Germany, Austria & Belgium 04/04 to 12/04 1993 "How fast can you get us to Frankenberg?"

A mixed trip in that I would be mostly single manned, but with some days planned to meet with other Cranks. The main aim was new track diesel hauled, followed by new locos. (# = new Loco)

Sunday 04/04/93

A rare event straight away - I actually did a daytime Ferry crossing!

2716# Oostend - Brussels Nord (via Kortrijk) 1604 Oostend - Shaerbeek 172km
1607# Brussels Nord - Aachen 1734 Oostend - Kobenhaven 143km
110 438# Aachen - Koln Hbf  1734 Oostend - Kobenhaven 70km
I believe I had a few beers in the Fruh Kolsch Tap.
103 191 Koln Hbf - Dortmund  2336 Koln - Kiel 117km

Monday 05/04/93

110 474 Dortmund - Hamburg Hbf  2336 Koln - Kiel 445km
120 121# Hamburg Hbf - Bremen Hbf  0508 Hamburg Altona - Bremen 115km
First north through Bremen then south back to Bremen! A positioning move for lots of new track behind 216 086.
216 086#  Bremen Hbf - Herford (via Rahden) 0458 Wilhelmshafen - Bielefeld 144km
141 083#  Herford - Osnabruck 0917 Bielefeld - Bad Bentheim 51km
141 274#  Osnabruck - Munster 1010 Osnabruck - Munster 50km
110 203#  Munster - Hamm 1210 Munster - Frankfurt Hbf 36km
103 172 Hamm - Hannover 1103 Koln - Bad Harzburg 177km
218 276# Hannover - Goslar 1103 Koln - Bad Harzburg 89km
218 266 Goslar - Seesen 1512 Braunschweig - Gottingen 22km
218 901# Seesen - Schladen 1647 Kriensen - Braunschweig 53km
Then the 2nd piece of new track today - the Bad Harzburg Avoider.
218 902 Schladen - Goslar 1754 Braunschweig - Goslar 25km
                 (Via Bad Harzburg Avoider)
218 272 Goslar - Hannover 1845 Bad Harzburg - Walsrode 89km
McD's was the norm in Hannover then drank some beers on the positioning move for the overnight
103 177 Hannover - Hamburg Altona 1151 Konstanz - Hamburg Altona 185km
110 287#) Hamburg Altona - Frankfurt (M) Hbf 2248 H.Altona - Stuttgart/Basel 524km
103 137)

Tuesday 06/04/93

I had a good day planned for new diesel hauled track : Worms - Bensheim, Freidrichsdorf - Freidberg,
Niederwalgern - Herborn, under the wires from Geissen to Frankfurt & then Aschaffenburg to Seckach via Miltenberg!
141 045# Frankfurt Hbf - Worms 0535 Frankfurt - Worms 63km
212 049  Worms - Bensheim 0655 Worms - Bensheim 24km
111 084# Bensheim - Frankfurt Hbf  0642 Karlsruhe - Kassel 50km
420 306   Frankfurt (tief) - Frankfurt West 0806 F.Stresemannallee - Freidberg 3km
216 199# Frankfurt West - Frankfurt Hbf  0735 Stockheim - Frankfurt 3km
420 xxx   Frankfurt (tief) - Freidrichsdorf  0856 F.Str'allee - Freidrichsdorf  24km
212 374# Freidrichsdorf - Freidberg  0940 Freidrichsdorf - Freidberg 16km
216 215# Freidberg - Geissen  1021 Freidberg - Geissen 32km
110 201# Geissen - Niederwalgern 1110 Geissen - Kassel 18km

