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...

A planned Easter trip to meet up with Tim Reiner & friends in Spain to cover Easter week additionals which brought out a host of the very loud 333's every year. I had never been but they knew what they were doing! These were the days of Boarding Cards - Boarding Card for the cross-channel boat, boarding Card for the overnight to Spain out of Paris Austerlitz...…. I had boarding cards for both & a couchette reservation out of Austerlitz. Having the experience of losing 3 days on a previous Easter trip due to not making the cross-channel boat (a fatality involving my service just before it arrived at Sittingbourne where I was waiting on the platform) & having to wait until the boarding card period was over before I could travel, I had a bit of insurance this time having got FIP coupons for France/Lux & Austria just in case I got bowled somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be just outside the French portal of the Channel Tunnel! Easter Sunday 16/04/95 3216) W...