The BeerTrain

A trip to Vienna to do an OBB Nostalgiezug to Keszthely, lots of required track for an Austrian loco and planned to be an OBB 2050 diesel throughout. We flew in on the 5th for 2 nights in Vienna. Friday 06/06/2008 Some pre-breakfast moves: 2016004#  Wien Sud - Wiener Neustadt  0542 Wien Sud - Wiener Neustadt 50km                   (Via Baden) 2016004    Wiener Neustadt - Wien Sud  0632 Wiener Neustadt - Wien Sud 56km                   (Via Ebenfurth & Achau) Some new track under the wires for diesel done there. 1044064    Wien Sud - Wien Meidling 0747 Wien Sud - Passau 4km 2016043#  Wien Meidling - Wien Sud 0640 Aspang Markt - Wien Sud 4km A day with the wife doing the more touristy side of Vienna, taking in some castles and gardens along the way. Followed by a night at the Theatre to watch Ben Elton's Queen epic "We will Rock You", very good fun it was t...

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...