European Rail Sampler - June 2014

[Notelvis]

My wife, daughter, and I spent two weeks in Central Europe traveling about mostly by rail. I thought that my fellow AUer's might enjoy seeing some of our photographs -

Should you want to see more than just these, there are more in my flickr album https://www.flickr.com/photos/26834875@N00/sets/72157646200671352/

Europe began and ended for us at the Frankfurt, Germany Airport Rail Station -

Our first train was an ICE (such as the one below in Cologne) which traveled 105 US miles to Cologne in 64 minutes-

Here is the view from our hotel room in Cologne. That green roof is over the trainshed -

From Cologne we traveled to Kevelaer on this more sedate NWB (Northwest Bahn) train -

At the risk of going off-topic, here is what Kevelaer looked like -

 

[Notelvis]

Continuing - We were in Kevelaer for a concert by an Austrian Brass septet called Mnozil Brass. They are all over Youtube and they are a riot. My daughter, age 8, can name the seven members as if they were the Beatles simply from watching them over my shoulder on the laptop for the last three years.

Here is a picture from the concert followed by one taken the next day of my daughter and I with Mnozil Brass trombonist Leonhard Paul whom we ran into by coincidence and an hour away changing trains in Dusseldorf. They were headed northwest into Holland for their next performance.

From Dusseldorf we were headed southeast to Munich via ICE. Munich Central Station was remarkable with trains coming and going constantly.....and with no one stopping a rail enthusiast from wandering about up and down the platforms taking pictures as I pleased -

 

[Notelvis]

Part 3 - From Munich we did a railroad daytrip to the Zugspitze (Germany's highest mountain). Here is a photo of my wife and daughter in front of the Zugspitzbahn train in Garmisch. Also visible in the photo is 'Special', my daughters' stuffed cat companion who has been with us on every vacation for the last 5 years!

And a photograph of myself aboard the Zugspitzbahn -

We also made a daytrip to Salzburg, Austria aboard a train with compartments -

At the Salzburg station -

 

[Notelvis]

Part 4 -

Following a final evening cooling off in a Munich fountain -

We caught the train to Turin, Italy. Here are a pair of Italian Eurostar trains standing by in Milan -

And here my daughter and I (and 'Special' the stuffed kitty) are arriving in Turin's brand new Porta Susa station -

From Turin we continued on to Chambery, France on a TGV en route from Milan to Paris. I found the TGV not as comfortable as the ICE or Eurostar trains and the flourescent interior lighting made it nearly impossible to get a decent photograph of anything outside the train...... particularly on a rainy day - Case in point, this roundhouse in rural southeastern France -

Here is a photo of a TGV en route to Paris that I took on the platform at Chambery -

 

[Notelvis]

Part 5 - From Chambery we Bustituted the following morning to Geneva as the train we had intended to ride, an SNCF 2nd class local, was cancelled on account of trackwork.

Here are a couple of photos taken at the Geneva Station -

From Geneva we caught a Swiss Federal Railways train to Brig where we changed to the meter-gauged Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn train -

We rode the MGB train to Andermatt and stayed in the Hotel Bergidyll........ famous because Sean Connery stayed there during the filming of 'Goldfinger' in 1964.

 

[Notelvis]

Part 6 -

Sean Connery notwithstanding, I enjoyed our stay in Andermatt because this was the view from our hotel room -

Here is what it looked like leaving Andermatt on the train to Oberalpass -

Here is the Hotel Bergidyll (with orange shutters) as seen from the train to Oberalpass -

An MGB train awaits departure at Oberalpass, Switzerland

The Andermatt train station -

 

[Notelvis]

Part 7 - The MGB Mainline tunnels under the Furka Pass in 9-mile long tunnel opened in 1982. The original line across the mountain has been gradually restored and now operates as a steam cog-railway. Here are pictures from the day we spent on the Furka Pass Railway -

 

[Notelvis]

Part 8 -

From Switzerland we traveled to Fussen at the end of a delightful German Branchline, visited the Neuschwanstein Castle, and then caught the train back to Frankfurt for the flight home. It was an incredible two weeks and I'm not quite ready yet for my next Amtrak ride....... but I will be soon -

Swiss trains at Zug -

The branchline to Fussen -

The castle -

One last train change in Munich -

And our final train slides away after leaving us on the platform at the Frankfort Airport -

 

[Railroad Bill]

Fantastic photos and report. What a great trip you and your family enjoyed!!. Makes me want to give up my prohibition on flying and head to Germany soon.

Did you plan this trip on your own or have a travel bureau arrange it? You certainly had a wide variety of train riding and sightseeing and covered a lot of ground in two weeks. Thanks..

