Spoorslag '70's semi-random Trips

[Spoorslag '70]

NGBE/NMBS/SNCB (National Railway Company of Belgium) (Oct. 17) - Day -8
Route: Duisburg-Buchholz - Duisburg Hbf - Mönchengladbach Hbf - Aachen Hbf - (Bus) Eupen - Lüttich/Luik/Liége-G - Maastricht - Heerlen - Kerkrade Centrum - (Bus) Kerkrade, Busstation - (Bus) Herzogenrath - Duisburg Hbf - Duisburg-Buchholz

The forementioned company offers a (pretty cheap) weekly rover (during their school holidays) for those under 26: A mere 12€ (roughly £10.498, despite Brexit). Such offers normally do have some slight problems: A MOBIB-Card was requiered. Therefore a bit more than a week before (hence Day -8), a trip was undertaken to get such a card at Eupen (the only ticket office in the German speaking area of Belgium), using a not quite so cheap Euregio-Ticket (Which is pretty good value for money nevertheless) and clearing another Dutch line (and a Belgish one) in the process. The trip was pretty uneventfull and not too many stuff was written down. After getting the card at Eupen, what seemed to be the 1105 (IC 534, Eupen-Oostende/Ostende) was standing at the only platform in regular use (because someone wanted to have 12-coach ICs on a line, where even a two-car EMU would be too much capacity) and was being despatched as we were leaving the (very functional) station building. A quick return the the station master/booking clerk reveald that the service was the late running (~+50) 1005 (IC 533) and the 1105 would be departing sometime in the next hour (it was ~+30 leaving Eupen, being further delayed in the Welkenrath/Welkenraedt area). After alighting at Luik/Lüttich (or that French name I can't be bortherd to write) the IC to Maastricht was chosen as the next service, with a very 1980s feeling to it (as it was an unmodernised Class 80 EMU). After alighting at Maastricht some chips/Frites were eaten and the Arriva "sneltrein" to Heerlen was caught where a quick, 4min connection onto the Kerkrade line was caught. From Kerkrade we took a bus to the local busstation and a Mercedes Sprinter was on the service to Herzogenrath (thus back into Germany again). Two of the most horrid EMUs on the German network - the 425 "Quietschies" with a more than incomfortable seating arrangemnt - were forming the stopping service to Duisburg and Heinsberg(Rhld.), dividing at Lindern. From Duisburg it was a quite wrongly labelled and rather full 422 (vice 2x422) back to Buchholz.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Part 2: NGBE/NMBS/SNCB (Oct. 17) - Day 1
Route: Duisburg-Buchholz - Duisburg Hbf - Mönchengladbach - Aachen - Welkenrath - Brussel-Centraal/Brüssel-Zentral/Brussels-Central/(insert French name here) - Aalst -Line 82- Burst - Zottegem - Gent Sint Pieters - Brussels Airport-Zaventem (ex. Brussel-Nationale Luchthaven/Zaventem) - Leuven - Brussel-Noord(other variants permitted) - Brussel-Schuman(dito) - Evere - Arcarden -Watermaal - Brussel-Noord - Leuven
Part 2.1: Getting there
After leaving for the station pretty early in the morning, the 0641 to Duisburg Hbf was caught (422 075+422 036). After (intrestingly enough) arrinving there on time, it was for 1428 003 and 1428 011 on the 0700(+3) to Mönchengladbach Semi-Fast, where after a few more minutes the 0749(+3) to Aachen arrived, being hauled by 111 054.

Part 2.2: 50 Shades of grey - Day 1
After an uninspiring journey to Aachen (near Würselen*1), the fight against the Belgish TVM was won and L5030 the 0904 to Spa-Geronstere (sadly no alternative name) arrived in the form of Class 66 648, a very belgish classical EMU for rather short hop to Welkenrath (excuse me for trying to avoid the French names). IC532 was the next thing to get, all the way to Brussel-Centraal, formed of 1861 and some 12 I11s. After arriving at the 50s hellhole, the Central station of the European captital is, platforms were changed for IC2232, the 1111 to Gent via Aalst, formed of two modernised Class 80 EMUs (377+346), which was left at Aalst.

Something not too uncommon in Great-Britain but pretty rare in the World of clockface timetables is the service level on Line 82, Aalst-Burst: 7 trains/direction, Mo-Fr, excluding the summer, christmas and easter holidays. Thus it was for two Class 41 DMUs (4144+4149) on a pretty empty P7986, the 1223 Aalst-Burst. After alighting, the crew went to the local cafe/Pub (we are not quite sure) whilst we were amazed by the bread vending machine in front of the station: It showed a credit of 4.40€ and a white bread (Price: 2.20€) was on display. The machine did not react on pressing the cancel button (so no extra € ) and insisted on the full space being empty. After some waiting, 08 122 (Class 08 EMU) arrived on S3 2283, the 1258 to Oudenaarde, which was left at Zottegem, from where it was 4134 on the 1322 to Gent (L1883), a station that is being very much complelty rebuilt at the moment, changing onto IC2813 on the 1409 to Brussels Airport (via line 50A), formed of no less than three "Toilet seats" (Class 96 EMU; 528+468+453), changing at Belgium's only airport railway station onto IC2614, the 1521 to Leuven, formed of Class 80 375+325. After checking-in at a pretty good IBIS Budget directly behind the station, it was for a quick shopping trip to a hypermarket near Evere, the first part of this journey being IC1538, the 1619 to Genk and Blankenberge, formed of 1916+M6 coaches+the same configuration, which was not identified. After arriving at Brussel-Noord, we changed onto P8602 (P being codename for: some random workings with random stock, mainly in the Peak hours to or from Brussel or one of the few other main cities), with 1893 and a rake of M5s, all the way to Schuman (exactly one stop), where, after changing platforms and seeing some boring and interesting (read: new and old) metros pass underneath, it was for Class 86 936+937 on S5 3366 (1719 Mechelen) to Evere.

After a very French visit to, what should really be called an "Iepermarkt", we wrongly took the late running 1757+5 Halle via Delta (S7 3488 916+901) instead of the 1803 Geraadsbergen, but after an out-of-station-interchange at Arcarden to Watermaal, it was for yet another Desiro (08 005+an unidentified) on the 1845 to Brussel Zuid (S8 6589), alighting at Brussel Noord for IC517, the 1907 to Eupen, having no less than two first class I11s declassified (with 1885 pushing) to Leuven.

 

[30907]

Welcome on board!

 

[Techniquest]

Brilliant read so far, although I think I will have to re-read it with my European atlas to hand later, as while I know where most of these places are, a lot of them I don't.

However I do note your use of SNCB DMUs, the Class 41s. Are they actually any good and worth going for a ride on next time I go to Belgium? I was going to do so last time I went, but didn't for some reason. Always fancied giving them a try though.

