Garry KeenorSo... it's that time of year again, I'm off on a Moderately Sized Adventure™. Train no.1 is from East Croydon to London Bridge. Why doesn't Thameslink run this early on a Sunday? (I travelled here last night as a positioning move.)
I should explain why this Adventure is only Moderately Sized... unlike previous years, I will be spending quite a lot of time broadly stationary, because Reasons. I'll be taking no further questions on this topic your honour 😎
Train #4 and the trip gets started in anger... 0901 St Pancras International to Bruxelles ( I'll be getting off at Lille)... my first time bagging Seat 61!
Train #5 is the 1205 Lille to Paris Gare du Nord InOui double decker TGV. Lovely ambience on first class upper deck
After a long, fantastic, boozy Parisian lunch, train #6 is another InOui double deck TGV on the 1553 Paris Gare de l'Est to Stuttgart.
Bit of tamping action outside of my window, should keep @GarethDennis happy
Train #7 is the 2029 sleeper from Stuttgart to Zagreb. 15 hours of lovely comfort ahead!
Good morning from South East Austria! Slept well, train bang on time. Woke up to this - this is what the sleeper is all about
Oh, the views
Into Slovenia...
Is your catenary stranding and at risk of failure? Why not just clamp another piece of catenary to it and get on with your day? What could possibly go wrong?
Trains #8, 9 and 10 are trams as I explore Zagreb. Frequent, clean, safe, cheap. As usual, navigating this small European city is super easy with a combination of Google maps and the local tram app. Why can't the UK do more of this?*
* This is a rhetorical question, I know why. And it's all so stupid
Trains #11 and #12 are more trams. Train #13 is this handsome, modern EMU from Zagreb to Volinja (and return to Sunja) pictured here at Volinja. I'd have liked to have gone further and crossed the border into Bosnia-Herzegovina, but guess what? There aren't any trains. No #crossborderrail for me @jon. The onward line across the river Una to Bosnia is on the left beyond the train.
Just time to jump out at Majur on the return leg and take this picture of the new Cutest Engineering Train™. Check out the My First Pantograph Gauge!
Train #14 is... a bus! 🤦 Not sure why, given we recently passed over the open railway, but this will take me from Sunja on to Sisak Caprag.
Nice example of stitched simple equipment here on the mainline towards Ljubljana. Improves dynamic performance at higher speeds, but more complex than sagged simple equipment, which achieves the same goal.
Trains #16 to 20 are yet more trams as I visit the museum of contemporary art and the science museum in Zagreb. As a special treat, here is a video of me leaving the art museum by the official exit - a spiral slide!
Train #21 is the 1840 Zagreb - Munich sleeper, which I'm taking in seated accommodation as far as Sevnice
Train #21 is the 2038 Sevnice to Ljubljana. The seats on this were awful; they would give any UK seat a run for it's money.
After a fun couple of days sightseeing in Ljubljana, train #22 is the 0850 Ljubljana to Sevnice. My god, this train is slooooow...
Train #23 is the delayed 1028 Sevnica to Zagreb - this return working of the Munich sleeper I got a couple of days ago. Literally had no idea when or even if this train would turn up - no PIS at the station, and a stain manager who spoke no English. My Slovenian did not cut it!
My time in Croatia and Slovenia is at an end - I had a hell of a good time - so train #23 is the 1840 sleeper from Zagreb to Stuttgart. Unfortunately, problems with my carriage and another one mean that my single occupancy cabin is downgraded to a couchette which I share with two others. Luckily, some incredibly fast shunting by station staff to remove the failed carriages means we depart only 13 minutes late, and make up time overnight to arrive bang on time. Bravo!
Also: dear Germany, please stop doing passport checks at the border at 3am. You are founder member of Schengen, appeasing your AfD voters is counterproductive and dangerous, and it makes you look backwards and insular. That's the UK's brand, get your own!
Train #24 is the 1132 Karlsruhe - Paris Gare de l'Est ICE. Really nice vibes and ride quality in first class
Train #25 is the 1710 Eurostar from Gare du Nord to London. Left 10 late, and picked up more and more delays out of Paris and through northern France. Arrived 45 late - meh
Train #27 is a Crossrail train from Farringdon to Paddington. Don't call it the Elizabeth Line
Train #28 is the final one of this trip, the 2000 Paddington to Chippenham.
Another great European rail trip with only one minor hiccup. And the second year running with no broken thread. Bravo!
Florian Haas
Schleifleistenbruch@25kV Purple train!?
@Schleifleistenbruch I mean, if you must!
Ela - TechnicalOtter@25kV Hey it's 153! Also I can hear the eeEEEeeEEEEEEEEEEeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE of that thing on AC...
Medizinphysiker@25kV 👍 Full ACK, and very well formulated ❤️
Minor correction on your previous post: the alt text on the second picture with the red ÖBB Taurus - it's Austrian, not German
@medizinphysiker ah thanks - bleary eyed morning posting, now corrected
renke@25kV @medizinphysiker same for train 23. rather easy to distinguish: more often than not punctual from a German speaking country - ÖBB
typically delayed - DB :D
[SBB/CFF/FFS is in its own tier]
Zoidtes
Saupreiss #Präparat500@25kV You dont want to see what the Brand is for.
(No, it’s neitzer reliability nor technology and only occasionally with enough corruption to attract soccer events.)
@Saupreiss thanks for the word salad
hallunke23 🇺🇦
Border controls at 3h? Are they out of their mind? If they do that to me, they'll face a lawsuit.
Roland Sivonen@hallunke23 @25kV The Danes do it too
Well, then the Danes have to stop it as well.
Tenkoman
Tor Lillqvist@25kV The station looks 20 years out of date compared to the loco.
@tml it is not a well appointed station! Real backwater vibes
samuele963@25kV @tml Yeah it's a fairly typical non-renovated station, if you can see it in the right light though it does have some great vintage vibes - esp with a DMU in the old livery!
Anyways, glad you enjoyed Slovenia and Croatia! If you're in this area again let me know, I'm curious to see what you'd think of Gorizia :)
@25kV And these are being used on some long-distance ICs too! (Koper-Hodoš)
PalmAndNeedle
Gulf Of Mexico Keir Hardie
Martin Gleadow@scatterkeir @25kV What's the story between that NSE machine?
@mgleadow @25kV It's a Permaquip trolley, essentially a personnel carrier, basically a less primitive substitute for the Wickham trolleys used in the past
all of these are #zugkitten|s 
@scatterkeir @25kV cheers - wasn't sure if it was re engineered from something else but I guess the NSE livery was a non standard livery applied instead of engineering yellow
Nils Pickert 🚂
Mike Knell@scatterkeir @25kV The Vienna tramways would like to submit this entry for your consideration.. (yes, those two engineering trams do wear that livery year-round)
@m @scatterkeir wowwwww
@25kV Wearing the crossed shorting poles, symbol of the International Union of Railway Electrical Workers.
@m hahaha!
Tane Piper ⁂