Bergen by train (and ferries) 2

It's always good to get some jeopardy at the start of an ambitious itinerary, stops you worrying about connections etc. The Thameslink timetable fiasco had one silver lining - tickets were valid on Gatwick Express trains, but I'd still have to get the tube from Victoria to St Pancras at rush hour. However on the morning TV news they said a train had broken down at Gatwick Airport and to expect delays... so, I set off straight away. Made it.



The other major worry was right at the end of the trip when the German ICE train from Cologne to Brussels arrived 45 minutes late, and on another platform! By the time we were detoured because of people on the line, we arrived 1hr 21minutes late. Of course I'd missed my Eurostar and I was imagining all kinds of scenarios - staying the night in Brussels, buying new tickets and claiming back on the holiday insurance, etc. I needn't have worried - the Eurostar check in person just booked us on to the next train. Back at St Pancras, a Thameslink train turned up and I got back to Brighton in time for the last train to London Road. Phew!

So when people say the trains always run on time in Germany? That was a long time ago. There was another delay from Cologne to Hamburg when a thunderstorm caused the train to be late by about 50 minutes, but as Hamburg was that day's destination, no connection to worry about, just a late night.

Apart from that, there was one other change to the plan. The train from Hamburg to Copenhagen was meant to drive on board a ferry (yes, the train went on the ferry, like the old Golden Arrow). Only it didn't - the train terminated at Puttgarden, we got onto buses, the buses drove onto the ferry for the 45 minute passage, then we rejoined the buses to travel all the way to Copenhagen Central station (mind those cyclists!). I had to get to Nørreport station for the shuttle bus to the ferry port, so I bought a ticket from a machine using my card, was directed to platforms 9 or 10 by a helpful member of staff, and a local train came straight away. Getting across cities from ferry port to station was a major worry - if I ruled the world, there would always be a bus linking station, town centre, ferry terminal, and major tourist sights. Like there isn't in Bergen!



Bergen of course was the highlight of the holiday. I'd originally thought of going on a cruise up the fjords, but a) thought I could do it cheaper, and b) didn't want to be cooped up with all those Daily Mail readers. Two overnight, reasonably sized ferries were enough for me! So I googled 'steam railways in Norway' and found the Old Voss railway with its 1913 4-6-0 loco. Digging deeper, I found that about six times a year it featured in a Heritage Tour, comprising a steam ship (also built in 1913) SS Stord 1, the aforementioned steam train and vintage buses. At around £40 this was the bargain of the week. The whole holiday was built around this Sunday event. I arrived far too early at the steam ship - the ticket said 10am, I arrived at 9.30am but the actual sailing wasn't until 11.15am. The Stord I was delight - we could go anywhere - on the bridge, even down some greasy metal steps to the engine room, where a Cheshire built steam engine could tear your limbs off. No stoker, it was fuelled by oil!



On the Monday I'd booked another tour - Norway in a nutshell. This involved an early start to collect the tickets for my self-guided tour from the station, and as stated earlier there didn't seem to be a bus or tram linking the area of my hotel at the harbour fish market to the central station. Found it and joined the queue. First leg was a trip up the Bergen-Oslo railway I'd travelled down on. You could take the tour in any order and I was delighted when most of the train got off at Voss. The rest of us carried on to Myrdal where we climbed aboard the Flåm Express for a scenic journey down to the fjord.

The start was in the clouds, but we stopped at a waterfall and were encouraged to get out... to our surprise, music started and a faraway Huldra in a red dress did a dance up on the rocks. At Flåm I visited the museum, gasped at the huge cruise ship in the harbour and got on our modest ferry to sail down two beautiful fjords. I was surrounded by Taiwanese girls ('Were not Chinese! We hate the Chinese'), so didn't get out on deck.



At Gudvangen we got onto buses for a truly hair-raising descent into the Nærøydalen valley via 13 hairpin bends and two waterfalls. It is one of Northern Europe's steepest roads, and the driver took it very slowly!



Other highlights included the Oslo to Bergen train line itself - very scenic with ice and snow, but lots of tunnels - and the fabulous Fløibanen Funicular. It wasn't working the first night, but was the second night - and at 10 quid, well worth the experience. The ferry from Bergen to Hirtshals was great too, especially since I had a porthole! I'd prebooked the Commanders Buffet at 30 quid and did my best to consume as much seafood and Carlsberg the 90 minutes allowed. I watched a covers band called Waterproof until time for bed - my taster of life on a cruise ship over.

Oh, and I didn't expect it to be so hot! Packed wrong things...

