Branch Line News International (ISSN 1354-0947), a newsletter about the world's railway geography and infrastructure 1994 archived text (BLN 721 - BLN 744) BLN 721.01][FR] Dives-Cabourg - Mézidon: (Ball atlas 12B2-23A3) Regarding the long-unanswered question in BLN 696,p.380/92-03, the disused track seen extending beyond Dives-Cabourg on the coast of Normandie did indeed once loop back inland the 28km via Dozulé-Putot to Mézidon. It opened on 15 May 1879, closing to passengers 1 March 1938 and to freight 3 November 1969. BLN 721.02][FR,LU] Fontoy SNCF - Audun-le-Tiche (- Esch-sur-Alzette CFL): (BLN 698,p.30/93-010; Ball atlas 18A1) The present CFL local passenger trains penetrating 1.3km into France to Audun were not simply superimposed on an existing freight service, since cross-border freight had already ceased by the time CFL reopened the line to passengers in September 1992. The erstwhile SNCF freight route from Audun to Fontoy now appears derelict, with no physical connection to the revitalised passenger-only branch, but it must have been an impressive and photogenic spectacle when heavy trains climbed up the spiral to reach the tall spindly viaduct crossing the valley and the passenger branch. The viaduct still stands, apparently complete with masts and catenary, but otherwise somewhat reminiscent of Crumlin. BLN 721.03][FR][DE] Merlebach: (Ball atlas 29B3 (FR)) The list of rail crossings of European Union borders enclosed with BLN 719 excluded an interesting standard-gauge line which is not a common-carrier railway, but has a daily international passenger service. In April 1980 the colliery company Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine bought SNCF 'Picasso' railcar #X-4042 to transport miners between two pitheads, Reumaux de Merlebach, in the French department of Moselle, and Merlebach Nord, a short distance away, through a tunnel, in Germany. Though there are preserved Picassos, and Eurotunnel currently employs one beneath the Channel, the Merlebach one may be the last Picasso in daily operation in France. BLN 721.04][FR][CH] Évian-les-Bains SNCF - St.Gingolph - Le Bouveret CFF: (Ball atlas 50B2 (FR), 98B3 (CH)) The line from Évian into Switzerland opened in 1886 and its single track at one time carried Genève - Milano expresses. Though it lost its regular passenger services in spring 1939 it became, after the German invasion in 1940, the only rail link between the unoccupied territory of ('Vichy') France and neutral Switzerland. SNCF withdrew freight services in 1988. As recorded in BLN 697,p.13/93-06, the preservation group based at Le Bouveret has operated over the line each summer since 1988 (and possibly a year or two earlier). Marketing emphasis is on circular trips, one way by rail and the other by CGN vessel on Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Often this is a paddle steamer, especially in connection with the Sunday steam trains. The weekday diesel services seem to have been expanded, but they were advertised on various dates, mostly Fridays, as far back as 1990. BLN 721.05][BE][FR] St.Ghislain - Quiévrain (- Blanc-Misseron SNCF): (Ball atlas 8A1-7B1) The marshalling yard at St.Ghislain closed in September 1993. The line between St.Ghislain and Tournai was blocked between 10 and 15 November 1993 to allow installation of the junction with the new Belgian TGV line described in BLN 718,p.344/93-08. The use of the branch platform at St.Ghislain by a few Tournai-line peak-hour stopping services (see BLN 713,p.265/93-05) allowed fast trains on the Liege - Tournai route to overtake. The limited number of instances has reflected the peak-only stopping-service pattern since at least 1987. The nearer chord has been the one regularly used, as BLN 713 surmised, the one further west being essentially a freight route from the sidings on the south side of the station to the Tournai line, with the only recorded passenger use being by railtours. Until 28 May 1988 the Quiévrain service ran through to and from Mons, but since then the east-end connection into the (significantly diverging) branch side of the station has seen only one train a day, plus the few using the chord. Once electrification is complete the existing diesel shuttle service is expected to give way to through running again, this time by IC trains from Bruxelles-Schaerbeek via Mons which will run forward calling at all stations to Quiévrain. Freight traffic on the cross-border section between Quiévrain and Blanc-Misseron had in practice ceased by the end of 1988, and it officially closed in May 1989. Lack of action to lift the track does seem to have been due to recognition of the potential for reopening, perhaps for passengers as well as freight. It has for example been suggested that Paris - Valenciennes TGV workings might run forward to Mons, though there are no specific proposals in that respect. BLN 721.06][BE] SNCB/NMBS closures: The short freight-only Ligne 119 from Châtelet to Gilly-Sart-Allet near Charleroi (Ball 8B1) has closed. Hasselt yard (9A2) closed in September 1993. The staff trains (five each way) on Lijn 39 between Welkenraedt and Montzen yard (9B2) ceased from 26 September 1993. From 18 October 1993 Lijn 39 has had a 20km/h speed restriction and faces complete closure since it carries no freight traffic. Local trains on the Bruxelles - Arlon - Luxembourg main line continue to stop at Stockem, closed to passengers in September (Ball 17B2; BLN 716,p.312/93-06), for the use of railway staff at the yard there. (En Lignes, December 1993) BLN 721.07][BE] Bruxelles/Brussel: From May 1994, trains from Halle to Brussel-Schuman will run forward via Bockstael and Denderleeuw to Aalst, giving a regular service on the short section of Ligne/Lijn 161/1 between Y Josaphat and Y Zennebrug in the north of the city (Ball atlas 10B2; McDougall B14). At Aalst the station has recently been modernised. (En Lignes, December 1993) BLN 721.08][BE] Signs at Belgian borders: (BLN 713,p.293/93-04) Trackside signs bearing the Belgian railway logo barré (with a line through it) indicate the point where Belgian signalling ends, and they are not always at either the national or the track-ownership boundary. Similar signs with numbers 1500, 3000, 15000 or 25000 indicate electrification voltage changes, and are frequently at some distance from a border. (from Aperçu de la Signalisation Ferroviaire Belge) BLN 721.09][LU, BE] Luxembourg - Troisvierges CFL - Gouvy SNCB: (BLN 698,p.29/93-08) CFL 25kV 50Hz electric working to Troisvierges officially began on 26 September 1993, though there had been occasional such trains during the two weeks before. Completion to Gouvy, permitting cross-border electric working, was expected in December 1993. (En Lignes, December 1993) BLN 721.010][DE] German closures: A Dutch correspondent reports the following branch closures: Lemgo - Aerzen 26A1(in Ball atlas) 2 Aug 1993 Stolberg - Würselen (bei Aachen) 37A1 27 Sep 1993 Fulda - Seiferts 51B3 1 Sep 1993 Neustadt (Aisch) Bf - Demantsfürth-Ühlfeld 52B2 31 Dec 1993 Kulmbach - Thurnau 53A2 6 Sep 1993 (BLN 715,p.297/93-010) Falls - Gefrees 53A2 31 Dec 1993 Kirchenlamitz Stadt - Weissenstadt 53B2 31 Dec 1993 Wunsiedel-Holenbrunn - Leupoldsdorf 53B2 27 Sep 1993 Staufen - Grunern SWEG 67B2 1 Oct 1993 Dorfen Bf - Velden (Vils) 72A3 27 Sep 1993 BLN 721.011][DK] Fredericia avoiding line: (Ball atlas 6B2) In May 1993 DSB opened a new 5km curve from Snoghøj to Taulov, avoiding Fredericia station, part of an investment plan to step up European freight traffic after the bridge-tunnel link across the Storebælt (Great Belt) is built. (Blickpunkt Bahn, October 1993) BLN 721.012][CA][US] Sherbrooke (Québec) - Mattawamkeag (Maine) - Saint John (New Brunswick): In November 1992 CP Rail sought approval to close its lines east of Sherbrooke, thus effectively leaving CN a free hand in Canada's Maritime Provinces. Transport Canada duly agreed to the abandonment in late August 1993, but approval is also required from the US Interstate Commerce Commission in respect of the Canadian Atlantic Railway, a CP Rail subsidiary in the USA operating the line which cuts across thinly populated northern Maine to link Sherbrooke and Saint John. If approved, abandonment of the CAR would mean the end soon for an interesting international working. The Atlantic, one of VIA Rail's two thrice-weekly overnight passenger trains between Montréal and Halifax, is a rare North American example of what Europeans know as a Korridorzug, a train travelling between two parts of one country through the territory of another, with special customs arrangements for certain through passengers (in this case, those in the sleeping-cars). If the Atlantic ceases to run, it will also mean the end of regular passenger trains in the state of Maine, since this is one of the parts that Amtrak does not reach. (Trains (US), December 1993) BLN 721.013][GT] Ferrocarriles de Guatemala: The 914mm-gauge nationalised FEGUA was formerly part of the IRCA, the International Railways of Central America, built by US interests to aid what the British would have called colonial development, including large-scale growing of bananas (whence the derogatory term 'banana republic'). Like many Latin American railways it faces an uncertain future. Guatemala's terrain, with young folded mountains still being formed, and several active volcanoes, is largely unfriendly to rail, necessitating slow climbs up steep and sinuous tracks and across valleys on magnificent tall trestles. The railway may draw photographers from the USA and Europe, but finds it hard to attract ordinary travellers, or shippers of import and export containers, away from the country's new roads. Remaining rail traffic seems sparse. On a November 1993 three-day visit with charter steam trains, no actual sign was seen of the few scheduled passenger workings supposed still to operate. A diesel-hauled mixed consist seen trailing a single almost empty and unglazed coach into a crossing loop may have been a 'way and works' maintenance train. Working practices are fairly informal. One steam special, reversing for photographic purposes on to the high-trestle Puente de las Vacas on the edge of Guatemala City, found that an unexpected diesel-hauled freight, said to be from Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean coast some 318km away, had been following, and seemed to want to use the single-track bridge at the same time! And rolling down the streets of Guatemala City's red-light district at dusk behind a 2-8-2 with the US chime whistle continuously sounding is also a kind of railtouring experience not yet on offer on any UK preserved line. The railway layout in Guatemala City does not appear ever to have had the north-to-east side of the triangle shown on the Fahrplancenter map marketed by Quail (BLN 712,p.252/93). Trains arriving from the east run on towards the west and then require to reverse into the city's passenger terminus. From the main-line junction of Zacapa - 152km east of Guatemala City, and sporting a semi-roundhouse with several steam locomotives in varying stages of dereliction - the IRCA used to extend 113km south to Anguiatú and on into El Salvador. Though it is difficult to ascertain exactly which sections of FEGUA are open or closed in the BR sense, this international branch line is certainly out of use. BLN 721.014][SV] Ferrocarriles Nacional de El Salvador: IRCA formed part also of the inheritance of the neighbouring nationalised system, FENADESAL, which had 600km of 914mm-gauge track in operation in 1983, but undoubtedly has a lot less now, after the disruptive effects of the years of civil war. The railway comes under this small country's autonomous Port Authority, and its remaining marginal role in the economy is probably the handling of certain weighty items imported through the ports of Acajutla and Cutuco, such as the coils of heavy-gauge steel wire - of the kind used to reinforce concrete - which were seen loaded on flat wagons. Regular passenger service may well have ceased. However, at least one steam locomotive (a 1925 Baldwin 2-8-0 #101) remains available for charter, together with a rather civilised Presidential car featuring a traditional open end balcony whence one may address cheering crowds, or wave authoritatively to one's constituents while rolling gently past in a comfortable chair, with a drink from the wood-panelled bar inside. In a perfect world, all railtours would convey such an attractive and well-stocked vehicle on the rear of the train. BLN 721.015][CR] Instituto Costaricense de Ferrocarriles: INCOFER is the acronym of the present operator of Costa Rica's 1067mm-gauge railway. Contrary to a report in a recent Continental Railway Journal about the abandonment of passenger trains, INCOFER was in November 1993 operating limited commuter services, marketed as Intertren, from both the capital's main stations, as follows, from west to east. San José (Estación Atlantico) - San Pedro - Carthago (60 mins journey time; three a day Mon-Fri & Sun) Heredia - San José (Estación Atlantico) - San Pedro (30 mins; three a day Mon-Fri, two on Sun) Pavas - San José (Estación Pacifico) (15mins; three a day Mon-Fri, two on Sun) Both stations have overhead electrification, and are linked through the streets of the city by an electrified line enabling the movement of stock. It is not clear whether the original 1930 electrification of the Pacific line at 15kV 20Hz has been converted to match the Atlantic line's standard 25kV 50Hz, but an electric locomotive seen moving outside the sizeable works next to the Pacific station was one of several bearing manufacturers' plates of The 50Hz Group. The Atlantic station, where there is also a small museum, had a new-looking Spanish-built two-car diesel unit present as well as a rake of similarly-new lightweight hauled passenger stock, and the Pacific station had a heterogeneous rake of older passenger stock headed by a small diesel locomotive, so the passenger services could all be diesel-worked. BLN 722.016][IE] Iarnród Éireann: Irish Rail are understood to favour building a new platform at Killarney so that Dublin - Tralee trains would not have to propel in one direction when calling at the terminal station there. Remodelling Killarney may or may not feature in a plan for which the Irish government are seeking European Commission backing. IEP30 million (Irish pounds) would be spent by 1999 improving the Mallow - Tralee line to allow 145km/h running, thus reducing Dublin - Tralee journey-time to about three hours. (The Kerryman, 19 November 1993) Irish Rail have given notice that they intend to abandon the disused 44km Waterford - Ballinacourty branch. The former Waterford - Mallow line closed in March 1967, but was reopened in 1970 from Waterford West Junction as far as a new freight spur into the Quigley Magnesite plant at Ballinacourty near Dungarvan. The plant closed in 1982 and revenue traffic then ceased, though a group of local business people was conveyed over the line on 9 May 1990. The overgrown Waterford - New Ross branch has been closed since 6 September 1993 and seems unlikely to reopen. A temporary buffer-stop blocks the line at Abbey Junction up outer home signal. At milepost 793/4 on the Waterford - Rosslare line some 6km east of Waterford, Irish Rail have opened a spur connection to Belview sidings, serving a new container port facility mainly to be used by Bell Lines, 60% of whose existing Irish traffic is railborne. The connection was commissioned on 16 August 1993, the sidings a week later, and the port was officially opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Reynolds, on 4 September. Athenry - Claremorris is understood to be passable throughout, the rails 'borrowed' for use on the Ballina branch now having been replaced north of Tuam, but the line remains officially closed and under the control of the Divisional Engineer at Athlone. (BLN 698,p.30/93-63; BLN 702,p.93/93-02) The weekly Foynes - Ballina coal and oil train may however revert to the Limerick - Ennis - Athenry - Tuam - Claremorris route since the present long way round via Portarlington and Athlone is not economical in crew and locomotive utilisation. The Limerick - Ennis - Athenry section was in active use by cement trains in June 1993. (Irish Railway News, October 1993) Irish Rail have installed a new gantry crane at Sligo Quay freight yard to handle increased container traffic on the nightly Dublin - Sligo freight train. (Sligo Champion, 12 November 1993) BLN 722.017][BE][DE] SNCB Ligne 45 Trois Ponts - Weywertz & 45A Weywertz - Büllingen -Losheimergraben SNCB - Losheim DB - Jünkerath: (BLN 714,p.280/93-08; Ball atlas 10A1 (BE), 47B3 (DE)) Between Trois Ponts and the border only three crossing points remain, Malmédy (loop out of use), Weywertz (junction with the Vennbahn) and Büllingen. The loop at Losheimergraben, the SNCB frontier station, has been removed. The lines have no SNCB commercial traffic, but trains run to serve the Belgian military camp at Elsenborn to the north of Weywertz, and Vennbahn summer tourist services operate between Weywertz and Büllingen. Since the end of summer 1993, DB has recommenced local freight service on the Losheim - Jünkerath section, wagons of logs being seen at Losheim. BLN 722.018][BE][LU] SNCB Ligne 166 Dinant - Bertrix & 165 Bertrix - Virton - Athus (- Rodange CFL): (BLN 714,p.279/93-06, BLN 718,p.344/93-09; Ball atlas 17A3-17B1) The Belgian Minister of Communications & Public Works, Guy Coëme, was questioned in Parliament about the future of the SNCB's plan to concentrate long-haul north-south freight on the Ligne 165/166 'Athus-Meuse' route, upgraded and electrified at 25kV 50Hz, leaving the Bruxelles - Namur - Arlon - Luxembourg axis freer to handle international passenger traffic. He said that European Commission Directive #91/440 required railway freight services to operate without state subsidy; that SNCB had been hit by cutbacks in steel and petroleum industry traffic (notably two important customers, ARBED and Esso-Suisse); that traffic forecasts on the route had been revised downwards from 12 to 9 million tonnes/year; and that a review was under way. Nevertheless he confirmed that the railway would stand by its commitments. The European Community had decided to grant 3.1 million ecu towards the Athus-Meuse route, enabling the tunnels to take large containers and road semi-trailers on 'kangaroo' wagons. As to closure of Ligne 167 from Y Rodange SNCB to Mont St.Martin SNCF, this was associated with the proposed construction of a direct link between new junctions at Aubange SNCB and Rodange CFL, allowing international freight trains to run through to the CFL without having to lose time reversing in the Athus station area. (paragraphs 017 & 018 based on Trans-Fer, #89, December 1993) BLN 722.019][TR] Istanbul: (Ball atlas 53B2) Seven distinct rail operations - and an impressive ferry network - add to the historic and cultural interest of this great European and Asian city. TCDD's European main line out of Istanbul's French-styled Sirkeci station has trains to the Greek border 271km away at Uzunköprü (running forward to Thessaloniki) and to the Bulgarian border 318km away at Kapikule (and on to Sofia, Beograd, Budapest, Wien etc). Traction from Sirkeci is nowadays 25kV 50Hz electric, but TCDD 4-8-0 #46018 was seen in steam heating up its stock there on the evening of 31 December, and again hauling a special excursion on 1 January 1994, a public holiday. Frequent suburban (banliyö) services extend 28km out to Halkali, worked mainly by 1955-built four-car Alsthom emus, often running in pairs. Tickets are not issued, access to trains being through turnstiles worked by tokens, bought from a booth (gise). The flat fare is TRL3000 (about 15p) but, with high inflation, revisions are likely before long. Right outside Sirkeci station, but not physically connected to nearby TCDD sidings, a new 1435mm-gauge double-track street-running light railway or heavy tramway runs uphill and westward through the city. Its present route is Sirkeci - Sultanahmet (near St.Sophia and the Blue Mosque) - Istanbul Universitesi - Aksaray - Topkapi Otogar (the present main long-distance bus station area) - Cevizlibag. An extension is under construction beyond, with tracks already in place heading off westward. The line is worked by large new single-ended ABB-SGP articulated cars, in back-to-back pairs to avoid the need for turning. A label in each car indicates it can take 48 people seated and no fewer than 288 standing, 336 in all. Though services run every few minutes, this crush-load capacity is frequently well tested. Fare is TRL2500 (about 12p), tickets being sold from a gise and given up at the manned barrier on entry to the high, railway-type, platform at each station, the platforms also having exit-only turnstiles. Though nearly all the street-running vehicles indicate Cevizlibag as their outer destination, the line also has a short 100m branch at Aksaray leading to a turning circle right at the door of the sub-surface station of its sister line, the underground light railway or tramway serving the north-west of the city. Its present route is Aksaray - Kartaltepe - Esenler. Though there is no physical connection at Aksaray, both lines use the same stock with the same livery, except that the street-running cars are comprehensively skirted, with no wheels visible. Beyond Kartaltepe, where the line is on the surface and near a strategic motorway intersection, it has platforms not yet in use to serve an enormous new bus station (otogar) for out-of-town buses, nearly complete and due to open shortly. From a junction beyond Otogar station, a branch on a viaduct curving west across a deep valley is already equipped with track and catenary and will eventually reach Istanbul's Atatürk airport at Yesilköy. Track also continues northward beyond the present temporary terminus next the depot at Esenler. Fare on the underground line is TRL5000 (25p), with token-worked entry turnstiles. Beyond the Galata bridge over the waters of the Golden Horn near Sirkeci, the Beyöglu area of the city rises steeply to the north, and is served by an elderly, short and completely underground funicular, the Tünel. Fare is TRL3000 (15p), with token-worked turnstiles. Outside the Tünel's top station begins the city's fashionable and pedestrianised shopping street, Istiklâl Caddesi, and along this runs a single-track 1000mm-gauge heritage tramway, opened on 29 December 1990. The line runs 1.6km north-east, from Tünel square to the major street intersection of Taksim, with one midway passing loop. It is worked by two ancient and tiny tramcars, one (#223) with a trailer (#411) and one without (#410). A diminutive depot housing a spare tram (#47) and trailer (#418) hides in a side street near Taksim. Fare is TRL2500 (12p), tickets bought at a booth being given up on boarding. North from Taksim for 3.4km to Sisli and Levent, the city is building a new Metro line, consisting at present of a huge concrete-lined hole in the ground at Taksim, plus some municipal billboards explaining what is happening. All the above operations are on the European side of the Bosphorus, but near Sirkeci station is a berth whence one of the three single-ended triple-tracked TCDD train-ferries maintains a freight connection with the railways of Asia. Interfrigo and Bulgarian vans were seen making such intercontinental transits. On the Asian side, the train-ferry berth and the passenger pier are both right next to Haydarpasa station, an impressive 1908 German-styled building, well-maintained and floodlit at night, with TCDD 2-4-0 #23004 plinthed in front. TCDD's Asian main-line trains depart here behind 25kV 50Hz electric locos for Ankara and other parts of Asian Turkey, plus through carriages to Teheran in Iran once a week. Semi-fast trains, also electric-hauled, run to Adapazari, 141km out. Haydarpasa's frequent banliyö service is flat-fare, so for TRL3000 (15p) one can ride for over an hour in a pair of three-car 1979-built emus along the coast of Asia Minor to Gebze, 44km out. Tickets are issued at stations and checked on board. BLN 722.020][UY] Uruguay: (BLN 707,p.170/93-07) Passenger services have begun again in and out of Montevideo, with four trains daily on Mondays to Fridays said to be running the 63.6km each way between the junction of 25 de Agosto and the capital city's fine Central (General Artigas) station. In addition, a notice seen there in December 1993 mentioned a long-distance overnight train leaving at 2000 on Thursdays to cover the 563.1km north to Rivera on the Brazilian border, setting out to return at 2000 on Fridays. This would seem to be in addition to the daily Ganz-Mávag railcar said to be running locally on the northernmost section of the same line, the 118km between Tacuarembó (dep. 0555) and Rivera (dep. 1630). With these small steps to reintroduce commuter, long-haul and regional trains, perhaps a modest renaissance of Uruguay's 1435mm-gauge system has begun. BLN 723.021][FR] Nord-Pas de Calais: (Ball atlas 6A2) The new SNCF layout near the Eurotunnel portal allows interchange between Calais - Boulogne trains and those few Eurostars which will make a Fréthun stop. For the moment, Calais - Paris TGVs call at Lille-Flandres, the present main station, using connections between the old and new lines near Lambersart, but once the new Lille-Europe station is ready for TGVs and Eurostars, these connections will have no regular passenger use. BLN 723.022][FR] Rouen diversions: (BLN 714.03; Ball 13B1) Sotteville station just south of Rouen has had an extra platform to the east brought into use to serve trains from Caen and Elbeuf which run, via a dive-under, to the temporary three-platform station Rouen-Préfecture. Trains from Amiens and Serqueux to Préfecture cross the river Seine and then round a sharp curve to terminate at the platform nearest the station building on the south-west side. BLN 723.023][FR] Passenger services over difficult lines: Not specifically known to be under threat, but perhaps worth highlighting for the year-round paucity of their passenger services, are the following lines: (Paris-Austerlitz -) Vendôme - Tours Ball 35A2-34B1 420 in SNCF timetable (Saumur -) Thouars - Bressuire - La Roche-sur-Yon Ball 44A3-42B3 389 (Limoges -) Busseau-sur-Creuse - Felletin Ball 46A1-54A3 469 Stub of a former line to Ussel, the Felletin branch has one passenger train a day. From the Ussel end, the 19km stub to La Courtine camp still sees military trains, but the steam-hauled Busseau - Ussel train mixte of the early 1960s, taking over 61/2 hours for the 81km, is long gone. Sévérac-le-Château - Rodez Ball 63A2-62B2 451 Closed, then reopened, with one daily Millau - Toulouse service supported by the Regional Council. Carcassonne - Quillan Ball 72B2-72B1 548 BLN 723.024][FR] Ghost tunnel under the Vosges: (Ball 40B3) At Fellering, second station from the terminus of the Lutterbach - Kruth branch (BLN 697.03), a line was planned to diverge, through an 8km tunnel under the Vosges mountains, to St.Maurice-sur-Moselle on the Remiremont - Bussang branch. The tunnel was at least begun, but not much construction took place between its eastern portal and Fellering. However the site for the junction there can be identified by a concrete structure in a field, which appears to be a cattle-creep under an embankment which was never made up. BLN 723.025][FR][DE] Thionville - Apach (Moselle) SNCF - Perl DB - Trier Hbf: (Ball 18A1 (FR), 55B3 (DE); McDougall F6) Contrary to the report in BLN 719.08, local SNCF and DB 1993-94 winter timetable leaflets both show a single cross-border working each way: 0729 Thionville 1340 0753 Apach (Moselle) SNCF 1316 0801 0830 Perl DB 1232 1308 0921 Trier Hbf 1140* (*1142 in one leaflet) BLN 723.026][BE] Bruxelles/Brussel railway/tramway link: (Ball 10B2) On 19 November 1993 a new connection from the SNCB to the city's tramway system was being installed between Haren and Bordet. Is this for delivery of new stock, or some other purpose? BLN 723.027][BE, FR] SNCB Ligne 156 Mariembourg - Chimay - Momignies (- Anor SNCF): (Ball 16A3) Occasional CFV3V tourist passenger trains operate from Mariembourg to Momignies, and on 25 September 1993, in connection with a CFV3V steam festival at Mariembourg, a diesel railcar ran over the border to Anor, as far as the catch-points protecting the junction with the SNCF there. Ballast is regularly worked from a quarry near Momignies on to the SNCF via Anor, and both Chimay and a siding near Mariembourg show evidence of timber traffic remaining. BLN 723.028][DE] Neubrandenburg - Friedland (Meckl.): (BLN 717.06, 718.012; Ball 20B3; KBS 186) This branch, an independent railway till taken over by DR after World War II, formally closed to passengers with effect from 15 January 1994, according to Kursbuch supplement 3, thus surviving a fortnight into the new unified DB/DR Deutsche Bahn AG regime. Worked from the outer (Friedland) end, it had till closure three passenger round trips on weekdays and one on Sundays. Sections of the track are poor with a 10km/h speed limit, but some freight remains. A military branch trails in 6.5km from the junction, and Friedland still has LPG and chemical tank-wagon traffic. Three lines of the erstwhile Mecklenburg-Pommern Schmalspurbahn once met at Friedland, and part of this system was still being worked by DR till 1962 at least. A narrow-gauge steam locomotive and vehicles remain, looking more 'dumped' than 'preserved', opposite Friedland station platform. BLN 723.029][DE] Lines with battery-railcars: DB's remaining two-car Akkutriebwagen units are expected to be replaced in 1995 by further deliveries of the successful Class 628/928 diesel units. Meantime, the secondary services they work comprise: Neuss - Kaarst Ball 33A1 Düsseldorf - Mettmann Ball 33B1 Wanne-Eickel - Castrop-Rauxel Süd - Dortmund Ball 34A3-34B3 Wanne-Eickel - Bochum Ball 34A3-34B3 (BLN 715.07) Wanne-Eickel - Dorsten - Borken Ball 34A3-38B3 BLN 723.030][DE] Kassel area: (Ball 40A2-40B2) A railtour, marking the end of DB Class 796 Ferkeltaxi railbuses in this area, visited freight-only branches on 27 December 1993. On the Kassel - Epterode branch, the first 3km stretch to Kassel-Bettenhausen is electrified (not shown in Ball atlas) and appears to have reasonable traffic, but beyond that the wagons in sidings seem mostly stored or condemned. Still, most of the stations remain intact, and tickets are sold at Hessisch-Lichtenau. From Walburg towards Eschwege West track remains, though out of use and not shown on the present DB map. Beyond Epterode some 200m of track is in place as a headshunt towards Grossalmerode West. The Hann-Münden - Oberscheden branch has a substantial masonry bridge, now with a 10km/h limit, across the river Werra near the main-line junction. Not much traffic was seen. Beyond Oberscheden, out-of-use track remains in place towards the former terminus at Dransfeld. BLN 723.031][DE] Hersfelder Eisenbahn GmbH: (Ball 40B1) The potash traffic from the DB line between Hattorf and Heimboldshausen, which before unification used to be worked westward over the private HEG from Heimboldshausen to Bad Hersfeld, can now be worked more economically via the former DR at Gerstungen. At the end of December 1993 the HEG ceased operating its vestigial passenger service, described in BLN 708.03, and the whole railway may have closed, though the company still runs its buses. BLN 723.032][DE] Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz: (BLN 700.04; Ball 43B2-43A2) This threatened freight-only remnant of Saxony's 750mm-gauge network, still with its distinctive Meyer tank engines, is to be visited by an NEF railtour on Saturday 7 May 1994. More details may be available through the BLS Overseas Events Information Service in due course. BLN 723.033][DE] Friedrichsdorf - Grävenwiesbach: (Ball 49B2-49A3) North-west of Frankfurt-am-Main, this DB branch, which used to extend to Wetzlar, is now shown on the Kursbuch map as private, and it is in fact now operated by the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn AG. The line has been completely modernised with unstaffed stations, high platforms, relaid track and a new signal-box at Usingen controlling the whole line. The old irregular Mondays-to-Fridays-only timetable was replaced in September 1993 when new FKE diesel units began running daily, and every 40 minutes, mostly through to Bad Homburg but with a few through trains to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof BLN 723.034][DE] Frankfurt-am-Main S-Bahn: (Ball 50A3) Much work is under way between Offenbach and Hanau in connection with the extension of the S-Bahn from Mühlberg. Additional S-Bahn tracks are also being provided out to Darmstadt, and it seems they will be linked to the existing system at its present terminus, Stresemannallee, using the curve from Frankfurt-Louisa. At present the only passenger trains over this curve are a few long-distance overnight services. BLN 723.035][DE] Obstfelderschmiede - Lichtenhain: (Ball 52B3) Between 18 and 29 April 1994, the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn will be out of service for overhaul. This interesting line, a steep standard-gauge counter-balanced incline in Thuringia, linking two branches at different levels and worked by the new DB company (formerly DR), was described in BLN 708.04. BLN 723.036][DE] Karlsruhe: (Ball 57B2) From May 1994 dual-voltage trams of the Albtal Verkehrsbetriebe Gesellschaft (AVG) will work the DB lines Karlsruhe - Bruchsal and Bruchsal - Bretten. BLN 723.037][DE] SWEG Bad Krozingen - Staufen - Untermünstertal: (Ball 67B2) The engine-shed at Staufen has been demolished and a modern Fahrzeughalle erected for the Süd-West Eisenbahn Gesellschaft . The short freight branch from Staufen to Grunern (formerly extending to Sulzburg) is out of use, but still available for traffic. (Paragraphs 036-041 based on Eisenbahn Amateur, November 1993) BLN 723.038][DE, AT] Kempten (Allgäu) DB - Reutte-in-Tirol ÖBB - Garmisch-Partenkirchen DB: (Ball 70A1-79A3-70B1) Freight services have been withdrawn from the section Kempten - Pfronten-Steinach DB - Schönbichl ÖBB - Reutte. Since mid-September 1993 local passenger trains between Reutte and Garmisch have been worked by ÖBB Class 5047 diesel railcars rather than electrically operated by DB. Electric traction remains on the through Korridorzüge from Reutte to Innsbruck, and on freight trains. BLN 723.039][DE, CH] Singen DB - Etzwilen SBB: (Ball 88B3) In 1995 the Singen - Rielasingen DB section of this non-electrified cross-border freight line is to close, as well as the SBB goods office in Singen, and Rielasingen - Etzwilen is to follow in 1997. Piggyback road-trailer traffic across Switzerland is no longer to start from Rielasingen, for a new terminal is to open at Singen in 1997, whence trains will be routed Bietingen DB - Thayngen SBB - Schaffhausen. BLN 723.040][CH] Brugg - Birrfeld - Othmarsingen: (Ball 87B2) By the end of 1994 SBB should have completed doubling this last remaining single-track section of the Basel - Bözberg - Südbahn - Gotthard - Chiasso north-south axis. Birrfeld goods station will remain but the existing passenger station will be demolished and replaced by two stations, Lupfig and Birr, each with a covered island platform 225m long, waiting-room, ticket-machines and station forecourt with bus-stops. BLN 723.041][CH] St.Maurice - St.Gingolph: (Ball 98B3) CFF are proposing to transfer passenger traffic to buses in 1994, and to confine freight traffic to the section St.Maurice - Monthey from 1995. Thereafter they would close and lift the track from Monthey to St.Gingolph. Local opposition is however strong. BLN 723.042][SE] Vännäs - Umeå - Holmsund: (Ball 7B2) At Vännäs, the branch junction, a north-to-east curve (not shown in the Ball atlas) has been built, which seems well-used and allows freight trains from the north to run on to the branch without reversal. Travellers planning to use the overnight 0740 arrival at Umeå to connect with the 0900 ferry across the Gulf of Bothnia to Vaasa in Finland should note that