The BeerTrain

  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...

I got a call from Stewart Medhurst, out of the blue, that although the narrow gauge line from St.Pölten to Mariazell was currently closed north of Laubenbachmuhle due to a programme of track replacement & complete renewal of the overhead electric equipment (including masts), the Styrian Alpine town of Mariazell was aghast at the prospect of no visitors on their most Sacred of days, Easter Sunday.  Mariazell Basilica, also known as Basilica Maria Geburt (Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary) is the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria and one of the most visited shrines in Europe with about a million visitors each year. It is the only church named as a national shrine of all German-speaking countries. It is also the first destination (accordingly to a plaque I read inside the Basilica) that each newly ordained Pope heads to on a pilgrimage of his own. OBB, who were doing the line up in preparation to offloading it (Novog took it off them) tried to tell the town n...

Time to go to Germany & Austria once more in search of new track for Rabbits and the like . Single manned trip / # denotes new loco. Friday 05/09/03 A cheap flight to Friedrichshafen, not the diesel bashing playground of yesteryear but still with plenty of moves to cover, albeit only 218's now available. EI-DAF    Stansted – Freidrichshafen    1120 Stansted – Freidrichshafen Bob Unit   Freidrichshafen Flug – Meckenbeuren  6km 218 214     Meckenbeuren – Ulm    1404 Lindau – Ulm  95km 218 196     Ulm – Neu Ulm   1547 Ehingen – Memmingen 2km 218 194     Neu Ulm – Ulm   1535 Memmingen – Ehingen   2km 218 214)    Ulm – Plochingen   1533 Freidrichshafen Stadt – Stuttgart  72 km 218 168)  A 2 hour break to visit a Brewpub here, very civilised after an early start today. A winner Rabbit forward to boot. 218 389#) Plochingen – Stuttgart   1733 Freidrichshafen Stadt – Stut...