Branch Line News International (ISSN 1354-0947), a newsletter about the world's railway geography and infrastructure 1994 archived text (BLN 721 - BLN 744) BLN 721.01][FR] Dives-Cabourg - Mézidon: (Ball atlas 12B2-23A3) Regarding the long-unanswered question in BLN 696,p.380/92-03, the disused track seen extending beyond Dives-Cabourg on the coast of Normandie did indeed once loop back inland the 28km via Dozulé-Putot to Mézidon. It opened on 15 May 1879, closing to passengers 1 March 1938 and to freight 3 November 1969. BLN 721.02][FR,LU] Fontoy SNCF - Audun-le-Tiche (- Esch-sur-Alzette CFL): (BLN 698,p.30/93-010; Ball atlas 18A1) The present CFL local passenger trains penetrating 1.3km into France to Audun were not simply superimposed on an existing freight service, since cross-border freight had already ceased by the time CFL reopened the line to passengers in September 1992. The erstwhile SNCF freight route from Audun to Fontoy now appears derelict, with no physical connection to the revitalised passenger-only branch, but it must have been an impressive and photogenic spectacle when heavy trains climbed up the spiral to reach the tall spindly viaduct crossing the valley and the passenger branch. The viaduct still stands, apparently complete with masts and catenary, but otherwise somewhat reminiscent of Crumlin. BLN 721.03][FR][DE] Merlebach: (Ball atlas 29B3 (FR)) The list of rail crossings of European Union borders enclosed with BLN 719 excluded an interesting standard-gauge line which is not a common-carrier railway, but has a daily international passenger service. In April 1980 the colliery company Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine bought SNCF 'Picasso' railcar #X-4042 to transport miners between two pitheads, Reumaux de Merlebach, in the French department of Moselle, and Merlebach Nord, a short distance away, through a tunnel, in Germany. Though there are preserved Picassos, and Eurotunnel currently employs one beneath the Channel, the Merlebach one may be the last Picasso in daily operation in France. BLN 721.04][FR][CH] Évian-les-Bains SNCF - St.Gingolph - Le Bouveret CFF: (Ball atlas 50B2 (FR), 98B3 (CH)) The line from Évian into Switzerland opened in 1886 and its single track at one time carried Genève - Milano expresses. Though it lost its regular passenger services in spring 1939 it became, after the German invasion in 1940, the only rail link between the unoccupied territory of ('Vichy') France and neutral Switzerland. SNCF withdrew freight services in 1988. As recorded in BLN 697,p.13/93-06, the preservation group based at Le Bouveret has operated over the line each summer since 1988 (and possibly a year or two earlier). Marketing emphasis is on circular trips, one way by rail and the other by CGN vessel on Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Often this is a paddle steamer, especially in connection with the Sunday steam trains. The weekday diesel services seem to have been expanded, but they were advertised on various dates, mostly Fridays, as far back as 1990. BLN 721.05][BE][FR] St.Ghislain - Quiévrain (- Blanc-Misseron SNCF): (Ball atlas 8A1-7B1) The marshalling yard at St.Ghislain closed in September 1993. The line between St.Ghislain and Tournai was blocked between 10 and 15 November 1993 to allow installation of the junction with the new Belgian TGV line described in BLN 718,p.344/93-08. The use of the branch platform at St.Ghislain by a few Tournai-line peak-hour stopping services (see BLN 713,p.265/93-05) allowed fast trains on the Liege - Tournai route to overtake. The limited number of instances has reflected the peak-only stopping-service pattern since at least 1987. The nearer chord has been the one regularly used, as BLN 713 surmised, the one further west being essentially a freight route from the sidings on the south side of the station to the Tournai line, with the only recorded passenger use being by railtours. Until 28 May 1988 the Quiévrain service ran through to and from Mons, but since then the east-end connection into the (significantly diverging) branch side of the station has seen only one train a day, plus the few using the chord. Once electrification is complete the existing diesel shuttle service is expected to give way to through running again, this time by IC trains from Bruxelles-Schaerbeek via Mons which will run forward calling at all stations to Quiévrain. Freight traffic on the cross-border section between Quiévrain and Blanc-Misseron had in practice ceased by the end of 1988, and it officially closed in May 1989. Lack of action to lift the track does seem to have been due to recognition of the potential for reopening, perhaps for passengers as well as freight. It has for example been suggested that Paris - Valenciennes TGV workings might run forward to Mons, though there are no specific proposals in that respect. BLN 721.06][BE] SNCB/NMBS closures: The short freight-only Ligne 119 from Châtelet to Gilly-Sart-Allet near Charleroi (Ball 8B1) has closed. Hasselt yard (9A2) closed in September 1993. The staff trains (five each way) on Lijn 39 between Welkenraedt and Montzen yard (9B2) ceased from 26 September 1993. From 18 October 1993 Lijn 39 has had a 20km/h speed restriction and faces complete closure since it carries no freight traffic. Local trains on the Bruxelles - Arlon - Luxembourg main line continue to stop at Stockem, closed to passengers in September (Ball 17B2; BLN 716,p.312/93-06), for the use of railway staff at the yard there. (En Lignes, December 1993) BLN 721.07][BE] Bruxelles/Brussel: From May 1994, trains from Halle to Brussel-Schuman will run forward via Bockstael and Denderleeuw to Aalst, giving a regular service on the short section of Ligne/Lijn 161/1 between Y Josaphat and Y Zennebrug in the north of the city (Ball atlas 10B2; McDougall B14). At Aalst the station has recently been modernised. (En Lignes, December 1993) BLN 721.08][BE] Signs at Belgian borders: (BLN 713,p.293/93-04) Trackside signs bearing the Belgian railway logo barré (with a line through it) indicate the point where Belgian signalling ends, and they are not always at either the national or the track-ownership boundary. Similar signs with numbers 1500, 3000, 15000 or 25000 indicate electrification voltage changes, and are frequently at some distance from a border. (from Aperçu de la Signalisation Ferroviaire Belge) BLN 721.09][LU, BE] Luxembourg - Troisvierges CFL - Gouvy SNCB: (BLN 698,p.29/93-08) CFL 25kV 50Hz electric working to Troisvierges officially began on 26 September 1993, though there had been occasional such trains during the two weeks before. Completion to Gouvy, permitting cross-border electric working, was expected in December 1993. (En Lignes, December 1993) BLN 721.010][DE] German closures: A Dutch correspondent reports the following branch closures: Lemgo - Aerzen 26A1(in Ball atlas) 2 Aug 1993 Stolberg - Würselen (bei Aachen) 37A1 27 Sep 1993 Fulda - Seiferts 51B3 1 Sep 1993 Neustadt (Aisch) Bf - Demantsfürth-Ühlfeld 52B2 31 Dec 1993 Kulmbach - Thurnau 53A2 6 Sep 1993 (BLN 715,p.297/93-010) Falls - Gefrees 53A2 31 Dec 1993 Kirchenlamitz Stadt - Weissenstadt 53B2 31 Dec 1993 Wunsiedel-Holenbrunn - Leupoldsdorf 53B2 27 Sep 1993 Staufen - Grunern SWEG 67B2 1 Oct 1993 Dorfen Bf - Velden (Vils) 72A3 27 Sep 1993 BLN 721.011][DK] Fredericia avoiding line: (Ball atlas 6B2) In May 1993 DSB opened a new 5km curve from Snoghøj to Taulov, avoiding Fredericia station, part of an investment plan to step up European freight traffic after the bridge-tunnel link across the Storebælt (Great Belt) is built. (Blickpunkt Bahn, October 1993) BLN 721.012][CA][US] Sherbrooke (Québec) - Mattawamkeag (Maine) - Saint John (New Brunswick): In November 1992 CP Rail sought approval to close its lines east of Sherbrooke, thus effectively leaving CN a free hand in Canada's Maritime Provinces. Transport Canada duly agreed to the abandonment in late August 1993, but approval is also required from the US Interstate Commerce Commission in respect of the Canadian Atlantic Railway, a CP Rail subsidiary in the USA operating the line which cuts across thinly populated northern Maine to link Sherbrooke and Saint John. If approved, abandonment of the CAR would mean the end soon for an interesting international working. The Atlantic, one of VIA Rail's two thrice-weekly overnight passenger trains between Montréal and Halifax, is a rare North American example of what Europeans know as a Korridorzug, a train travelling between two parts of one country through the territory of another, with special customs arrangements for certain through passengers (in this case, those in the sleeping-cars). If the Atlantic ceases to run, it will also mean the end of regular passenger trains in the state of Maine, since this is one of the parts that Amtrak does not reach. (Trains (US), December 1993) BLN 721.013][GT] Ferrocarriles de Guatemala: The 914mm-gauge nationalised FEGUA was formerly part of the IRCA, the International Railways of Central America, built by US interests to aid what the British would have called colonial development, including large-scale growing of bananas (whence the derogatory term 'banana republic'). Like many Latin American railways it faces an uncertain future. Guatemala's terrain, with young folded mountains still being formed, and several active volcanoes, is largely unfriendly to rail, necessitating slow climbs up steep and sinuous tracks and across valleys on magnificent tall trestles. The railway may draw photographers from the USA and Europe, but finds it hard to attract ordinary travellers, or shippers of import and export containers, away from the country's new roads. Remaining rail traffic seems sparse. On a November 1993 three-day visit with charter steam trains, no actual sign was seen of the few scheduled passenger workings supposed still to operate. A diesel-hauled mixed consist seen trailing a single almost empty and unglazed coach into a crossing loop may have been a 'way and works' maintenance train. Working practices are fairly informal. One steam special, reversing for photographic purposes on to the high-trestle Puente de las Vacas on the edge of Guatemala City, found that an unexpected diesel-hauled freight, said to be from Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean coast some 318km away, had been following, and seemed to want to use the single-track bridge at the same time! And rolling down the streets of Guatemala City's red-light district at dusk behind a 2-8-2 with the US chime whistle continuously sounding is also a kind of railtouring experience not yet on offer on any UK preserved line. The railway layout in Guatemala City does not appear ever to have had the north-to-east side of the triangle shown on the Fahrplancenter map marketed by Quail (BLN 712,p.252/93). Trains arriving from the east run on towards the west and then require to reverse into the city's passenger terminus. From the main-line junction of Zacapa - 152km east of Guatemala City, and sporting a semi-roundhouse with several steam locomotives in varying stages of dereliction - the IRCA used to extend 113km south to Anguiatú and on into El Salvador. Though it is difficult to ascertain exactly which sections of FEGUA are open or closed in the BR sense, this international branch line is certainly out of use. BLN 721.014][SV] Ferrocarriles Nacional de El Salvador: IRCA formed part also of the inheritance of the neighbouring nationalised system, FENADESAL, which had 600km of 914mm-gauge track in operation in 1983, but undoubtedly has a lot less now, after the disruptive effects of the years of civil war. The railway comes under this small country's autonomous Port Authority, and its remaining marginal role in the economy is probably the handling of certain weighty items imported through the ports of Acajutla and Cutuco, such as the coils of heavy-gauge steel wire - of the kind used to reinforce concrete - which were seen loaded on flat wagons. Regular passenger service may well have ceased. However, at least one steam locomotive (a 1925 Baldwin 2-8-0 #101) remains available for charter, together with a rather civilised Presidential car featuring a traditional open end balcony whence one may address cheering crowds, or wave authoritatively to one's constituents while rolling gently past in a comfortable chair, with a drink from the wood-panelled bar inside. In a perfect world, all railtours would convey such an attractive and well-stocked vehicle on the rear of the train. BLN 721.015][CR] Instituto Costaricense de Ferrocarriles: INCOFER is the acronym of the present operator of Costa Rica's 1067mm-gauge railway. Contrary to a report in a recent Continental Railway Journal about the abandonment of passenger trains, INCOFER was in November 1993 operating limited commuter services, marketed as Intertren, from both the capital's main stations, as follows, from west to east. San José (Estación Atlantico) - San Pedro - Carthago (60 mins journey time; three a day Mon-Fri & Sun) Heredia - San José (Estación Atlantico) - San Pedro (30 mins; three a day Mon-Fri, two on Sun) Pavas - San José (Estación Pacifico) (15mins; three a day Mon-Fri, two on Sun) Both stations have overhead electrification, and are linked through the streets of the city by an electrified line enabling the movement of stock. It is not clear whether the original 1930 electrification of the Pacific line at 15kV 20Hz has been converted to match the Atlantic line's standard 25kV 50Hz, but an electric locomotive seen moving outside the sizeable works next to the Pacific station was one of several bearing manufacturers' plates of The 50Hz Group. The Atlantic station, where there is also a small museum, had a new-looking Spanish-built two-car diesel unit present as well as a rake of similarly-new lightweight hauled passenger stock, and the Pacific station had a heterogeneous rake of older passenger stock headed by a small diesel locomotive, so the passenger services could all be diesel-worked. BLN 722.016][IE] Iarnród Éireann: Irish Rail are understood to favour building a new platform at Killarney so that Dublin - Tralee trains would not have to propel in one direction when calling at the terminal station there. Remodelling Killarney may or may not feature in a plan for which the Irish government are seeking European Commission backing. IEP30 million (Irish pounds) would be spent by 1999 improving the Mallow - Tralee line to allow 145km/h running, thus reducing Dublin - Tralee journey-time to about three hours. (The Kerryman, 19 November 1993) Irish Rail have given notice that they intend to abandon the disused 44km Waterford - Ballinacourty branch. The former Waterford - Mallow line closed in March 1967, but was reopened in 1970 from Waterford West Junction as far as a new freight spur into the Quigley Magnesite plant at Ballinacourty near Dungarvan. The plant closed in 1982 and revenue traffic then ceased, though a group of local business people was conveyed over the line on 9 May 1990. The overgrown Waterford - New Ross branch has been closed since 6 September 1993 and seems unlikely to reopen. A temporary buffer-stop blocks the line at Abbey Junction up outer home signal. At milepost 793/4 on the Waterford - Rosslare line some 6km east of Waterford, Irish Rail have opened a spur connection to Belview sidings, serving a new container port facility mainly to be used by Bell Lines, 60% of whose existing Irish traffic is railborne. The connection was commissioned on 16 August 1993, the sidings a week later, and the port was officially opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Reynolds, on 4 September. Athenry - Claremorris is understood to be passable throughout, the rails 'borrowed' for use on the Ballina branch now having been replaced north of Tuam, but the line remains officially closed and under the control of the Divisional Engineer at Athlone. (BLN 698,p.30/93-63; BLN 702,p.93/93-02) The weekly Foynes - Ballina coal and oil train may however revert to the Limerick - Ennis - Athenry - Tuam - Claremorris route since the present long way round via Portarlington and Athlone is not economical in crew and locomotive