this a tight connection in practice, since the train can run late ("invariably" according to a local taxi-driver) and the ferry sails from Holmsund, 20km away and no longer served by passenger trains. Beyond Umeå the road parallels the railway and passes the closed Holmsund passenger station. Plenty of freight seems to use the line to reach the docks, and a branch extends out to the water's edge near the ferry terminal, where surprisingly an SJ passenger coach was seen stabled at the buffer-stop. BLN 723.043][CR] Costa Rica: (BLN 721.015) Electrification of the Atlantic line in 1982 was at 25kV 60Hz, the normal American industrial frequency for alternating current, rather than the 50Hz used in Europe. The locomotives as supplied by The 50Hz Group were dual-voltage, so that they could run also under the Pacific line's earlier (1930) electrification at 15kV 20Hz until its power supply came to be upgraded to the new standard. The eastern terminus of the San José local trains is spelled Cartago rather than Carthago. BLN 724.044][IE] Waterford area: (BLN 722.06) Since the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company are still the legal owners of what is left of their Rosslare - Fermoy route, they rather than Irish Rail issued the notice in mid-August 1993 advertising the abandonment of the line from Waterford West to Ballinacourty Junction. However the 2.5km spur onwards to the magnesite plant at Ballinacourty was built by CIE in 1970, thus needing a separate abandonment order. The whole Ballinacourty branch was put out of use on 21 November 1993 by disconnection of points and signalling at Waterford West, but it is classed as an engineer's siding pending lifting. Its reopening in 1970 was not actually from Waterford West, for there were at that time, and until the early 1970s, freight trains on the old Mallow line from Waterford West Junction across the Suir Bridge to Grace Dieu Junction, reversing there to serve the Waterford Ironfounders siding at the former Waterford South terminus, closed to passengers in 1908. At Abbey Junction the stub of the New Ross branch is still used to stable ballast trains and to reach a siding, serving the bus garage, which receives occasional oil traffic. The previous Bell Line rail-served container terminal near Abbey Junction is now completely closed, the final rail movement of containers to the new Belview site having taken place on 8 September 1993. BLN 724.045][IE] Silvermines Junction - Silvermines: Traffic has ceased on this short branch off the Limerick - Nenagh line, opened by CIE in 1966 to serve new mineral workings. The original zinc-concentrate traffic ceased in 1982, but movement of barytes, also consigned to Foynes, continued until late 1993. The mine is now closed and the last train ran on Friday 1 November 1993. BLN 724.046][FR] Marseille: (Ball 75B2) On Mondays to Fridays from 7 March to 28 May 1994 (and also Saturday 16 April) the following local trains between Marseille St.Charles and L'Estaque are retimed to take longer, probably because they are diverted due to engineering work via Joliette and Arenc over a freight line not shown in the Ball atlas. #56133 0610 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles #56173 0623 Avignon - Marseille St.Charles #56153¶ 1025 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles #56137 1240 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles #56134¶ 0703 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas #56136 1055 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas #56138 1225 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas ¶ = not 16 April BLN 724.047][DE] Mineral lines near Bleicherode: (Ball 41A2-41A3) Mineral lines off the Kassel - Nordhausen main line and the Bischofferode branch serve a number of potash mines, some still in operation: Bischofferode still working Mineral line from Bischofferode goods yard Neubleicherode closed Dismantled mineral line from Grossbodungen Bleicherode still working Sidings at Bleicherode Ost Obergebra closed Dismantled sidings at Niedergebra Sollstedt ?still working Sidings at Sollstedt Schachtsiedlung closed Dismantled mineral line from Bernterode A recently-electrified freight branch also runs south from the main line to Deuna, but may serve something other than a potash mine. The junction faces east towards Bernterode, not west towards Niederorschel as shown in Ball (and the German railway map). The map also shows a station, Werkbahnhof Deuna, at the end of the branch, but no publicity for any passenger service could be found locally at either Leinefelde or Bleicherode. BLN 724.048][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: (BLN 711.08; Ball 31B2-32A2) Passenger service was restored on the southern part of the Berlin Innenring on 17 December 1993. S-Bahn trains now run from Westend via Westkreuz, Schöneberg and Tempelhof to Baumschulenweg, then on out to either Flughafen-Berlin-Schönefeld or Grunau. (Railway Gazette International, February 1994) BLN 724.049][DE] Bebra - Eisenach: (BLN 717.09; Ball 40B1-41A1) At Bebra a few trains are booked to operate via the goods yards, but may not do so in practice. Modernisation work continues at Gerstungen and non-stop trains have been diverted round the back of the locomotive shed for several months. At Förtha the junction of the Gerstungen line remains connected, but with a stop-board clamped to the rails. Overgrown track remains on the south-facing curve but the junction has been removed. BLN 724.050][DE] Nördlingen - Wilburgstetten: (Ball 59A1-59A2) DB are withdrawing from freight operations on this section of the line to Dombühl. The Bayerische Eisenbahn Museum, who already operate seasonal steam tourist trains on the line, are to move the remaining freight traffic, probably using an ex-DB or ex-DR diesel. (LCGB Bulletin, February 1994) BLN 724.051][IT, VA] Rare track in the Città del Vaticano: (Ball 52A1) From the electrified FS line just north of the secondary station Roma San Pietro, a non-electrified connection branches off north along a 120m-long viaduct to reach a doorway in the high wall surrounding the Vatican City. Immediately beyond, behind two heavy doors, lies the passenger reception building of the Vatican railway and, beyond that, sidings converge to a headshunt in a tunnel 100m long beneath the garden of the Vatican's broadcasting station. The branch is 626m long in all. Diesel-hauled trip workings operate twice a day, one with bulk wagon-loads and one with merchandise freight. The doors are rolled back when the train arrives and are closed immediately it has passed through. Once inside, the FS locomotive sets out the loaded wagons and takes away the empties. The passenger building has little resemblance to a real station, consisting mainly of a large reception hall with white marble floor and marble-tiled walls. There are offices, storage rooms and a robing-room for priests and laymen preparing to receive visitors, but no booking-office, waiting-room or restaurant, for it has never been intended as a station for use by the general public. The building of the railway and the station, at the expense of the Italian state, resulted from a treaty between Italy and the Holy See concluded on 20 December 1933, in turn stemming from the Lateran Treaty of 11 February 1929, by which the Italian government of Benito Mussolini recognised the Vatican as an independent state. The railway opened on 2 October 1934 and was intended for the papal train and for the reception of foreign heads of state arriving at the Vatican by rail. From 1934 to 1994 however the successive Bishops of Rome have personally used their railway only three times. In 1959 the mortal remains of Pope Pius XII were conveyed thence to Venezia; in 1962 Pope John XXIII used a saloon vehicle from the former royal train for a pilgrimage to Loreto and Assisi; and in 1980 Pope John Paul II left in a saloon for a visit to railway staff at a Rome marshalling-yard. (Op de Rails (NL), December 1993) There's clearly a challenge here for an innovative UK railtour operator - a visit to the Vatican via Eurotunnel, over some off-peak weekend when there's an HST to spare. BLN 724.052][AT] (Linz -) St.Michael - Leoben - Bruck an der Mur (- Graz): (Ball 74B1-75A1) The Galgenberg tunnel now under construction between St.Michael and Leoben may be complemented by a proposed further new alignment between Leoben and a point on the line from Bruck an der Mur to Graz, to give a rather shorter route between St.Michael and Graz. The present St.Michael - Leoben Göss section would be closed. (LCGB Bulletin, February 1994) BLN 724.053][FR] Freight curve at Fréthun: (Ball atlas 6A2) The sketch map in BLN 723.021 inadvertently omitted the lower part of the curve carrying trains from Calais or the SNCF freight yards under the high-speed line, rising to join it just on the landward side of the Cheriton-bound Le Shuttle diveunder before entering the tunnel. BLN 725.054] Inter-Rail: A new zonal basis is to apply to Inter-Rail Passes sold after 1 April 1994, though it is understood that 1993 prices and validity will apply to those sold right up to 31 March. This would seem to allow Easter trips on the present wider-area basis, but confirmation may be sought on 071-834 2345. The new zones are to be: (UK - that is, for non-Britons - plus the Republic of Ireland); (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands); (Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria); (Norway, Sweden, Finland); (Portugal, Spain, Morocco); (Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey); (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria). Prices for those under-26 will be £179 for 15 days unlimited travel in one zone; £209 for a month in two zones; £229 for a month in three zones; and £249 for a month in all zones, according to a BR leaflet, but publicity material for the over-26 version does not seem to be ready yet. BLN 725.055][BE] Brussel/Bruxelles trams: (BLN 719.09, 723.026; Ball atlas 10B2) the street-running extension of tram route 55 is now open from Paix/Vrede to Bordet, beyond which it looks as though further extension is planned. Just short of the present Bordet terminus is a branch into what seems to be a new tram depot or workshop on or near the site of the present bus garage. The new rail connection from the NMBS/SNCB near Haren presumably serves this installation. BLN 725.056][DE] DB passenger closures from 28 May 1994: The following lines are omitted from drafts seen of the summer 1994 German timetable: Bassum - Rahden (Kreis Lübbecke) Ball 16B1-25B2 KBS386 McDougall G20 Braunschweig - Wolfsburg Ball 27A2 KBS300 (Line is to be fully occupied by freight diverted off Hannover - Wolfsburg line, being upgraded as high-speed route to Berlin.) Dingelstädt (Eichsfeld) - Küllstedt Ball 41A2 KBS603 (This is a further cutback of the former Geismar line, but a short stub of branch is apparently to remain to Dingelstädt.) Schönberg (Vogtland) - Hirschberg (Saale) Ball 53B3 KBS548 Perl DB - Apach (Moselle) SNCF Ball 55B3(DE), 18A1(FR) KBS692 McDougall F6 (Military leave trains still run at present, and may continue, but the cross-border 1km section does seem to be finally losing its pair of advertised trains in May. Note that the 0830 Perl - Trier Hbf local connection in the leaflets mentioned in BLN 723.025 may no longer work, for the DB November timetable supplement shows this train as being cut back to Nennig.) BLN 725.057][DE] Berlin: (BLN 715.08; Ball 32B2) The planned closure to long-distance services of the Stadtbahn viaduct between Zoologischer Garten and Hauptbahnhof is to take place from 15 September 1994 rather than from May. An S-Bahn service is to use the (southern) Fernbahn trackbed while the S-Bahn's own (northern) part of the viaduct, and its tracks, are renewed. Some S-Bahn stations without Fernbahn platforms may not be served, but others will have temporary platforms some of which may be used in one direction only. Tenders were called for the work in two sections: from Zoo to Lehrter Stadtbahnhof/Humboldthafen (7 November 1994 - 8 November 1996) and from there to Hauptbahnhof (10 October 1994 - 9 January 1997). (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/94) The small-profile U-Bahn from Wittenbergplatz to Gleisdreieck in former west Berlin, and on to Mohrenstrasse in the east (once known as Thälmannplatz and later as Otto Grotewohl Strasse) reopened on 13 November 1993, with full service starting the following day. Trains now run as Linie U1 from Ruhleben to Vinetastrasse, whose title has been shortened from Pankow (Vinetastrasse), presumably in preparation for the line's planned extension northward to Pankow Kirche. As a consequence the service from Krumme Lanke to Schlesisches Tor now runs as Linie U2. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/94) The traditional nineteenth-century pattern of main-line stations in Berlin was originally not dissimilar to that of London. The supplement issued with BLN 723 was intended to point up how history, especially wartime destruction and postwar division of the city, has dramatically affected its railway geography. The Society has in mind a possible publication about Berlin, so the International sub-editor would welcome information, references or sketch-maps commenting on or amplifying the historical supplement, as well as news about the continuing changes to the city's railway infrastructure. BLN 725.058][DE] Potsdam: (BLN 699.010; Ball 31B1) Trolleybus services have been resumed using (electro-diesel) Duobuses. The eastern section of trolleybus route 690 from Bahnhof Drewitz out to Steinstrasse will not be electrically operated at present since a new route is being used which is without overhead wires. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/94) One reason may be the difficulty of restoring low-voltage trolleybus wires over the level-crossing at Drewitz station, where the Berlin - Magdeburg - Braunschweig main-line railway is now electrified with 15kV 16²/3Hz catenary. BLN 725.059][DE] Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz: (BLN 700.04, 723.032; Ball 43B2-43A2) The last DR steam-hauled ordinary freight train on this 750mm-gauge freight-only branch ran on 17 December 1993. On 20 December a private company, the Döllnitzbahn, took over the line's assets of track, buildings and rolling-stock, including the Saxon Meyer tank engines. Diesel haulage of kaolin in narrow-gauge wagons commenced when the line reopened in January after the New Year break. Though bad news for steam photographers, this presumably means the branch is intended to remain in traffic for a period at least. BLN 725.060][DE] Deviations round opencast mining near Senftenberg: (Ball 44A3) At some time since about 1989 the (Finsterwalde/Calau -) Grossräschen - Senftenberg line (KBS 227) has been diverted over 2km eastwards to avoid an extension of opencast lignite (brown coal) workings, and it now sweeps round in a wide curve to meet the Cottbus - Dresden main line in a new triangular junction, including a dive-under, well to the east of Sedlitz Ost station. There is now little evidence of the earlier alignment to the old triangular junction, still shown on official German railway maps and in the Ball atlas as being to the west of Sedlitz. The present railway from Finsterwalde east and south to Grossräschen has the appearance of having been constructed in recent years, perhaps at the same time as lines in the area were electrified, and it does not appear on a number of maps dated 1950-1970, including a Kursbuch map of 1962. McDougall's 1993 Railway Enthusiast's Guide to Western Europe notes that the line acquired a passenger service in June 1992, and describes this as a re-opening. However, older maps show that the Finsterwalde - Annahütte branch once continued as a through line to Senftenberg, and the 1944-45 Kursbuch shows local passenger trains going that way, calling at Kettwitz, Schipkau and Senftenberg West. It seems possible that the new Finsterwalde - Grossräschen line was originally built to allow the Annahütte - Senftenberg trackbed to be swallowed up by an opencast hole in the ground. BLN 725.061][ES] Medina del Campo - Segovia: (Ball 10A1-20B3) As predicted in BLN 694.01 this electrified RENFE line was closed to passengers from 26 September 1993. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.062][GR] Argos - Nafplion: (Ball 66A1) Two-car dmus operate the reintroduced passenger service on this branch of OSE's 1000mm-gauge Peloponnese system, terminating at Nafplion's unusual harbourside station, where the 'buildings' comprise a 2-6-0T locomotive attached to a boxcar and three four-wheeled carriages acting as cafe, waiting-room and ticket-office. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.063][AT] Stammersdorfer Lokalbahn near Wien: (BLN 716.021; Ball 65A1-77B3) Railcar passenger services operate on the sections Obersdorf - Pirawarth - Gaweinstal and Gross Schweinbarth - Gänserndorf and, from 27 September 1993, were introduced between Pirawarth and Hohenruppersdorf. In June 1993 freight was being worked beyond Hohenruppersdorf to Sulz-Nexing. Tracks remained in place throughout from Stammersdorf to Obersdorf and from Sulz-Nexing to Dobermannsdorf, though these sections closed to all traffic in 1988. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.064][ZW, BW, ZA] Southern African re-routeing: Since 2 November 1993 the weekly through passenger service between Bulawayo and Johannesburg has run from Zimbabwe via Beit Bridge directly on to South African tracks and no longer uses its traditional 1082km route via Plumtree to Gaborone in Botswana and then via Ramatlhabama and Mafikeng. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.065][EC] Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos: (BLN 694.014) Cautious optimism may be in order regarding this scenic but somewhat threatened 1067mm-gauge system. The Guayaquil & Quito main line appeared to be open throughout during a visit in November 1993, with autoferro (railbus) services on various sections being reinforced by a daily mixto (mixed train) between Durán (the station for Guayaquil) and Riobamba, hauled by a new French-built GEC-Alsthom Bo-Bo-Bo diesel locomotive from the batch delivered in 1992-93, one of which was seen easily handling nine vehicles up the switchbacks of the Devil's Nose. Durán works was busy rebuilding passenger vehicles including a traditional wooden-bodied carriage. A completely new substantial station building was nearing completion at Bucay, the division point between the coastal plains and the climb into the Andes. Bridge problems between Bucay and Huigra had been sorted out to allow the passage of autoferros and the mixto, if not yet steam locomotive-hauled charters, and all the girder bridges on the Bucay - Huigra - Sibambe section had been or were being shotblasted and repainted. The landslide blockage which had closed the line as a through route for about a decade at Tixan, between Alausí and Riobamba, had been circumvented by quite extensive new engineering work - though the visibly friable soft rock of the Andes through which the line clambers does remain an ever-present threat. About every fifth sleeper on the line had been or was being replaced, it seemed, perhaps to counteract a reported tendency of the new diesels to spread the track. Just south of Riobamba the cement works siding held boxcars, apparently in traffic. The layout at Riobamba no longer permits a train from Durán to enter the town's substantial terminal station without a reversal. North of Riobamba, passenger service is by autoferro to Quito, though on 29 November 1993 a steam excursion with 1944-built Baldwin 2-8-0 #45, which had earlier worked through from Huigra to Alausí and Riobamba, reached the line's impressive summit at Urbina (altitude 3609m), turning on the wye there with snow-capped Chimborazo (6310m) in the background. The bad news is that the Ramal Austral, the 150km branch south from the junction at Sibambe to Cuenca, is cut by damage to the track, and the daily autoferro runs between Sibambe and El Tambo only. The train register at Sibambe showed autoferros #63, 73, 94 and 98 recently working on the main line and #63, 97 and 98 on the branch. Diesel locos #2402, 2404 and 2408 had recently been hauling the main-line mixto and Baldwin #45 had also made appearances on the register. BLN 725.066][CL] Chile: Santiago's Metro is a clone of the rubber-tyred lines in Paris, so is presumably standard-gauge, but the other lines in the country are predominantly of broad and metre gauge. The 1676mm-gauge Ferrocarril del Sur main line runs from the capital's main station, Santiago Alameda, with its attractive French-style overall roof (girders made in Le Creusot) carrying three separate overnight passenger services south the 577km to Concepción, the 699km to Temuco, and the 1088km to Puerto Montt. Day railcar units also serve Chillán, 406km away, and Concepción, making the total of seven daily long-haul trains beyond the Santiago commuter area. The overnight train from Temuco, hauled throughout by a 3kV dc electric locomotive, conveys magnificent and smooth-riding heavy classic sleeping-cars, German-built in the 1930s by Linke-Hoffmann in Breslau, with US-style curtained-section berths, and an excellent traditional restaurant car, stocked with fine Chilean wines and well-supported by passengers. North and west of Santiago, the FC del Sur has container freight but no passenger service at present to the major port of Valparaíso. Recent motorway construction, including road tunnels through the coastal range, has left the steep and circuitous 187km electrified rail route uncompetitive with the frequent buses of various private operators, taking only two hours over the 120km road distance. Heavy Santiago - Valparaíso freight trains are regularly piloted on the steeply-graded section between Til-Til and Llay-Llay by a unique, venerable and immense General Electric 3kV dc 2-C-C-2 locomotive weighing 210 tonnes. Valparaíso itself has a frequent local service of emu trains along the coast, marketed as Merval (Metro Regional Valparaíso), with one such train a day working inland to Llay-Llay, and weekend-and-holiday-only workings beyond, up the electrified branch from Llay-Llay to Los Andes. East of Los Andes, the metre-gauge Transandino line, also electrified, sets off into the mountains for Mendoza in Argentina, but alas it carries no regular passenger service, in spite of its spectacular engineering and scenery, and beyond mineral workings near Rio Blanco it is out of use. A tiny 1927-built General Motors/Yellow Coach bus-on-rail-wheels, of the kind dubbed 'Galloping Goose' on US branch lines of the time, is available for charter. BLN 726.67][HU][SI] Zalalövö MÁV - Murska Sobota SZ: (Ball 46B3) Hungary and Slovenia (ex-Yugoslavia) share a border without any railway crossing it, but MÁV and SZ are considering restoration of a 22.5km section of a former line which would link their two systems directly via Bajánsenye and Hodoš. (Railway Gazette International, March 1994) BLN 726.066A] Tickets: BR European Passenger Services are to use the inconveniently large (203mm x 82mm) ATB card tickets thought up by the airline industry as a world standard, and already in use by British Airways and Air France. They can be produced by business travel agents using laser printers, and are machine-readable. ATB stands for Automated Ticketing and Boarding, though BR calls them TRIBUTE tickets. They are supposed to replace the present much more convenient credit-card-size APTIS tickets for longer-distance domestic as well as international journeys, and the InterCity telesales office in Newcastle has indeed already begun issuing them from about the end of January 1994. Details printed on the front of an ATB ticket, and encoded in the magnetic stripe on the back, include train times plus seat/berth and meal reservations. No reservation tickets are therefore required, but separate tickets are still issued for the outward and for the return leg of the journey. The Waterloo International check-in area has ticket-reading barriers linked to the Eurostar reservation computer system at Lille, and will be capable of giving a Eurostar train-crew a list of which of their passengers have checked-in, who is sitting where, and who wants a meal on the journey. One hopes the French-made Dassault check-in gates don't find it too much of a challenge reading the unwieldy ATB tickets after they've been folded to fit in a wallet or a purse. Automatic ticket-issuing machines on SNCF stations will now accept UK Visa cards - provided one keys in one's PIN number correctly - but a recent attempt to use an Access card there failed. The 1994 Swiss Euro-Domino ticket now covers the local public-transport systems in many of the main cities, in addition to the private railways, postbuses and lake steamers included in 1993. Though the adult second-class three-day pass has risen by 26% from £68 to £86, the increase for five- and ten-day passes is a more modest 5%. BLN 726.067][GB, FR] Delays to underwater trains: On 27 February 1994 the arrivals indicator at Paris Nord showed "Eurotunnel Special - 105 minutes late". When it came in, this turned out to be a TGV Nord set which had apparently worked into the tunnel to convey guests to a luncheon held in one of the crossover caverns. Eurostar services it seems may begin in June 1994 with a series of premium-fare specials, to be followed in July by two scheduled trains a day each way London - Paris and London - Brussel/Bruxelles, with the service building up thereafter as more new trainsets become available. BLN 726.068][FR] Marseille: (Ball 75B2) A local SNCF leaflet confirms the diversion via Joliette of several local trains during the period 7 March - 28 May, but modifies slightly the information given in BLN 724.046: 0610 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Sat 0703 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas Mon-Fri 0729 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Fri; also Sat 16 Apr 1025 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Fri 1055 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas Mon-Sat 1240 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Sat 1225 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas Mon-Sat BLN 726.069][DE] Berlin Kremmbahn: (Ball 32A3-31B3) Work began on 24 January 1994 to reopen the S-Bahn line running north-westward from Schönholz to Tegel and Hennigsdorf. The 7km section to Tegel, single beyond Reinickendorf, is expected to be operating by the end of 1994. (Rly. Gazette, Mar. 1994) BLN 726.070][IT] Roma - Fiumicino Aeroporto: (Ball 52A3-52A1) The original airport services ran from the rather inconvenient secondary station of Roma Ostiense, ostiensibly due to track occupation problems, but since 27 November 1993 FS has somehow managed to find the track capacity to run hourly non-stop trains from the city-centre main station, Roma Termini, out to the airport. BLN 726.071][YU] (Beograd -) Zvornik - Tuzla: The ill-fated final 46km of railway linking Zvornik Grad, just inside Serbia, to Tuzla in Bosnia, though planned since before 1914, did not see its first train until 18 January 1992, less than three months before full-scale civil war began in Bosnia. The line is not shown in the Ball atlas (52A3-51B3). Unlike the older Vinkovci - Tuzla line, whose bridge across the river Sava has been destroyed, Zvornik - Tuzla is relatively undamaged, and UN officials are considering its use to deliver aid to Muslims in the besieged Bosnian town. Unlike any supplies airlifted into a reopened Tuzla airport, rail freight would come through Serbia, perhaps making it easier to reassure the Serbs that the cargoes were indeed aid, not arms. (The Independent, 4 March 1994) BLN 726.68][CN] Guangzhou - Shenzhen (- Hong Kong KCR): The Chinese province of Guangdong is reported to be considering privatisation of the important line from the city of Guangzhou (Canton) to the Hong Kong border, otherwise known as the Chinese section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway. (Railway Gazette International, March 1994) BLN 727.072][PT, ES] Iberian unreliability: CP and RENFE continue to make touring by rail difficult. CP's management and labour force are in conflict this spring, with unpredictable strikes causing disruption to journey plans. As an example of the result, on 25 March 1994 RENFE's Madrid - Lisboa daytime TALGO express was abruptly cancelled on arrival at Caceres, still 100km from the border into Portugal, leaving international travellers to face a six-hour bus journey on indifferent roads. Furthermore, the actual timings of RENFE trains do not always reflect either the national timetable book or its latest supplement, and leaflets locally available can disclose that from some arbitrarily chosen date trains will run on quite different timings, perhaps hours earlier or later. All this makes planning of connections and overnight stops quite difficult. Though both nationalised companies are visibly in receipt of considerable investment from the generous European Union taxpayer, they have the air of being run in the interests of the operators rather than the customers, more like Latin America than Western Europe in the 1990s. While both Portugal and Spain do have plenty of potential for railway tourism if they would get their act together, it is clear that Eastern Europe - or some high-cost but reliable country like Switzerland - really offers better value for one's money in 1994. BLN 727.073][PT] Linha do Tâmega: (BLN 697-08; Ball atlas 7B1) The metre-gauge Tâmega Valley line, the first branch off the CP broad-gauge heading up the Douro valley from Porto, was not completed until 1949, and its northern 39km section from Amarante to Arco de Baúlhe closed to passengers and freight from 1 January 1990. Now a private-sector tourism development company with land interests in Northern Portugal is hoping to reopen the closed section in 1995, and may lease from CP the whole 52km line from the junction at Livração. Tourist trains would operate, some of them steam-hauled. Track and stations have survived well, and some restorable coaches and traction should be available from the pool of stock on the Portuguese metre-gauge as a whole. Driving force behind the railway project is a British businessman and enthusiast whose Portuguese wife is from the area. Further details may be had from Graham Garnell, Travessa Paulo Jorge 23 - A Lj., Carcavelos, 2775 Parede, Portugal. BLN 727.074][ES] Zafra - Huelva: (Ball 27B1-34A2) The sparse passenger service on this line through deeply rural south-west Spain is not shown at all in the present RENFE timetable, which cannot help to attract custom. In March 1994 trains were running as follows, and a local leaflet said that these timings began in January. Stock used was the ubiquitous Class 592 three-car 'camel' dmus, whose working diagrams seemed to include also the electrified Sevilla - Huelva line. Try not to stay long in Huelva, which has a cellulose plant nearby whose foul smell pollutes the air for several kilometres downwind! km (c) (a) 0510 0 Zafra 2220 0608 1630 48 Fregenal de la Sierra 1222 1551 2122 0810 1915 185 Huelva Término 0930 1300 1830 (c) = Sats, Suns and holidays; (a) = Mon-Fri, except holidays BLN 727.075][ES] Tharsis - Corrales: (Ball 34A3-34A2) The mineral line of the Tharsis Copper & Sulphur Company, originally of Glasgow, now Spanish-owned as the Ferrocarril de Tharsis al Rio Odiel, was built to the unusual gauge of 1219mm, the same as the Glasgow Underground, though more dissimilar railway operations can scarcely be imagined. Though no longer as prosperous as last century, in March 1994 its main line was still operating three weekday-morning mineral trains, hauled by Alsthom diesels, from an ore-loading plant at Tharsis due south for some 60km to a treatment plant at Corrales on the estuary of the river Odiel opposite the town of Huelva. It is not clear where the treated mineral goes thereafter, for the line to the large loading staithe on the river is lifted, and the exchange sidings with the 1676mm-gauge RENFE branch (still in place at both Corrales and the junction at Gibraleón) seemed disused. Also disused but in place is the section of 1219mm track east from Tharsis to El Cerro de Andévalo, where it crosses over the Zafra - Huelva RENFE line. At the Tharsis depot near the loading-point are three 0-4-0T industrial shunters of early design with such features as wooden brake-blocks. Two are derelict and one is at least cosmetically restored (No.7 Corrales, Dübs 332/1869). BLN 728.076][DE] Dürener Kreisbahn: (BLN 714.017; Ball 37B1) In 1993 the Düren-based DKB took over from DB the passenger services south on the Düren - Heimbach (Eifel) and north on the Düren - Jülich sections. Trains are ex-DB Ferkeltaxi railbuses resprayed into DKB blue and cream, with an automatic ticket-machine in each unit. Two DKB freight locos were also seen at Düren on 18 March 1994. The Heimbach branch has loops at Lendersdorf, Kreuzau, Untermaubach, Nideggen and Heimbach itself, and seems to be radio controlled from Lendersdorf. Freight is handled for the Schoellershammer paper factory and an AKZO works, both at Lendersdorf. The Jülich branch has one intermediate loop at Huchem-Stammeln, and a backshunt at Jülich leads into what appears to be a military base, with signs of recent traffic. Also at Jülich is a connection into what might be an old locomotive shed, used by a preservation group. Beyond Jülich the DKB works freight to Linnich and for an unknown distance down the Puffendorf branch, both lines also showing signs of recent use. A DKB driver said that Jülich - Linnich would reopen to passengers at some future date, but more work is needed on the track. BLN 728.077][DE][PL][RU][LT] Berlin railway history: (BLN 723 supplement, BLN 725.057; Ball 31-32) When the cross-city Stadtbahn heading eastward on its viaduct reached the Schlesischer Bahnhof (the present Hauptbahnhof) in 1882, and it became a through station rather than a terminus, the original track level had to be raised, which is why its overall roof seems low and possibly why it has taken so long for it to be fully wired. The line from the Dresdener Bahnhof had difficulties in its early years, so to say in the BLN 723 supplement that the station 'opened for trains to Dresden, Praha and Wien' may have been an exaggeration. The alternative route from the Anhalter Bahnhof via Jüterbog to Dresden remained important for a long time, and other routes were available to Wien, notably via Breslau (now Wroclaw, in Poland). The reference to the link from the Dresdener line into Potsdamer Ringbf being built for S-Bahn trains was an anachronism since the term S-Bahn was not current until the electrification of the 1920s. A measure of the political reshaping of Europe since the nineteenth century is that the Ostbahn eastward out of Berlin, now served mainly by local trains connecting the S-Bahn at Strausberg with Küstrin-Kietz on the frontier with Poland some 75km away, was once Germany's great main line to the east and to Russia, with the longest unbroken set of kilometre posts on the German railways, reaching 742.33km from the capital, whence expresses sped to the German towns of Landsberg, Schneidemühl, Konitz, Dirschau, Marienburg, Elbing, Braunsberg, Königsberg and Insterburg, leaving East Prussia at Eydtkuhnen. Today these are respectively the Polish towns of Gorzów Wielkopolski, Pila, Chojnice, Tczew, Malbork, Elblag and Braniewo, and the Russian towns of Kaliningrad and Chernyakhovsk. The line crosses the whole breadth of present-day Poland, and Germany's former eastern frontier post is now on the border between Russia's Kaliningrad enclave and Lithuania. BLN 728.078][ES] Plasencia - Monfragüe - Mirabel triangle: Not shown in the Ball atlas (at 19A1) is the north-to-south side of this triangle in western Spain, used by passenger and freight trains running direct from Plasencia to Mirabel and on southward to Cáceres. The 'missing' side of the triangle is in fact quite a lengthy separate single track, parallelling the Monfragüe - Mirabel line, also single track, on slightly differing levels and on a different alignment for several kilometres. Some trains between (Madrid -) Monfragüe and Mirabel (- Cáceres) reverse at Plasencia, thus using both the east-to-north and the north-to-south sides of the triangle, while the TALGOs use the east-to-south curve. A RENFE timetable leaflet valid 12 February to 29 May 1994 gives day-train timings between Madrid and Extremadura province as follows. While noting that all four trains run from or to Barcelona it does not vouchsafe the timings there. TALGO TALGO ? ? Barcelona ? ? 