2000

0399][IE] Drogheda: Cement Branch Jn - Boyne Road siding: (Baker 100C2)  The Great Northern Railway of Ireland opened this 1.8km branch in April 1938 to serve Drogheda cement factory.  At least one passenger train is known to have visited the line: an IRRS railtour on 20 September 1969.  However in June 1972 a new cement factory opened at Platin on the Drogheda - Navan branch, and in 1976 a second kiln was added there, and the older Drogheda factory closed.  Boyne Road - Platin oil traffic continued until the early 1980s.  In 1993 Iarnród Éireann set up a ballast depot at the former Fields yard and, as the October 1995 Quail track diagrams show, by that time only this depot was still connected, the rest of the branch being out of use.  By 1996 the ballast depot too was out of use.  On 13 October 1996 IE removed Cement Branch Jn on the former GNR(I) main line, in preparation for Drogheda resignalling, thus severing the last remaining km or so of the branch.  Johnson's atlas, published 1997, erroneously recorded the branch as still open throughout.  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #133, June 1997; Irish Railway News, Vol.4, #2; Johnson's Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, S Johnson, Midland Publishing)

0400][IE] Drogheda: Buckie's sidings: (Baker 100C2)  This short 0.5km branch served the original terminus of the Dublin & Drogheda Railway, which opened 26 May 1844 but was superseded by the present through station when the line north across the river Boyne was opened by the Dublin & Belfast Junction Railway a decade later.  The branch, comprising three parallel sidings of which one connected with the shed turntable road, remained as refuging for trains, particularly those held overnight, and came to be known as Buckie's or Buckey's sidings (uncertainty remains about the correct spelling).  An IRRS railtour visited on 20 September 1969.  At some point the link with the turntable seems to have been removed, as shown in the October 1995 Quail track diagrams, but during January 1997 it was put back, but into the headshunt beyond the turntable.  For two months this indirect route via Buckie's sidings became the only access to Drogheda shed, while ground behind the up main platform 2 was being excavated to make a new dead-end platform 3 for turning back Dublin suburban workings, on the site of the short bay that had once held Navan branch trains.  The 1997 remodelling and resignalling at Drogheda was one of the largest station-renewal projects undertaken in Ireland in the 20th century, and included replacement of the interlaced track across the Boyne Viaduct with points at each end of a section of single track.  With the work nearing completion, Buckie's sidings became redundant, the ground-frame at the south end was taken out of use on 15 March 1997 and the turnout from the up main line was removed.  The new signalling was commissioned on 17 March, with the new platform 3 coming into public use on 18 March 1997.  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #133, June 1997; Irish Railway News, Vol.5, #1)

0401][IE] Dublin North Wall: (BLN 765.0454, R99.0057; Baker 96B1-96B2)  The RPSI St.Manntán tour of 11 September 1971 included a memorable evening running Connolly - North Strand Jn - Glasnevin Jn - Liffey Jn (reverse) - Newcomen Jn - Church Road Jn - Point Depot GSW (reverse) - Church Road Jn - Newcomen Jn (reverse) - North Wall MGW (reverse) - West Road Jn (reverse) - North Wall LNWR (reverse) - Church Road Jn - East Wall Jn (reverse) - Connolly.  At that time access to the two North Wall depots (if not Point) was still fully block-signalled, a legacy of the passenger services that had run in connection with cross-channel steamers until the 1920s.  However, as part of the resignalling west of Dublin Connolly, Liffey Jn signal-cabin was abolished 16 June 1991 and the former Midland Great Western Liffey Jn - Newcomen Jn line was transferred to Centralised Traffic Control.  A week later West Road Jn cabin was abolished and the former Great Southern & Western Cabra - North Strand Jn line was similarly transferred.  The lines onwards to the North Wall complex became sidings and Church Road Jn cabin was reduced to the status of a ground-frame, except that block-working continued on the East Wall Jn - Church Road Jn section until 11 October 1992 when that, too, became sidings.  Since then, Connolly CTC has handled all train movements in and out of the dock area whether via Newcomen Jn, North Strand Jn or East Wall Jn. 

Beyond Church Road, Granaries Jn block-post was abolished 15 November 1987, but the Granaries Jn - Point Depot - North Quay Extension branch still diverges here from the line through East Wall Yard.  At the time of the 1971 RPSI railtour a cabin also stood at the Sheriff Street Upper level-crossing but that may have been a gate-box rather than a block-post.  Just south of this crossing was the throat of the former G&SW Point depot, whose building alone remains, now an 'event' venue (R99.0366).  Here too the North Quay (or North Wall) Extension line, though not in regular use, still diverges eastward to head along the peninsular quay between the river Liffey and the Alexandra Basin.  Between 13 May 1996 and 3 March 1997, new passenger carriages from De Dietrich of France for the Dublin - Belfast Enterprise service were transferred from ship to rail here.  Though IE's imported 2700 Class railcars in 1998 came from Barcelona by lorry and roll-on/roll-off ferry, it seems likely that the 20 diesel railcars and 16 DART electric cars ordered in February 1999 for delivery in July-August 2000 will arrive from Mitsui of Yokohama by ship and will use the North Quay Extension.  

At the east end of IE's East Wall yard a line crosses East Wall level-crossing to become the Alexandra Road tramway, owned by Dublin Port & Docks.  It appears on a 1969 Ordnance Survey map, so it seems to have opened before 1971, the date quoted by the Johnson atlas.  The tramway runs as double-track due east down the middle of Alexandra Road serving various sidings, the first being the Alexandra Terminal for Lead & Zinc Concentrates, to which locomotive-hauled trains run from Tara Mines near Navan.  Motive power for petroleum traffic from other sidings off the tramway seems generally to have been a road-tractor.  Indeed on the afternoon of 26 November 1999 a Dublin Port & Docks road-tractor was observed using a long chain to haul tank wagons westwards towards the East Wall level-crossing, and then propelling them over the crossing into IE's East Wall yard.  To shunt wagons within their sidings Esso installed two motorised capstans, and in 1992 Irish Shell added one at their sidings also.  However, oil traffic has languished in recent years.  Because of new more stringent EU regulations about petroleum-vapour retention, on 12 March 1998 Esso ceased conveying petrol by train to Sligo, though they continue to move diesel, fuel and heating oil there, their last remaining traffic flow on Irish rails.  The Irish Shell site continues to handle fuel oil and bitumen, and in November 1999 contained a number of rail tank wagons, but they may not now move in traffic.  

Beyond the Irish Shell sidings, the tramway runs as single-track on the south side of the road, serving first the ex-B+I Irish Ferries Dublin Ferryport container terminal (now apparently disused) and then the Asahi sidings (also out of use, the daily Dublin - Ballina chemical train ceasing 28 October 1997 prior to the Ballina factory closure at the beginning of December 1997).  Until 1997 the tramway terminated near the intersection of Alexandra Road and Terminal Road, but now crosses the intersection to run on its own right-of-way for about 300m along the north side of Alexandra Road to reach the Coastal Container Line's terminal, where the line swings south to a 250m loop and a container gantry.  IE and Dublin Port & Docks built the EUR2.2M (=GBP1.4M) 600m extension with 35% finance from the European Union taxpayer.  Work started 5 August 1997, the first ballast train ran 28 February, a trial freight train 18 March, and regular services began 21 April 1998.  Formal opening of the Coastal Container Line terminal by the Taoiseach, Ireland's prime minister, was on 2 November 1998.  Normally one train a day Mon-Fri runs from Dublin North Wall to Cork North Esk yard, though second trains have been required on occasions.  The CCL traffic generates the only locomotive movements over the full length of the tramway, usually two round-trips daily.  The containers from Cork leave North Wall yard about 10:00, the engine returns light, and a second light engine sets off from North Wall yard about 17:30 to collect the containers for Cork.  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #116, Oct 1991, #120, Feb 1993, #131, Oct 1996, #133, Jun 1997, #135, Feb 1998, #135(sic), Jun 1998, #138, Feb 1999; Irish Railway News Vol.4, #2, Vol.5, #1)

0402][IE] DART: Howth Jn - Dublin - Bray:  Planning permission was granted on 4 January 1999 for a new Barrow Street station between Dublin Pearse and Lansdowne Road stations, near the Grand Canal bridge, at the site of the former Grand Canal Street locomotive-shed and works.  Track-layout alterations started on 19 April and work to disconnect and lift old sidings at Barrow Street on 27 July 1999.  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #139, June 1999, #141, October 1999)  DART timings already allow for the new stop.

0403][IE] Ballybrophy - Roscrea - Nenagh - Silvermines Jn - Kilmastulla - Birdhill - Killonan Jn (- Limerick): (R99.0360; Baker 94C1-93C2)  At Ballybrophy the direct running-leads with the Dublin - Limerick Jn main line were disconnected on 17 October, and 27 October 1985 saw the new layout come into use, a ground-frame-controlled run-round loop for trains arriving from the Roscrea direction, with only a trailing connection to the up main, thus simplifying the extension of CTC to this section of the main line.  Notice was given of withdrawal from 11 April 1991 of many freight sundries facilities in Ireland, including those at the remaining stations on the line, Roscrea and Nenagh.  However the regular ordinary freight train (10:40 SX Limerick - Roscrea and 13:27 return) was not withdrawn until 2 September 1991.  The Silvermines Jn - Silvermines mineral branch closed to revenue freight in November 1993 (BLN 724.045, 765.0456).  Trains with bagged cement were the last regular freight workings north of Kilmastulla until they ceased in winter 1997-98, leaving the Kilmastulla shale traffic as the only freight flow at end-1999.  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #115 June 1991, #117, February 1992)

0404][IE] Limerick Check - Limerick Cement Factory (Castlemungret): (R99.0361; Baker 93C1)  At least one tour train has visited the branch, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's North Kerry railtour on 3 June 1972.

0405][IE] Limerick Check - Foynes: (R99.0130, 99.0362; Baker 93C1)  Although the branch has no regular service in the working timetable, is barred to passenger excursions, and has an overall speed limit of 50km/h, it does not seem to be under threat, and indeed no fewer than three road-over-rail bridges were being constructed for the county council during 1999.  The line is said to be retained because Foynes is the Irish Republic's only rail-connected 'dirty' port, meaning that bulk commodities like coal can be handled in the open rather than under cover.  Molasses is handled occasionally, as is fertiliser, though a flow of imported fertiliser for Ennis was in 1999 moved by road.  Regular Foynes - Limerick - Athenry - Claremorris - Ballina coal trains for Inver Resources started early in 1998 (BLN 820.064) but traffic failed to build up as expected.  Though at least two such coal trains ran in early 1999, one on 27 January, they were not followed by further workings, hence the expiry of drivers' route-knowledge on the 'Western Freight Corridor' (R99.0363).  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #135, February 1998; Irish Railway News, Vol.6, #1)

0406][IE] (Cork -) Cobh Jn/Glounthaune - Midleton - Youghal: (R99.0368; Baker 90C2-91C1)  Branch passenger trains were withdrawn 4 February 1963, but regular summer-Sunday excursions continued until summer 1979, with occasional pilgrimage specials to Claremorris for Knock shrine in years thereafter.  The last passenger trains recorded were from Midleton to Dublin on 17 March 1988.  (BLN 765.0457 quoting Irish Railway News, Jan-Apr 1995)  Ordinary freight ceased 2 June 1978, though seasonal sugar-beet traffic lasted until the 'campaign' of winter 1981-82.  (partly Johnson's Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, S Johnson, Midland Publishing, 1997)  In summer 1999 consultants began studies of passenger reopening as far as Midleton (not Youghal), broadly estimated as costing EUR10M (=c.GBP7M).  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #141, October 1999)

0407][IE] Waterford (Abbey Jn) - New Ross: (R99.0367; Baker 91B2-91A2)  The last revenue traffic from New Ross seems to have been in March 1995 (BLN 757.0293) and the last movement on the branch a weed-spraying train on 28-29 June 1995 (BLN 765.0458).  Leaving the disused branch some 800m east of Abbey Jn the planned new 1165m spur would serve the timber-processing plant directly, releasing extensive railway land at Waterford yard, at present used for timber transhipment, but wanted for a road scheme.  A Railway Works Order was in preparation with a view to construction starting in 1999, but it seems that the planning permission already granted by the county council may have been challenged, causing potential disruption and delay for both the rail and the highway schemes. (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #139, June 1999; Irish Railway News, Vol.6, #1)

0408][FR] Marseille-St.Charles - La Joliette - Arenc - L'Estaque: (R99.0296; EGTRE FR00/159; Ball 75B2)  During November 1999 a grain silo on the landward side of the line was demolished, and a local SNCF source confirmed that a new double-track curve would shortly be built there allowing trains from Marseille-St.Charles, the city's main station, to avoid the reversal at La Joliette and run directly towards Arenc and L'Estaque.  It is not clear whether the present dead-end Joliette platform would survive, though in December 1999 it was sporting smart new 'Halte la Joliette' signboards with the SNCF logo - and at the Métro station on the other side of the Place de la Joliette a sign in similar style indicated the SNCF facility's existence, previously rather tenuous.  Though the Place still has rails crossing it diagonally towards the port, they are nothing more than a nostalgic architectural feature, for the area in the middle of the square has been raised and is reached by steps - and the rails also are stepped!  The very infrequent special trains into the docks, arranged for school-trips and pilgrimages to connect with ferries to and from Corsica, have to use a junction with the Joliette - L'Estaque line further north at Arenc. 

0409][FR][MC] Nice - Monaco-Monte Carlo - Menton: (R99.0374; Ball 77B3-67B1)  Work on commissioning the new line under Monaco commenced at 22:00 on 26 November and the new station opened to traffic on 27 November 1999 when train #56906 called there at 05:52.  (La Vie du Rail)  Prince Rainier formally inaugurated 'Monte Carlo's grand new underground railway station' on 7 December 1999, 'in his 50th year as the country's reigning prince'.  (Financial Times, 8 December 1999)

0410][BE] Dendermonde - Baasrode-Noord - Puurs: (BLN 852.0325; Ball 8A2-8A3)  It is unlikely that Stoomspoorlijn Dendermonde-Puurs were able to run from their base at Baasrode-Noord west into Dendermonde NMBS station at any time during summer 1999, for only in the autumn were they finally able to buy from NMBS various parts for the repair of diesel railcar #4302, their sole vehicle allowed to run on the main line.  Through running to Dendermonde should again be possible in summer 2000.  (Febelrail, autumn 1999)

0411][BE][DE] (Liège -) Welkenraedt SNCB/NMBS - Aachen DB: (R99.0134, 0268; Ball BE-10A2, DE-37A1)  Just inside Belgium, where the world's first international main line crosses the deep valley of the river Gueule, double-track working over the new Hammerbrücke was to replace the long period of single-line working on 15 November 1999.  The two central girders of the old structure were taken down on 12-13 July 1999, and piers #1 and 3 were blown up on 13 August.  The central pier #2 was reduced in height to some 8m, leaving it with its commemorative plaque as a monument to the Belgian soldiers killed dynamiting the strategic viaduct in May 1940.  (Trans-fer, #113, October 1999)

0412][BE] Y Zaventem - Bruxelles-National-Aéroport/Brussel-Nationaal-Luchthaven: (R99.0326; Ball 10B2)  Double-track working on line 36C to the airport was restored 26 September 1999.  Y Zaventem north-side lead (track A) had been out of use from 22 March to 1 May 1998 and again from 16 October 1998 to 25 September 1999, with all trains in both directions using Y Zaventem south-side track B to run between line 36 and line 36C.  (Trans-fer, #113, October 1999)

0413][BE] Libramont - Bastogne-Sud - Bastogne-Nord: (BLN 752.0147; Ball 17B3)  During summer 1999 track between Bastogne-Sud and Nord was lifted, and a new road was laid on the platform side of the station-building at Bastogne-Sud.  (Trans-fer, #113, October 1999)  Each year since May 1993 the SNCB public timetable has repeated the fiction that Libramont - Bastogne trains are only temporarily (provisoirement) replaced by buses, but the reality is that neither the railway nor the Région Wallonne will stump up the costs of refettling line 163 and reintroducing passenger trains, now increasingly unlikely.  

