modelrail.otenko Trains, computers, vintage, retro, model railways… the lot…

Brussels, Belgium – January, 2020

A quick stopover was made in Brussels, Belguim after visiting York, UK. The main goal was to visit breweries, but a few side-attractions were also entertained. We stayed in the ibis Brussels Centre Gare Midi Hotel, right next to the Brussels Midi Station and had a view of the trains and trams!

The first night was spent with a wander up into town. Dinner was had at KFK Hope where both delicious beer and stoemp were served! I'd nearly demanded McDonald's when I saw the varied menu, but it was then a perfect fluke to find this bar/restaurant with a delicious menu.

The next day involved a lot of walking. Firstly, uphill in search of breakfast. It turns out Belgian's really only drink coffee, so a croissant was purchased from a small convenience-ish store as it looked neat with its layer of icing sugar on top. It happened to be full of apple! So good. Anyway, the goal was to actually wander to a model railway store, but we ended up crossing via two really random tram intersections.

Firstly, up the top of a rise, the intersections of Rue Theodore Verhaegen, Avenue du Parc, Chausee de Waterloo, Rue de l'Hotel des Monnaies, Chaussee d'Alsemberg and Avenue Paul Dejaer create a round-a-bout that includes a tram line! Usually these aren't anything special, as we even have them in Melbourne, but here, the rails will cut straight through the round-a-bout... not also use it as a junction!

The lighting wasn't the best... actually, the rain wouldn't hold off, but we still managed to watch a few trams run the gauntlet and dodge traffic. Of course, they can't dodge at all and so cars new full-well to give way. Another good point was that all cars were giving way to the right and letting cars in front of them enter the round-a-bout. This was very unexpected as here in Australia we also give way to the right and it therefore lends that these guys should've been giving way to the left? A quick search shows that it's known as priority-to-the-right and Belgium actually wants to get rid of the law!

After a while, a tram came through and halted in the intersection before the exit points closest to me. It turns out they also have cab-controls fail and have to switch points manually at times.

From here it was a nice dawdle downhill to find the model railway store. We ended up passing a church that the trams had also been built around.

Further fluking led us to the Marolles Flea Market. Here I successfully acquired a Philips CDI console with broken controller and game for $5. The rain really didn't help the sellers, but most were convinced to just let the wares deal with the elements.

From here, a short wander was had to Cantillon Brewery. This is a living museum, still producing beer, whilst allowing tours of the entire factory. Infact, you're allowed to wander around by yourself after a quick introduction and disclaimer. For a nominal fee, you also get a tasting included at the end. The beer was very wine-like... and super delicious. For someone like me who just devours things, actually taking time to appreciate the 'depth' took a lot more effort than I was expecting!

From there, I finally had my Royal O'Fish at McDonald's, proceeded by an afternoon session at The Belgian Beer Project. This was nice and quiet as we arrived at 2pm as it opened. It quickly changed as a work christmas party arrived. Many tasting trays were created for the 40-odd new guests, but most of them weren't interested... and so we happily received their left-overs.

Finally, the 1757 Amsterdam-bound Thalys was cancelled. There was no mention of it at all on the departure board and I had to line up to find out what was going on. The advice provided was "to take the next train. Choose any free seat after everyone else was seated." We fluked forward-facing seats and got to Amsterdam without much further trouble!

York & The Mallard – January, 2020

After getting up-close-and-personal with an EF58 (my favourite Japanese electric locomotive), I realised I needed to tick another box: inappropriately touch 4468 The Mallard. I'd already seen one running, so this task was to be simple enough as the Mallard had been relegated to show-pony duties in the National Railway Museum in York.

The museum is a located to the north-west of York's main railway station. You can easily access it on foot, via the southern entrance of the station. Entry is free, but a donation is highly recommended! You'll find two large halls full of memorabilia, with the main hall being to the right as you enter the museum.

I happened to head staight-ahead as I entered and viewed the smaller hall first. Straight-up I was confronted with a life-size version of my first HO Scale model train. But then I realised it wasn't. My first loco was a 6201 Princess Elizabeth and this happened to be a LMS Hughes Crab... close, but no cigar.