 

[Notelvis]

Thanks Bill -

We started working on it around last Thanksgiving and planned the trip ourselves using an outdated Rick Steves guidebook, the Man in Seat 61 website, and the German Rail website....... oh........ and I used Google Earth to identify hotels within three blocks of the train stations where we would be spending the nights. I then made direct contact with each of the 7 different hotels we used. Those bookings went off without a hitch which was great......especially on the three 'long' days which were spent mostly on the train. It was nice to walk in to the hotel in Turin or the hotel in Andermatt and be expected.

As for the itinerary, my wife and I each started with a list of our 'top three' things and we worked an itinerary to accommodate those. Her top three were 1) Any Cathedral anywhere, 2) The Shroud Museum in Turin, and 3) The castle Nueschwanstein. My top three were 1) The Furka Pass Railroad, 2) The Zugspitz, and 3) Anywhere in Germany the Mnozil Brass might be playing. We managed these as well as some happy bonuses along the way - for instance, we didn't initially plan to spend a night in France until we discovered that rooms across the street from the station in Chambery were only 25% the expense of a room in Geneva!

 

[Bob Dylan]

☺ Outstanding trip and pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Notelvis]

Should anyone wish to see more of these photos, I have others in a flickr album - https://www.flickr.com/photos/26834875@N00/sets/72157646200671352/

 

[dnsommer2013]

Thank you for all the great photos and detailed write-ups. Looks like rail travel in Europe has changed a great deal since I was last there.

I'm inspired to visit again!

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Excellent pics and report! Spotless clean equipment all throughout with everything looking like it was on its first day of service.

 

[Notelvis]

Precisely OlympianHiawatha.

For that matter, I don't believe that I saw a single weed growing between the rails anywhere in Switzerland...... except maybe on a little used sidetrack on the Furka Pass Heritage Railway which only operates from June through early October.

Did see a few weeds between the rails on one industrial siding in Austria but that was about it.

 

[caravanman]

Very good photo's and and interesting trip... I will also have to look up youtube to see that band now!

cheers,

Ed

 

[Notelvis]

Thanks Ed -

A good first look at Mnozil Brass would be their "William Tell Overture" clip....... complete with cowbell, barnyard noises, and an interspersed beer-hall polka.

And after checking them out, should you want more Mnozil Brass, they are going to be in the UK October 8-17 doing 9 concerts! They generally go about 2 hours...... perhaps a shade more depending on the number of encores..... with a 10-15 minute intermission.

http://www.mnozilbrass.at/en/

 

[Barciur]

This is a great trip and a great trip report. Makes me want to go there and do something similar too! But I haven't been on anything other than NEC and Keystone corridors on AMTRAK yet, so maybe something closer to my adopted home!

 

[MikefromCrete]

Great report and photos.

 

[dnsommer2013]

Notelvis - I was in Ontario a few weeks ago. There were many weeds growing on the Toronto-Montreal mainline. In fact, at first, because I'd never been there before, I thought I'd come across a decommissioned line. But later a railfan I met at Cornwall said Ontario has strict laws on chemical use. So the weeds are left alone.

 

[Notelvis]

That's interesting - my only ride between Toronto and Montreal was in a roomette back when VIA was still operating an overnight train between those two cities. It was a chance for me to have a flat place to sleep bridging between the old International from Chicago connecting to the Adirondack for New York.

 

[Bob Dylan]

That's interesting - my only ride between Toronto and Montreal was in a roomette back when VIA was still operating an overnight train between those two cities. It was a chance for me to have a flat place to sleep bridging between the old International from Chicago connecting to the Adirondack for New York.

I rode the overnight Train in a Bedroom (cost $85 CDN!!!), that included Breakfast served by the attendant in the Bistro Car, between Montreal and Toronto in 2004, it was called the Constellation, the consist was made up of modern, European style cars! (have no idea what manufacturer??) It left Montreal @ 11pm, stopped to spend the night in Kingston, arrived Toronto @ 7am!
The Canadian still left Toronto @ 8am then and it was a cross platform transfer! ( The announcement, in French and English, was " The Canadian, Train #1 for Vancouver and all points West is waiting for you for immediate boarding across the platform to the left!" European style connections indeed!

This Train was done away with the next year, I've always wondered what happened to these cars???

 

[Green Maned Lion]

They went on to demonstrate the British loading gauge doesn't work on American railroads- conclusively. They still run on the Ocean, iirc.

 

[Notelvis]

When I rode the overnight VIA train, they were still using former CN equipment...... we're talking the late 1980's.

 

[Palmland]

Notelvis- wow, what great photos. Definitely the trip of a lifetime. No doubt you are planning an encore (after you ride 4501).