast and marmalade of old).
Despite a 37-min delay (all down to stormy weather) we still had time to spare, so we used the LNER Lounge, which was reasonably busy at 11am, before heading across the road. Check-in at St Pancras for the 1301 to Lille (swapped from a 373 to a 374) was speedy - too speedy, as the 1222 Paris hadn't yet boarded and the departure area was too full for comfort (memo to self - leave checkin till 20-30min before the previous Eurostar).
The Eurostar trip was uneventful; lunch was the usual cold collation - which is actually quite filling. Our onward TGV from Lille Flandres to Paris - a double Duplex - was busy, as only about 40% of the service was running, but not heaving. To minimise the walking we used the 91 bus to reach our hotel - one advantage is that you can buy on board for an extra 40ct.
Day 2 (Tuesday) Paris-Florence:
The strike timetable meant an early start (for us!) on the 0753 TGV Lyria, the inevitable Duplex, which was quite busy as far as Dijon but quiet thereafter. We alighted at the remote junction of Frasne in the French Jura, and caught the connecting CFF class 522 to Neuchatel; this ticked off a line I'd wanted to do ever since I read "Railway Holiday in Switzerland" in the mid 60s - quite remote, very few passengers, but typical limestone scenery; it also meant avoiding the TGV Lyria supplement (almost as high as Eurostar but without the food).
The weather, sadly, was cold and damp, which spoilt the views - it cleared as we went south, but was still cold in Brig.
A straightforward change at Neuchatel put us on a BLS S-Bahn (Stadler class 525) to Bern, where we navigated the station (it's a bit of a building site currently) to pick up our IC to Brig. This was an IC2000 set, and we headed for the restaurant car where we were the only passengers taking lunch - not cheap, microwaved, but decent quality; we could have waited in Bern for our train to Milan, but then we'd have had to eat Trenitalia food, as we had to on Day 5
.Brig was cold and quiet mid-afternoon, the limited excitement being RRBs on the MGB line in the station forecourt owing to a train breakdown - and seeing our double-deck set leaving with an extra Re460 loco and "normal" coaches added (it would reach Zürich in the evening peak). Onward to Milan, including the lakeside stretch through Stresa, was the expected Pendolino, and the final leg to Florence a FR1000 set, neither particularly busy; sadly, Business class no longer offers Prosecco as a welcome drink, only water. Our apartment was just a stone's throw from Santa Maria Novella station, to which I paid the odd visit.
Both days were almost 100% punctual - the exception being our LNER which was delayed by a level crossing failure near Newark and was x late into London.
The next few days were devoted to exploring Florence in leisurely fashion. We did make a day trip to Siena, though (ordinary tickets from the machine each way), plus a bus ride up to the city (conveniently, there are standardised fares across Tuscany, so we bought our bus tickets in Florence). The line from the junction at Empoli is largely single track but has been considerably, if not completely, modernised; most trains seem to be in the hands of D445 Bo-Bos and push-pull stock, with a few ALn501 "Menuettos" (which have 3 coaches and 4 bogies, was it a musician who chose the name?) and the odd older ALn663/8; by contrast Florence's other diesel route to Borgo S Lorenzo and Faenza (not travelled) is predominantly Menuetti.
Our return was on a Menuetto to Empoli and then a "Rock" double-deck EMU which was pretty busy, it being a Friday afternoon.
Day 3 (Sunday): Florence-Rome
A straightforward Frecciarossa trip onward to Rome Termini, this time in an ETR500 unit, where the tour operator had booked us into a nice hotel close by.
Day 4 (Monday): Rome-Messina Centrale
Most of the tour group were travelling on the late morning through train, so we joined them in the Syracuse portion. Reserving seats in the right coach took some fiddling with the OeBB website, but was successful (OeBB don't charge Interrail's admin fees!). After Naples the journey becomes very scenic (in between occasional long tunnels) with a mixture of coast and valleys. Our train was top-and-tailed by two E464 power cars, and composed of two matching "4TC" sets marshalled driving trailer-to-driving trailer; catering is limited to a couple of snack vending machines and a coffee machine in each set - we had come armed with Paninis from a local supermarket. The train was slackly timed, arriving at various stations 7-8min early and on time into Villa San Giovanni, where we were eventually shunted on to the ferry, the train being split in two.
As I have posted elsewhere, the shunt still requires the use of a diesel shunter, either D145 or DE18, 2 reach wagons and a driving trailer (for shunting staff), which keeps the locos off the ferry; however, the daytime trains are now shunted complete with loco (these end up at diagonally opposite ends of the ferry, thus spreading the weight presumably). Arrival at Messina Centrale was on time at 1935, 90min after reaching VSG - the planned operation with battery-fitted E464s could easily save half an hour, and that's without any acceleration on the mainland.
Photos below (3 from the return journey) show the reach wagon formation at Messina, D145 at Villa SG, and the two ends of the ferry deck.
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