utilisation. The Limerick - Ennis - Athenry section was in active use by cement trains in June 1993. (Irish Railway News, October 1993) Irish Rail have installed a new gantry crane at Sligo Quay freight yard to handle increased container traffic on the nightly Dublin - Sligo freight train. (Sligo Champion, 12 November 1993) BLN 722.017][BE][DE] SNCB Ligne 45 Trois Ponts - Weywertz & 45A Weywertz - Büllingen -Losheimergraben SNCB - Losheim DB - Jünkerath: (BLN 714,p.280/93-08; Ball atlas 10A1 (BE), 47B3 (DE)) Between Trois Ponts and the border only three crossing points remain, Malmédy (loop out of use), Weywertz (junction with the Vennbahn) and Büllingen. The loop at Losheimergraben, the SNCB frontier station, has been removed. The lines have no SNCB commercial traffic, but trains run to serve the Belgian military camp at Elsenborn to the north of Weywertz, and Vennbahn summer tourist services operate between Weywertz and Büllingen. Since the end of summer 1993, DB has recommenced local freight service on the Losheim - Jünkerath section, wagons of logs being seen at Losheim. BLN 722.018][BE][LU] SNCB Ligne 166 Dinant - Bertrix & 165 Bertrix - Virton - Athus (- Rodange CFL): (BLN 714,p.279/93-06, BLN 718,p.344/93-09; Ball atlas 17A3-17B1) The Belgian Minister of Communications & Public Works, Guy Coëme, was questioned in Parliament about the future of the SNCB's plan to concentrate long-haul north-south freight on the Ligne 165/166 'Athus-Meuse' route, upgraded and electrified at 25kV 50Hz, leaving the Bruxelles - Namur - Arlon - Luxembourg axis freer to handle international passenger traffic. He said that European Commission Directive #91/440 required railway freight services to operate without state subsidy; that SNCB had been hit by cutbacks in steel and petroleum industry traffic (notably two important customers, ARBED and Esso-Suisse); that traffic forecasts on the route had been revised downwards from 12 to 9 million tonnes/year; and that a review was under way. Nevertheless he confirmed that the railway would stand by its commitments. The European Community had decided to grant 3.1 million ecu towards the Athus-Meuse route, enabling the tunnels to take large containers and road semi-trailers on 'kangaroo' wagons. As to closure of Ligne 167 from Y Rodange SNCB to Mont St.Martin SNCF, this was associated with the proposed construction of a direct link between new junctions at Aubange SNCB and Rodange CFL, allowing international freight trains to run through to the CFL without having to lose time reversing in the Athus station area. (paragraphs 017 & 018 based on Trans-Fer, #89, December 1993) BLN 722.019][TR] Istanbul: (Ball atlas 53B2) Seven distinct rail operations - and an impressive ferry network - add to the historic and cultural interest of this great European and Asian city. TCDD's European main line out of Istanbul's French-styled Sirkeci station has trains to the Greek border 271km away at Uzunköprü (running forward to Thessaloniki) and to the Bulgarian border 318km away at Kapikule (and on to Sofia, Beograd, Budapest, Wien etc). Traction from Sirkeci is nowadays 25kV 50Hz electric, but TCDD 4-8-0 #46018 was seen in steam heating up its stock there on the evening of 31 December, and again hauling a special excursion on 1 January 1994, a public holiday. Frequent suburban (banliyö) services extend 28km out to Halkali, worked mainly by 1955-built four-car Alsthom emus, often running in pairs. Tickets are not issued, access to trains being through turnstiles worked by tokens, bought from a booth (gise). The flat fare is TRL3000 (about 15p) but, with high inflation, revisions are likely before long. Right outside Sirkeci station, but not physically connected to nearby TCDD sidings, a new 1435mm-gauge double-track street-running light railway or heavy tramway runs uphill and westward through the city. Its present route is Sirkeci - Sultanahmet (near St.Sophia and the Blue Mosque) - Istanbul Universitesi - Aksaray - Topkapi Otogar (the present main long-distance bus station area) - Cevizlibag. An extension is under construction beyond, with tracks already in place heading off westward. The line is worked by large new single-ended ABB-SGP articulated cars, in back-to-back pairs to avoid the need for turning. A label in each car indicates it can take 48 people seated and no fewer than 288 standing, 336 in all. Though services run every few minutes, this crush-load capacity is frequently well tested. Fare is TRL2500 (about 12p), tickets being sold from a gise and given up at the manned barrier on entry to the high, railway-type, platform at each station, the platforms also having exit-only turnstiles. Though nearly all the street-running vehicles indicate Cevizlibag as their outer destination, the line also has a short 100m branch at Aksaray leading to a turning circle right at the door of the sub-surface station of its sister line, the underground light railway or tramway serving the north-west of the city. Its present route is Aksaray - Kartaltepe - Esenler. Though there is no physical connection at Aksaray, both lines use the same stock with the same livery, except that the street-running cars are comprehensively skirted, with no wheels visible. Beyond Kartaltepe, where the line is on the surface and near a strategic motorway intersection, it has platforms not yet in use to serve an enormous new bus station (otogar) for out-of-town buses, nearly complete and due to open shortly. From a junction beyond Otogar station, a branch on a viaduct curving west across a deep valley is already equipped with track and catenary and will eventually reach Istanbul's Atatürk airport at Yesilköy. Track also continues northward beyond the present temporary terminus next the depot at Esenler. Fare on the underground line is TRL5000 (25p), with token-worked entry turnstiles. Beyond the Galata bridge over the waters of the Golden Horn near Sirkeci, the Beyöglu area of the city rises steeply to the north, and is served by an elderly, short and completely underground funicular, the Tünel. Fare is TRL3000 (15p), with token-worked turnstiles. Outside the Tünel's top station begins the city's fashionable and pedestrianised shopping street, Istiklâl Caddesi, and along this runs a single-track 1000mm-gauge heritage tramway, opened on 29 December 1990. The line runs 1.6km north-east, from Tünel square to the major street intersection of Taksim, with one midway passing loop. It is worked by two ancient and tiny tramcars, one (#223) with a trailer (#411) and one without (#410). A diminutive depot housing a spare tram (#47) and trailer (#418) hides in a side street near Taksim. Fare is TRL2500 (12p), tickets bought at a booth being given up on boarding. North from Taksim for 3.4km to Sisli and Levent, the city is building a new Metro line, consisting at present of a huge concrete-lined hole in the ground at Taksim, plus some municipal billboards explaining what is happening. All the above operations are on the European side of the Bosphorus, but near Sirkeci station is a berth whence one of the three single-ended triple-tracked TCDD train-ferries maintains a freight connection with the railways of Asia. Interfrigo and Bulgarian vans were seen making such intercontinental transits. On the Asian side, the train-ferry berth and the passenger pier are both right next to Haydarpasa station, an impressive 1908 German-styled building, well-maintained and floodlit at night, with TCDD 2-4-0 #23004 plinthed in front. TCDD's Asian main-line trains depart here behind 25kV 50Hz electric locos for Ankara and other parts of Asian Turkey, plus through carriages to Teheran in Iran once a week. Semi-fast trains, also electric-hauled, run to Adapazari, 141km out. Haydarpasa's frequent banliyö service is flat-fare, so for TRL3000 (15p) one can ride for over an hour in a pair of three-car 1979-built emus along the coast of Asia Minor to Gebze, 44km out. Tickets are issued at stations and checked on board. BLN 722.020][UY] Uruguay: (BLN 707,p.170/93-07) Passenger services have begun again in and out of Montevideo, with four trains daily on Mondays to Fridays said to be running the 63.6km each way between the junction of 25 de Agosto and the capital city's fine Central (General Artigas) station. In addition, a notice seen there in December 1993 mentioned a long-distance overnight train leaving at 2000 on Thursdays to cover the 563.1km north to Rivera on the Brazilian border, setting out to return at 2000 on Fridays. This would seem to be in addition to the daily Ganz-Mávag railcar said to be running locally on the northernmost section of the same line, the 118km between Tacuarembó (dep. 0555) and Rivera (dep. 1630). With these small steps to reintroduce commuter, long-haul and regional trains, perhaps a modest renaissance of Uruguay's 1435mm-gauge system has begun. BLN 723.021][FR] Nord-Pas de Calais: (Ball atlas 6A2) The new SNCF layout near the Eurotunnel portal allows interchange between Calais - Boulogne trains and those few Eurostars which will make a Fréthun stop. For the moment, Calais - Paris TGVs call at Lille-Flandres, the present main station, using connections between the old and new lines near Lambersart, but once the new Lille-Europe station is ready for TGVs and Eurostars, these connections will have no regular passenger use. BLN 723.022][FR] Rouen diversions: (BLN 714.03; Ball 13B1) Sotteville station just south of Rouen has had an extra platform to the east brought into use to serve trains from Caen and Elbeuf which run, via a dive-under, to the temporary three-platform station Rouen-Préfecture. Trains from Amiens and Serqueux to Préfecture cross the river Seine and then round a sharp curve to terminate at the platform nearest the station building on the south-west side. BLN 723.023][FR] Passenger services over difficult lines: Not specifically known to be under threat, but perhaps worth highlighting for the year-round paucity of their passenger services, are the following lines: (Paris-Austerlitz -) Vendôme - Tours Ball 35A2-34B1 420 in SNCF timetable (Saumur -) Thouars - Bressuire - La Roche-sur-Yon Ball 44A3-42B3 389 (Limoges -) Busseau-sur-Creuse - Felletin Ball 46A1-54A3 469 Stub of a former line to Ussel, the Felletin branch has one passenger train a day. From the Ussel end, the 19km stub to La Courtine camp still sees military trains, but the steam-hauled Busseau - Ussel train mixte of the early 1960s, taking over 61/2 hours for the 81km, is long gone. Sévérac-le-Château - Rodez Ball 63A2-62B2 451 Closed, then reopened, with one daily Millau - Toulouse service supported by the Regional Council. Carcassonne - Quillan Ball 72B2-72B1 548 BLN 723.024][FR] Ghost tunnel under the Vosges: (Ball 40B3) At Fellering, second station from the terminus of the Lutterbach - Kruth branch (BLN 697.03), a line was planned to diverge, through an 8km tunnel under the Vosges mountains, to St.Maurice-sur-Moselle on the Remiremont - Bussang branch. The tunnel was at least begun, but not much construction took place between its eastern portal and Fellering. However the site for the junction there can be identified by a concrete structure in a field, which appears to be a cattle-creep under an embankment which was never made up. BLN 723.025][FR][DE] Thionville - Apach (Moselle) SNCF - Perl DB - Trier Hbf: (Ball 18A1 (FR), 55B3 (DE); McDougall F6) Contrary to the report in BLN 719.08, local SNCF and DB 1993-94 winter timetable leaflets both show a single cross-border working each way: 0729 Thionville 1340 0753 Apach (Moselle) SNCF 1316 0801 0830 Perl DB 1232 1308 0921 Trier Hbf 1140* (*1142 in one leaflet) BLN 723.026][BE] Bruxelles/Brussel railway/tramway link: (Ball 10B2) On 19 November 1993 a new connection from the SNCB to the city's tramway system was being installed between Haren and Bordet. Is this for delivery of new stock, or some other purpose? BLN 723.027][BE, FR] SNCB Ligne 156 Mariembourg - Chimay - Momignies (- Anor SNCF): (Ball 16A3) Occasional CFV3V tourist passenger trains operate from Mariembourg to Momignies, and on 25 September 1993, in connection with a CFV3V steam festival at Mariembourg, a diesel railcar ran over the border to Anor, as far as the catch-points protecting the junction with the SNCF there. Ballast is regularly worked from a quarry near Momignies on to the SNCF via Anor, and both Chimay and a siding near Mariembourg show evidence of timber traffic remaining. BLN 723.028][DE] Neubrandenburg - Friedland (Meckl.): (BLN 717.06, 718.012; Ball 20B3; KBS 186) This branch, an independent railway till taken over by DR after World War II, formally closed to passengers with effect from 15 January 1994, according to Kursbuch supplement 3, thus surviving a fortnight into the new unified DB/DR Deutsche Bahn AG regime. Worked from the outer (Friedland) end, it had till closure three passenger round trips on weekdays and one on Sundays. Sections of the track are poor with a 10km/h speed limit, but some freight remains. A military branch trails in 6.5km from the junction, and Friedland still has LPG and chemical tank-wagon traffic. Three lines of the erstwhile Mecklenburg-Pommern Schmalspurbahn once met at Friedland, and part of this system was still being worked by DR till 1962 at least. A narrow-gauge steam locomotive and vehicles remain, looking more 'dumped' than 'preserved', opposite Friedland station platform. BLN 723.029][DE] Lines with battery-railcars: DB's remaining two-car Akkutriebwagen units are expected to be replaced in 1995 by further deliveries of the successful Class 628/928 diesel units. Meantime, the secondary services they work comprise: Neuss - Kaarst Ball 33A1 Düsseldorf - Mettmann Ball 33B1 Wanne-Eickel - Castrop-Rauxel Süd - Dortmund Ball 34A3-34B3 Wanne-Eickel - Bochum Ball 34A3-34B3 (BLN 715.07) Wanne-Eickel - Dorsten - Borken Ball 34A3-38B3 BLN 723.030][DE] Kassel area: (Ball 40A2-40B2) A railtour, marking the end of DB Class 796 Ferkeltaxi railbuses in this area, visited freight-only branches on 27 December 1993. On the Kassel - Epterode branch, the first 3km stretch to Kassel-Bettenhausen is electrified (not shown in Ball atlas) and appears to have reasonable traffic, but beyond that the wagons in sidings seem mostly stored or condemned. Still, most of the stations remain intact, and tickets are sold at Hessisch-Lichtenau. From Walburg towards Eschwege West track remains, though out of use and not shown on the present DB map. Beyond Epterode some 200m of track is in place as a headshunt towards Grossalmerode West. The Hann-Münden - Oberscheden branch has a substantial masonry bridge, now with a 10km/h limit, across the river Werra near the main-line junction. Not much traffic was seen. Beyond Oberscheden, out-of-use track remains in place towards the former terminus at Dransfeld. BLN 723.031][DE] Hersfelder Eisenbahn GmbH: (Ball 40B1) The potash traffic from the DB line between Hattorf and Heimboldshausen, which before unification used to be worked westward over the private HEG from Heimboldshausen to Bad Hersfeld, can now be worked more economically via the former DR at Gerstungen. At the end of December 1993 the HEG ceased operating its vestigial passenger service, described in BLN 708.03, and the whole railway may have closed, though the company still runs its buses. BLN 723.032][DE] Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz: (BLN 700.04; Ball 43B2-43A2) This threatened freight-only remnant of Saxony's 750mm-gauge network, still with its distinctive Meyer tank engines, is to be visited by an NEF railtour on Saturday 7 May 1994. More details may be available through the BLS Overseas Events Information Service in due course. BLN 723.033][DE] Friedrichsdorf - Grävenwiesbach: (Ball 49B2-49A3) North-west of Frankfurt-am-Main, this DB branch, which used to extend to Wetzlar, is now shown on the Kursbuch map as private, and it is in fact now operated by the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn AG. The line has been completely modernised with unstaffed stations, high platforms, relaid track and a new signal-box at Usingen controlling the whole line. The old irregular Mondays-to-Fridays-only timetable was replaced in