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St.Pölten to Mariazell - My own Pilgramages to "Mariazellerland"

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  The Mariazell Railway is an electrically operated 760mm   ( 2 ft  5  15 ⁄ 16  in )   narrow gauge  line which connects the Lower Austrian  capital of Sankt Pölten   with the Styrian Alpine pilgrimage  centre of Mariazell .  The line was opened in stages between 1898 and 1907, with a now closed branch to Wieselburg an der Erlauf . The railway is currently operated by NÖVOG . Electrification (unprecedented at the time) began in 1911 (using Alternating Current ) as the route & traffic requirements were proving too arduous for the original Steam locos , 16 E series locomotives (still used today as class   1099 ) were delivered between 1909 and 1914. The experience gained from the electrification proved to be the benchmark for later projects of the same kind. The locomotive  design with two separate powered bogies  is widespread today. The route runs from St.Pölten to Ober-Grafendorf , the lines only majo...
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Germany 15 & 16/09/2001 The Shortest Trip

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I worked this SHORT trip around the chance to do THREE lots of required track in just TWO days, based around Lübeck. A 218 was now rostered onto a Saturday only IC between Rostock & Seebad Heringsdorf, ALL new track for a 218. Not only that but 218's had started working between Lübeck & Rostock so new track was also available to get to the IC! Saturday 15th September 2001   I can no longer remember how I got to the Stansted cowshed but I've never done a hotel in the area, vague recollections of an overnight National Express coach from somewhere! EI-CNT Stansted - Lübeck Flughafen 0645 Stansted - Lubeck I took a tram into Lübeck where I was meeting Betty & Trog who were also doing the winner track on the IC to Seebad Heringsdorf. 218 427 at Lübeck on 05/08/1990 218 459 Lübeck - Rostock 0940 Kiel - Rostock 149km 218 461 Rostock - Seebad Heringsdorf 0833 Köln - Seebad Heringsdorf 174km Nearly all of the 323km's above were winner track! Only local trains available t...
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"You're all but forgotten a mote in my heart, thus ends the Webb House Course" 15/09/1991 to 29/09/1991

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We attended a Wolfsbane Gig at the Astoria London and while waiting for the band to come out of the building after the gig, I fell asleep on the steps outside. I must have been very tired. Blaze Bayley (lead singer) came out & asked "what's wrong with him?" & one of my mates said "he's a bit drunk" then apparently Blaze told us about a secret Gig, for fan-club members only, in the band's hometown of Tamworth, on Thursday 26th September. As we were both HMS (Howling Mad Shitheads) fan-club members it would be rude not to make an appearance! Sunday 15th September 1991 A special was running today from Paddington to take people down to Plymouth to attend Laira TMD Open Day, fortunately for us the train would be hauled by a pair of our beloved Class 33 "Crompton's", unfortunately for us this was the era of "Departmental" loco's so the pair were restricted to 60mph max! A long run was guaranteed, however it was a painfully s...
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