Quite a good bit of variety so far it must be said, and that weekly rover would be brilliant. I could easily fill a week's holiday in Belgium! Sadly I'm too old for such a ticket.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

The 41s are actually pretty decent (for a modern/1990s DMU, both per comfort and sound), but are actually pretty rare (due to the relativiely low number of non-elcetrified lines in Belgium). Think of some as somewhere between a 170 and a 15x. There is one intresting working in the summer (July&August) between Neerpelt near the Dutch border and the seaside town of Blankenberge (~3hrs). They are also the only type of unit not to have any booked services through Brussel (on Route 0).
Anyways:
NGBE/NMBS/SNCB (Oct. 17) - Day 2
Route: Leuven - Brussel-Zuid - Antwerpen-Centraal - Antwerpen-Luchtbal - Wildert - Antwerpen-Centraal - Brussel-Noord - Verviers-Centra(a)l - Aachen Hbf - Köln Hbf - Düsseldorf Flughafen - Duisburg-Buchholz
Getting up a bit later than the day before, it was for 2715 and a rake of M4s (some rather run down coaching stock) on the 0824 to Brussel-Zuid (P7401), where we changed for the 0920 (IC4508) to Antwerpen-Centraal, formed of 2746 and some M6s. After alighting at Antwerpen and exploring the station for a bit (Where else do you get no less than three (in numbers: 3!) levels of platforms?) a random service was chosen, which led us to IC610, the 1040 to Noorderkempen formed of 08 591, bailing at Luchtbal in favour of Class 75 817 on L2560, the 1055 Rooesendal, which we planned to take to Essen for another service back, but being 3 down at Luchtbal and having a +5 at Essen, we bailed at Wildert instead, where after a couple of minutes 827 and 832 arrived on L2582, the 1137 to Puurs, to take us back to Antwerpen. A swift cross-platform interchange onto IC4533, the 1154 Charleroi, formed of some unidentified loco and (once again) M6s to Brussel-Noord, for the 1307 to Eupen (IC 511, I11+1827) as far as Verviers, where we had a +5 onto L5013, the 1426 to Aachen, formed of classic (Class 66) EMU 660. En route we came up with a plan to go home in time for dinner, which involved a 120 and a set of double-deck stock on the 1518 to Siegen as far as Köln, 146 280 and some older double-deck stock on the 1631 to Düsseldorfs Airport and 422 032 and an unidentified one on the 1718 to Dortmund, which was left (very suprisingly) at Duisburg-Buchholz for the typical walk home.

In total this whole trip came down to:
2x422, 1x1428, 1x111, 2xClass 66 EMU, 6x18/19, 2xClass 80, 2xClass 41 DMU, 3xClass 08, 1xClass 96, 2x27, 2xClass 75, 1x120, 1x146 and the best part of 16 shacks.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

And now, for something completely different:

Keeping in touch with the Dutch - The not only Holland Travel Ticket (2018-01-02)
Route: Den Helder Zuid - Amsterdam Centraal - Almere Centrum - Almere Buiten - Weesp - Amsterdam Zuid - Amstelveen, Westwijk(Metro) - Amstelveen, Sacharovlaan(Metro) - Amstelveenseweg(Bus) - Amsterdam Zuid - Haarlem(Bus) - Amsterdam Sloterdijk - Burg. de Vlugtlaan(Metro) - Isolatorweg(Metro) - Gein(Metro) - Amstelstation(Metro) - Den Helder Zuid - Julianadorp, Tichangelstraat (Bus)

The Dutch Railway do offer a "Holland Travel Ticket" (Peak: 59€, Off-Peak: 39€), which is valid on all public transport in the Netherlands - and not only in Holland.
This trip started on IC3035, the 0908 Den Helder Zuid as far as Amsterdam Centraal, which was formed of 9514+9558 (9514 having a special livery promoting reading). It was than for the longest change of the day (16min) for IC2635, the 1037 to Almere Centrum, formed of 4042 and 4021. A rather swift change there brought the two of us onto Almere's "Metro" - a (very well done) bus rapid transit network whizzing through the modern garden city of Almere (use a search engine of your choice if you are intrested in pretty serve engineering and draining a rather big part of a bay of the North Sea [the IOM would fit inside]. The 1135 IC to Amsterdam Zuid being cancelld at rather short notice, we were very happy to have had a couple of minutes to spare, so we caught the 1128 Sprinter (14634, 2644+2440) to Weesp, where 2413+2460 were waiting on SP 5734 to Amsterdam Zuid. Shortly before our Metro to Amstelveen arrived, a Metro on line 52 (which has yet to open, following what feels like decades of construction) arrived on a fenced off platform. It was than for Brugge&Nijvel 60+64 to Westwijk and back (one stop) to Sacharovlaan, where a 357 Bus back to town arrived, with 2766 still smelling like a brand new bus (not too supprising, not having been in service for more than a couple of weeks). Leaving that at Amstelveenseweg (back in Amsterdam), 147+148 provided the next Metro to Zuid, where it was onto the busses again, 1138, a brand new (posh) double decker providing a very comfortable ride to Haarlem. Using the amazing waiting room on the platform, the wait for IC2140 was over (too?) soon and 9563+8736 took us to Ass (Amsterdam Sloterdijk). Just missing the first metro to Isolatorweg, a further double unit and shack were brought into my (chepaish) notebook: 92+105+85 to Burg. de Vlugtlaan, 115+116 to Isolatorweg, 113+114 to Gein, 107+108 to Amstedam Amstel, with about five minutes to spare for 9419+9525 on IC3050 back to Den Helder Zuid, giving a cold and dark interchange on to CXX Citaro 3301 for the ride to Julianadorp.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

It has been some time....
2018-01-07: ISS DOME by tram
To commence the opening of the tram extension to Düsseldorf's ISS DOME (Ice Rink and some musical events), a speical service with historic (and not yet, but soon to be historic) trams was operating. The extension has opened over 12 years after the Dome, due to one local complainig about possible noise and not wanting to sell his land. Anyways, it has opened for the new year (eventhough it has been finished (trackwise) in Decemeber, but the stop were not finished). It it neither particularrily exciting or very efficient, but it's finally here. I might just pop a link to the local tram preservation society here: http://linied.net/, for thoose who are intressted (but most speicals are only announced at very short notice (i.e. ~1 week).