1515 1800 Madrid-Chamartín 1133 1334 - 2140 Plasencia 0805 - 1837 2225 Cáceres 0705 1006 1931 Mérida 0916 2028 Badajoz 0825 BLN 728.079][ES] Rio Tinto - Huelva: This extensive and once British-owned 1067mm-gauge industrial system, based on an 83km main line opened in 1875 to carry various minerals to the port of Huelva in south-western Spain for export, closed in 1984 (and is therefore not shown in the Ball atlas at 34A2-34B3). Its history and operations are well described in a recent book. (The Rio Tinto Railway, by Alan Sewell. ISBN 1 871980 06 2. £6.95 from The Plateway Press, PO Box 973, Brighton BN2 2TG) In spring 1994 much of the track and other evidence of the railway remains, including a long loading staithe preserved at Huelva, and various locomotives, sidings and a few British semaphore signals amid industrial dereliction and land contamination on a truly grand scale at the inland site of the mining operations. (As an example, imagine a vast 300m-deep opencast hole with terraced sides of bare rock in a range of colours. Far away, barely visible without binoculars, on a terrace two-thirds of the way down, a sizeable steam locomotive sits, forever marooned and inaccessible.) As part of a project to interpret the dramatic industrial history of the region to visitors, a local industrial heritage trust, the Fundación Rio Tinto, has opened a museum at Minas de Riotinto and has created jobs for several unemployed young people who are at present restoring track on up to 18km of the main line. Tourist trains will run, perhaps steam-hauled one day if some of the remaining steam locomotives (which include a Garratt) turn out to be restorable. On 23 March 1994 a BLS international inspection team rode between two and three kilometres of the restored track, departing northwards towards Rio Tinto Middle station from a new platform built next to the shed, which is by the site of the former main crushing and screening plant and not far from the former Naya (Marin) passenger platform. The train was an Enfield Expeditions charter comprising a Babcock & Wilcox 0-6-0D propelling a single coach outward, returning as a mixed, towing a track gang on their flat wagon. BLN 728.080][PT] Lisboa: (Ball 25A1-25B1; McDougall P6) In March 1994 CP passenger services were timetabled to operate on all the lines shown as electrified on the sketch map of the Portuguese capital, including all the sides of both triangles. One IC train each way runs from Lisboa-Santa Apolonia calling at Entrecampos on its way via the unelectrified Linha do Oeste to Figueira da Foz. Suburban emus, some of them newly delivered stock, run to Sintra both from Lisboa-Rossio and (Mon-Fri only) from the new Terminal (Avenida Cinco de Outubro). This station is at ground level one block to the west of Entrecampos CP station on its viaduct and Entre Campos (sic) underground Metro station (use the south exit, at the opposite end to the bus station). Suburban emus also run from the reopened Alcântara-Terra via Entrecampos in the direction of Braço de Prata. Alcântara-Terra is a traditional and pleasantly refurbished through station with an overall roof, south of which the line continues for some 400m, single-track and unelectrified, with level-crossings over busy urban streets including the 15/17/18 tram route, to make the freight-only link with the docks and the 1500V dc Cascais line, in the shadow of the Rio Tejo suspension bridge. A substantial, prominent and expensive new walkway with two travolator sections links Alcântara-Terra with the tram route and with Alcântara-Mar station on the Cascais line. On a previous visit in 1988 Lisboa-Rossio still had its traverser, once used to release locomotives on arrival at the buffer stops of this terminus on its very cramped site high above street level. In spring 1994 the platforms are being refurbished to match the new Sintra line stock, and there is no trace of the traverser. BLN 729.081] Inter-Rail 26+: The new zonal basis for under-26 passes (BLN 725.054) does not apply to over-26 versions. Unlimited rail travel in nineteen countries again costs £209 for 15 days and £269 for a month, the prices being valid until 31 December 1994 for travel commencing up to two months later. For British residents the countries included are Irish Republic, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and Turkey. (Notable among exclusions are France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.) Discounts are available London - Hoek van Holland, and on certain other ferry routes, and by rail across Belgium. Enquiries to 071-834 2345, as also for the under-26 passes. BLN 729.082][IE] Dublin Heuston - Kildare: Following delivery in February of the 17 Japanese railcar vehicles ordered by Irish Rail, five two-car sets are due to begin work from 16 May 1994 on the new commuter service out of Heuston, calling at Cherry Orchard, Clondalkin, Hazelhatch/Celbridge and Sallins/Naas, as well as the existing stations of Newbridge (Droichead Nua) and Kildare. The other sets will operate on the Dundalk - Dublin Connolly - Arklow axis. (Irish Independent, 15 February 1994) BLN 729.083][FR][NL] Ferries: As the Tunnel opens, rationalisation of ferry routes continues. Dover - Boulogne, Dover - Dunkerque, Dover - Oostende and Dover - Zeebrugge have already gone, and Sheerness - Vlissingen closes this month. P&O have swiftly bought up the Olau Britannia and Olau Hollandia and have advertised plans to use the two 35,000t vessels, no doubt suitably renamed, on the Portsmouth - Cherbourg route, D-Day being 6 June 1994. The Newhaven - Dieppe crossing nearly closed in 1992 (BLN 702.03), and one might have thought it still vulnerable. Stena say however that they are investing in a new catamaran ferry to carry 1500 passengers and 375 cars at 40 knots, to enter service in 1996. A new ferry terminal at Dieppe is to open in July 1994 on the far side of the harbour, whence buses will convey foot passengers to the town centre and its railway station. The Dieppe Maritime line will presumably close. BLN 729.084][FR] Fewer Grands Express Européens: France loses two famous international trains from the end of May 1994. What was the Ost-West Express will be seen no more at Paris Nord. The equivalent train is to run Moskva - Warszawa - Berlin - Bruxelles, presumably connecting there in due course with Eurostars and TGVs for London and Paris. The Sud Express will likewise vanish from Paris Austerlitz, to be replaced by a Lisboa - Hendaye broad-gauge sleeper, connecting with a TGV-Atlantique for Paris Montparnasse. BLN 729.085][BE] Charleroi - Anderlues: (BLN 716.010) Trams continue to carry passengers beyond Pétria via Anderlues Jonction to Anderlues Monument. The direct chord line to Anderlues Monument is out of use. Beyond Anderlues, the most attractive section of this ex-Vicinal interurban tramway through the Belgian countryside via Binche to La Louvière closed alas in August 1993. BLN 729.086][NL] Leeuwarden - Harlingen: (Ball 1B3) Limited freight traffic appears to remain on this non-electrified NS branch running due west to the North Sea coast. Though a scrapyard siding to the east of Franeker was heavily rusted, another industrial siding at Franeker itself showed signs of recent use. The goods yard at Harlingen was out of use, but the VAM siding seemed still used, and some timber was to be seen on a rail wagon at Harlingen Haven. Trains beyond Harlingen run to the quayside at Harlingen Haven through a gateway in the Netherlands' northern sea defences, which can be closed during seriously bad weather by a heavy gate very similar to that of a canal lock. BLN 729.087][DE] Herzberg (Mark) - Rheinsberg (Mark) - Stechlinsee: (Ball 20A1; KBS284) Just after the branch railcar from Herzberg reached Rheinsberg at 1549 on 8 April 1994, a Class 202 locomotive also arrived, hauling two coaches from which more than 50 passengers alighted. The locomotive than swiftly vanished into the small shed nearby. This train must have come off the Stechlinsee branch, trailing in from the north-east. There is no such passenger working in the current timetable, nor do details seem to be displayed locally at Rheinsberg. Presumably the supposedly freight-only branch has an unadvertised service like those to Mukran and Poppendorf. BLN 729.088][DE] Neubrandenburg: (BLN 723.028; Ball 20B3) To allow for the wiring of the main line north to Stralsund, DB have already removed the bridge west of Neubrandenburg station which carried the last passenger trains on the Friedland branch on 14 January 1994. Freight trains can presumably still reach Friedland through a connection east of Neubrandenburg off the Pasewalk line. BLN 729.089][DE] (Magdeburg -) Biederitz - Altengrabow: (Ball 28A2-28B2; KBS259) Anyone travelling on this 39km branch should take along some food and drink! Altengrabow has houses, many of them derelict, a derelict granary, and two more or less derelict Russian Army bases of small size and little apparent purpose, but not a café nor a shop was to be found during the 11/2-hour turn-round there on a recent visit. The dominant local language appeared to be Russian. Passengers were few, and the future of the branch looks limited. Haulage was DB #202.160. BLN 729.090][DE] Rathenow - Rathenow Nord (- Neustadt (Dosse)): (Ball 28B3; KBS266) As foreshadowed in BLN 714.014, Rathenow - Rathenow Nord is to close to passengers from 29 May 1994, presumably temporarily, to facilitate work on the Hannover - Oebisfelde - Stendal - Spandau - Berlin high-speed line, now well under way. Some of the new Schnellfahrstrecke alignment between Oebisfelde and Stendal is in places several hundred metres away from the existing route. BLN 729.091][DE] Berlin outer suburban: The R5 local service from Nauen is to be diverted, with the Spandau - Jungfernheide section closing to passengers, and Spandau - Westkreuz reopening. DB have almost certainly postponed this change until 25 September 1994 or later. (BLN 696.06, 711.08; Ball 31B2; KBS204.5) Outer suburban R8 services from Berlin-Karow to the junction at Basdorf and beyond on the two branches to Liebenwalde and Gross Schönebeck did not close at the end of 1993, but their future is probably still insecure. (BLN 719.08; Ball 32A3-20B1; KBS204.8) BLN 729.092][DE] (Dortmund Aplerbeck-Süd / Holzwickede -) Abzweitung Heide - Schwerte (Ruhr) Ost: (Ball 35A1) This 'rare curve' has no regular passenger service, but Duisburg - Dortmund - Winterberg and Münster - Holzwickede - Winterberg special trains for skiers ran this way at weekends from 8 January to 13 March 1994 when snow conditions were favourable. Running of the 'as required' trains was announced on local radio and TV, and on a special Schneetelefon line (+49 231 11530 in case anyone wants to try it in early 1995!) BLN 729.093][DE] Korbach - Kassel: (Ball 39B2-40A2; KBS612, 621) The itinerary for the Eisenbahnfreunde Hönnetal railtour on 12-13 March 1994 said that the Korbach - Volkmarsen section, closed to passengers in 1987, is to reopen, restoring a through rail route this way to Kassel. When it does, the Korbach - Bad Wildungen section of the present route to Wabern and Kassel is to close to all traffic. BLN 729.094][DE] Chemnitz - Wechselburg: (Ball 43A1-43A2; KBS527) This secondary line is reported as planned for closure to passengers from 28 May 1995. BLN 729.095][DE] DB May openings: The new Nantenbach Schnellfahrstrecke link line from Lohr Bf to Rohrbach (Ball 51B1) is to open to passengers on 29 May 1994, as are the very short link between Ettlingen West DB and Ettlingen Stadt AVG in the Karlsruhe area (Ball 57A2) and the rather longer (c.7km) freight-only branch from Grünstadt to Eisenberg (Pfalz) (Ball 57A3). One overnight train (D1954, dep 2253) from Berlin Hbf to Frankfurt-am-Main is understood to be booked to run via the curve from Delitzsch unterer Bahnhof to Delitzsch oberer Bahnhof (Ball 42B3). BLN 729.096][DE] Preservation: The monthly summer steam service through from Tübingen over the Entringen - Altingen - Gültstein branch (Ball 57B1) is in 1994 normally to run to Altingen only, though on 1 May it was due to run the full distance to Gültstein. The freight-only Altshausen - Pfullendorf branch (Ball 69A2) is to see preserved service in 1994. BLN 729.097][ES] Alicante - Denia: (Ball 32A1-32B2) Two-car diesel units work this 93km metre-gauge line of the Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana, leaving Alicante FGV station northbound hourly on the hour. The 0600, 0800, 1000, 1300, 1500, 1700 and 1900 run all the way to Denia, the 1200 is a short working to Benidorm, and the rest run to Garganes. The last train of the day is 2000, except in the summer (1 June to 30 September 1994) when there is a 2100. In each case this train works back from Garganes to Benidorm to spend the night and leaves Benidorm at 0607 for Garganes to form the first Garganes - Alicante service. Return fares are ESP775 (£3.90) for the 51km between Benidorm and Denia and ESP630 (£3.15) for the 42km between Benidorm and Alicante. A diesel loco-hauled train, the Limon Express, using refurbished bogie stock with end balconies (excellent for photography on the scenic northern section) and an inexpensive buffet car, operates for the benefit of holidaymakers TWThFO from Benidorm to Gata de Gorgos, 11km short of Denia, and back to Alfaz del Pi, 5km short of Benidorm (to avoid road congestion). The fare of ESP1600 (£8) includes various extras, such as road conveyance to and from hotels, and 'unlimited' amounts of 'champagne' (sic) on the return journey. Denia has a new station building and platforms (five of them, three with track) which opened on 19 February 1993. About 200m to the north lies a derelict station building with platforms at right angles to the present ones, the trackbed here being used for car parking. Plans for the line between Denia and Gandia, once shown in the Thomas Cook timetable as 'closed for reconstruction', seem to have been abandoned, for the siting of Denia's new station building indicates no intention to extend beyond. On the other side of this gap, Gandia's broad-gauge RENFE branch from Silla was due to be electrified from 23 March 1994. BLN 729.098][DE][PL] International bridges over the river Neisse at Guben: (Ball 30B2 (DE), 36A3 (PL)) The freight-only bridge linking Guben DB and Gubin PKP is to close from 29 May 1994. Just to the south the bridge linking Guben DB to Gubinek PKP is to reopen for freight from 29 May (and for a PIBSE railtour on Monday 23 May, which will thus be the first tour to travel over both lines since 1945. Write for details to Andreas Geissler, Achterbergweg 5, D-42327 Wuppertal, Germany, or phone +49 251 381278.) Before 1945 Guben was at the intersection of two double-track main lines: Berlin - Frankfurt an der Oder - Guben - Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) and Cottbus - Guben - Neu Bentschen (now Zbaszynek, Poland). After World War II the rivers Oder and Neisse became the new German-Polish border, and the railway junction and the western (smaller) part of Guben remained German, while the eastern part became Polish, renamed Gubin. PKP then opened two stations for internal services, Gubin in the north of the town on the singled Zbaszynek line to the north-east, and Gubinek in the south of town on the singled Wroclaw line to the south-east. The Guben - Gubin line had local passenger trains until 1980 and still has several freight trains daily except Sundays, but is closing for bridge reconstruction. Guben - Gubinek by contrast has had no regular use since 1945, but the line and its bridge were always held in readiness as a possible strategic route, and a military train tested them once a year. Now this will become the diversionary route for freight, running via Lubsko - Bieniów - Zielona Góra - Czerwiensk. The Gubinek - Lubsko section is already freight-only, having lost its passenger service in the early 1990s. BLN 729.099][PL] Lubusz Regional Railway ends in tears: (Ball 36B3) In 1992 the private-sector LKR (Lubuska Kolej Regionalna), based in Zielona Góra, bought some elderly Lyntog express dmus cheaply from Denmark, and on 23 May 1993 started running passenger services on six PKP branch lines in the west of Poland, including some which had earlier lost their passenger trains. By 26 September 1993 many of these services were withdrawn. The company went bankrupt and ceased operating from 1 February 1994. Trains may resume in summer 1994 with another operator. On at least one line (Kolsko - Slawa Slaska), unadvertised steam-hauled PKP freight trains with passenger-carrying brake-vans continue to run. BLN 729.0100][LB] Lebanon: A limited passenger service operates between Beirut and J'bail, but civil warfare damaged much of the railway along the Lebanese coast. Standard-gauge track, completed by the Allies in World War II, once linked all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean shore from Adana in Turkey through Aleppo and Homs in Syria via Beirut in Lebanon to Haifa and Jaffa in Palestine (now Israel), and all the way via Gaza to Egypt. Now Lebanon has plans for restoring the single track from the border with Syria south to Tripoli, and not only restoring but double-tracking and electrifying at 25kV 50Hz from Tripoli via Beirut as far as Tyre in the south, according to Railway Gazette International for April 1994. BLN 729.0101][FR] Corsica: (BLN 710.01) On this mountainous island the railways rank high on the scenic scale, with many steep gradients and sharp curves. The Bastia - Ajaccio main line climbs to over 900m at Vizzavona, which at the beginning of April 1994 was above the snow-line - rather a different image from the Mediterranean island beaches that draw most tourists. Train-driving techniques are best described as 'sporting', and the killing of a cow caused only five minutes' delay while the carcass was rolled over the adjacent precipice. The pattern of services is much as in 1993, though the timings of the four main-line and two branch trains each way are as shown in the local timetable leaflet and are a bit different from those in the SNCF national timetable book. Train formations were shorter than in June 1993, with all the Calvi workings being a single car with no trailer, and the main line being operated by two cars, with one four-car formation seen. The Bastia - Casamozza suburban service, not shown in the SNCF national timetable, has eight trips each way Mon-Sat, serving 20 intermediate halts in 21km, mostly tiny arrêts facultatifs. Some 4km of that section has been realigned on the east side of a new main road, and traces can be seen of the original line, which presumably crossed the old main road on the level and ran closer to villages at the foot of the hills. Maps suggest this change took place after 1979. At Calvi the elderly Renault railcar was hibernating in the open rather than in the small shed, but was apparently in running order for the summer Tramway de la Balagne shuttle to Île Rousse. The out-of-use Ajaccio Port extension leaves Ajaccio Gare goods yard by an unprotected level-crossing through a traffic roundabout and runs for some 200m into the tarmac area behind the quayside before disappearing under road-works. A massive new Gare Maritime for ferry passengers and their cars is under construction, and it looks as though the obliteration of the track by new parking and circulating arrangements for road traffic will be permanent. From the ferry to Ajaccio Gare, however, is not all that far to walk. Timings of connections from ferries to trains at both Ajaccio and Bastia do seem poor, but the boats can in adverse weather arrive several hours late (as happened to the present BLS reporter) and in summer they operate a complex pattern of sailings from three mainland to six island ports. The island's railway has probably found trying to keep booked connections more problematic than useful. And perhaps the life-style of the islander can more readily accommodate arriving on the overnight ferry and enjoying a leisurely morning in town before catching the afternoon train home. BLN 729.0102][VA][MC][LI] Railways entirely run by foreigners: BLN 724.051 noted that the Vatican's railway, all 626m of it, is worked by a foreign operator, Italy's FS. Foreigners also run all the lines in Monaco and Liechtenstein. Monaco's railway is part of SNCF's main line along the Riviera from Nice to Menton and on into Italy, and has one SNCF passenger station, Monaco-Monte Carlo (Ball 77B3). Liechtenstein's railway is run by Austria's ÖBB, linking Feldkirch in Austria with Buchs SG in Switzerland. Only local services call at the three passenger stations (Ball 89B1). Are there any other countries whose entire railways are run by a foreign company (as distinct from a local company which happens to have foreign owners, or a jointly-owned company set up to run an international line)? BLN 730.0103][FR] TGV openings: A useful branch which will soon extend the benefits of TGV service - and perhaps civilisation - north-west from Fréthun to an offshore island was inaugurated on 6 May by the Président de la République, jointly with the local hereditary ruler. The TGV Interconnexion linking TGV Nord and TGV Sud-Est is to open on 29 May 1994, as is one of its intermediate stations, Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy. Aéroport-Charles-de-Gaulle-TGV station is to open in September. (BLN 719.01; Ball 25B3-25B2) The TGV Rhône-Alpes section from Grenay (junction for the curve to St.Quentin-Fallavier which carries Paris - Grenoble TGVs), south to St.Marcel-lès-Valence on the Grenoble - Valence line, is to open on 3 July 1994, as is Satolas-TGV station, east of Lyon near its airport, on the already-open section from Civrieux to Grenay. (Ball 56B3-57A3-57A1) Ablaincourt-Pressoir, the Picardie station on the TGV Nord line just north of Chaulnes, is also expected to open during summer 1994. (Ball 15A2) BLN 730.0104][FR] Lyon: (Ball 56B3) Westwards from the terminus of Lyon-St.Paul a passenger service now runs beyond L'Arbresle to Sain-Bel, a single-platform station, reopened 9 September 1991, on the single-track branch which continues to Ste.Foy-L'Argentière, and has steam Trains Touristiques des Monts de Lyonnais in summer. A passenger service now also operates from St.Paul reversing at Tassin to reach Brignais, also reopened 9 September 1991. Neither Tassin - Brignais nor Tassin - Lozanne is electrified, so all the passenger workings out of Lyon-St.Paul are diesel railcars, even though 1500V dc overhead wires extend out as far as Charbonniers-les-Bains on the L'Arbresle line, and on the short link from Lyon-Gorge-de-Loup, the first station out of St.Paul, round to Lyon-Vaise on the old main line north of Perrache. The latter connection lost its limited passenger service some years ago but may be used by empty-stock workings into St.Paul. Diesel railcars were seen stabled on a Sunday in the former branch platforms at L'Arbresle, now converted to sidings accessed from the Sain-Bel end. At L'Arbresle, colour-lights are at present supplanting the mechanical signals, including some of the traditional carré type. The Lyon Métro has a fully automated west-east route (TCL Ligne D, opened 9 September 1991) from Gorge de Loup (beneath the SNCF station and near a large bus station) to Grange Blanche, extended on 12 December 1992 to Gare de Vénissieux (beneath the SNCF station on the Lyon - St.André-le-Gaz line). BLN 730.0105][FR] Marseille diversions: (BLN 724.046 with map, BLN 726.068) The unusual advertised diversions seem to have been due to extensive work at L'Estaque on re-laying track, and possibly resignalling, which has temporarily reduced the capacity of the main line east to Marseille-St.Charles. Observation suggests this work will possibly be complete before the new timetable starts on 29 May 1994. Both the branches used (missing from the Ball atlas at 75B2) converge to serve Marseille Gare Maritime de la Joliette, or what remains of it. A double track diverges from the main line just east of L'Estaque at a flying junction and drops down to the level of the docks, with branches to left and right. "Odd" and "even" trains then use separate tracks on either side of Arenc yard before trailing into the other branch, once double, now single, which has descended in a sharp (>180º) curve from the northernmost platforms (quai K upwards) at Marseille-St.Charles, passing to the north of the carriage sidings outside that station. Trains reverse just beyond the junction, on a track terminating about a train-length beyond. Other parallel tracks continue, visibly disused, across the road into the Gare Maritime proper, the shipping terminal for Corsica etc, now no longer rail-served. Both branches are electrified at 1500V dc, but the trains seen were diesel railcars or diesel push-pull sets, which could be because most of the diverted workings are to or from the non-electrified line round the coast via Port-de-Bouc and Fos-sur-Mer to Miramas. A notice at L'Estaque station said it was forbidden to alight at La Joliette, but when the 0803 from L'Estaque reached the reversal point, the doors opened and many people got out, making their way to the goods-yard gate and the street. BLN 730.0106][NL] Kesteren - Rhenen - Amersfoort?: (Ball 4B2) From an east-facing junction at Kesteren on the Geldermalsen - Arnhem/Nijmegen line, a siding extends 200m to the north. This looks as if it might once have been the southern end of a through route to Amersfoort, the middle part of which has been connected to the Utrecht - Arnhem line at aansluiting De Haar to become the Rhenen branch. But this is speculation - can anyone say something about the line's actual history? BLN 730.0107][DE] Berlin by broad gauge: (BLN 723 supplement) On 16-17 June 1945, when Josef Stalin, the Soviet leader, came by rail to attend a conference of the Allies at Potsdam, he may well have travelled through from Moskva on his own 1524mm-gauge train. As the Red Army fought its way westward through Poland and eastern Germany, Soviet military engineers strove to convert one track to the Russian broad gauge, to facilitate the huge task of supplying their front-line troops. The first through broad-gauge train to the defeated German capital left Moskva on 25 June, reaching Berlin Schlesischer Bahnhof on 28 June 1945, according to the book 150 Jahre Eisenbahn Berlin - Frankfurt/Oder (Alba, 1992), which also includes a photograph taken about that time of a Soviet E-class 0-10-0 with Soviet sleeping-cars at the Schlesischer Bf, the present Berlin Hauptbahnhof. By September 1945, the Allies had agreed that train operation in Germany should revert to the civilian railway authorities, and restoration of the converted tracks to the standard 1435mm gauge took place. BLN 730.0108][DE] (Rostock -) Bentwisch - Poppendorf: (BLN 717.06, 719.08; Ball 12B1) The workers' trains on the branch, electric S-Bahn workings unadvertised except on Rostock platform arrival and departure posters, were withdrawn on 31 December 1993. BLN 730.0109][DE] Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost: (Ball 12B1-19B3; McDougall G132; KBS180) At least one passenger train (D302 Praha - Dresden - Berlin - Warnemünde - København) is booked to use this line northbound in the 1993-94 timetable. Lalendorf Ost is not a station as suggested by Ball, but is the junction at the south end of the west-to-south curve. The site of a former north-to-west curve can be seen just to the west of Lalendorf station. The 1944 Kursbuch includes a Plaaz - Reinshagen - Lalendorf service, but by 1962 a DR map showed neither Plaaz - Lalendorf nor Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost. BLN 730.0110][DE] Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH: (Ball 27A1-41B3) For the record, the HSB took over the metre-gauge Harz system from the DR on 1 February 1993. A new, apparently automatic, loop at Drängetal (between Drei Annen Hohne and Steinerne Renne, 50.6km from Nordhausen) was in use for booked crossings of trains during the 1993 summer service. Early snow-melt this spring led to flooding of the river Selke and its tributaries, causing suspension of services on the Gernrode - Stiege and Alexisbad - Harzgerode Selketalbahn lines from about 13 April 1994. Gernrode - Magdesprung had a shuttle service back in operation from Friday 23 April, but the rest stayed closed for longer. Eisfelder Talmühle - Stiege - Hasselfelde trains were also withdrawn, though for a shorter period. They did not run on 17 April, but the line was back in operation by the following weekend. 1994 summer timings comprise similar numbers of trains to last year on all the sections, including three round the famous turning circle at Stiege, and in the working timetable there are revenue freight trains (standard-gauge wagons on transporters) from Nordhausen serving a quarry siding at Unterberg, 1.8km from Eisfelder Talmühle towards Stiege, and Hasselfelde. BLN 730.0111][DE] Güterglück north chord: (Ball 28B1) The NW-to-NE chord between the Magdeburg - Dessau and Wiesenburg - Güsten lines, though used at present by non-stop Magdeburg - Berlin trains, including the ICE from Frankfurt-am-Main (BLN 704.04), has no local passenger service and will presumably revert to its previous diversionary status once alternative routes are improved, direct from Magdeburg via Brandenburg after electrification, and from Hannover via Oebisfelde and Stendal when the Schnellfahrstrecke is completed. BLN 730.0112][DE] Betzdorf - Daaden: (Ball 38B1-39A1; KBS463) Local notices indicated that from 4 October 1993 buses replaced the remaining passenger trains on the branch. Kursbuch supplements do not seem to have recorded this. Freight may or may not continue, but the signal-box at the former junction has closed fairly recently and the Betzdorf - abzw. Grünebach section is now two parallel single tracks. BLN 730.0113][DE] Erndtebrück - Laasphe: (Ball 39A1, KBS444) This DB line has no evidence of any intermediate signalling nor of any freight, and seems to survive only for school traffic to Laasphe, worked by three Erndtebrück-based railbuses running as a set through to Marburg (out and back once a day Mon-Fri except holidays) or just to Laasphe (out and back once on school Saturdays only). The former junction signal-box at the north end of Erndtebrück is abandoned and the effective junction is at the south end box. BLN 730.0114][DE] (Leinefelde -) Dingelstädt - Küllstedt - Geismar: (Ball 41A2; KBS603) Closure beyond Küllstedt to Geismar may have been from 1 March 1993 rather than 27 September 1992 as reported in BLN 696.08. DB now appear to be lifting this section. To the decrepit station of Küllstedt, 2km from the village, passenger trains for the moment continue, carrying negligible traffic, but there seems to be no revenue freight traffic beyond Dingelstädt, and the threatened cut-back to that point from 29 May 1994 (BLN 725.056) is not surprising. Indeed, Dingelstädt station is also poorly sited, at the top of a hill on the edge of town, and it cannot be long before passenger trains cease running on the remaining 1.5km from the junction with the Leinefelde - Erfurt line. Before partition the Dingelstädt - Küllstedt - Geismar line ran through to Schwebda on what is now the Eschwege West - Grossburschla branch. BLN 730.0115][DE] Bleicherode Ost - Bischofferode: (BLN 724.047; Ball 41A3) This short branch was railbus-worked on a recent Saturday-afternoon visit, but both Bleicherode Stadt and Bischofferode were fully signalled and staffed, the latter for the interchange sidings with the industrial line to the potash-works near Holungen. Beyond Bischofferode station the ex-DR line continues, apparently in freight use, and a topographical map shows it still extending to Weissenborn-Lüderode near the former DDR border. Beyond, the segment in the west has been lifted at the junction of Herzberg (Harz). BLN 730.0116][DE] Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz: (BLN 725.059; Ball 43B2-43A2) Dollnitzbahn GmbH, the private-sector company which took over the 750mm-gauge line from the DR on 20 December 1993, is a venture with support from the organisation Pro-Bahn and considerable finance from the regional council. Two small diesels (#31 and 35) are leased from Mansfelder Lokomotiv- und Wagenwerkstatt GmbH (MaLoWa) and five new self-discharging 750mm-gauge wagons were bought from the same firm to move kaolin from Kemmlitz to tip into standard-gauge wagons at Oschatz. Ex-DR stock includes three steam locomotives (#099.703, 707 and 709) and one diesel (#399.702) plus eight passenger carriages and various freight vehicles. World Steam for May 1994 reports the Meyer tank engines still in use in February 1994 hauling standard-gauge wagons on transporters over the full length of the line. Pro-Bahn plan to run Traditionszug steam-hauled passenger services, and the special on 7 May (BLN 723.032) is unlikely to be the only one this year. BLN 730.0117][DE] Trossinger Eisenbahn: (Ball 68B2) Branching off the DB between Villingen (Schwarzwald) and Rottweil, this municipally-owned standard-gauge line, electrified at 600V dc, extends 4.3km from the main-line Trossingen Bahnhof to the town station Trossingen Stadt. Two railcars (T5 and T6) handle the passengers, and some freight is worked by another elderly railcar (T3). Passenger usage has been declining and Trossingen has plans to reduce the service gradually and withdraw it completely in 1997. Preservation as a museum line may be a possibility. (Op de Rails (NL), 2/94) BLN 730.0118][IT] Ferrovia Genova - Casella: (Ball 46B2) Mountain scenery is an attraction of this 24km metre-gauge railway, electrified at 3000V dc overhead, but not connected to any other line. It runs from its own station at Genova Piazza Manin, not far from Genova Brignole FS station but at a much higher level, and clings to the side of the hills that enclose Genova to the north, climbing to a summit of 458m. The final approach to the terminus at Casella Paese, about 300m above sea level, is over a river bridge shared with a road, after reversal at Casella Deposito station, where the depot is. There seems to be no freight traffic, and the passenger stock is elderly and in poor external condition. Railcars built in 1957 were operating the line on the day of a visit in April 1994. The return fare (ITL4000 or about £1.50) is very good value. Genova is an extremely hilly city and its other rail attractions include two funiculars, one quite long, and a very steep rack electric tramway. All of these, and the FGC station, are close to the #33 bus route, running between Piazza Principe and Brignole FS stations. BLN 730.0119][PL][UA] Closure of Polish corridor through Ukraine?: (Ball 44A3) PKP Przemysl - Zagórz trains run non-stop from Malhowice over 46km of Ukrainian standard-gauge track via Chirow to re-enter Poland at Kroscienko. Since passengers are not subject to passport control, Ukrainian soldiers on the train (and hanging out of the doors) see that no-one enters or leaves during the transit of their territory. Now the Ukrainians are hugely increasing the fee for the Polish trains, and the PKP may withdraw them. BLN 731.0120][FR, BE, NL] Ferries: (BLN 729.083) Ferry routes have long been subject to changes in ship technology, business flows and labour costs, so it is not just the appearance of the Tunnel as a potential large-capacity competitor which has driven recent rationalisation. Boulogne harbour's