Before long, I was in the main hall and staring at a Eurostar. Although a relatively new engine, it's of historical significance, being one of the first consists to cross the channel on rails. I was perfectly surprised to then see a 0-series Shinkansen cab car!

From there, a quick wander gets you to the back of the Mallard... where the lighting was better than from the front angle. Arghh!

There was something like an up-close-and-personal going on with the group at the back, but I wasn't interested... I just wanted to see the behemoth in person. It lived up to my expectations!

And that was that... the rest of the afternoon was spent checking out the town.

York Station

After a night of pub-hopping, it was an early start off to Belgium, via London. To get to the station, I took the extended walking path to the south first, over a railway bridge and back up the western side of the line. Unfortunately, for the entire path there was next-to-zero visibility of the rails. It was also just after 0830 and the sun hadn't even considered shining yet.

After picking up luggage and checking out, I bunkered down with a coffee on a bench at York Station. I was actually very happy to see quite a few cafes located throughout the station! Don't always go for the first Costa Coffee available (although it is located in the old signal box)!

The layout of the railway around the station seemed to indicate that there was a freight bypass to the south. Hence my earlier walk; I wanted to actually see freight through York prior to my departure. After the disappointing stroll, I'd sat at the station with the intent to just watch an Azuma pass through... but was pleasantly surprised when a coal train crawled past me!

After that, a myriad of passenger trains passed in every direction...

Interestingly, that purple metro above had a partner sitting next to it, as you'll see in shots further above. It departed as I was near it and the wheels sounded absolutely terrible! It wasn't quite the sound of flat-spots... or the sound of steel wheels turning a corner... it was a serious grinding sound! A quick look down at the rails showed what the actual cause was...

They've welded zig-zags on the rail-head! Woah... I assume that a train has come in at some point and slid on the DMU oil and hit the buffers. To prevent this, instead of sand or other cleaning, they've added friction-inducing rough-ness to the rail-head. Well played, but can't be good for passenger comfort or the wheel surfaces?

My non-Azuma London-bound LNER service arrived and that was it for York.

Wuppertal Schwebebahn – January, 2020

After a long overnight trip from Venice, I arrived at Wuppertal mid-afternoon. Before even reaching the town, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn was already visible from the ICE. This had always been in the must-do area of my to-do list and I was happy to finally be here. I wasn't happy about the weather, but beggars can't be choosers... it was winter.

The first thing to do was find a hotel, but before you even get to town you have to cross under the Schwebebahn.

The closest and most convenient hotel I could find on maps was the Holiday Inn Express. I rocked up and asked for a room facing the railway and all was provided. Note that I've just googled now and found Gunstige B&B Hotel Wuppertal which seems to have much better views and Schwebebahn artwork in each room!?! Good reason to go back again... but in summer.

Just standing out front of the hotel provided enough entertainment thanks to ~6 minute service headways on a weekday!

And then I just wandered back and forth along the railway. You can buy a 4-ride ticket for around ~10 Euro and then just validate it when required. Actually, the validation is a little funny as it's really just a stamp card... but it's a flimsy piece of paper and you need to fit four stamps on it. Fortunately it was never checked, so I don't know if I was doing it correctly. Note that the website says that each ride on the 4-ride ticket can be 'continued' as long as you're going in the same direction... so hop-on-hop-off as much as you like!

Infrastructure

As you can see above, the whole railway is build elevated with over 50% of it above the Wupper River. The railway was built in 1901 and had a perfect safety record until 1999 when a clamp was left on the line after maintenance works. Due to the design of the steel arches, the railway survived both wars. The vehicles have recently been renewed and actually felt very modern!

The vehicles hang onto the track via multiple overhead supporting arms. Each arm has two wheels attached that run along a rail. The wheels have flanges on both sides, making sure that they straddle the rail at all times.

Each vehicle has only one control stand, at one end of the consist. This is due to the fact that they can perform hairpin turns at either end of the line.