Let's wind back to the first sunday of the year:
A convoy of historic trams was announced to depart Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof at 1320 heading for the DOME and back to the depots, it was decided to cath the 1230 ex Buchholz, which was formed of 422 065+422 047 (the latter with a new trial livery, i.e. a huge graffiti on one car). After a very uneventfull journey (most notable thing: the on-board entertainment by a foregin familliy talking rather loudly and listening to what, with good will, could be described with music), 422 047 was left at Düsseldorf's most central and most important railway station, to be greated by a four-wheeler already standing at the tram stop. Following were some more two-axle cars, a four+four combination ("Großraumwagen), two 6-axle articulated and GT8SU 3218, still in regular service, but expected to be written off by next year (at the latest). As 3218 is a high-floor light-rail vehicle (or Stadtbahn, if you want), this was choosen, sitting directly behind the driver for the run up to Rath and the extension, where we stopped and awaited the official opeining before continuing to the loop and back to Heerdt, on the other side of the Rhine. The other type of LRV, a set of B80Ds (4213+4230) took the two of us to Am Kaiser, where a swift interchange onto the 1615 to Düsseldorf was had, which was formed of the most unsuitable S-Bahn vehicle ever used in the Rhein-Ruhr area, 1440 317+1440 310(?), for a further set of 422s (008+032) back to Buchholz.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Kicking off (what should be) a seven part trip report: Greater London (March 2018)

2018-03-25
The first UK move of 2018 was the 1542 East Croydon to London Bridge (via Tulse Hill) stopper, taking @Fireless and me to Tulse Hill on 455 803. After a rather long bail there, 700 002 took us to Elephant&Castle, with (indeed) a not too nice interchange onto the Underground, especially as one of the lifts was out of order. After going down some stairs, through the shopping centre that's grottier than your average Ruhrgebiet's one, down some more stairs and even more stairs followed by walking down the platform and (you name it) some stairs to 4245 on a Bakerloo line service to Waterloo. 444 001+444 027 to Clapham Junction were pretty warm, with the AC not seeming to work with the train standing at Waterloo and 377 140+377 416 brought us back to East Croydon, finishing this nice afternoon out.

And now for something completely different: Part 2
2018-03-26
On this rather nice Monday, Fireless and me took the chance to mop up some DLR ends we had not done so far. 700 134 provided the traction on the 0948 East Croydon to London Bridge and 96601 to Canning Town. After a nice wait in the sun 155+134 took us to Woolwich Arsenal, failing a couple of hundred metres before the station, but with the PSA being able to manually proceed into the station after a short while. 376 006+376001 to Charlton and 465 009+465179 to Lewisham. The next DLR move was in the hands of 65+82+89 to Canary Wharf, with 54+55 waiting to take us to Poplar. To shorten the wait for the next Beckton service, 42+57+75 took us to Blackwall and 140+ some other B09 appeared to take us to Beckton. What should have been a short bus hop (~20mins) to Manor Park turned out to be a rather longer expierence, taking what felt like ages due to rather badly set up traffic lights. Nevertheless, 315 854+315 838 took us to Maryland, getting a Meal Deal at the local Morrisons (Brunch Triple, Mini Pork Pies and IrnBru zero, if anyone is interested) and a bus to Startford. 91033 turned out to be the ideal spot to consume this, whilst taking the two of us to Ealing Broadway. After checking RTT, it turned out that some freight trains were due rather soon, so we skipped a couple of 387s and I got a rather decent picture of a 60. 387 133+387 1?? were on 2P57 to Paddington, with 3233 providing some thrash to Waterloo. (45)5727+(45)5736 took us to Wimbledon, only to discover that Tramlink was expierencing "minor" delays. Minor delays seem to be relatively subjective, but I wouldn't classify a 15min wait on a every 5min service as something minor - eventhough not too unusal this side of the channel (but where do we even have such frequencies?). 700 037 offered a pleasent escape from the crowds, crawling round to Sutton (Surrey) and offering a connection onto 377 611 to West Croydon. 2545 had the honors of taking us to Elmers End, visiting the local Tesco Extra and taking 2533 back to Lebanon Road, ending the day.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-03-27
The 27th day of March was a pretty nice Tuesday, with a steam speical due through Southall at about 1200hrs, the late morning was spent on the GWML. As we ended the last two days in Croydon (where both of them started), it might not be too suprising, that we had the usual stroll over to East Croydon with 171804+171401+171724 appearing on 1L82 to London Bridge. A swift connection brought us to 465177+465025+465242 on a Charing Cross service, from where it was for some 1972 stock thrash to Paddington, with 3534 not performing too bad. On arrival at Paddington, 387131 took us to Ealing Broadway, where we waited for the 47, which brought the speical from Southend to Hanwell. After that came through (as well as loads of 387s, HSTs and a 345), 387133+387166 appeared for the journey to Southall, spending about 40 minutes there, with about the same stock as before (and, of course, a big black thing), before getting 387164+387147 to Hayes&Harlington with a extremely satisfying connection onto 387174 to West Drayton, for a pretty good bus ride to Uxbridge. 23035 provided the traction to Moorgate and 313027+313061 were the stock for the hop to Finsbury Park, with pretty decent thrash through the tunnels on the Moorgate line. This was to enable us to get 700126 to City Thameslink, providing our first trip through the canal tunnels. 700029 was turning up on the next Sutton loop service, on which we stayed to Tooting (via Sutton), with the train passing through Wimbledon non-stop due to a "problem". After a visit to the quite well stocked modell shop there, we decided to take a bus to Croydon, which took ages.

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a good trip

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Sounded like a good trip

It was indeed.

2018-03-28
Somehow, during the first few days of the week, I (and Fireless for that matter) noticed that we have been to quite a good chunk of the LU network. A rather notable exclusion was the northern part of the Northern Line, which was supprisingly easy to combine with some PEP haulage and my first journey on a 345.
Let's start at East Croydon, with 455834 for a semi-fast run (09.21 ex ECR) to the bridgey thing in London and down the escalators to 51537 for the journey north to Edgeware for 51536 (so the other end car) back south to Mornington Crescent (guess I have not won anyways), something that could have worked out with a slight time penalty but luckily 51571 appeared after a couple of seconds for the way to Finchley Central.

51651 was one on the end cars on the Mill Hill East shuttle, which was taken to Mill Hill East and back to Finchley (the driver being slightly puzzled by us returning). I do not know if the line is either relatively unspectacular or the viaduct just seemed to be due to the rather bad weather (it was raining and quite grey - it's the North after all ). 51647 cleared the final chunk of the northern end, bringin us to High Barnet. A neat bus journey to Enfield Town followed (via Great Cambridge Road for another Morrisons meal deal (a very good selection they do have)) for 315806 to my rather favourite terminus (maybe because of the high amounts of 315s and 317s - but not for that much longer) London Liverpool Street. As neither of us have been on a dusty bin so far, 321437 was chosen for traction to Romford and as a 315 was working the dud track to Upminster, we decided to go in hunt of a 345, whilst scoring some shacks in between - some being left for (hopefuly) later in the year. And if you look for a 345 (and we had seen some in service on the journey out) 315820+315844 turn up to Chadwell Heath and 315829+315837 for another one stop hop to Goodmayes, where after another cold and wet 10min fester, 345010 turned up for a rather nice journey to Stratford. They are quite OK for things like the Shenfield Metro, but I can't really see them being suitable for Reading (no toilets, not exactly ideal seating) and Heathrow (not really much luggage space) services.

96326 was a rather nice sounding car on the Jub, which was taken back to London Bridge, with 376019+376005 working a delayed Hayes service, again leaving them at Elmers End, visiting the Tesco and 2546 back to Croydon.

At some point that afternoon I checked RTT and found a running non-passenger train, which turned out to be two 73s (73128+73107 if I can see it correctly) with some kind of yellow-y thing in between.
Quite happy with that photo, consindering that it was really raining - quite a lot - for the couple of minutes the train was due. I decided not too put on my anorak so had to take it standing in the waiting room entrance.