unsuitability for larger ferries was a factor in the concentration of the Dover services on nearby Calais from January 1993. Dover - Dunkerque (Stena Sealink) and Dover - Zeebrugge (P&O) still operate as freight-only routes. Dover - Oostende ceased when the Belgian operator RTM went into commercial partnership with Sally Line instead of P&O from 1 January 1994, transferring its ships and jetfoils to run from Ramsgate. Sally itself runs Ramsgate - Dunkerque passenger and freight services. Sheerness - Vlissingen was to close on 15 May 1994, though other operators may be considering taking over the route. The Swedish Travemünde-Trelleborg parent company is thought to have had problems with German trade unions over crewing of the Hamburg-registered Olau Line's ships. BLN 731.0121[FR] Rouen: (BLN 708.01, 713.03, 714,03, 723,022; Ball 13B1) As already reported, work began on 5 July 1993, and is to last until early 1995, in the St.Hilaire and Beauvoisine tunnels on the eastern approach to Rouen-Rive-Droite main station, necessitating protracted single-line working. Many local trains continue to be diverted (Monday - Friday) into the temporary station, Rouen-Préfecture. During previous diversions the temporary station used was Rouen-St.Sever, an island platform on the Rive-Gauche branch running-lines, immediately under the riverside road, Quai d'Elbeuf, and approached by a sloping ramp down from the middle of that road. The present station is rather more impressive, being three terminal platform roads, one providing a rounding facility. It lies closely alongside St.Sever, and indeed is laid out in part of St.Sever freight yard, the rest of which still exists in a moribund state. Passenger access is by a new footbridge and flights of steps. The 'station building' referred to in BLN 723.022 is not however in passenger use, and seems to be a trade-union office. Tracks from the platforms, not electrified, converge some distance east, by the signal-box, where connections are made to and from the Rive-Gauche freight branch, electrified at 25kV 50Hz. Three pairs of double tracks then proceed eastwards. The most southerly pair, used for access to Sotteville depot, and by trains to and from Oissel and beyond, converge to a single track curving west-to-south and eventually joining the outward local line in Sotteville station. The platform used here, mentioned in BLN 723.022, is not in fact a new one. The middle pair of electrified tracks pass under the main line from Rive-Droite into the marshalling yards. The northern pair, also electrified and still double, curve round north to join the line to Rive-Droite just before the bridge over the river Seine. Trains from Rouen-Préfecture use this curve, and a further curve between the river and Rive-Droite station, neither normally used by passenger trains, to reach the Serqueux/Amiens line. The section of the new metro line between Rouen and Petit Quevilly, whose tunnelling is partly responsible for the disruption to the SNCF, is planned to open on 17 December 1994. BLN 731.0122][FR] TGV-Haute Picardie: A February 1994 SNCF leaflet (and therefore BLN 730.0103) used the title 'Ablaincourt-Pressoir' for the new station on the TGV-Nord line near Chaulnes (Ball 15A2), but the summer 1994 timetable calls it TGV-Haute Picardie. Only trains between Lille and Lyon (or beyond) are booked to call, so it seems there is to be no service to or from Paris when it opens this summer. BLN 731.0123][BE] Kortrijk avoiding line: (Ball 7B2) The summer 1994 timetable shows two pairs of seasonal trains whose timings (and connecting margins with other trains) do not allow for reversal at Kortrijk and which presumably use the avoiding line. They are the 0727 Charleroi-Sud - Blankenberge and 1925 return, and the 0804 Jemeppe-sur-Sambre - Oostende and 1858 return, running Saturdays and Sundays (plus 21 July and 15 August) till 25 September 1994 (plus 15, 16 and 17 April and 25 and 27 May 1995). BLN 731.0124][DE] Herzberg (Mark) - Rheinsberg (Mark) - Stechlinsee: (BLN 729.087; Ball 20A1) Stechlinsee has a nuclear plant, which the apparently unadvertised loco-hauled passenger working on the branch may serve. BLN 731.0125][DE] Berlin: (BLN 715.08, 725.057; Ball 31-32) The summer 1994 Kursbuch indicates that the temporary closure of the cross-city Stadtbahn to main-line trains is to begin on Sunday 25 September 1994, when IC/EC trains on the Hamburg - Dresden route will commence running in two separate sections, Hamburg - Nauen - Berlin-Zoo (IC Linie 7) and Nauen - Berlin-Lichtenberg - Dresden, using the northern outer ring (IC Linie 7A). Opening of the northern extension of U-Bahn Linie U8 from Paracelsus Bad to Wilhelmsruher Damm is to be on 27 September 1994 (which is a Tuesday) (IBSE Telegramm, May 1994) BLN 731.0126][DE] Berga-Kelbra - Stolberg (Harz): (Ball 41B3, KBS592) The physical junction for the branch is to the east of Berga-Kelbra station, but through trains run from Sangerhausen, so no track need be missed! The only intermediate signal-box is at Rottleberode Süd, where passenger trains cross, though there is no station. A private siding there serves a factory, but no freight runs on the branch beyond. BLN 731.0127][DE] Obstfelderschmiede - Lichtenhain: (BLN 708.04, 723.035; Ball 52B3) Thuringia's unusual main-line funicular held a Bergbahnfest on 12-15 May 1994, issuing a publicity leaflet including the sketch map reproduced here. Though the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn links two 1435mm-gauge DB (ex-DR) lines, its own track-gauge is 1800mm. Standard-gauge vehicles (including railcars) can be ferried up and down on the broad-gauge flat-bed wagon which occupies one of the incline's tracks, the other having the wide-bodied passenger car. The line opened to freight on 15 January 1922 and to passengers on 1 March 1923. It has a 25% gradient, is 1.4km in length, and rises 323m. BLN 731.0128][DE][RU] Sleepers end and begin: (BLN 729.084) Russian Railways (RZD) sleepers from Moskva to København, Bern, Genève and Madrid were to cease from 29 May 1994, but DB's new Spanish-built TALGO sleepers were to enter InterCityNight service between Bonn and Berlin, and München and Berlin. (Railway Gazette International, May 1994) BLN 731.0129][AR] Northern Patagonia: Second-hand 1676mm-gauge RENFE vehicles including sleepers are to provide passenger service on 1741km of the main line from Buenos Aires (Plaza Constitución) via Bahía Blanca to the Alpine-style lakes-and-mountains resort of San Carlos de Bariloche, and Spanish ex-RENFE TER sets are to work the branch from Bahía Blanca 450km westward to Cipolletti, near Neuquén. The southern lines of the former General Roca railway of the state-owned Ferrocarriles Argentinos were privatised as the freight-only Ferrosur Roca, but the province of Rio Negro has set up Servicios Ferroviarios Patagónicos to run the passenger trains it wants. It is not clear what if any are the implications for the 750mm-gauge line from the main-line junction of Ingeniero Jacobacci 402km southward to the town of Esquel. The Esquel line is famous for its photogenic, if wildly uneconomic, steam operation, and was still running some of its fleet of oil-burning Baldwins and Henschels on passenger trains across the pampas of sparsely populated Patagonia in 1993. More information would be welcome. (Railway Gazette International, May 1994) BLN 732.0130][FR] Eurostar to Lille: Impress your travel-agent this summer by specifying that your Eurostar booking has to be in coach number 9. According to one insider, this is the most convenient vehicle for access at Waterloo International without a long walk up the platform. Once the Eurostars get going, consider a day trip to Lille, which should offer quite a number of attractions: the Tunnel itself; the new Lille-Europe TGV station; VAL the driverless metro; and the newly equipped light rail line to Roubaix and Tourcoing which was due to open on 5 May 1994. Then across the road from the front of the attractive old Lille-Flandres terminal station there is now a real-beer brew-pub, creating as well as selling excellent local bières de garde in three varieties. Insist on loading your full entitlement (110 litres, duty-paid, for personal consumption only) on to the London-bound Eurostar during its fleeting stop at Lille, and you may draw some thought-provoking Euro-abuse from the bilingual chef de train. BLN 732.0131][FR] Thionville - Bouzonville - Hargarten-Falck: (Ball 18B1; McDougall F8) On 28 May 1994 a BLS committee member travelled on the 1230SO ex Thionville. The passengers were mostly students, and few remained by Bouzonville. There a party of French railway enthusiasts boarded and proceeded to photograph the train at each station to Hargarten-Falck, saying that it would be the last passenger working there before the service was cut back to Bouzonville in the summer timetable. The emu returned as empty stock from Hargarten-Falck, the conductor declining to convey our reporter on his train. Hargarten-Falck's service was latterly weekly, and one-way only (like Greater Manchester's Godley East). BLN 732.0132][FR] Saumur - Thouars - La Roche-sur-Yon: (Ball 34A1-42B3) This 154km SNCF line has had a sparse service for several years, and it is impossible to traverse it end to end without an overnight stop in Thouars or Bressuire. The Thouars - Bressuire - Chantonnay section in the middle is especially poorly served, currently by the following trains only: 1744 Sun only Saumur - Bressuire 1836 Fri only La Roche-sur-Yon - Thouars 0535 Mon only Thouars - La Roche-sur-Yon 1836 Mon-Thu La Roche-sur-Yon - Bressuire 0600 Tue-Fri Bressuire - La Roche-sur-Yon 1847 Sun only Bressuire - Saumur BLN 732.0133][FR] Clamecy - Corbigny: (Ball 37B1) Corbigny has one train departing each week, but no arrivals. Until the end of May 1994 there was a train from Paris each Friday evening, and a return working on Sunday evening. This summer the Sunday train still runs, but SNCF have withdrawn the Friday one and passengers have to use a bus to cover the 33km from Clamecy. BLN 732.0134][FR, BE] Dunkerque SNCF - De Panne NMBS: (BLN 718.07; Ball 6B3) Any traffic still running from the Leffrinckoucke scrapyard near Dunkerque is likely to go west on SNCF rather than into Belgium, and the Leffrinckoucke - Bray-Dunes - De Panne section seems to be out of use. Light Rail & Modern Tramway for June 1994 quotes a Transport-2000 report that SNCF are considering complete closure of the cross-border section, and that De Lijn are thinking about taking it over for 20km west of De Panne (Adinkerke) NMBS station and running it as an international extension of the Knokke - Oostende - De Panne electric light rail line along the coast. BLN 732.0135][BE] Vennbahn: (BLN 722.017; Ball 10A2-10A1) The Vennbahn preservation group, operators of ex-DR Kriegslok #50 3666, are in summer 1994 running regular trips over SNCB Ligne 45 Weywertz - Trois Ponts as well as the Vennbahn proper, in its unique corridor of Belgian territory through Germany. Service pattern is a 1000 Eupen - Raeren (reverse) - Weywertz (reverse) - Büllingen and return (steam-hauled on Sundays 1 May, 5 June, 3 July, 7 August, 4 September, 2 October and 30 October; diesel on other Sundays and holidays from 1 May to 30 October) and a 1000 Eupen - Raeren (reverse) - Weywertz - Trois Ponts and return (on the Saturdays preceding the steam workings). An information leaflet is available from Vennbahn V.o.E., Bahnhof Raeren, Bahnhofstrasse 70, B-4730 Raeren, Belgium. BLN 732.0136][NL] Kesteren - Rhenen - Amersfoort: (BLN 730.0106; Ball 4B2) The siding at Kesteren was indeed once part of a through route from Nijmegen to Amersfoort, at one time carrying international trains from Germany. The junction at Kesteren was the zero km point, and the line had intermediate stations at Rhenen, Veenendaal, De Haar and Woudenberg-Scherpenzeel, before reaching Amersfoort 44.5km away. A junction with the Arnhem - Utrecht line at De Haar allowed traffic also to run directly to and from Utrecht. The original importance of the line can be seen by the size of the station building at Kesteren and the fact that Rhenen station had four platforms. Allied bombing in World War II caused severe damage to the line, and services were suspended, with official closure in 1946. On 31 May 1981 the section between De Haar junction and Rhenen reopened to passengers. At the north end, freight traffic to the Pons automobile distribution centre, which was built subject to a condition that the cars had to be brought in by rail, occasioned the reopening of the Amersfoort - Woudenberg section, but there is now a possibility that the centre will close "in about five years", and the branch with it. Reopening of the whole route seems to have been considered at the time of reinstatement to Rhenen, but did not go ahead. Between Woudenberg and De Haar the track was lifted in 1980, though the formation is intact. South of Rhenen a road occupies the trackbed. BLN 732.0137][DE] German local services: The federal government is to transfer financial responsibility for local train-service deficits to the individual states (Länder) from 1 January 1996. DB and the government have agreed to keep the passenger network substantially as it is until then. In the meantime, DB can withdraw a service if the Land agrees, but as long as the federal government is still picking up the bill, substantial numbers of closures are unlikely. In 1996, however, the new arrangements must put many lightly-used lines at risk. It is hard to see the Länder - particularly the poorer five states of the former DDR - finding the money to sustain the present network, especially since most ex-DR local lines are in urgent need of modernisation, including track and rolling-stock renewal. Ominously, too, many trains run almost empty. Large-scale closures may be made more politically palatable by modernisation of the lines that remain. This has already been happening to some extent in the western Länder, where investment in new Class 628 diesel units has accompanied the scrapping of Class 796/798 railbuses and the trimming of a number of Deutsche Bundesbahn branches. BLN 732.0138][DE] Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost: (BLN 730.0109; Ball 12B1-19B3) The curve of which only traces remain ran north-to-east from Plaaz into Lalendorf station. Following World War II the victorious Soviet Union removed considerable quantities of railway material from Germany as reparations. Much of the DR network was reduced to single track, and at one time there were no double-track lines anywhere north of Oranienburg. Between Neustrelitz and Plaaz, an 80km stretch of the Berlin - Rostock main line was removed entirely, and trains were routed via Neubrandenburg, Malchin and Güstrow. The line between Neustrelitz and Lalendorf did not reopen until 28 May 1961, and it seems possible the section to Plaaz was omitted from the 1962 DR map because it had not then reopened. At the timetable change in May 1994, Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost closed once more to passengers, though freight continues. Final passenger use of the section was by the Praha - København trains D302/D303, in both directions. BLN 732.0139][DE] Vechta - Schneiderkrug: (Ball 25A3-16A1) This DB freight line closed from 28 May 1994. BLN 732.0140][DE] Duisburg Hbf - Duisburg-Entenfang: The layout is not quite as shown in the Ball atlas at 33A2, for the branch diverges at Stw.Dbm (Stellwerk = signal-box) on the west side of the main line south to Düsseldorf, drops under that line and the west-to-east freight lines, rising to an unadvertised platform (Regattabahn) and a junction at Stw.Hd, south of which extensive yards and independent freight lines lie to the west. Although appearing to be double track, the section from Stw.Dbm to Bissingheim is worked as single track for passenger trains because all platforms are on the east side. Entenfang station is a single platform, without even a ticket-machine, on a north-facing dead-end siding east of the main running lines. BLN 732.0141][DE] Pirna - Pirna-Copitz: (Ball 44A2) From 29 May 1994 passenger services resumed on this short 1km section across a bridge over the river Elbe south-east of Dresden. BLN 732.0142][DE] Berlin Schönefeld-Süd: Between 28 May and 5 June 1994, in connection with the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (an aerospace show at Berlin-Schönefeld), special passenger trains ran to a temporary ILA Bahnhof on the Schönefeld-Süd freight line (not shown in the Ball atlas at 32B1). This branches off the Berlin - Cottbus main line and runs along the south edge of the airport, serving a large aggregate depot and continuing to airport facilities beyond the temporary station. Trains were double-deck stock, worked top-and-tail by pairs of Class 229 diesel locomotives, every half-hour alternately to and from Berlin-Lichtenberg and Berlin-Zoo. It is possible the aerospace show may become an annual event. BLN 732.0143][DE] Berlin's former main-line stations in 1994: (Ball 31-32) The history of Berlin's old main-line stations, many now out of use, was summarised in the supplement to BLN 723. Their present state, as at 10-19 April 1994, is covered below. At the Anhalter Bahnhof the front section of the train-shed site has been asphalted over, and the remainder laid out with grass and a large number of trees. At the rear of the area where the train-shed was, a wall remains of the subway which ran from Möckernstrasse under the railway. Apart from the museum site, the formation from Yorckstrasse is completely overgrown. There is nothing to indicate that any new building is about to take place on the station site, but the adjacent Guterbahnhof site does look ripe for development. The subterranean Anhalter S-Bahn station remains active and busy. The only obvious remaining part of the Stettiner Bahnhof is part of the east wall of the train-shed, three bays long, now incorporated in the wall of the adjacent building. The whole site is under development, so it is possible the wall in question will either not survive or not remain visible much longer. The main building of the adjacent Stettiner Vorortbahnhof, the suburban station, is intact and in fairly good condition, being used as part of the DB's area stores, but there are no remains of the train-shed or platforms except for what seems to be the east-side retaining wall. At present rebuilding is taking place and the museum at the former Hamburger Bahnhof is closed. The original station frontage and train-shed are in very good condition, but later additions have spoiled the lines of the building. The Görlitzer Bahnhof site has been walled and landscaped. Three original buildings survive, the middle one probably having been an office and the others goods or parcels buildings. All have been recently restored and now appear to be a children's activity centre. The site of the Lehrter Bahnhof is a building-materials depot with large piles of sand, ballast and rubble. Some buildings survive in the Guterbahnhof. The Lehrter Stadtbahnhof on the viaduct above remains open and busy. The Dresdener Bahnhof, later the Postbahnhof, is still in postal use and has recently been reconnected with the rail system. A single line runs north from Yorckstrasse and spreads into a number of sidings, worked by two post-office shunting locomotives. The brickwork of the train-shed has been cleaned and restored and is in superb condition, but it seems probable that the original station frontage was demolished, rebuilt and extended when the station was taken over for postal use. No buildings remain on the Potsdamer Bahnhof site, and plans show it is to remain a green space. Across the site from east to west a road has been laid, and another new road runs south from this to cross the Landwehrkanal by a new bridge on to the original railway formation to a recycling centre. In the south-east corner of the site the U-Bahn now descends from Gleisdreieck on a newly-constructed ramp to connect with the underground section at Potsdamer Platz. No obvious remains of a passenger station survive on the Wriezener Bahnhof site, and there is nothing to indicate a possible reopening. The only large building is the former DR's supply centre for passenger tickets, all the other buildings being obviously to do with the Guterbahnhof. The site is at present home to a group preserving a DR Schnellverbrennungstriebwagen SVT175 diesel-hydraulic express unit, of the kind used from 1964 on international named trains like the Karlex, Neptun and Vindobona. BLN 732.0144][DE] Finnentrop - Olpe - Drolshagen: (Ball 39A2-38B2) The original trackbed south of Kraghammer was submerged by the large Biggetalsperre dam scheme about 1964, and an entirely new line was built, including three tunnels, a substantial station at Sondern, and two bridges over arms of the extensive reservoir. Both bridges are double-deck, with a road above the railway. At Olpe the original station is used. The freight branch south from Olpe to Gerlingen seems to have closed, but the one west of Olpe still serves a liquefied-petroleum-gas terminal at Eichen and a factory at Drolshagen, the terminus. BLN 732.0145][DE] Korbach - Frankenberg (Eder) - Hatzfeld (Eder): (Ball 39B2) At Frankenberg the freight line north to Korbach has been taken out of use, with a sleeper secured across the track at the north end of the station, but the freight branch south-west to Battenberg and Hatzfeld appears still to see traffic. The Hatzfeld line used to continue west to Bad Berleburg, where its trackbed is still to be seen. BLN 732.0146][DE] Schönberg (Vogtland) - Hirschberg (Saale): (Ball 53B3) Passenger service on this 20km branch ceased from 29 May 1994, to facilitate freight operations. Between Göttengrün-Gefell and Hirschberg, a large sawmill was recently built near the line, subject to an agreement that timber would be conveyed by rail. The timber company found that provision of a siding was more expensive than it had expected, and arranged with the railway to load wagons standing on the running line - which could be done during the morning, for passenger trains were few. But the Land (most of the branch is in Thuringia) refused to subsidise the passenger service from 1996 onward unless at least six trains ran, and this would have made the timber-loading impossible. In the end the jobs provided locally by the sawmill seem to have counted for more than the few elderly citizens using the trains, so the passenger service came to an end. BLN 732.0147][DE] Wasserburg (Inn) - Mühldorf (Oberbayern): (BLN 706.08; Ball 71B2) Problems with a weak bridge over the river Inn some ten years ago led initially to trains running to halts on either bank, and passengers having to walk across the bridge, but after a year or so the entire service was simply replaced by buses. From 29 May 1994 the 36km line reopened, with through trains. BLN 732.0148][CH] Swiss changes: (BLN 702.011, 703.04, 703.66, 705.69, 714.019) The new 1994-95 timetable shows that Solothurn - Büren an der Aare (Ball 86B1-86A1) is now served only by bus, though Büren - Lyss does still have trains. Sumiswald-Grünen - Wasen im Emmenthal (Ball 92B3) also has only a bus service, though it is not clear when trains were actually withdrawn from the Vereinigte Huttwil Bahn's 7km branch. With this closure, trains have ceased to call at the unusually named Ei (= 'egg') station. Monthey - St.Gingolph (Suisse) (Ball 98B3) now has four trains each way Mondays-Fridays only, all other journeys being by bus. On the metre-gauge Aigle - Sépey - Les Diablerets line (Ball 98B3) only five or six trains a day are shown double-running the 1km into and out of Le Sépey from the junction at Les Planches, the rest proceeding direct to or from Les Diablerets. Is there now a new chord at Les Planches, or do trains simply reverse there instead of at Le Sépey? BLN 732.0149][AT] Wieselburg an der Erlauf - Gresten: (Ball 74B3-74B2) It seems that when this 760mm-gauge ÖBB branch, a section of the erstwhile Landeskleinbahn Ruprechtshofen - Gresten, lost its passenger service on or by 31 May 1992, it was retained for freight. What is its status now? BLN 732.0150][AT][SI] ÖBB closures in 1994?: All the threatened lines on the LCGB list quoted in BLN 716.021 continue to appear in the 1994-95 ÖBB timetable, though there is no mention in Table 62a of cross-border services beyond Lavamünd to Dravograd on the SZ in Slovenia. BLN 732.0151][AR] Ingeniero Jacobacci - El Maitén - Esquel: (BLN 731.129) The 750mm-gauge steam-operated Esquel line ceased operating after the last trains on 26/27 November 1993. Rio Negro and Chubut, the provinces through which the 402km line runs, along the eastern edge of the Andes in Patagonia, were in dispute over financing its deficit, and by March 1994, there were still no trains running. However it seems service has since been restored over the 165km southern section within Chubut province only, with an 1100TuO departure from El Maitén and a 1400WO departure from Esquel. (Continental Railway Journal, #98, summer 1994) BLN 733.0152][BE] Brussel/Bruxelles: (BLN 716.06, 721.07; Ball 10B1; McDougall B9,B14) In the 1994-95 timetable, Braine-l'Alleude - Waterloo - Linkebeek - Brussel-Schuman - Jette - Aalst trains run hourly Mondays-Fridays, so the curves at Linkebeek and Josaphat - Zennebrug are no longer 'unusual'. These trains provide the service on the Boondael - Etterbeek side of the Boondael/Etterbeek/Delta triangle. Three trains an hour now run on the Boondael - Delta side (which had no service till 26 September 1993), and it is now the Etterbeek - Delta side that is sparsely used, with two trains a day each way. Huizingen - Halle is shown as replaced by buses, presumably temporarily for high-speed-line engineering works. BLN 733.0153][DE] Eilsleben (bei Magdeburg) - Haldensleben: (BLN 732.0137; Ball 27B2-28A2; KBS313) A graphic example of the lack of maintenance on many ex-DR secondary lines was seen on a May 1994 trip. Before departure from Eilsleben a violent thunderstorm had brought very heavy rain for 20 minutes, and when the railbus rounded a curve near Schackensleben, the track was completely submerged, with more water pouring off adjacent fields, and flowing quite fast. Inadequate drainage was clearly failing to cope. The railbus cautiously waded its way to Schackensleben station, where the crew tried to telephone higher authority, but soon decided to proceed since the water was still rising. As it neared platform height, the inhabitants of the station building were left to stem the tide as best they could. When the railbus arrived at Haldensleben, passengers boarded for the 32km return working to Eilsleben, but it seems unlikely it ran. BLN 733.0154][DE] Nauen: (Ball 31A3) Nauen station, to the north-west of Berlin, just beyond the outer ring railway, is to become in September 1994 the temporary interchange point for IC/EC trains between Hamburg and Dresden (BLN 731.0125), and was in May being extensively rebuilt, with new platforms and signalling, apparently to be controlled from two new Stellwerke, one at each end of the station, in traditional German style. (BLN 732.0140 should have given Stellwerk as the explanation of the abbreviation Stw. for a signal-box.) At nearby Falkenhagen (Kreis Nauen), the Berlin Aussenring goes over the Nauen - Albrechtshof (- Spandau) line, not under, as shown in the Ball atlas. BLN 733.0155][DE] Oberhausen Hbf - Duisburg-Meiderich Süd: (BLN 723.029; Ball 33A3) DB battery-railcar sets (Akkutriebwagen) operate this 6km single-track passenger branch which, unusually for Germany, has no sidings, loops or connections all the way from just outside Oberhausen Hbf to the buffers in the dead-end Gleis 4, alongside the south face of the former northern island platform at Duisburg-Meiderich Süd. It has overhead wires but it seems these are not used. The electrified freight lines from Oberhausen to Moers parallel it for some of the way, but they avoid Meiderich Süd station to the north and Gleis 4 no longer has any link either with them or with the other passenger tracks 1 and 2 at Meiderich Süd. Akkutriebwagen seem to form some trains at least on the 61km Oberhausen Hbf - Bottrop Hbf - Dorsten - Coesfeld (Westfalen) line (Ball 33B3-38A3-24A1). BLN 733.0156][DE] Mülheim (Ruhr)-Styrum - Duisburg-Meiderich Süd - Duisburg-Ruhrort: (Ball 33A3) Battery railcars also work the 6km section from Mülheim-Styrum, using the through tracks (Gleis 1 and Gleis 2) flanking the southern island platform at Meiderich Süd, and continue down the 3km branch beyond to Ruhrort. At Meiderich Süd a spur from the Oberhausen - Moers freight lines comes in alongside the disused north face of the northern island platform (Gleis 5) and, at Stw.Me just west of the station, trails into the Ruhrort lines which immediately split at a facing point into the single-track unelectrified passenger branch to Ruhrort and an electrified freight-only line that eventually curves round south and east to serve the docks. Beyond Stw.Me the passenger and freight lines do run parallel for a bit, with a few sidings between, but the junction is really at Meiderich Süd rather than halfway to Ruhrort as suggested in the Ball atlas. In traffic terms the freight line from Oberhausen to Duisburg docks merely crosses the passenger line from Mülheim-Styrum to Ruhrort on the level at Meiderich Süd, albeit by a pair of turnouts rather than a flat crossing. On the Ruhrort branch itself there is no pointwork west of Stw.Me. The whole area by Duisburg-Ruhrort terminus seems quite derelict, and the post-World-War-II station buildings by the single platform look abandoned and vandalised. The former goods yard on the south side of the passenger station has been lifted. The disused signal-box still stands, no longer surrounded by the former scrapyard, since the site has been cleared. Nearby, electric freight trains can be seen passing, but on the other side of a fence, on Thyssens internal industrial system. BLN 733.0157][DE] Stuttgart: (Ball 58A1) The city is gradually and expensively rebuilding its metre-gauge tramway as a standard-gauge Stadtbahn. Apart from Marienplatz - Degerloch (route #10, a rack line, unconnected to any other track) only four tram routes (#2, 4, 13 and 15) remain unconverted and one of these, Botnang - Obertürkheim (#4), is the next for replacement. The present Vogelsang - Botnang section is well worth a visit as the track winds up and down a steep road, while its replacement will run through a long tunnel and on private right-of-way. Stadtbahn services already run as far as Vogelsang, on mixed-gauge track, of which there is now a great deal in the city, not all of it at present in use by vehicles of both gauges. There is an unusual four-way junction, not quite a grand union, at Berlinerplatz, where most of the connections are in mixed-gauge, and there is at least one three-way mixed-gauge point. At Obertürkheim the present route #4 terminates in a loop around the streets by the DB station, and it seems it is not to be replaced here because of the difficulty of laying in a standard-gauge terminal stub. Instead the service may be cut back to terminate at Untertürkheim, also by the DB station. Work on route #4 is well advanced and the changeover could take place in summer 1994. BLN 733.0158][PT] (Lisboa Terreiro do Paço -) Barreiro - Faro: (BLN 728.080; Ball 25B1-33B2) Until the planned rail deck is added to the Rio Tejo suspension road bridge, enabling electric multiple-units to run direct from Lisboa (Terminal Avenida Cinco de Outubro) across the estuary, the rail route from the capital south to the Algarve still begins with a 30-minute voyage on a connecting CP ferry from the landing-stage of Terreiro do Paço. This ferry pier, though railway-owned, manages to avoid having anything to do with either of the city's two river-front rail termini, Cais do Sodré and Santa Apolónia, since it lies between the two and is several minutes walk from each. On the southern side of the estuary, trains depart from Barreiro, where the station has its own pier. Barreiro is relatively busy considering the severe handicap of its location so far from the heart of the city. Quite a lot of shunting of trains takes place there, over a busy road crossing equipped with power-operated half-barriers. Setting of points in the station area is manual, and there is little fixed signalling. On the line south, multiple-aspect colour-light signals are appearing but are not yet in use. Signalling at stations is fairly basic. Typically the station 'signalman' walks down the line to set the route by means of the weighted lever at each point. The signals - a selection of semaphores, red discs and coloured boards on rotating posts - are controlled by similar weighted levers, arranged individually or in groups in the open at various locations on the stations. Safety interlocking seems to consist of padlocks on each lever to prevent unauthorised use. Many of the half-barrier road crossings are worked manually, mainly by female crossing-keepers, who wind a handle on one barrier post which operates both barriers by a cable mechanism. Some 160km south of Barreiro trackwork seems complete at the northern end of a new north-to-east curve on to the Beja line, between Montenegro and Panóias, avoiding Funcheira station. The new curve, not shown in Ball, is rusty and perhaps not yet in use. What particular traffic flow has it been built for? A typical small CP station is Loulé, 272km from Barreiro and 16km north of Faro. It has a loop where trains cross three or four times a day, and a freight yard with a gantry crane. Though some closed wagons and containers sat in the yard, no sign of activity was noted there during the whole of a fortnight's visit to the area, and freight traffic on the Algarve line in general appeared low. BLN 733.0159][ES] Valencia: (Ball 30B1) The Ademuz -Valencia - El Grao section of the metre-gauge Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana now has a street-tramway-style terminal loop called Pont de Fusta instead of the railway-type terminus at Valencia Puente de Madera. (Railway Gazette International, June 1994) BLN 733.0160][CH] Laufenburg - Koblenz: (Ball 87A2-87B3) SBB closed Laufenburg - Koblenz to passengers from 29 May 1994. SBB's electrified Basel - Laufenburg - Koblenz line on the south (Swiss) bank of the river Rhein parallels DB's unelectrified Basel - Laufenburg (Baden) - Waldshut line on the German side. BLN 733.0161][CZ] Praha Masarykovo - Bubny - Hostivice - Kladno: (BLN 712.08; Ball 35A2) A private operator may electrify this 31km section of CD (Ceské Dráhy=Czech Railways), and run local trains. A new branch to Praha's airport is also a possibility. (Railway Gazette International, June 1994) BLN 734.0162] Off the beaten track - a summer quiz question: Nearly all the stations on the Railtrack passenger network in mainland Great Britain can be reached by setting off from a London terminus on a timetabled train and changing either once or not at all. Few require two changes, especially if the definition of 'change' allows walking from one main-line station to another in the same city, for example Glasgow Central to Queen Street or Manchester Piccadilly to Victoria. The questioner could think of one (Stourbridge Town) that would seem to need two changes, but it does appear to him that no British station, however geographically remote or poorly served, is more than two changes away from London. Later this year, once Eurostar is in business, what will be the minimum number of changes needed to reach any station in Europe on the through-running standard-gauge system, starting from London? Putting it another way, what obscure corner of the ordinary railway network, from Brittany to Istanbul, from the Pyrenees to Poland, can you think of that would require you to change more than, say, half a dozen times to get there from Waterloo International? Let the International sub-editor have your explanation of which you think is the 'most inaccessible' station in Europe, defined as above - and preferably send it to him along with your news for BLN about railway infrastructure seen abroad this summer. ('Rinbad') BLN 734.0163][DE, BE] Stolberg (Rheinland) DB - Raeren SNCB: (Ball 37A1 (DE), 10A2 (BE)) The Deutsche Vennbahn Verein are to use their ex-ÖBB diesel units this summer to run Sunday excursions from Stolberg via Walheim to connect at Raeren in Belgium with the Vennbahn tourist trains starting from Eupen (BLN 732.0135). These excursions may be the only regular traffic on the Stolberg - Raeren section of the Vennbahn. (LCGB Bulletin, 6/94) BLN 734.0164][DE] West and East in Germany since 1945: Following the German surrender in May 1945, the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) continued in existence in the Soviet Union's Zone of Occupation. To the west, administrations were established in 1945-46, at Frankfurt-am-Main, Bielefeld and Speyer, to run the railways in the American, British and French Zones respectively. The US and British Zone railways were amalgamated on 29 May 1947, and renamed the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) in 1949. The French Zone Südwestdeutschen Eisenbahnen were incorporated in the DB in 1952. From July 1945 traffic was exchanged between the Western and Soviet Zones via the following ten lines, though initially only Helmstedt - Marienborn was used by passenger trains. 