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...

A trip based around a railtour being run by Treysa e.V in Germany using diesel loco 212 372 to the “Rhein in Flame” fireworks event around the Koblenz area. After a few months of planning there would be 3 of us meeting up in Germany to do a bit of beer drinking and train travel for a couple of days prior to the railtour. I lost the original report for this trip (I.T. issues) so some of the detail is missing &/or assumed. Wednesday 08/08/18 My German Wings flight booking next day had been changed by the airline from a sociable 1125 to Bonn to an unsociable 0655 to Dusseldorf! Due to this I made my way over to Manchester this evening where I had booked a hotel across the road from Manchester Piccadilly. I had arranged to meet a former work colleague, Howey, in the Piccadilly Tap pub on the station approach, he then took me on a tour of some of the new wave “Craft” beer bars that have opened in central Manchester over the last couple of years – only Real Ale from the handpump for ...