212 112 at Niederwalgern on the 1135 to Dillenburg
212 112# Niederwalgern - Herborn 1135 Niederwalgern - Dillenburg 43km
141 278# Herborn - Wetzlar 1232 Siegen - Geissen 22km
216 127# Wetzlar - Geissen 1203 Koblenz - Geissen 13km
216 116# Geissen - Frankfurt Hbf 1440 Geissen - Frankfurt Hbf 66km
216 125# Frankfurt Hbf - Frankfurt West 1550 Frankfurt - Stockheim 3km
420 xxx   Frankfurt West - Frankfurt (Tief) 1536 Freidberg - F.Str'allee 3km
216 203# Frankfurt - Hanau 1613 Frankfurt - Stuttgart 24km
151 067# Hanau - Aschaffenburg 1601 Frankfurt - Aschaffenburg 22km
218 463   Aschaffenburg - Miltenberg 1718 Aschaffenburg - Ulm 38km

215 140 at Miltenberg. 211 332 waits to form the 1812 to Seckach
211 332# Miltenberg - Seckach 1812 Miltenberg - Seckach 43km
141 022# Seckach - Neckarelz  1936 Osterburken - Neckarelz 24km
Unit  Neckarelz - Heidelberg Hbf  1954 Heilbronn - Heidelberg 52km
110 448   Heidelberg - Karslruhe 2054 Frankfurt - Roma 54km
110 387# Karlsruhe - Basel Bad Bf  2306 Karlsruhe - Basel Bad Bf 197km
So, back in the days when the DB network ran like clockwork, ALL my planned moves made!

Wednesday 07/04/93

Some people rated the Munich - Saarbrucken (& vv) as a good overnight (but I only did it once) my regular overnight to get me in position for possible new track moves was the Karlsruhe - Basel Bad Bf (& vv) - nowhere near as much sleep but it came in handy over the years. Today it got me into position to do Kaiserslauten to Lauterecken Grumbach.
110 387   Basel Bad - Karlsruhe 0200 Basel Bad - Mannheim 197km
218 478# Karlsruhe - Neustadt 0503 Karlsruhe - Freinsheim 58km
141 443# Neustadt - Kaiserslautern 0518 Heidelberg - Homburg 33km
212 099   Kaiserslauten - Lauterecken Grumbach 0732 Kaiserslauten - L.Grumbach 34km

212 099 at Lauterecken Grumbach
212 099    Lauterecken Grumbach - Kaiserslauten 0846 L.Grumbach - Kaiserslauten 34km
120 160#  Kaiserslauten - Neustadt 0841 Trier - Landeck  33km
141 347#  Neustadt - Schifferstadt  0947 Homburg - Heilbronn 17km
DMU       Schifferstadt - Germersheim 1103 Mannheim - Germersheim 23km
Bowled by the Dmu but had to be done to get to my next bit of required track
212 248#  Germersheim - Bruchsal  1209 Germersheim - Bruchsal 27km
111 106#  Bruchsal - Karlsruhe Hbf  0934 Kassel - Konstanz  21km
218 295   Karlsruhe - Bad Rotenfels 1330 Karlsruhe - Freudenstadt Hbf 33km
218 476   Bad Rotenfels - Rastatt 1300 Freudenstadt Hbf - Karlsruhe 9km
111 084   Rastatt - Karlsruhe 1151 Konstanz - Kassel 24km
218 479# Karlsruhe - Bad Rotenfels 0902 Dortmund - Freudenstadt Hbf 33km
218 484# Bad Rotenfels - Rastatt  1400 Freudenstadt Hbf - Karlsruhe 9km
110 318# Rastatt - Bruchsal 1320 Freiburg - Heidelberg 45km
DMU      Bruchsal - Odenheim 1613 Bruchsal - Odenheim 15km
I had rather hoped this was loco hauled, I used to peruse the DB Kursbuch (timetable - a rather mighty tome!) for days on end at home looking for anything out of the ordinary that could be a loco (even if not in the diagrams) - sometimes it worked out I was right. Not this time though.
Bus         Odenheim - Sinsheim 1639 Odenheim - Sinsheim
I remember gritting my teeth - a Unit for a Bus! but still ok as required track then from Sinsheim to Eppingen - and the sun was shining.
212 145# Sinsheim - Eppingen 1635 Heidelberg - Eppingen 16km
110 220# Eppingen - Stuttgart Hbf 1613 Frankfurt - Stuttgart 53km
Beers in the Old Ascot pub, a great place with Metal or Rock music playing in the background - they did a great Schwarz beer. (It now appears to be the "WIP! Sushi Bar" - is this progress?)
218 454# Stuttgart - Marktredwitz  2220 Stuttgart - Dresden/Leipzig 313km