At Vohwinkel Station, there's a junction in the track allowing the trains to head into the maintenance shed. Just like monorails, the entire frame has to shift laterally to slot in a new section of track.

Street running

Towards the western end of the line, the railway runs above a street, between both commercial and residential buildings. This also happens to be the area where a crane managed to tear open the bottom of one vehicle, injuring multiple passengers.

Random Locations

From here, I'll just throw up batches of locations that I found interesting. With the rain and the cold, I just tried to get to as-picturesque-locations-as-possible. It'll be really nice to come back in Summer!

Below was all taken around the Bayer plant. It turns out there's a huge manufacturing plant here that spans multiple buildings on both sides of the river.

Varresbecker Straße Station to DB Zoologischer Garten Station

On the final morning, I wanted to depart Wuppertal west for Dusseldorf. I could've just taken the train from the Hbf, but instead decided to use the rest of my 4-ride ticket and check out the pathway between Varresbecker Straße Station to DB Zoologischer Garten Station. This secure corridor takes you through the middle of the Bayer plant, although you wouldn't really know as it's totally sheltered.

That e-waste bin above was interesting... I was hoping to find an Amiga inside, but it's bloody secure.

From here it was off to Dusseldorf on the first westbound DB service.

Venice to Germany via the Nightjet – January, 2020

The initial plan had been very different; after two good nights in Barcelona for NYE, there was to be a sleeper train to Paris and a Thalys to Amsterdam. Thanks to SNCF going on strike, the sleeper was cancelled! I'd wanted to take a sleeper whilst on this trip, so I scoured the web for options via thetrainline.com. It seemed that the best path was to find a cheap flight to Venice and then take OBB's (Austrian Railways') Nightjet to Munich.

Venice

Vueling got me there painlessly from Barcelona. Getting into the city was a little more difficult! There are ferries that take you from the airport to the 'island', but make sure you take the right one. You'll find both an orange line and a blue line, with the former getting you to the main train station the quickest. I had no reason to get to the station quickly (2105 departure), and the sun was already setting, so I chose the blue line. This would allow me to arrive at the easternmost point of Venice and wander across to the station. Do your research on this leg early! It's a little confusing when you're there.

Follow the signs to the water transport... and pay attention to the lack of advertising...

Once you're down at water level, walk all the way to the far end. You'll find ticket booths and you'll want to buy a ticket to the train station. To the right you'll then find the boats, waiting, hopefully.

Taking the blue line mean a slight detour. Firstly, the boat has to (absolutely) dawdle through the shipping lane as it departs the airport. You'll find the private speedboats bolting past, leaving your ferry in their wake, throwing you around! Just as you're about to get to Venice itself, the boat performs a huge left turn and takes you to Murano. After this delay, you'll then end up at the first station on Venice: Nove.

Turns out this was totally advantageous. If you get off at the popular spots, you'll just get sucked into the tourist trap areas and end up eating McDonalds. Going via the backstreets allowed me to really capture the real feeling of Venice.

Of course, you then have to traverse the market streets to get to the station.

But once through it all, you'll find yourself at St. Lucia.

I first went to the departure board to check for my train. There was one for Weins at 2105, but not Munich? For fun, I checked google maps and it still showed that there were two trains, both departing at 2105, for Munich and Vienna.

I quickly realised that Weins was the Italian/Austrian name for Vienna, but I was a little disconcerted that Munich wasn't showing! I then realised that my phone ticket told me that I needed a paper print-out of my ticket... but I hadn't had one and there was no kiosk/information desk at the station to provide assistance. In fact, there were no OBB representatives at all. I quickly googled and found an internet cafe back on the main street, so I took some cash out and went to the store. The proprietor happily printed out my ticket and asked for 70 Euro Cents. I only had a $50 note, so he yelled "FREE!" and told me to get out. Ooops... I promise I'll be back to make it all worthwhile!

Back to the station... I dawdled around to check out the sights.

There were some beautiful Italian trains here. But none that I understood... and lots of graffiti also. St. Lucia is a terminus station and so all trains were either coming in and terminating or propelling in empty to then run a fresh service.