2018-03-29
That Thursday was one of the two days I was out on my own and starting a tad bit earlier. Still having to clear the Richmond and the West Ruislip branches, 377462+377432+377125 were quite welcome on the 8.58 to Clapham Junction (even getting a seat and enough personal space to read the Metro) with 458515+458521 taking me from there to Richmond. 21464 to Hammersmith (District) and across the road to the other Hammersmith for 22411 to Wood Lane and a quite nice 200m stroll to White City, from where 92046 took me to West Ruislip (with not too many pieces falling off). After a relatively long wait, 172101 was working the 1105 to my last London Terminus Marylebone, which was handy for 3432 to Queen's Park. The next train to Harrow&Wealdston was 378224 taking me to Hatch End from where it was bus time again - route H12 to Stanmore. 96024 provided the GTO thrash to Wembley Park and than it was time for some sub-surface shacks:
21100>Great Portland Street
24321>Euston Square
25044>Barbican
22571>Liverpool Street

Next thing up was Whalthamstow Central and to get there 317342+317664 were taken to Tottenham Hale, with 17028 on a northbound service to Whalthamstow Central and 12028 (so another vehicle) back to Victoria. I did intend to go back to Croydon via Mitcham Junction but there were two thing speaking against that:
1. It was starting to rain.
2. The next train was in 2mins, coming into Vic. The one after that wasn't for another 25mins or so.
Instead 377419+377406 brought me back to East Croydon, calling it a day as it was pouring down.

 

[Kite159]

A good bit of variety

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-03-30 A pretty good friday (pun intended)
Starting the day as usual, with a walk to East Croydon, where 375610+375627 provided traction on a diverted Charing Cross service, taking that all the way to it's terminus (and scoring some crossovers in the London Bridge area - despite not being that much into track bashing). A walk to Embankment followed, with a group of (probably - I have a quite good "German Detector") german students coming the opposite way (very happy about that!). 24440 were working the next eastbound service - on the Circle Line, thus taking me to Temple. 22474 were on the next District service to Mile End with 92242 appearing on a Newbury Park terminator. After a relatively short wait, 92114 took me to Woodford (via Hainault). Luck was striking again with a further short working: 93072 to Loughton and 91199 to Epping joined my notes. Withe the northeastern Central Line cleared, Olympia was high up on the hitlist, being reached by 92048 to Holborn and 151 to Earl's Court. After a rather short wait, 21358 came round the corner from the High Street, taking me (and quite supprisingly quite a decent lot of other people) to Kensington (Olympia). As I needed a PNB and some Food, 378217 was quite handy for the hop to Shepard's Bush, using the posh "bathroom" in the shopping centre and nearly failling at the M&S meal deal, with a nice shop attendant helping me out (still don't if the Bacon&Chicken is officaly in the meal deal...). Next thing up was Heathrow T4 and for some reason I headed downstairs and onto 91008 to Ealing Broadway, for 22432 to Acton Town and 854 to Heathrow T4. Looking up bus routes when inside the terminal, I decided to go to Feltham, with 455873+455716 providing a fast service to Clapham Junction - via Twickenham and Kingston. 377409+377113 were the final traction for the day, between the junction near Clapham and the East of Croydon.

2018-03-31 Random stuff saturday
The final day of the 7-day-season and the final (usuable) day of the stay in Croydon was mainly about Morden, but also about some quite random things.
Rather unusually, the day started with a bus to Morden (with a quite neat ZF gearbox), 51579 to Embankment, 21319 to Mansion House, 22355 to Aldgate East and 22449 to Upminster being the next couple of moves. 357211+357017+357013 were working a rather busy service to Fenchurch Street, with a nice walk through the empty city (rather strange ghost-town feeling - there is more going on on a sunday in Mülheim a/d Ruhr). Instead of walking all the way, we (as in @Fireless and me) joined the subways at Bank, with 92083 being the escape vehicle to St. Paul's, for a nice visit to the Co-Op. Getting a LT to City Thameslink, 700039 took us to Blackfriars (terminating there due to works in the Sutton area). After neraly half an hours wait 700051 was working us to Bromley South with a bus connection to Bromley North for 466022 to Grove Park (with a nice vintage toilet on the slow line platform). More networker action was had with 465241+465168 to London London Bridge (as it should be named correctly - shouldn't it?) and 465176+465015 to the End of Elmers for dud 2533 (rather disappointed with that) to Sandilands and a random bus move - hoping for it to stop at Leabanon Road but sailling right through without any announcement to East Croydon, for the walk back, not saving too much on that by the bus move.

Next stuff planned: Possibly some random shacks over the next couple of days, Luxemb(o)urg on 2018-05-23 and 2018-05-24 and a further trip to London (as a school trip) in October.

 

[Kite159]

Another couple of varied days in London

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Finally coming round to write up this May. Starting with 2018-05-07

My notes start with super-dud DU-FU 1331 (2013 Citaro 2) on line 941 to Uerdingen. The route is plannend to be discontinued with the new "improved" bus network in a couple of years, but for now it is still quite alive (and a handy connection between the South of Duisburg and Krefeld). Sadly I missed the first tram into Krefeld proper - which would have been a M8 and had to wait for Flexity 603 to Krefeld's Hauptbahnhof. On board the tram I had the rough idea to travel back via Geldern but the Geldern "fast"(=stopper) was pretty full and I opted for a set of two 1442 (rear one was 388) on the 1436 to Köln. This was a pretty big score as I had ample time to get a IC ticket to Duisburg - via Opladen, Hilden and Ratingen West, finally covering the southern section of the goods line. 422006+422010 provided haulage back to Buchholz.

2018-05-18
A busy day (sorry) was had on this day - free for some oral exams taking place. DVG 807 from Buchholz to the eastern side of the station, NIAG 3567 (quite thrashy early Citaro) on line SB30 to Geldern, where the money for improvements has ran out before they reached the platforms or so. 648428+648442 to Meerbusch-Osterrath and for some more novelty factor 7616 to Freiligrathplatz (via the "Autobahn"). As I had to get something from school, the move back home was broken at Kalkumer Schlossallee, with ultra-duds 4717+4705 first part and duds 4279+4214 providing the traction to my local stop (Münchener Straße).