'West' 'East' 'West' 'East' Ball atlas ref. Lübeck Herrnburg 18A3 Büchen Schwanheide 18A2 Vorsfelde Oebisfelde 27B3 Helmstedt Marienborn 27B2 Jerxheim Gunsleben 27B1 Walkenried Ellrich 41A3 Bebra Gerstungen Herleshausen Wartha 40A1 Neustadt (bei Coburg) Sonneberg (Thüringen) 52B3 Ludwigsstadt Probstzella 53A3 Hof Gutenfürst 53B3 Trains between different parts of the US Zone passed through the Soviet Zone thus: Bebra Gerstungen Heringen 40A1 Pressig-Rothenkirchen Heinersdorf Tettau 53A3 Conversely, trains between different parts of the Soviet Zone passed through the US Zone thus: Treffurt (no station in US Zone) Mühlhausen 41A2 Gerstungen Herleshausen Wartha 40A1 Gerstungen Heringen Vacha 40A1 Motzlar Philippsthal Süd Vacha 40A1 Lehesten Ludwigsstadt Probstzella 53A3 Other railways that crossed the border of the Soviet Zone were closed, and it is unlikely that any of them saw traffic after the war in Europe ended. From 24 June 1948 the Soviet authorities closed Berlin's rail (and road and waterway) access routes to all traffic of the Western powers, precipitating a political crisis and the famous strategic airlift of supplies into West Berlin. The blockade was not ended until 12 May 1949, and the railway between Jerxheim and Gunsleben did not reopen. From 10 September 1949 the rail passenger routes to Berlin for western citizens were established as Hamburg - Büchen DB - Schwanheide DR - Berlin; Frankfurt-am-Main - Bebra DB - Gerstungen DR - Berlin; and München - Ludwigsstadt DB - Probstzella DR - Berlin. In autumn 1951 traffic ceased between Neustadt (bei Coburg) DB and Sonneberg (Thür.) DR. On 26 May 1952 the East German administration introduced new and strict regulations concerning entry to and exit from the territory of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), and established controlled zones the full length of its border with the western Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD), whereupon a number of cross-border services ceased and lines closed. The railway between Lübeck DB and Herrnburg DR closed entirely on 15 May 1952 and passenger traffic between Hof DB and Gutenfürst DR ceased on 19 May 1952. DR ceased operating passenger trains Gerstungen DR - Herleshausen DB - Wartha DR and Gerstungen DR - Philippsthal DB - Vacha DR on 23 May 1952. The DR Lehesten branch, whose traffic crossed from Lehesten DR via Ludwigsstadt DB to reach Probstzella DR was formally taken out of use on 28 May 1952, though DR had in fact operated no trains since the previous year. DB was prevented from operating Pressig-Rothenkirchen DB via Heinersdorf in the DDR to Tettau DB from 29 May 1952. Through passenger trains between Vorsfelde DB and Oebisfelde DR were withdrawn on 16 June 1952. DR refused to permit operation of western potash traffic from Heimboldshausen over the Bebra DB - Gerstungen DR - Heringen DB route from 1 July 1952, and ceased running freight trains over the Motzlar DR - Philippsthal Süd DB - Vacha DR route on 2 July 1952. Indeed, to avoid eastern potash trains from the workings at Unterbreizbach having to pass through Philippsthal Süd, DR built a new line entirely within the DDR to Vacha, on which traffic commenced on 15 November 1952. In the West, potash traffic was re-routed over the Hersfelder Eisenbahn to Bad Hersfeld, to avoid Gerstungen DR. (BLN 708.03, 723.031) Passenger traffic between Vorsfelde DB and Oebisfelde DR and between Hof DB and Gutenfürst DR resumed on 14 July 1954 and the line between Lübeck DB and Herrnburg DR reopened on 20 March 1960. The Berlin Wall was erected on 13 August 1961 and, following an incident at Albrechtshof when DR staff used a train to flee the DDR, trains from Hamburg via Büchen DB - Schwanheide DR were diverted to enter West Berlin via Griebnitzsee (Ball 31B1) instead of via Spandau (31B2) from 4 November 1961. The Hamburg trains reverted to the Spandau route on 26 September 1976. In DDR times trains from the West via Helmstedt DB - Marienborn DR, via Bebra DB - Gerstungen DR, via Ludwigsstadt DB - Probstzella DR and via Hof DB - Gutenfürst DR all entered West Berlin via Griebnitzsee. Apart from the Helmstedt trains they generally approached Berlin via Belzig and the low-level line at Potsdam Hbf (now Potsdam-Pirschheide) (Ball 31A1). Trains via Hof normally used the avoiding line to the east of Leipzig Hbf, via Leipzig-Stötteritz and Leipzig-Thekla (Ball 46B3). A new railway from Gerstungen to Förtha, entirely within the DDR, opened on 13 April 1962, enabling the closure to traffic of the old main-line route from Gerstungen DR via Herleshausen DB to Wartha DR on 29 September 1963. The DDR's border with the BRD was made an open one on 9 November 1989, and passenger traffic resumed between Walkenried DB and Ellrich DR on 12 November 1989. The railway between Eichenberg DB and Arenshausen DR (Ball 40B2) reopened on 3 May 1990, with scheduled passenger trains from 27 May 1990. The territory of the DDR was incorporated into the Bundesrepublik on 3 October 1990. The railways between Neustadt (bei Coburg) DB and Sonneberg (Thüringen) DR and between Mellrichstadt DB and Rentwerthausen DR (Ball 52A3) both reopened on 29 September 1991, in the latter case providing service for the first time since 1945. Some trains reverted to the old main line from Gerstungen DR via Herleshausen DB to Wartha DR during 1992, and traffic on the all-DDR line between Gerstungen and Förtha had ceased by the end of May 1993. Virtually all indications of the former border have everywhere been removed. Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn were merged to form Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) from 1 January 1994. BLN 734.0165][CH] Solothurn - Büren an der Aare - Lyss: (Ball 86B1-86A1) As previously noted, Solothurn - Büren is now served only by bus, though Büren - Lyss does still have trains. The SBB timetable spelling of Büren an der Aare is as shown here, not as in BLN 732.0148 nor as in the Ball atlas. BLN 734.0166][CH] Laufenburg - Koblenz: (BLN 733.0160; Ball 87A2-87B3) The SBB local Regionalzüge were latterly an hourly shuttle service of elderly electric multiple-units, connecting out of Basel suburban emus at Laufenburg and calling at all stations to Koblenz or beyond. There were a few early-morning and mid-evening workings running through as far as Basel and Winterthur respectively but - notwithstanding BLN 714.019 - no Basel - Winterthur semi-fast trains have been routed via Laufenburg since before the 1993-94 timetable at least, and withdrawal of the local service from 29 May 1994 closed the line to passenger traffic. The branch from Stein-Säckingen to Laufenburg remains on the SBB map, and in the timetable, and Laufenburg - Koblenz itself is understood to be continuing in use for the present as a single-track route for freight. A rather poignant note was struck by the display-card seen in the emu on 26 May, in the last week of operation: "All change! From 29 May 1994 Koblenz - Laufenburg regional trains will run no more, but hourly postbuses will pass your door, and in Döttingen, Koblenz and Laufenburg you will have links to the rest of the world. We wish you pleasant travelling on public transport." Laufenburg to Koblenz is still possible by SBB the long way round via Brugg, or from the DB station via Waldshut. BLN 734.0167][CH] Aigle - Sépey - Diablerets: (BLN 732.0148; Ball 98B3) There has been no change to the track layout on the metre-gauge ASD line at Les Planches, and no new chord has been built there, as suggested by a report in 1993 (BLN 703.04). The direct trains simply reverse at the junction. In April 1994 repair work on the road-and-rail bridge at Les Planches necessitated a change of train there rather than reversal, since the junction could not be traversed. By mid-June 1994 the work on the bridge appeared complete, with the line to Le Sépey reinstated. Would-be passengers are warned however that the 1108 departure from Aigle, though booked to go in and out of Le Sépey, actually reversed at Les Planches, with a connecting bus across the bridge. BLN 734.0168][AT] (Wien -) Pöchlarn - Ybbs an der Donau (- Linz): (Ball 74B3) A 7km cut-off between Pöchlarn and Ybbs, including a 4.7km new tunnel at Sittenberg, opened on 21 March 1994, allowing fast trains on the main Westbahn line to avoid Krummnussbaum and Säusenstein, and to pass slower trains taking the old route, which continues to serve these two stations. (LCGB Bulletin, 6/94) BLN 734.0169][AT, SI] Lavamünd ÖBB - Dravograd SZ: (BLN 732.0150; Ball 83A1 (AT), 46A2 (SI)) This line across the Austria - Slovenia border has not had a passenger service for some years. Just south of Lavamünd, stop-blocks have been photographed obstructing the line, so it is likely that it is completely out of use, if not lifted on one or both sides of the frontier. A local report would be welcomed. ÖBB's 20km St.Paul - Bleiburg cut-off, just to the west, is understood to have been built so that trains between these two Austrian stations would not have to run in and out of Slovenia via Dravograd. BLN 734.0170][HU] Hungarian narrow-gauge: Passenger services of the ÁEV (Állami Erdei Vasutak = State Forestry Railways) are reported no longer to appear in the national railway timetable. Which of the following 760mm-gauge lines (vonal = 'line'), which were in the 1991-92 MÁV timetable, are still active? Timetable no. & line name Length Ball atlas MÁV railhead 305 Csömödéri vonal 18km 46B2 Csömödér 307 Kaszói vonal 8km 46B2 Szenta 308 Almamelléki vonal 8km 46B2 (not shown) - 310 Gemenci vonal 30km 47B2 Pörböly 311 Mesztegnyöi vonal 9km 47A2 Mesztegnyö 317 Királyréti vonal 12km 42B1 Kismaros 318 Nagybörzsonyi vonal 8km 42B1 - 321 Felsötárkányi vonal 5km 43A1 - 323 Szilvásváradi vonal 5km 43A1 Szilvásvárad 324 & 325 Gyöngyösi vonal 11km & 7km 43A1 Gyöngyös 330 & 331 Lillafüredi vonal 14km & 19km 43A1 Miskolc 332 Pálházai vonal 8km 43B2 (not shown) - BLN 735.0171][FR] Clamecy - Corbigny: (BLN 732.0133; Ball 37B1) It seems that the Fridays-only Paris - Corbigny train does still run, having been omitted by mistake from the May 1994 SNCF timetable - which thus shows the 33km line's only passenger service of the week to be the Sundays-only Corbigny - Paris working. Timings of the missing train are 1733 Paris-Lyon - 2041 Clamecy - 2122 Corbigny. BLN 735.0172][BE] Lijn 73 Deinze - Lichtervelde - De Panne: (BLN 711.04; Ball 7B2-7A3) To facilitate electrification work, buses replaced weekday off-peak trains on the single-track section between Diksmuide and De Panne during February and March 1994, but the project is running late through shortage of finance, and NMBS do not foresee running electric trains to De Panne before summer 1995. The connecting extension of the coastal tramway inland from De Panne (Esplanade) to De Panne NMBS station, planned for more than 15 years and due to open in 1995, has also been put back for a year. (Trans-Fer, #91, May 1994) BLN 735.0173][BE, FR] Ligne 94 Tournai - Froyennes - Blandain SNCB - Lille SNCF: (BLN 698.07; Ball 7B1-7A1) Electric services began in May 1993, but remain slow (26 minutes for 24km), expensive (BEF320 = £6.65 return) and not well-used. Design of the overhead wiring causes problems for drivers, and results in unreliability. The neutral section between the Belgian 3kV dc and the French 25kV 50Hz is less than 800m beyond the junction at Froyennes. If a Tournai - Lille train has to stop at the junction, or if the weather reduces wheel-on-rail adhesion as it climbs towards France, it may not build up enough momentum to clear the gap in the power supply. Electric trains have thus found themseves stranded in the neutral section, unable to move without the help of an SNCB diesel sent from Tournai. Could similar embarrassment perhaps afflict the Eurostars from Bruxelles, which will be heading this way soon? (Trans-Fer, #91, May 1994) BLN 735.0174][BE] Lijn 52 Antwerpen - Boom - Puurs: (Ball 8B3) Since 1 June 1980, the line has been severed 800m south of Boom by the removal of a bridge over the ship canal to Ruisbroek. To the south-west, beyond the gap, the dead-end line from Puurs remains, to serve an industrial siding at the Prayon-Rupel works, visited by a GTF railtour on 26 March 1994. Rebuilding the canal bridge to give greater clearance has been much delayed by lack of government finance, though it now seems to be planned for the first half of 1996, with restoration of NMBS passenger service from Antwerpen beyond Boom to Puurs perhaps before the end of 1996. (Trans-Fer, #91, May 1994) BLN 735.0175][BE] Lijn/Ligne 139 Leuven - Ottignies: (Ball 8B2) Bierges halt, near Wavre, has been given a new pedestrian subway, platform lighting and shelters. It has been renamed Bierges-Walibi, since it serves the nearby Walibi amusement-park. (Trans-Fer, #91, May 1994) BLN 735.0176][BE][LU][FR] Athus avoiding line: (BLN 711.03, 718.09, 722.018; Ball 17B1) September 1994 could see the opening of the short Aubange - Rodange chord, linking the Athus-Meuse route (Ligne 165 Bertrix - Athus) directly to the Athus - Y Rodange SNCB - Rodange CFL cross-frontier line, thus allowing through running, without reversal at Athus, of international freight trains from Antwerpen via Dinant and Bertrix to Luxembourg. To facilitate the construction of the new chord across its trackbed, the (Longwy -) Mont St.Martin SNCF - Y Rodange SNCB electrified line closed from 26 September 1993, but local railwaymen in France and Belgium have not given up hope that a 600m-long curve on a new alignment nearby could yet allow the re-establishment of a direct France-Belgium link, at an estimated cost of some BEF36 million (= £750,000). (Trans-Fer, #91, May 1994) BLN 735.0177][DE] Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld - Ohrnberg: (Ball 58A2) The 23km Untere Kochertalbahn line of the WEG (Württembergische Eisenbahn GmbH) closed to all traffic from 27 December 1993. The preservation group EFZ (Eisenbahnfreunde Zollernbahn) used to run steam-hauled trains there, but now operate instead from Aulendorf, westward for 9km on to the 26km Altshausen - Pfullendorf freight-only branch of the DB (BLN 729.096; Ball 69A2). Monthly summer Sunday trains began on 12 June 1994. (Op de Rails (NL), 4/94; LCGB Bulletin, 6/94; EFZ leaflet) BLN 735.0178][DE] Berlin: (Ball 31B2-32A2) From 27 June 1994 the R5 local service in from Nauen ceased to run from Spandau to Jungfernheide (where passengers changed for the U-Bahn) and was diverted to run instead from Spandau to Westkreuz, terminating at a temporary platform on the freight line adjoining the high-level S-Bahn station. Spandau - Jungfernheide is therefore closed to passengers (BLN 729.091). Extensive works are in hand in the Spandau area. On 11 July 1994 IC632, the 0800 from Berlin-Zoo to Westerland, was seen at Spandau coming off the former S-Bahn line via Olympiastadion and Pichelsberg, so this alternative route seems to be in use, perhaps temporarily, by main-line trains. Newly-relaid S-Bahn track continues north and east beyond Westend, the temporary northern terminus of the Innenring, towards Jungfernheide, though track-laying has not yet reached as far east as Gesundbrunnen. The former Charlottenburg Güterbahnhof site, just north of Westend station, is now occupied by S-Bahn sidings. At Bornholmer Strasse station, in the space where the infamous Wall used to separate the closely parallel S-Bahn lines of West Berlin to Frohnau and of East Berlin to Bernau, major works are under way, presumably to improve interchange (BLN 699.09) The main-line (non-S-Bahn) tracks south of Berlin-Pankow have as a consequence been removed, perhaps temporarily. BLN 735.0179][DE] Karlsruhe trams on railways: (Ball 57A2-57A1; KBS702) Karlsruhe tramcars now operate all local stopping services on the Karlsruhe Hbf - Durmersheim - Rastatt - Baden-Baden section of the busy DB north-south main line, sharing the double track with ICE trains and heavy international freight traffic to and from Basel. The new Karlsruhe-owned trams run as S-Bahn (Stadtbahn) Linie S7, using the DB platforms at Karlsruhe Hbf, as also do the trams to Bruchsal (S3). Routes S7 and S3 do not (?yet) feature street-running through Karlsruhe city centre as do the original Albtalbahn routes from Hochstetten to Bad Herrenalb (S1) and Ittersbach (S11), and the dual-voltage route from Karlsruhe to Bretten and Gölshausen (S4), which runs in the street via Durlacher Allee till it joins the railway alignment by a ramp down to new platforms at Karlsruhe-Durlach station. An informative 1994 street and transport map of the city and its region is available for DEM3 at the tourist office across the street from the Hauptbahnhof. BLN 735.0180][DE] Stuttgart Hbf - Karlsruhe Hbf: (Ball 58A1-57B2; KBS770) A number of routes are possible between the cities, including one of the world's least attractive railways to travel on, a Schnellfahrstrecke forever diving from sunlight to gloom through ear-popping tunnels, out into open-air stretches imprisoned in cuttings and between high noise-walls that obscure any possible view. This particular section of unpleasant railway must have cost the German taxpayer marks by the billion, and is an awful warning about how not to attract opinion-formers away from airlines. (Designers of the Cheriton - London Union Railway please note.) Some InterRegio trains, for example IR2668 (Görlitz -) Stuttgart - Karlsruhe use this Schnellfahrstrecke and call at Bruchsal, taking an east-to-south curve (not shown in Ball) which begins in the mouth of a tunnel just north of Bruchsal station. Mercifully EC64 Mozart, carrying civilised people from Wien to Paris, takes the more dignified route via Ludwigsburg and Pforzheim. BLN 735.0181][DE] Pforzheim - Horb: (Ball 57B1-68B3; KBS774) At Pforzheim-Brötzingen there is a southwest-to-southeast chord linking the Bad Wildbad branch with the Nagoldtalbahn to Horb. It is not shown in the Ball atlas but looked used when seen in July 1994. The Nagold valley is an attractive wooded area, popular with walkers, making weekend (Class 628/928) trains busy. The present station at Calw is a new building on a cramped site near the town centre, with lift access to the platform. The old station building survives about 1km to the south, on a site with more room for sidings. BLN 735.0182][DE] Tuttlingen - Sigmaringen: (Ball 68B2-69A2) On this 42km section of DB's Donautalbahn, paralleling a pleasantly scenic stretch of the river Donau well equipped with walking and cycling trails and camp-sites, the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn AG runs stopping services additional to those of the DB, including summer Sunday trains using a two-car diesel unit towing a van for bicycles. Calls are made at a number of new or reopened stations not shown in the Ball atlas, and also at the four shown therein as unadvertised. Details are in table Zu755 in the DB timetable. Tuttlingen has sidings at present containing some ten or more dumped steam locomotives. BLN 735.0183][DE] Friedrichshafen (Bodensee): (Ball 69A1; KBS751) The 1994-95 DB timetable again shows Eilzüge from Ulm reversing at Friedrichshafen Stadt and continuing to Friedrichshafen Hafen, thus providing, with the local shuttle trips, an hourly service all day down the very short (<1km) branch. On two occasions in July 1994 the branch train was noted to be a Class 628/928 two-car dmu, rather than the scratch operation of locomotive plus single coach described in BLN 706.07. Between Friedrichshafen Stadt and Ravensburg, 19km north on the DB Südbahn line to Ulm, a Mondays-to-Fridays hourly local train service is provided by VT60 units of the Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn GmbH, calling at the two intermediate DB stations as well as three new ones (not shown in Ball) which have signs in BOB rather than DB house-style: Kehlen (6km), Oberzell (14km) and Weissenau (16km, from Friedrichshafen Stadt). BLN 735.0184][DE] Warthausen - Ochsenhausen: (Ball 69B2) An ex-Polish steam locomotive Px48 #1913 was visible from a DB train passing Warthausen on 7 July 1994, but the condition of the 750mm-gauge track there indicated that the line has seen no recent use. BLN 735.0185][DE] Laupheim West - Laupheim: (Ball 69B3) The short, formerly freight-only, branch to Laupheim was seen to be out of use and disconnected on 7 July 1994, though freight wagons remained in the junction sidings at Laupheim West. BLN 735.0186][DE, CH] Waldshut DB - Koblenz SBB: (Ball 68A1) This line is not electrified as shown in the Ball atlas. A DB Class 628/928 two-car diesel unit was waiting at Waldshut to work the hourly international shuttle service the 3km across the river Rhein on 10 July 1994. BLN 735.0187][IT] Firenze: (Ball 49A1) Firenze Campo di Marte station to the east of the city centre is at present being modified to have seven instead of five tracks. It will relieve the main station, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, of Roma - Milano trains, which will be accelerated once they no longer need to traverse the short branch to Firenze SMN terminus and reverse there. After other works are completed shortly, FS will possess four tracks over the whole distance from Roma to Firenze. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 3/94) BLN 735.0188][CH] Aigle - Sépey - Diablerets: (BLN 734.0167; Ball 98B3) A developer bought the attractive ASD station building at Le Sépey and demolished it in 1993, but then went into liquidation before plans for the site, including an integrated rail and bus station, could be realised. Passengers at Le Sépey now have to be content with a simple cabin in which to await trains. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 3/94) BLN 735.0189][AT] Wieselburg an der Erlauf - Gresten: (BLN 732.0149; Ball 74B3-74B2) This 760mm-gauge ÖBB branch remains open for freight, carried in standard-gauge wagons transferred to transporters at Wieselburg. On 24 June 1994 loads there included timber from the Czech Republic and steel from Dortmund, bound for Gresten behind ÖBB Class 2095 traction. On 22 May 1994, when a steam special worked from St.Pölten through to Gresten, similar wagons were seen at Steinakirchen am Forst, Wang, Randegg and Gresten. Steinakirchen station is still in ÖBB use and was manned that day to operate the level-crossing. At Randegg there is heavy timber traffic, but the station is in a dilapidated state. Just before Gresten station is a newish factory on either side of the line, with each side having a siding, apparently used, leading into a covered shed. Gresten station too seemed in ÖBB use. BLN 735.0190][AT] St.Pölten - Ober Grafendorf - Mariazell: (Ball 75A3-74B2) On ÖBB's 760mm-gauge electrified Mariazellerbahn, still open to passengers, freight is also worked, mainly in standard-gauge wagons on transporters, though these do not operate south of Loich because of limited clearance in tunnels. On 20 June 1994 freight trains were seen operating between Ober Grafendorf and St.Pölten Alpenbahnhof, with diesel locomotive 2095.012, having come from Ruprechtshofen on the non-electrified line from Wieselburg an der Erlauf, and between St.Pölten and Kirchberg an der Pielach, shunting intermediately at Rabenstein, with 6.6kV 25Hz electric locomotive 1099.002, built before World War I. BLN 735.0191][AT] Wien-Hütteldorf - Heiligenstadt - Floridsdorfer Brücke: (Ball 77A2-77A3) The Wien surface suburban line from Hütteldorf was extended in 1993 to run beyond Heiligenstadt, curving round east and south to Floridsdorfer Brücke, a basic platform sited underneath the road bridge of that name across the river Donau. A third track, parallel to the double-track freight line that runs along the river bank, serves the new station and ends just beyond the platform. BLN 736.0192] Today's Railways #2: The new magazine from Platform 5, reviewed and recommended below, contains news items in the August-September 1994 issue on closure of Bassum - Rahden; opening of the Innsbruck avoiding line; new alignments between Bari and Taranto; electrification of Eichenberg - Nordhausen and Fréthun - Boulogne; takeover by the Karlsruhe trams of Bruchsal - Menzingen and Bruchsal - Odenheim; and fixing of the route of LGV Méditerranée. BLN 736.0193] Shanes Castle Railway: Notwithstanding the report in BLN 718.014, the Northern Ireland tourist line did reopen for the 1994 summer season. BLN 736.0194][IE] Limerick - Ennis: (BLN 718.05) The previous unusual MSX service pattern has been replaced in the Irish Rail summer 1994 timetable by one passenger working each way daily. BLN 736.0195][FR] TGV openings: (BLN 719.01, 730.0103; Ball 25B2) SNCF now expect to open in 1996 the new high-speed section between Valenton and the triangular junction at Coubert, linking the main line out of Paris-Lyon with the LGV Jonction (LGV Interconnexion). This will provide an alternative for Paris - Sud-Est TGVs to their present route from Valenton via Villeneuve-St.Georges and Lieusaint-Moissy to Moisenay, and faster access from LGV Nord-Europe via Coubert, Valenton and Massy to LGV Atlantique. BLN 736.0196][FR] Chauny - St.Gobain: (Ball 15B1) This freight branch lost its service from 1 December 1993. BLN 736.0197][FR] Clamecy - Corbigny: (BLN 735.0171; Ball 37B1) This SNCF line, with its two passenger trains a week (Friday and Sunday from and to Paris), has since 1939 been operated by CFTA (Societé Générale de Chemins de Fer et de Transports Automobiles). Under the same long-standing arrangement CFTA's Agence de Clamecy also runs other (freight-only) SNCF lines in the area: Clamecy - Nevers (75km); Corbigny - Cercy-la-Tour (52km); Tamnay-Chatillon - Château-Chinon (23km); and, since 1977, Clamecy - Entrains-sur-Nohain (26km). CFTA also have a Picasso railcar (X3876, named Le Furet du Morvan = 'the Morvan ferret') for charter passenger trips on the system. BLN 736.0198][FR] Miécaze - Bort-les-Orgues: (Ball 54A1-54B2) Auvergne regional council withdrew their subsidy, so SNCF ceased the passenger service from 3 July 1994. The 84km line had no freight service, and is now out of use, in the same limbo as Neussargues - Bort-les-Orgues (71km). Both lines are apparently being retained with a view to possible future tourist operation. (L'Echo du Rail, 7/94) BLN 736.0199][FR] Neussargues - Béziers: (Ball 55A1-63-73B2) In the SNCF winter 1994-95 timetable this attractive 280km secondary line across the Massif Central will see only one daytime through train each way (0626 northbound from Béziers and 1120 southbound from Neussargues) plus an overnight train not running on the Saturday-Sunday night. Withdrawn local services are to be replaced by new bus routes. BLN 736.0200][FR] Nice - Menton: (Ball 67B1) A tennis tournament led the SNCF to provide, from 16 to 24 April 1994, a temporary halt at the east end of Monte-Carlo tunnel, just outside the Principality of Monaco. The halt was a single platform on the westbound line (described by SNCF as pair = 'even', equivalent to 'up' in British parlance), though impair (odd-numbered, 'down') trains also called, working wrong-line between Monaco-Monte-Carlo and Menton. To reach the Monte-Carlo Country-Club, also in France rather than Monaco, despite its name, passengers had then to walk over several hundred metres of the old alignment which until 1964 had served Monte-Carlo station. (L'Echo du Rail, 7/94) BLN 736.0201][FR] Cannes - Ranguin - Grasse: (BLN 715.03; Ball 77A3) The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional council have decided against reopening to passengers from Ranguin onward to the (rather poorly-sited) station at Grasse. SNCF were asking FRF200M (= £25M) including electrification. CFTA came up with a more modest proposal, but neither scheme got included in the regional plan, to the annoyance of local mayors. The Cannes - Ranguin passenger service itself may close without much warning, perhaps at the end of summer 1994. The deficit is mounting, and SNCF run the trains on behalf of the Cannes municipality, so the service, like that to Bort-les-Orgues, is probably not protected by the French government moratorium on closures. BLN 736.0202][BE] Ligne 97 St.Ghislain - Quiévrain: (BLN 721.05; Ball 8A1) Answering a parliamentary question, the Belgian Minister of Communications said electric traction on this line would begin with the summer service in 1995. (Trans-Fer, #92, July 1994) BLN 736.0203][BE] Lijn/Ligne 28 Brussel/Bruxelles: Y Pannenhuis - Y Cureghem: (Ball 10B2-10B1) This belt line round the city centre to the west has one regular passenger working. The summer-Fridays-only car/sleeper/couchette train #1291 Freccia del Sole starts at 1726 from Bruxelles-Schaerbeek, heads westward to Y Zennebrug and Y Laeken, then south from Y Pannenhuis via Lijn 28 to Y Cureghem, turning north to call at Bruxelles-Midi, then Bruxelles-Nord, before setting off via Namur for its overnight run to Bologna and Ancona. In the 1980s SNCB/NMBS equipped Ligne 28 with some passenger facilities to allow interchange with the local STIB/MIVB metro, but the proposed Bruxelles RER service on the line has never materialised. 'Brand-new' station platforms lie unused at Pannenhuis, Simonis and Bruxelles-Ouest/Brussel-West. Simonis did however see recent emergency use after a derailment at Jette. A shuttle emu ran round the loop from Midi to Midi calling at Simonis, whence a connecting bus ran to Jette. Lijn 28 also gives access, by a connection just north of Pannenhuis, to the large goods station of Tour-et-Taxis/Thurn-en-Taxis, and by a connection just north of Bruxelles-Ouest to the metro. The latter link is mainly used to allow the Speno rail-grinding train to visit the metro's western trackage. SNCB and STIB have another link near Haren, but the heavy weight of the grinding train bars it from coming west via Gare Centrale, where the metro tunnel crosses above the tunnel of Ligne 0, the Jonction Nord-Midi. (Trans-Fer, #92, July 1994) BLN 736.0204][DE] West and East in Germany since 1945: (BLN 734.0164) Those interested in pursuing further the history of railways and the internal frontier dividing Germany may wish to look at Die Innerdeutsche Grenze und ihre Auswirkungen auf den Schienenverkehr (by Hans-Joachim Fricke; published by Ritzau Verlag originally in 1980, but second edition now available); and more particularly Grenze über deutschen Schienen 1945-1990 (by Ralf Roman Rossberg; Eisenbahn Kurier Verlag 1991, second edition). Each of the books surveys one by one the various routes that were cut or kept open. Ritzau Verlag also publish German timetable reprints, valuable for the study of German railway history, notably the last pre-war edition of summer 1939, the last wartime one of 3 July 1944, and timetables for the four zonal administrations from 1946. BLN 736.0205][DE, SE] German Baltic train-ferries: (Ball 12B1 (DE), 25A1 (SE)) A new freight train-ferry route, from Rostock DB to Trelleborg SJ, may have begun operating from May 1994, according to a brochure issued by Deutsche Fährgesellschaft Ostsee mbH, the company formed to run the ferries of the former Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn from 1 January 1993. Two ships, DFO's mv Rostock and SweFerry's mv Götaland, were to begin conveying cars, lorries, road-trailers and, it seems, rail freight wagons, from a modernised terminal in Rostock, apparently at Seehafen Nord, on the eastern bank of the river Warnow, the opposite side of the estuary from the established train-ferry port of Warnemünde. The brochure describes four other DFO routes, the first three of them having passenger and freight train-ferries: Puttgarden DB - Rødby DSB; Warnemünde DB - Gedser DSB; Sassnitz DB - Trelleborg SJ; and Sassnitz - Rønne on the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm. There is no mention in the DFO brochure, or in the DB timetable, of ferries from Mukran to Klaipeda in Lithuania (BLN 702.010). BLN 736.0206][DE] Cuxhaven: (BLN 716.011; Ball 16B3) Cuxhaven's passenger piers at present in use are named in Table 10010 of the 1994 DB Kursbuch as Fährhafen (= ferry-port) and Innenkante "Alte Liebe" (= the inner edge of the town's famous "Old Love" pier, which lies to the west of the harbour entrance). Table 10010 also has a footnote saying that on Fridays in July and August, and on Saturdays in May, June and September, ms Wappen von Hamburg, the Helgoland - Cuxhaven (Fährhafen) boat due in at 1830, is met by a special train which runs from Cuxhaven (Steubenhöft) to Hamburg. Steubenhöft station turns out to be the same place as the former Amerika Bf on the Amerikahafen branch described in BLN 716.011. BLN 736.0207][DE] Knappenrode Brikettfabrik - Pechteiche: (Ball 44B3) This 18km 900mm-gauge industrial line, not shown in Ball, opened on 18 June 1994 as a Museumsbahn, running on summer Saturdays and Sundays from a station (on Sunday bus route 103) some 2km south of Knappenrode DB station. (IBSE) BLN 736.0208][DE] Neustadt (Dosse) - Rathenow - Brandenburg - Belzig - Niemegk - Treuenbrietzen: (Ball 19B1-28B3-29A2; KBS266,267) This cross-country route, intersecting three main lines out of Berlin, was authorised in 1904. The Brandenburger Städtebahn remained independent of the Deutsche Reichsbahn till after World War II, and the layout at the junctions still reflects this. At Brandenburg Hbf, both Belzig and Neustadt (Dosse) trains depart from Gleis 4 and Gleis 5, the erstwhile independent station. The triangular junction there is not quite as shown in the Ball atlas, for the Belzig line actually leaves the Neustadt (Dosse) line on the north side only to turn south and climb over both it and the main line. Till May 1994 five passenger workings were scheduled to use the north-to-south Brandenburg Hbf avoiding line, running direct from Altstadt to Göttin, but in the 1994-95 timetable all trains run in and out of the Hbf. At Belzig, the north-to-south side of the triangle was still in place in spring 1994, but very disused. Belzig has been resignalled, with a tower signal-box replacing three former main-line boxes there, but the Brandenburg trains still use their own platforms, the former independent Städtebahnhof, alongside the main line. Between Belzig and Treuenbrietzen, passenger services were withdrawn from 1 September 1963 and ordinary freight services three months later, though the line was retained for occasional military use, presumably because of its potential as a relief or diversionary route. On 12 April 1994 DB blocked the track with sleepers just east of Niemegk and officially closed the Niemegk - Treuenbrietzen section, but on Whit Sunday, 22 May 1994, two preserved ex-DR Class 100 diesel shunting-locomotives and four goods wagons formed an 0900 special passenger train from Belzig Städtebahnhof to Treuenbrietzen, taking four hours for the 21.5km through metre-high vegetation, and marking the intention to begin Museumsbahn operations on