September 1993 when new FKE diesel units began running daily, and every 40 minutes, mostly through to Bad Homburg but with a few through trains to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof BLN 723.034][DE] Frankfurt-am-Main S-Bahn: (Ball 50A3) Much work is under way between Offenbach and Hanau in connection with the extension of the S-Bahn from Mühlberg. Additional S-Bahn tracks are also being provided out to Darmstadt, and it seems they will be linked to the existing system at its present terminus, Stresemannallee, using the curve from Frankfurt-Louisa. At present the only passenger trains over this curve are a few long-distance overnight services. BLN 723.035][DE] Obstfelderschmiede - Lichtenhain: (Ball 52B3) Between 18 and 29 April 1994, the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn will be out of service for overhaul. This interesting line, a steep standard-gauge counter-balanced incline in Thuringia, linking two branches at different levels and worked by the new DB company (formerly DR), was described in BLN 708.04. BLN 723.036][DE] Karlsruhe: (Ball 57B2) From May 1994 dual-voltage trams of the Albtal Verkehrsbetriebe Gesellschaft (AVG) will work the DB lines Karlsruhe - Bruchsal and Bruchsal - Bretten. BLN 723.037][DE] SWEG Bad Krozingen - Staufen - Untermünstertal: (Ball 67B2) The engine-shed at Staufen has been demolished and a modern Fahrzeughalle erected for the Süd-West Eisenbahn Gesellschaft . The short freight branch from Staufen to Grunern (formerly extending to Sulzburg) is out of use, but still available for traffic. (Paragraphs 036-041 based on Eisenbahn Amateur, November 1993) BLN 723.038][DE, AT] Kempten (Allgäu) DB - Reutte-in-Tirol ÖBB - Garmisch-Partenkirchen DB: (Ball 70A1-79A3-70B1) Freight services have been withdrawn from the section Kempten - Pfronten-Steinach DB - Schönbichl ÖBB - Reutte. Since mid-September 1993 local passenger trains between Reutte and Garmisch have been worked by ÖBB Class 5047 diesel railcars rather than electrically operated by DB. Electric traction remains on the through Korridorzüge from Reutte to Innsbruck, and on freight trains. BLN 723.039][DE, CH] Singen DB - Etzwilen SBB: (Ball 88B3) In 1995 the Singen - Rielasingen DB section of this non-electrified cross-border freight line is to close, as well as the SBB goods office in Singen, and Rielasingen - Etzwilen is to follow in 1997. Piggyback road-trailer traffic across Switzerland is no longer to start from Rielasingen, for a new terminal is to open at Singen in 1997, whence trains will be routed Bietingen DB - Thayngen SBB - Schaffhausen. BLN 723.040][CH] Brugg - Birrfeld - Othmarsingen: (Ball 87B2) By the end of 1994 SBB should have completed doubling this last remaining single-track section of the Basel - Bözberg - Südbahn - Gotthard - Chiasso north-south axis. Birrfeld goods station will remain but the existing passenger station will be demolished and replaced by two stations, Lupfig and Birr, each with a covered island platform 225m long, waiting-room, ticket-machines and station forecourt with bus-stops. BLN 723.041][CH] St.Maurice - St.Gingolph: (Ball 98B3) CFF are proposing to transfer passenger traffic to buses in 1994, and to confine freight traffic to the section St.Maurice - Monthey from 1995. Thereafter they would close and lift the track from Monthey to St.Gingolph. Local opposition is however strong. BLN 723.042][SE] Vännäs - Umeå - Holmsund: (Ball 7B2) At Vännäs, the branch junction, a north-to-east curve (not shown in the Ball atlas) has been built, which seems well-used and allows freight trains from the north to run on to the branch without reversal. Travellers planning to use the overnight 0740 arrival at Umeå to connect with the 0900 ferry across the Gulf of Bothnia to Vaasa in Finland should note that this a tight connection in practice, since the train can run late ("invariably" according to a local taxi-driver) and the ferry sails from Holmsund, 20km away and no longer served by passenger trains. Beyond Umeå the road parallels the railway and passes the closed Holmsund passenger station. Plenty of freight seems to use the line to reach the docks, and a branch extends out to the water's edge near the ferry terminal, where surprisingly an SJ passenger coach was seen stabled at the buffer-stop. BLN 723.043][CR] Costa Rica: (BLN 721.015) Electrification of the Atlantic line in 1982 was at 25kV 60Hz, the normal American industrial frequency for alternating current, rather than the 50Hz used in Europe. The locomotives as supplied by The 50Hz Group were dual-voltage, so that they could run also under the Pacific line's earlier (1930) electrification at 15kV 20Hz until its power supply came to be upgraded to the new standard. The eastern terminus of the San José local trains is spelled Cartago rather than Carthago. BLN 724.044][IE] Waterford area: (BLN 722.06) Since the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company are still the legal owners of what is left of their Rosslare - Fermoy route, they rather than Irish Rail issued the notice in mid-August 1993 advertising the abandonment of the line from Waterford West to Ballinacourty Junction. However the 2.5km spur onwards to the magnesite plant at Ballinacourty was built by CIE in 1970, thus needing a separate abandonment order. The whole Ballinacourty branch was put out of use on 21 November 1993 by disconnection of points and signalling at Waterford West, but it is classed as an engineer's siding pending lifting. Its reopening in 1970 was not actually from Waterford West, for there were at that time, and until the early 1970s, freight trains on the old Mallow line from Waterford West Junction across the Suir Bridge to Grace Dieu Junction, reversing there to serve the Waterford Ironfounders siding at the former Waterford South terminus, closed to passengers in 1908. At Abbey Junction the stub of the New Ross branch is still used to stable ballast trains and to reach a siding, serving the bus garage, which receives occasional oil traffic. The previous Bell Line rail-served container terminal near Abbey Junction is now completely closed, the final rail movement of containers to the new Belview site having taken place on 8 September 1993. BLN 724.045][IE] Silvermines Junction - Silvermines: Traffic has ceased on this short branch off the Limerick - Nenagh line, opened by CIE in 1966 to serve new mineral workings. The original zinc-concentrate traffic ceased in 1982, but movement of barytes, also consigned to Foynes, continued until late 1993. The mine is now closed and the last train ran on Friday 1 November 1993. BLN 724.046][FR] Marseille: (Ball 75B2) On Mondays to Fridays from 7 March to 28 May 1994 (and also Saturday 16 April) the following local trains between Marseille St.Charles and L'Estaque are retimed to take longer, probably because they are diverted due to engineering work via Joliette and Arenc over a freight line not shown in the Ball atlas. #56133 0610 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles #56173 0623 Avignon - Marseille St.Charles #56153¶ 1025 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles #56137 1240 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles #56134¶ 0703 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas #56136 1055 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas #56138 1225 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas ¶ = not 16 April BLN 724.047][DE] Mineral lines near Bleicherode: (Ball 41A2-41A3) Mineral lines off the Kassel - Nordhausen main line and the Bischofferode branch serve a number of potash mines, some still in operation: Bischofferode still working Mineral line from Bischofferode goods yard Neubleicherode closed Dismantled mineral line from Grossbodungen Bleicherode still working Sidings at Bleicherode Ost Obergebra closed Dismantled sidings at Niedergebra Sollstedt ?still working Sidings at Sollstedt Schachtsiedlung closed Dismantled mineral line from Bernterode A recently-electrified freight branch also runs south from the main line to Deuna, but may serve something other than a potash mine. The junction faces east towards Bernterode, not west towards Niederorschel as shown in Ball (and the German railway map). The map also shows a station, Werkbahnhof Deuna, at the end of the branch, but no publicity for any passenger service could be found locally at either Leinefelde or Bleicherode. BLN 724.048][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: (BLN 711.08; Ball 31B2-32A2) Passenger service was restored on the southern part of the Berlin Innenring on 17 December 1993. S-Bahn trains now run from Westend via Westkreuz, Schöneberg and Tempelhof to Baumschulenweg, then on out to either Flughafen-Berlin-Schönefeld or Grunau. (Railway Gazette International, February 1994) BLN 724.049][DE] Bebra - Eisenach: (BLN 717.09; Ball 40B1-41A1) At Bebra a few trains are booked to operate via the goods yards, but may not do so in practice. Modernisation work continues at Gerstungen and non-stop trains have been diverted round the back of the locomotive shed for several months. At Förtha the junction of the Gerstungen line remains connected, but with a stop-board clamped to the rails. Overgrown track remains on the south-facing curve but the junction has been removed. BLN 724.050][DE] Nördlingen - Wilburgstetten: (Ball 59A1-59A2) DB are withdrawing from freight operations on this section of the line to Dombühl. The Bayerische Eisenbahn Museum, who already operate seasonal steam tourist trains on the line, are to move the remaining freight traffic, probably using an ex-DB or ex-DR diesel. (LCGB Bulletin, February 1994) BLN 724.051][IT, VA] Rare track in the Città del Vaticano: (Ball 52A1) From the electrified FS line just north of the secondary station Roma San Pietro, a non-electrified connection branches off north along a 120m-long viaduct to reach a doorway in the high wall surrounding the Vatican City. Immediately beyond, behind two heavy doors, lies the passenger reception building of the Vatican railway and, beyond that, sidings converge to a headshunt in a tunnel 100m long beneath the garden of the Vatican's broadcasting station. The branch is 626m long in all. Diesel-hauled trip workings operate twice a day, one with bulk wagon-loads and one with merchandise freight. The doors are rolled back when the train arrives and are closed immediately it has passed through. Once inside, the FS locomotive sets out the loaded wagons and takes away the empties. The passenger building has little resemblance to a real station, consisting mainly of a large reception hall with white marble floor and marble-tiled walls. There are offices, storage rooms and a robing-room for priests and laymen preparing to receive visitors, but no booking-office, waiting-room or restaurant, for it has never been intended as a station for use by the general public. The building of the railway and the station, at the expense of the Italian state, resulted from a treaty between Italy and the Holy See concluded on 20 December 1933, in turn stemming from the Lateran Treaty of 11 February 1929, by which the Italian government of Benito Mussolini recognised the Vatican as an independent state. The railway opened on 2 October 1934 and was intended for the papal train and for the reception of foreign heads of state arriving at the Vatican by rail. From 1934 to 1994 however the successive Bishops of Rome have personally used their railway only three times. In 1959 the mortal remains of Pope Pius XII were conveyed thence to Venezia; in 1962 Pope John XXIII used a saloon vehicle from the former royal train for a pilgrimage to Loreto and Assisi; and in 1980 Pope John Paul II left in a saloon for a visit to railway staff at a Rome marshalling-yard. (Op de Rails (NL), December 1993) There's clearly a challenge here for an innovative UK railtour operator - a visit to the Vatican via Eurotunnel, over some off-peak weekend when there's an HST to spare. BLN 724.052][AT] (Linz -) St.Michael - Leoben - Bruck an der Mur (- Graz): (Ball 74B1-75A1) The Galgenberg tunnel now under construction between St.Michael and Leoben may be complemented by a proposed further new alignment between Leoben and a point on the line from Bruck an der Mur to Graz, to give a rather shorter route between St.Michael and Graz. The present St.Michael - Leoben Göss section would be closed. (LCGB Bulletin, February 1994) BLN 724.053][FR] Freight curve at Fréthun: (Ball atlas 6A2) The sketch map in BLN 723.021 inadvertently omitted the lower part of the curve carrying trains from Calais or the SNCF freight yards under the high-speed line, rising to join it just on the landward side of the Cheriton-bound Le Shuttle diveunder before entering the tunnel. BLN 725.054] Inter-Rail: A new zonal basis is to apply to Inter-Rail Passes sold after 1 April 1994, though it is understood that 1993 prices and validity will apply to those sold right up to 31 March. This would seem to allow Easter trips on the present wider-area basis, but confirmation may be sought on 071-834 2345. The new zones are to be: (UK - that is, for non-Britons - plus the Republic of Ireland); (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands); (Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria); (Norway, Sweden, Finland); (Portugal, Spain, Morocco); (Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey); (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria). Prices for those under-26 will be £179 for 15 days unlimited travel in one zone; £209 for a month in two zones; £229 for a month in three zones; and £249 for a month in all zones, according to a BR leaflet, but publicity material for the over-26 version does not seem to be ready yet. BLN 725.055][BE] Brussel/Bruxelles trams: (BLN 719.09, 723.026; Ball atlas 10B2) the street-running extension of tram route 55 is now open from Paix/Vrede to Bordet, beyond which it looks as though further extension is planned. Just short of the present Bordet terminus is a branch into what seems to be a new tram depot or workshop on or near the site of the present bus garage. The new rail connection from the NMBS/SNCB near Haren presumably serves this installation. BLN 725.056][DE] DB passenger closures from 28 May 1994: The following lines are omitted from drafts seen of the summer 1994 German timetable: Bassum - Rahden (Kreis Lübbecke) Ball 16B1-25B2 KBS386 McDougall G20 Braunschweig - Wolfsburg Ball 27A2 KBS300 (Line is to be fully occupied by freight diverted off Hannover - Wolfsburg line, being upgraded as high-speed route to Berlin.) Dingelstädt (Eichsfeld) - Küllstedt Ball 41A2 KBS603 (This is a further cutback of the former Geismar line, but a short stub of branch is apparently to remain to Dingelstädt.) Schönberg (Vogtland) - Hirschberg (Saale) Ball 53B3 KBS548 Perl DB - Apach (Moselle) SNCF Ball 55B3(DE), 18A1(FR) KBS692 McDougall F6 (Military leave trains still run at present, and may continue, but the cross-border 1km section does seem to be finally losing its pair of advertised trains in May. Note that the 0830 Perl - Trier Hbf local connection in the leaflets mentioned in BLN 723.025 may no longer work, for the DB November timetable supplement shows this train as being cut back to Nennig.) BLN 725.057][DE] Berlin: (BLN 715.08; Ball 32B2) The planned closure to long-distance services of the Stadtbahn viaduct between Zoologischer Garten and Hauptbahnhof is to take place from 15 September 1994 rather than from May. An S-Bahn service is to use the (southern) Fernbahn trackbed while the S-Bahn's own (northern) part of the viaduct, and its tracks, are renewed. Some S-Bahn stations without Fernbahn platforms may not be served, but others will have temporary platforms some of which may be used in one direction only. Tenders were called for the work in two sections: from Zoo to Lehrter Stadtbahnhof/Humboldthafen (7 November 1994 - 8 November 1996) and from there to Hauptbahnhof (10 October 1994 - 9 January 1997). (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/94) The small-profile U-Bahn from Wittenbergplatz to Gleisdreieck in former west Berlin, and on to Mohrenstrasse in the east (once known as Thälmannplatz and later as Otto Grotewohl Strasse) reopened on 13 November 1993, with full service starting the following day. Trains now run as Linie U1 from Ruhleben to Vinetastrasse, whose title has been shortened from Pankow (Vinetastrasse), presumably in preparation for the line's planned extension northward to Pankow Kirche. As a consequence the service from Krumme Lanke to Schlesisches Tor now runs as Linie U2. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/94) The traditional nineteenth-century pattern of main-line stations in Berlin was originally not dissimilar to that of London. The supplement issued with BLN 723 was intended to point up how history, especially wartime destruction and postwar division of the city, has dramatically affected its railway geography. The Society has in mind a possible publication about Berlin, so the International sub-editor would welcome information, references or sketch-maps commenting on or amplifying the historical supplement, as well as news about the continuing changes to the city's railway infrastructure. BLN 725.058][DE] Potsdam: (BLN 699.010; Ball 31B1) Trolleybus services have been resumed using (electro-diesel) Duobuses. The eastern section of trolleybus route 690 from Bahnhof Drewitz out to Steinstrasse will not be electrically operated at present since a new route is being used which is without overhead wires. (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/94) One reason may be the difficulty of restoring low-voltage trolleybus wires over the level-crossing at Drewitz station, where the Berlin - Magdeburg - Braunschweig main-line railway is now electrified with 15kV 16²/3Hz catenary. BLN 725.059][DE] Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz: (BLN 700.04, 723.032; Ball 43B2-43A2) The last DR steam-hauled ordinary freight train on this 750mm-gauge freight-only branch ran on 17 December 1993. On 20 December a private company, the Döllnitzbahn, took over the line's assets of track, buildings and rolling-stock, including the Saxon Meyer tank engines. Diesel haulage of kaolin in narrow-gauge wagons commenced when the line reopened in January after the New Year break. Though bad news for steam photographers, this presumably means the branch is intended to remain in traffic for a period at least. BLN 725.060][DE] Deviations round opencast mining near Senftenberg: (Ball 44A3) At some time since about 1989 the (Finsterwalde/Calau -) Grossräschen - Senftenberg line (KBS 227) has been diverted over 2km eastwards to avoid an extension of opencast lignite (brown coal) workings, and it now sweeps round in a wide curve to meet the Cottbus - Dresden main line in a new triangular junction, including a dive-under, well to the east of Sedlitz Ost station. There is now little evidence of the earlier alignment to the old triangular junction, still shown on official German railway maps and in the Ball atlas as being to the west of Sedlitz. The present railway from Finsterwalde east and south to Grossräschen has the appearance of having been constructed in recent years, perhaps at the same time as lines in the area were electrified, and it does not appear on a number of maps dated 1950-1970, including a Kursbuch map of 1962. McDougall's 1993 Railway Enthusiast's Guide to Western Europe notes that the line acquired a passenger service in June 1992, and describes this as a re-opening. However, older maps show that the Finsterwalde - Annahütte branch once continued as a through line to Senftenberg, and the 1944-45 Kursbuch shows local passenger trains going that way, calling at Kettwitz, Schipkau and Senftenberg West. It seems possible that the new Finsterwalde - Grossräschen line was originally built to allow the Annahütte - Senftenberg trackbed to be swallowed up by an opencast hole in the ground. BLN 725.061][ES] Medina del Campo - Segovia: (Ball 10A1-20B3) As predicted in BLN 694.01 this electrified RENFE line was closed to passengers from 26 September 1993. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.062][GR] Argos - Nafplion: (Ball 66A1) Two-car dmus operate the reintroduced passenger service on this branch of OSE's 1000mm-gauge Peloponnese system, terminating at Nafplion's unusual harbourside station, where the 'buildings' comprise a 2-6-0T locomotive attached to a boxcar and three four-wheeled carriages acting as cafe, waiting-room and ticket-office. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.063][AT] Stammersdorfer Lokalbahn near Wien: (BLN 716.021; Ball 65A1-77B3) Railcar passenger services operate on the sections Obersdorf - Pirawarth - Gaweinstal and Gross Schweinbarth - Gänserndorf and, from 27 September 1993, were introduced between Pirawarth and Hohenruppersdorf. In June 1993 freight was being worked beyond Hohenruppersdorf to Sulz-Nexing. Tracks remained in place throughout from Stammersdorf to Obersdorf and from Sulz-Nexing to Dobermannsdorf, though these sections closed to all traffic in 1988. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.064][ZW, BW, ZA] Southern African re-routeing: Since 2 November 1993 the weekly through passenger service between Bulawayo and Johannesburg has run from Zimbabwe via Beit Bridge directly on to South African tracks and no longer uses its traditional 1082km route via Plumtree to Gaborone in Botswana and then via Ramatlhabama and Mafikeng. (Continental Railway Journal, #97) BLN 725.065][EC] Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos: (BLN 694.014) Cautious optimism may be in order regarding this scenic but somewhat threatened 1067mm-gauge system. The Guayaquil & Quito main line appeared to be open throughout during a visit in November 1993, with autoferro (railbus) services on various sections being reinforced by a daily mixto (mixed train) between Durán (the station for Guayaquil) and Riobamba, hauled by a new French-built GEC-Alsthom Bo-Bo-Bo diesel locomotive from the batch delivered in 1992-93, one of which was seen easily handling nine vehicles up the switchbacks of the Devil's Nose. Durán works was busy rebuilding passenger vehicles including a traditional wooden-bodied carriage. A completely new substantial station building was nearing completion at Bucay, the division point between the coastal plains and the climb into the Andes. Bridge problems between Bucay and Huigra had been sorted out to allow the passage of autoferros and the mixto, if not yet steam locomotive-hauled charters, and all the girder bridges on the Bucay - Huigra - Sibambe section had been or were being shotblasted and repainted. The landslide blockage which had closed the line as a through route for about a decade at Tixan, between Alausí and Riobamba, had been circumvented by quite extensive new engineering work - though the visibly friable soft rock of the Andes through which the line clambers does remain an ever-present threat. About every fifth sleeper on the line had been or was being replaced, it seemed, perhaps to counteract a reported tendency of the new diesels to spread the track. Just south of Riobamba the cement works siding held boxcars, apparently in traffic. The layout at Riobamba no longer permits a train from Durán to enter the town's substantial terminal station without a reversal. North of Riobamba, passenger service is by autoferro to Quito, though on 29 November 1993 a steam excursion with 1944-built Baldwin 2-8-0 #45, which had earlier worked through from Huigra to Alausí and Riobamba, reached the line's impressive summit at Urbina (altitude 3609m), turning on the wye there with snow-capped Chimborazo (6310m) in the background. The bad news is that the Ramal Austral, the 150km branch south from the junction at Sibambe to Cuenca, is cut by damage to the track, and the daily autoferro runs between Sibambe and El Tambo only. The train register at Sibambe showed autoferros #63, 73, 94 and 98 recently working on the main line and #63, 97 and 98 on the branch. Diesel locos #2402, 2404 and 2408 had recently been hauling the main-line mixto and Baldwin #45 had also made appearances on the register. BLN 725.066][CL] Chile: Santiago's Metro is a clone of the rubber-tyred lines in Paris, so is presumably standard-gauge, but the other lines in the country are predominantly of broad and metre gauge. The 1676mm-gauge Ferrocarril del Sur main line runs from the capital's main station, Santiago Alameda, with its attractive French-style overall roof (girders made in Le Creusot) carrying three separate overnight passenger services south the 577km to Concepción, the 699km to Temuco, and the 1088km to Puerto Montt. Day railcar units also serve Chillán, 406km away, and Concepción, making the total of seven daily long-haul trains beyond the Santiago commuter area. The overnight train from Temuco, hauled throughout by a 3kV dc electric locomotive, conveys magnificent and smooth-riding heavy classic sleeping-cars, German-built in the 1930s by Linke-Hoffmann in Breslau, with US-style curtained-section berths, and an excellent traditional restaurant car, stocked with fine Chilean wines and well-supported by passengers. North and west of Santiago, the FC del Sur has container freight but no passenger service at present to the major port of Valparaíso. Recent motorway construction, including road tunnels through the coastal range, has left the steep and circuitous 187km electrified rail route uncompetitive with the frequent buses of various private operators, taking only two hours over the 120km road distance. Heavy Santiago - Valparaíso freight trains are regularly piloted on the steeply-graded section between Til-Til and Llay-Llay by a unique, venerable and immense General Electric 3kV dc 2-C-C-2 locomotive weighing 210 tonnes. Valparaíso itself has a frequent local service of emu trains along the coast, marketed as Merval (Metro Regional Valparaíso), with one such train a day working inland to Llay-Llay, and weekend-and-holiday-only workings beyond, up the electrified branch from Llay-Llay to Los Andes. East of Los Andes, the metre-gauge Transandino line, also electrified, sets off into the mountains for Mendoza in Argentina, but alas it carries no regular passenger service, in spite of its spectacular engineering and scenery, and beyond mineral workings near Rio Blanco it is out of use. A tiny 1927-built General Motors/Yellow Coach bus-on-rail-wheels, of the kind dubbed 'Galloping Goose' on US branch lines of the time, is available for charter. BLN 726.67][HU][SI] Zalalövö MÁV - Murska Sobota SZ: (Ball 46B3) Hungary and Slovenia (ex-Yugoslavia) share a border without any railway crossing it, but MÁV and SZ are considering restoration of a 22.5km section of a former line which would link their two systems directly via Bajánsenye and Hodoš. (Railway Gazette International, March 1994) BLN 726.066A] Tickets: BR European Passenger Services are to use the inconveniently large (203mm x 82mm) ATB card tickets thought up by the airline industry as a world standard, and already in use by British Airways and Air France. They can be produced by business travel agents using laser printers, and are machine-readable. ATB stands for Automated Ticketing and Boarding, though BR calls them TRIBUTE tickets. They are supposed to replace the present much more convenient credit-card-size APTIS tickets for longer-distance domestic as well as international journeys, and the InterCity telesales office in Newcastle has indeed already begun issuing them from about the end of January 1994. Details printed on the front of an ATB ticket, and encoded in the magnetic stripe on the back, include train times plus seat/berth and meal reservations. No reservation tickets are therefore required, but separate tickets are still issued for the outward and for the return leg of the journey. The Waterloo International check-in area has ticket-reading barriers linked to the Eurostar reservation computer system at Lille, and will be capable of giving a Eurostar train-crew a list of which of their passengers have checked-in, who is sitting where, and who wants a meal on the journey. One hopes the French-made Dassault check-in gates don't find it too much of a challenge reading the unwieldy ATB tickets after they've been folded to fit in a wallet or a purse. Automatic ticket-issuing machines on SNCF stations will now accept UK Visa cards - provided one keys in one's PIN number correctly - but a recent attempt to use an Access card there failed. The 1994 Swiss Euro-Domino ticket now covers the local public-transport systems in many of the main cities, in addition to the private railways, postbuses and lake steamers included in 1993. Though the adult second-class three-day pass has risen by 26% from £68 to £86, the increase for five- and ten-day passes is a more modest 5%. BLN 726.067][GB, FR] Delays to underwater trains: On 27 February 1994 the arrivals indicator at Paris Nord showed "Eurotunnel Special - 105 minutes late". When it came in, this turned out to be a TGV Nord set which had apparently worked into the tunnel to convey guests to a luncheon held in one of the crossover caverns. Eurostar services it seems may begin in June 1994 with a series of premium-fare specials, to be followed in July by two scheduled trains a day each way London - Paris and London - Brussel/Bruxelles, with the service building up thereafter as more new trainsets become available. BLN 726.068][FR] Marseille: (Ball 75B2) A local SNCF leaflet confirms the diversion via Joliette of several local trains during the period 7 March - 28 May, but modifies slightly the information given in BLN 724.046: 0610 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Sat 0703 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas Mon-Fri 0729 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Fri; also Sat 16 Apr 1025 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Fri 1055 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas Mon-Sat 1240 Miramas - Marseille St.Charles Mon-Sat 1225 Marseille St.Charles - Miramas Mon-Sat BLN 726.069][DE] Berlin Kremmbahn: (Ball 32A3-31B3) Work began on 24 January 1994 to reopen the S-Bahn line running north-westward from Schönholz to Tegel and Hennigsdorf. The 7km section to Tegel, single beyond Reinickendorf, is expected to be operating by the end of 1994. (Rly. Gazette, Mar. 1994) BLN 726.070][IT] Roma - Fiumicino Aeroporto: (Ball 52A3-52A1) The original airport services ran from the rather inconvenient secondary station of Roma Ostiense, ostiensibly due to track occupation problems, but since 27 November 1993 FS has somehow managed to find the track capacity to run hourly non-stop trains from the city-centre main station, Roma Termini, out to the airport. BLN 726.071][YU] (Beograd -) Zvornik - Tuzla: The ill-fated final 46km of railway linking Zvornik Grad, just inside Serbia, to Tuzla in Bosnia, though planned since before 1914, did not see its first train until 18 January 1992, less than three months before full-scale civil war began in Bosnia. The line is not shown in the Ball atlas (52A3-51B3). Unlike the older Vinkovci - Tuzla line, whose bridge across the river Sava has been destroyed, Zvornik - Tuzla is relatively undamaged, and UN officials are considering its use to deliver aid to Muslims in the besieged Bosnian town. Unlike any supplies airlifted into a reopened Tuzla airport, rail freight would come through Serbia, perhaps making it easier to reassure the Serbs that the cargoes were indeed aid, not arms. (The Independent, 4 March 1994) BLN 726.68][CN] Guangzhou - Shenzhen (- Hong Kong KCR): The Chinese province of Guangdong is reported to be considering privatisation of the important line from the city of Guangzhou (Canton) to the Hong Kong border, otherwise known as the Chinese section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway. (Railway Gazette International, March 1994) BLN 727.072][PT, ES] Iberian unreliability: CP and RENFE continue to make touring by rail difficult. CP's management and labour force are in conflict this spring, with unpredictable strikes causing disruption to journey plans. As an example of the result, on 25 March 1994 RENFE's Madrid - Lisboa daytime TALGO express was abruptly cancelled on arrival at Caceres, still 100km from