0414][DE] Bohmte - Schwegermoor: (Ball 25A2-25A3)  A Museums-Eisenbahn Minden special on 2 January 2000 is likely to have been the last passenger working on the non-DB, freight-only Wittlager Kreisbahn.  (IBSE)

0415][DE] Hannover S-Bahn: (R99.0380; Ball 26B2)  The first section of Line S1 is the upgraded existing Hannover Hbf - H-Nordstedt - H-Leinhausen - Seelze east-west line, which has had a StadtExpress local service from about 1997 while still awaiting its purpose-built S-Bahn units.  The rest of the planned system is likewise to use existing routes, except for the new Langenhagen - Flughafen Hannover S-Bahn branch.  This appears ready, but no opening date has yet been announced.  The through station H-Messe/Laatzen has a bay-platform for terminating S-Bahn trains during events at the exhibition site.  The new Class 424 Adtranz electric units were planned to be in service from summer 1999, but their electrical equipment has been causing interference with track-circuits, and in December 1999 they were still banned from DB tracks.  It is hoped the problems will be resolved before the next big exhibition.  Dates of key events in 2000 are CeBIT (24 Feb-1 Mar) Hannover Messe (20-25 Mar), EXPO2000 (1 Jun-31 Oct), and in 2001, CeBIT (22-28 Mar) and Hannover Messe (23-28 Apr).

0416][DE] Chemnitz Hbf - Stollberg (Sachsen): (BLN 840.0616; Ball 46B1-43A1)  Chemnitzer Verkehrs AG, who run the city trams and buses, and Autobus Sachsen GmbH, who run regional buses, jointly set up City-Bahn Chemnitz GmbH to take over passenger services on this 23km DB line.  Initially the stock used was two railbuses of Karsdorfer Eisenbahn, but the plan is to make a running connection from the Chemnitz tram network at Altchemnitz and electrify out to Stollberg at 700V dc.  At the end of 1999, six trams were ordered for Stollberg services.  

0417][DE] Haldensleben West - Weferlingen (- Grasleben - Helmstedt): (BLN 850.0266; Ball 27B2; KBS314)  Several quarries in this area remain rail-served.  A branch diverges about 1km east of Süplingen station, heads south for about 2km to serve Steinwerk Eiche and continues for about 1km to terminate at Steinwerk Dönstedt.  From nearby Flechtingen station on the Haldensleben - Oebisfelde line, a second mineral branch, not shown by Ball, heads west for 5km, serving a quarry from which trains were being collected by ex-DSB Class MY diesel locomotives of private-sector operators Norddeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft.  Weferlingen Zuckerfabrik, despite its name, has no sugar factory apparent, but hosts stored (or dumped) rolling-stock of the Braunschweigische Landes-Museums-Eisenbahn preservation group.  On a casual visit to the site in October 1999, our reporter was repulsed by a man carrying a wooden club like a baseball bat !

0418][DE] Trier Nord (Moselbahnhof) - Ruwer West (- Leiwen - Neumagen-Dron - Bernkastel Nord - Zeitingen - Traben-Trarbach Ost - Enkirch - Reil - Bullay Süd): (Ball 47B1 not shown)  On 2 April 1903 Moselbahn AG of Trier opened 29km of standard-gauge railway from Trier Nord eastwards along the steep southern bank of the river Mosel to Leiwen.  The July 1944 wartime Kursbuch shows the line as extending at that time 102.2km to Bullay Süd, with (allegedly) five Trier - Bullay round-trips daily, taking c.3h45min for the one-way journey, plus some weekday short workings.  By the January 1947 Kursbuch the service was (perhaps more realistically) shown as running weekdays-only, with in effect four round-trips.  The whole line east of Ruwer closed by 1968, but left until at least 1995 a curious trace in the shape of suffixes added to the names of certain north-bank stations on the Bullay (DB) - Reil (DB) - Traben-Trarbach (DB) Moselwein-Bahn, no doubt originally to distinguish them from their Moselbahn rivals on the south bank.  

In 1999 a mere 4.6km of the Moselbahn remains in use, for freight only, worked by DB though still privately owned (by Schauinsland-Reise Herresthal GmbH of Trier, according to EK-Verlag's Privatbahn-Lexikon 1991).  Access is by the DB Trier Hbf - Ruwer (- Hermeskeil) line, closed to passengers 31 May 1969 and to freight beyond Ruwer 10 August 1998 (BLN 850.0265).  Reversal at Ruwer DB back via north-facing points leads to a set of south-facing points on the Moselbahn just south of their Ruwer West station.  The Moselbahn heading south-west then parallels the DB back from Ruwer towards Trier, passing under the Trier Hbf - Pfalzel (- Bullay - Koblenz) main line just north of Trier DB carriage and locomotive depot.  The remnant's present function seems to be to serve some private sidings on the way into Trier Nord (also known as Moselbahnhof).  On 10 October 1999 an IBSE charter train reached one of these sidings.  

0419][DE] Annaberg-Buchholz ob Bahnhof - Königswalde ob Bf - Cranzahl - Kurort Oberwiesenthal: (BLN 851.0306; Ball 54B3; KBS518)  The plans of local authority Landkreis Annaberg to allow through running to the 750mm-gauge line in the Erzgebirge involve laying narrow-gauge track on disused standard-gauge alignment from Annaberg's old upper station south-east to the old upper station at Königswalde, building a new north-to-west curve on to the (Bärenstein -) Königswalde - Cranzahl (- Annaberg-Buchholz Süd) standard-gauge line (KBS517), and dual-gauging south-west to Cranzahl.  Progress on this quite ambitious project seems recently to have slowed.  (World Steam, December 1999; IBSE)

0420][AT] Innsbruck - Bergisel - Igls light rail: (BLN 810.0440; Ball 79B1 not shown)  Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe's scenic but threatened metre-gauge line #6 was reprieved for the three years ending December 1999.  It seems experience has been sufficiently satisfactory to allow a further three years of continued operation (2000-02) before another review takes place.  (Tramways & Urban Transit, December 1999, quoting Eisenbahn)

0421][AT] (Oberwart ÖBB - Rotenturm an der Pinka SRB -) Grosspetersdorf - Rechnitz: (BLN 836.0508, 838.0578, 843.074; Ball 75B1-84B3)  Südburgenländische Regionalbahn's summer 1999 leaflet showed their weekend tourist trains running only from their headquarters at Grosspetersdorf to Rechnitz, a further cutback.  The 1998 leaflet showed SRB trains on the Oberwart ÖBB - Rechnitz section and the 1997 one also on the Oberwart - Oberschützen ÖBB branch.  

0422][SE] Sweden: rail owners and operators: (BLN 829.0311)  Nationalised rail-infrastructure company Banverket own most Swedish tracks, but some Stockholm suburban lines - including the 891mm-gauge 1500V dc Roslagsbana operated by Vivendi's Linjebuss (BLN 841.012) - belong to Stockholm county (Storstockholms Lokaltrafiks Järnvägar or SLJ).  Inlandsbanan AB (http://www.inlandsbanan.se/) own their own very lengthy Mora - Östersund - Arvidsjaur - Gällivare line (BLN 818.034; Ball 14A2-3A3) with its summer-only trains.  The new airport line, (Stockholm -) Skavstaby - Arlanda - Myrbacken (R99.0188, 0226; 23B2), belongs directly to the government rather than BV.  Sweden's King and Queen officially opened Arlandabanan on 24 November, and the first Stockholm - Arlanda public train set off at 04:35 on 25 November 1999, operated by the Arlanda Express consortium (http://www.arlandaexpress.com/index2.htm), who have traffic rights for 50 years.  

BSM-Järnväg operate various local passenger services around Nässjö (Ball 22A1): Jönköping - Vaggeryd; Nässjö - Vaggeryd - Värnamo - Halmstad; Nässjö - Åseda; Nässjö - Hultsfred; Tranås - Nässjö - Stockaryd and in 2000 also Nässjö - Jönköping - Falköping - Skövde.  BK-Täg (http://www.bktag.se/) operate local trains Borlänge - Malung (14B1-14A1) and Ystad - Simrishamn (BLN 822.0124; 25B1) and from 13 June 2000 also Hallsberg - Lidköping - Herrljunga (22A2-21B3).  Three new operators began from 10 January 2000.  Tägkompaniet (http://www.tagkom.com/) operate Göteborg / Stockholm - Umeå / Luleå / Narvik NSB long-distance night trains, and will run seasonal Boden - Haparanda BV - Tornio VR local trains when this border-crossing line (R99.0187; 3A1-3B1) reopens in summer 2000, carrying the Tägkompaniet name to three countries.  CityPendeln (http://www.citypendeln.se/), a consortium of BK-Tåg, Go-Ahead and Via-GTI, took over Stockholm suburban trains (BLN 841.012) and another consortium of the same three companies, Sydvästen AB (http://www.sydvasten.com/), took over Göteborg - Helsingborg - Malmö trains (R99.0187; 21A1-25A1).

0423][DK][SE][NO] Narvik replaces Thurso:  Since 1 December 1999, Railtrack's Thurso station (58 degrees 35 minutes North) has no longer been the most northerly point on the European connected standard-gauge rail network (BLN 707.08).  Continuous steel rail now runs from Denmark across the Øresund/Öresund to Sweden, though through traffic, freight and passenger, is not to begin till the København - Malmö fixed link opens on 1 July 2000 (R99.0152; Ball DK-4B1, SE-25A2; http://www.oresundskonsortiet.com/newsinfo/press/archive/991201.htm).  The northernmost connected line in Europe is now in Norway, the Riksgränsen - Narvik section of the international railway heading west from the Swedish border to Narvik (BLN 851.0307; Ball 4B3-4A3).  The nearest point to the North Pole is 3.1km east of Narvik and 68 degrees 27 minutes North.  (Today's Railways, #49, January 2000)

0424][PT] Lisboa: Fogueteiro - Foros da Amora - Corroios - Pragal - Campolide - Sete Rios - Entrecampos Poente (- Areeiro - Oriente): (R99.0156; Ball 25B1)  Suburban services over the Ponte 25 de Abril do not feature in CP's timetable nor its September 1999 supplement.  Operators are Fertagus Travessia do Tejo, Transportes SA, trading as Fertagus, with principal shareholders the French utility multinational Vivendi and the Barraqueiro group, associated with SulFertagus, who run buses on the south bank of the Tejo estuary (BLN 832.0386).  Services run from the Fogueteiro end, with first departures 05:35 SSuX, 05:50 SSuO and last arrival back 01:54, basically four trains an hour, but eight an hour in the SSuX peaks, two an hour after 20:50 SSuX, after 15:50 SSuO and all day on winter Sundays after 2 November.  End-to-end journey-time is 27 minutes.  All trains turn back at Entrecampos Poente (R99.0104), though they may at a later stage continue east to Areeiro or - as in the original plan - to Lisboa Oriente.  A useful article on the line appeared in Today's Railways, #31, of July 1998.  CP's Alfa Pendular trains run one round-trip from Pragal over the bridge north to Porto, but services may increase in 2000.  

0425][ES] Mallorca: (R99.0341; Ball 38A1-38A2)  The single-track Inca - Sa Pobla/La Puebla branch closed 31 March 1981, but gauge-conversion of the remaining Palma - Inca section then took place over a two-year period of single-line working.  Services used one 914mm-gauge track while the second track was regauged, then switched to the metre-gauge track while the first one was converted.  In 1983 double-track working resumed, with both tracks metre-gauge.  (The Railways and Tramways of Majorca, Giles Barnabe, Plateway Press, 1993)  By November 1999 the Inca - Sa Pobla trackbed had been cleared and ballasted throughout, and Sa Pobla had a store of sleepers and rail.  However no track was in place on the branch itself, no track work seemed in progress, and the formation was breached in two places for work on a new water-main.  Opening in summer 2000 seems unlikely.  Indeed, since a change of government on the island, it seems priority may be given to reopening from Inca to Manacor, a larger town than Sa Pobla.  (Majorca Daily Bulletin, 12 November 1999)  The only track relaid by November was the short section from Inca to the former branch junction, common to both routes.

0426][CH] (Landquart -) Klosters - Selfranga - Sagliains (- Scuol-Tarasp): (BLN 843.073; Ball 95A3)  On 19 November 1999 the metre-gauge Rhätische Bahn duly opened their 21.5km of new line including the 19.1km Vereinatunnel.  Europe's longest narrow-gauge rail tunnel was started in 1991 and took six months less to complete than originally planned.  It offers a much shorter and faster route to the Lower Engadine Valley for rail passengers, and an all-year-round, all-weather route for drivers, thanks to Selfranga - Sagliains car-ferry trains.  Selfranga station, on the only open-air section of the new line, is not shown in the passenger timetable but Sagliains, with an exchange platform as well as terminal roads for the ferry-trains, is shown footnoted 'for connecting only'.  Sagliains is some 30m from the tunnel mouth, its platform beginning just after the lines from Klosters and from Samedan converge at the eastern vertex of the triangle.  Lavin station is a few km (4 minutes) east of Sagliains towards Scuol-Tarasp, not at the junction as shown in Ball.  Susch, near the south-western vertex where the lines from Klosters and from Scuol-Tarasp converge, is closer to Sagliains, only 2 minutes by the most tightly-timed train.  

The official inauguration began with the running of special trains for invited guests.  St.Moritz - Scuol-Tarasp service trains were already making additional calls at Sagliains on Friday 19 November, but the first train through the tunnel that was open to fare-paying passengers seems to have been the 18:00 from Chur to a rock-concert at Sagliains.  Return transport from this unlikely venue was provided by departures at 02:30 and 02:40 on the Saturday in the three possible directions, with intermediate request-stops.  The first special train in daylight on the Saturday from the north-west end was the very busy 08:30 Landquart - Sagliains, calling at Selfranga and making several stops in the tunnel to cross the first specials arriving from the south-east end and to view a son-et-lumière show.  The train also slowed to enable passengers to see and hear a rock-band in railway-uniform playing on a platform somewhere near the middle!  Sagliains had stalls selling various local produce and souvenirs, and the roofed queuing area for road-vehicles had been partly enclosed by canvas to serve as a catering area with a stage for entertainment.  During the Saturday shuttle trains running in 'flights' through the tunnel mostly comprised rakes of open-sided car-carrying wagons temporarily fitted with four rows of longitudinal benches.  RhB staff manned the ends of each wagon, roped off during the journey, but did not trouble to check all the special CHF10 day-trip tickets available from RhB stations.  Fortunately, given the time needed to exchange passenger loads at each end, the weather stayed fine, despite low temperatures and quite a lot of snow underfoot.  The pattern of service trains and specials, advertised as every 12 minutes from Landquart, plus local shuttles, was repeated on the Sunday.  