I still had a few hours to burn, so I wandered back through town.

And then wandered back to the station and had pizza at the restaurant at the eastern end of the platforms. Turns out all of the train staff loved this place too!

More trains came and went, more software errors on computer displays and even more OBB services... but no changes to the Weins service and no staff to help out. As the departure time was getting closer, a different type of tourist started arriving at the station...

All was looking good that a nighttrain would arrive, but I was still a little sceptical as to where I'd be waking up in the morning! I didn't bother asking... I just ran with it to see what would arrive.

Just before the 2105 service was due, a little 5' appeared in the delay column! And then... the whole train arrived.

The train wasn't going to run around quickly... and the sign then decided to update and get a little more realistic.

I walked to my carriage, based on the number displayed on my ticket and was pleasantly surprised to see the destination board showing Munich!

The rooms were very similar to night trains both in Japan and Thailand. I'd opted for a four-person berth, but this was really just a six-person berth with the middle bunks 'booked out'.

Before long, I'd met my room mates, we'd all then met the conductor, the train had departed, we'd ordered the first round of beers and an introduction to the nights expectations was provided: the train would proceed to Tarvisio Boscoverde, the last stop before the Austrian border, where there'd be a quick police check. We'd then proceed through to Villach where there'd be a 30 minute stop as we split the front half of the train, which then continued to Austria, and coupled to another half which had come from Budapest. Once connected, we'd proceed to Salsburg where we'd be rudely awakened by Austrian police to have an identity check. Thanks to this awakening, breakfast would also be served... as we'd then hardly have an hour before arriving at Munich.

At Udine, we picked up passengers and dumped the rear engine.

Right before Tarvisio, after a long, flat trip through north-eastern Italy, we proceeded through a tunnel, which allowed me to grab a nice video out the rear of the train.

At Tarvisio, there was enough time to quickly jump out and giggle at the snow.

Once at Villach, and quite a few beers later... all from my cabin got out and stretched our legs. There was snow on the ground and it was freezing... it was also 1:30am, but whatever... there wasn't much room for sleep on the trip anyway! We were then alerted that the train from Budapest was an hour late... so there was no rush! A freighter passed through, but I was too slow for it.

After realising how cold it was, I jumped back in bed and passed out. I vaguely remember the coupling of the trains... but that could also be fictitious. What wasn't fictitious was the border patrol and the torch in one's face. I had slept with my passport in my pocket, so I presented it very quickly. Before long, breakfast was served, and well, it was a bread roll and a packet'o'jam.

Munich

This was a very brief stop-over. I'd considered checking out the sights, but it was 0615 and there wouldn't be much happening for a few hours. I was also pretty tired, so I wandered over to the DB booth to get tickets on the next ICE... which was in all-of 10 minutes. The queue was around 20 people long, as our train had arrived 45 minutes late, with everyone trying to re-adjust their connections. I must admit, the service was fantastic and the conductor on the night train kept telling us that if connections were booked on DB trains then they'd be easily transferred to the next service at no cost.

I didn't feel like waiting in the queue, so I jumped on thetrainline.com and booked a forward-facing seat. It came through within a minute and I was set. I did this as I was standing next to the ticket queue, watching that I'd beaten the person at the front of the line. I then wandered and checked out the station.

There was a weird carriage in a stub road, seemingly doing nothing?

And then we were off... The on-board bordbistro was delicious... beer and currywurst, what more could you ask for!?

It was a beautifully quick and seamless trip. A quick transfer at Frankfurt saw me get to Wuppertal in no time!

What weird contraption is that, built on top of that river, down there? Oh, of course, the Schwebebahn!

Miniworld, Rotterdam – December, 2019

Just like Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg, Rotterdam has it's own version tailored to The Netherlands, located just a few hundred metres from the central exit of Rotterdam Station. And speaking of which, the station entrance is an amazing piece of architecture!

Anyway, back to the wander... head west along the main road from the station entrance and you'll soon find Miniworld!