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-05-19 New Ratingen interchange
As the title does (kind of) suggest, the 19th of May was the (quite) grand opening of the fully reworked Ratingen-Mitte interchange (after 1,5 years). To celebrate in style, the local preservation society (click) operated the following:
2 vintage buses between Hösel and Ratingen (free)
1 vintage and 1 1990s bus between Rat-Homberg and Ratingen (free)
4 vintage trams between Ratingen and Oberrath (free)
5 vintage trams on (a chrageable) Düsseldorf-Ratingen round trip

As a lover of the first geneartion of German low-floor buses, the most intresting vehicle was by far 7252 so it was getting up at quite stupid-o-clock for the 0830 working from Buchholz to Düsseldorf-Derendorf, formed of 422027 (only, a typical shortforming). As the connections are quite bad (-1 or +29) time was spent bashing some units:
422060+422021>Zoo
423290+423255>Derendorf
and finally:
422013/422057(some reforming took place) with 422017 to (rather undelightful) Ratingen-Ost.
A short wait later, Brings 9132 (rather neat Citaro 2) took us to Homberg (Zur Straße) and a short downhill walk later, we (i.e. me and Fireless) found ourselves at Kirchfeldstraße, where (after quite a long wait) 7252 turned up, with some excellent thrash and (bare for details) in last working condition to Ratingen's Mitte. To spend the time till the free trams, some food was eaten and (free!) drink drunk before turning over to Neuss 17, one of the rarest trams used by Linie D for the run to Oberrath (scoring the crossover there). 954 to Felderhof, a quite rural halt and 380 to Ratingen. As appreciators of Düwag cars, most of the time was spent on 2269 for Ratingen Mitte>Oberrath>Ratingen Mitte>Oberrath>Ratingen Mitte>Schlüterstraße/Arbeitsargentur with a swift connection onto 3355+3351 to Uhlandstraße, buying some ice cream from the discounter and over to Wehrhahn with 422056+422025 providing traction back home.

2018-05-22 was a prelude to the next two days, as after arriving at the holiday park in Saarburg(Bz Trier) I decided to go over to Trier Hbf. 429123+429105; 425132

2018-05-23 Luxemburg 1
A rather tiny country with some cheap rovers (4€ standard, 6€ 1st; unlimited country-wide travel) and a quite decent transport network, two days of the "bonus" school holidays (as some public holidays provided spare days - rather complicated rules). After getting to Rodt/Sauer, the CFL app (in all it's helpfulness) showed the working to Luxemburg running on time, whilst it also had it as cancelled - and it was indeed cancelled. Instead of hangig around, EW1315 provided a quite nice journey to Luxemburg's red bridge, with 2 being the funnicular to the railway station. The PIS there was utterly disappointing (even by German standrads): It still had a train that should have departet 5 minutes earlier on display and only as 2206 was coming around the corner showed RE459, which I took from Kirchberg-Pfaffental to Luxemburg (I will consistently use Germane names as I can't stand French for reasons (e.g. Brussel). I had a plan to cover ~80% of the network as some lines were closed and the first line to fall was line 50 to Kleinbettingen with 3020 working a (very!) empty service to Aarlen (in Belgium). After a 30 minutes wait (in a nice temporary waiting room) the set reappeared for the return working. Next line: line 10 which had off-peak works north of Ettelbrück but with some careful planning it worked out: 2022+2016+2018 provided the Diekirch stopper and back to Ettelbrück. Next thing was a replacement bus to Ulflingen and that's where things went pear-shaped yet again. The 1435 service was cancelled (it was the first southbound service of the afternoon) but hoping to make up the 30min in Wiltz I was still to be disappointed even more. 4010 was hauling some empty double deckers taking me to Kautenbach for 2017 over to Wiltz. The line runs every 30min, with a 6min turnaround at Kautenbach and - so I wrong assumed - a 2min turnaround at Wiltz. No. As we arrived into Wiltz, 2001 was starting it's journey back onto the single line and 2017 had a booked turnaround of 32mins! What an absolute waste of resoureces and what a stupid timetabling. Shave 2mins at Kautenbach and add 2min at Wiltz and the job is done... After a (very short) moment of thinking, I walked to a shop round the corner as I was pretty hungry by the time and got some (absolutely stunning) Pain au Choclat (these french chocladey things) from the bakery in the entrance. Back onto the same unit with the same guard (with a quite strange look) to Kautenbach and 2309 back to Kirchberg, as I was already half an hour down on what I wanted and would have got that up to over an hour if I contiued by train. 4 up the hill, Urbos 108 over it and EW1123 to Rodt. Quite nice day - but even putting my expectations to shame in terms of punctuallity and information.

Reports coming up (some time): A further day in Luxemburg, a day trip to the East(Mülheim a/d Ruhr) and one to the West(The land of 30min intervals and 10 or more car double decker trains).

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-05-24 Luxemburg 2
A rather late start, with a drive over the border to Bettemburg to clear (some) of the southern lines. The first one was the line over the border with France to Volmerange-les-Mines and back, worked by KISS 2319. 4017 powered the Esch/Alzette service with a rake of Dostos for 2006 to Audun-le-Tiche, in France again, and back. As it was a Thursday the (excellent&free!) transport museum at Hollerich Bus Depot was open, with dud EW1123 working to Gasperich for an unidentified Citaro to Hollerich and a decent work. A very interesting walk through the museum later (plenty of original documents with a couple of buses and trams in pristine condition and even a short (~100m) running line. Very much worth a visit.
After that and another Citaro to the central station, what I belive to have been 4017 again took me back to Bettemburg.

I skip the announced Mülheim trip as it won't be to intresting to read (just some vintange trams running in service - see here: http://auflinie.vhag-evag.de/) and so we are now back into the Netherlands for a 1700 and SGMm bash.

2018-06-23
Fireless and myself spent that day in the Netherlands and it started with the 0730 ex Buchholz, worked by single 422002 for the short distance to Duisburg Hauptbahnhof, where dud 25 2305 was waiting to work the 0744 to Arnhem calling at all stations till Zevenaar and then fast to Arnhem. A very busy ten-car double decker IC, formed of 8729+9584 took us to Utrecht Centraal (tbh one of my most favourite stations).

(8729+9584, IC3028, Utrecht Centraal)

Using the northern tunnel for the way to the "suburban" platforms, we reached set 7374, a 1700-hauled(1764) DDAR set for the run to Bilthoven. Just to make it clear, the 73xx number refers to a rake of coaches (semi-)permantly coupled to a 1700, pretty much like a HST but with far less changes.
7336 was working the return to Utrech Overvecht (with a nice slide) and after letting a SLT depart, 2936 worked the hop to Centraal. After grabbing some stuff to eat (a "Saucijzenbroodje" and a Coke Zero), 7310 worked the next Zwolle stopper (running (mostly-ish) DDAR) to Amersfoort and for something completly different some Koplooper, in this case 4016+4066 to Amsterdam Centraal. After getting some more supllies at the AH to go, 1745 was working the 1300 to Almelo, formed of some German Coaches were we sadly did not get a private compartment. From Almelo, I wanted to revisit the newly electrified line to Zwolle and as a time wasting move we took 7315 to Wierden.

(7315, SPR 7054, Wierden)
After messing around with the OV-chipkaart readers (and making some "music" with the different error beeps), Keolis Flirt 7309 appeared for the Zwolle stopper. As is typical for there, after a very swift interchange of <10mins we left, now on 4246+4017 to Arnhem for an unidentified Flirt back to Duisburg (with a quite jobsworth RPI not knowing the international tarif and wanting to throw me out at Zevenaar, eventhough I held a ticket valid to Emmerich(Gr) and from Emmerich(Gr), saying I couldn't board there (I don't have to; 2 tickets can equal 1 journey...), probably because the "VRR", who don't have a say about my German ticket (a "Schwerbehindertenausweis mit Wertmarke" for those intrested), imply it is not valid upto the border - basicly kind of a loophole). 422050+422071 worked back to Buchholz.