Normal passenger service began with the timetable change on the morning of Monday 22 November 1999, the first train being an 05:25 Scuol - Klosters short working.  As well as the vehicle shuttles, Landquart - Scuol trains now provide a basically hourly service, and Scuol-Tarasp, easternmost point on the Swiss rail network, is now only 2h43min from Zürich, with the last outward connection leaving as late as 20:10.  In winter 1999-2000 no passenger train or vehicle shuttle is timetabled over the northwest-to-southwest curve avoiding Sagliains, but RhB plan Engadine Star tourist trains from end-May to mid-October 2000, running in each direction in a huge circle round Graubünden canton (Chur - Landquart - Klosters - Samedan - St.Moritz - Filisur - Chur). 

0427][CH] Luzern - Brünig - Meiringen - Interlaken: (BLN 741.0330, 812.0502, Ball 93B2)  Operation of SBB's sole metre-gauge line, the Brünigbahn, is to be the responsibility of a separate company, perhaps from 1 April 2000. 

0428][HU] Györ - Csorna - Sopron: (Ball 42A1)  An 03:00-12:00 strike on 20 December 1999 hit MÁV, but GySEV services continued to run, using Györ-GySEV station, south-west of Györ main station and not shown in Ball.  This track is rarely used by passenger trains.  

0429][HU] Budapest-Nyugati - Ferihegy?: (BLN 849.0248, R99.0348; Ball 44B2)  Tracks 1-6 at Budapest Nyugati reopened 13 December 1999 after being covered by a car-park in connection with building the massive new shopping and office complex next to the station.  The property-developer has expressed interest in financing a rail link to Budapest Ferihegy airport, south-east of the city, near Szemeretelep on the Budapest - Cegléd line.

0430][HU] Balatonszentgyörgy - Sármellék (- Zalaszentgrót - Zalabér-Batyk): (Ball 46A3)  The former through line following the river Zala is cut back at its southern end to a short unelectrified freight branch to Sármellék, ending 12km from Balatonszentgyörgy and 8km from the junction off the electrified Balatonszentgyörgy - Keszthely line 26a round the western end of Lake Balaton.  Grain is loaded at Sármellék, and in the period up to 18 December 1999 MÁV diesel locomotive M40.235 had the duty, working empty wagons out from Balatonszentgyörgy c.08:30 and back light-engine, returning in the afternoon for the loaded wagons.  

0431][HU][AT][RO][SI] Budapest - Györ - Hegyeshalom (- Wien ÖBB): (Ball 42B1-41B1)  Using European Union pre-accession finance, MÁV plan to upgrade links with Austria, Romania and Slovenia, and equip all three lines with standard European Train Control System transponders.  Included as well as the main line to Wien are Budapest - Cegléd - Szolnok - Békéscsaba - Lökösháza (- Arad CFR) (Ball 47B3-48B2) and (Budapest - Székesfehérvar - Veszprém -) Boba - Ukk - Zalaegerszeg - Zalalövö (- Hodoš SZ - Murska Sobota) (R99.0252; Ball 47A3-46B3).  

0432][RO] Covasna - Comandau: (BLN 804.0295, 808.0396, 812.0512, 839.0606)  The timeless Caile Ferate Forestiere 760mm-gauge line in Romania, famous for its horse-haulage and its steep rope-worked incline, now a protected monument, saw no more than a couple of trains a week during summer 1999, and seems since to have effectively closed, with staff being made redundant.  (World Steam, December 1999)

0433][GR][TR][BG] Pithio - Nea Orestias - Ormenio OSE - Svilengrad BDZ: (Ball 53A2)  The layout of lines along the Greek-Turkish border reflects the history of the area known as Thrace, which was all still within the Ottoman Empire when the railway through Bulgaria to Turkey was completed and the Orient Express first ran through in June 1889 from Paris to Constantinople (not renamed Istanbul till 1930).  Though western Thrace was ceded to Greece in November 1919, part of the line between Pithio and Ormenio, both in Greece, continued to pass through Turkey near Edirne for well over half a century.  On 2 November 1975 OSE brought into use a new line entirely within Greece, running parallel with the main Istanbul - Pehlivanköy - Edirne - Kapikule TCDD - Svilengrad BDZ route.  The Greek and Turkish lines each run close to the border on their own side for some 60km till they converge at Svilengrad, just inside Bulgaria.  In December 1999 the European Union formally welcomed Turkey as a candidate for eventual membership, so the future of the third cross-border route in Thrace, the underused Pithio OSE - Uzonköprü TCDD - Pehlivanköy (- Istanbul) line, may be brighter.  

0434][YU] Kosovo: (BLN 849.0250, R99.0079, 0350)  The United Nations Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) have established a Kosovo Railway Enterprise.  (House of Lords Hansard, 9 December 1999)

0435][AM] Yerevan children's railway:  Like Lviv in Ukraine (R99.0255), Armenia's capital has retained its Soviet-era 750mm-gauge training railway for children (Detskaya Zheleznaya Doroga in Russian), about 1km long and located in the gorge beneath the Hotel Hradzan on tram-route #7.  In 1999 trains ran on summer weekends, hauled by diesel locomotive Tu7.096 and propelled on the return journey, the loop at the far end being out of use.  The loop at the main terminal station held an 0-8-0TT steam locomotive, built Podolsk 1937, out of use but in good external condition.  (World Steam; Continental Railway Journal; LCGB Bulletin, December 1999)

0436][JP] (Hiroshima -) Yokogawa - Kabe - Kake - Sandankyo: (Quail 3B2)  Yokogawa - Kabe opened 1909-11 as 762mm-gauge, was electrified 1928 and regauged to 1067mm in 1930.  The line was nationalised and extended to Aki-Imuro in 1936, to Kake in 1954 and to Sandankyo in 1969.  Like many Japanese secondary lines, the Kabe line was planned to be connected at both ends, running coast-to-coast to Hamada on the Sea of Japan, but Sandankyo - Hamada was never built.  Hiroshima - Kabe services in 1999 are electric units running through city suburbs for some 30 minutes, but JR West's diesel-worked Kabe - Sandankyo rural section beyond, winding its way north up a series of deep and scenic valleys, is under threat of closure, possibly from March 2000.  This branch now has quite a sparse service, for only a few through trains run the full 46km, taking some 90 minutes, with a couple more providing connections at Kake, a small island-platform station with a one-road locomotive-shed housing a spare single railcar. 

0437][NZ] Picton - Blenheim - Christchurch - Invercargill: (BLN 714.027, 784.0344, R99.0394)  Tranz Rail have plans for a new ferry-port at Clifford Bay, near Blenheim.  If this were to replace Picton as the South Island port for inter-island sailings and connecting trains, Wellington - Christchurch journey-time could be cut by at least an hour.  By autumn 1999 Tranz Rail had planning consent for construction, but had not announced a decision.  (http://byrail.wellington.net.nz)

0438][GB] (Belfast -) Bleach Green Jn - Mossley West - Templepatrick - Antrim: (BLN 776.0147, 832.0369, 838.0568)  The GBP14.4M project, formally announced by a Northern Ireland minister on 18 September 1998 and now proceeding slowly, involves relaying 20.8km of single and 2.4km of double 1600mm-gauge track with continuous welded rail, providing a c.300m passing-loop and two new stations, installing track-circuit-block signalling controlled from Belfast signalling-centre, converting four level-crossings to automatic half-barriers, upgrading an existing automatic half-barrier crossing, improving accommodation crossings and other infrastructure works.  Mossley West new station is c.400m west of Mossley old station, with a single platform on the south side of the line serving a new development for Newtownabbey Borough Council who are relocating to the adjacent old Mossley mill.  Templepatrick loop is between Ballymartin level-crossing and Templepatrick old station, with Templepatrick new station a short distance further west on the north side of the line. (IRRS)

0439][IE] Ireland: cement terminals: (R.0086)  Iarnród Éireann withdrew all public rail freight facilities for general traffic from 11 April 1991, but palletised bagged cement continued to be handled as public traffic.  Killarney freight terminal closed 17 April 1996, with most of the site being sold for commercial development, and by early 1998 Gort, Nenagh, Roscrea, Rathmore, Arklow, Gorey, Enniscorthy and Wexford had all ceased to be rail-served, though the last four remained as road-fed terminals.  Millstreet had ceased to handle cement, but still loads timber.  In 1999 the Platin cement factory on the Drogheda - Navan branch (R.0399) was still supplying bagged cement by rail to Dublin North Wall, Carlow, Kilkenny, Mullingar, Longford and Sligo, and the Limerick factory on the Limerick Check - Castlemungret branch (R.0361, 0404) by rail to Ennis, Portlaoise, Thurles, Clonmel, Waterford, Charleville, Mallow, Cork and Tralee.  The future of Dublin's Cabra bulk-cement depot on the Glasnevin Jn - Islandbridge Jn line seems uncertain.  Part of the site has been sold for housing, and no sign of rail or any other activity was seen when our reporter passed on 27 November 1999.  (Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, #115, Jun 1991, #135, Feb 1998, #141(sic), Oct 1999; Irish Railway News, Vol.5, #1)

0440][FR] Paris métro: Gare du Nord:  When Ligne 5 was first completed to Gare du Nord in 1907 it ended in a double-track balloon-loop with an island-platform station on its west side.  The Ligne 5 extension north to Église de Pantin, delayed by the outbreak of World War II, opened in 1942, the new line following the east side of the old loop, with a new Gare du Nord station further north.  Still visible from Ligne 5 trains just north of Gare de l'Est Verdun station is the junction on to the west side of the old loop, now connected at its south end only.  This junction leads also to non-passenger connections to Ligne 2 west of Anvers and, with reversal, to Ligne 4 between Gare du Nord and Barbès-Rochechouart.  Only the inner loop track remains through the old Ligne 5 Gare du Nord platform, now used for training, and this track has an inspection-pit, so that staff can be shown underfloor equipment on the trains.  Buildings accommodating classrooms and the like occupy the site of the outer loop, but two tracks continue beyond, round the north end of the loop as far as a wall blocking off the training area from the present Ligne 5 running line.  Three trains are used by the training school, one stabling in the platform and the other two in the sidings beyond.  As most seats have been removed from these units, they seem to be permanently allocated to training.  The quite lengthy connecting line between Lignes 5 and 2 is also used as part of the training facility, and nameboards 'Gare de l'Est', 'Gare du Nord' and 'Anvers' are attached to the tunnel-wall, forming dummy stations at which trainee-drivers practise stopping.  Various other items of equipment along the tunnel have signs indicating that they are for training only.  Occasional excursions traverse the voies d'instruction, including the nocturnal railtour that visited about 03:30-04:20 on 5 December 1999.  One of the training trains was shunted to a loop towards Anvers so that the tour-train could run into the old Gare du Nord platform, where a choice of pink and white champagne was served!

0441][FR] Paris métro: Gambetta - Porte des Lilas - Pré-Saint-Gervais:  From 1905 to 1921 Gambetta was the easternmost station on Ligne 3, equipped with a double-track balloon-loop which had separate island platforms for arrivals and departures, with trains apparently running empty round most of the loop.  In November 1921 the line was extended to Porte des Lilas and Pré-Saint-Gervais.  Eastbound Ligne 3 trains continued to use the old arrival platform at Gambetta, still running most of the way round the loop there before gaining the new line north-eastwards.  Westbound trains from Porte des Lilas ran via the old departure platform at Gambetta.  Through Ligne 3 trains never worked north of Porte des Lilas, but turned there on another balloon-loop.  Beyond, the short 767m Porte des Lilas - Pré-Saint-Gervais section had a shuttle service from 1921 to 1939, and again from April 1952 to May 1956 during experiments with pneumatic-tyred rolling-stock, but no service trains now run.  The present platforms at Porte des Lilas are not on the originally-planned alignment, and the disused station for trains to and from Pré-Saint-Gervais can be glimpsed as one departs from Porte des Lilas south-west to Gambetta, or from the platforms at Saint-Fargeau, the first station south, by looking straight ahead to the north.  (This section is not on a curve as suggested by Quail's Paris railways map.)  The only significant section of the Métro to close, Porte des Lilas - Pré-Saint-Gervais is now used for staff training, and its platforms, one never used, are sometimes called for when filming requires a Métro location.  Occasional excursions also cover the track, as on the night of 4-5 December 1999.  

In 1971 Gambetta - Porte de Bagnolet - Galliéni opened as an eastward extension of Ligne 3, diverging just east of Gambetta's former arrival platform, which was removed.  The first station west of Gambetta, Martin Nadaud, which had been very close, had its platforms extended eastwards to form the new Gambetta Ligne 3 station. Gambetta - Porte des Lilas became Ligne 3bis, running as a self-contained shuttle and using the former departure platform at Gambetta, now a dead-end.

The visitor to Gambetta station can see several indications of this complex history, the most obvious being the access from the former Martin Nadaud station, requiring a lengthy walk east along the original Martin Nadaud platforms, fenced off from the running lines.  From the westbound Ligne 3 platform the passenger walkway to Ligne 3bis, the original Gambetta departure platform, uses a short section of what was once the running tunnel.  East of Gambetta, the site of the original arrival platform can be distinguished by the wider-than-usual running tunnel, accommodating a middle siding, and still lined with the characteristic bevelled white tiles found at stations of the former Chemin der Fer Métropolitain de Paris.  Most of the original balloon-loop survives, as part of Lignes 3 and 3bis, as an empty-stock connection between them, or as a pair of dead-end sidings off this connection.  The sidings can be seen from Ligne 3bis trains, but stock seems not to stable there regularly.

0442][FR] Paris métro: Jasmin - Porte d'Auteuil - Porte Molitor - Porte de Saint-Cloud:  When Ligne 9 was extended from Exelmans to Porte de Saint-Cloud in September 1923 an additional Métro service was planned for special events at the Parc des Princes sports stadium nearby.  For this purpose a somewhat circuitous 1.83km single-track balloon-loop, entirely underground, was built from Jasmin via Porte d'Auteuil (on what is now Ligne 10) and Porte Molitor to Porte de Saint-Cloud.  The running tunnels, track and electrification were all duly completed and - to cope with the planned large numbers of sports enthusiasts - a broad island platform was constructed at Porte Molitor on a short two-track section of the loop, in a station tunnel of typical Métro design.  However, access to the surface was never provided and passenger trains never ran before the scheme was abandoned.  The loop, running partly beneath the Boulevard Murat and dubbed la voie Murat, is still a through line, now used to stable rolling-stock.  On the concourse at Porte d'Auteuil station is a noticeboard with a large track-map of the area, including Porte Molitor, showing the berthing-locations where trains are stabled.  

0443][FR] Sembadel - Estivareilles: (BLN 815.0563; Ball 55B1-56A2)  Preservation group AGRIVAP (Les amis du musée de la machine agricole et à vapeur), operators on the 93km Pont-de-Dore - Courpière - Ambert - Sembadel section, plan to extend seasonal tourist trains to run to Estivareilles in summer 2000.  (L'Écho du Rail, #203, December 1999)

0444][DE] (Hövelhof -) Verl - Gütersloh Nord - Harsewinkel (- Ibbenbüren): (Ball 25B1-24B2)  Two sections of the private Teutoburger Wald Eisenbahn, Gütersloh - Verl and Gütersloh - Harsewinkel, may reopen as passenger branch lines in 2004, following recent political decisions in Nordrhein-Westfalen.  So too may the nearby Lemgo - Barntrup line (BLN 793.011; 25B1-26A1), whose track may be bought from DB Netz by the private and electrified Barntrup - Rinteln Süd Extertalbahn (BLN 828.0284).  Since closure in 1966 of the line from Rinteln DB station through the town to Rinteln Süd, the junction at Barntrup has been the Extertalbahn's only link with the national rail network.  

