# Our European rail experience



## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Even without visit Miniatur Wunderland we had quite an exciting trip. 4 cities in 6 days, all rail aside one ferry crossing. the other ferry crossing is still rail since we boarded the ship by rolling into it on the train. Traveling across the pond with budget carried made sure we were late and had even less time for our trip. luckily we didn't miss any connections.

We landed in Gatwick, which is the less busy airport on the southern outskirts of London. sleeping the jet lag off a bit we woke up very early in the morning and went down to the station. let me tell you, Brits have very strange system of family discount for train travel - "4 for 2" . it still comes out to hefty 12 Pounds each one way. 

down on the platform a neat DMU was standing













Alas our express train to London Victoria station was this ugly thing












but regardless it turned out to be very fast and very comfy inside. We also enjoyed the coffee and some bakery items sold on board.quite a thing that early in the morning












passing by some other equipment 












we arrived at Victoria station






















rest of the pictures:
Gatweek to London Album


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Per our friend who lives in deep London suburbia, the rail workers union decided weekends are optional and employees can not be required to work at those days. this caused quite an interesting thing - the express train London-Harwich was canceled and instead the jammed us together with another canceled train into your ordinary slow going, stopping everywhere commuter and we needed to change trains! this was a bummer, and a quite crowded one.

as consolation the friend (who we spent the day with) offered me to be happy that they are not on strike altogether. he also pointed me to the underground train ("Tube") timetable - "_see these blue rectangles? yeah, those are all canceled lines. if you were planning to use these to get home you are SOL_". there were about 5 of these , ouch.


i was to bummed to shoot the first one, and it was to crowded to do so anyways. then we kinda calmed down. here is the device that was pulling us











for part two we caught a ride on this East Anglia train











and i guess the gods of railroading decided to compensate us (or at least me  ) for the inconvenience - the door to inactive driver cabin at the end of the train was left open!





















with sun setting down we reached Harwich international, where we were to board the ferry "Hollandica" that would take us across the English channel.
if anyone cares this is world biggest superferry, with only 2 built. the other one is it's sister "Britanica" that serves same route but from the opposing end













rest of the pictures:
London to Harwich album


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

we had OK-ish yet still very expensive dinner on board. overnight sailing in a comfy cabin was neat! i never been on ship this big. ferry Docked at _Hoek van Holland_ or in English _ Hook of Holand_ next morning
for those who care about this non railroading part: album with pictures

off board and through immigration (with yet another EU "Entry" stamp in our passports, this time with ship on it however  ) we got to the small train station. what really got me was that the only small shop in the station, one you would expect to sell newspaper and snacks, was selling FRESH FISH! well, and coffee also.

every 15 minutes one of these NS beauties leaves towards Rotterdam.
this time around it is not Norfolk Southern but Nederlandse Spoorwegen - Dutch Railways




















it was comfy, quiet and ohhh fast for a commuter that had to stop every few minutes. at a times the speed (displayed on monitor) was reaching 100Mph i think.











bye bye big ship


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Rotterdam to Amsterdam was another surprise. for starters the lady in the information gave us wrong information. after waiting pointlessly at empty platform i asked around (luckily English is widely known in Holland) and recieved a better answer . while the luggage wasn't that heavy running up and down the bridge was annoying.












Thalys bullet train. well, it left without us











And no Fyra either  we got this SNCB class E168 ( Belgian) puling your everyday coaches. i guess i should have waited before getting all excited.










but then again inside was very clean and the trip was very fast. although it is somewhat strange that half of the car is sitting with their backs to the direction of travel











our engine driver. he actually didn't mind being photographed. 