 

[Kite159]

Funky looking trains at Utrecht

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Before setting off to London tomorrow (on a school trip but I hope to get some shacks cleared (especially Angel Road and Sudbury & Harrow Road), I will finally start wrtiting up August's trips. The first one will be five days of belgish extravaganza, again brought to you by cheap fare (15€/week (NMBS/SNCB), 12€/3days (De Lijn).
2018-08-06
Starting the day at Buchholz with the 0740 to Düsseldorf, formed of 422061+422024 delivering a rather good performance. Leaving the station through the northern exit I went down to the bus station to catch EN-CT 3100 (a very very pleasant Setra coach with ample legroom even with my 1.90m tall body) to Antwerpen Centraal. After checking in at the pleasant IBIS budget to the south of the station, it was time to go south.
815 in all it's 70s glory worked IC2035 to Charleroi-Zuid/Sud (being asked multiple times how to get to the airport). And what do you do when you have just under one hour to spend in Charleroi (otherwise it would have involved a Desiro on a move which was avoidable)? Go outside for some tram pictures. And I waited. Five minutes, ten minutes and than two BN cars arrived from either direction at roughly the same time.

TEC 7448, leaving Sud on the inner rail.

After a random stroll through the station toilet/subway combi, I boarded 997 (those thyristor ones sound better than the JH ones in my opinion) working L4165, as far as Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, to clear the line to Gembloux with 08053 working P8690 (quite empty and with very welcome A/C).

NMBS/SNCB 997 (ex 729) thrasing out of Jemeppe towards Namur.

From Gembloux (a very well-kept station (by continental standards anyway)), I caught a loco-hauled IC to Brussel-Noord, formed of 2157 and a (long) rake of M4s (bench seats!), for 1877 and some M6 to Antwerpen, ending the day.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-08-07
Right back to August, to be more preciesly to a morning in Antwerpen, starting the day on the 0730 IC 2907 to Leuven with 08116+08081. The trains was quite empty till Lier and filled up afterwards (mostly students going to the catholic university in Leuven I think). After a stroll around the stil unfinished station in Leuven (not much has changed since October last year), I jumped on IC 1506 to Genk and back to Hasselt, formed of M6+1902+M6+1906. After bailing at Hasselt, I found out there is a free water dispenser on platform 1, where L5360, the 1038 to Luik/Liege and Maastricht was booked to depart from - only because I checked on the app again 5mins before depature, I realised it departed platform 4 - no announcements or anything, a very bad peformance in my eyes. However it was directly into the middle car of unmodernised MS80 415 for the extremly comfy leather seats in standard class and starting the A/C (or opening the windows as normals call it) as it was pretty warm (~30°C if I remember correctly). After an uneventful journey to Luik-G. I walked through town to the local model shop ("Hobby 2000", very well stocked and quite decent prices) and to the shopping centre for a Burger King meal (with free refill!) and a PNB. After arriving back at the station, I decided to travel on IC 2435, formed of M4s with an unidentified 2100 on the back. The journey down to Namur was very scenic and I realised I could make a very quick connection at Namur onto IC 936 to Doornik, formed of MS96 473. At Doornik I changed onto 757 on L4665, passing the well named "Plan B" cafe at Herseaux to Moeskroen (one of the bilingual stations with all sings in French and Flemish Dutch). Instead of hanging around there and wait for the Antwerpen working, 338+406 were duly boarded to Kortrijk and after getting a three-day De Lijn rover, 450+443 worked the 1758 IC back to Antwerpen.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-08-08 Belgian seaside
And again it has been some time, and again it is a trip report that has been overdue for ~3months: the third (of five) parts of this summer's Belgian explorations.
The task for the day: clear the costal lines (except for Zeebrugge-Dorp which is served MFo outside the summer). The tickets for the day: Go Unlimited, De Lijn 3-day rover.

Anyways, after another uneventful breakfast, I went over to lovely Antwerpen-Central (Highest Level) for IC 707 to Gent-Sint-Pietes, formed of 467+525+456, helping some French passengers to get their bikes into the luggage compartment (loading by guard! - how oldfashioned is this?) even with my de facto non-existent French. At Gent, I did not have too wait too long on one of the quite old and unpleasant platforms (the station is being completely rebuilt at the moment) for 303+ another un-IDed MS80 to De Panne with a 1min connection onto BN 6007 on the Kusttram, which I took all the way to Oostende.
I did the Line all the way from Knokke to De Panne and back some years ago, but I did not remember the vehicles to be in such an appaling condition (empty drinks can rolling around, dirty seats and floor....), having such a bad legroom (well, I am 1.9m tall now) and that extremely busy (Passengers getting left behind from at least Westende). However, somehow I survived the 90min ride. Oostende had breaks 355+386 waiting for me for the journey to Brugge, getting some ice cream before boarding 486 to Knokke with a very friendly and happy guard. Sadly the free coffe machine at the AH in Knokke was being maintained, but after getting something to eat it was time for the second tram leg of the day: 6037 to Blankenberge. A (busy) triple set of MS96, i.e. 563+553+462, was just about to leave, so I gladly took it to Brugge for another of those swift connections onto 08070, again with a nice guard, to Zeebrugge-Strand and back to Gent. I hoped to get some PCCs but had no luck so boarded Hermelijn 6330 (first non-coastal De Lijn tram!) to Zwijndrecht and took 6317 to Gentbrugge, Stelplaats, where many PCCs were out in the sun.

After looking around (and taking some photos), I took a thrasy Jonckhere back to Sint Pieters and awaited 1845 on the IC to Brussels, scoring diner at the Carrefour at Brussel-Zuid and found myself pushed by 2704 back to Antwerpen.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

2018-08-09
The plan was do to some lines around Antwerpen, helped by the use of De Lijn trams and buses.
As I still had unfinished buisness with line 12 (north of Wildert), I took 08073 from Antwerpen-Centraal to Essen(BE) where after watching the shuttle to Roosendal in, I boarded a set of M6s within a total formation of (dud) 2704+M6(with DVT)+M6(with DVT)+2708, still rather "undercrowded" by the time the service reached Antwerpen-Luchtbal. After waiting about 20mins in some rather dull weather, a 602 bus to Noorderkempen appeared, with a very vocal Van Hool AG300 doing the job.

The best way to describe Noorderkempen would be a very bleak station next to a motorway with a car park and a bus station, all in grey and slightly overgrown. I was not too unhappy when IC9224 came in from the Netherlands, formed of 186005+16273(ICR coaches)+186002. This was taken down to Antwerpen-Berchem.
From prior research, I knew that line 11 had PCCs on it so it seemed like a good idea to get that to the central station, mainly for retrieving the jacket from the hotel as the weather started to get worse. I was very supprised by the conditon of 7055, with (apart from a new ticket printer and some new moquette) nearly original interior, which was just lovely. The other thing I was supprised about was the beauty of the route, which lead to a small photographic trip on Friday.