0445][DE] Herborn (Dillkreis) - Hartenrod (Kreis Biedenkopf) (- Niederwalgern): (Ball 39A1-39B1; KBS624)  The Aar-Salzböde-Bahn may close to passengers at end-May 2000.  In the province (Land) of Hessen local transport matters have been delegated (perhaps unwisely) to the counties (Kreise).  Local politicians are unwilling to pay for badly needed engineering work on the line, maybe over-estimated by DB Netz at EUR25M, and closure would also allow savings to be made by not building a bridge where a planned new road is to cross the line at Herbornseelbach.  With no evening and weekend services, the branch's push-pull sets (four 1960s Silberling coaches with a Class 216 locomotive) are not that well patronised.  Also in Hessen, not far to the south (49B3), the (Friedberg - Beienheim -) Wölfersheim-Södel - Hungen section of KBS632 is similarly threatened with closure at end-May 2000 (as foreshadowed in BLN 712.04 of 1993!).  Giessen county council are no longer willing to pick up the deficit for the northern part of the line, even though the adjacent county, Wetteraukreis, plan to continue supporting Beienheim - Wölfersheim-Södel trains on their own territory.  As with KBS624, patronage is average.  The present service is provided by new Stadler GTW 6/6 light diesel railcars of the Hessen-owned Butzbach-Licher Eisenbahn (BLN 846.0141).

0446][DE] Köln - Montabaur - Frankfurt-am-Main / Wiesbaden: (R.0069; Ball 48B3)  The high-speed Schnellfahrstrecke under construction is to have a new intermediate station at Montabaur.  Track-laying there is starting in early 2000, and to provide rail access to the works, a temporary siding is being installed near the home-signal of the present Montabaur station on the Limburg (Lahn) - Siershahn line (KBS629).  On 7 July 2000 the existing line is to be connected to the new station, and the old station is to be abandoned. 

0447][DE] Kaiserslautern Hbf - Lampertsmühle-Otterbach - Lauterecken-Grumbach: (Ball 56B3-48B1)  Rheinland-Pfalz are considering lightweight diesel cars running from the main station through the streets of Kaiserslautern via the Rathaus to rejoin the existing DB line at Kaiserslautern Westbahnhof, heading north to Lampertsmühle, then serving both the Lautertalbahn to Lauterecken-Grumbach (KBS673) and the Bachbahn to Weilerbach.  The former Lampertsmühle-Otterbach - Weilerbach - Reichenbach-Steegen branch closed to passengers in May 1972, to freight beyond Weilerbach in 1988 (after severe deterioration of the track) and completely in May 1995.  Lampertsmühle - Weilerbach is heavily overgrown with track in bad condition, while the Weilerbach - Reichenbach-Steegen section is now a well-used cycleway.  

0448][SE] Jörn - Arvidsjaur: (Ball 8A3-2B1)  Linking Sweden's northern main line (Stockholm - Jörn - Boden) with the parallel Inlandsbana (Mora - Östersund - Arvidsjaur - Gällivare) from 1 December 1928, this 75km cross-country route closed to passengers and freight 27 May 1990, except for a 5km Norlunda - Arvidsjaur stub retained for freight.  (Svenska Järnvägsklubben: Järnvägsdata 1999)  No train has used the line for many years, though recently rail-cycle hire (Dressinuthyrning) has been possible from May to September (http://www.arvidsjaurturism.se/sjvg.htm).  In 1999 the track was in poor condition and the line was threatened with being lifted, but it now seems it may be reopened for freight, and at least part of it may be visited, from the Arvidsjaur end, by SMoK's autumn railtour (29 August - 10 September 2000).  (Motorvagnen, 4/1999, published by Svenska Motorvagnsklubben, the Swedish Railcar Society)

0449][PT] Portugal: closed, disused and non-passenger lines at end-1999: south: (Ball 25-26-27)  South of the river Tejo, the Pinhal Novo - Montijo Ramal do Montijo (BLN 819.056), whose junction was severed in the mid-1990s, was lifted during the week ending 20 November 1999, and is to become a cycleway.  The Torre da Gadanha - Montemor-o-Novo Ramal de Montemor was lifted during the 1990s as was the Évora - Mora Ramal de Mora.  The Évora - Reguengos de Monsaraz Ramal de Reguengos still has occasional sugar-beet traffic (BLN 806.0342-3) and was visited by a PTG railtour on 26 June 1999.  The Évora - Estremoz section of the Linha de Évora (BLN 842.039) still sees a daily cement train.  The Estremoz - Portalegre section has no regular traffic, though CP keep it available as a south-north emergency link, as before.  The Estremoz - Vila Viçosa Ramal de Vila Viçosa is still in place but in a poor state, without traffic, the last train being the PTG railtour on 27 June 1999. The recently reopened Beja - Moura Ramal de Moura had no traffic in late 1999, but the track was in reasonable condition, only lightly overgrown, and should host a PTG railtour on 31 January 2000.  This tour will also visit Ermidas-Sado - Sines (BLN 842.038), the Linha de Sines, which continues to see heavy coal trains daily from Sines port, though its passenger station is now cut off from the rails.  The 8.2km Castro Verde-Almodôvar - Aljustrel Ramal de Aljustrel sees occasional freight use.  The 2.2km Funcheira avoiding line shown on the 1994 Quail map - long installed but not commissioned - was brought into use at the beginning of December 1999, giving a shorter journey for the Sociedade Mineira de Neves-Corvo traffic between the pyrites mines on the Ourique - Neves-Corvo branch and Praias-Sado near Setúbal (BLN 825.0210).  The 1km Vila Real de Santo Antonio - Guadiana extension still has track but is disused and rubbish-strewn (R.0013).  (Portuguese Traction Group newsletter #3, Dec 1999; http://www.ptg.org.uk, Jan 2000)

0450][PT] Portugal: closed, disused and non-passenger lines at end-1999: north: (Ball 7-8-17)  The Valença do Minho - Monção Ramal de Monção is still in place but heavily overgrown and in a poor state, breached by a road just west of Monção station (BLN 777.0174).  The Contumil - Leixões Linha de Leixões has regular freight (BLN 850.0274) but the 1.5km Leixões - Leixões-Serpa Pinto end-section was lifted before the 1990s.  Regauging now under way on the Santo Tirso - Guimarães section of the Linha de Guimarães (R.0011) will see broad-gauge passenger trains extended about a kilometre beyond the present metre-gauge Guimarães station.  The Guimarães - Fafe section, closed 1986 (BLN 697.08), is now a tarred cycleway.  The Póvoa de Varzim - Famalicão metre-gauge Ramal de Famalicão was lifted during 1999, though long-term plans exist for its possible incorporation into the new Porto metro system (R.0280).  The metre-gauge Linha do Tâmega still has Livração - Amarante passenger trains (BLN 809.0418) and plans exist for reopening the Amarante - Arco de Baúlhe section which, although heavily overgrown in places, is complete and in very good condition with all infrastructure in place.  On the metre-gauge Linha do Corgo Régua - Vila Real trains continue (BLN 809.0418) and plans exist to reopen 3.7km of the Vila Real - Chaves section north to Abambres, beyond which the line is expected to become a cycleway.  Some lifting has taken place at the Chaves end.  The Tua - Mirandela and Mirandela - Carvalhais sections of the metre-gauge Linha do Tua have separate passenger services (BLN 848.0221, 850.0275, R.0338) and plans exist to restore trains north to Macedo de Cavaleiros on the Carvalhais - Bragança section.  Some of the track has been stolen, though no official lifting has taken place.  Long-term plans exist for possible reopening of the Pocinho - Mos section of the Pocinho - Mos - Duas Igrejas-Miranda metre-gauge Linha do Sabor (BLN 825.0209), but 1999 saw the first official lifting, possibly of all the track east of Mos.  The beautiful Sernada do Vouga - Viseu Ramal de Viseu was lifted during the 1990s (BLN 851.0310).  The Santa Comba Dão - Viseu Linha do Dão, also metre-gauge, closed 1988 (BLN 697.08) and had lost its track at the Santa Comba Dão end by December 1997.  Lifting was completed during 1999, but plans exist for possible reopening as a broad-gauge branch to serve the important town of Viseu.  (Portuguese Traction Group newsletter #3, December 1999)

0451][IT] Paola - Sibari: (BLN 780.0248; Ball 58A1-58A2)  The short Cosenza avoiding line, a concrete viaduct for most of its length, is of recent origin and did not gain a passenger service until June 1996, when a Roma - Crotone inter-city working was routed that way in each direction.  From 1997 a Paola - Bari express also used the curve each way.  Since September 1999 these trains have all reversed at Cosenza, leaving the curve again without any passenger service.  

0452][IT][CH] Brig SBB - Simplon tunnel - Iselle di Trasquera FS - Domodossola:  (Ball IT-41A2, CH-100A3-100B2)  The first three stations south of the Simplon tunnel, Iselle di Trasquera, Varzo and Preglia, are all in Italy and owned by FS, and the electrification masts are of Italian tubular design, but the current is Swiss 15kV 16.7Hz and only Swiss trains call.  Passenger trains not using dual-system equipment change traction at Domodossola, where electric locomotives are fly-shunted back to their own end of the station.  Freight trains not requiring remarshalling change locomotives in sidings to the north-east of the passenger station, but both SBB and Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon trains can be seen running beyond these exchange sidings on a 15kV 16.7Hz electrified single track heading south parallel with the 3000V dc main line and passing beneath it to reach the very large marshalling-yard on the west side a few km south of Domodossola.  

0453][CH] (Flamatt -) Laupen - Gümmenen: (BLN 772.077, 791.0477; Ball 92A3)  The private Sensetalbahn now have eight four-seat rail-cycles at Laupen for hire on their de-electrified and otherwise disused standard-gauge line to Gümmenen.  The trips by bicycle-trolley (Velo-Draisinenfahrten or voyages en draisine-vélo) are available 09:00-18:00 daily all year at CHF85 the 75-minute round-trip - with a surcharge of CHF100 for a 50-minute single journey!  It is not clear whether these are average or maximum journey-times, but departure and return times are by arrangement. Book at least two hours in advance via bahnhof.laupen@laupenamt.ch; fax +41 31 740 62 99; telephone +41 31 740 62 11; or Sensetalbahn AG, Murtenstrasse 17, CH-3177 Laupen.  The line has hosted the world-championships for human-powered rail-vehicles, according to the website http://www.laupenamt.ch.  Motor-draisine trips are also available.  A preservation group are also running special trains on the Laupen - Gümmenen line on four days in 2000 (Laupen - Gümmenen - Kerzers - Lyss - Murten on 26 March, and Laupen - Flamatt - Laupen - Gümmenen - Laupen on 24 April, 3 September and 26 December).  Bookings to Verein Dampfbahn Bern, Postfach 5841, CH-3001 Bern, telephone +41 31 741 01 34.

0454][CH] (Brig -) Andermatt - Disentis/Mustér: (BLN 837.0559)  The new tunnel on the metre-gauge Furka Oberalp's short realigned section at Disentis (BLN 778.0198; Ball 94B2) was in use by the end of 1999.

0455][CH] (Arth-Goldau -) Brunnen - Flüelen (- Andermatt): (Ball 94A3)  SBB has two different routes between Brunnen and Flüelen on the climb south to the Gotthard tunnel.  The original single track runs close to the shore of the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne), passing through a series of short tunnels.  The second track follows a more direct route through longer tunnels, though the two lines come together through Sisikon station.  Reversible signalling is installed, but left-hand running is normal, so northbound descending trains usually run alongside the lake and southbound ascending ones through the newer tunnels.  

0456][CH] (Montreux -) Chamby - Blonay (- Vevey): (BLN 813.0529, 816.0606, 836.0525; Ball 98Al; SBB 113)  This section of metre-gauge line opened 1 October 1902, closed 21 May 1966, reopened for CF Musée Blonay-Chamby trains 20 July 1968 and for an ordinary passenger service 24 May 1998.  (Schienennetz Schweiz, second edition)  Now it seems that the Chemin de fer léger de la Riviera through services from Montreux are to cease running over the museum line at end-May 2000.  (http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/3504/agenda.html) 

0457][SK] Tisovec - Revúca - Slavošovce: (Ball 43A2 not shown)  The dismembering of Czechoslovakia under German pressure in 1938 led to parts of southern Slovakia being ceded to Hungary, and was perhaps the reason for this alternative route entirely within Slovakian territory, begun in 1941 but never completed.  Post-war Czechoslovakia, with its lost land restored, abandoned the project in 1952, but much heavy civil-engineering work can still be seen.  From Tisovec on the Brezno - Jesenské line, the route headed north-east through a 2km tunnel dug under the mountain-pass at Dielik, and much of the formation was completed onward to Revúca on the Plešivec - Murán branch.  Beyond, a large concrete-arch viaduct was built across a valley near Magnezitovce, followed by another 2km tunnel before the route curved north into Slavošovce. 

0458][HU][SK] Nógrádszakál MÁV - Bušince ZSR - Malé Straciny: (Ball 43A1-42B1)  Built in the late 1890s when the whole area was part of Hungary, the Lucenec - Kalonda ZSR - Ipolytarnoc MÁV - Nógrádszakál - Balassagyarmat line became a secondary cross-border route when Czechoslovakia was created in 1919.  In Communist times Hungary and Czechoslovakia co-operated sufficiently to build a 13km international branch, opened 12 September 1951, from Nógrádszakál in Hungary northwards to tap the Slovak coalfield at Malé Straciny.  This line was extended westwards from Malé Straciny to Vel'ký Krtiš on 28 February 1978, but plans to extend from Vel'ký Krtiš south-west to Šahy, possibly with the intention of avoiding the transit through Hungary, were abandoned.  Lucenec - Vel'ký Krtiš passenger trains ran until about 1989, and Lucenec - Balassagyarmat international services lasted until the early 1990s.  In late 1999 the only remaining traffic on the branch, coal from Malé Straciny via Nógrádszakál and Lucenec to the power-station at Zemianske Kostol'any, south of Prievidza, is threatened by cheaper Polish coal, and ZSR may close this isolated section of their network. 

0459][HU] Miskolc Kilián-Észak - Papírgyár - Mahóca (- Taksalápa - Farkasgödör-Örvénykö): (BLN 777.0175; Ball 43A1; MÁV 331)  Hungary's forests remain state-owned but private-sector timber companies now operate the forestry railways, though they have 50-70% of their shares held by the state, and the lines have retained the ÁEV designation (Állami Erdei Vasutak = State Forestry Railways).  From Miskolc MÁV station, tram #1 runs the 6km to Miskolc Kilián-Észak ÁEV station, the present inner terminus of the 760mm-gauge Lillafüredi vonal (vonal = line), now owned by Északerdö Rt.  Some 4km out along the Miskolc - Lillafüred ÁEV 'main line' is Papírgyár, junction for the 12km branch to Mahóca.  This line once extended some 7km further, but track beyond Taksalápa has been unofficially removed.  Since summer 1998 the branch has had two pairs of tourist trains on May-September weekends (SSuO Miskolc 08:45 - 10:00 Mahóca 12:00 - 12:40 Papírgyár 13:20 - 14:00 Mahóca 16:30 - 17:40 Miskolc), a pattern different to the single round-trip at 08:45 shown in the 1999-2000 MÁV timetable.  It appears that weekday trains can be chartered.