the line. (Märkische Allgemeine, 31 May 1994) BLN 736.0209][DE] Rheinsberg (Mark) - Stechlinsee: (BLN 729.087, 731.0124; Ball 20A1) Our colleagues in IBSE (Interessengemeinschaft zur Bereisung von Strassenbahn- und Eisenbahnstrecken, the German equivalent of the Branch Line Society) report that the timings of the unadvertised Monday-Friday workers' trains on the branch are: 0620 1449 Rheinsberg (Mark) 0731 1606 0641 1510 Stechlinsee 0710 1545 BLN 736.0210][DE] Stolberg (Rheinland) - Walheim: (Ball 37A1) Though cross-border traffic to Raeren in Belgium may now be limited to the tourist excursions described in BLN 734.0163, the German section from Stolberg to Walheim may still handle freight. In October 1993 wagons were in the sidings at Walheim and the signals had gas bottles for their lamps. BLN 736.0211][DE] Mörlenbach - Unterwaldmichelbach: (Ball 57B3) Traffic ceased on this freight-only line on 31 March 1994. (IBSE Telegramm, #44, July 1994) BLN 736.0212][DE] Warthausen - Ochsenhausen: (BLN 735.0184; Ball 69B2) The Ball atlas incorrectly shows Warthausen as Ochsenhausen and vice versa. The ex-Polish steam locomotive Px48 #1913 seen from the DB was thus at the Warthausen end of the 750mm-gauge line, whose track shows it not at present in use. BLN 736.0213][DE][AT] Kempten - Pfronten-Steinach DB - Reutte ÖBB - Garmisch-Partenkirchen DB: (BLN 723.038; Ball 70A1-79A3-70B1) DB work the Kempten (Allgäu) - Pfronten-Steinach local trains, and ÖBB the Pfronten-Steinach - Reutte-in-Tirol - Garmisch-Partenkirchen local trains. Both services use diesel railcars. The former Innsbruck - Reutte electric-hauled Korridorzüge were withdrawn from 29 May 1994, and no special arrangements are now made for Austrian domestic passengers travelling via Germany. Of the three stations shown in the Ball atlas between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Austrian border, all are closed, though Griessen retains a loop and signal-box. BLN 736.0214][PT] Funcheira avoiding line: (BLN 733.0158; Ball 33A3) The curve may be for pyrites mineral traffic off the 31km Ourique - Neves-Corvo freight-only branch, opened in June 1991 according to the new Quail map of Portugal (BLN 733, p.208/94). BLN 736.0215][CH] Swiss changes in 1995?: (Ball 92A3-91B3) SBB are considering passenger closure of the Lyss - Kerzers line in 1995. BN (CF Berne - Neuchâtel) are considering the withdrawal of local trains between Kerzers and Neuchâtel, with a possible replacement service being provided by a new GFM (CF Fribourgeois Gruyère - Fribourg - Morat) Fribourg - Ins - Neuchâtel service. (L'Echo du Rail, 6/94) BLN 736.0216][AT] Linz chord line: (Ball 73B3; McDougall p.32) The Linz cut-off, a freight-only chord of considerable length, opened in May 1994 from Marchtrenk on the Wels - Linz line (the Westbahn) to a new triangular junction between Traun and Nettingsdorf on the Linz - Selzthal line (the Pyhrnbahn). This is part of ÖBB's strategic investment in the Passau DB - Wels - Selzthal - Spielfeld Strass - Maribor SZ freight axis (the Pyhrn-Schober-Achse) between Germany and Slovenia. Where however does Ansfelden station lie in relation to the new junction on the Pyhrnbahn? (Die Neue Bahn fährt für Österreichs Zukunft) BLN 736.0217][AT] (Linz -) Lambach (- Salzburg): (Ball 73B3; McDougall p.32) On the Westbahn a further cut-off and a tunnel are nearing completion at Lambach, to the north of the existing line. Both are rather shorter than the ones between Pöchlarn and Ybbs an der Donau (BLN 734.0168). Work was under way in mid-July 1994, with single-line working between Lambach and Markt Lambach to facilitate installation of the west-end junction at Markt Lambach halt, the only task remaining to be completed. BLN 736.0218][AT, SK] (Wien -) Parndorf Ort - Kittsee ÖBB (- Bratislava ZSR): (Ball 76B3 (AT), 41B1 (SK)) Work is to begin during 1994 on rebuilding and electrifying this freight-only ÖBB branch as part of a restored link between the Austrian and Slovakian capitals, an alternative to the existing northern route via Marchegg. Bratislava lies just across the river Donau/Dunaj from Austria, and only a few km beyond the border at Kittsee. Wien S-Bahn S7 trains may be diverted to use this route. (LCGB Bulletin, 7/94) BLN 736.0219][AT] Wien Südbahnhof: (Ball 77A2; McDougall A4) ÖBB are to build new platforms on a chord between the two perpendicular dead-end sections of the Südbahnhof, to facilitate through-running on the München - Passau DB - Wien - Hegyeshalom MÁV - Budapest route (the Donau-Achse). This will divert (?all) through passenger trains off the (Speising -) Inzersdorf - Kledering line bypassing the Südbahnhof. BLN 736.0220][AT] Launsdorf-Hochosterwitz - Klein St.Paul - Hüttenberg: (Ball 82B2) The southern section from Launsdorf to Klein St.Paul is still open for passengers, though it is said to be threatened with closure (BLN 716.02). It certainly had little custom when visited in mid-July 1994. A defective bridge between Mösel and Hüttenberg closed the freight-only northern end of the branch from 2 April 1994, according to LCGB Bulletin 7/94. BLN 736.0221][AT][SI] Lavamünd ÖBB - Dravograd SZ: (BLN 734.0169; Ball 83A1 (AT), 46A2 (SI)) The former cross-border line is lifted at the Austrian end. In mid-July 1994 it terminated at buffer-stops just south of Lavamünd, with a field under cultivation beyond, in the direction of Slovenia. BLN 736.0222][SE] Stockholm - Kårsta: (Ball 23B2) A 65km part of the network of Storstockholms Lokaltrafik AB, the Greater Stockholm passenger transport company, is the Roslagsbanan, built to the unusual gauge of 891mm and electrified at 1500V dc. The Roslagsbanan has been slightly straightened and levelled around Byle, where the new station has now been named Kragstalung. SL's little map, edition 93-08-05, still shows Byle, but maps in the trains show Kragstalung. BLN 736.0223][PL][UA] Former Polish corridor through Ukraine: (BLN 730.0119; Ball 44A3)) From 29 May 1994 PKP did withdraw the Przemysl PKP - Malhowice UZ - Khyrow UZ - Kroscienko PKP - Zagórz passenger trains which ran as Polish internal services through Ukraine non-stop without border formalities. The workings were cut back to run Kroscienko - Zagórz only. However the current PKP timetable shows two trains a day from Chirow (= Khyrow UZ) to Zagórz PKP running from a date not specified, thus opening a new (standard 1435mm-gauge) international route. BLN 737.0224][FR][BE] Dunkerque SNCF - De Panne NMBS: (BLN 732.0134; Ball 6B3) Scrap traffic at Leffrinckoucke is still passing, westwards. East of there, only summer Sunday (3 July to 28 August 1994) passenger trains run, and only as far as Bray-Dunes, where the station is specially staffed for them. The SNCF timetable (Table 213) rather curiously shows a morning train from Bray-Dunes and an evening one from Dunkerque. This is because, on the branch, both morning trains to Bray-Dunes are worked by the same crew, so the first train has to return to Dunkerque before the second runs on to the branch, and similarly in reverse in the evening. The cross-border section is out of use. The NMBS station building at De Panne still displays in the stonework its earlier name, Adinkerke, in which village it is actually located. BLN 737.0225][FR] Dieppe (Ville) - Dieppe Maritime: (BLN 729.083; Ball 13B2) Although this section of line was deleted from the SNCF timetable from 29 May 1994, the Paris boat trains - and the Stena Sealink Newhaven boats - actually continued to run to Dieppe Maritime for some weeks. Transfer of the ferries to the new car-ferry terminal (Terminal Nouveau Port), on the other side of the harbour, was scheduled for 10 July 1994, from which date (according to the Guide Régional des Transports - Haute Normandie) passengers were to transfer by bus between Terminal Nouveau Port and Gare Maritime (sic - presumably Gare Ville was meant) to connect with trains. Confirmation of the new arrangements and of the actual date of the change would be welcome. BLN 737.0226][FR] Alençon - Pré-en-Pail: (Ball 23A1) Planned closure to freight some time in 1995 threatens the Mont-des-Avaloirs tourist operation on this line. Under investigation is the transfer of the tourist operation to the St.Germain-de-Tallevende - Sourdeval section of the closed Vire - Mortain-le-Neufbourg line (BLN 719.02; Ball 22B2), which the local départements are hoping to purchase. (L'Echo du Rail, 6/94) BLN 737.0227][FR] St.Martin d'Étampes - Méréville: This out-of-use 15km section of the Étampes - Pithiviers line (not in Ball at 25A1) is to be fettled up for tourists to ride rail-cycles (vélos-rails). (L'Echo du Rail, 4/94) BLN 737.0228][FR] Nice - Digne: (BLN 698.02; Ball 66B1-67A1-77B3) The dignified old Nice-Sud station of the metre-gauge Chemins de Fer de la Provence saw its last train on 9 December 1991, and the new terminus, some 100m short of the old train-shed on the 'country' side of the first level-crossing, opened to regular traffic on 10 December 1991. (One train departed from the new station on the 9th because of a blockage of the line into the old station.) Investment in the visibly expensive and rather elaborate new station was not initially matched by investment in the track, some of which was in truly villainous condition in the early 1990s. Derailments of scheduled services led to a ban on hauled trains and railcar trailers during 1992 and 1993, including the summer steam tourist trains, but these are now back in operation, following track improvements. Steam services, marketed as the Train des Pignes (= 'Pine-Cones Train'), are from Puget-Théniers to Annot on Sundays from May to October 1994, short workings to Entrevaux on Saturdays in July and August, and excursions to St.André-les-Alpes (24 July and 28 August) and to Digne (one-way, on 11 September). From Digne there are excursions to St.André-les-Alpes (18 September) and to Puget-Théniers (one-way, on 25 September). (L'Echo du Rail, 6/94) BLN 737.0229][FR] Passenger services over difficult lines: (BLN 723.023, 732.0131-2) Some more SNCF lines worth a mention for thin services are: Somain - Lourches 7B1-15B3 in Ball atlas Table 255 in SNCF timetable Thionville - Bouzonville 18A1-18B1 Table 154 (One train a day each way) Tours - Loches 34B1-35A1 Table 421 ) Tours - Chinon 34B1 Table 422 ) (Two examples of lines which allow a trip from junction to terminus and back only on a Sunday evening) Paray-le-Monial - Lozanne 48A2-56B3 Table 567 (Travel on this line requires an overnight stay in Paray-le-Monial - or use of one of the additional FSSuO Turbotrains, likely to be withdrawn soon. The line is double-track throughout, parallels other lines, and seems to have little or no freight traffic. It must be vulnerable to closure.) Livron - Aspres-sur-Buëch 65A3-66A3 Table 520 (This line does also carry a number of extra overnight services in the winter-sports season.) BLN 737.0230][BE] Ardennes GLT: (BLN 704.02; Ball 17A3) Modern Railways for August 1994 suggests that a second "simpler and cheaper" version of the Bombardier Eurorail (BN) Guided Light Transit "tram on rubber tyres" vehicle is test-running "in the Ardennes", presumably on the Jemelle - Rochefort concrete trackway, once part of the Jemelle - Houyet conventional railway. A local report would be welcomed. BLN 737.0231][DE] Berlin plans: (BLN 723 supplement, BLN 735.0178; Ball 31B2-32A2) A new two-level central station for the city is planned to go on the Lehrter Bahnhof site. New main-line high-level platforms next to the existing Lehrter Stadtbahnhof S-Bahn platforms on the refurbished Stadtbahn viaduct would handle some trains from the west terminating in Berlin or running forward to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder or Warszawa. The majority of long-distance trains from the west, north and north-east would however use new low-level platforms, reached by the existing trackbed leaving the inner ring line at Moabit and curving south. Unlike the old Lehrter Bahnhof these platforms would not be a terminus, for DB would build a new cut-and-cover double-track tunnel southwards along the course of the former Berlin Wall to reach the Anhalter Bahnhof, whence trains could head south-west and south-east. An hourly InterCity service from Hamburg, for example, would run via the new station's low-level platforms through to Dresden, with many trains extended to Praha, Wien and Budapest. Bornholmer Strasse would become an important interchange station for trains from the north using both the new central low-level line and existing routes. The main-line tracks through Pankow and Bornholmer Strasse are to be reopened after engineering works. The present diversions of main-line trains via the Olympiastadion S-Bahn route continue while extensive work proceeds at Spandau. The plan here is that two flyovers will bring the two tracks of the rebuilt Hamburg - Nauen - Albrechtshof line in between the two tracks of the Hannover - Wustermark - Staaken line, giving parallel running by direction through the new Spandau station, which is being relocated westwards nearer the town centre. East of Spandau the Hamburg line is planned to head via the inner ring for the new central station's lower level, while the Hannover line joins the Stadtbahn to reach its higher level. Crossovers near Spandau are to link the routes, giving flexibility with the minimum of conflict. BLN 737.0232][DE] Pirna - Pirna-Copitz: (Ball 44A2) Notwithstanding BLN 732.0141, this 900m-long link is not yet in use, though the single-line trackbed crossing the rebuilt road-and-rail bridge over the river Elbe looked as though it was being prepared for restoration to passenger service when it was walked by a BLS inspector in mid-July 1994. BLN 737.0233][DE] Hassfurt - Hofheim: (BLN 705.74; Ball 52A2; KBS812) This 16km DB branch is to close to passengers at the end of the summer timetable period in September 1994. (IBSE) BLN 737.0234][AT][CZ] Retz ÖBB - Šatov CD: (Ball 64A2 (AT), 41B2 (CZ)) Through trains seem no longer to be restricted to passengers with Austrian or Czech identity documents. The two Britons thwarted by this rule in 1993 (BLN 714.025) triumphantly traversed the border in July 1994 in a CD railcar. BLN 737.0235][AT] (Leobersdorf -) Wittmannsdorf - Wöllersdorf: (Ball 75B2) Service on the 10km section from Wittmannsdorf (on the Leobersdorf - Traisen line) to Wöllersdorf (on the Wiener Neustadt - Gutenstein branch) has been much reduced, from four or five trains each way daily four years ago to the present single train each way on Mondays to Fridays only. The line seems a likely candidate for closure. BLN 737.0236][AT][HU] Wiener Neustadt - Friedberg - Oberwart (- Rechnitz - Szombathely MÁV): (Ball 75B2-75B1-84A3) A south-west-to-south-east curve at Wiener Neustadt, not shown in the Ball atlas, links the Semmering line to the lines to Sopron and Friedberg. ÖBB passenger trains south-east from Friedberg terminate at the junction station of Oberwart. There the rusty track of the 8km branch north to Oberschützen had in July 1994 a red metal marker indicating that it is now out of use, so it seems unlikely that a Südburgenländische Regionalbahn passenger service operates. Neither was any indication seen at Oberwart of such a service, steam or otherwise, in the Rechnitz direction, as suggested by the Ball atlas. However, the SRB line eastwards from Oberwart is shiny and seems to be open for freight over the 26km to Rechnitz if not to the Hungarian frontier and beyond. Is the Rechnitz - Szombathely cross-border section open to traffic? BLN 737.0237][AT] Stammersdorfer Lokalbahn near Wien: (BLN 716.021, 725.063; Ball 65A1) Modest investment has been made in new station facilities on the perhaps-threatened minor lines north of Wien, visited in July 1994. Quite a lot of track remains in place though out of use for more than five years. At Obersdorf, the Lokalbahnhof was originally to the west of the Wien - Mistelbach electrified line on its overbridge, but has been resited to the east of it to be much nearer the electric line's Obersdorf-Pillichsdorf station. Local trains towards Gross Schweinbarth use a platform on a new dead-end siding, but points have been installed which would permit continued physical access to the old section towards Stammersdorf, still in place though out of use. A red metal plate - the Austrian equivalent of a BR civil engineer's red banner - is planted in the track just east of the overbridge, barring traffic from passing towards Stammersdorf, 12km to the south-west. To the north, Gaweinstal Brünnerstrasse is also a new station, presumably opened when this short part of the erstwhile through line to Mistelbach Lokalbahn had its passenger trains restored. Further northwards, the track is still in place but out of use, with the red metal marker placed in the track at the exact division point between the Bahnmeisterei of Gänserndorf and of Mistelbach. As already reported, the 5km from Pirawarth to Hohenruppersdorf has had passenger trains again since 27 September 1993. To the east, Zistersdorf Stadt, the end-point for a 12km branch service from the junction of Drösing on the Wien - Brno electrified main line, seems to have been resited, for the platform, to the north of the level-crossing, appears new. Looking south towards Hohenruppersdorf the track is rusty, but there is no sign of a red metal plate to indicate formal closure. Nearby, rather closer than the quoted 1km distance, the junction station of Zistersdorf does have a red marker in the disused track towards Dobermannsdorf. Further north still, branching from the Wien - Brno line at Hohenau, the track heading west towards Dobermannsdorf is shiny, though closed to passengers. The countryside round here is dotted with 'nodding donkeys' pumping crude oil, so the most likely traffic is oil in tank wagons, such as were seen at nearby Poysdorf on a previous visit in 1987. Which sections of this local network remain open for freight? And will the future of the passenger services be more reopenings, or the closures predicted in BLN 716.021? BLN 737.0238][SE] Gällivare - Arvidsjaur - Östersund - Mora: (BLN 707.06; Ball 3A3-2B3-2A1-7A3-6B2-14A3-14A2) The lengthy and scenic Inlandsbanan has a sparse and now privatised passenger service in summer only. The 1994 timetable of Inlandståget AB, valid from 11 June to 28 August 1994, is given below. The season appears two weeks longer than in 1993, so perhaps last year's tourist traffic gave grounds for optimism. W indicates the Wilderness Express, running from 27 June to 21 August only, with on-board catering, all the other trains being described as railbuses, which make refreshment stops. Inter-Rail and ScanRail passes give a 50% discount on the ordinary fare, SEK500 (= £42) for the 1068km. W km W 0800 0 Gällivare 2025 0800 1355 274 Arvidsjaur 1420 2255 1300 1640 434 Storuman 1130 1915 1628 1858 580 Hoting 0853 1440 0725 1600v 1950 2105 746 Östersund C 0645 0940v 1100 2135 0738 1610 761 Brunflo 0927 2124 1130 1835 932 Sveg 0700 1840 1353m 1068 Mora 1550m m = train runs to or from Morastrand/Centrum, beyond Mora, not shown in Ball atlas. v = train runs from or to Östersund Västra, north of Östersund Central. BLN 737.0239][PL] Sroda - Zaniemysl: (BLN 694.013; Ball 37A3) This 14km remnant of the 750mm-gauge lines south-east of Poznan remains entirely steam-worked. On 20 July 1994 Class Px48 0-8-0 tender locomotive no.1726 with two coaches worked the 1338 from Sroda Miasto (= 'town') and the 1426 return from Zaniemysl. The locomotive trundles its train through the countryside, over many level-crossings, sounding a warning to road traffic by means of an air-horn, not alas a proper steam whistle BLN 737.0240][CZ, PL] Cernousy CD - Zawidow PKP: (Ball 36A2) This freight-only border crossing is shown on the Quail maps but not in the Ball atlas. The track looked well polished on 22 July 1994. The border is just to the north of Cernousy station, served by Class 810 railbus from Frýdlant v Cechách, near Liberec. BLN 737.0241][CZ] Tanvald - Harrachov: (Ball 36A1) This steep 12km Czech branch, through scenery which attracts many hill-walkers, is rack-equipped, but passenger trains at least do not use the rack. The 0835 Tanvald - Harrachov train on 22 July 1994 was two railcar-trailer coaches propelled uphill by a diesel locomotive (743 003-6). No special equipment seemed to be fitted in the leading vehicle, but its end saloon was reserved for a CD staff-member who presumably kept a lookout. The line runs very close to the Polish frontier, and there were border guards on Harrachov station. The Quail maps of both countries' railways show a line from Korenov on the branch to Jakuszyce PKP, but no sign could be seen of any such cross-border link, extant or otherwise. BLN 737.0242][PL][CZ] Mieroszów PKP - Mezimesti CD: (Ball 36B1) Three passenger services each way daily use this border crossing and the Czech, Polish and Cook's timetables all show these as through (PKP) trains between Walbrzych and Mezimesti. In practice this seems no longer so. The PKP train (locomotive plus one coach on the 0830 on 21 July 1994) terminates at Mieroszów, where a CD train (four-wheel railbus 810 549-9) connects for Mezimesti. BLN 737.0243][CZ][PL] Czech corridor trains through Poland: (Ball 37A1) Through trains between Jindrichov ve Slezsku and Mikulovice, both in the Czech Republic, run via Glucholazy in Poland, reversing north of the station there. The Ball atlas and the Quail maps of both countries show an east-to-west station-avoiding line making a triangle at Glucholazy, but this does not exist and probably never existed. The 1305 Frýdek-Mistek - Jesenik train (1519 from Jindrichov) on 18 July 1994 did make a brief stop in Glucholazy station platform, perhaps for operating reasons, but there is no advertised call and international passengers are probably not carried. This train was a railcar, very full because it left two trailers behind at Jindrichov, perhaps to facilitate its reversal in Poland. BLN 737.0244][CZ] Tremesná ve Slezsku - Osoblaha: (Ball 37A1) In the north-east of the Czech Republic near the Polish frontier a 20km 760mm-gauge line survives. Passenger trains consist of one coach hauled by a diesel locomotive (750 916-5 and 750 913-2 were in use on 18 July 1994). There seems to be no freight, though transporter bogies were seen at Tremesná. Passenger patronage was light by CD standards, though the numbers might be thought quite good on a British or German branch-line. BLN 737.0245][SK] Zvolen: (Ball 42B2) Zvolen osobná stanica (= 'passenger station'), the main station in this town in central Slovakia, is west of where it is shown both in the Ball atlas and on the Quail map. Its connections to the lines north to Banská Bystrica and south to Šahy both face west, not east, though there is in fact a north-to-east curve from Zvolen mesto (= 'town') to Zvolen nákladná stanica (= 'goods station'), both open to passengers. Perhaps an earlier layout had no station where the present (?1959) Zvolen osobná stanica now stands, with the previous arrangement of services being such as to serve only the other two stations mentioned. BLN 737.0246][SK] Brezno-Halny - Tisovec: (Ball 43A2) This Slovakian line is rack-equipped from Pohronská Polhora southward up to the summit (near Zbojská, 725m) and down again to Tisovec-Bánovo, but the rack may no longer be in use. The ZSR railcar (820 093-3) forming the 1421 Brezno - Tisovec train on 12 July 1994 seemed to be a standard one, with no evidence of rack equipment or operation. BLN 737.0247][SK][UA] Russian-gauge branch in Slovakia: (Ball 43B2) The 1524mm-gauge line between the steelworks at Hutníky in eastern Slovakia and the Ukrainian border is single-track and electrified, probably at 25kV 50Hz. The route it takes is rather different from that shown in the Ball atlas and the Quail map. (Perhaps the route was deliberately falsified on maps of the Communist period which were used as sources.) Heading eastwards it runs on the north side of the standard-gauge line through Slanec, but then follows the now-electrified standard-gauge via Trebišov, not via Cierna nad Tisou. At Trebišov it is the track nearest the station building, where a plaque records the date of 11 May 1966, presumably the opening date. East of Trebišov it follows the standard-gauge line on its south side, switching again to the north side through Vel'ke Kapušany. Parallel standard and broad-gauge electrified tracks then continue eastwards, for freight only, into Ukraine. During July 1994 extensive ballasting and track works were in progress and no broad-gauge traffic seemed to be passing. The engineering trains were hauled by ZSR diesels and no Ukrainian locomotive was seen. Košice depot is thought to have some 1524mm-gauge locomotives for working the line, which may or may not have interchangeable bogies. BLN 738.0248] Belfast Central - Belfast Yorkgate: (BLN 697.01, 701.01) The Belfast harbour link across the new bridge should be available for use by empty stock in October 1994, but regular passenger trains are not expected until December, or possibly January 1995. The Irish Traction Group may run a railtour from Dublin to Larne and Antrim on Saturday 19 November. Confirmation and further details would be welcome. (LCGB Bulletin, 8/94) BLN 738.0249][IE] Irish mail: The first TPO in Ireland ran on the Dublin - Cork route on 1 January 1855, but the Irish post office, An Post, transferred all mail traffic to road transport at the beginning of January 1994, and the final runs in service of the overnight Dublin - Cork and Dublin - Galway Travelling Post Offices were on the night of 21 January 1994. BLN 738.0250][IE] Manulla Jn - Ballina: Iarnród Éireann cancelled over 40 passenger services on the Ballina branch during May and June 1994, allegedly due to shortage of train-crew. A freight train carrying timber from Ballina to Waterford on Fridays and Tuesdays appears to be given priority. Even on 29 July, the busy Friday preceding the Irish August Bank Holiday weekend, all four branch passenger workings were cancelled. Local authorities and business groups have complained to both Irish Rail and the Minister of Transport about the unreliable service to County Mayo's largest town. (The Western People, 3 August 1994) BLN 738.0251][GB][FR][BE] Eurostar route kilometres: Distances, compiled from various sources, and therefore provisional and perhaps only approximate, are summarised below. A sight of authoritative documentation confirming or revising any or all of the figures would be welcome. km point-to-point route km route km London Waterloo International 000.0 000.0 Tunnel project notional kilometric base point 101.58 101.6 101.6 Continental Junction 6.37 108.0 108.0 Railtrack/Eurotunnel signalling boundary 1.79 109.7 109.7 British portal of running tunnel north 1.84 111.6 111.6 Midpoint of British crossover in tunnel 17.1 128.7 128.7 Midpoint of French crossover in tunnel 17.6 146.3 146.3 French portal of tunnel 15.8 162.1 162.1 Eurotunnel/SNCF boundary 0.4 162.5 162.5 Lille-Europe 103.8 266.3 266.3 SNCF/SNCB boundary 14.6 280.9 Bruxelles Midi/Brussel Zuid 92.6 373.5 TGV-Haute Picardie 98.8 365.1 Vémars (LGV Jonction triangle) 96.5 461.6 Gonesse (south end of LGV Nord-Europe) 14.3 475.9 Paris Nord 15.7 491.6 BLN 738.0252][FR, BE] Hautmont avoiding line (Sous-le-Bois - Feignies): (BLN 707.02; Ball 16A3; McDougall F23; SNCB Table 96(C)) Summer weekend trains to the Belgian coast via this east-to-north curve ran in 1994 from Maubeuge in France (depart 0714, return 2217), not calling between there and Quévy just inside Belgium. Trains 8953 and 8983 were hauled by an SNCB diesel locomotive, with the empty stock working from the Charleroi direction to Maubeuge, and back at night. BLN 738.0253][FR] Guingamp - Paimpol: (Ball 20A2-20B3) CFTA provide the passenger service on this 36km branch of SNCF's Réseau Breton, linking the Rennes - Brest main line to the north coast of Brittany. One-person-operated railcars are used, with the driver issuing, but not checking, the tickets. In mid-August 1994 the branch train was full both ways, though similar CFTA railcars on the sister branch striking inland south-westwards towards Carhaix seemed rather less busy. BLN 738.0254][FR] (Limoges -) Busseau-sur-Creuse - Felletin: (BLN 732.023; Ball 46A1-54A3) Only on Sundays can an out-and-back journey be made in the same day from the junction down the SNCF's 36km Felletin branch, already noted as having a sparse service. On 28 August 1994 an X2500-series railcar worked the trains. Timber traffic still uses the branch, formerly a through cross-country route to Ussel. BLN 738.0255][BE] (Anderlues -) Lobbes - Thuin: (Ball 8A1-8B1) This preserved interurban tramway historique provides a typical example of the once-extensive Belgian Vicinal system. Like the recently-closed line between Anderlues and La Louvière, it has both rural and street-running sections. From Lobbes to Thuin is only 5km, but a ride of about twice that distance is possible on the first and last trams of the day, which run from and to the depot at Anderlues, where the preserved line joins the remaining tram route from Charleroi. (The 1223 tram from Charleroi Sud connects with the 1300 SuO Anderlues - Lobbes - Thuin.) The preserved trams run only on Sundays and holidays between May and mid-October. Motorists therefore tend to park across the usually-deserted rails, but the tram crew are assiduous in tracking down drivers and getting errant vehicles removed! The line provides a vintage ride of great character. BLN 738.0256][NL] Goes - Oudelande: (Ball 3A1) The South Beveland Railway Company (Spoorweg Maatschappij Zuid Beveland) opened a small system of standard-gauge lines, centred on the town of Goes, on 18 May 1927, comprising two branches lying to the north of the NS Roosendaal - Vlissingen line, to Wolphaartsdijkse Veer and to Wemeldinge, and a Goes - Hoedekenskerke - Oudelande - Borsele - Nieuwdorp loop to the south. Passenger services lasted only until 1933, except between Goes and Hoedekenskerke, where passenger trains operated until 1947. The northern branches closed entirely in 1942. Expansion came in 1967 when a freight line opened from Nieuwdorp to an industrial complex at Sloehaven. (The first BLS Netherlands railtour visited this branch in 1989.) The southern loop closed in 1971, but in 1972 a tourist train commenced between Goes and Oudelande and continues as the Stoomtrein Goes-Borsele. The steam train does not run into the NS station at Goes, but starts from a halt a short distance down the branch. Carriages are a mixture of vintage Netherlands and Belgian stock. Steam locomotives include a US-built ex-PKP tank engine, similar to the Southern Railway USA class. BLN 738.0257][DE] (Hamburg -) Schwarzenbek - Büchen - Schwanheide - Ludwigslust (- Berlin): (BLN 734.0164; Ball 18A2-19A2) An 80km section of main line, single track since 1945 because it crossed the 'west-east' border, has been rebuilt and restored as double track. (LCGB Bulletin, 8/94) BLN 738.0258][DE] Helmstedt - Grasleben - Weferlingen - Haldensleben: (Ball 27B2) Lying just north of the (Braunschweig -) Helmstedt - Marienborn (- Berlin) main line, this secondary route was severed between Grasleben in the British Zone and Weferlingen in the Soviet Zone in 1945, so it was not mentioned in BLN 734.0164. A sand-extraction company, using its own resources, has restored and reopened for freight traffic the short closed section of the line between the ends of the two branches. There are plans for a Braunschweigische Landesmuseumseisenbahn (BLME) tourist passenger service. (Op de Rails, 6/94) BLN 738.0259][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: (BLN 725.057; Ball 32A2) With the temporary diversion of S-Bahn trains on to the parallel main-line (Fernbahn) tracks to allow refurbishment of the cross-city Stadtbahn viaduct, the stations of Tiergarten, Bellevue and Jannowitzbrücke, which have no Fernbahn platforms, are to close from September 1994 till spring 1996. Eastbound trains only will call at a temporary platform at Hackescher Markt (formerly Marx-Engels-Platz). In mid-June 1994 work began on equipping the Fernbahn track between Alexanderplatz and Hauptbahnhof with the necessary third rail. From 29 May 1994 Hohenschönhausen was renamed Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, since long-distance as well as local services call. On the soon-to-be-reopened Kremmbahn line to Tegel (BLN 726.069), three stations also received new names: Berlin-Reinickendorf became Alt-Reinickendorf, Wittenau (Kremm Bahn) became Karl-Bonhoeffer-Klinik, and Eichbornstrasse became Eichborndamm. With the discontinuance of route S86, the curve from the Stadtbahn to the Nordring at Ostkreuz lost its regularly timetabled passenger service, though two workings to and from Friedrichsfelde depot do carry passengers over this section. Trials with electro-diesel operation began on 2 May, using S-Bahn sets fitted by AEG-Hennigsdorf with an auxiliary diesel engine in one trailer. Scheduled service began from 30 May 1994, working through as route S19 from Oranienburg on to the Birkenwerder - Hennigsdorf section, where there is overhead wiring but no third rail. On 17 June engineering problems on 485/885 114, one of the two Duo-S-Bahn sets, temporarily halted the trials, perhaps till August, and service reverted to a Birkenwerder - Hennigsdorf shuttle formed with two electric locomotives and coaches. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 4/94) BLN 738.0260][DE] Lines with battery railcars: (BLN 715.07, 723.029, 733.0155-6) DB are said to be planning withdrawal of Class 515 Akkutriebwagen from services as follows: Wanne-Eickel - Herne - Castrop-Rauxel Süd - Dortmund Ball 34A3-34B3 KBS419 July 1994 Oberhausen - Bottrop - Dorsten - Coesfeld Ball 38A3-24A1 KBS424 September 1994 Oberhausen - Duisburg-Meiderich Süd Ball 33A3 KBS447 February 1995 Mülheim-Styrum - D-Meiderich Süd - Duisburg-Ruhrort Ball 33A3 KBS448 'when line is closed, probably in May 1995' Gelsenkirchen - Wanne-Eickel - Bochum Ball 34A3-34B3 KBS428 May 1995 However, the brief report in Today's Railways for August-September 1994 confuses the western end-points of the KBS447 and KBS448 services, so it is not clear beyond doubt which of the two lines is being threatened with closure next May. It seems likely that neither of them has a secure future. BLN 738.0261][DE] Linz (Rhein) - Kalenborn: (Ball 48A3) DB plan to close this freight-only branch which clambers up the steep east bank of the river Rhein, and may redeploy its specially-low-geared Class 213 locomotives to Erfurt, for the inclines north of Schleusingen to Suhl and Rennsteig (Ball 52B3). Further south, on the west bank (Ball 48B2), the attractive Boppard - Emmelshausen passenger branch, the other line with Class 213, is to have them replaced by Class 215, thus retaining operation by locomotives rather than railcars. (Today's Railways, August-September 1994) BLN 738.0262][IT] Roman suburban: (BLN 726.070; Ball 52B3-52A3) After many years of relative neglect of suburban traffic, FS began a regular-interval S-Bahn-type service on 29 May 1994. Line FM1 runs every 20 minutes Monterotondo - Roma Tiburtina - Fiumicino, and FM2 every 30 minutes Roma Tiburtina - Guidonia. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 4/94) BLN 738.0263][AT] Salzburg: (Ball 72B2) Salzburger Verkehrsbetriebe (SVB), who operate the 25km line from Salzburg to Lamprechtshausen, and now also the 9km Bürmoos - Trimmelkam section formerly run by Stern und Hafferl, are putting their Salzburg Lokalbahn station underground. (LCGB Bulletin, 8/94) BLN 738.0264][AT] Salzburg - Bischofshofen: (Ball 73A1-81B3) Additional evidence of ÖBB's present substantial investment in civil-engineering was another cut-off seen partially complete in August 1994, comprising new alignment south of Pfarrwerfen (not yet in use), a new bridge at Bischofshofen (one of its tracks in use, linked to the old alignment) and a new tunnel (already in use). BLN 738.0265][AT] Zell-am-See - Krimml: (Ball 81A3-80B3) It looks as though a deviation is intended between Bruckberg-Golfplatz and Fürth-Kaprun, to straighten out one of the many curves on the ÖBB's 760mm-gauge Pinzgauerbahn. BLN 738.0266][NO] (Trondheim -) Skansen - Lerkendal - Leangen (- Hell): (Ball 5A2) An alternative way to go to Hell is this route via Tyholt tunnel, whereby a train can leave Trondheim in a southerly direction and at Leangen rejoin the main line heading east and north. It is used throughout by only one working in the current timetable - train 430/433 (Steinkjer -) 0753 Trondheim - Steinkjer. BLN 738.0267][NO] (Oslo -) Ski - Moss - Sarpsborg (- Kornsjø NSB - Göteborg SJ): (Ball 21A3; McDougall Y2) NSB are doubling the Ski - Moss section, with several substantial deviations including new tunnels immediately south of Ski. The Sarpsborg avoiding line, an east-to-south curve shown in the Ball atlas as due to open in 1994-95, had track in place in August 1994 but was blocked to traffic at both ends, for overhead wiring and signalling were still to be completed. Presumably freight usage is intended. Since the present through passenger trains from Oslo all make calls at Moss, Frederikstad and Sarpsborg, they seem unlikely to be diverted via the alternative Mysen route and then the new curve. The Ski - Mysen - Sarpsborg loop has only a minimal passenger service south of Mysen. BLN 738.0268][NO] Oslo: (Ball 28A2) The old Holmenkollbane (600V dc overhead) and the newer Tunnelbane (750V dc third-rail) rapid-transit systems of the city transport authority, Oslo Sporveier (= 'tramways'), have now been fully linked at the underground station of Stortinget (= 'the Parliament') in the city centre. T-bane trains run through between Bergkrystallen in the south-east to Sognsvann in the north-west, and the HKB overhead wires on the Majorstuen - Sognsvann section have been dismantled. Cross-city working is popular and may be extended. Other changes on the former HKB lines include a turning-loop at Kolsås, the westernmost branch terminus. Just east of Jar, about halfway out along this branch, OS tram route #10 joins the HKB line, and at night the trams provide a service to Kolsås. Being single-ended like most European trams, they need a loop to turn, unlike the double-ended single cars of the HKB. BLN 738.0269][FI] Humppila - Minkiö - Jokioinen: (Ball 16B1) The 750mm-gauge Jokioisten Museorautatie (= 'museum railway') is 14km long since the section from Humppila to Minkiö reopened on 5 June 1994. The Minkiö - Jokioinen section of the old Humppila - Forssa line, closed in 1974, has run as a preserved steam railway for some years, but it now has a link to the 1524mm-gauge VR (Finnish State Railway) at Humppila. (LCGB Bulletin, 8/94) BLN 738.0270][CZ] Liberec: (Ball 36A1) The tramways of this northern Czech town, like those of Stuttgart, seem in the course of conversion from metre-gauge to standard, with much mixed-gauge track laid. Only the northern section seemed to be operating in July 1994, with the southern section past the station out of use for extensive rebuilding. The interesting interurban line from Liberec to Jablonec (single-track, mostly not on public roads) appears unaffected. BLN 738.0271][HK] Hong Kong - Chek Lap Kok airport: The proposed 34km Hong Kong Airport Railway which is to serve the Crown Colony's controversial and enormously expensive new airport on Lantau island, one of the largest construction projects in the world, is to have two very large underground stations, five other stations and an immersed-tube cross-harbour tunnel. The line will be run by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (operators of Hong Kong's existing 1500V dc underground MTR) rather than the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (which runs the 25kV 50Hz main line to the Chinese border, and the light-rail North-West Railway at Tuen Mun). A recent advertisement offered £70k/year to a resident engineer, with experience of ac power supplies, overhead line systems and dc rail traction, to help manage the project. BLN 738.0272][JP] Hokkaido: Japan's railway system is not all 250km/h bullet-trains and station staff pushing commuters into already full suburban units. Japan Rail Hokkaido, faced with northern winters, relatively sparse population and distance from the capital, has a more difficult time, even though its physical isolation ended with the opening of the 53.85km Seikan tunnel, the world's longest, in March 1988. The only through passenger services from Tokyo are overnight sleepers on the 1067mm gauge, taking 16 hours to Sapporo, not much of a commercial challenge to the 33 daily return flights to Hokkaido's main airport, Chitose, 25 of them using high-density Boeing 747 aircraft. The proposed extension of the high-speed 1435mm-gauge shinkansen network through the tunnel is not yet in prospect. The island has had widespread line closures, and parts of its mostly unelectrified 2720km network are still threatened. One of these is the Shinmei line from Fukugawa to Nayoro, with 19 intermediate stations and only one train a day each way which covers its whole 122km length. The population it serves is declining, one small town having fallen from 12,000 people in 1960 to 2600 in 1990. Japan's record low temperature of -41.2°C was measured here, and the difficulties of operating in severe winter snow conditions compound the line's dire unprofitability. Hokkaido's snow is an asset as well as a liability, however. Ski trains, including special express dmus with double-deck cars, now ply from the Chitose airport branch, opened in 1981, and serve a number of winter-sports resorts, showing satisfying increases in patronage. (Bullet-In, Japanese Railway Society, June 1994) BLN 738.0273][AR] Buenos Aires: A private company, Tren de la Costa, is converting 15.5km of railway from Borges to Delta, along the estuary to the north-west of the city, into a standard-gauge rapid-transit line, electrified at 1500V dc, and has ordered nine 30m-long powered vehicles from the Spanish manufacturer CAF for delivery in October 1994, with a view to beginning operations around the end of 1994. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 4/94) BLN 738.0274][FR] Dieppe: (BLN 737.0225; Ball 13B2) Stena Sealink say their ships began to use the Terminal Nouveau Port on Thursday 4 August 1994. The new ferry terminal is on the eastern side of the harbour, away from the railway line, and is further out to sea, allowing the ferry operator to use larger vessels and to have reclaimed land laid out to give less cramped road access and vehicle-marshalling space, but at the cost of having to run a shuttle bus for foot-passengers to and from the boats. In late August this bus service was operating between the new ferry terminal and Dieppe Maritime station (as indeed was stated in the Guide Régional des Transports - Haute Normandie), and was not making the connection with the Paris boat trains at Dieppe (Ville) station. Trains on the Dieppe Maritime branch thus not only escaped withdrawal at the May 1994 timetable change, but seem to be continuing. Will they survive the end of the summer timetable in September? BLN 739.0275][IE] Dublin Connolly - Newcomen Jn - Glasnevin Jn: (PSUL summer 1994, p.15) An increased service to Maynooth began on 16 May 1994. Only the four workings booked to use Platform 7 at Connolly (the 0708 and 1705 Maynooth - Connolly and the 0803 and 1800 Connolly - Maynooth) are able to run via Newcomen Jn, though they may in practice use the more normal route via North Strand Jn. Observations of the routes these trains actually use would be welcome. BLN 739.0276][IE] Limerick - Ennis: (BLN 736.094) Iarnród Éireann's daily passenger trains to and from Ennis are all short workings except the weekday evening train which runs through from Dublin. The working timetable times are given below. Mon-Sat Mon-Sat Sun Mon-Sat Mon-Sat Sun empty passenger passenger passenger empty passenger 1735 Dublin Heuston 0630 1940-1950 1610 Limerick 0810 2120 1800 0710 2030 1650 Ennis 0730 2040 1720 BLN 739.0277][FR] Motteville - St.Valéry-en-Caux: (Ball 13A2) Passenger trains are replaced by buses, apparently for the duration of the SNCF winter timetable, due to engineering works. BLN 739.0278][BE] Brussel/Bruxelles: (Ball 10B1) On Sunday 11 September 1994 train EC48, the 0748 Dortmund Hbf - Oostende, departed from Brussel Zuid/Bruxelles Midi via Klein Eiland/Petite Île (Lijn/Ligne 50A/1) rather than the usual main-line exit. BLN 739.0279][DE] Bergen (Rügen) - Putbus - Lauterbach: (Ball 13B2; KBS198) Just north of Putbus station, a concrete overbridge remains which once carried the 750mm-gauge Pommern Landesbahnen line from Altefähr to Putbus (closed by DR since 1962) across the standard gauge Lauterbach branch. Through journeys on the narrow gauge from Altefähr to Göhren required a reversal at Putbus. The line from Putbus to Göhren (KBS199) still has steam traction, and is now a tourist operation under the brand-name Rasende Roland. There is no freight activity at Lauterbach. The line that appears to go down to the harbour stops short of affording transhipment facilities and is no more than a long headshunt. The two refrigerator wagons that appeared to be in a private siding alongside the station were on closer inspection in spring 1994 seen to be more or less permanent fixtures. BLN 739.0280][DE] Hannover Messebahnhof: (BLN 702.09; Ball 26B2 (not shown); McDougall G11) Trains run to the Messebf at times other than the main spring trade fairs. On 4 September 1994 a train arrived in Köln Hbf at about 2030 with all coaches plated Sonderzug Köln - Hannover Messebf und zurück. BLN 739.0281][DE] Salzwedel - Stendal: (BLN 709.07; Ball 18B1-28A3; KBS303) Due to engineering works between Brunau-Packebusch and Kläden, buses replace trains from August 1994 to the end of April 1995. Because of this blockage buses also replace trains between Hohenwulsch and Kalbe (KBS307). (IBSE Telegramm, 9/94) BLN 739.0282][DE] Hannover - Stendal - Berlin: (Ball 28A3-28B3) Because of engineering works for the Hannover - Berlin Schnellfahrstrecke the following lines are at present interrupted (unterbrochen): Gardelegen - Letzlingen (freight-only); Stendal - Borstel; Schönhausen - Sandau; and the Gohrener Damm connecting curve near Schönhausen. These lines may not return to service. The new works are progressing fast in the provinces of Niedersachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt. The new river Elbe bridge at Hämerten and the connecting flyover works for the southern avoiding line at Stendal are practically complete. Work in Brandenburg, from about Gross-Wudicke eastward, has by contrast barely begun. (IBSE Telegramm, 9/94) BLN 739.0283][DE] Berlin: (Ball 31A3) At the timetable change in May 1995 the Nauen - Bredow -Wustermark line is to be closed to all traffic. At the same time single-line working of IC trains (and maybe also regional trains) will begin via Albrechtshof, with diesel traction. (IBSE Telegramm, 9/94) BLN 739.0284][DE] Wuppertal: (Ball 34A1-34B1) Since withdrawal of the sparse passenger service to Wuppertal-Wichlinghausen, the sections of line between Dornap-Hahnenfurt and Wuppertal-Varresbeck and between Wuppertal-Heubruch and Wuppertal-Wichlinghausen have closed. Heubruch remains connected to the Köln - Hagen main line by the link from Wuppertal-Vohwinkel to Wuppertal-Varresbeck (not Wuppertal-Lüntenbeck as shown in Ball). The freight connection from the main line at Wuppertal-Oberbarmen to Wuppertal-Wichlinghausen also remains open. This was traversed 'unadvertised' by a railtour on 4 September 1994, demonstrating the advantage of having a tour organiser who is also booked to drive the train! Wichlinghausen station was located in the fork of the erstwhile passenger line and that used by the railtour, and track was still in place at the former passenger platforms. Track also continued northwards in the direction of Hiddinghausen, though the map distributed to tour passengers indicated this line to be closed. BLN 739.0285][DE] Halle - Bitterfeld: (Ball 42B3) From 24 July 1994 to the timetable change in May 1995 the Halle - Bitterfeld line will be completely closed, with all trains diverted via the Delitzsch curve or via Köthen. (IBSE Telegramm, 9/94) BLN 739.0286][DE] Northern Bavaria freight closures?: With effect from 25 September 1994, DB in northern Bavaria cancelled all contracts for traffic to and from customers on the freight-only branches around Würzburg, Nürnberg and Passau. This could result in a number of line closures. (IBSE Telegramm, 9/94) BLN 739.0287][CH] Lausanne-Gare CFF - Lausanne-Flon: (Ball 91A1) One of the world's shortest complete railways (that is, 'serious' railways, excluding things like miniature lines for amusement only) is this Swiss urban rack line, whose length is quoted at 296m in the Swiss timetable for 1993-94, though it appeared as 318m in SBB's Schienennetz Schweiz in 1980. BLN 739.0288][CH] Andermatt - Goschenen: (Ball 94A1) Perhaps too short to be shown in the Ball atlas is a freight-only branch of the metre-gauge Furka-Oberalp Bahn. Seen from an FO train descending from Andermatt and approaching Goschenen, the branch leaves the passenger line to the right, passing over the mouth of the SBB Gotthard tunnel to reach quarry works to the east of the Gotthardbahn, roughly level with the SBB/FO passenger station. SBB serve the site also, with standard-gauge sidings reached by using the headshunt inside the more easterly of the two Gotthard tunnel portals. BLN 739.0289][AT] Leoben Donawitz - Leoben Göss: (Ball 74B1) The west-to-south curve off the Vordernberg branch has been partially dismantled, perhaps due to realignment of the main line west of Leoben Hbf. BLN 739.0290][AT] Wien: (BLN 735.0191; Ball 77A3) On the line between Wien Nord and Floridsdorf a new station is being built which also has low-level platforms on the west bank of the river Donau, suggesting that S-Bahn service S45 is to be extended south from Floridsdorfer Brücke. BLN 739.0291][AT] Peggau - Übelbach: (Ball 83B3-83A3) This 11km standard-gauge branch near Graz is operated by the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen. Although electrified at 15kV 16²/3 Hz and entirely lacking street-running, it has some characteristics of a tramway, such as frequent request stops. The railcars used on the service are second-hand and ancient. One in regular use dates from 1936 and has clearly seen better days. As it lurches away from stops, with much moaning and groaning, passengers settle back into seats where the springs are almost through the covers. Perhaps the external dirt assists in holding the bodywork together. This is all in great contrast to the modern diesel units now found on most ÖBB country branch lines, to say nothing of the double-deck push-pull trains operated out of Graz by the Graz-Köflacher Eisenbahn. BLN 739.0292][AT] Austrian branch closures?: Several recent visitors have found no evidence of any imminent line closures in Austria, though with a general election scheduled for early October 1994 this is hardly surprising. Many of the passenger lines listed in BLN 716.021 as being threatened are in fact operated with new diesel trains, and there is evidence of other recent investment. Perhaps the most likely to close is ÖBB's 760mm-gauge Wieselburg an der Erlauf - Ober Grafendorf line (BLN 735.0190; Ball 74B3-75A3), which is diesel-operated, little-used and runs through countryside that is unremarkable by Austrian standards. Other Austrian narrow-gauge lines would seem to have a reasonably secure future as tourist operations, even if not worked by ÖBB. BLN 739.0293][CZ] Tanvald - Harrachov CD (- Jakuszyce PKP): (BLN 737.0241; Ball 36A1) At the end of the steep 12km rack-equipped branch from Tanvald, the station at Harrachov is sited high on a hillside with only one or two houses nearby, and the village quite a way below in the valley. It seems odd that anyone would want to build a terminating branch line to this location. However, Harrachov station has a through layout, and the track beyond continues round the hillside, though heavily overgrown. Though Quail is not the only map to show the erstwhile cross-border link from the Czech Republic into Poland branching off the Harrachov line at Korenov, older maps suggest that the link went through Harrachov itself. Perhaps the Korenov - Jakuszyce line was a deliberate fiction, or a simple error, which appeared in one source and has been perpetuated in others. BLN 739.0294][SK] Zvolen: (BLN 737.0245; Ball 42B2) The north-to-east curve avoiding the main station was used by the overnight trains from Poland through Slovakia to Hungary in 1993-94, but the equivalent workings in the ZSR 1994-95 timetable (1130 Szczecin Glowny - Budapest-Keleti and 1920 return) both call at Zvolen osobná stanica and reverse there. BLN 739.0295][UA] Ukraine: An Enfield Expeditions charter train toured Ukraine and Moldova in September 1994, accompanied as is usual by a BLS inspection team. The ex-Soviet republic is very large, with an extensive network of 1524mm Russian-gauge lines, and a few narrow-gauge routes. Most long-distance passenger trains within the country travel by night, often as rakes of 18 to 20 coaches, all seemingly fully booked. Local services are slow and generally extremely crowded. The local police, true to their Soviet tradition and perhaps also mindful of the not very settled political situation, can sometimes be very touchy about railway photography, even of the numerous dumps of rusty steam hulks supposedly retained as a strategic reserve. BLN 739.0296][MD] Moldova: (Ball 50B2) Lying between Ukraine and Romania, this small ex-Soviet republic (also known as Moldavia) has sparse and very crowded passenger services, run with rolling-stock not in the best state of repair. The Moldovans say they got a poor deal when the assets of the former Soviet Railways (SZD) were shared out among the USSR's successor republics. Ungheni is the frontier point between Moldova's 1524mm Russian-gauge tracks and Romania's 1435mm standard-gauge, where bogies are changed each day on the through Moskva - Bucuresti and Moskva - Sofia passenger trains, as well as a number of freights from Russia to Romania and Bulgaria. At Ungheni one of the Enfield charter train's coaches was re-bogied before going on a trip, hauled by a leaking steam locomotive and an assisting diesel, around some of the dual-gauge lines in the station area, which have four rails interlaced. BLN 739.0297][AU] Queensland: It seems from the Queensland Railways 1994 timetable that January or March 1995 may see the closure of the famous Normanton - Croydon line, where an elderly railbus runs weekly on an isolated 152km section of 1067mm-gauge track in the outback, where the roads are subject to flooding. Also said to be threatened are parts of Queensland's main 1067mm-gauge network: Kuranda - Forsayth, Charleville - Cunnamilla and Charleville - Quilpie. (IBSE Telegramm, 9/94) BLN 740.0298] Timetables on disk and on line: Having increased the price of their diskette to £46.70, nearly seven times the cost of the paperback version, poor BR's marketing subsidiary, TRMC, may be struggling to sell many copies of the 1994-95 Journey Planner for Windows timetable software before its validity expires on 27 May 1995. Call 0800-526306 with your credit-card number if you're not put off. The Belgian and German railways also sell their timetables on diskette, but the real potential of computerised timetable information probably lies in its becoming available worldwide on the Internet rather than on individual diskettes. An interactive journey planner for the London Underground can already be used 'free' by anyone with access to the World Wide Web, where there are also good graphics of the Underground map (still showing Aldwych, though, in the first week of October!) and of southern England's main-line railways. Gricing the Web may before long become the essential preliminary to planning an international railway journey, once more timetables are available on-line. From 29 September 1994, the complete Finnish Railways timetable is available on the World Wide Web at "http://www.hut.fi/~ovr/VR.html". Any questions about this Finnish facility may be e-mailed to "ovr@snakemail.hut.fi". What other useful railway pages are there on the Web? BLN 740.0299][GB, IE] Foyle Valley Railway: (BLN 717.01, 718.04) The Foyle Valley Railway is based at Londonderry, on the site of the former Great Northern Railway of Ireland station on the west bank of the river Foyle, where the preservation group and the city council, with EU financial assistance, have created an attractive small museum and station. Trips are offered on the line using beautifully restored County Donegal Joint railcar no.18. Since this vehicle is single-ended, a Simplex diesel locomotive, attached by a long aircraft-style tow-bar, is taken along on the southbound journey to tow the railcar home northwards! The track traversed on 17 September 1994 appeared a bit shorter than the 3km quoted in BLN 718.04 (Irish km perhaps...), but the plans to take the line forward a few km more across the border to Carrigans in County Donegal seem credible. The 914mm-gauge track does not follow exactly the former 1600mm-gauge GNR(I) main-line trackbed, being diverted closer to the shore at one point. BLN 740.0300][IE] Bellacorick, County Mayo: Ireland's Bord na Móna, the nationalised industry responsible for commercial exploitation of peat in the Republic, began in July and August 1994 offering guided tours by rail round a bog near the Nephin mountains in northern Mayo, showing not only their own operations but local flora and fauna, pleasant scenery and Ireland's first wind-farm. The Bellacorick Bog Train, using a narrow-gauge diesel locomotive and an original, attractively-restored carriage from the closed West Clare Railway, has been "an outstanding success.....with 3,000 visitors" in the six weeks of running, according to a spokeswoman for Bord na Móna, who "intend to continue and expand the venture in the 1995 season". (The Western People, 7 September 1994) BLN 740.0301][IE] Cork - Glounthane - Cobh: Glounthane became from 27 August 1994 the new name for Iarnród Éireann's station at Cobh Junction, the point of divergence of the Cobh and Youghal lines. (Cork Examiner, 28 August 1994) BLN 740.0302][GB, FR] Eurotunnel's Le Shuttle overture: Eurotunnel wrote to shareholders on 22 September inviting them to take a £30 (FRF250) round-trip on the car-carrying tourist-shuttle trains during the reservations-only "pre-operational proving-trials" period from 3 October to 15 November 1994, describing this as the "overture service". The definitive "turn-up-and-go" Le Shuttle service for cars and motorcycles will follow, but will not take bicycles, vehicles over 1.85m high, or vehicles towing caravans or trailers until sufficient single-deck shuttle-train capacity is available, perhaps around March 1995. BLN 740.0303][FR] Dieppe - Serqueux: (Ball 13B2-14A2) Through trains to Paris once used this line, which now seems out of use over most of its length, though the rusting double track seems intact. SNCF buses operate a passenger service, connecting with a few Paris-bound trains at Serqueux and more at Gisors. BLN 740.0304][FR] Dunkerque: (Ball 6B3) The town station has three terminal platform roads numbered 1, 2 and 3 and one through road, no 4. Platforms 2, 3 and 4 have two faces. In late 1993 an illuminated station name-board on platform 4 still urged passengers for England to remain on the train - a relic of the withdrawn connecting service to the overnight train-ferry - but by spring 1994 the sign had been removed. Latterly the Paris - Dunkerque boat train used to reverse in Dunkerque (Ville) station, where the electric locomotive was detached and a diesel came on to take the through portion via Grande-Synthe and Courghain to the (new) train-ferry berth at Dunkerque Maritime (Port Ouest). Where exactly was the (old) train-ferry berth before the creation of Port Ouest, and in order to reach it what shunting movements were needed by the erstwhile Night Ferry through sleepers from Paris and Bruxelles to London, and the boat-train services for foot passengers joining the ferry? The line from Platform 4 at Dunkerque (Ville) continues for freight only, heading north, then west via Dunkerque-Dunes and south to Grande-Synthe, where it rejoins the passenger line to Calais. Grande-Synthe was a triangular junction but the north-to-east curve shown in Ball has been lifted. The line north-west from the junction at Dunkerque-Dunes Poste F still serves some private sidings, but was severed as a through route into the steelworks about 1992. The steelworks and its sidings are now accessible only from Poste 8 (bifurcation de Puyt-Houck) between Courghain and Loon-Plage. At Dunkerque Maritime (Port Ouest) a short section of the former passenger line is out of use, as are the tracks in the passenger platforms, and access to the freight train-ferry berth and other sidings is now only through the small yard called Faisceau de Loon. BLN 740.0305][FR] Vendée coast: (Ball 42A3) In 1970 SNCF passenger service on the 87km line south from Nantes via Ste.Pazanne and Challans to Croix-de-Vie-St.Gilles became seasonal, and passenger trains ceased on the alternative route heading west for 54km from La Roche-sur-Yon via Aizenay and Coëx, joining the Nantes line at the east-facing junction of Commequiers, 13km before terminating at the popular coastal resort. The seasonal Nantes - Croix-de-Vie-St.Gilles trains had an allowance of ten minutes to reverse at Commequiers, but when all-year passenger service resumed, from 27 September 1982, a new north-to-west curve there allowed through-running, as shown in the Ball atlas. Commequiers station was kept for freight only, accessed from the north, and the east-to-west chord was abandoned. In August 1994 the line east from Commequiers towards Coëx, heavily rusted and overgrown with weeds, was still in place, though it closed to all traffic from 1 February 1971, and is therefore not shown in Ball. BLN 740.0306][FR] Cahors - Cajarc (- Capdenac): (Ball 61B2-62A2) A railcar labelled Quercyrail operates a train touristique on the 45km Cahors - Cajarc section, and is the sole passenger service on this attractive SNCF line along the valley of the river Lot. Fairly permanent-looking metal signs by the level-crossing in Cajarc advertise it, giving (00 33) 65 35 09 56 as the number to call for information. According to the train crew on 7 August 1994, a FRF150 (= £18) day trip departed Cahors at 0900 on summer Saturdays and Sundays for Cajarc, with a boat cruise on the river there before returning by rail at about 1545. Other shorter trips ran during the week. At Cajarc the line to Capdenac, 25km to the east, seemed out of use. BLN 740.0307][NL] (Geldermalsen -) Kesteren - Nijmegen: (BLN 694.09, 706.06; Ball 4B2) The west-to-south side of the triangle near Elst, between Vork and Ressen-Bemmel junctions, avoids Elst station and allows through running between Geldermalsen and Nijmegen. NS officially closed this curve to all services in May 1990, but it has been traversed from time to time since. In mid-September 1994, it appeared to have seen recent traffic. Information on the use of the curve, particularly any planned future use, would be welcome. Is it being electrified along with the Geldermalsen - Kesteren - Elst line? BLN 740.0308][DE] Grunow: (Ball 30B2) "Die Kurve Grunow" - presumably the west-to-south curve avoiding Grunow (Niederlausitz) station - was removed in June or July 1994. (IBSE Telegramm, September 1994) BLN 740.0309][DE] Kassel: (Ball 40A2) Mixed working of trams and trains will introduce regular passenger services to the Kassel-Naumburger Eisenbahn from May 1995. (IBSE Telegramm, September 1994) BLN 740.0310][CH] Luzern - Emmenbrücke - Lenzburg: (Ball 93B3-87B1) This standard-gauge SBB line has an hourly service using conventional railway stock, which sets out from Luzern along the main line to Basel. At its first stop, Emmenbrücke, the train reverses (the junction faces north, not south as shown in Ball) and takes to a single track by the roadside, with some quite brisk running close to the highway traffic. The considerable amounts of freight which use the line must enhance its economic viability. BLN 740.0311][CH] Luzern - Stans - Engelberg: (Ball 93B3-93B2) The Luzern Stans Engelberg Bahn has considerable commuter traffic at its inner end, where it shares from Luzern to Hergeswil the metre-gauge tracks of the SBB Luzern - Brünig - Interlaken line. Southwards the LSE has a steep rack section, as also has the SBB line where it crosses the scenic Brünig pass. Both are well worth travelling. BLN 740.0312][FI] Finnish reopenings?: VR are said to have ordered from their own workshops at Pieksämäki 31 diesel railbuses to replace loco-hauled local trains and allow reopening to passengers of six lines: Ball atlas reference Ball atlas reference Kemijärvi - Salla (4B2) Kokemäki - Rauma (16B2-16A1) Nurmes - Kontiomäki - Taivalkoski (10A1-10A3-4B1) Jyväskylä - Saarijärvi (17B3-17A3) Turku - Uusikaupunki (16B1-16A1) Savonlinna - Huutokoski (18A2-18A3) (via Internet from Henrik Nilsson "e92hni@efd.lth.se") BLN 740.0313][BM] Bermuda: The Bermuda Railway operated between 1931 and 1947, from Hamilton to both St.George's and Somerset. The 36km of track included 22 steel bridges, 34 timber trestles and 44 scheduled stops. A display of Bermuda Railway memorabilia can be seen in the Bermuda Railway Museum, at the Aquarium train stop near Flatts. (Caption on local picture postcard) BLN 740.0314][ZA][MZ][ZW][ZM] Southern Africa: After savage withdrawal of South African long-distance passenger trains in the mid-1980s, Spoornet began in the 1990s restoring limited service on some of their 1065mm-gauge routes. A weekly Mossel Bay - Johannesburg passenger train began running on 18 April 1991, reopening the Mossel Bay - George - Oudtshoorn - Klipplaat - Rosmead line to passenger traffic. A weekly international Johannesburg - Bulawayo train, the Limpopo, operated with Spoornet stock, began in October 1991, restoring passenger service to the Spoornet line north from Louis Trichardt to Beit Bridge, and providing a passenger service for the first time on the Beit Bridge - Rutenga line of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. This line, which opened for freight in June 1974, was built by the then Rhodesia Railways during the sanctions era to provide a Rhodesia - South Africa rail link that did not go through Botswana or Moçambique. As already noted in BLN 725.064, the weekly passenger service on the traditional 1082km Johannesburg - Bulawayo route through Botswana ceased to operate in October 1993. On 5 August 1994 passenger service was restored on the magnificent Garden Route (Cape Town - Worcester - Mossel Bay - George - Oudtshoorn - Klipplaat - Port Elizabeth) with the Southern Cross now making the leisurely 1071km journey once a week. Though the GMAM Garratts have gone, the 1 in 36 climb over the Montagu Pass through the Outeniqua range remains dramatic - and Class 24 2-8-4 steam may perhaps still be glimpsed on the 67km coastal branch from George to Knysna. An international passenger service, withdrawn when the railways of Moçambique fell into disarray during the long civil war, is once again running the 636km from Johannesburg via Komatipoort to Moçambique's capital, the Indian Ocean port of Maputo. Spoornet's Blue Train stock, the most luxurious train in South Africa, is to work special charters from Johannesburg north on to NRZ at Beit Bridge, then via Bulawayo to Victoria Falls on the border with Zambia. (This paragraph based on Railway Gazette International, September 1994) From 5 September 1994 a new timetabled passenger service began over the famous Victoria Falls bridge: km 0930 1530 0 Livingstone (Zambia Railways) 1130? 