Thursday 08/04/93

218 420 Marktredwitz - Regensburg  2215 Dresden - Munchen 137km
Today was all about getting in position to cover the 217 diagrams on the Furth im Wald line, they had basically been freight only locos for years but recently started working these turns to re-balance the locos for their freight work. More than once I've failed to leap at Marktredwitz & ended up in DR territory!
218 212 Regensburg - Schwandorf  0542 Regensburg - Weiden 42km
218 011 Schwandorf - Cham 0444 Nurnberg - Furth im Wald 48km
218 007 Cham - Posing 0710 Furth im Wald - Nurnberg  9km

217012 & 217014 at Posing on the 0715 Schwandorf to Furth im Wald
217 012#) Posing - Cham 0715 Schwandorf - Furth im Wald  9km
217 014#) (on 1 coach)

What do you do with a 1 coach train with 2 locos on the front? Attach a coach to the rear and another loco to the front ! 217011/217012 & 217014 at Cham on the same train
217 011#  Cham - Furth im Wald 0715 Schwandorf - Furth im Wald 19km
(217 012 & 217 014 DIT)(on 2 coaches)
217 011  Furth im Wald - Schwandorf  0848 Furth im Wald - Lauf  67km
614 xxx  Schwandorf - Weiden 0919 Regensburg - Hof 44km
218 223  Weiden - Schwandorf  0515 Dresden - Obertsdorf 44km
218 008) Schwandorf - Weiden 1119 Regensburg - Weiden 44km
218 225#) 
232 xxx    Weiden - Marktredwitz  1047 Munchen - Gorlitz 51km
I'd obviously not planned the moves after the 217's too well - a Unit & a Red Shed!!
211 062#  Marktredwitz - Weisau 1353 Hof - Regensburg 17km
614 031    Weisau - Marktredwitz 1437 Weiden - Hof 17km
211 313    Marktredwitz - Hof 1621 Marktredwitz - Hof 42km
It was always fun spinning on the Regensburg to Hof route, lots of loco hauled moves to choose from - then my main track bash of the day the branch from Hof to Bad Steben. BIG track.
218 420 Hof - Bad Steben   1155 Frankfurt - Bad Steben 27km

218 420 on the blocks at Bad Steben off the 1155 from Frankfurt

218 420 at Bad Steben about to form the 1818 back to Hof. These IR portions were invaluable as some worked over routes which were otherwise 100% unit like this
218 420   Bad Steben - Hof  1818 Bad Steben - Hof      27km
218 307   Hof - Regensburg 1618 Leipzig - Munchen    177km
111 049#  Regensburg - Munchen Hbf 1618 Leipzig - Munchen    138km
1044 072# Munchen Hbf - Salzburg  2350 Munchen - Salzburg 153km

Friday 09/04/93

xxx xxx Salzburg - St.Polten  2325 Innsbruck - Wien West 223km
My 4th visit to the St.Polten to Mariazell Narrow Gauge line - I was intent to try to clear rest of the 1099's I required, as I couldn't bear the thought of missing any of these Hellfire electrics.

2143 028# St.Polten - St.Polten Alpenbahnhof  0533 St.Polten - Leobersdorf 2km
1099 009   St.P.Alpenbahnhof - Ober Grafendorf 0600 St.Polten - Mariazell 10km
(1099 013 DIT on rear)
2095 004   Ober Grafendorf - St.Polten 0553 Weiselburg - St.Polten 12km
1099 005   St.Polten - Ober Grafendorf  0730 St.Polten - Mariazell  12km
1099 008# Ober Grafendorf - St.Polten Alpenbahnhof 0535 Mariazell - St.Polten 10km
1099 010# St.P.Alpenbahnhof - Ober Grafendorf  0830 St.Polten - Laubenbachmuhle 10km
(1099 014 DIT on rear)