0460][JP] Nogata - Orio - Wakamatsu: (Quail 2C1)  In the north of Japan's southern island of Kyushu, new masts and overhead line equipment have appeared on the Chikuho line sections south and north of the junction at Orio, so local diesel-hauled trains may not last long.  In October 1999 their activity levels were much reduced, but the elderly Class DD51 Bo-2-Bo diesel locomotives still had three passenger duties a day, hauling six Type 50 coaches on well-filled peak-hour trains: (duty 1) #2630 Nogata 06:53 - 08:10 Mojiko; (duty 2) #6532 Iizuka 06:44 - 08:06 Wakamatsu plus #6559 Wakamatsu 16:00 - 17:11 Iizuka; and (duty 3) #2659 Mojiko 17:18 - 19:11 Iizuka.  These may be the last regular DD51-hauled daytime trains in Japan, though DD51s also work Hakodate - Sapporo overnight sleepers on the northern island of Hokkaido (Quail 6A3-6C2), and the Kyoto - Izumoshi Izumo sleeper service (Quail 3F2-3C1).  On JR Kyushu's Tosu - Kurume - Oita line, Class DE10 Bo-A1A diesel locomotives still retain some passenger duties (Quail 2C2-2D2).  Hauled trains can normally be identified in the JR timetable by a train number not including the suffixed letter that indicates a type of multiple-unit.

0461][CA] Toronto - Cochrane, ON: (BLN 813.0534)  Ontario Northland Railway's Northlander train may again be threatened.  Ontario's provincial government, owners of ONR, are considering three cost-cutting options: reduction from six to three trains a week, buses on part of the route, and buses replacing the whole service. (Railpace Magazine, Nov 1999)

0462][CA] (Ottawa -) Hull, QC - Montebello (- Montréal, QC):  Chemin de Fer Québec-Gatineau (QGRY), a Canadian 'short line' company who are part of the US group Genesee Rail-One, now own the ex-Canadian Pacific Ottawa - Montréal line which runs parallel to and north of the Rivière des Outaouais, the boundary between Québec and Ontario.  From 12 November 1997 they took over the steam tourist-train operation that began in 1992 offering 32km rides north up the west bank of the Gatineau river (Hull - Wakefield, QC; BLN 775.0146).  On 14 October 1999 QGRY ran a steam-and-diesel excursion from Hull 70km east to Montebello along their ex-CP track, presaging a number of such trips planned for 2000.  Curiously for North America, not only is their steam locomotive Swedish (SJ #909), so too is their diesel (SJ #244).  (Railpace Magazine, December 1999)

0463][DE][FI][US] Train-ferry routes of the world: (R.0394)  The Lübeck-Travemünde - Hankö Railship service from Germany across the Baltic to Finland was diverted in 1998 to run Lübeck-Travemünde - Turku.  Since the demise of the 'railroad car-ferries' on Lake Michigan, at least some of which were self-powered vessels, the remaining North American ferry routes seem all to use barges ('carfloats') pushed or pulled by powerful tugs.  Long routes worked thus are Seattle, WA - Ketchikan AK - Sitka AK (Knappton Marine Ferry) and Seattle, WA - Whittier, AK (Crowley Marine Services, an even longer route than CN's Prince Rupert, BC - Whittier, AK Aquatrain), while shorter routes across estuaries are Jersey City (Greenville Yard), NJ - New York (Brooklyn Bay Ridge Yard), NY (New York Cross Harbor Railroad; BLN 840.0641) and Cape Charles, VA - Norfolk (Little Creek), VA (Eastern Shore Railroad).  (US routes shown in SPV Railroad Atlases)

0464][US] (Middleboro, MA - Buzzard's Bay -) Sandwich - Hyannis, MA:  The Bay Colony Railroad owns and operates the freight lines on the Cape Cod peninsula.  Amtrak's seasonal New York, NY - Hyannis, MA Cape Codder ceased after summer 1996 (BLN 782.0286), but some short-distance tourist trains then ran until local concern about discharge of sewage on to the track led to the then operators' authority being withdrawn.  From 28 May 1999, however, Cape Cod Central Railroad recommenced Hyannis - Sandwich tourist trains over BCLR tracks.  (Railpace Magazine, 1999)

0465][US] Edaville Railroad:  The 9km 610mm-gauge Edaville Railroad was built specially as a tourist line around a cranberry farm near South Carver, Massachusetts, south of Boston, as a home for equipment being abandoned by lines in Maine.  After disputes among owners, the line closed 1991, but reopened 4 September 1999.  New operators CranRail Corporation, associated with the nearby Cape Cod Central Railroad, have a 20-year lease.  (Railpace Magazine, Nov. 1999)

0466][US] New Jersey Transit light rail: Ridgefield - Hoboken - Jersey City - Bayonne, NJ:  New Jersey Transit awarded the contract to 21st Century Rail Corporation to 'design, build, operate and maintain' the Hudson-Bergen light-rail line, the first part of which is to open 1 March 2000.  The line is eventually to extend 35km from Ridgefield in the north via Hoboken (on the shore of the Hudson river opposite New York City) and Jersey City to Bayonne in the south.  The 'Initial Operating Segment Phase 1' is new formation from Jersey City Exchange Place to Liberty State Park, then largely follows old Lehigh Valley Railroad trackbed south to Bayonne East 34th St, with a branch westward in Jersey City (Liberty State Park - West Side Avenue) being mainly on old Central Railroad of New Jersey trackbed.  Newport - Exchange Place is expected to open December 2000, and Hoboken Terminal - Newport in mid-2001.  Further extensions north and south are not yet timetabled in detail, but NJT hope to complete the whole project in 2003.  When the line's new six-axle articulated cars are delivered, similar vehicles will go also to NJT's Newark City Subway (R.0467).

0467][US] New Jersey Transit light rail: Newark Penn Station - Franklin Avenue: (BLN 834.0450)  From 4 October 1999 platforms on NJT's 8km Newark City Subway have ticket-vending machines, and crew on the elderly ex-Minneapolis-St.Paul PCC tramcars no longer collect fares on board.  A new station, Branch Brook Park, is to replace both Heller Parkway and Franklin Avenue at the outer end of the line, and work is under way on a 1.5km extension partly on the trackbed of the Erie Railroad's former West Orange branch to a new station at Bloomfield Avenue, at a quite different location from the existing station of that name.  A longer-term aspiration is to extend the city end of the line north to Newark Broad Street Station.  Around March 2000 the power-supply is to be converted from 600V to 750V dc, and cab-signalling equipment is to be provided, after which the traditional PCC cars (designed before World War II for the electric railroads' Presidents' Conference Committee) will no longer be able to work the line, being replaced by new cars like those on the Hudson-Bergen line (R.0466), the two light-rail lines then coming under common NJT management.  This change will leave only two operators in the USA still with PCC cars: San Francisco's Muni with their F-Market Street heritage line and Boston's MBTA with their Red Line Ashmont - Mattapan shuttle.  (http://www.njtransit.state.nj.us; Railpace Magazine, 1999)

0468][US] Tuckahoe, NJ - Woodbine - Cape May Court House - Cold Spring - Cape May City, NJ:  The former Reading Railroad Cape May branch, now owned by the state of New Jersey, closed to passengers 2 October 1981 and to freight 10 September 1983.  Operators Cape May Seashore Lines are gradually reopening it to tourist trains, which began on the middle section between 4-H Fairgrounds (near Cape May Court House) and Cold Spring 18 May 1996 and extended southwards to Cape May (City) 12 June 1999.  Seasonal trains ran daily to 1 October 1999, then SSuO to 19 December, and resume in spring 2000.  The remainder of the line north to Tuckahoe may reopen during 2000, if the state grants USD2.6M to rehabilitate the Woodbine trestle over the trackbed of the formerly-competing Pennsylvania Railroad branch, now abandoned south of Manumuskin.  (http://www.cmslrr.com/history)

0469][US] (Philadelphia, PA -) Warminster, PA - Ivyland - Lahaska - New Hope, PA:  From 17 July 1999 the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad extended their seasonal weekend New Hope - Lahaska tourist trains to run through to an end-on connection at Warminster with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's Philadelphia - Warminster electric commuter trains on this ex-Reading Railroad line.  (Railpace Magazine, 1999)

0470][US] Philadelphia, PA - Wilmington, DE - Newark - Porter - Dover - Harrington - Laurel, DE:  The Delaware State Fair is held annually in July (24 July in 1999) south of the state capital, Dover, at Harrington on the former Pennsylvania Railroad's Wilmington, DE - Porter - Laurel, DE - Cape Charles, VA route, now a freight-only line mainly owned by Norfolk Southern.  Under charter to Delaware Department of Transportation, NS use Amtrak equipment for a day excursion from Philadelphia's main 30th Street station, running via the Amtrak Northeast Corridor passenger route south-west as far as Newark, Delaware, where the push-pull set reverses to go via Porter to Harrington, part of the original direct Wilmington - Porter route having been lifted.  Passengers need not actually visit the State Fair, and can stay aboard as the train goes forward another 42km to Laurel to await its return trip, offering 134km travel over non-passenger track each way. 

0471][US] White Plains (Indian Head Jn) - Indian Head, MD:  This c.20km line, owned by the US Navy but out of use since 1991, gives rail access to the naval base at Indian Head on the Potomac river south of Washington, DC.  After some short trips within the base perimeter on 2 October 1999, tourist-excursions and dinner-trains were to begin traversing the wetlands along the Mattawoman Creek, operated by the Northern Central Railway but marketed as the 'Indian Head Central Railway - Route of the Blue Heron'.  Excursions are to last 60-90 minutes, which may not be long enough to cover the full length of the line, though dinner-trains will presumably have a rather longer schedule.  NCR may also offer freight service, possibly moving coal to the naval base.  (Railpace Magazine, October 1999)

0472][FR][LU] Thionville - Hettange-Grande SNCF - Bettembourg CFL - Luxembourg: (Ball 18A1-18A2)  Hettange-Grande was to reopen 31 January 2000 as a park-and-ride station for French commuters into Luxembourg.  (CFL Express, #3/1999)

0473][BE] Knokke - Oostende - De Panne: light rail: (R.0323; Ball 7A3)  A feature of Belgium's Kusttram (= coastal tram) line is alternative rail-routes at opening bridges to avoid delay by movements of waterborne traffic.  During a trip on 18 January 2000 a passing ship caused the lengthy and double-track diversionary route at Zeesluis to be used, but not the shorter single-track one at Vaart.  Noteworthy as architecture are De Lijn's somewhat ornate 1920s Vicinal station building at De Haan aan Zee and a rather fine 1920s-style concrete shelter at Bredene Renbaan.  Altered line-diagrams inside the cars reveal the existence of a former stopping-place between Duinpark and Groenendijk-Bad, not now readily visible on the ground.  The modest double-track diversionary route at the harbour bridges in Oostende was blocked and perhaps under repair, though work was not visibly in progress.  The cars normally run through from end to end, but drivers work the line as two routes back-to-back on either side of Oostende.  Knokke - Oostende is route #1 and Oostende - De Panne #2, though the numbers are not displayed on the trams themselves.  Extensive track-relaying on the Raversijde - Ravelingen promenade section meant buses were replacing trams on the 28-minute journey between Oostende Station and Westende-Bad.  Cars were turned using the Marie-Joséplein loop at Oostende and the loop at Westende, taken round as empty stock by a specially rostered shunt driver, while the ordinary drivers worked their normal route #2 duties, driving both bus and tram and transferring at Westende along with their passengers.  The present tram-halt at De Panne Esplanade runs across the site of the former terminal turning-circle, but trams can still turn there using the triangular junction where the short branch diverges to the little tram-depot.  The Oostende-facing curve of this triangle remains as in the previous layout but the one facing Adinkerke was installed when the line was extended to De Panne NMBS station.  

0474][DE] Stendal - Salzwedel - Bergen - Nienbergen - Schnega - Soltendieck - Wieren - Uelzen: (Ball 18B1-18A1; BLN 796.084)  Magdeburg-Halberstädter Eisenbahn obtained the concession to build a Stendal - Uelzen railway in 1867 and the State of Bremen was granted a similar concession for the Uelzen - Munster (Örtze) - Soltau - Langwedel line (18A1-17A1) in 1870.  Stendal - Salzwedel opened 15 March 1870 and Salzwedel - Uelzen - Langwedel 15 May 1873, all worked by the Magdeburg company, though it was necessary to change at Uelzen until 1883, when Bremen sold their line to the Prussian State Railway.  The Uelzen - Langwedel line became known as the Amerika Linie, because of heavy emigrant traffic - particularly from Berlin - to Bremerhaven.  However, the Salzwedel - Uelzen route seems always to have had as much traffic from the Magdeburg direction as from Berlin.  In 1897 just one Berlin - Wilhelmshaven train each way ran by this route, and the most important service was a Wien - Dresden - Leipzig - Magdeburg - Stendal - Hamburg-Altona train-pair.  Summer 1914 saw three Berlin - Norddeich expresses run, one of them overnight, plus one Berlin - Oldenburg, and three expresses from Dresden or Leipzig.  The level of service was similar in 1939, with noteworthy workings including a Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) - Magdeburg - Hamburg-Altona sleeping-car train and a Dresden - Magdeburg - Hamburg express diesel railcar.  The Berlin - Bremen - Wilhelmshaven diesel express ran via Hannover, however.  

From the end of World War II until the track was lifted about 1948 no passenger train seems to have used the Bergen - Nienbergen section across the Innengrenze between East and West Germany, though a few freight trains may have run.  On the east side of the border a Salzwedel - Bergen passenger service ran until 1952, when the line closed.  On the west side Haltepunkt Nienbergen was the terminus for passenger trains from Uelzen from about the end of 1945 until Wieren - Nienbergen services were withdrawn 25 May 1974.  From 19 December 1999 local services began on the reinstated Salzwedel - Wieren line, calling at two new stations, Schnega and Soltendieck, before converging at Wieren with the Gifhorn - Wissingen - Wieren - Uelzen secondary line and passing beneath the Hannover - Uelzen - Hamburg main line several km south of Uelzen.  While Stendal - Salzwedel - Uelzen is now electrified, Uelzen - Langwedel is not, and the present timetable continues the tradition that the fastest Berlin - Bremen journey is not via Uelzen but via Hannover, often with a change of train there.  Through Berlin - Bremen trains are all via Hannover, comprising one ICE pair (from Bremen very early and from Berlin very late) plus somewhat slow InterRegio workings.  

Uelzen station is in two parts.  The new two-hourly Magdeburg - Stendal - Salzwedel - Uelzen RegionalBahn electric trains and Uelzen - Bremen RegionalExpress diesel trains use tracks 301-304 to the west of the station building and seem able to use only the west side.  Main-line trains generally use tracks 101-103 east of the station building, but can run to or from any platform.  The hourly Uelzen - Hamburg RegionalExpress workings all start and terminate on the west side, but from 28 January 2000 the only trains to and from the Hannover line booked to use the west side and the connection between the two routes south of Uelzen station are:  SE34501 06:06 Uelzen - Kreiensen; and UrlaubsExpress UEx13419 16:58 Hamburg Hbf - Venezia Santa Lucia (which runs Fridays only, not during winter and early spring).  