the border into Portugal, leaving international travellers to face a six-hour bus journey on indifferent roads. Furthermore, the actual timings of RENFE trains do not always reflect either the national timetable book or its latest supplement, and leaflets locally available can disclose that from some arbitrarily chosen date trains will run on quite different timings, perhaps hours earlier or later. All this makes planning of connections and overnight stops quite difficult. Though both nationalised companies are visibly in receipt of considerable investment from the generous European Union taxpayer, they have the air of being run in the interests of the operators rather than the customers, more like Latin America than Western Europe in the 1990s. While both Portugal and Spain do have plenty of potential for railway tourism if they would get their act together, it is clear that Eastern Europe - or some high-cost but reliable country like Switzerland - really offers better value for one's money in 1994. BLN 727.073][PT] Linha do Tâmega: (BLN 697-08; Ball atlas 7B1) The metre-gauge Tâmega Valley line, the first branch off the CP broad-gauge heading up the Douro valley from Porto, was not completed until 1949, and its northern 39km section from Amarante to Arco de Baúlhe closed to passengers and freight from 1 January 1990. Now a private-sector tourism development company with land interests in Northern Portugal is hoping to reopen the closed section in 1995, and may lease from CP the whole 52km line from the junction at Livração. Tourist trains would operate, some of them steam-hauled. Track and stations have survived well, and some restorable coaches and traction should be available from the pool of stock on the Portuguese metre-gauge as a whole. Driving force behind the railway project is a British businessman and enthusiast whose Portuguese wife is from the area. Further details may be had from Graham Garnell, Travessa Paulo Jorge 23 - A Lj., Carcavelos, 2775 Parede, Portugal. BLN 727.074][ES] Zafra - Huelva: (Ball 27B1-34A2) The sparse passenger service on this line through deeply rural south-west Spain is not shown at all in the present RENFE timetable, which cannot help to attract custom. In March 1994 trains were running as follows, and a local leaflet said that these timings began in January. Stock used was the ubiquitous Class 592 three-car 'camel' dmus, whose working diagrams seemed to include also the electrified Sevilla - Huelva line. Try not to stay long in Huelva, which has a cellulose plant nearby whose foul smell pollutes the air for several kilometres downwind! km (c) (a) 0510 0 Zafra 2220 0608 1630 48 Fregenal de la Sierra 1222 1551 2122 0810 1915 185 Huelva Término 0930 1300 1830 (c) = Sats, Suns and holidays; (a) = Mon-Fri, except holidays BLN 727.075][ES] Tharsis - Corrales: (Ball 34A3-34A2) The mineral line of the Tharsis Copper & Sulphur Company, originally of Glasgow, now Spanish-owned as the Ferrocarril de Tharsis al Rio Odiel, was built to the unusual gauge of 1219mm, the same as the Glasgow Underground, though more dissimilar railway operations can scarcely be imagined. Though no longer as prosperous as last century, in March 1994 its main line was still operating three weekday-morning mineral trains, hauled by Alsthom diesels, from an ore-loading plant at Tharsis due south for some 60km to a treatment plant at Corrales on the estuary of the river Odiel opposite the town of Huelva. It is not clear where the treated mineral goes thereafter, for the line to the large loading staithe on the river is lifted, and the exchange sidings with the 1676mm-gauge RENFE branch (still in place at both Corrales and the junction at Gibraleón) seemed disused. Also disused but in place is the section of 1219mm track east from Tharsis to El Cerro de Andévalo, where it crosses over the Zafra - Huelva RENFE line. At the Tharsis depot near the loading-point are three 0-4-0T industrial shunters of early design with such features as wooden brake-blocks. Two are derelict and one is at least cosmetically restored (No.7 Corrales, Dübs 332/1869). BLN 728.076][DE] Dürener Kreisbahn: (BLN 714.017; Ball 37B1) In 1993 the Düren-based DKB took over from DB the passenger services south on the Düren - Heimbach (Eifel) and north on the Düren - Jülich sections. Trains are ex-DB Ferkeltaxi railbuses resprayed into DKB blue and cream, with an automatic ticket-machine in each unit. Two DKB freight locos were also seen at Düren on 18 March 1994. The Heimbach branch has loops at Lendersdorf, Kreuzau, Untermaubach, Nideggen and Heimbach itself, and seems to be radio controlled from Lendersdorf. Freight is handled for the Schoellershammer paper factory and an AKZO works, both at Lendersdorf. The Jülich branch has one intermediate loop at Huchem-Stammeln, and a backshunt at Jülich leads into what appears to be a military base, with signs of recent traffic. Also at Jülich is a connection into what might be an old locomotive shed, used by a preservation group. Beyond Jülich the DKB works freight to Linnich and for an unknown distance down the Puffendorf branch, both lines also showing signs of recent use. A DKB driver said that Jülich - Linnich would reopen to passengers at some future date, but more work is needed on the track. BLN 728.077][DE][PL][RU][LT] Berlin railway history: (BLN 723 supplement, BLN 725.057; Ball 31-32) When the cross-city Stadtbahn heading eastward on its viaduct reached the Schlesischer Bahnhof (the present Hauptbahnhof) in 1882, and it became a through station rather than a terminus, the original track level had to be raised, which is why its overall roof seems low and possibly why it has taken so long for it to be fully wired. The line from the Dresdener Bahnhof had difficulties in its early years, so to say in the BLN 723 supplement that the station 'opened for trains to Dresden, Praha and Wien' may have been an exaggeration. The alternative route from the Anhalter Bahnhof via Jüterbog to Dresden remained important for a long time, and other routes were available to Wien, notably via Breslau (now Wroclaw, in Poland). The reference to the link from the Dresdener line into Potsdamer Ringbf being built for S-Bahn trains was an anachronism since the term S-Bahn was not current until the electrification of the 1920s. A measure of the political reshaping of Europe since the nineteenth century is that the Ostbahn eastward out of Berlin, now served mainly by local trains connecting the S-Bahn at Strausberg with Küstrin-Kietz on the frontier with Poland some 75km away, was once Germany's great main line to the east and to Russia, with the longest unbroken set of kilometre posts on the German railways, reaching 742.33km from the capital, whence expresses sped to the German towns of Landsberg, Schneidemühl, Konitz, Dirschau, Marienburg, Elbing, Braunsberg, Königsberg and Insterburg, leaving East Prussia at Eydtkuhnen. Today these are respectively the Polish towns of Gorzów Wielkopolski, Pila, Chojnice, Tczew, Malbork, Elblag and Braniewo, and the Russian towns of Kaliningrad and Chernyakhovsk. The line crosses the whole breadth of present-day Poland, and Germany's former eastern frontier post is now on the border between Russia's Kaliningrad enclave and Lithuania. BLN 728.078][ES] Plasencia - Monfragüe - Mirabel triangle: Not shown in the Ball atlas (at 19A1) is the north-to-south side of this triangle in western Spain, used by passenger and freight trains running direct from Plasencia to Mirabel and on southward to Cáceres. The 'missing' side of the triangle is in fact quite a lengthy separate single track, parallelling the Monfragüe - Mirabel line, also single track, on slightly differing levels and on a different alignment for several kilometres. Some trains between (Madrid -) Monfragüe and Mirabel (- Cáceres) reverse at Plasencia, thus using both the east-to-north and the north-to-south sides of the triangle, while the TALGOs use the east-to-south curve. A RENFE timetable leaflet valid 12 February to 29 May 1994 gives day-train timings between Madrid and Extremadura province as follows. While noting that all four trains run from or to Barcelona it does not vouchsafe the timings there. TALGO TALGO ? ? Barcelona ? ? 1515 1800 Madrid-Chamartín 1133 1334 - 2140 Plasencia 0805 - 1837 2225 Cáceres 0705 1006 1931 Mérida 0916 2028 Badajoz 0825 BLN 728.079][ES] Rio Tinto - Huelva: This extensive and once British-owned 1067mm-gauge industrial system, based on an 83km main line opened in 1875 to carry various minerals to the port of Huelva in south-western Spain for export, closed in 1984 (and is therefore not shown in the Ball atlas at 34A2-34B3). Its history and operations are well described in a recent book. (The Rio Tinto Railway, by Alan Sewell. ISBN 1 871980 06 2. £6.95 from The Plateway Press, PO Box 973, Brighton BN2 2TG) In spring 1994 much of the track and other evidence of the railway remains, including a long loading staithe preserved at Huelva, and various locomotives, sidings and a few British semaphore signals amid industrial dereliction and land contamination on a truly grand scale at the inland site of the mining operations. (As an example, imagine a vast 300m-deep opencast hole with terraced sides of bare rock in a range of colours. Far away, barely visible without binoculars, on a terrace two-thirds of the way down, a sizeable steam locomotive sits, forever marooned and inaccessible.) As part of a project to interpret the dramatic industrial history of the region to visitors, a local industrial heritage trust, the Fundación Rio Tinto, has opened a museum at Minas de Riotinto and has created jobs for several unemployed young people who are at present restoring track on up to 18km of the main line. Tourist trains will run, perhaps steam-hauled one day if some of the remaining steam locomotives (which include a Garratt) turn out to be restorable. On 23 March 1994 a BLS international inspection team rode between two and three kilometres of the restored track, departing northwards towards Rio Tinto Middle station from a new platform built next to the shed, which is by the site of the former main crushing and screening plant and not far from the former Naya (Marin) passenger platform. The train was an Enfield Expeditions charter comprising a Babcock & Wilcox 0-6-0D propelling a single coach outward, returning as a mixed, towing a track gang on their flat wagon. BLN 728.080][PT] Lisboa: (Ball 25A1-25B1; McDougall P6) In March 1994 CP passenger services were timetabled to operate on all the lines shown as electrified on the sketch map of the Portuguese capital, including all the sides of both triangles. One IC train each way runs from Lisboa-Santa Apolonia calling at Entrecampos on its way via the unelectrified Linha do Oeste to Figueira da Foz. Suburban emus, some of them newly delivered stock, run to Sintra both from Lisboa-Rossio and (Mon-Fri only) from the new Terminal (Avenida Cinco de Outubro). This station is at ground level one block to the west of Entrecampos CP station on its viaduct and Entre Campos (sic) underground Metro station (use the south exit, at the opposite end to the bus station). Suburban emus also run from the reopened Alcântara-Terra via Entrecampos in the direction of Braço de Prata. Alcântara-Terra is a traditional and pleasantly refurbished through station with an overall roof, south of which the line continues for some 400m, single-track and unelectrified, with level-crossings over busy urban streets including the 15/17/18 tram route, to make the freight-only link with the docks and the 1500V dc Cascais line, in the shadow of the Rio Tejo suspension bridge. A substantial, prominent and expensive new walkway with two travolator sections links Alcântara-Terra with the tram route and with Alcântara-Mar station on the Cascais line. On a previous visit in 1988 Lisboa-Rossio still had its traverser, once used to release locomotives on arrival at the buffer stops of this terminus on its very cramped site high above street level. In spring 1994 the platforms are being refurbished to match the new Sintra line stock, and there is no trace of the traverser. BLN 729.081] Inter-Rail 26+: The new zonal basis for under-26 passes (BLN 725.054) does not apply to over-26 versions. Unlimited rail travel in nineteen countries again costs £209 for 15 days and £269 for a month, the prices being valid until 31 December 1994 for travel commencing up to two months later. For British residents the countries included are Irish Republic, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and Turkey. (Notable among exclusions are France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.) Discounts are available London - Hoek van Holland, and on certain other ferry routes, and by rail across Belgium. Enquiries to 071-834 2345, as also for the under-26 passes. BLN 729.082][IE] Dublin Heuston - Kildare: Following delivery in February of the 17 Japanese railcar vehicles ordered by Irish Rail, five two-car sets are due to begin work from 16 May 1994 on the new commuter service out of Heuston, calling at Cherry Orchard, Clondalkin, Hazelhatch/Celbridge and Sallins/Naas, as well as the existing stations of Newbridge (Droichead Nua) and Kildare. The other sets will operate on the Dundalk - Dublin Connolly - Arklow axis. (Irish Independent, 15 February 1994) BLN 729.083][FR][NL] Ferries: As the Tunnel opens, rationalisation of ferry routes continues. Dover - Boulogne, Dover - Dunkerque, Dover - Oostende and Dover - Zeebrugge have already gone, and Sheerness - Vlissingen closes this month. P&O have swiftly bought up the Olau Britannia and Olau Hollandia and have advertised plans to use the two 35,000t vessels, no doubt suitably renamed, on the Portsmouth - Cherbourg route, D-Day being 6 June 1994. The Newhaven - Dieppe crossing nearly closed in 1992 (BLN 702.03), and one might have thought it still vulnerable. Stena say however that they are investing in a new catamaran ferry to carry 1500 passengers and 375 cars at 40 knots, to enter service in 1996. A new ferry terminal at Dieppe is to open in July 1994 on the far side of the harbour, whence buses will convey foot passengers to the town centre and its railway station. The Dieppe Maritime line will presumably close. BLN 729.084][FR] Fewer Grands Express Européens: France loses two famous international trains from the end of May 1994. What was the Ost-West Express will be seen no more at Paris Nord. The equivalent train is to run Moskva - Warszawa - Berlin - Bruxelles, presumably connecting there in due course with Eurostars and TGVs for London and Paris. The Sud Express will likewise vanish from Paris Austerlitz, to be replaced by a Lisboa - Hendaye broad-gauge sleeper, connecting with a TGV-Atlantique for Paris Montparnasse. BLN 729.085][BE] Charleroi - Anderlues: (BLN 716.010) Trams continue to carry passengers beyond Pétria via Anderlues Jonction to Anderlues Monument. The direct chord line to Anderlues Monument is out of use. Beyond Anderlues, the most attractive section of this ex-Vicinal interurban tramway through the Belgian countryside via Binche to La Louvière closed alas in August 1993. BLN 729.086][NL] Leeuwarden - Harlingen: (Ball 1B3) Limited freight traffic appears to remain on this non-electrified NS branch running due west to the North Sea coast. Though a scrapyard siding to the east of Franeker was heavily rusted, another industrial siding at Franeker itself showed signs of recent use. The goods yard at Harlingen was out of use, but the VAM siding seemed still used, and some timber was to be seen on a rail wagon at Harlingen Haven. Trains beyond Harlingen run to the quayside at Harlingen Haven through a gateway in the Netherlands' northern sea defences, which can be closed during seriously bad weather by a heavy gate very similar to that of a canal lock. BLN 729.087][DE] Herzberg (Mark) - Rheinsberg (Mark) - Stechlinsee: (Ball 20A1; KBS284) Just after the branch railcar from Herzberg reached Rheinsberg at 1549 on 8 April 1994, a Class 202 locomotive also arrived, hauling two coaches from which more than 50 passengers alighted. The locomotive than swiftly vanished into the small shed