Admission was less than 20 euro and totally worth it. The entrance is just after the restaurant and you'll start off at a beachside town that looked similar to Enkhuizen.

You'll then wander around to a port. Note also that the days cycle through in beautiful colour... you can actually see it in the background of the following shot as the colour change started sweeping across the layout.

As you're cornering around the you'll notice the control room and model-building area on the left. Check it out... the software is amazing, all digital and alerting when the trains are having issues.

As you continue around, you'll find yourself in a more modern city, finishing with a landmark that we've already seen in real life.

Finally, there's a back room with two older, non-functional layouts. They're actually a lovely tribute to a previous member of the organisation who had passed away. These were from the garage in the garden!

Next, it's time to head downstairs! There's currently another layout under construction in the theme of the UK! There's a few bits and pieces running, but they're expecting it to be complete in another 2 years.

I loved the sign outside... A whole world is waiting for you!

Vintage Trams In Amsterdam – December, 2019

Thanks to Saint Nicholas hanging around, there's a lot to see on the rails in the main center of Amsterdam. Electrische Museumtramlijn Amsterdam is located in the south of Amsterdam, but it still connected to the cities tram lines. Good news for us as this means that, at certain times of the year, they can run their vintage stock around town! Over Christmas, this happened to be from 12-5pm on the 26-30th of December.

The vintage tram's route was from the Dam itself, anti-clockwise down Rozengracht, left at Marnixstraat, straight through to Fredriksplein, north to Rembrantplein and back to the Dam. Thanks to the winter sun, there weren't too many opportunities near the Dam to take shots, but after viewing the consist, I headed west to the first corner for a photo.

A two-car consist had already been hiding in the shadows in the Dam, waiting in the Dam for passengers to board. How can one even get a good shot of it whilst it's half in the shade? I'd thought there'd only be one set running, but it turns out that whilst one set was doing the lap, the other was paused to advertise the route and take on passengers.

Along the way to rembrantplein, the lighting was not much better...

But down in the plein itself, the sun was still trying to shine!

From there, it was home time. Fortunately, we ended up in town the next day, so I tried some full nighttime shots.

Nicely, they were running another consist... the blue and grey was a really nice combination!

And that was about it. Great to see them running and they all happened to be full when I was watching. I'll try and check out the actual museum itself this trip; there's even a model railway shop near it!

Apeldoorn Steam Trains – December, 2019

Back to Apeldoorn, but this time to check out heritage equipment operated by the De Veluwsche Stoomtrein Maatschappij. Again, it was a very early start via Amsterdam Centraal, which coincided with the Thalys arriving from Belgium.

A standard Intercity was taken through to Amersfoort with a small transfer over to another service through to Apeldoorn. It was quite the dreary day, so apologies that all shots hence-forth are in low-light... the temperature was exactly as it looks!

The picture above is the northern side of the station and via this exit you can get to the town center. I had travelled there on December 26 and there was absolutely no point of doing so... there are no boxing day sales in regional towns in Holland! After a quick lap of the town (even McDonalds was shut), I ventured to the southern side and then to the east with a plan to intersect with the branch line that the steam engine runs along. From the station it's about a 15 minute walk.

I walked from the first level-crossing down to the next along the line in search of photo opportunities. Thanks to the weather, the sun was hidden... otherwise it'd be head-on into the lens! Regardless, there wasn't much chop, apart from straight-on photos down the line, or side-on from across the canal. Instead, I wandered back to the bridge at the first crossing and lined up a 30-degree angle with the track. This also let me see the two 'white' signals down the line.. of which I hoped would indicate occupancy, or at least triggered crossings... but did neither with the up service.

I was happily kept amused by the wildlife, watching my clock as the minutes clicked past the expected times on the schedule. Running around 15 minutes late, the steamer arrived and paused at the crossing right next to me!

The train had stopped as the crossing next to me required manual activation. The guard quickly alighted, unlocked the control box and triggered the gates.