0475][DE] Munster (Örtze) - Munster Haltepunkt Emminger Weg (Anschluss Bundeswehr): (BLN 834.0439; EGTRE DE00/154; Ball 17B1 not shown)  An increasing proportion of the soldiers stationed at the Bundeswehr camp near Munster are from the 'new provinces' of eastern Germany rather than the Rheinland.  The military-leave weekend workings of IC1146/7 11:10 FO Anschluss Bundeswehr - Munster (Örtze) - Köln Hbf and 19:13 SuO return are accordingly replaced from 28 January 2000 by new workings D1149 11:27 FO Anschluss Bundeswehr - Munster (Örtze) - Salzwedel - Leipzig and D1148 SuO return.  

0476][DE] Schwerin (Mecklenburg) - Gadebusch - Rehna: (R.0270; Ball 18B3; KBS153)  The planned closure of the Gadebusch - Rehna section from May 2000 has been dropped.  From end-May 2001 Mecklenburg Bahn, a subsidiary of Stadtwerke Schwerin, are to take over operating both Schwerin - Rehna and Schwerin - Parchim (BLN 827.0259; KBS152), and they say the additional cost of running beyond Gadebusch to Rehna will be minimal.  However, three other lines in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are still likely to close to passengers.  Since patronage is greater during the tourist season, especially at weekends, all three have been reprieved for the summer, but the Land have cancelled the order for services after 30 September 2000 on Güstrow - Karow (Mecklenburg) - Meyenburg (BLN 747.048; Ball 12B1-19B2; KBS174), Ludwigslust - Dömitz (BLN 807.0356; 19A2-18B1; KBS171) and Neustrelitz Süd - Feldberg (Mecklenburg) (BLN 717.06; 20A2-20B2; KBS187)  The last of the three has around 300 passengers a day on its two-hourly service, but its traffic potential is felt not to justify the investment of EUR15M needed to renew track and intermediate halts.

0477][DE] Rahden (Kreis Lübbecke) - Uchte: (Ball 25B3)  For the last decade before freight ceased in 1995 (BLN 775.0138), DB served this branch once a week on Saturdays.  In 1999 the line had tourist trains only (KBS12388), but Rhein-Sieg Eisenbahn are to take over the infrastructure and reopen it for regular freight in April or May 2000, possibly with a greater frequency.

0478][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: (Ball 31B2-32A2)  The Jungfernheide - Westhafen section of the Innenring, closed since October 1980, duly reopened 19 December 1999 (R.0306), as did the Treptower Park - Baumschulenweg section, closed since 30 May 1999 (R.0036) for bridge engineering work that took longer than expected.

0479][DE] Hagen-Haspe - Gevelsberg-Poeten - Ennepetal-Altenvörde: (Ball 34B2-34B1)  Most of this unelectrified freight branch lies between two parallel through passenger routes, the Hagen Hbf - Ennepetal - Schwelm (- Wuppertal) main line (KBS455) and the Hagen Hbf - Gevelsberg Hbf - Schwelm (- Wuppertal) S-Bahn line (KBS450.8).  Its own hourly passenger service ceased in 1967, but several freight customers remain, served by a train every weekday.  The private Eisenbahn im Bergisch-Märkischen Raum (EBM) consider the branch has potential and purchased it from DB Netz on 1 January 2000. 

0480][DE] Osberghausen - Wiehl - Hermesdorf - Waldbröl (Rheinland): (BLN 848.0214, R.0097; Ball 38B1)  The private Rhein-Sieg Eisenbahn (RSE) have bought the infrastructure from DB Netz, though agreement on a price to use the DB junction points at Osberghausen has been taking some time.  Meanwhile track improvement work has begun, and hired RegioSprinter of Dürener Kreisbahn ran a trial shuttle service as far as the former halt at Weiershagen on 4 December 1999.  Eisenbahn im Bergisch-Märkischen Raum (EBM) are to operate freight and tourist trains on the Osberghausen - Wiehl section from May 2000.  Wiehl - Waldbröl track is still in poor condition, so reopening is unlikely before late 2001.  However local politicians are backing efforts to establish, perhaps by 2004, a regular Osberghausen - Waldbröl passenger service on an hourly basis, under the regional Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg.

0481][DE] Sachsen: closures?: DB Netz announced in November 1999 that they had no further interest in operating the infrastructure of seven lines in the province: Grossbothen - Colditz - Rochlitz (Sachsen) - Penig - Glauchau (R.0383; Ball 43A2-43A1; KBS529); St.Egidien - Neuoelsnitz - Stollberg (Sachsen): (R.0331; 43A1; KBS523); Niederwiesa - Hainichen (46B1-43B2; KBS516); Pockau-Lengefeld - Neuhausen (Erzgebirge) (R.0039; 43B1; KBS519); Pockau-Lengefeld - Marienberg (Sachsen) (R.0039; 43B1; KBS519; service temporarily suspended because of storm damage); Freiberg (Sachsen) - Holzhau (43B1-44A1; KBS514); and (Hoyerswerda -) Knappenrode - Bautzen (BLN 846.0136; Ball 44B3-44B2; KBS234; already closed due to track condition).  The regional Zweckverbände who subsidise local rail services in Land Sachsen were displeased, but it is to some extent their own doing.  They may want passenger trains to continue but the services they pay for are only two-hourly on all the lines listed except KBS523, and little or no freight runs, so train movements are too few to bring DB Netz the income to justify investment in much-needed renewal of worn-out Reichsbahn track.  Furthermore, the train-operating contracts are for quite short periods of two to five years, leaving DB Netz exposed to the risk that investment in track might be wasted if poor patronage led to subsidised trains being withdrawn.  

0482][DE] (Friedberg -) Beienheim - Wölfersheim-Södel - Hungen: (R.0445; Ball 49B3; KBS632)  Giessen county have relented, and the local authorities have contracted for passenger services to continue as before, so the Wölfersheim-Södel - Hungen section is no longer threatened with closure at end-May 2000.  

0483][DE] Wächtersbach - Bad Orb: (Ball 51A2)  By 1981 freight on the Bad Orber Kleinbahn had dwindled to nothing, and passenger traffic was seriously loss-making, though still amounting to 483,595 journeys a year, not bad for a 7km branch.  The owners, local energy and transport providers Kreiswerke Gelnhausen, sought closure, but were rebuffed by the town of Bad Orb, who threatened to buy their energy elsewhere.  In 1983 Saturday-afternoon and Sunday trains were discontinued, and by 1988 only 306,989 passengers were carried.  Kreiswerke Gelnhausen in 1989 began another attempt to close the line, and after long negotiations, Bad Orb council agreed to the closure.  The last timetabled train ran on 4 March 1995 (BLN 752.0154), and a special is reported to have run in November 1998.  Several level-crossings within the town of Bad Orb have since been tarred over, and notwithstanding the Today's Railways report of April 1999 (BLN 848.0214), the political will to reopen the line is not there.  

0484][DE] Ottweiler - Schwarzerden: (R.0066; Ball 56A3; ex-KBS644)  DB passenger trains ceased 30 May 1980, but the line continues to see a freight working every weekday serving the single customer, a factory at Schwarzerden repairing military tanks, an important traffic that would be unwelcome on the local roads.  On occasions when the branch has been out of service for any reason, the tanks had to be handled at Baumholder, about 20km away on the Heimbach (Nahe) - Baumholder freight branch.  As a measure of local support the Kreis St.Wendel council have purchased the Ottweiler - Schwarzerden line from DB Netz with effect from 1 January 2000.  It is possible that weekend tourist trains may run, but plans are not yet firm.

0485][DE] (Eggmühl -) Eichbühl Anschlussstelle - Langquaid bei Eggmühl: (Ball 60B1)  Rhein-Sieg Eisenbahn now own the infrastructure of this disused part of the Bavarian network, but when the line reopens for freight in February 2000, DB Cargo will operate the trains, since they already serve Eichbühl military siding.

0486][DE] (Immendingen -) Hintschingen - Leipferdingen - Zollhaus-Blumberg and Hüfingen - Bräunlingen: (R.0239; Ball 68B2)  Passenger reopening of these two branches is planned as part of Baden-Württemberg's ambitious Ringzug local rail scheme that also includes the electric line Rottweil - Tuttlingen - Immendingen - Donaueschingen - Villingen, the diesel-worked Rottweil - Trossingen Bahnhof - Villingen, and the little 600V dc light-rail branch Trossingen Bahnhof - Trossingen Stadt, still operating in municipal ownership (BLN 836.0504).  More than 40 stations may be reopened or newly built.  Operators will be Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL), mainly owned by the Land of Baden-Württemberg itself.  The branch to Zollhaus-Blumberg diverges at the former station of Hintschingen, not shown in Ball, and now just a junction.  The original plan was to run trains to Leipferdingen on weekdays, continuing to Zollhaus-Blumberg only at weekends, to connect with the spectacular Zollhaus-Blumberg - Weizen Sauschwänzlebahn tourist line (BLN 798.0138), but it has been agreed that Zollhaus-Blumberg should have three trains in and out on weekdays and the full two-hourly service at weekends.  Hüfingen - Bräunlingen is to have hourly trains.  The vehicles for the new branch services may not be delivered before 2003.

0487][SE] Stockholm light rail:  Opened 8 January 2000, after a five-month delay, the orbital light-rail line from Gullmarsplan to Liljeholmen, route #22, links two major bus and metro interchanges south and south-west of the city and is run for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (Greater Stockholm local transport) by metro operator Tunnelbana, now a Vivendi subsidiary.  The remainder of the 10km line, Liljeholmen - Alvik, is to open in August 2000.  (http://www.lrta.org)

0488][PT] Sintra trams: (R.0154)  The Stagecoach concession from the Portuguese Direcção Geral dos Transportes Terrestres to run the metre-gauge Sintra-Atlântico heritage tramway expired on 31 December 1999, commemorated by a special trip with ticket revenue going to a local charity.  Midnight on New Year's Eve saw the last car in public service rolling down the hill into Banzão, so that if there had been a millennium power-failure locally, the crew would still have been able to put it away manually!  Operations have ceased for the present, though Stagecoach's British manager was still there caring for his line on 2 January, out with a car and a tower-wagon cutting back some lineside bushes.  Future public services will be a matter for the Câmara Municipal de Sintra who are supposed to be taking over before long.

0489][ES] Monistrol-Enllaç FGC - Monistrol-Vila - Montserrat: (R.0340; Ball 16A3) The original (1905-1957) metre-gauge rack railway connected not only with what is now the FGC's Barcelona - Martorell-Enllaç - Monistrol - Manresa-Baixador metre-gauge line, but also with RENFE's ex-Norte Barcelona - Manresa (- Zaragoza) broad-gauge line on the other side of the valley (BLN 844.0101).  The broad-gauge line is still open, but its Monistrol station has long been closed, and the rebuilt Montserrat line is unlikely to extend beyond the metre-gauge connection at Monistrol-Enllaç.  The provincial government, Generalitat de Catalunya, have announced their intention that the line should reopen on 27 April 2002, that being the annual feast-day of the Virgin of Montserrat, Catalonia's holiest shrine.  (Continental Railway Journal, #120)

0490][IT] La Spèzia - Vezzano Ligure - San Stèfano di Magra - Aulla - Berceto - Solignano - Fornovo - Parma: (Ball 47A1-47A2)  In early January 2000 work was under way to quadruple the line between La Spezia Scalo and Vezzano Ligure, though only one track had been laid and this appeared to be used solely by freight trains.  Four tracks were in use through Vezzano Ligure junction station, with Pisa trains normally using the southern pair and Parma trains the northern pair extending as double track to San Stefano di Magra.  From the Roma - Pisa - Arcola - La Spezia main line heading north-west along the coast, a new Arcola - San Stefano di Magra curve was nearly complete, heading inland to the new San Stefano marshalling yard, already active. Continental Railway Journal, #120, reported San Stefano di Magra station goods-yard as the site of the new La Spezia Land Transport Museum, with half a dozen steam locomotives.  Further north, between Berceto and Solignano the old single track and electrification masts were still in place but out of use, with wires removed, replaced by the first section of the planned Arcola - Fornovo Alta Velocità railway, a double-track line higher up the valley side.  This seems to have opened during 1999, for its new concrete infrastructure was sparkling clean.  However, no other sign of ongoing construction work was seen between La Spezia and Parma.  

0491][IT] Asti - Castagnole delle Lanze: (Ball 45B3-45B2)  In January 2000 engineering work was preventing trains on this line from using the main station at Asti, and they were starting and terminating at 'Asti Boana', with a shuttle bus connection.  Asti Boana may be a temporary halt, since its name does not seem to appear on railway maps nor in old timetables.  The line leaves Asti by crossing the river Tanaro, so the bridge may be under repair.

0492[IT] Novara - Vignale - Borgomanero - Premosello-Chiovenda - Domodossola: (Ball 41A1-41A2)  This secondary line running west of the Milano - Gallarate - Sesto Calende - Premosello-Chiovenda - Domodossola main line, and closely paralleling it between Premosello and Domodossola, is to be electrified as an alternative route for freight, especially piggyback traffic via the Simplon tunnel and Switzerland (BLN 772.075).  From a non-stop Cisalpino passing on the main line in late December 1999, the secondary line seemed not yet to be electrified south of Premosello, but to be wired north thereof.  The connections at Premosello between the routes are via the goods yard, and appeared more like through sidings than running lines. 

0493][IT] Campiglia Marittima - Piombino Marittima: (Ball 49A2)  The Piombino branch makes a triangular junction with the Roma - Pisa main line.  The north-to-west curve has several trains in summer but in December 1999 had only a single timetabled working (05:40 Firenze SMN - Piombino Marittima; EGTRE IT00/35).  Most trains run from or via the junction station of Campiglia Marittima at the south-eastern vertex of the triangle, several kilometres from the sea in spite of its name.  During the winter the branch service is sparse, though train tickets are valid on the buses running approximately hourly.  The branch runs through the Piombino steelworks, with ore-handling facilities and a rolling-mill on one side of the line and blast-furnaces on the other.  The raw materials for steel-making appear to be brought in by ship, but the steelworks has an internal railway system, with torpedo-wagons carrying molten metal within the complex, and steel coil is despatched by rail.  At Piombino station, in the town-centre, the train reverses down a short branch to Piombino Marittima, near the terminal for ferries to Elba and several smaller islands.  Sailings are quite frequent, so all trains run to and from Marittima.  

0494][IT] Firenze Campo di Marte - San Piero a Sieve - Borgo San Lorenzo: (BLN 844.0105, R.0191; Ball 49B3-48A1)  Only a few trains on this 34km line, reopened 14 January 1999, run from or to the city's principal station, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, and they have to reverse at Campo di Marte, where the present junction faces east.  However a west-to-north curve is under construction there and will permit through working from Firenze SMN without reversal.  Meanwhile most of the line's diesel railcars start and terminate at Firenze Campo di Marte, offering an approximately hourly service though with a stopping pattern at intermediate stations which is far from standard.  Most stations are simple halts, but the old buildings at Fiesole-Caldine and Vaglia have been attractively renovated and Fontebuona and Campomigliai have new brick buildings.  A few trains continue beyond Borgo San Lorenzo south-east to Vicchio or north-east to Faenza. 