nearby. This train must have come off the Stechlinsee branch, trailing in from the north-east. There is no such passenger working in the current timetable, nor do details seem to be displayed locally at Rheinsberg. Presumably the supposedly freight-only branch has an unadvertised service like those to Mukran and Poppendorf. BLN 729.088][DE] Neubrandenburg: (BLN 723.028; Ball 20B3) To allow for the wiring of the main line north to Stralsund, DB have already removed the bridge west of Neubrandenburg station which carried the last passenger trains on the Friedland branch on 14 January 1994. Freight trains can presumably still reach Friedland through a connection east of Neubrandenburg off the Pasewalk line. BLN 729.089][DE] (Magdeburg -) Biederitz - Altengrabow: (Ball 28A2-28B2; KBS259) Anyone travelling on this 39km branch should take along some food and drink! Altengrabow has houses, many of them derelict, a derelict granary, and two more or less derelict Russian Army bases of small size and little apparent purpose, but not a café nor a shop was to be found during the 11/2-hour turn-round there on a recent visit. The dominant local language appeared to be Russian. Passengers were few, and the future of the branch looks limited. Haulage was DB #202.160. BLN 729.090][DE] Rathenow - Rathenow Nord (- Neustadt (Dosse)): (Ball 28B3; KBS266) As foreshadowed in BLN 714.014, Rathenow - Rathenow Nord is to close to passengers from 29 May 1994, presumably temporarily, to facilitate work on the Hannover - Oebisfelde - Stendal - Spandau - Berlin high-speed line, now well under way. Some of the new Schnellfahrstrecke alignment between Oebisfelde and Stendal is in places several hundred metres away from the existing route. BLN 729.091][DE] Berlin outer suburban: The R5 local service from Nauen is to be diverted, with the Spandau - Jungfernheide section closing to passengers, and Spandau - Westkreuz reopening. DB have almost certainly postponed this change until 25 September 1994 or later. (BLN 696.06, 711.08; Ball 31B2; KBS204.5) Outer suburban R8 services from Berlin-Karow to the junction at Basdorf and beyond on the two branches to Liebenwalde and Gross Schönebeck did not close at the end of 1993, but their future is probably still insecure. (BLN 719.08; Ball 32A3-20B1; KBS204.8) BLN 729.092][DE] (Dortmund Aplerbeck-Süd / Holzwickede -) Abzweitung Heide - Schwerte (Ruhr) Ost: (Ball 35A1) This 'rare curve' has no regular passenger service, but Duisburg - Dortmund - Winterberg and Münster - Holzwickede - Winterberg special trains for skiers ran this way at weekends from 8 January to 13 March 1994 when snow conditions were favourable. Running of the 'as required' trains was announced on local radio and TV, and on a special Schneetelefon line (+49 231 11530 in case anyone wants to try it in early 1995!) BLN 729.093][DE] Korbach - Kassel: (Ball 39B2-40A2; KBS612, 621) The itinerary for the Eisenbahnfreunde Hönnetal railtour on 12-13 March 1994 said that the Korbach - Volkmarsen section, closed to passengers in 1987, is to reopen, restoring a through rail route this way to Kassel. When it does, the Korbach - Bad Wildungen section of the present route to Wabern and Kassel is to close to all traffic. BLN 729.094][DE] Chemnitz - Wechselburg: (Ball 43A1-43A2; KBS527) This secondary line is reported as planned for closure to passengers from 28 May 1995. BLN 729.095][DE] DB May openings: The new Nantenbach Schnellfahrstrecke link line from Lohr Bf to Rohrbach (Ball 51B1) is to open to passengers on 29 May 1994, as are the very short link between Ettlingen West DB and Ettlingen Stadt AVG in the Karlsruhe area (Ball 57A2) and the rather longer (c.7km) freight-only branch from Grünstadt to Eisenberg (Pfalz) (Ball 57A3). One overnight train (D1954, dep 2253) from Berlin Hbf to Frankfurt-am-Main is understood to be booked to run via the curve from Delitzsch unterer Bahnhof to Delitzsch oberer Bahnhof (Ball 42B3). BLN 729.096][DE] Preservation: The monthly summer steam service through from Tübingen over the Entringen - Altingen - Gültstein branch (Ball 57B1) is in 1994 normally to run to Altingen only, though on 1 May it was due to run the full distance to Gültstein. The freight-only Altshausen - Pfullendorf branch (Ball 69A2) is to see preserved service in 1994. BLN 729.097][ES] Alicante - Denia: (Ball 32A1-32B2) Two-car diesel units work this 93km metre-gauge line of the Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana, leaving Alicante FGV station northbound hourly on the hour. The 0600, 0800, 1000, 1300, 1500, 1700 and 1900 run all the way to Denia, the 1200 is a short working to Benidorm, and the rest run to Garganes. The last train of the day is 2000, except in the summer (1 June to 30 September 1994) when there is a 2100. In each case this train works back from Garganes to Benidorm to spend the night and leaves Benidorm at 0607 for Garganes to form the first Garganes - Alicante service. Return fares are ESP775 (£3.90) for the 51km between Benidorm and Denia and ESP630 (£3.15) for the 42km between Benidorm and Alicante. A diesel loco-hauled train, the Limon Express, using refurbished bogie stock with end balconies (excellent for photography on the scenic northern section) and an inexpensive buffet car, operates for the benefit of holidaymakers TWThFO from Benidorm to Gata de Gorgos, 11km short of Denia, and back to Alfaz del Pi, 5km short of Benidorm (to avoid road congestion). The fare of ESP1600 (£8) includes various extras, such as road conveyance to and from hotels, and 'unlimited' amounts of 'champagne' (sic) on the return journey. Denia has a new station building and platforms (five of them, three with track) which opened on 19 February 1993. About 200m to the north lies a derelict station building with platforms at right angles to the present ones, the trackbed here being used for car parking. Plans for the line between Denia and Gandia, once shown in the Thomas Cook timetable as 'closed for reconstruction', seem to have been abandoned, for the siting of Denia's new station building indicates no intention to extend beyond. On the other side of this gap, Gandia's broad-gauge RENFE branch from Silla was due to be electrified from 23 March 1994. BLN 729.098][DE][PL] International bridges over the river Neisse at Guben: (Ball 30B2 (DE), 36A3 (PL)) The freight-only bridge linking Guben DB and Gubin PKP is to close from 29 May 1994. Just to the south the bridge linking Guben DB to Gubinek PKP is to reopen for freight from 29 May (and for a PIBSE railtour on Monday 23 May, which will thus be the first tour to travel over both lines since 1945. Write for details to Andreas Geissler, Achterbergweg 5, D-42327 Wuppertal, Germany, or phone +49 251 381278.) Before 1945 Guben was at the intersection of two double-track main lines: Berlin - Frankfurt an der Oder - Guben - Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) and Cottbus - Guben - Neu Bentschen (now Zbaszynek, Poland). After World War II the rivers Oder and Neisse became the new German-Polish border, and the railway junction and the western (smaller) part of Guben remained German, while the eastern part became Polish, renamed Gubin. PKP then opened two stations for internal services, Gubin in the north of the town on the singled Zbaszynek line to the north-east, and Gubinek in the south of town on the singled Wroclaw line to the south-east. The Guben - Gubin line had local passenger trains until 1980 and still has several freight trains daily except Sundays, but is closing for bridge reconstruction. Guben - Gubinek by contrast has had no regular use since 1945, but the line and its bridge were always held in readiness as a possible strategic route, and a military train tested them once a year. Now this will become the diversionary route for freight, running via Lubsko - Bieniów - Zielona Góra - Czerwiensk. The Gubinek - Lubsko section is already freight-only, having lost its passenger service in the early 1990s. BLN 729.099][PL] Lubusz Regional Railway ends in tears: (Ball 36B3) In 1992 the private-sector LKR (Lubuska Kolej Regionalna), based in Zielona Góra, bought some elderly Lyntog express dmus cheaply from Denmark, and on 23 May 1993 started running passenger services on six PKP branch lines in the west of Poland, including some which had earlier lost their passenger trains. By 26 September 1993 many of these services were withdrawn. The company went bankrupt and ceased operating from 1 February 1994. Trains may resume in summer 1994 with another operator. On at least one line (Kolsko - Slawa Slaska), unadvertised steam-hauled PKP freight trains with passenger-carrying brake-vans continue to run. BLN 729.0100][LB] Lebanon: A limited passenger service operates between Beirut and J'bail, but civil warfare damaged much of the railway along the Lebanese coast. Standard-gauge track, completed by the Allies in World War II, once linked all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean shore from Adana in Turkey through Aleppo and Homs in Syria via Beirut in Lebanon to Haifa and Jaffa in Palestine (now Israel), and all the way via Gaza to Egypt. Now Lebanon has plans for restoring the single track from the border with Syria south to Tripoli, and not only restoring but double-tracking and electrifying at 25kV 50Hz from Tripoli via Beirut as far as Tyre in the south, according to Railway Gazette International for April 1994. BLN 729.0101][FR] Corsica: (BLN 710.01) On this mountainous island the railways rank high on the scenic scale, with many steep gradients and sharp curves. The Bastia - Ajaccio main line climbs to over 900m at Vizzavona, which at the beginning of April 1994 was above the snow-line - rather a different image from the Mediterranean island beaches that draw most tourists. Train-driving techniques are best described as 'sporting', and the killing of a cow caused only five minutes' delay while the carcass was rolled over the adjacent precipice. The pattern of services is much as in 1993, though the timings of the four main-line and two branch trains each way are as shown in the local timetable leaflet and are a bit different from those in the SNCF national timetable book. Train formations were shorter than in June 1993, with all the Calvi workings being a single car with no trailer, and the main line being operated by two cars, with one four-car formation seen. The Bastia - Casamozza suburban service, not shown in the SNCF national timetable, has eight trips each way Mon-Sat, serving 20 intermediate halts in 21km, mostly tiny arrêts facultatifs. Some 4km of that section has been realigned on the east side of a new main road, and traces can be seen of the original line, which presumably crossed the old main road on the level and ran closer to villages at the foot of the hills. Maps suggest this change took place after 1979. At Calvi the elderly Renault railcar was hibernating in the open rather than in the small shed, but was apparently in running order for the summer Tramway de la Balagne shuttle to Île Rousse. The out-of-use Ajaccio Port extension leaves Ajaccio Gare goods yard by an unprotected level-crossing through a traffic roundabout and runs for some 200m into the tarmac area behind the quayside before disappearing under road-works. A massive new Gare Maritime for ferry passengers and their cars is under construction, and it looks as though the obliteration of the track by new parking and circulating arrangements for road traffic will be permanent. From the ferry to Ajaccio Gare, however, is not all that far to walk. Timings of connections from ferries to trains at both Ajaccio and Bastia do seem poor, but the boats can in adverse weather arrive several hours late (as happened to the present BLS reporter) and in summer they operate a complex pattern of sailings from three mainland to six island ports. The island's railway has probably found trying to keep booked connections more problematic than useful. And perhaps the life-style of the islander can more readily accommodate arriving on the overnight ferry and enjoying a leisurely morning in town before catching the afternoon train home. BLN 729.0102][VA][MC][LI] Railways entirely run by foreigners: BLN 724.051 noted that the Vatican's railway, all 626m of it, is worked by a foreign operator, Italy's FS. Foreigners also run all the lines in Monaco and Liechtenstein. Monaco's railway is part of SNCF's main line along the Riviera from Nice to Menton and on into Italy, and has one SNCF passenger station, Monaco-Monte Carlo (Ball 77B3). Liechtenstein's railway is run by Austria's ÖBB, linking Feldkirch in Austria with Buchs SG in Switzerland. Only local services call at the three passenger stations (Ball 89B1). Are there any other countries whose entire railways are run by a foreign company (as distinct from a local company which happens to have foreign owners, or a jointly-owned company set up to run an international line)? BLN 730.0103][FR] TGV openings: A useful branch which will soon extend the benefits of TGV service - and perhaps civilisation - north-west from Fréthun to an offshore island was inaugurated on 6 May by the Président de la République, jointly with the local hereditary ruler. The TGV Interconnexion linking TGV Nord and TGV Sud-Est is to open on 29 May 1994, as is one of its intermediate stations, Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy. Aéroport-Charles-de-Gaulle-TGV station is to open in September. (BLN 719.01; Ball 25B3-25B2) The TGV Rhône-Alpes section from Grenay (junction for the curve to St.Quentin-Fallavier which carries Paris - Grenoble TGVs), south to St.Marcel-lès-Valence on the Grenoble - Valence line, is to open on 3 July 1994, as is Satolas-TGV station, east of Lyon near its airport, on the already-open section from Civrieux to Grenay. (Ball 56B3-57A3-57A1) Ablaincourt-Pressoir, the Picardie station on the TGV Nord line just north of Chaulnes, is also expected to open during summer 1994. (Ball 15A2) BLN 730.0104][FR] Lyon: (Ball 56B3) Westwards from the terminus of Lyon-St.Paul a passenger service now runs beyond L'Arbresle to Sain-Bel, a single-platform station, reopened 9 September 1991, on the single-track branch which continues to Ste.Foy-L'Argentière, and has steam Trains Touristiques des Monts de Lyonnais in summer. A passenger service now also operates from St.Paul reversing at Tassin to reach Brignais, also reopened 9 September 1991. Neither Tassin - Brignais nor Tassin - Lozanne is electrified, so all the passenger workings out of Lyon-St.Paul are diesel railcars, even though 1500V dc overhead wires extend out as far as Charbonniers-les-Bains on the L'Arbresle line, and on the short link from Lyon-Gorge-de-Loup, the first station out of St.Paul, round to Lyon-Vaise on the old main line north of Perrache. The latter connection lost its limited passenger service some years ago but may be used by empty-stock workings into St.Paul. Diesel railcars were seen stabled on a Sunday in the former branch platforms at L'Arbresle, now converted to sidings accessed from the Sain-Bel end. At L'Arbresle, colour-lights are at present supplanting the mechanical signals, including some of the traditional carré type. The Lyon Métro has a fully automated west-east route (TCL Ligne D, opened 9 September 1991) from Gorge de Loup (beneath the SNCF station and near a large bus station) to Grange Blanche, extended on 12 December 1992 to Gare de Vénissieux (beneath the SNCF station on the Lyon - St.André-le-Gaz line). BLN 730.0105][FR] Marseille diversions: (BLN 724.046 with map, BLN 726.068) The unusual advertised diversions seem to have been due to extensive work at L'Estaque on re-laying track, and possibly resignalling, which has temporarily reduced the capacity of the main line east to Marseille-St.Charles. Observation suggests this work will possibly be complete before the new timetable starts on 29 May 1994. Both the branches used (missing from the Ball atlas at 75B2) converge to serve Marseille Gare Maritime de la Joliette, or what remains of it. A double track diverges from the main line just east of L'Estaque at a flying junction and drops down to the level of the docks, with branches to left and