After getting the jackety, it was over to Plantin where 7309 was working on line 15 round to Meir for a quick hop to the local model shop, which was pretty badly stocked (apart from boring Märklin stuff). Back to the trams and onto 7221 out to Zwijndrecht, P+R, where a helpful bus to Sint-Niklaas turned up, which provided an excellent connection onto L2684 to Antwerpen-Zuid, formed of 947, a pretty lovely MS86.

The following tram moves in summary format:
7068+7121 Station Zuid>Zuid
7155+7083 Zuid>Schotensesteenweg
7252 Schotensesteenweg>Wijnegem, P+R
7361 (new tram smell) Wijnegem, P+R>Schijnpoort
7220 Schijnpoort>Kineopolis (for the Burger King)
7210 Kineopolis>P+R Luchtbal
Bus P+R Luchtbal>F. Rooseveltplein
7055 F. Rooseveltplein>Ploeg and a walk to the hotel.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Maybe I should really try to do this faster:
2018-08-10
A friday, focussing on the trams in Antwerpen, scoring a lot of new track (first time on the Antwerpen trams for me) and loads of PCCs.

The moves in summary format:
Walk from the hotel to Berchem (taking pictures of the PCCs on quaint tram line 11)
7312 Berchem>Plantin
7222 Plantin>Zwaantjes
7068+7121 Zwaantjes>Hoboken (scoring the temporary turning wye(?), as I had missed it was the terminus and a nice driver allowing me to stay on)
7114+7086 Hoboken>Groenplaats
7324 Groenplaats>Steenenbrug
7276 Zegel>Nationale Bank
7165+7161 Nationale Bank>MAS>Mortsel, Gemeentehuis
7353 Mortsel, Gemeentehuis>Meir
unrecorded Hermelijn (I don't know why I didn't write it down) to Astrid, to get the bag from the hotel, with the same Setra back to Düsseldorf (pretty late due to a serve delay on the Antwerpen bound working)
422072 Düsseldorf Hbf>Duisburg-Buchholz

2018-08-18 Daytrip to London
Probably the craziest thing I have done so far was a daytrip to London. 422074+422068 were working the S1 service taking me to the airport, duds 3.1+3.2 whizzed me along the "skytrain" route to Terminals A/B.
A pretty decent flight later (nice crew, on time, good weather and very lightly loaded so that the lack of legroom did not lead to any problem) to Heathrow.
I was very happy that the flight arrived at T5B, as I was able to get 03+05 on the people mover to Terminal 5 proper. Having to pass through immigration (I don't have a passport, just an ID card) with quite some questions asked as to why I was only coming over for a day etc. it was time to get a Travelcard for the day and jump on 332004 just as it was ready to leave, my planned timing working out. Of course I left the posh and expensive thing at Heathrow Central and boarded 360202 to West Ealing for 165120 to Greenford (sitting in the declassified first class area - very comfy). 93136 was coming in on a Central line working to Liverpool Street, from where I planned to go to Chingford, hoping to get a 317 - sadly the Enfield Town working brought up two 317s and the Chingford was in the hands of 315808, which I took to it's terminus - Chingford.
A 313 bus brought me over to Glyn Road for a quick visit to the Tesco there and 315808 from Southbury to Turkey Street. A nice, about 20 minute walk to Enfield Lock followed, just making 317509+317346 on a service which took me to Tottenham Hale, with 379001+379009 following directly behind for the run into Liverpool Street. At this point I planned to finally get onto one of the Routemasters on 15H and as the tube ticket hall was pretty full, I bussed it to the Tower, with a pretty nice RM from there to Charing Cross, again just making 465925+465926 for a service to Abbey Wood with 700017 back to Blackfriars. From there I bussed it to King's Cross, made my way down and boarded 24563 to Hammersmith. Still having some time to spare, I decided on a H91 bus to Hounslow West, with 127 appearing after a rather long wait, but terminating at Heathrow T2&3. Instead of cramming onto the next train, I got bus service 7 to Terminal 5, arriving there about 30 minutes before the gate for my return was announced. A rather full (and loud: many German girls returning from some organised trip) back to Düsseldorf, 3.1+3.2 back to the station and 422029+another back to Buchholz.

 

[Please Explain]

Goedenavond meneer spoorslag! -(am guessing with a name like that your originally from NL/BE and now living in NRW?! )

Anyway, I've just been reading over these reports with interest. Nice to hear that what is otherwise mondane and boring to most of us over here attracts interest from our friends across the channel! I suppose you will get bored of your dostos etc too, but yet they are "exotic" to us!
Funny how you visited "my old patch", I used to work on the platforms dispatching trains in my past life at several of the stations you visited in your trip reports, its nice to read aof your travels around the Londonian rails! Even funnier that you mention East Croydon and Lebanon Road tram stop, I used to live very close to there until very recently!
"Es ist eine kleine Welt!"
Sorry to hear that you got the "friendly UKBF welcome service" on arrival at Heathrow on your latest visit!
I spent all afternoon being questioned by them at the UK checkpoint at the Port de Calais just recently when my passport was confiscated.. Das war eine albtraum..!
Anyway, bedankt voor posting and keep them coming, I particularly enjoyed reading of your Belgien bashing, it's also one of my favourite countries not only for bashing trains but for bier, frites en chocolate!
And of course not to mention its most friendly people, who speak my three most favourite languages!

Danke nochmals,
Kris

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Goedenavond meneer spoorslag! -(am guessing with a name like that your originally from NL/BE and now living in NRW?! )

Anyway, I've just been reading over these reports with interest. Nice to hear that what is otherwise mondane and boring to most of us over here attracts interest from our friends across the channel! I suppose you will get bored of your dostos etc too, but yet they are "exotic" to us!
Funny how you visited "my old patch", I used to work on the platforms dispatching trains in my past life at several of the stations you visited in your trip reports, its nice to read aof your travels around the Londonian rails! Even funnier that you mention East Croydon and Lebanon Road tram stop, I used to live very close to there until very recently!
"Es ist eine kleine Welt!"
Sorry to hear that you got the "friendly UKBF welcome service" on arrival at Heathrow on your latest visit!
I spent all afternoon being questioned by them at the UK checkpoint at the Port de Calais just recently when my passport was confiscated.. Das war eine albtraum..!
Anyway, bedankt voor posting and keep them coming, I particularly enjoyed reading of your Belgien bashing, it's also one of my favourite countries not only for bashing trains but for bier, frites en chocolate!
And of course not to mention its most friendly people, who speak my three most favourite languages!

Danke nochmals,
Kris

Well, I was born in Duisburg (and my my familiy is from Germany as well). My name is more of a refrence to the excellent vision the Netherlands had in just that program, something still lacking in so many places all over the world. I first really travelled the rails of the Netherlands (not counting some single journey when I was very young) in 2015 and instantly fell in love: the punctuality, the frequency and the very well thought out track layouts. It's just amazing. Over the years, I have now covered a very fair part of the NS network (mostly on the cheap "Dal Dagkaart" tickets you sometimes get in Dutch supermarkets - after all, a car trip over the border is no more than an hour from where I live), with the notable exception of the line down to Vlissingen and most of the northern branches (around Leeuwaarden and Groningen).