0495][IT] Sinalunga - Arezzo - Bibbiena - Pratovecchio-Stia: (Ball 50A3)  La Ferroviaria Italiana sounds a very grand and important railway, but in fact the company operate no more than two standard-gauge 3000V dc branches from Arezzo on the Roma - Firenze FS classic main line.  The Arezzo - Sinalunga section climbs 40km south-west into the hills to meet the FS again at Sinalunga, junction with the Chiusi Chianciano Terme - Sinalunga - Siena line.  The Arezzo - Pratovecchio-Stia line heads north for 45km up the river Arno valley.  For several km south of Corsalone, it is being diverted, possibly to enable the existing trackbed to be used for road-widening, and the new concrete viaduct - inevitable in Italy - strides up the valley, awaiting track.  LFI services use Arezzo FS station and LFI tickets are sold from a designated window at the FS booking-office, but timetable co-ordination is poor.  Despite their age, LFI trains ran punctually, however, so our reporter had no problem in practice connecting from the Sinalunga - Arezzo 15:21 LFI arrival into the 15:17 FS Arezzo - Roma express.

LFI are noted for their varied and antique rolling-stock, much of it dating from the 1920s.  Having seen fewer alterations than the extensively rebuilt motor coaches, the trailer coaches used on most trains offer passengers much of the environment of an earlier era - though not the wooden seats probably once fitted.  LFI have acquired three 1956-built Belgian electric units (AM56 #142, 144, 149, with Budd stainless-steel panelling), but only one was seen in service, and the older trains soldier on.  LFI also have several steam engines, which appear to be in working order, and a well-preserved rake of vintage carriages.  

Seen stabled at Bibbiena in December 1999 was a remarkable survivor, LFI's early British diesel shunter, #700.003.  This locomotive was London Midland & Scottish Railway #7106, completed Derby Works 3 December 1941 and soon transferred to the War Department for service abroad with the British forces, working in North Africa on Chemins de Fer Tunisiens in Tunis June 1943 and in Algeria November 1943.  Shipped to Bari March 1944 and working in Falconara August 1944, it was sold to FS with three others in 1946.  In 1972 it was reported at San Giuseppe di Cairo, and believed then to be allocated to nearby Savona.  Ferrovia Stia-Arezzo-Sinalunga, predecessor to LFI, bought it around 1985. (Diesel Locomotives of the LMS, by J W P Rowledge, Oakwood Press Locomotion Papers #88; LMS Diesel Locomotives & Railcars, by E V Richards, RCTS)

0496][GR] Athinai metro:  Notwithstanding the Today's Railways report quoted in R.0342, the new Attiko Metro line - the city's second, 7km in length - was being formally inaugurated by the Greek prime minister on Friday 28 January 2000, with free travel on both the old and new lines on the Saturday and Sunday following.  Ancient artefacts unearthed during construction are displayed at the showpiece new city-centre station beneath Syntagma square.  New route totalling 11km - including a third line - is said to be due to open during 2000, with more to follow, and the Metro is eventually to join up to the light-rail surface line being planned to run east to the new airport at Spata.  (Financial Times, 28 January 2000)

0497][CA] Victoria - Esquimalt - Malahat - Nanaimo - Parksville - Courtenay, BC:  In January 1999 Canadian Pacific sold to RailAmerica their isolated 225km standard-gauge system on Vancouver Island, the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway.  VIA continue to operate the ordinary passenger service, using elderly Budd railcars, but RailAmerica have contracted with Ross Rowland to run tourist trains, initial plans calling for diesel-hauled excursions over the 32km Victoria - Malahat section during 2000, with the possibility of steam traction, maybe Chinese-built, at a later stage.  (Continental Railway Journal, #120, winter 1999-2000)  According to the Railway Association of Canada's December 1998 atlas, the freight-only Parksville - Port Alberni, BC branch also remains, presumably continuing to serve the paper pulp mill at Port Alberni.

0498][FR] Rouen trams: (BLN 731.0121, 748.065, 815.0561; Ball 13B1)  The three termini are Boulingrin (Rouen) in the north, Georges Braque (Grand Quevilly) to the south-west and Technopôle (St.Étienne-du-Rouvray) to the south-east.  The stop for Rouen Rive Droite SNCF station is Gare-Rue Verte (Rouen).  At each stop, and in the timetable, the name has a suffix denoting the local authority, the suffixes being in smaller type but without the brackets inserted here for clarity.  The junction between the two southern arms is Saint-Sever (Rouen), which has a single-track west-to-east avoiding-line in tunnel, giving access between the depot at Charles de Gaulle (Petit-Quevilly) and the Technopôle branch.  This triangle is not shown on the system map that appeared in Light Rail & Modern Tramway in March 1995.  Services are frequent, with journey-times of 26min for Boulingrin - Georges Braque and 22min for St.Sever - Technopôle.  Fares are FRF8 for an hour, with returns apparently allowed within that time, or FRF20 for a day-rover (calendar day, not 24-hours).  Tickets are valid on trams and buses, both branded as Métrobus and operated by Transports en Commun de l'Agglomération Rouennaise.

0499][FR] Mesnil-Mauger - Gacé - Sainte-Gauburge: (BLN 719.02; Ball 23B2) The line closed to passengers 5 May 1938, to freight south of Gacé 1 August 1954 and north of Gacé 30 September 1990.  When seen from a train at Mesnil-Mauger on 8 February 2000, the formation was trackless and appeared to have become a footpath or cycleway.

0500][FR] Esbly - Crécy-en-Brie-La-Chapelle: (Ball 25B2)  At Esbly, movement between the Paris-Est - Épernay main line and the branch is possible only by reversal, and only when the shunt-frame cabin controlling the through siding is staffed.  From the single platform 'C', across the station-approach from the main-line platforms, a push-pull electric set shuttles up and down 10km of pleasant semi-rural electrified railway, which seems to have no freight.  The only other pointwork is a loop at Crécy, whose rails on a February 2000 visit suggested use for emergency running-round or engineering trains only.  The current timetable and the nameboards now seem to call the terminus 'Crécy-La-Chapelle', though Parisian ticket-machines try to confuse travellers by describing it as 'Crécy-en-Brie'.  (The full name with both epithets was used in a 1974-75 timetable and in the 1991 Ball atlas.)  Trains are normally hourly during the day, with more at peaks, and none on Sundays.  A gap in the pattern at 10:05 allows the stock to be cleaned, at least in theory, and gives an hour's break to the train-crew.  On the SNCF, with strong trade-unions, driver-only operation of such trains is an economy not yet attained.  

0501][DE] Brandenburg: closures?:  Brandenburg's transport minister has threatened several branches with passenger closure.  Templin Stadt - Prenzlau (BLN 764.0442; Ball 20B2-21A2; KBS206.12) is likely to close completely at end-May 2000.  Following German reunification the line's industrial customers closed down, and no freight is handled.  The first trains in the morning run too late for most people to travel to work, and even schoolchildren travelling from Hassleben and Mittenwalde into Templin have to take the bus because the first train is timed 15 minutes too late for them to use.  On an average weekday the seven Class 628 diesel units each way carry a mere 50 passengers, though more people travel at weekends, many bringing bicycles to visit the attractive countryside north of Templin.  Also likely to lose its passenger trains at end-May 2000 is Cottbus - Peitz (Ball 30B1; KBS206.43), part of the former Cottbus - Peitz - Grunow - Frankfurt (Oder) line, whose Peitz - Grunow section closed to passengers in 1994, but is to remain open for freight including timber traffic at Jamlitz (BLN 740.0308, 782.0282).  Cottbus - Peitz train service is better than ever, hourly on weekdays and every two hours at weekends, and an intermediate stop at Cottbus-Willmersdorf reopened in 1997, but despite their modernisation the elderly Class 772 four-wheel railbuses are not very comfortable and patronage is below average.  Other lines in Brandenburg province with very low patronage are Rathenow - Neustadt (Dosse), Neustadt - Pritzwalk and Pritzwalk - Putlitz (BLN 804.0282, 844.092; 28B3-19B1-19A2), all three already economically operated by Prignitzer Eisenbahn railbuses, Pritzwalk - Meyenburg (- Karow) (19B2), Löwenberg (Mark) - Herzberg (Mark) (BLN 783.0302, 842.031; 20B1-20A1), Templin - Joachimsthal (- Britz) (20B2-21A1) and Brandenburg - Belzig (BLN 749.091, 757.0300; 29A3).

0502][DE] (Dieringhausen -) Osberghausen - Wiehl - Hermesdorf - Waldbröl (Rheinland): (Ball 38B1)  Former stations and halts were Dieringhausen (km0.0) - Brunohl (km2.7) - Osberghausen (km5.4/0.0) - Weiershagen (km7.5/2.1) - Bielstein (km9.3/3.9) - Alperbrück (km11.7/6.3) - Wiehl (km14.0/8.6) - Oberwiehl (km16.3/10.9) - Remperg (km18.1/12.7) - Brüchermühle (km21.3/15.9) - Denklingen (km23.4/18.0) - Hermesdorf (km26.2/21.8) - Waldbröl (km29.0/23.6).  It is not yet clear which of these might have stops by EBM tourist trains in 2000 and 2001 (R.0480).  The 7.2km Hermesdorf - Morsbach branch is what remains of the Hermesdorf - Morsbach (Sieg) - Volperhausen - Wissen (Sieg) line that once carried through trains from Waldbröl (Reichsbahnhof) to Wissen.  The line was badly damaged in World War II and Volperhausen - Wissen was never rebuilt.  Hermesdorf - Morsbach - Volperhausen closed to passengers 1960 and the 3.2km Morsbach - Volperhausen section was dismantled soon after.  Until 1 October 1994, when Wiehl and Waldbröl ceased to be Gütertarifpunkte, and the weekly (Tuesdays-only) Osberghausen - Waldbröl freight working was withdrawn, this train used to run to Morsbach also, when required.  Most of the time the short branch remained in a state of hibernation, though in 1991-92 a factory at Morsbach had an order for thousands of containers to be delivered to Ukraine, and freight workings ran every weekday for several months.  Disused track remains, but the future of the Morsbach branch is uncertain. 

0503][PT] Sintra trams:  Stagecoach's concession to operate the metre-gauge Sintra-Atlântico heritage tramway was awarded by Sintra council rather than the national transport authorities (R.0488), and remains formally in existence until the handover date, believed to be the end of February 2000.  A public service has not run during January and February because of major sewer works which cut the line in the Rodizio area, and are likely to continue until the end of March, but the c.8km section that is still operational is seeing tramcars on private hire, mainly from the nearby Miramonte Hotel, frequented by many British guests.  Sintra council have voted to buy all the tramway assets, and say in a press release that they have at least two other operators besides Stagecoach ready to finance the future re-extension, and to operate the tramway thereafter.  An informed source estimates that it may be Easter (late April 2000) before public services restart, but that reconstruction of the section from Ribeira de Sintra through the town to Sintra station may commence shortly thereafter.

0504][ES] Mallorca: (R.0425; Ball 38A1-38A2)  If reopening beyond Inca is to happen, it does not seem imminent.  Immediately to the east of the town, the metal bridge which once carried the line over Inca's ring-road, and which had remained in place since closure in 1981, was seen in January 2000 to have been recently removed, thus severing the routes to both Sa Pobla and Manacor.  A visit to Sa Pobla on 28 January revealed no ballasting, though the former trackbed did appear to have been cleared as far as the outskirts of the town, and the stockpiled sleepers were marked '99', perhaps their date of manufacture.  The final section of the Inca - Sa Pobla branch formation has been converted into a block-paved pedestrianised street with trees planted down the centre, and the old station building seems attractively preserved, the southern end still bearing its Castilian Spanish name, La Puebla.  At Petra, an intermediate station on the former Inca - Manacor route, the old 914mm-gauge track was still in place at the level-crossing and among the weeds on either side.

0505][ES] Sevilla - Utrera - Pedrera - Fuente de Piedra - Las Maravillas - Antequera (- Granada): (Ball 35A2-37A2)  The extensive realignment during the 1990s of this not-very-busy single-track cross-country route was again highlighted on a trip in January 2000 aboard a Tren Regional Diesel (BLN 848.0228), one of the new RENFE two-car units with the 'big-kiss' (or 'black-pudding') rubber front-end first seen on Danish IC3 sets.  Just south of Sevilla, the station shown in Ball as 'La Salud' appears closed and replaced by a new station, Bellavista, some 200-300m to the south.  The north-to-east curve built to avoid reversal at Utrera station, and not shown in the Ball atlas (BLN 754.0236), now seems to carry all the passenger trains, leaving the original south-to-east curve rusting, with no scheduled services.  From El Sorbito, the main line has been realigned east to Arahal (not now 'El Arahal'), and the old main line, now very rusty at the junction, has become part of the El Sorbito - La Trinidad - Morón de la Frontera single-track freight branch, perhaps disused.  La Trinidad - Arahal is lifted.  Arahal has a single train daily each way, and Marchena, Osuna and Pedrera also remain open.  About 3km east of Pedrera the new west-to-south alignment direct to Fuente de Piedra diverges from the old west-to-east alignment to the triangle at La Roda de Andalucia.  The new alignment appears to have all the passenger trains, though the latter remains and seems still to appear on the schematic map of Andalucian regional services.  The painted sign on the old station building says 'Fuente Piedra', but RENFE usage for the junction is now Fuente de Piedra.  Here the unelectrified line from Sevilla trails into the electrified Córdoba - La Roda de Andalucia - Bobadilla - Málaga line.  South of Fuente de Piedra, running broadly parallel but sometimes up to 1km to the east of the electrified running line, is c.10km of new non-electrified single track, and this deviation was used by the TRD set.  The c.1.25km north-to-east unelectrified curve linking the Córdoba - Bobadilla line and the Bobadilla - Antequera - Granada line and avoiding Bobadilla station, has been open longer, since 1 July 1998 (BLN 846.0150).  Some realignment also seems to have taken place from the eastern vertex of the Bobadilla triangle east through Apeadero (= halt) Las Maravillas to the small town of Antequera.  Bobadilla station, no longer called 'Bobadilla-Antequera', does not serve a significant settlement and trains on the Bobadilla - Ronda - Algeciras line now generally run the extra 16km from or to Antequera.  

0506][IT] Lecce - Zollino - Gagliano Leuca: (BLN 844.0108; Ball 56B2)  Ferrovie del Sud Est have an extensive and important local network in the heel of Italy, but Ferrovie dello Stato posters continue to ignore FSE arrivals and departures at FS stations, and the FS booking-office at Lecce, the state system's south-easternmost station, no longer sells FSE tickets.  Since 1 March 1999 FSE have had their own booking-office in a room in the engine-shed at the north end of Lecce station, with direct access to the platform.  

A hazard of travelling by FSE is that although trains run at the times shown in the timetable, the through services and connections may not be as advertised.  At a junction such as Zollino several trains arrive from the different lines, but they may not continue to the place indicated in the timetable.  Travellers who thought they were on a through train have to change, while those who alighted to join a connecting service are told to re-board the train they have just left.  What is more, during the station stop, the staff may change their minds about which train is going where!

0507][IT] Taranto - Ferrandina-Pomarico-Miglionico - Potenza: (Ball 55A1-58A3)  From the east side of the line at Ferrandina, a concrete viaduct without track curves away across the Basento valley to a tunnel-mouth on the far side.  No sign can be seen of any construction activity.  The 1993 Ball atlas notes that work on the proposed standard-gauge Ferrandina - Matera line was suspended.  It is hard to understand why a railway was ever planned, far less started, north to Matera, which is already served by the 950mm-gauge Bari Centrale - Altamura - Matera Sud line of the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane (BLN 832.0395).  No doubt the concrete industry made some profit.