right. "Odd" and "even" trains then use separate tracks on either side of Arenc yard before trailing into the other branch, once double, now single, which has descended in a sharp (>180º) curve from the northernmost platforms (quai K upwards) at Marseille-St.Charles, passing to the north of the carriage sidings outside that station. Trains reverse just beyond the junction, on a track terminating about a train-length beyond. Other parallel tracks continue, visibly disused, across the road into the Gare Maritime proper, the shipping terminal for Corsica etc, now no longer rail-served. Both branches are electrified at 1500V dc, but the trains seen were diesel railcars or diesel push-pull sets, which could be because most of the diverted workings are to or from the non-electrified line round the coast via Port-de-Bouc and Fos-sur-Mer to Miramas. A notice at L'Estaque station said it was forbidden to alight at La Joliette, but when the 0803 from L'Estaque reached the reversal point, the doors opened and many people got out, making their way to the goods-yard gate and the street. BLN 730.0106][NL] Kesteren - Rhenen - Amersfoort?: (Ball 4B2) From an east-facing junction at Kesteren on the Geldermalsen - Arnhem/Nijmegen line, a siding extends 200m to the north. This looks as if it might once have been the southern end of a through route to Amersfoort, the middle part of which has been connected to the Utrecht - Arnhem line at aansluiting De Haar to become the Rhenen branch. But this is speculation - can anyone say something about the line's actual history? BLN 730.0107][DE] Berlin by broad gauge: (BLN 723 supplement) On 16-17 June 1945, when Josef Stalin, the Soviet leader, came by rail to attend a conference of the Allies at Potsdam, he may well have travelled through from Moskva on his own 1524mm-gauge train. As the Red Army fought its way westward through Poland and eastern Germany, Soviet military engineers strove to convert one track to the Russian broad gauge, to facilitate the huge task of supplying their front-line troops. The first through broad-gauge train to the defeated German capital left Moskva on 25 June, reaching Berlin Schlesischer Bahnhof on 28 June 1945, according to the book 150 Jahre Eisenbahn Berlin - Frankfurt/Oder (Alba, 1992), which also includes a photograph taken about that time of a Soviet E-class 0-10-0 with Soviet sleeping-cars at the Schlesischer Bf, the present Berlin Hauptbahnhof. By September 1945, the Allies had agreed that train operation in Germany should revert to the civilian railway authorities, and restoration of the converted tracks to the standard 1435mm gauge took place. BLN 730.0108][DE] (Rostock -) Bentwisch - Poppendorf: (BLN 717.06, 719.08; Ball 12B1) The workers' trains on the branch, electric S-Bahn workings unadvertised except on Rostock platform arrival and departure posters, were withdrawn on 31 December 1993. BLN 730.0109][DE] Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost: (Ball 12B1-19B3; McDougall G132; KBS180) At least one passenger train (D302 Praha - Dresden - Berlin - Warnemünde - København) is booked to use this line northbound in the 1993-94 timetable. Lalendorf Ost is not a station as suggested by Ball, but is the junction at the south end of the west-to-south curve. The site of a former north-to-west curve can be seen just to the west of Lalendorf station. The 1944 Kursbuch includes a Plaaz - Reinshagen - Lalendorf service, but by 1962 a DR map showed neither Plaaz - Lalendorf nor Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost. BLN 730.0110][DE] Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH: (Ball 27A1-41B3) For the record, the HSB took over the metre-gauge Harz system from the DR on 1 February 1993. A new, apparently automatic, loop at Drängetal (between Drei Annen Hohne and Steinerne Renne, 50.6km from Nordhausen) was in use for booked crossings of trains during the 1993 summer service. Early snow-melt this spring led to flooding of the river Selke and its tributaries, causing suspension of services on the Gernrode - Stiege and Alexisbad - Harzgerode Selketalbahn lines from about 13 April 1994. Gernrode - Magdesprung had a shuttle service back in operation from Friday 23 April, but the rest stayed closed for longer. Eisfelder Talmühle - Stiege - Hasselfelde trains were also withdrawn, though for a shorter period. They did not run on 17 April, but the line was back in operation by the following weekend. 1994 summer timings comprise similar numbers of trains to last year on all the sections, including three round the famous turning circle at Stiege, and in the working timetable there are revenue freight trains (standard-gauge wagons on transporters) from Nordhausen serving a quarry siding at Unterberg, 1.8km from Eisfelder Talmühle towards Stiege, and Hasselfelde. BLN 730.0111][DE] Güterglück north chord: (Ball 28B1) The NW-to-NE chord between the Magdeburg - Dessau and Wiesenburg - Güsten lines, though used at present by non-stop Magdeburg - Berlin trains, including the ICE from Frankfurt-am-Main (BLN 704.04), has no local passenger service and will presumably revert to its previous diversionary status once alternative routes are improved, direct from Magdeburg via Brandenburg after electrification, and from Hannover via Oebisfelde and Stendal when the Schnellfahrstrecke is completed. BLN 730.0112][DE] Betzdorf - Daaden: (Ball 38B1-39A1; KBS463) Local notices indicated that from 4 October 1993 buses replaced the remaining passenger trains on the branch. Kursbuch supplements do not seem to have recorded this. Freight may or may not continue, but the signal-box at the former junction has closed fairly recently and the Betzdorf - abzw. Grünebach section is now two parallel single tracks. BLN 730.0113][DE] Erndtebrück - Laasphe: (Ball 39A1, KBS444) This DB line has no evidence of any intermediate signalling nor of any freight, and seems to survive only for school traffic to Laasphe, worked by three Erndtebrück-based railbuses running as a set through to Marburg (out and back once a day Mon-Fri except holidays) or just to Laasphe (out and back once on school Saturdays only). The former junction signal-box at the north end of Erndtebrück is abandoned and the effective junction is at the south end box. BLN 730.0114][DE] (Leinefelde -) Dingelstädt - Küllstedt - Geismar: (Ball 41A2; KBS603) Closure beyond Küllstedt to Geismar may have been from 1 March 1993 rather than 27 September 1992 as reported in BLN 696.08. DB now appear to be lifting this section. To the decrepit station of Küllstedt, 2km from the village, passenger trains for the moment continue, carrying negligible traffic, but there seems to be no revenue freight traffic beyond Dingelstädt, and the threatened cut-back to that point from 29 May 1994 (BLN 725.056) is not surprising. Indeed, Dingelstädt station is also poorly sited, at the top of a hill on the edge of town, and it cannot be long before passenger trains cease running on the remaining 1.5km from the junction with the Leinefelde - Erfurt line. Before partition the Dingelstädt - Küllstedt - Geismar line ran through to Schwebda on what is now the Eschwege West - Grossburschla branch. BLN 730.0115][DE] Bleicherode Ost - Bischofferode: (BLN 724.047; Ball 41A3) This short branch was railbus-worked on a recent Saturday-afternoon visit, but both Bleicherode Stadt and Bischofferode were fully signalled and staffed, the latter for the interchange sidings with the industrial line to the potash-works near Holungen. Beyond Bischofferode station the ex-DR line continues, apparently in freight use, and a topographical map shows it still extending to Weissenborn-Lüderode near the former DDR border. Beyond, the segment in the west has been lifted at the junction of Herzberg (Harz). BLN 730.0116][DE] Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz: (BLN 725.059; Ball 43B2-43A2) Dollnitzbahn GmbH, the private-sector company which took over the 750mm-gauge line from the DR on 20 December 1993, is a venture with support from the organisation Pro-Bahn and considerable finance from the regional council. Two small diesels (#31 and 35) are leased from Mansfelder Lokomotiv- und Wagenwerkstatt GmbH (MaLoWa) and five new self-discharging 750mm-gauge wagons were bought from the same firm to move kaolin from Kemmlitz to tip into standard-gauge wagons at Oschatz. Ex-DR stock includes three steam locomotives (#099.703, 707 and 709) and one diesel (#399.702) plus eight passenger carriages and various freight vehicles. World Steam for May 1994 reports the Meyer tank engines still in use in February 1994 hauling standard-gauge wagons on transporters over the full length of the line. Pro-Bahn plan to run Traditionszug steam-hauled passenger services, and the special on 7 May (BLN 723.032) is unlikely to be the only one this year. BLN 730.0117][DE] Trossinger Eisenbahn: (Ball 68B2) Branching off the DB between Villingen (Schwarzwald) and Rottweil, this municipally-owned standard-gauge line, electrified at 600V dc, extends 4.3km from the main-line Trossingen Bahnhof to the town station Trossingen Stadt. Two railcars (T5 and T6) handle the passengers, and some freight is worked by another elderly railcar (T3). Passenger usage has been declining and Trossingen has plans to reduce the service gradually and withdraw it completely in 1997. Preservation as a museum line may be a possibility. (Op de Rails (NL), 2/94) BLN 730.0118][IT] Ferrovia Genova - Casella: (Ball 46B2) Mountain scenery is an attraction of this 24km metre-gauge railway, electrified at 3000V dc overhead, but not connected to any other line. It runs from its own station at Genova Piazza Manin, not far from Genova Brignole FS station but at a much higher level, and clings to the side of the hills that enclose Genova to the north, climbing to a summit of 458m. The final approach to the terminus at Casella Paese, about 300m above sea level, is over a river bridge shared with a road, after reversal at Casella Deposito station, where the depot is. There seems to be no freight traffic, and the passenger stock is elderly and in poor external condition. Railcars built in 1957 were operating the line on the day of a visit in April 1994. The return fare (ITL4000 or about £1.50) is very good value. Genova is an extremely hilly city and its other rail attractions include two funiculars, one quite long, and a very steep rack electric tramway. All of these, and the FGC station, are close to the #33 bus route, running between Piazza Principe and Brignole FS stations. BLN 730.0119][PL][UA] Closure of Polish corridor through Ukraine?: (Ball 44A3) PKP Przemysl - Zagórz trains run non-stop from Malhowice over 46km of Ukrainian standard-gauge track via Chirow to re-enter Poland at Kroscienko. Since passengers are not subject to passport control, Ukrainian soldiers on the train (and hanging out of the doors) see that no-one enters or leaves during the transit of their territory. Now the Ukrainians are hugely increasing the fee for the Polish trains, and the PKP may withdraw them. BLN 731.0120][FR, BE, NL] Ferries: (BLN 729.083) Ferry routes have long been subject to changes in ship technology, business flows and labour costs, so it is not just the appearance of the Tunnel as a potential large-capacity competitor which has driven recent rationalisation. Boulogne harbour's unsuitability for larger ferries was a factor in the concentration of the Dover services on nearby Calais from January 1993. Dover - Dunkerque (Stena Sealink) and Dover - Zeebrugge (P&O) still operate as freight-only routes. Dover - Oostende ceased when the Belgian operator RTM went into commercial partnership with Sally Line instead of P&O from 1 January 1994, transferring its ships and jetfoils to run from Ramsgate. Sally itself runs Ramsgate - Dunkerque passenger and freight services. Sheerness - Vlissingen was to close on 15 May 1994, though other operators may be considering taking over the route. The Swedish Travemünde-Trelleborg parent company is thought to have had problems with German trade unions over crewing of the Hamburg-registered Olau Line's ships. BLN 731.0121[FR] Rouen: (BLN 708.01, 713.03, 714,03, 723,022; Ball 13B1) As already reported, work began on 5 July 1993, and is to last until early 1995, in the St.Hilaire and Beauvoisine tunnels on the eastern approach to Rouen-Rive-Droite main station, necessitating protracted single-line working. Many local trains continue to be diverted (Monday - Friday) into the temporary station, Rouen-Préfecture. During previous diversions the temporary station used was Rouen-St.Sever, an island platform on the Rive-Gauche branch running-lines, immediately under the riverside road, Quai d'Elbeuf, and approached by a sloping ramp down from the middle of that road. The present station is rather more impressive, being three terminal platform roads, one providing a rounding facility. It lies closely alongside St.Sever, and indeed is laid out in part of St.Sever freight yard, the rest of which still exists in a moribund state. Passenger access is by a new footbridge and flights of steps. The 'station building' referred to in BLN 723.022 is not however in passenger use, and seems to be a trade-union office. Tracks from the platforms, not electrified, converge some distance east, by the signal-box, where connections are made to and from the Rive-Gauche freight branch, electrified at 25kV 50Hz. Three pairs of double tracks then proceed eastwards. The most southerly pair, used for access to Sotteville depot, and by trains to and from Oissel and beyond, converge to a single track curving west-to-south and eventually joining the outward local line in Sotteville station. The platform used here, mentioned in BLN 723.022, is not in fact a new one. The middle pair of electrified tracks pass under the main line from Rive-Droite into the marshalling yards. The northern pair, also electrified and still double, curve round north to join the line to Rive-Droite just before the bridge over the river Seine. Trains from Rouen-Préfecture use this curve, and a further curve between the river and Rive-Droite station, neither normally used by passenger trains, to reach the Serqueux/Amiens line. The section of the new metro line between Rouen and Petit Quevilly, whose tunnelling is partly responsible for the disruption to the SNCF, is planned to open on 17 December 1994. BLN 731.0122][FR] TGV-Haute Picardie: A February 1994 SNCF leaflet (and therefore BLN 730.0103) used the title 'Ablaincourt-Pressoir' for the new station on the TGV-Nord line near Chaulnes (Ball 15A2), but the summer 1994 timetable calls it TGV-Haute Picardie. Only trains between Lille and Lyon (or beyond) are booked to call, so it seems there is to be no service to or from Paris when it opens this summer. BLN 731.0123][BE] Kortrijk avoiding line: (Ball 7B2) The summer 1994 timetable shows two pairs of seasonal trains whose timings (and connecting margins with other trains) do not allow for reversal at Kortrijk and which presumably use the avoiding line. They are the 0727 Charleroi-Sud - Blankenberge and 1925 return, and the 0804 Jemeppe-sur-Sambre - Oostende and 1858 return, running Saturdays and Sundays (plus 21 July and 15 August) till 25 September 1994 (plus 15, 16 and 17 April and 25 and 27 May 1995). BLN 731.0124][DE] Herzberg (Mark) - Rheinsberg (Mark) - Stechlinsee: (BLN 729.087; Ball 20A1) Stechlinsee has a nuclear plant, which the apparently unadvertised loco-hauled passenger working on the branch may serve. BLN 731.0125][DE] Berlin: (BLN 715.08, 725.057; Ball 31-32) The summer 1994 Kursbuch indicates that the temporary closure of the cross-city Stadtbahn to main-line trains is to begin on Sunday 25 September 1994, when IC/EC trains on the Hamburg - Dresden route will commence running in two separate sections, Hamburg - Nauen - Berlin-Zoo (IC Linie 7) and Nauen - Berlin-Lichtenberg - Dresden, using the northern outer ring (IC Linie 7A). Opening of the northern extension of U-Bahn Linie U8 from Paracelsus Bad to Wilhelmsruher Damm is to be on 27 September 1994 (which is a Tuesday) (IBSE Telegramm, May 1994) BLN 731.0126][DE] Berga-Kelbra - Stolberg (Harz): (Ball 41B3, KBS592) The