Firsts
First time in Hamburg
First time in Denmark
First time in Copenhagen
First time sleeping on a boat
First time in Norway
First time in Oslo
First time in Bergen
First time on a fjord
Furthest north I've been

More photos on Flickr

Full Itinerary here >

Bavaria steam, rail and ale: part 1

2-10-0 No. 52 8195-1

Day 1: Wednesday 4 May - getting there
My third trip with Railtrail Tours and another very early start to get the 8.55 Eurostar to Brussels. That meant catching the 5.44 from Brighton! This was before the London Road trains started, so it was a taxi to the station. In the end I caught the train before the one I'd planned on, so met Martin and got my free coffee and croissant at Des Vins. So, it was an ICE to Frankfurt and a change for Nürnberg, arriving at 8pm. Then it was a coach ride round the city walls to the Hausbrauerei Alstdthof for my first veggie meal of cheese croquettes and salad (the others had pork and dumpling). With this we got to try three very tasty beers and a red beer brandy! The itinerary had changed somewhat to accommodate this meal and there was an optional return later in the week to look at their cellars that I declined.

Czech 4-8-4 475.111

 Day 2: Thursday 5 May - by steam to the Czech Republic
Another early start for the 6.40am train hauled by 2-10-0 No. 52 8195-1. At the Czech border, we changed engines to a beautiful 4-8-2 'Mountain' loco 475.111 which took us to Pilsen. Here we marched out of the station and I got left behind, but phoned Martin and was found in the cathedral square. Had a ridiculously cheap coffee (paid in Euros) - €4.20 for three coffees! - then went underground with a tour of the town's joined up cellars. There was a celebration going on of the towns liberation by the Americans, with various re-enactors to be seen. On the way back, we had a meal in the restaurant car and arrived back at the hotel around 11 o'clock.

10 001 at Neuenmarkt

Day 3: Friday 6 May - 10 001 semi-streamliner

Phew, a later start today. Time to buy a sandwich and catch the 9.05 to Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg to visit the railway museum (Deutsches Dampflokomotiv Museum) there - tantalisingly close across the tracks, but we had to walk to a bridge to get there. No live steam today, but a surprise was finding the semi-streamliner No. 10 001, one of the last locos to be built in Germany (in 1957). We also saw Hitler's coach, a tank painted in photographic grey and an austerity class of wartime locos. A big loco, 50 975, was outside on the turntable. We had two loops on a little diesel railway, past a snow plough, then back over the bridge to the station, where we spotted a rally of Goggomobils going on!

Brewery museum at Kulmbach

Then it was back on the train to Kulmbach and a long walk to the Mönchhof Brewery Museum (Bayerisches Brauereimuseum Kulmbach), where we were treated to a glass of their microbrewery Museum beer. After the guided tour, including a lovely art deco tiled room of mash tuns, we had more beer samples (no dark beer tho), with pretzel, then a meal in their on-site restaurant, sitting outside - I had two sorts of fish and potatoes. Then I shared a taxi back to the station with Big Alan from Horsham, who'd got one there!

Two Pacifics, Swiss and German

Day 4: Saturday 7 May - two Pacifics
Another early start! This time on the 7.29am to Hanau. Here - on platform 101 - we joined a train hauled by No. 01 150 to Neustadt Weinstrasse, where we spotted Swiss Pacific 01 202. An extra on the itinerary was a (long) walk to the shed… once again I got left behind in the hot sun, but it was worth it to see the two locos side by side posing. Then a schlep back to the station and over the bridge to their railway museum DGEG Eisenbahnmuseum (which as the crow flies was within spitting distance of the station) to see a Bavarian pacific and various railcars. After a couple of beers in a cafe opposite the station it was back to Hanau for a meal of warmed up pizza and platform 103 for a train back to Nürnberg.

Part 2 - to the lake! >

More photos on Flickr

Frankfurt and Meiningen: Part 3

Day 4 Sunday 6 September
A more leisurely 9am start today, retracing our steps north, this time by train to Bad Nauheim (via Friedberg) to ride the heritage line to Müzenburg, pulled by a Henschel 0-4-0. The young guards were well turned out, one with retro glasses, smoking a pipe. They walked through the carriages calling out the station names as we approached them.

 

Then it was back to Frankfurt, on a 46 bus for a trip round Frankfurt and then another short hop to the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum. I didn't know what to expect, we'd been told this was something to do with the temporary railways they built during the First World War. They certainly had plenty of locos, four of which were in steam. After a wander around, a piece of apple cake and a listen to the hurdy gurdy man, we set off through the allotments and into a big field, the site of the former airport, where a classic car rally was taking place.



We even saw a three-engined Junkers 52 fly over! The engine changed ends twice and we arrived back at the museum for a barbecue of meat and sausages, accompanied by a tub of potato salad and sauerkraut.



Martin handed out tiddly winks for the drinks (2) and food (2), unfortunately not valid for beer, which we had to pay for! The food token did allow another slice of cake from the two severe looking serving ladies, however.



Then it was bus and U-bahn back to Frankfurt for a couple of beers at  O'Reilly's Oirish pub next door to the hotel - Neil had a welcome veggie burger, I was full up with potato salad!



Day 5 Monday 7 September
After breakfast we ambled over to Frankfurt station for the 10.16 ICE to Brussels Midi, only we had to change trains at Düren, at the border! So I managed a window seat only part of the journey (Neil and Angela got off at Cologne, en route to Prague). So, back in Blighty I got the train from St Pancras to Brighton and one to London Road and home.