0508][JP] Japan: electrification continues: (Quail 2C2)  The 22.6km Kumamoto - Higo-Otsu section of JR Kyushu's 1067mm-gauge Hohi line was electrified from 1 October 1999, and JR West's 16.4km Ayabe - Higashi-Maizuru 1067mm-gauge Maizuru line (Quail 3E1) was electrified from 2 October 1999.

0509][CA] Vancouver, BC - Matsqui Jn - Nepa/Coho, BC:  Following agreement between Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National, as from 9 January 2000 both companies' trains share one company's single track in each direction between Matsqui Jn and a new interchange crossover at Nepa CPR / Coho CN (between Basque and Ashcroft).  Eastbound trains use the CPR Cascade Subdivision, westbound ones the CN Yale Subdivision.  At Matsqui Jn westbound CPR trains cross the Fraser River bridge to Mission Jn on the north bank to rejoin the CPR for Coquitlam and Vancouver.  VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer passenger trains follow the same new pattern.  The eastbound Canadian ceases to call at Matsqui, Chilliwack, Hope and Boston Bar CN stations on the south-east bank of the Fraser, and calls instead at Agassiz and North Bend CPR stations on the north-west bank.  The former connection between CPR and CN tracks at Basque has been removed.  In an unrelated further change from 16 January 2000, the Canadian in both directions has been rerouted between Vancouver and Matsqui Jn, now running via BNSF tracks to the Fraser River bridge at New Westminster, and then over the CN Yale Sub, instead of its former routing over CPR tracks via Port Coquitlam, which station it no longer serves.  West Coast Express commuter trains continue passenger service over the Vancouver - Coquitlam - Mission section of the CPR.  

0510][CA] (Halifax, NS -) Truro, NS - Sydney, NS:  This former CN line, now the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway, is to reopen to passengers from 9 May to 18 October 2000 for the Bras d'Or, a weekly VIA Rail train aimed at the tourist market, departing Halifax on Tuesdays and Sydney on Wednesdays.  (http://www.viarail.ca)

0511][PE] Perú:  All Peruvian railways are single-track, but potential delays are reduced by the many loops and sidings, most of which remain operational even on lines with very sparse service.  On the highest lines medical personnel and oxygen supplies are required by law, and indeed are often essential.  The terrorist threat that caused many passenger services to be suspended in 1991 had largely receded by November 1999, when ADL charter trains visited much of the system, but armed police were still accompanying trains in some areas.  Privatisation of Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles (ENAFER), the former Peruvian state railway system, was well under way and further changes to the established pattern of passenger services are to be expected.  Some of the kilometre figures for sections of line are taken from a Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable and may be approximate, especially where realignment has taken place.  The standard-gauge Ferrocarril Tacna-Arica that crosses the Chilean border was not visited (BLN 817.019, 845.0128).  

0512][PE] Lima Callao - Lima Desamparados - Ticlio - Galera - Rumichaca - Cut-Off - La Oroya Central - La Oroya CdeP: (222km, 1435mm-gauge, Ferrocarril Central del Perú, Western section)  The freight-only line from Callao port has considerable traffic, mainly mineral related, with oil moving inland and zinc ingots down to the docks.  Unique dual-purpose freight wagons are still widely used to reduce track occupancy and haulage of deadweight over this most difficult line.  In November 1999 the impressive passenger station and railway headquarters at Lima Desamparados was in a restricted area, patrolled by the military, and was closed to visitors.  According to the current Cook, a Lima - La Oroya - Huancayo passenger train for tourists is scheduled to run monthly but though a couple of trial workings are believed to have run, it is possible the service has yet to commence on a regular basis.  The main attraction is the continuous climb to the world's highest railway summit (4784m) inside the Galera tunnel.  Several changes in alignment over the years have been needed to repair and avoid the frequent wash-outs on the line, and more recently to permit significant upgrading of the adjacent highway.  A recent deviation at the former long double hairpin bend near Surco involved a major new spiral tunnel and some 2km of new track.  Ticlio was once the highest railway junction in the world, but the c.20km Ticlio - Morococha - Cut-Off line that diverged there was, it seems, disconnected some years ago, though Morococha is still served from Cut-Off on an infrequent basis. 

0513][PE] La Oroya CdeP - Cerro de Pasco: (132km, 1435mm-gauge, Ferrocarril Cerro de Pasco)  La Oroya had two passenger stations, the FCC's Central station, in the town, and the Cerro de Pasco station further on, at the original junction facing Huancayo.  A west-to-north chord built recently from near the Central station to the CdeP line has created a triangle and allows through-running of freight from Lima to Cerro de Pasco.  However, since privatisation of ENAFER the original north-to-south chord has reverted to the CdeP mining company, now called Centromin, and is unavailable to passenger trains.  Thus the ADL Cerro de Pasco - La Oroya - Huancayo charter unexpectedly had to use the new chord and reverse at La Oroya Central station instead of running direct.  The CdeP main line remains a busy freight railway, mainly carrying mineral ore southwards to the enormous rail-served zinc smelters at La Oroya and fuel and supplies northwards to the mines.  Passenger trains appeared in Cook till at least 1987, but have since ceased, though the stations remain intact.  Track on the many branches has been removed. 

0514][PE] La Oroya CdeP - Pachacayo - Tambo - Huancayo Central: (124km, 1435mm-gauge, Ferrocarril Central del Perú, Southern section)  By contrast, La Oroya - Huancayo is a quiet backwater.  Little freight traffic is in evidence and the tourist passenger service does not seem to have resumed, for local people were surprised to see a train.  The CdeP Pachacayo - Chauca mineral line is in use, owned and operated by Centromin.  Surprisingly, the Tambo - Jauja branch, reported as closed in the late 1980s, was still in place, and even appeared to have seen traffic recently, though this was maybe just turning on the wye at Tambo.  The former FCC facilities at Huancayo Central have closed though a 914mm-gauge steam engine remains at the station there.  Dual (914mm and 1435mm) gauge track runs south-east through the streets from the FCC station to the old FCHH station, closed c.1996, and was recently extended beyond to the east to give access to the Chilca stabling, shed and works area, now used by both FCC and FCHH.  The standard-gauge ADL charter went close to the extremity of the dual-gauge line and reversed into the Chilca sidings.  

0515][PE] Huancayo Chilca - Huancavelica: (127km, 914mm, Ferrocarril Huancayo-Huancavelica)  The present FCHH Huancayo Chilca station, east of the dual-gauge section, has quite an impressive building, possibly the former freight depot, but the single curved platform opened c.1998 holds only six coaches.  The timetable is as shown in Cook, but tourists seem rare and the service is definitely local in character, the second-class being packed and the limited first-class accommodation only slightly less full, with standing passengers.  The present Huancavelica station is on the northern side of town, but a more central station at Huancavelica still exists, with some 200m of apparently useable track remaining beyond.  It seems that in the 1958 timetable one of the two trains a day was extended to 'Sub-Estación Hvca'.  At one time the line extended 15km from Huancavelica to Lachoc, but it is not known when this section opened or closed.  Seen later from a Huancavelica - Ayacucho bus, on the (lightly-used) highest surfaced road in the world, the hamlet of Lachoc looked derelict and tiny, so presumably the railway traffic must have been mineral.  

0516][PE] Mollendo / Matarani - Islay - La Joya - Arequipa: (c.150km, 1435mm-gauge, Ferrocarril Sur del Perú, Southern section)  The FCS has no physical connection with the FCC, nearly 1000km away to the north-east up the Pacific coast.  The FCS' original port of Mollendo required lighters to unload sea-going ships at anchor offshore, but though Mollendo continues to handle oil products using floating buoys, proper dock facilities were built in 1951 at Matarani, along the coast to the south-west, together with a new Matarani - La Joya freight branch linking it to the existing FCS.  Mollendo - La Joya passenger services later ceased and the original Mollendo - La Joya section closed completely in 1991 when a new freight-only line was built from Mollendo to a triangular junction with the Matarani line at Islay.  The ADL charter visited both Matarani docks and the old passenger station at Mollendo, being wyed at both, and also traversed the triangle at Islay.

0517][PE] Arequipa - Juliaca - Puno: (1435mm-gauge, Ferrocarril Sur del Perú, Central section)  In November 1999 the scheduled twice-weekly passenger service was unfortunately timed to run overnight over the spectacular 306km Arequipa - Juliaca section.  The 47km Juliaca - Puno section also has trains from Cuzco.  Buses running from Puno to Copacabana to connect with the hydrofoil to Huatajata and the catamaran to Chua have replaced the FCS classic passenger ferry from Puno across Lake Titicaca to Guaqui in Bolivia, but at Puno Muelle (= pier), FCS wagons are still carried on the train-ferry to Guaqui that now sails monthly for freight only (BLN 817.021).  No Bolivian-gauge (1000mm) track was seen at Puno Muelle and it is doubtful if the train-ferry is mixed-gauge (R.0394).  Two steamships (Yavari, built Barking 1862, reassembled and launched on Lake Titicaca 1870, and Yaranti, built Hull 1926, launched 1928) were moored at the pier.  Yaranti is in working order and used for charters but considerable effort in restoring the older vessel was evident and was continuing.  A 150km extension of the railway is proposed south along the Peruvian shore of Lake Titicaca to Desaguardo close to the Bolivian border.

0518][PE] Juliaca - Cuzco Avenida Sol: (338km, 1435mm-gauge, Ferrocarril Sur del Perú, Northern section)  This FCS section has Puno - Cuzco passenger trains four times a week and a freight at least daily, traffic appearing buoyant with significant movement of oil products up from the coast.  From the FCS yard at Cuzco Huanchac, a lengthy dual-gauge connection through the streets runs across the city to facilities at Cuzco San Pedro.  As a large market sets up on this line daily and - unusually for Perú - seems reluctant to relocate itself at short notice, the cross-town connection is available only before 05:00, so the daily 914mm-gauge Avenida Sol - San Pedro passenger train runs at 03:30 and any 914mm-gauge stock going to or from the main works at Arequipa has also to cross Cuzco during the night.  Bogie-changing is sometimes necessary at San Pedro, perhaps because the FCS structure-gauge does not allow the movement of some items of narrow-gauge stock on standard-gauge flat wagons.

0519][PE] Cuzco San Pedro - Aguas Calientes - Puente Ruinas - Quillabamba: (170km, 914mm-gauge, ex-Ferrocarril Sur del Perú)  Now fully privatised (R.0208), this is a passenger railway whose revenue comes mainly from tourists visiting the ruined Inca city of Machu Picchu, a world heritage site 8km from Puente Ruinas station.  In November 1999 the traditional three-train morning timetable - not the schedule shown in Cook - was operating, comprising a first-class-only railcar (fare USD75 for c.109km), a 'tourist Pullman' (USD25) and a local (USD3 for travel inside, but a seat only for the most assertive).  With the opening in April 1999 of a spur to a single-platform tourist station on the east side of Aguas Calientes and upgrading of the road thence to Machu Picchu, Puente Ruinas station is no longer busy.  However the new tourist station has no loop, and the Pullman is obliged to continue as empty stock, by a double reversal, to Puente Ruinas, where the locomotive runs round and stables until its return working.  The local train calls at the original Aguas Calientes station then runs directly to Puente Ruinas.  In February 1998 the disturbed El Niño weather pattern caused a large part of the mountain to collapse just north of km123, damaging the local hydroelectric plant, destroying a village and removing part of the Puente Ruinas - Quillabamba line.  Because road access is poor, reinstatement has become an important local political issue, and a presidential election campaign is under way.  Probably because of this, a daily rail service has been restored between Puente Ruinas and km121.9, site of a hydroelectric plant, a shanty town and a local market.  This uses the locomotive plus one coach of the Cuzco - Puente Ruinas local train, propelling for part of the return journey until the engine can be turned on a wye.  Local people say that seat reservations are essential - even though a wait at Puente Ruinas of over four hours, with not much to do, is obligatory before the various trains depart for Cuzco.

0520][CU] Habana / Casa Blanca - Hershey - Matanzas: (BLN 826.0245, R.0127)  Union de Ferrocarriles de Cuba may call on assistance from Ferrocarrils Generalitat de Catalunya to wire 12km of track out of Habana main station so that UFC's regauged ex-Barcelona electric trains on the Hershey line can work from there rather than their separate Casa Blanca terminus on the east side of the river.  A rail-cruise train, the Cuba y Caribe Express, may be touring the 5000km UFC system by 2001.  (Railway Gazette International, November 1999, September 1999)

0521] Paragraph number not used

0522][FR] Le Havre - Harfleur-Halte - Montivilliers - Rolleville: (Ball 12B1-13A2)  The single-track Rolleville branch diverges at a junction west of Harfleur station on the Le Havre - Harfleur - Bréauté-Beuzeville line, and Harfleur-Halte and Harfleur are some distance apart.  The branch has a modest commuter service, and is now plain line with no pointwork and no freight traffic, though it used to be double at least as far as Montivilliers.  Resleepering is taking place here till 10 March, and the middle-of-the-day round-trip is temporarily by bus.  On 7 February 2000 fewer than a dozen passengers were travelling each way, and only our reporter completed the whole run to Rolleville, whose unstaffed station is conveniently in the village, not always the case on rural railways.  Beyond the end of the platform and the out-of-use level-crossing a single rail has been removed to prevent further progress north-eastward.  The crossing cottage, presumably no longer needed by SNCF, has been unsympathetically enlarged.  The Rolleville - Criquetot-l'Esneval - Les Ifs line closed to passengers 2 October 1938, but reopened apparently during or just after World War II, to close again 6 April 1969, at which date freight appears to have been withdrawn from the Rolleville - Criquetot-l'Esneval section.  Criquetot-l'Esneval - Les Ifs is also now totally out of use.

0523][FR] Bréauté-Beuzeville - Les Ifs - Fécamp: (BLN 790.0448; Ball 13A2)  The line closed to passengers 6 April 1969, but reopened 27 September 1981.  Visited on 7 February 2000 it seemed to have reasonable passenger support, but showed no evidence of freight.  At Les Ifs station, the disused Rolleville - Les Ifs line, with track still in place, converges from the south, running through the 'branch' platforms, a layout which would formerly have allowed through-running from Le Havre to Etretat without conflicting with Bréaute - Fécamp trains, which still call at the 'main' platform on the remaining single track.  A crossover linking the Le Havre and Bréaute lines south of the station has gone, but one remains north of the station, allowing access from the SNCF to the Les Ifs - Les Loges - Etretat line, opened 22 June 1895, closed to passengers 30 June 1951 and freight 3 April 1972.  Part of it is now used by a preservation group (BLN 746.025), who also use an area at Les Ifs, including the former goods-yard, to store a substantial amount of rolling-stock.  Further north, Fécamp station retains no facilities for running round a passenger train, and the freight yard was completely empty.  Track was still in place on the Fécamp - Colleville-Sainte-Hélène - Cany-Barville - St.Vaast-Bosville line, closed to passengers 2 October 1938, but it was not possible to determine whether any freight traffic remained on part of it.  The Colleville - St.Vaast section was reported out of use (neutralisée) by 1996, and indeed Cany - St.Vaast had been abandoned by 1979.  

0524][FR] St.Aubin-du-Vieil-Evreux - Prey - St.André-de-l'Eure - St.Georges-Motel (- Dreux): (Ball 24A3-24B2)  Seen from a passing train in February 2000, the flying junction at St.Aubin that once gave access to this secondary line had become a simple single-track connection.  The line lost its passenger trains 1 July 1939 and freight was progressively cut back to St.André de l'Eure 3 April 1972.  In 1995 La Vie du Rail noted that freight trains to St.André ran 'as required', though a daily freig