physical junction for the branch is to the east of Berga-Kelbra station, but through trains run from Sangerhausen, so no track need be missed! The only intermediate signal-box is at Rottleberode Süd, where passenger trains cross, though there is no station. A private siding there serves a factory, but no freight runs on the branch beyond. BLN 731.0127][DE] Obstfelderschmiede - Lichtenhain: (BLN 708.04, 723.035; Ball 52B3) Thuringia's unusual main-line funicular held a Bergbahnfest on 12-15 May 1994, issuing a publicity leaflet including the sketch map reproduced here. Though the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn links two 1435mm-gauge DB (ex-DR) lines, its own track-gauge is 1800mm. Standard-gauge vehicles (including railcars) can be ferried up and down on the broad-gauge flat-bed wagon which occupies one of the incline's tracks, the other having the wide-bodied passenger car. The line opened to freight on 15 January 1922 and to passengers on 1 March 1923. It has a 25% gradient, is 1.4km in length, and rises 323m. BLN 731.0128][DE][RU] Sleepers end and begin: (BLN 729.084) Russian Railways (RZD) sleepers from Moskva to København, Bern, Genève and Madrid were to cease from 29 May 1994, but DB's new Spanish-built TALGO sleepers were to enter InterCityNight service between Bonn and Berlin, and München and Berlin. (Railway Gazette International, May 1994) BLN 731.0129][AR] Northern Patagonia: Second-hand 1676mm-gauge RENFE vehicles including sleepers are to provide passenger service on 1741km of the main line from Buenos Aires (Plaza Constitución) via Bahía Blanca to the Alpine-style lakes-and-mountains resort of San Carlos de Bariloche, and Spanish ex-RENFE TER sets are to work the branch from Bahía Blanca 450km westward to Cipolletti, near Neuquén. The southern lines of the former General Roca railway of the state-owned Ferrocarriles Argentinos were privatised as the freight-only Ferrosur Roca, but the province of Rio Negro has set up Servicios Ferroviarios Patagónicos to run the passenger trains it wants. It is not clear what if any are the implications for the 750mm-gauge line from the main-line junction of Ingeniero Jacobacci 402km southward to the town of Esquel. The Esquel line is famous for its photogenic, if wildly uneconomic, steam operation, and was still running some of its fleet of oil-burning Baldwins and Henschels on passenger trains across the pampas of sparsely populated Patagonia in 1993. More information would be welcome. (Railway Gazette International, May 1994) BLN 732.0130][FR] Eurostar to Lille: Impress your travel-agent this summer by specifying that your Eurostar booking has to be in coach number 9. According to one insider, this is the most convenient vehicle for access at Waterloo International without a long walk up the platform. Once the Eurostars get going, consider a day trip to Lille, which should offer quite a number of attractions: the Tunnel itself; the new Lille-Europe TGV station; VAL the driverless metro; and the newly equipped light rail line to Roubaix and Tourcoing which was due to open on 5 May 1994. Then across the road from the front of the attractive old Lille-Flandres terminal station there is now a real-beer brew-pub, creating as well as selling excellent local bières de garde in three varieties. Insist on loading your full entitlement (110 litres, duty-paid, for personal consumption only) on to the London-bound Eurostar during its fleeting stop at Lille, and you may draw some thought-provoking Euro-abuse from the bilingual chef de train. BLN 732.0131][FR] Thionville - Bouzonville - Hargarten-Falck: (Ball 18B1; McDougall F8) On 28 May 1994 a BLS committee member travelled on the 1230SO ex Thionville. The passengers were mostly students, and few remained by Bouzonville. There a party of French railway enthusiasts boarded and proceeded to photograph the train at each station to Hargarten-Falck, saying that it would be the last passenger working there before the service was cut back to Bouzonville in the summer timetable. The emu returned as empty stock from Hargarten-Falck, the conductor declining to convey our reporter on his train. Hargarten-Falck's service was latterly weekly, and one-way only (like Greater Manchester's Godley East). BLN 732.0132][FR] Saumur - Thouars - La Roche-sur-Yon: (Ball 34A1-42B3) This 154km SNCF line has had a sparse service for several years, and it is impossible to traverse it end to end without an overnight stop in Thouars or Bressuire. The Thouars - Bressuire - Chantonnay section in the middle is especially poorly served, currently by the following trains only: 1744 Sun only Saumur - Bressuire 1836 Fri only La Roche-sur-Yon - Thouars 0535 Mon only Thouars - La Roche-sur-Yon 1836 Mon-Thu La Roche-sur-Yon - Bressuire 0600 Tue-Fri Bressuire - La Roche-sur-Yon 1847 Sun only Bressuire - Saumur BLN 732.0133][FR] Clamecy - Corbigny: (Ball 37B1) Corbigny has one train departing each week, but no arrivals. Until the end of May 1994 there was a train from Paris each Friday evening, and a return working on Sunday evening. This summer the Sunday train still runs, but SNCF have withdrawn the Friday one and passengers have to use a bus to cover the 33km from Clamecy. BLN 732.0134][FR, BE] Dunkerque SNCF - De Panne NMBS: (BLN 718.07; Ball 6B3) Any traffic still running from the Leffrinckoucke scrapyard near Dunkerque is likely to go west on SNCF rather than into Belgium, and the Leffrinckoucke - Bray-Dunes - De Panne section seems to be out of use. Light Rail & Modern Tramway for June 1994 quotes a Transport-2000 report that SNCF are considering complete closure of the cross-border section, and that De Lijn are thinking about taking it over for 20km west of De Panne (Adinkerke) NMBS station and running it as an international extension of the Knokke - Oostende - De Panne electric light rail line along the coast. BLN 732.0135][BE] Vennbahn: (BLN 722.017; Ball 10A2-10A1) The Vennbahn preservation group, operators of ex-DR Kriegslok #50 3666, are in summer 1994 running regular trips over SNCB Ligne 45 Weywertz - Trois Ponts as well as the Vennbahn proper, in its unique corridor of Belgian territory through Germany. Service pattern is a 1000 Eupen - Raeren (reverse) - Weywertz (reverse) - Büllingen and return (steam-hauled on Sundays 1 May, 5 June, 3 July, 7 August, 4 September, 2 October and 30 October; diesel on other Sundays and holidays from 1 May to 30 October) and a 1000 Eupen - Raeren (reverse) - Weywertz - Trois Ponts and return (on the Saturdays preceding the steam workings). An information leaflet is available from Vennbahn V.o.E., Bahnhof Raeren, Bahnhofstrasse 70, B-4730 Raeren, Belgium. BLN 732.0136][NL] Kesteren - Rhenen - Amersfoort: (BLN 730.0106; Ball 4B2) The siding at Kesteren was indeed once part of a through route from Nijmegen to Amersfoort, at one time carrying international trains from Germany. The junction at Kesteren was the zero km point, and the line had intermediate stations at Rhenen, Veenendaal, De Haar and Woudenberg-Scherpenzeel, before reaching Amersfoort 44.5km away. A junction with the Arnhem - Utrecht line at De Haar allowed traffic also to run directly to and from Utrecht. The original importance of the line can be seen by the size of the station building at Kesteren and the fact that Rhenen station had four platforms. Allied bombing in World War II caused severe damage to the line, and services were suspended, with official closure in 1946. On 31 May 1981 the section between De Haar junction and Rhenen reopened to passengers. At the north end, freight traffic to the Pons automobile distribution centre, which was built subject to a condition that the cars had to be brought in by rail, occasioned the reopening of the Amersfoort - Woudenberg section, but there is now a possibility that the centre will close "in about five years", and the branch with it. Reopening of the whole route seems to have been considered at the time of reinstatement to Rhenen, but did not go ahead. Between Woudenberg and De Haar the track was lifted in 1980, though the formation is intact. South of Rhenen a road occupies the trackbed. BLN 732.0137][DE] German local services: The federal government is to transfer financial responsibility for local train-service deficits to the individual states (Länder) from 1 January 1996. DB and the government have agreed to keep the passenger network substantially as it is until then. In the meantime, DB can withdraw a service if the Land agrees, but as long as the federal government is still picking up the bill, substantial numbers of closures are unlikely. In 1996, however, the new arrangements must put many lightly-used lines at risk. It is hard to see the Länder - particularly the poorer five states of the former DDR - finding the money to sustain the present network, especially since most ex-DR local lines are in urgent need of modernisation, including track and rolling-stock renewal. Ominously, too, many trains run almost empty. Large-scale closures may be made more politically palatable by modernisation of the lines that remain. This has already been happening to some extent in the western Länder, where investment in new Class 628 diesel units has accompanied the scrapping of Class 796/798 railbuses and the trimming of a number of Deutsche Bundesbahn branches. BLN 732.0138][DE] Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost: (BLN 730.0109; Ball 12B1-19B3) The curve of which only traces remain ran north-to-east from Plaaz into Lalendorf station. Following World War II the victorious Soviet Union removed considerable quantities of railway material from Germany as reparations. Much of the DR network was reduced to single track, and at one time there were no double-track lines anywhere north of Oranienburg. Between Neustrelitz and Plaaz, an 80km stretch of the Berlin - Rostock main line was removed entirely, and trains were routed via Neubrandenburg, Malchin and Güstrow. The line between Neustrelitz and Lalendorf did not reopen until 28 May 1961, and it seems possible the section to Plaaz was omitted from the 1962 DR map because it had not then reopened. At the timetable change in May 1994, Plaaz - Lalendorf Ost closed once more to passengers, though freight continues. Final passenger use of the section was by the Praha - København trains D302/D303, in both directions. BLN 732.0139][DE] Vechta - Schneiderkrug: (Ball 25A3-16A1) This DB freight line closed from 28 May 1994. BLN 732.0140][DE] Duisburg Hbf - Duisburg-Entenfang: The layout is not quite as shown in the Ball atlas at 33A2, for the branch diverges at Stw.Dbm (Stellwerk = signal-box) on the west side of the main line south to Düsseldorf, drops under that line and the west-to-east freight lines, rising to an unadvertised platform (Regattabahn) and a junction at Stw.Hd, south of which extensive yards and independent freight lines lie to the west. Although appearing to be double track, the section from Stw.Dbm to Bissingheim is worked as single track for passenger trains because all platforms are on the east side. Entenfang station is a single platform, without even a ticket-machine, on a north-facing dead-end siding east of the main running lines. BLN 732.0141][DE] Pirna - Pirna-Copitz: (Ball 44A2) From 29 May 1994 passenger services resumed on this short 1km section across a bridge over the river Elbe south-east of Dresden. BLN 732.0142][DE] Berlin Schönefeld-Süd: Between 28 May and 5 June 1994, in connection with the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (an aerospace show at Berlin-Schönefeld), special passenger trains ran to a temporary ILA Bahnhof on the Schönefeld-Süd freight line (not shown in the Ball atlas at 32B1). This branches off the Berlin - Cottbus main line and runs along the south edge of the airport, serving a large aggregate depot and continuing to airport facilities beyond the temporary station. Trains were double-deck stock, worked top-and-tail by pairs of Class 229 diesel locomotives, every half-hour alternately to and from Berlin-Lichtenberg and Berlin-Zoo. It is possible the aerospace show may become an annual event. BLN 732.0143][DE] Berlin's former main-line stations in 1994: (Ball 31-32) The history of Berlin's old main-line stations, many now out of use, was summarised in the supplement to BLN 723. Their present state, as at 10-19 April 1994, is covered below. At the Anhalter Bahnhof the front section of the train-shed site has been asphalted over, and the remainder laid out with grass and a large number of trees. At the rear of the area where the train-shed was, a wall remains of the subway which ran from Möckernstrasse under the railway. Apart from the museum site, the formation from Yorckstrasse is completely overgrown. There is nothing to indicate that any new building is about to take place on the station site, but the adjacent Guterbahnhof site does look ripe for development. The subterranean Anhalter S-Bahn station remains active and busy. The only obvious remaining part of the Stettiner Bahnhof is part of the east wall of the train-shed, three bays long, now incorporated in the wall of the adjacent building. The whole site is under development, so it is possible the wall in question will either not survive or not remain visible much longer. The main building of the adjacent Stettiner Vorortbahnhof, the suburban station, is intact and in fairly good condition, being used as part of the DB's area stores, but there are no remains of the train-shed or platforms except for what seems to be the east-side retaining wall. At present rebuilding is taking place and the museum at the former Hamburger Bahnhof is closed. The original station frontage and train-shed are in very good condition, but later additions have spoiled the lines of the building. The Görlitzer Bahnhof site has been walled and landscaped. Three original buildings survive, the middle one probably having been an office and the others goods or parcels buildings. All have been recently restored and now appear to be a children's activity centre. The site of the Lehrter Bahnhof is a building-materials depot with large piles of sand, ballast and rubble. Some buildings survive in the Guterbahnhof. The Lehrter Stadtbahnhof on the viaduct above remains open and busy. The Dresdener Bahnhof, later the Postbahnhof, is still in postal use and has recently been reconnected with the rail system. A single line runs north from Yorckstrasse and spreads into a number of sidings, worked by two post-office shunting locomotives. The brickwork of the train-shed has been cleaned and restored and is in superb condition, but it seems probable that the original station frontage was demolished, rebuilt and extended when the station was taken over for postal use. No buildings remain on the Potsdamer Bahnhof site, and plans show it is to remain a green space. Across the site from east to west a road has been laid, and another new road runs south from this to cross the Landwehrkanal by a new bridge on to the original railway formation to a recycling centre. In the south-east corner of the site the U-Bahn now descends from Gleisdreieck on a newly-constructed ramp to connect with the underground section at Potsdamer Platz. No obvious remains of a passenger station survive on the Wriezener Bahnhof site, and there is nothing to indicate a possible reopening. The only large building is the former DR's supply centre for passenger tickets, all the other buildings being obviously to do with the Guterbahnhof. The site is at present home to a group preserving a DR Schnellverbrennungstriebwagen SVT175 diesel-hydraulic express unit, of the kind used from 1964 on international named trains like the Karlex, Neptun and Vindobona. BLN 732.0144][DE] Finnentrop - Olpe - Drolshagen: (Ball 39A2-38B2) The original trackbed south of Kraghammer was submerged by the large Biggetalsperre dam scheme about 1964, and an entirely new line was built, including three tunnels, a substantial station at Sondern, and two bridges over arms of the extensive reservoir. Both bridges are double-deck, with a road above the railway. At Olpe the original station is used. The freight branch south from Olpe to Gerlingen see