1099 013 arrives at Ober Grafendorf on the 0800 from Laubenbachmuhle
1099 013# Ober Grafendorf - St.Polten  0800 Laubenbachmuhle - St.Polten 12km
1099 006   St.Polten - Ober Grafendorf  0930 St.Polten - Mariazell 12km
1099 012   Ober Grafendorf - St.Polten  0752 Mariazell - St.Polten 12km
1099 007# (Last one!) St.Polten - Ober Grafendorf 1030 St.Polten - Laubenbachmuhle 12km
The overnight being on-time gained 3 extra moves, you didn't get to the inward 2095 on the through Weiselburg otherwise. Four winner 1099's later & the class was cleared - this wouldn't stop me from revisiting this hellfire line up into the Styrian Alps many times in the future.
2095 014# Ober Grafendorf - Weiselburg 1053 Ober Grafendorf - Weiselburg 39km

2095014 at Wieselburg off the 1053 ex Ober Grafendorf. My first Gmund allocated loco on a test run after attention in St.Polten works. I enjoyed my beer in the brewery tap across the road after this bit of luck
One narrow gauge system bashed - why not cover another? So off to Waidhofen it is.
5046 217) Weiselburg - Pochlarn 1230 Kienberg-Gaming - Pochlarn 11km
6546 208)
1044 253# Pochlarn - Amstetten 1226 Wien West - Amstetten 32km
1042 042# Amstetten - Waidhofen 1410 Amstetten - Kleinreifling  23km

2091 007 at Waidhofen on the 1451 to Ybbsitz
2091 007# Waidhofen - Ybbsitz 1451 Waidhofen - Ybbsitz  12km

2091007 is attached to the stock for the 1536 to Waidhofen
2091 007    Ybbsitz - Gstadt  1536 Ybbsitz - Waidhofen  6km
2095 010#  Gstadt - Saimmanslehen Hu  1542 Waidhofen - Lunz am Zee 17km

Idyllic days on a now closed route. 2095 010 waits for 2095 008 to pass at Saimmanslehen Hu. This move gained me 4 different 2095's on 4 consecutive trains !
2095 008   Saimmanslehen Hu - Opponitz 1538 Lunz - Waidhofen 9km
2095 009# Opponitz - Kleinhelenstein 1645 Waidhofen - Lunz 8km
2095 005   Kleinhelenstein - Waidhofen 1635 Lunz - Waidhofen 22km
6030 014   Waidhofen - Amstetten 1619 Selzthal - Amstetten 23km
1044 250# Amstetten - Linz 1740 Wien West - Innsbruck 64km
1044 248   Linz - Passau 1900 Wien West - Oostend 108km
110 404#   Passau - Koln Hbf  1900 Wien West - Oostend  680km

Saturday 10/04/93

A top day including a new track move to Bad Wildungen
110 273#  Koln Hbf - Hagen 2126 Munchen - Hagen 73km
141 287#  Hagen - Schwerte (mobile sauna!) 0603 Hagen - Munster  13km
218 142#  Schwerte - Freienohl 0503 Essen - Kassel Whilhelmshoe 54km
216 130#  Freienohl - Oeventrop 0550 Warburg - Hagen 5km
218 130#  Oeventrop - Freienohl 0642 Hagen - Bestwig 5km

218 130 at Freienohl on the 0642 Hagen - Bestwig
218 129#  Freienohl - Oeventrop  0629 Warburg - Essen  5km

218 129 at Oeventrop on the 0629 Warburg to Essen Hbf
218 137  Oeventrop - Bestwig 0603 Essen - Warburg 23km
218 139  Bestwig - Freienohl 0700 Kassel - Hagen 18km
218 128  Freienohl - Brilon Wald 0651 Essen - Kassel W. 37km
I was meeting Neath & his Dad here as we were all covering the Big new track move to Bad Wildungen.