Frankfurt and Meiningen: Part 2

Day 3 Saturday 5 September
A 6am start and after I'd made a couple of crafty sandwiches in the breakfast room, we caught the S-bahn to Frankfurt Süd to stand on a cold platform with other enthusiasts waiting to catch the steam charter to Meiningen. We were hauled by Class 52 4867, a huge 2-10-0 beast. We were in corridor compartments and there was a buffet on board, but we had time for a coffee at Schweinfurt, while the engine took on water.



Meiningen works exists because the poorer DDR (East Germany) were slow in replacing steam and today mends locos for all over - 60163 Tornado's boiler was made here. After a '15 minute walk' alongside the track and over a level crossing, we arrived at the works and a guided tour, but as it was so noisy and I couldn't quite hear the guide, I bunked off in the direction of live steam outside. The inside of the works resembled a cross between a car boot fair and a beer garden, with sausage barbecues everywhere and stalls selling railway memorabilia. Outside were dozens of huge locos, steaming up and down and twirling round on the turntable.



My favourites were the two semi-streamlined pacifics 01 1553-7 and 01 519 - there were no streamliners on show, but I managed to buy a postcard of one. Other Class 01 pacifics included 01 0509-8 and 01 118.

  

There were a couple of Class 44s.



and lots of little 'uns, including a blue tank Aquarius C which was giving footplate rides. Germans don't seem to go in for naming the big locos.



 Even our loco had a go round the high speed turntable.

 

After a quick look round the works, where the new boilers were made, I had a sit down and glass of schwarzbier with Angela and Neil (no photo!).



The workers still had their own ciggy machine!



We left at 4pm for the walk back to the station and a long ride back to Frankfurt, arriving some 70 minutes late! At the main station we saw people with banners welcoming refugees, and distributing clothes and food, but didn't realise what the commotion was about until the next morning on the BBC news.

More photos on Flickr.

Frankfurt and Meiningen: Part 1

There is nothing like a bit of jeopardy at the start of a journey to get the adrenaline flowing. I'd caught the 7.48 train from Brighton that should have got me in to St Pancras at 9.20, plenty of time to have complimentary coffee and pastries with the Railtrail tour manger Martin. But the train broke down just before Tulse Hill - something to do with the brakes and an alarm going off in the driver's cab - so we limped into the station and the entire train decanted and moved to platform 1. There was some confusion but eventually I caught a slow train to Kentish Town that got me to St Pancras about 10 past 10, to find Martin in the departure queue with my ticket. The day before, Railtrail had sent us a letter with change of phone for Martin, for situations like this, but it was his old one, now in the hands of his daughter!

Anyway, I made it, phew. I bought a vegan falafel sandwich, we caught the Eurostar to Brussels and then the ICE to Frankfurt, checked in to the Leonardo hotel across the way and, after a pint at the irish pub next door, we all went out for a meal at the nearby Messina Italian restaurant. I couldn't finish my huge plate of veggie pasta. The veggies, gluten-intolerants and just plain fussy eaters were put on a table of their own.



Day 2 Friday 4 September 2015
The breakfast at the Leonardo was better than expected with scrambled egg and tortilla along with muesli and fruit - I'd brought my own tea bags. We got the train to Wetzlar and a bus to the Grube Fortuna mine and field museum, where the 600mm gauge locos were lined up outside the shed, accompanied by a traction engine. We had a look round the sheds, one of which contained loads of mine diesel locos, and the big black loco No. 6616 built 1912,  took us round the loop in the woods a few times with several stops for photo opportunities.



Then it was the turn of the little green 0-4-0 Monika, built 1913.



We then went to the smart restaurant on site for a lovely meal (I thought we'd be at the tressle tables set out in the shed): the veggies (me and Neil) had a gorgeous salad with cheesy croquet things - and a glass of the wonderful schwarzbier (black beer)! The germans seem to miss a trick in the gift shop department!



After lunch, we headed back to Frankfurt and then on to Darmstadt Eberstadt where we took a bus to Frankenstein station and the steam tram. Of course it was another steam loco - a Henschel built 1919 -pulling some coaches to Alsbach and back alongside a road. Lots of cyclists rode alongside too.



We had to stop on the way back while they took on coal in buckets from the back of a car and attached a hose to a hydrant for water - all the stopping and starting had used up the fuel! Back at Frankenstein, we transferred to the Tram Museum (with a tantalising glimpse of the railway museum on the way) where after a quick look round (there were some very saucy goings on in the model tramway on display) we were taken on a tour of Darmstadt by vintage electric tram 57, which dropped us off at the main station.



That evening Neil (the husband of Angela who I met on the Polish trip) and I looked for a decent bar for more schwarzbier but settled on a rough looking sports bar we'd seen on the way to the Messina.

More photos on Flickr.