The consist then rolled on through to Apeldoorn Station. I noted the steam pipes running through the entire length of the train, presumably for heating? Once it passed and the crossing cleared I light-footed it back as well. As I was running to make it to the opposite platform, the same gas/oil train rolled through as happened last time I was in Apeldoorn. In fact, that was the only freight I saw all day... which is really only one more than I saw last time I was here!

The steamer had also already run around and was ready to roll away. After being 15 late, it still left on time! I managed to format my card before I remembered that I had a video of it on there. Whoops. After all the fun was over, I stopped for a burger at the restaurant in the station building.

And that was a day... it was cold enough to not want to hang around!

Emmerich – December, 2019

After visiting Geldermalsen, a station near the junction with the Betuworoute in the south of the Netherlands, I decided it was better to find the very start of the line. Sure, not all freights would traverse the entire length of the line, but at least some would have to enter/exit from the German side?

The line starts at Zevenaar, an eastern bordertown in the Netherlands that sits next to the locality of Emmerich in Germany. Getting here from Amsterdam was easy enough with a few transfers along the way.

Amsterdam Centraal

Whilst waiting at Amsterdam Centraal, the usual thing happened whilst waiting for my train; a freight passed when I wasn't ready. Even funnier that it happened whilst I was discussing the fact that there's lots of freight movements in europe, just not when you want them. It was also too bloody dark to take good photos.

From here, an Intercity was caught to Arhnem Centraal. It was still dark for the entire trip, with the sun rising at around 0830 each morning in Europe in winter. Something I'm still really not fond of!

At Arnhem I needed to change to a private railway. Thanks to the great setup of the ticket machines, this is a very easy task. Below you'll see the ticket validators for both companies sitting side by side. All one has to do is touch off NS and touch on Arriva to transfer. No need to exit the station!

Before long the diesel was humming away and we were heading east to Zevenaar. The transfer here wasn't as easy as above as we were now crossing international borders. Of course, being all in fhe EU, there's no actual passport checkpoints... You could just walk across if you wanted to. I did need a new ticket, and this was as simple as going to the DB machine. Emmmerich-Elten wasnt a valid destination, for an unknown reason, so I chose Emmerich itself.

I then had to turn around and bolt to the train as it had just arrived from Arhnem Centraal, ready to take everyone into the Motherland.

Emmerich

There's a big bi-directional staging yard here where freights lay over before or after crossing the border. A lot of westbound freights lined up side by side whilst I was loitering, with the german drivers alighting to let another pair take the consists further on their journeys.

From the platform, the views are therefore very side-on and, honestly, not the best. Every so often a freight would pass straight through, but most of them went into the yard. Fortunately, there was a diesel shunter that had just detached three tankers from a freight for delivery to a local factory. I'd arrived just in time to see it run around and take the tank wagons away.

Something interesting then happened. A coal (or possibly any other commodity) train passed through... though the carriages were eerily familiar. Was this the same train that passed me in Amsterdam Centraal? It sure looked like it... but there's probably 100 trains of similar consist on the line at any point.

A few ICE trains passed through...

And then I was off to the next destionation.

Emmmerich-Elten

My initial plan had always been to get to this station as it looked, from google maps, that all trains would pass through at full speed. I caught the next train westbound to check it out.

Unfortunately, the sun chose to come out just as I arrived, so all the westbound freights were hard to photograph. There were also no eastbound freights to be seen, so I quickly headed off into the small town for coffee and a pitstop.

Praest

With the initial plan not proving effective, and seeing that all the westbound freights were coming through to the yard, I chose then to head east past Emmerich to Praest.

It didn't take long for freights to pass... but I must say there weren't as many as earlier in the morning.

This little side-platform station was beautiful. Lush foliage with tiny platforms and a level crossing to provide forewarning of impending trains. Actually, on that note, there were three level crossings in the vacinity and they all went down at the same time... At least 8 minutes prior to a train coming! I'm not exaggerating... 8 bloody minutes!

After an hour, I was ready to head back to the big smoke, but I hadnte realised the obtuse timing of the crossing gates and ended up stuck on the wrong platform right when my train passed through! Blessing in disguise though... The shunter I'd observed earlier came in the opposite direction and in perfect light.

