The BeerTrain

A single manned trip to DB land, main aim of this trip to get to Berlin behind a pair of 218's. As usual # denotes new loco. The overnight ferry, now departing from Ramsgate, was as usual the booked outward move, with probably a couple of beers in the Titanic bar in Ostend before sleeping my way across Belgium. Saturday 03/02/96 2728            Oostende - Aachen 0634  Oostende -  Köln 280km 110 263#  Aachen -  Köln   0634  Oostende -  Köln 70km Only one piece of new track to aim at today, so mainly a case of working my way south towards my overnight, covering as many diesel diagrams on the way as possible. 218 130    Köln - K öln Hansaring 0940 Gummersbach - K.Hansaring 1km 143 258#  K öln Hansaring -  K öln 1050  K öln Hansaring - Au 1km 215 038#  K öln - Euskirchen 1114  K öln Deutz - Trier 40km 215 094# Euskirchen - Bonn 1159  Euskirchen - Bonn 34km Time to drop fur...

An outward trip with Neath (Steve Thomas) to Germany, with the main aims for myself of various new track for diesel, before meeting up with Neath again for a day, partly to cover a new class 217 diagram - a Mondays Only pilot turn from Schwandorf to Regensburg, the first time the class had appeared on booked passenger work since we'd started bashing in the Fatherland. # denotes new Locos. Saturday 20/04/91 We did the overnight cross channel ferry, being the usual means of getting to Europe after a Friday at work in the offices above Waterloo station. You normally got into Ostend about 0315 - time for a couple of beers in the hellfire Titanic bar (open 24 hours) just down the road . I then did my normal move in Belgium - catch up on some sleep whilst collecting more mileage behind a rateable 1600 electric. 1603        Oostende - Düren      0532 Oostende - Köln 311km 212 270 at Duren on the 0919 to Neuss.Photo courtesy of Neath (Steve Thomas). ...

Sorry for the heading, just trying to use some of the winner destinations for diesel hauled on this trip together as no pithy title came to mind! Anyway a single-manned trip, I'd been going through the Kursbuch with Graham Belton (Peckham) we had been working out current loco hauled routes that might be finishing with the upcoming Summer timetable so the above 3 were my main objectives (along with Reinheim which I couldn't work into the title!). # = winning loco. Thursday 23/05/91 Flight to Frankfurt to get me in position for the 1517 out of Wiesbaden on what turned out to be the penultimate day that the routes to Westerburg & Au were available. 103 152# Frankfurt Flughafen - Mainz 0729 München - Hannover 29km 218 366# Mainz - Bad Kreuznach 1235 Mainz - St.Wendel 41km 218 362# Bad Kreuznach - Bingerbruck 1312 Bad Kreuznach - Bingerbruck 16km 141 199# Bingerbruck - Mainz Hbf 1323 Oberwesel - Mainz 30km 141 230# Mainz - Wiesbaden Hbf 1438 Mainz - Wiesbaden 10km 216 219# Wiesb...