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
Ela - TechnicalOtter@25kV Hey it's 153! Also I can hear the eeEEEeeEEEEEEEEEEeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE of that thing on AC...