With the light coming from the south, I chose the southern platform where possible to take photos, but the trains all seemed to be coming from the west, meaning they were easily too close to the lens.

Thanks to missing my train, I had another hour to kill. Pretty easy though as there were numerous freighters and ICE trains passing.

Geldermalsen – December, 2019

The goal was to get close enough to a junction with the Betuweroute, the freight-exclusive railway line, of which I can't even pronounce, that links Germany to Rotterdam. Trains either run the entire length of the railway to get to the port of Rotterdam, or they exit at one of the many off-ramps onto the standard NS railway lines. Geldermalsen is one of these locations as there's a junction with the Betuweroute just a few KM south.

's Hertogenbosch

Geldermalsen is a lesser station and therefore only served by NS' Sprinter services. You can get there from either side: Utrecht or 's Hertogenbosch, another name I can't pronounce. I chose the latter.

The main station building is quite beautiful. There's a ton of throw-backs to the previous factories, or maybe even the previous station structure; I couldn't quite tell. There was also a cute little shunter on the side, not doing much at all... I wonder if the station receives freight? I didn't hang around for long though as the connections were great to get the next northbound sprinter.

Geldermalsen

This station is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but still well patronised and very clean and tidy. There's a really handy pedestrian bridge crossing all lines, but with caternary, it doesn't provide the best view. The station has three roads per direction, including a passing lane as the final road. Further below you'll see how the freight use it to let the express trains pass.

The express trains didn't stop. They are scheduled with 30-minute head-ways and so there's always one heading in one direction or the other.

It wasn't long before a southbound freight train arrived. The consist entered the far road and held back until another express passed through.

There's actually a branch line to the north-west that heads off to Dordrecht. This is run by smaller consists that park at the far end of platform 1. There's then a crossover that allows the sprinters to use the same platform, but at a more convenient location, closer to the station building.

Another freight train passed through northbound, but also had to wait in the third road for a northbound express.

Culemborg

It was bloody cold, so I jumped on the next northbound sprinter; there was family to enjoy out the front o' the Rijksmuseum ... ice skating! I had a few more minutes and so I stopped at the next station north for a quick hop. Culemborg is a stanfard country station with no passing lanes. It has a great waiting room, of which I failed to take a photo.

The expresses bolt through, but there was no time to hang for a sprinter after the one that was approaching; I jumped on and returned to Amsterdam.

Check that last shot out! Google translate app working real-time translating whatever my phone camera was pointed at!

Amersfoort and Apeldoorn – December, 2019

It was time for another family adventure to Amsterdam, but this time for Christmas! I was just about ready for Australian summer before being shipped over into the depths of winter in The Netherlands. Lots of research had been completed: I'd found sites for photography spots, live maps of the passenger services and freight timetables. Unfortunately, the latter has been taken down in the last 4 days... can you believe it? Milliseconds before I travelled to the country, the information disappears! Despite this disappointment, I decided to trek out to the regional towns to hunt down freight.

The trip started from Amsterdam North and, thanks to the now-open Northern Metro, it was a quick 5 minutes to get there. I was then very happy to realise that my services would all be run by Koplopers (my total favourite)!

That last shot is cute... the poor onboard information system had a disk failure and tried to boot... the weirdest part being that the display starts off upside-down!?

Amersfoort

This town is located south-east of Amsterdam and, via the intercity services, only about 40 minutes away. From the station, there's a large yard to the north-west which hosts infrastructure testing equipment, a train simulator for NS staff, and the shunting yard for the automotive branch. The automotive branch runs south-east from the station, down to a few factories that process half-completed cars from Germany. The goal was to exit the station and loiter near the start of the branch, near a level-crossing, to try and see something run through. Fortunately, as I was approaching the station, a small diesel was already at the head of a long rake of new cars, ready to be taken down the line.

But first... the station... some Koplopers... and the yard...

That shot above was a total accident... turns out you can shoot and focus at the same time and get some pretty weird effects. The top was the only one of 5 that turned out, not that I was even trying. It was a total mistake.