1730 1030 1600 13 Victoria Falls (National Rlys. of Zimbabwe) 1100 1700 On Saturday 24 September the 1030 arrival at Victoria Falls comprised two bright-red Zambia Railways passenger coaches attached to a freight train. BLN 741.0315] Belfast - Larne: Due to undermining of the sea-wall near milepost 121/2, 20km out of Belfast, single-line working is in force between Carrickfergus and Whitehead from 29 August 1994 until further notice, together with a temporary timetable. (Irish Railway News, Jul-Sep 1994) BLN 741.0316] (Belfast -) Bleach Green - Antrim: (PSUL, summer 1994, p.15) Sedate progress was made through encroaching foliage by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's 30th birthday railtour from Belfast Yorkgate to Londonderry on 17 September 1994, double-headed by 4-4-0s Slieve Gullion and Merlin. The line is normally used for stock movements, but with completion shortly of the Cross-Harbour Link from Belfast Central to Yorkgate (BLN 738.0248), NIR hope to fettle it up and reopen it to passengers to give a 30-minute faster run to Antrim than the current route via Lisburn. Plans include 24km of continuous welded rail, two new passing loops, five modernised level-crossings and reopening of stations at Monkstown, Mossley and Templepatrick. (partly based on Irish Railway News, Jul-Sep 1994) BLN 741.0317] Belfast Great Victoria Street: (BLN 701.06; 718.03) Reopening of Great Victoria Street may be delayed from spring to autumn 1995. On 18 September 1994 there seemed no sign of the planned railway works at the former terminus, now a large and quite upmarket bus station, behind the city's Europa hotel. However Irish Railway News in September reported the near-completion, close to City Hospital halt, of new housing destined to replace houses lying in the path of the north-to-east chord (Westlink Jn - City Jn) which will allow through running from Great Victoria Street to Belfast Central and Bangor, and via Yorkgate to Larne. BLN 741.0318][IE] Dundalk: Iarnród Éireann have begun on a new IEP2.5 million freight depot, with a gantry container crane, at Ardee Road, and will centralise Dundalk's freight operations there. The future of the old Barrack Street goods depot is unclear. (Dundalk Democrat, 20 August 1994) Barrack Street was the terminus of the Dundalk & Enniskillen Railway, said to have opened in November 1847, so probably the station opened then too. The D&E, which made its famous 'square crossing' on the level over the Belfast - Dublin main line, was renamed the Irish North Western in 1862 and became part of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland in 1879. Some 400m short of Barrack Street terminus a through line diverged which made an end-on junction (Windmill Road Jn) with the Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway. The DN&GR's own station, Quay Street, was 400m east of Windmill Road Jn, and its building survives in commercial use (Gibson Enterprises, in 1991). Dundalk to Greenore saw its opening ceremony on Wednesday 30 April 1873, with public traffic beginning the following day. The trackbed can be readily distinguished but is now mostly so overgrown as to be unwalkable. (L&NW Railway Society Journal, June 1994) BLN 741.0319][IE] Drogheda: The elegant viaduct carrying the Dublin - Belfast main line over the river Boyne is to be floodlit. (Irish Railway News, Jul-Sep 1994) BLN 741.0320][IE] Dublin Connolly - Newcomen Jn - Glasnevin Jn: (BLN 739.0275) On 6 September 1994 the track heading from Connolly towards Newcomen Jn was shiny from recent traffic, but no train used it during the afternoon. The 1705 Maynooth - Connolly, arriving at Platform 7 as booked, and the 1800 Connolly - Maynooth, both worked by the same (new, Japanese-built) Arrow unit, went via North Strand Jn in each direction. BLN 741.0321][IE] Mullingar - Athlone: (BLN 698.62) No regular trains, passenger or freight, seem to have operated since 1991, but the line still sees the occasional special. In 1994 the RPSI steam-hauled Lough Atalia railtour ran via Moate on 14 and 15 May, and an Irish Traction Group railtour from Bray to Ballina returned this way on 21 August. (Irish Railway News, Jul-Sep 1994) BLN 741.0322][IE] Ennis - Athenry - Claremorris: (BLN 698.63, 722.016) Ennis - Gort reopened to freight on 13 January 1992, and Gort - Athenry on 5 February 1992 (3 February according to another source). The 53km Athenry - Claremorris section was physically severed for a time when rails were 'borrowed' to use on the Ballina branch, but the track is now restored and, with new full barriers now fitted at Ballindine Road level-crossing between Tuam and Claremorris, the line was to reopen with a daily freight service from 5 September 1994. (Irish Railway News, Jul-Sep 1994) BLN 741.0323][FR] Dieppe: (BLN 738.0274; Ball 13B2) Dieppe Maritime and the line thence to Dieppe (Ville), now just Dieppe, closed to passengers at the end of the summer timetable. The boat trains were withdrawn, and the departure from Paris St.Lazare, changing at Rouen for Dieppe and a bus to the overnight ferry for Newhaven is now as early as 1931. Both Dieppe and Calais now herd passengers on to buses to transfer between trains and distant car-ferries. There may be no remaining port in France where passengers get to make their own way on foot from trains to traditional ships berthed next to the station. BLN 741.0324][FR] (Limoges -) Busseau-sur-Creuse - Felletin: (BLN 738.0254; Ball 46A1-54A3) A same-day journey by rail to Felletin and back is no longer possible, according to the 1994-95 SNCF timetable. In summer 1994, a Limoges-based crew worked the trains, lodging overnight in Felletin station. Presumably this still happens. BLN 741.0325][BE][LU] Athus avoiding line: (BLN 735.0176; Ball 17B1) The new single-track Aubange - Rodange chord, avoiding Athus station, duly opened at 1600 on 25 September 1994, and now sees twenty freight trains a day. The first passenger train, a railtour from Luxembourg, was on 2 October. The junction at the Rodange end is just inside Belgium, very close to the Luxembourg frontier. BLN 741.0326][DE] Rügen narrow-gauge: (BLN 739.0279; Ball 13B2) On the German Baltic island of Rügen, the northern peninsula and the main part of the island are still in 1994 linked across the narrow strait at Wittow by two small and elderly car-ferries, the Wittow of 1895 and the Bergen of 1911, both of which, according to Cruising Monthly for October 1994, used to carry narrow-gauge rail wagons, until the rail line closed in 1968. The island's 750mm-gauge system opened as the Rügensche Kleinbahnen, in stages, complementing the 1883 standard-gauge line from Altefähr to Bergen, extended to Sassnitz in 1891: km opened closed Altefähr - Putbus 35.3 21 July 1895 ?some time after 1962 Putbus - Binz - Sellin - Göhren 24.1 4 July 1896 still open for passengers Bergen - Wittower Fähre - Fährhof - Wiek - Altenkirchen 37.9 11 October 1899 ?1968 The main access to Rügen was by ferry from Stralsund to Altefähr until 1936, when the Rügendamm causeway and bridge brought through traffic by road and by standard-gauge rail to the island, and led to the gradual decline of the narrow gauge. BLN 741.0327][DK] Århus - Frederikshavn Havn: (Ball 2B1-4B3) DSB (Danske Statsbaner, the Danish State Railways) opened a new station at Hinnerup, north of Århus towards Hadsten, and closed Frederikshavn Havn station to passengers from the beginning of the winter 1994-95 timetable. (LCGB Bulletin, 9/94) BLN 741.0328][IT] Brescia - Breno - Edolo: (Ball 42A1-42A2) Perhaps as a result of the acquisition of this Società Nazionale di Ferrovie e Tranvie line by the Ferrovie Nord Milano, engineering work including track re-laying requires that buses replace some morning and mid-day trains from 8 September 1994 until further notice. The line runs past attractive scenery, especially the lakeside stretch alongside Lago d'Iseo. BLN 741.0329][IT, VA] Vatican railtour?: (BLN 724.051) During celebrations lasting from Sunday 1 to Tuesday 3 May 1994 to mark the centenary of the line, a steam special hauled by 2-8-0 #740.436 ran from Viterbo Porta Fiorentina to Roma, and according to the CRJ report was advertised to visit the Vatican railway. What point did it reach? (Continental Railway Journal, #99, autumn 1994) BLN 741.0330][CH] Luzern - Brünig - Meiringen - Interlaken Ost - Grindelwald: (Ball 93B3-93A1) SBB's metre-gauge Brünigbahn makes an end-on junction at Interlaken Ost with the metre-gauge BOB line to Grindelwald, but through-running in recent years has been confined to specials. On 2 September 1994 however a new SBB panoramic coach, due to enter service on the Brünigbahn on 17 October, made a test run up to Grindelwald behind BOB power-car #313, so perhaps regular through workings are now envisaged. It is rumoured that SBB would like to divest itself of its sole non-standard-gauge line. The BOB (Berner Oberland Bahnen) is the favoured candidate to take over operation of the Brünigbahn, with the LSE (Luzern Stans Engelberg Bahn; see BLN 740.0311) a close second. BLN 741.0331][CH] Steam up the rack to the Rhône Glacier: (BLN 709.012; Ball 94A1-93B1) Most of the Dampfbahn Furka Bergstrecke, the preserved steam operation on the superseded Furka-Oberalp line from Realp to the mouth of the old Furka tunnel, is visible from the post-bus on the parallel steep mountain highway. Though the DFB had no advertised service on 14 September 1994, Realp shed had a tank engine in steam, the Tiefenbach passing loop had stock in it, and Furka station held another tank locomotive and stock. After passing the Rhône glacier at the top of the pass, the bus descends to Gletsch and Oberwald, following the railway much of the way. Track, including rack, is in place except for short stretches at former level-crossings. Any buildings that there were at Gletsch station have gone, and the spiral tunnel there is boarded up at both ends. Of the planned Furka - Gletsch - Oberwald restoration, the last section into Oberwald may be tricky because the old route is very close to the mouth of the new Furka base-tunnel. Though its trains do appear in the Swiss timetable, no advertising for the DFB was seen anywhere during a week based at Interlaken. Using public transport, the line is not easy to visit, let alone travel on. If it is to prosper, both its marketing and its connections need to be improved. BLN 741.0332][NO] Kongsvinger - Elverum: (Ball 13A1-13A2) NSB (Norges Statsbaner, the Norwegian State Railways) closed this line to passengers from the timetable change on 29 August 1994. (LCGB Bulletin, 9/94) BLN 741.0333][SJ] Svalbard: (BLN 707.08) Also known as Spitsbergen, this group of Norwegian islands, far north of the Arctic circle, has a number of mines, principally for coal, worked by both Norwegian and Russian enterprises. The mineral lines there are the most northerly railways on Earth. Stock from both 891mm and 900mm-gauge lines is preserved, and a 600mm mine railway with battery-electric locomotives was seen operating in July 1993. (Continental Railway Journal, #99, autumn 1994) BLN 741.0334][BU] Myanmar: Substantial Chinese investment in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma and once run as part of Britain's Indian Empire, includes a number of strategic projects to improve and extend the country's metre-gauge railway system. Chinese firms are developing the main line from the capital, Yangon (the former Rangoon) to the central city of Mandalay, and also the line north from Mandalay to Myitkyina near the Chinese border. The Chinese have built a large new road-and-rail bridge linking Yangon with nearby Syriam, and are building, with the assistance of prison labour, a new line from Ye to Tavoy, in the long south-eastern coastal strip of the country bordering Thailand. (The Economist, 8 Oct 1994) BLN 741.0335][AR] Ingeniero Jacobacci - El Maitén - Esquel: (BLN 732.0151) The 750mm-gauge steam-operated Esquel line - the ultimate branch line in Paul Theroux's Old Patagonian Express - began running its full 402km length again on 17 May 1994, with weekly departures on Tuesdays only south from Ingeniero Jacobacci, and Wednesdays only from Esquel. Its economics and hence its future must remain precarious. (Continental Railway Journal, #99, autumn 1994) BLN 741.0336][AR] Rio Turbio - Rio Gallegos / Punta Loyola: (BLN 707.08) The southernmost railway on Earth, the isolated and entirely steam-worked 750mm-gauge RFIRT line in southern Patagonia, is reported as building a new branch to take Rio Turbio coal to a deep-water wharf at Punta Loyola rather than the notoriously shallow port of Rio Gallegos, where only small ships can berth. The 35km branch, diverging from the main line 17km before reaching Rio Gallegos, was due for completion in mid-1994 - the newest steam line in the world. The Red Ferrocarril Industrial Rio Turbio, part of Argentina's nationalised coal industry, is being privatised. (Continental Railway Journal, #99, autumn 1994) BLN 742.0337] Timetables on disk and on line: (BLN 740.0298) The Dutch software firm CVI has compiled Journey Planners using the railway timetables of Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Finland, as well as a larger and more ambitious version for all Netherlands public transport. Details from CVI, PO Box 2233, NL-3500 GE Utrecht, Netherlands; fax +31 30 924 325. No-one else tries to charge BR's outrageous £46.70 retail price for a Journey Planner on diskette. The Belgian one is widely available in local newsagents for the BEF equivalent of about £4, and updates are even cheaper. But then SNCB/NMBS sees it as good business if potential customers know what train services run. BLN 742.0338][IE] Cork - Glounthaune - Cobh: Glounthaune, spelled thus and not as in BLN 740.0301, is the new name of Iarnród Éireann's Cobh Junction station. BLN 742.0339][GB, FR, BE] Eurostar Discovery: Public services from London to Paris and Brussel/Bruxelles begin next Monday, 14 November 1994. This initial Discovery service, with no Saturday trains, runs until 21 January 1995, after which trains should become more frequent, and fares (£95 for a 'Special' 14-day APEX return; £155 standard return; £195 'Gold' first-class return, with meals) may change. You can book by telephone on 01233-617575, or in person at London Waterloo or Victoria, checking in at least 20 minutes before departure. London - Paris departure times are different on 26 December and 2 January. Mondays-Fridays Sundays Mondays-Fridays Sundays 0823 1023 1553 1623 1623 1723 London Waterloo 1013 1043 1909 2043 1943 2043 1223 1953 2133 Paris Nord 0807 1709 1742 1438 2047 2047 Bruxelles Midi 0828 1822 1822 BLN 742.0340][FR] Calais Les Fontinettes avoiding line: (Ball 6A2) The west-to-east side of the triangle at Les Fontinettes, just south of Calais, is currently traversed by one passenger train a day each way: # 78307/6 Mon-Fri 0653 Boulogne-Ville - Lille-Flandres 0838 # 76293/2 Mon-Fri 1903 Lille-Flandres - Boulogne-Ville 2042 (Today's Railways, #3, Oct-Nov 1994) BLN 742.0341][FR] Lyon-St.Paul: (BLN 730.0104; Ball 56B3) Passenger services westwards from Lyon-St.Paul form an almost self-contained network with its own character, a mix of the basic and the sophisticated. Some stations still have compacted-earth platforms, some are vandalised and some are not readily apparent at all from the surrounding area, yet there are Paris-RER-style train indicators for the sparse SNCF services at Lyon-Gorge-de-Loup. The peak-hour services have a 'club-train' atmosphere, with few passengers other than regular commuters. Freight traffic if it exists is not much in evidence. Two empty wagons were at Écully-la-Demi-Lune in March 1992, but the route they would use to the main SNCF freight network was not obvious. The diesel railcars are maintained at Lyon-Vaise, reached by empty-stock workings over the spur from Lyon-Gorge-de-Loup to the old Paris-Lyon-Mediterranée main line. The 1500V dc catenary installed post-war from Lyon-St.Paul out to Charbonnières-les-Bains is something of an anomaly, for there seems some doubt that it was ever in revenue use. Following its usual convention, the 1963-64 Indicateur Chaix quotes "Traction électrique entre Lyon-St.Paul et Charbonnières-les-Bains", but long-serving local SNCF staff can recall only trial electric workings. Confirmation would be welcome. BLN 742.0342][DE] Separate branch stations at German junctions: (BLN 736.0208) Passengers making connections should be aware that at a number of DB junctions branch trains depart from a subsidiary station which is sometimes quite a distance from the main station. At a few places, such as Neustrelitz (Ball 20A2), the Kursbuch makes a distinction between the two stations, but not at others, such as Salzwedel (18B1) and Lüneburg (18A2). Several roads, a factory and houses occupy the space between the parallel lines leading to the two stations at Lüneburg, where the western platforms used by Dannenberg Ost trains and some Hamburg stopping trains are described locally as Westseite (= 'west side') or Westbahnhof. At Neustadt (Dosse) (19B1) branch trains depart from a station on the opposite side of a main road, reached by a level-crossing from the main-line station. At Haldensleben (28A2) the Weferlingen branch station is several hundred metres from the main station, and almost out of sight from it, the distance there being such that DB advises eight minutes should be allowed for making connections. BLN 742.0343][DE] German kilometre posts: (BLN 728.077) Distances measured along DB railways provide interesting indications of previous history. Dortmund Hbf, for example, is 164.4km from Aachen, measured via the former train-ferry at Duisburg-Ruhrort and what is now the S-Bahn line through Wattenscheid-Höntrop. The datum for lines east from Köln is at Köln-Deutz, pre-dating the bridge over the river Rhein. The line via Bonn Hbf to Bingen (Rhein) Hbf is measured from a point between Köln Hbf and Köln West, suggesting that the original terminus lay there. Hann Munden is 193.5km from Halle (Saale) Hbf, but the line thence to Kassel is measured from Hannover via Oberscheden. The railway on the island of Usedom is apparently measured from Berlin via Swinoujscie, now in Poland, since Seebad Ahlbeck is at 206.7km and Wolgaster Fähre at 243.5km. Along German main lines, the datum-points change quite frequently, for example from Frankfurt (Main) across the Austrian border at Passau: Frankfurt (Main) - Aschaffenburg measured from Frankfurt (Main) Aschaffenburg - Würzburg measured from Würzburg Würzburg - Fürth measured from Fürth Fürth - Nürnberg measured from Nürnberg Nürnberg - Regensburg measured from Regensburg Regensburg - Obertraubling measured from München Obertraubling - Passau measured from Passau Passau - Wels (Austria) measured from Wels In consequence of this, high-numbered kilometre posts are quite rare. The highest is at Konstanz, 414.3km from Mannheim via Graben-Neudorf and Basel Bad Bf, but this is the only sequence now to exceed 400km. Other high examples include Hamburg Hbf at 355.3km from Wanne-Eickel; Kassel Hbf 345.2km from Aachen; Würzburg Hbf 327.4km from Hannover via the Schnellfahrstrecke; and Hamburg-Altona 293.2km from Berlin. A somewhat curious sequence starts at Soest at 111.6km and runs via Hamm (where there is a discontinuity due to diversion of the railway via the marshalling yards), Münster and Rheine to 348.1km just short of Emden. This location is the datum for the line on to Norddeich Mole. Where lines across the former border between East and West were closed, odd sequences can result, such as the Dannenberg Ost branch, which is measured from Berlin to Lüneburg, though the main line thence to Hamburg-Harburg is measured from Hannover. BLN 742.0344][DE] Vorwohle - Emmerthal: (Ball 26B1-26A1) The private Vorwohle Emmerthaler Verkehrsbetriebe line south of Hameln makes a junction with DB passenger lines at both ends, though DB passenger trains do not call at Vorwohle. On certain Sundays the VEV line has a limited passenger service, normally steam-hauled. One of the line's diesel shunters was in use however on the occasion of a recent visit, so there was no train heating for a trip of several hours in mid-October! Several sidings serve factories along the line, and a branch goes to a nuclear power-station near Emmerthal. However, it looks as if wagon storage is a significant source of revenue, most sidings being full of VTG tanks. BLN 742.0345][DE] Hannover area: (Ball 26B2; McDougall G13) Train IC945, the Sundays-only 1936 Köln - Münster (Örtze), still runs from Wunstorf via Seelze Rangierbahnhof and Abzweitung Hannover-Linden. The balancing working, IC944 Fridays-only 1135 Münster (Örtze) - Köln, probably takes this route also. BLN 742.0346][DE] Nienhagen (bei Halberstadt) - Dedeleben (- Jerxheim): (Ball 27B1) A locomotive and single coach provide the rather sparse service on this branch. However, some track has been relaid with concrete sleepers. The branch used to continue as a through route to Jerxheim, 5 km away on the other side of the former East-West border. Apart from a short section at Jerxheim, the trackbed has completely disappeared and reverted to agriculture, but distances on the branch are still measured from Jerxheim. BLN 742.0347][DE] Betzdorf - Haiger: (Ball 38B1-39A1) The service is quite well used between Betzdorf and Herdorf, though the Class 796 Ferkeltaxi railbuses are all but empty beyond. A conductor travels out on the train from Betzdorf as far as Neunkirchen, and then joins a train back to Betzdorf. At Betzdorf the closed and rather rusty Daaden branch remains in place. BLN 742.0348][DE] Berlin Stadtbahn reconstruction: (BLN 738.0259; Ball 32A2) Plans are as follows: Apr - 14 Oct 1994 Southern pair of tracks (unelectrified main-line, Fernbahn) is equipped for third-rail S-Bahn trains Early Aug 1994 At Hackescher Markt work starts on temporary eastbound S-Bahn platform on Fernbahn alignment west of existing station 3 October 1994 Between Berlin Zoo and Berlin Hbf the main-line trains are withdrawn 14 October 1994 Jannowitzbrücke S-Bahn station closes 14-17 Oct 1994 Between Lehrter Stadtbf and Berlin Hbf the S-Bahn is diverted to use Fernbahn tracks 28 October 1994 Tiergarten and Bellevue S-Bahn stations close 28-30 Oct 1994 Between Berlin Zoo and Lehrter Stadtbf the S-Bahn is diverted to use Fernbahn tracks Oct 94 - May 96 Trackbed widening including completion of new main-line platforms suitable for ICE trains Oct 94 - Jan 95 Northern pair of tracks (S-Bahn) is removed Dec 94 - Aug 95 Northern half of trackbed and supporting viaduct is reconstructed Jul 95 - Jan 96 Northern pair of tracks (S-Bahn) is reinstated and equipped with third rail and new signalling January 1996 Northern pair of tracks receives S-Bahn trains, diverted back on to their original route Feb 96 - Apr 96 Southern pair of tracks (Fernbahn, latterly S-Bahn) is removed Mar 96 - Oct 96 Southern half of trackbed and supporting viaduct is reconstructed Oct 96 - May 97 Southern pair of tracks (Fernbahn) is reinstated and equipped with overhead wiring and new signalling May 1997 Southern pair of tracks receives main-line trains, diverted back on to their original route (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 5/94) BLN 742.0349][ES] Denia: (Ball 32B2) Denia had terminal stations on two metre-gauge railways, the surviving Alicante - Denia line and the now-defunct line from Carcagente on the RENFE route between Valencia and La Encina. The Carcagente line station lay to the north of and at right-angles to the Alicante one, and would no doubt be the building described as being derelict in BLN 729.097. In 1959 the connecting curve joining the approaches to the respective termini had no obvious traffic, but was nevertheless fairly shiny. The Alicante line then still had a daily mixto hauled by a 2-6-0T, but the train seen arriving from Carcagente was hauled by an 0-6-0 diesel locomotive looking not unlike a BR Class 08. BLN 742.0350][ES] Silla - Cullera - Gandía: (BLN 729.097; Ball 32A3-32B2) Silla - Cullera used to be another narrow-gauge line, but was converted to a 1676mm-gauge RENFE branch in the 1940s or 1950s and subsequently extended to Gandía around 1970, being electrified in 1994. In the 1970s the narrow-gauge station building and platform alignment could still be seen just east of the RENFE station at Silla, but subsequent development including the container terminal and the branch to the Ford plant at Almussafes may have obliterated these remains. Trains comprising Transfesa wagons and swap-body container-flats have begun trial runs with Ford parts on the route Silla - Port Bou - Cerbère - Eurotunnel - Dagenham. BLN 742.0351][IT] Ferrovia Adriatico-Sangritana: (BLN 697.09; Ball 53B3-51A2) Through workings from private railways over the national network of the Ferrovie dello Stato have been relatively rare in Italy, but FAS train-running on the FS has recently increased from 300km to 980km daily, with the introduction of through services from Lanciano north-west on the FS Adriatic coast line to San Benedetto del Tronto and to Teramo. The Sangritana line has bought six of the oldest ex-FS Class ALe668 railcars for the purpose. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 7/94) BLN 742.0352][PK] Pakistan narrow-gauge: The once-a-week passenger service on the 296km 762mm-gauge line from Bostan Jn to Zhob, 'suspended' since at least 1986, had by 1993 been deleted from the working timetable. Monthly ore trains ran over part of this line, perhaps after 1993. Does anything still operate? The last narrow (as distinct from metre) gauge passenger services in Pakistan were withdrawn from 1 July 1991, and the three 762mm-gauge lines (the 141km Mari Indus - Laki Marwat Jn - Bannu; the 67km branch from Laki Marwat Jn to Tank; and the 102km line from Kohat Cantonment to Thal) were closed completely. The latter two lines had been operating only once a week. Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province still requires the authorities to keep a watchful eye on law and order, as in the days of the British Raj. In January 1990 the station restaurant at Laki Marwat Jn had on the wall a varnished wooden sign, presumably of pre-1948 vintage, with the warning in English 'Please do not discuss military subjects here', and a special Pakistan Railways narrow-gauge gaol-coach (no.225, labelled 'Prisoners' in English, and having securely-barred windows) was photographed, in good order, at Mari Indus. BLN 743.0353] Timetables on disk and on line: (BLN 741.0337) CompuServe, a US company providing network services worldwide, in association with DB, the German railway, now offers on-line access to most European rail timetables. Comprehensive coverage is given of those railways that already make their full timetable available on diskette or CD-ROM, but the principal services of other railways are included. A noteworthy exclusion however is Ireland, north and south. The service does not display complete timetables on screen, but presents itineraries for requested journeys, in the manner of Journey Planners on diskette. Details of facilities on trains and stations can be obtained and some fares are quoted. BLS travellers will not find the service a full substitute for the timetable on paper, but it is of great value for checking whether an itinerary drafted using an out-of-date timetable book is still valid. CompuServe users access the system by the command GO.RAILWAY, or via the Travel icon if using WinCIM software. In a consumer test by an experienced Eurogricer, the software produced sensible itineraries from Luchon to Tribsees and from Wilderswil to Århus. Domestic and international journeys involving British Rail were generally acceptable, but - reasonably enough at the beginning of November 1994 - the computer had not yet been told about Eurostars. Some anomalies seem to occur because the system is not at present aware of the full services. It found Oslo to Stockholm too difficult, perhaps because at this stage it had only heard about Scandinavian international services to and from the DB, and was trying to route the traveller via Hamburg. It did know that to go from Kyle of Lochalsh to Mallaig by rail was not a reasonable thing to do, but it could not explain why. It is not yet quite as user-friendly as the BR domestic Journey Planner in one respect: the journey specified must be between two particular stations. London to Berlin is not a valid request, and one needs to enter London Liverpool Street to Berlin Zoologischer Garten, or London Victoria to Berlin Hbf - not so helpful to the ordinary customer unfamiliar with train-service patterns, who may not know that an alternative route between different terminal points might suit his needs better. As with the diskette software, it can be fun to attempt to tie the system in knots (try Sinfin Central to Berney Arms) but watch the connection charges and your 'phone bill! BLN 743.0354][IE] Limerick - Ennis: (BLN 739.0276) The Sunday-evening down train is a Limerick Jn - Limerick - Ennis working, connecting at 1522 out of the 1320 Dublin Heuston - Cork service. On Sunday 18 September 1994 some 54 passengers left Ennis on the 1720 up train, a three-coach push-pull set. BLN 743.0355][IE] Ennis - Athenry - Claremorris: (BLN 741.0322) North of Ennis, the freight-only single line, now described rather grandly as the Western Freight Corridor, is less well-maintained and has some 40km/h speed restrictions, according to a driver. Traffic is said to include a container train, leaving Limerick at 1030; coal-plus-oil trains from Foynes to Ballina for Asahi Chemicals; timber from Claremorris and Tuam to Clonmel and Waterford; and wood pulp from Clonmel to Athenry. According to The Western People on 8 September 1994, IE have honoured an undertaking given to concerned local citizens that Garryduff level-crossing near Claremorris would be staffed once trains were restored to the line. BLN 743.0356][DE, FR] Winden (Pfalz) - Kapsweyer DB - Wissembourg SNCF: (BLN 707.03; Ball 57A2 (DE), 30B3 (FR)) This cross-border line was to reopen to passenger services on 25 September 1994. BLN 743.0357][DE] Monsheim - Grünstadt - Eisenberg (Pfalz): (BLN 729.095; Ball 49A1-57A3) Following the reopening to passengers of the Grünstadt - Eisenberg branch on 29 May 1994, the link between Monsheim and Grünstadt is to follow from the end of May 1995. (paras 0356 & 0357 based on Eisenbahn Amateur, 7/94) BLN 743.0358][DE] Achern: (Ball 57A1) Reconstruction of the Karlsruhe - Basel main line on an entirely new fast alignment through Achern requires a new station there, but some track on the old alignment will need to remain in use to access the private SWEG (Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs AG) branch to Ottenhöfen. The physical connection off the branch is via the goods yard on to the main line. SWEG passenger trains do not run into Achern DB station, but use a low platform on the far side of the station forecourt, in contrast to junctions such as Meckesheim and Bad Krozingen, where SWEG passenger trains run on to DB metals. BLN 743.0359][DE] Mulheim (Ruhr)-Styrum - Duisburg-Meiderich Süd - Duisburg-Ruhrort: (BLN 733.0155-6, 738.0260; Ball 33A3; KBS448) Passenger trains between Mulheim-Styrum and Duisburg-Meiderich Süd are to be withdrawn from 2 April 1995, but the KBS447 service will be altered to run between Oberhausen Hbf and Duisburg-Ruhrort. (IBSE Telegramm, 11/94) BLN 743.0360][DE] Ilmenau - Grossbreitenbach (Thüringen): (Ball 41B1-52B3; KBS567) Passenger trains are to be withdrawn from 31 December 1994. (IBSE Telegramm, 11/94) BLN 743.0361][DE] Wächtersbach - Bad Orb: (Ball 51A2; KBS618) The 7km branch operated by Kreiswerke Gelnhausen is due to close to passengers from 31 December 1995, but KWG trains might vanish before then, at short notice. Evening and most weekend services are already buses. (IBSE Telegramm, 11/94) BLN 743.0362][DE] Schorndorf - Rudersberg - Welzheim: (Ball 58A1-58B1; KBS787) Operation of the Wieslauftalbahn, a DB branch east of Stuttgart, is to be transferred to the local company, Württembergische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft, on 1 January 1995. WEG plans a regular-interval dmu service, which will eventually be extended beyond Rudersberg to Welzheim, over a scenic section closed to passengers in 1980 and subsequently interrupted by landslides. The 10km Scharndorf - Rudersberg line is also to have steam trains of the Dampfbahn Kochertal e V. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 8/94) BLN 743.0363][CH, FR] Porrentruy - Boncourt CFF - Delle SNCF (- Belfort): (Ball 86A2-85B2 (CH), 40B2 (FR)) Delle - Belfort is already closed to passengers (BLN 698.04), and CFF trains work only as far as Delle, just inside France. Swiss Federal Railways are expected to replace the remaining regional trains by buses, closing the line north-west of Porrentruy to passengers from May 1995. The Chemin de fer du Jura (CJ), which already owns and operates the standard-gauge Porrentruy - Bonfol line, has offered to run a local service to Boncourt using its own stock instead of the CFF's buses. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 8/94) BLN 743.0364][CH] Olten - Läufelfingen - Sissach (- Basel): (Ball 87A2) SBB regional trains may be replaced by buses in May 1995, closing the old Hauenstein line to passengers, though it would be kept in good order for trains diverted off the newer route via the Hauenstein base-tunnel and Tecknau. Buses are also expected to replace evening and Sunday regional trains on the Aarau - Suhr - Zofingen and Aarau - Suhr - Wettingen lines. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 8/94) BLN 743.0365][CH] Chur - Arosa: (Ball 95B2) For financial reasons the Rhätische Bahn expect it will be next century before they replace the street-running section near Chur station by the planned approach in tunnel, but conversion of the branch from 2kV dc to the 11kV 16²/3Hz of the RhB main line is to be brought forward to the period 1995-97. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 8/94) BLN 743.0366][HU, HR] Budapest - Zagreb: (Ball 47A2-46B2) Neither Hungarian route to the Croatian border at Gyékényes is yet wholly electrified as shown in the Ball atlas, but wiring work was under way at Szenta on 21 September 1994. Until electrification is complete, a diesel replaces the electric locomotive at Balatonszentgyörgy on the Balaton route, and Somogyszob on the Dombóvár route. (LCGB Bulletin, 10/94) BLN 743.0367][HU] Hungarian narrow-gauge: (BLN 734.0170; Ball 47A2) The Keskenynyomközü Gazdasági Vasút (= 'narrow-gauge agricultural railway'), connecting with the MÁV main line at Balatonfenyves, comprises three 760mm-gauge branches each some 15km long, serving isolated farming communities. Most stations are unsignposted and the end of each line is little more than a run-round loop in the middle of a field. It is possible to travel the whole system in an evening. On 22 September 1994 the two down departures around 1600 were quite well loaded. One train was formed of two locomotives and two coaches, splitting at Táskai elágazás (= 'Táska Junction') for Táska and for Csiszta gyógyfürdö (= 'spa'). The last up train in the evening serves both these branches, by using the triangular layout at Táskai elágazás to visit both termini in succession, taking nearly 90 minutes for the 27km. Revenue was thin, the sole other passenger on this train paying a single fare of HUF19, or about 12p. (LCGB Bulletin, 10/94) BLN 743.0368][FR] Nice - Digne: (BLN 737.0228; Ball 66B1-67A1-77B3) During the weekend of 5-6 November 1994 the magnificently scenic metre-gauge Chemins de fer de la Provence line was severely damaged by flooding and there are fears it may not reopen. Annot station was hit by a mudslide. A 65m metal bridge has been swept away by flood-waters, and rock-falls obstruct the line in various places. On Monday 7 November trains were operating from Nice only as far as Lingostière in the north-west of the city. (L'Echo du Rail) BLN 744.0369] Today's Railways #4: The December 1994-January 1995 issue of this magazine has news items about the openings of Rouen's light-rail Métrobus, SNCF's Aéroport-Charles de Gaulle TGV-RER station, Stuttgart's Stadtbahn Linie U4 to Botnang and RENFE's new Cordoba AVE station, plus bus substitution between Motteville and St.Valéry-en-Caux, and the closure of FS' Venezia-Mestre avoiding line. BLN 744.0370][FR] Paris Ceintures: (Ball 82A3-81B3-26B3) On 27 November 1994 an AJECTA steam railtour ran out and back between Paris-Lyon and Épernay. Heading south to Villeneuve St.Georges the train climbed on to the west-to-east bridge crossing Villeneuve-Triage, through Valenton yard and north around the Grande Ceinture to a south-to-east chord (raccordement de Gagny) by which it gained the Est main line. At Épernay the full eleven-coach train was shunted into the private siding of the De Castellane champagne company, where lunch was taken, with copious quantities of the product. Haulage - unlike the champagne - was 'produce of more than one country in the European Union', since locomotive #140 C 231 is a French-designed 2-8-0 built in Glasgow in 1916. In central Paris (BLN 716.03, 718.06; Ball 81B3) the southbound Petite Ceinture track on its bridge over the Canal de l'Ourcq, near La Villette, on the section between L'Évangile and Bercy, appeared to have seen some relatively recent usage, in contrast to the much more heavily rusted northbound track. A signal appeared to be lit. What are the SNCF's plans for this part of the Petite Ceinture, which was taken out of use (neutralisée) on 26 September 1993? BLN 744.0371][DE] Barmstedt - Ulzburg: (Ball 17B3; KBS139) This c.15km west-to-east line of the Altona-Kaltenkirchen-Neumünster Eisenbahn AG north of Hamburg is not out of use as shown in the Ball atlas. Kursbuch footnotes indicate a limited service of three AKN trains each way Monday to Friday. BLN 744.0372][CH] Meiringen - Innertkirchen: (BLN 741.0330; Ball 93B2) The passenger terminus of the 5km Meiringen-Innertkirchen Bahn is five minutes' walk from the SBB Brünigbahn station at Meiringen, but goods traffic can be exchanged between the two metre-gauge lines over a non-electrified link. The MIB opened in 1926 as a steam-worked industrial railway serving the construction of a large hydro-electric scheme. Battery-electric cars began a workers' service in 1936, which became a public passenger service in 1946. Only in 1977 was 1200V dc overhead electrification installed, and two second-hand 1952-built trams were acquired from the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft in Mannheim, both being fitted with petrol-driven generators to operate over the link with the SBB. On 15 September 1994, however, one of the older chocolate-and-cream power cars of the Berner Oberland Bahnen was operating the service. Is the MIB now part of the BOB group of lines? BLN 744.0373][CH] Luzern - Gotthard Tunnel: (Ball 93B3-87B1-88A1-94A3-94A2) SBB are making greater use of the Luzern - Rotkreuz - Arth-Goldau route, rather than the more direct line via Küssnacht am Rigi. On 22 October 1994, train IC255 from Basel to Milano ran via Rotkreuz. Further south, Erstfeld depot held an open day to celebrate 75 years of a drivers' trade-union. Elderly locomotives were on show, and a shuttle service ran from the depot to the base-tunnel workings at Amsteg. BLN 744.0374][US] Boston, Massachusetts: Boston has two main-line stations, North and South, both with Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter trains. Amtrak's inter-city services all use South Station, though it is not very busy by European standards, seeing only three departures during a weekday afternoon. MBTA's four subway lines, whose 60 stations are indicated by a 'T' symbol on city maps, serve most of the city's tourist attractions and link the two termini, with one change at Park Street. Trains are frequent and graffiti-free. A flat fare generally applies, with free transfers from one line to another. Tokens cost USD0.85 (= 55p), but a period pass may be worthwhile if one is staying in the city for several days. Rolling stock varies: the Green Line running north-south has vehicles resembling two-car trams, while the east-west Red Line has more recent and air-conditioned trains. Inside the cars, notices are in English and Spanish, for many Hispanics live in the city, though it is 4000km north of the Rio Grande.