As you might know, after sometime it can get quite repetitive (my last new line must have been the Enkhuizen line in September 2017 - if my memory does not trick me). So in October 2017, I did my first "Go Unlimited" on the NMBS network - the rest is history.

My connection to the British network is far more complicated: for as long as I can remember (at least since 2006) till 2014, my familiy always went to Britain in the summer, in 2013 and 2014 in Croydon. I must have fallen in love with the country sometime back then, but sadly the timing of my brother's (Fireless on these forums - uni) and mine (still school - for 3 more months!) holidays didn't really come together well. For the easter vacation in 2017, we went to Croydon again, followed by a BritRail pass tour with my father in the summer of that year. The rest really is history.

Concerning the border incident, it was not too bad and I can understand that a 16-year old travelling alone can cause them questions, especially when travelling alone. After all, it took no more than 10 minutes (including the short wait) - nothing compared to your expirience!). But it is still a very different way of doing things when you are as used to Schengen as I am.

 

[rg177]

As an English speaker- I also find NS (and the Netherlands in general) very easy to navigate as often people will speak better English than me

Punctuality is also decent, although with one notable exception where I arrived in Maastricht to find that the entire Arriva network didn't feel like operating, so no services other than back to Eindhoven, or to Liege.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Morning! I am finally coming around to write up some more trips. The first one is the school one to London (staying in a very "intresting" (weeny rooms, sparse brekfast, intresting smell but very cheap) Hostel in Lewisham), mainly to visit Blechtley Park (which - for price reasons - was done on a chatered bus). We did however had quite a lot of spare time I think I put to better use than (for me illegaly) filling myself up with alcohol.

2018-10-08
The day started with the usual double 422(067+065) down to Düsseldorf-Flughafen, hyper-duds 2.2+2.1 to Terminal AB, a very jobsworth German border agent, making clear how genereaous he is letting me through without my parents, some ex AirBerlin A32x to Heathrow (Terminal 2), quite the opposite border experience, 160 to Green Park, 96085 to London Bridge and 465004+465030 to Lewisham, a bus to the aforementioned hostel and getting the suitcase into the room.
As I both like 317s and awkward stations, I did intend to go to Angel Road and thus got a bus back to Lewisham, 102+153+144 to Canary Wharf, scored a meal deal, got on 75+01 to Stratford, bought the magzines you don't (Buses) or rarely (Modern Railways) get on the continent and awaited 317661+317514 to Angel Road. After reading the poster relating to the consultation. I got back onto 317662+317338 for the run into Stratford.
I still needed to get some food for the evening and lunch for tuesdays and thus travelled to Liverpool Street on 321319+321353+321354, popping into the Tesco Metro there (which had quite a queue at the self-service machines), onto a LT to London Bridge and up into the declassified first class on 465923 (behind another one).
2018-10-09
After arriving back from Bletchley, with the driver setting us off in Central Londond (and after trying to be social but not intrested in shopping in Oxford Street), I had another awkward station to get: Sudburry&Harrow Road. 96047 Westminster>Baker Street; 3340>Marylebone; a long wait (time enough to read the Evening Standard), scoring a free bottle of water and a cupcake (very nice of Chiltern!) and onto 172102 to (Shack score no. 2) Sudbury&Harrow Road. I then took a bus to Wembley Central for 3260 down to Charing Cross, scoring diner from the Burger King and onto 376019+376020 for the journey to Lewisham.
2018-10-10
The plan was to go to the science museum together, thus we walked to Hither Green, getting onto 465159 in front of another one for the journey to Charing Cross, down onto 21497 over to South Kensington, into the museum (through the group entrace - a much more pleasant experience than the main one) and into the exhibitions. We were supposed to look at some stuff in our own pace and thus I got to the areas I have not visited so far (the communication and the Winston Gallery if I remember quite correctly) and got out at about lunch time. After walking to Lancaster Gate and getting a bus to Shephard's Bush (looking for a Morrisons I could not find - because it had been closed and getting a Gregg's meal deal instead), it was time to clear some lines on the SWR inners. Thus 377206+377212 took me to Clapham Junction, 456022+5741+5864 to Earlsfield 5916+5859 to Raynes Park, 456008+5711+5862 to Motspur Park, 5908+5918 down to Chessington South, a bus to Surbiton and 5706+5909+456013 to Waterloo, where I then decided to go to Vauxhall on a set of 707 with 707010 trailing. A quick journey up the oven to Seven Sisters (14007) and into Liverpool Street on 315814+315807. As I was not certain whether I have ever done the western section of the circle (and I was pretty certain that I did not), I got on 21555 to Edgeware Road, 21404 to Blackfriars and - to get a meal deal - the short hop to City Thameslink on 700052. 700128 provided traction to London Bridge and 376034+376009 were working back to Lewisham.
2018-10-11
After visting - supprisingly - Greenwich observatory, getting a meal deal and walking to Maze Hill (actually with other people! How to be social level one), I got onto 465159+466026+466006 to London Bridge. Instead of going to Borough Market as others did, I had a mug to get (an Arsenal one for a friend of the family) and thus took 700104 to Farringdon, 21544 to Moorgate, 313046+313035 to Drayton Park, used the mug and junk selling outlet and walked to Holloway for 176 to Finsbury Park. News came through that we would be spending the evening in a pub in Greenwich and thus I slowly travelled back south with 313029+313045 to Highbury&Islington, 378219 to Stratford, 321440+321364+321354 to Liverpool Street, a bus to Tower Gateway and scoring both shacks and units for the following DLR moves:
28+73+59>Shadwell; 57+98+10>South Quay; 121+152+151>Crosshabour; 67+72+93>Mudchute; 45+36+44>Island Gardens, a walk through the foot tunnel a nice social evneing and 13+60+99 down to Lewisham for the usual bus.
2018-10-12
Instead of the sparse breakfast of the previous mornings, I took a bus towards Lewisham for a quick hop into Gregg's for a bacon butty and a coffee (far better (evene value for money wise)). After arriving at the station, I decided on 465001+465037 to Hayes, a bus to Bromley South, 375708 to Victoria, electic buses to City Thameslink via Waterloo (very nice buses indeed but lacking some seats), 700134 to East Croydon, bus to West Croydon and 377309+377307+377459 to London Bridge (a standard class only service so guess where I sat), getting 465045+465195 down to New Cross and a bus to Lewisham.
We than (as a group) got onto a bus to North Greenwich, 96241 to Green Park and 219+154 to Heathrow Central. After a pretty delayed flight, I felt quite at home on 4.1+4.2 (with elderly people unwilling to move right down inside and telling me multiple times they had to get off at next stop and being generaly very grumpy) for the short-formed S1 experience on 422012 back home to Buchholz.

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a good trip

 

[Techniquest]

A very varied trip to London, but definitely sounds like a lot of fun was had!

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Not read your reports before, and they are very good.

I like the random variety of your trips - buses, trams, ice cream and Arsenal* mugs sound the sort of random interjections into a day out that make it all the better.

And I agree linguistically - Aachen rather than Aix-La-Chapelle!

(*A Tottenham mug would be more to my personal taste, but at least it wasn't West Ham!)