BTW the view outside was gorgeous (not that i did a great job capturing it) and i caught some dutch equipment as well. check out the rest of the album if interested


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Amsterdam to Hamburg we did on board City Night Liner train of DB (Deutsche Bahn, ze germans!). leaving the station at 7PM and arriving to our destination at 4AM. for the change information about platform was correct but confusing as hek - they listed destination as Berlin, Prague, Moscow. we didn't want to go to Moscow! But conductor confirmed it is the right train, which going to be split up in 3 and connected to another one later down the road. we were promised free wireless internet on board but that was not available. and the restaurant wagon i intended for us to have dinner at, was not to be coupled until the stop at 1AM! that was a bummer as we didn't grab any sandwiches  

we traveled in 3 bed coupe. bit more expensive, but girls got some privacy. there was even shower at the end of the car. with middle berth folded. the lower one actually fols as well to form a nice couch to sit during the day




















passed by some other Dutch equipment











and some strange pieces











initially we were pulled by Dutch NS class 1700 locomotive. they actually give them names, ours was #1736 - "Gilze en Rijen". but that was disconnected after hour or so.











as i was taking this picture the conductor screamed "Keine Fotografieren!!" like if it was bloody murder. i wanted to reply "Entschuldigung, Ich shprache Deutsche nicht. Ih been Fotografiren dich, JA , JA!!!" but there were bunch of Polizei walking on the platform so i decided to not piss him off any further.











repalcement was this DB Class 120. not bullet train, but then we had all night to get to our destination. well , some of the night at least.












4AM in Hamburg. at least they gave us some DB coffee and some DB breakfast boxes


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Hamburg to Copenhagen.

before leaving we took a boat tour of the city and harbor. while not really railroad related it might be of interest to some. after all it is not everyday that you get to see one of those huge container ships or a tug being maintained in floating dry-dock. and of course all roads lead to Rome 
if interested - Album URL


Hamburg Hauptbahnhof central.









this time our ride was a real white and red ICE train  .the diesel flavor of it, but still an ICE 
we really didn't leave much time in reserve, fortunately nothing unforeseen happened, we boarded our train with several minutes to spare. so no pictures from outside until the end of our ~4.5 hour ride. 
ride was smooth and inside was neatest of them all 










more over , our assigned seat was in the middle where they have a table, which made our sandwich dinner really nice 










we passed some interesting infrastructure 










when you flying perhaps, but not your typical view out of the window of a train











what came as a surprise is that portion of the trip was to be done on board of another Ferry  weee, two in one!
or train slowly rolled into the ship at Puttgarden (Germany).










for safety reason we disembarked the train.










inside we found couple restaurants and duty free shops. 

the ship sailed. the nose slowly lowered.









as we were sailing, we met another ferry just like ours. personally this symmetry looks bad but i guess this way it is very functional.











welcome to Denmark










no, even though aerodynamically shaped, ICE trains don't convert into planes to fly over the water. but it certainly looks like it!
crossing the Storstrøm Bridge











it was getting quite dark when we arrived at our destination , so the pic is so so. 











people there must like their model trains a lot. a layout you can throw a coin into and see trian run. well we had no coins, and it was inoperative anyways. but still a cool thing to see


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Anton,

Though I've been to Europe and England a few times, I've never had the opportunity to ride the rails. Your photo essay gets me one step closer ... thanks for a fun look at the lines/trains/ships!

TJ


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

When I was in Munich a couple of times a few years ago, I rode the train from about 20 miles outside Munich into the center of the city. I was very impressed by how clean the stations and trains were, no graffiti like you see here.

The other impressive thing was that you could set your watch by the train schedule! That train arrived and departed to the minute by the times on the schedule every time I rode it! Clearly, the Europeans are far more vested in public transportation than this country.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

while indeed the schedule was precise, graffiti they have plenty.  




























right on commuter train


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Interesting, I saw no graffiti at all in the stations or on the train when I was there. Must have been riding the deluxe line.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

post #6 is update with the last railroading leg.
i think this one was the most interesting


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Where was the coin-op train layout? At a train station? Restaurant? Pretty cool.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

yep. on main floor of the train station. i guess more then one train could be run as there were total of 7 different coin slots. all covered with paper saying something in Danish. i don't understand that language, but i'm quite sure it wasn't "peal the paper to throw a coin in"


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