So many Koplopers, but then the yard... at the eastern end there's a stash of vintage locomotives in various liveries and owned by various companies?

One thing I need to admit is that the lighting at this time of year in the northern hemisphere is dismal! I mean, it's beautiful for an hour or so when it's 'dusk', but that's 3pm! The sun is gone by 4!

Wandering to the end of platform 5, I could see the car-carrier rolling towards the station. I then consulted maps and realised that it'd been shunting backwards, whilst I was arriving, to access platform 2/3, which would then let it take the branch. I was obviously in the wrong spot, at the wrong time, and therefore bolted to platform 2. Fortunately, Amersfoort is beautifully designed and there's stairs at both ends of the platform. Before-long, it rolled through...

Quite a few Porsches on the end! An Intercity was coming in through next, bound for Berlin, and so I exited the station to get a shot of it along the line to the east.

The NS loco-hauled services look very similar to the older SNCF locomotives in France. I wonder if they're the same manufacturer? I'll do a little research when I'm sleeping on a french train later in the month. From here, I returned to the station to check out what else was going on. Prior to actually entering, you have to cross the branch where the auto-train went...

The line looks like it's heavy-railed, but the smaller diesel indicates otherwise... then again, they might just be saving fuel. Out the very front of the station, there's a strange clock that seems to be offsetting the current datetime for something relevant to somewhere else?

And one can't forget an obligatory front-on shot of the station.

From here, things got awkward. I had time and decided I'd do a round-trip to Apeldoorn and so I approached platform 2 once more. From the yard, an oil train approached without warning. Fortunately, my camera was at the ready... but after the second shot, my camera seemed to stick in half-focused mode. I turned it off and on again, but as soon as it powered up, it did a focus, as if I had my finger on the trigger, half-pressed.

And so, the train passed... and I had a dead camera. I jumped on the east-bound service to Apeldoorn.

Apeldoorn

As we rolled away, I sat down and started pulling apart my camera. After having the lens, battery and memory card out, the camera finally snapped back into action. Funnily enough, as we were heading towards Apeldoorn, the conductor came over the PA and mentioned something sounding like an apology... this, of course, is a guess as my Dutch is non-existent. The guess was that we were dawdling thanks to the freighter taking its time in front of us. Soon enough, we were accelerating again and I saw a glimpse of a train in out the right windows. Turns out there's a passing loop near Stroe and the freighter had been put away... I'd get to see it again in Apeldoorn?

Amazing. Another fluke... playing leap-frog with freight trains in the middle of The Netherlands. Apeldoorn is also a branch for the Arriva Zutphen line. This is run by two-car diesels which are remarkably similar, in layout, to DERMs from the Victorian railways.

Anyway... after that mild success, I headed back to Amersfoort. I'd bought an initial return ticket from Amsterdam to Amersfoort and then another return from Amersfoort to Apeldoorn, so I had to exit the station to keep all my tickets valid. Another point, I took a loco-hauled intercity like the one above. Even though these are ICE carriages from DB, it seems that they operate as standard intercity services once in The Netherlands. Although I didn't actually get my ticket checked.

Back at Amersfoort

Whilst coming back in, I saw something interesting. Past a building, down near the auto branch, was a stuffed-and-mounted wooden EMU? The building seems to be an old station building, is a Gibson store/function-center, and the loco must be from Austria or Switzerland?

Very nice actually, but the sun was already ready to set. Actually, the EMU reminded me of the railway line from Palma to Port De Soller.

I then did a lap of the whole station and wandered over to the northern side of the yard. There's a building that used to be carriageworks that I thought was a bar, but turned out to just be a function center. One good thing was that it allowed access to the other side of the stored locomotives...

Finally, on the way back into Amersfoort station, I stumbled past a beautiful piece of stained-glass art. That's totally a Koploper!

And that was then it for the day... jetlag was kicking in and although a nice beer was had at De Wagenmeester on the southern side, including a great view of the tracks!,...

It was home time.