216 101 at Brilon Wald (Neath's Dad makes a guest appearance rooting around in his bag!)
216 101 Brilon Wald - Bad Wildungen  0942 Brilon Wald - Bad Wildungen 70km

216 101 at Bad Wildungen
Instead of the booked 628 unit move to Kassel we worked out we MIGHT have time to get to Frankenberg for the class 211 at 1246 (more new track). We showed the relevant Kursbuch page to the Taxi driver "Schnell, Schnell!" then followed a 140kmh taxi ride (on mainly quiet roads) for the 3 of us from there to make 211 304 at Frankenberg - we got there with time for a very quick beer & to phot the train before departure!

211 304 at Frankenberg on the 1246 to Marburg
211 304#  Frankenberg - Marburg 1246 Frankenberg - Marburg 33km
110 116#  Marburg - Giessen 1227 Kassel - Frankfurt 30km
216 218   Giessen - Alsfeld 1419 Giessen - Fulda 60km

216 209 at Alsfeld
216 209# Alsfeld - Burg u Nieder Gemunden 1434 Fulda - Giessen 22km
Then a mega riot with a guard over 2nd day FIP box validity (again!) even with 3 of us trying to explain it to him, leading me having to buy a piece "for validity" until we got off that Guards service!
216 211#  Burg u Nieder Gemunden - Alsfeld 1519 Giessen - Fulda 22km
216 194#  Alsfeld - Eringshausen 1540 Fulda - Giessen 17km

212 104 at Eringshausen on the 1619 Giessen - Fulda
212 104#  Eringshausen - Fulda  1619 Giessen - Fulda  63km
Then the undoubted highlight of taking my mates to a pub in Fulda that I had previously found with its own internal model railway system - where your 1/2 litre stein of beer is delivered to your table on the model railway! Neath's Dad was withered by this and spent much of the session chuckling away - he couldn't believe watching the loco haul the beer round the side of the pub from the bar then come round a long corner to our side of the pub (at about head height). I'd found the pub one night when doing a B&B in Fulda - it sold Kulmbacher beers. All was well until we'd had quite a few & the return empties were loaded Out of Gauge causing a derailment (apparently I was the culprit, leaving a handle sticking out) leading to a "Delivery by Train Banning Order" from the Barmaid!
120 150# Fulda - Frankfurt (M) Hbf  2006 Fulda - Frankfurt 104km
110 101# Frankfurt (M) Hbf - Bebra  2225 Frankfurt - Halle 160km

Sunday 11/04/93

112 027# Bebra - Halle 2225 Frankfurt(M) - Berlin
A bit of a riot when gripped - I was still drunk & unable to wake up enough to find my ticket so I tried to bail off the train - with the others shouting at me "Your valid you idiot!"
143 221# Halle - Sangerhausen  0435 Halle - Leinfelde 60km
232 542# Sangerhausen - Nordhausen  0435 Halle - Leinfelde 32km
99 7231  Nordhausen Nord - Hasselfelde 0651 Nordhausen - Hasselfelde 32km

Yes there is a train hidden behind the steam! 99 7231 at Eisfelder Talmuhle on the 0651 Nordhausen - Hasselfelde. 

99 7231 on the Harz mountains network at Hasselfelde. About to form the 0836 to Steige.
99 7231 Hasselfelde - Stiege 0836 Hasselfelde - Stiege 5km
I seem to remember being withered on arrival at Stiege - as I got off Graham Belton (Peckham) was getting on & withered me with a bellow (as I hadn't seen him) of "Your the Stiege Fleager" with reference to one of his previous nicknames (Peckham Fly).
99 7246# Stiege - Eisfelder Talmuhle 0700 Gernrode - Eisfelder Talmuhle 10km
99 7236# Eisfelder Talmuhle - Nordhausen Nord 0731 Wernigerode - Nordhausen Nord 17km

216 164 & 216 123 at Nordhausen
216 164#  Nordhausen - Northeim 1057 Nordhausen - Altenbeken 70km
We parted company at Northeim, I went for new track under the wires to Kriensen, Neath & his old man stayed on to Altenbeken , anyway on with the scratches (hopefully!)
216 180   Northeim - Salzgitter Ringelheim 1238 Gottingen - Braunschweig 60km

216 180 at Kriensen on the 1238 Gottingen - Braunschweig (on 6 compo coaches & Steaming merrily!)
218 252# Salsgitter Ringelheim - Derneberg  1336 Bad Harzburg - Soltau 16km
218 278   Derneberg - Baddeckenstedt 1340 Hannover - Bad Harzburg 7km
216 162# Baddeckenstedt - Salzgitter Ringelheim 1430 Hildesheim - Braunschweig 9km
218 242   Salzgitter Ringelheim - Goslar 1103 Koln - Bad Harzburg  19km

290 160 stabled at Goslar
218 268   Goslar - Seesen 1512 Braunschweig - Gottingen 23km
218 250   Seesen - Goslar 1647 Kriensen - Braunschweig  23km
218 253# Goslar - Baddeckenstedt 1745 Bad Harzburg - Soltau 28km
218 272   Baddeckenstedt - Salzgitter Ringelheim 1536 Soltau - Bad Harzburg 9km
216 068# Salzgitter Ringelheim - Braunschweig 1830 Hildesheim - Braunschweig 31km
103 201   Braunschweig - Hannover  1645 Berlin Hbf - Koln Hbf 61km
218 269   Hannover - Lehrte 2113 Hannover - Wolfsburg 16km
218 277   Lehrte - Hannover 2035 Wolfsburg - Hannover 16km
218 277   Hannover - Lehrte 2211 Hannover - Wolfsburg 16km
218 902   Lehrte - Hannover  2135 Wolfsburg - Hannover 16km
103 194   Hannover - Aachen 1942 Berlin - Paris 396km

Monday 12/04/93

A Bank holiday Monday so the canoe trains were running in Belgium - I'd never done these but Peckham (in our brief meeting at Stiege) told me which overnight he'd be doing, I met him at Liege when 40110 bolted on.
2745#  Aachen - Leige 1942 Berlin - Paris   53km
40110# Leige - Charleroi  Sud 1942 Berlin - Paris   96km
505      Charleroi  Sud - Namur 0600 Mons - Liege   36km
5214#  Namur - Hoyet  0824 Namur - Hoyet 43km 

5305 at Dinant off the 0830 Libramont - Dinant. 5205 was on the other end.
5205#) Hoyet - Dinant 0830 Libramont - Dinant 15km
5305)
5305#) Dinant - Bertrix 1025 Dinant - Bertrix 72km
5205)
4506 Bertrix - Libramont 1202 Bertrix - Libramont 12km
312/327 Libramont - Brussels Nord 1127 Luxembourg - Brussels Nord 155km
1189# Brussels Nord - Brussels Central 1125 Amsterdam - Brussels Midi   1km
415/379) Brussels Central - Brugge 60km
400/377)
We got to Blankenberge somehow - I now recall sharing a mini-cab with several other Cranks who required the pair below:

6243 & 6234 at Blankenberg on the 1856 to Namur which we took to Ghent St.Peters

Another of the weird & wonderful Bank Holiday excursions taking diesels all over the place mainly under the wires.
6243#   Blankenberge - Ghent St.Peters 1856 Blankenberge - Namur 55km
6234#)
6201#   Ghent St.Peters - De Pinte 1839 Geraadsbergen - De Panne 7km
6313#   De Pinte - Ghent St.Peters 1841 De Panne - Geraadsbergen 7km
5108#   Ghent St.Peters - Brussels Central 1913 De Panne - Schaerbeek 60km
2751     Brussels Central - Oostend 1815 Koln - Oostend 124km

Total Km = 9518km                     Daily Average = 1057km

Total Moves = 164                       Average per move = 58km

A proper good trip, many different classes in 3 countries (including a Steam bash on the Harz network) plus plenty of required track, including some serious socialising in Fulda! Two taxi rides on the same trip was not the norm either. All in all well worth the effort. Cheers Poodle.