The BeerTrain

I visited Cuba on a family holiday (also involving my Step-son's wedding) in August 2009, of course we were staying in the resort of Varadero , also referred to as  Playa Azul  (Blue Beach), set up to cater for most of Cuba's beach tourism, it's a bus ride from the town of  Cardenas (in the province of Matanzas, Cuba's 2nd largest city). I had looked into local train workings with the hope that at some point I could get to Matanzas and cover the 17:00 locals to Agramonte and Los Arabos Neuvo, in the hope of travelling behind an MLW loco. Tuesday 18th August 2009 I left the hotel promising to be back by the end of the day, armed with my CUC (convertible peso) currency. There were still two currencies in use at the time, normal pesos for Cubans and these CUC pesos for tourists, the idea being the locals could travel or buy goods for peanuts but any visiting tourists could be charged 10 times as much for the privilege. A straightforward start with the bus to Cardenas picki...

This was definitely NOT a single manned trip! Forewarned that the Swiss Railway society were running their special around Greece at the same time as Greek Easter meant a large contingent of 31 bashers / Crompton bashers & a few Peak bashers were all keen to attend. You could pay by the day on the Swiss trip so ideal. Me & Howey had booked our flights while staying in Sibenik on 27th December, the night the flights first came available, thanks to Howey's mate in the UK who did a sterling job for us other the phone. (# = new loco)    Thursday 02/05/02 A positioning move to get us in place for the following days Swiss tour with A206 & A302 . A day of unbelievable hay-fever, especially when we reached Stylis. Not sure who was worse me or Shovel! A483# Athens - Lianokladi 1320 Athens - Stylis 212km A206 at Llianokladi waits to work the Swiss tour of 03/05/02. A302 is in the background. A223 Lianokladi - Stylis 1320 Athens - Stylis 22km A223 at Stylis on the 17...

A last chance saloon attempt to finally get an Alco down the Algarve, the only remaining booked turn for the class being the 0853 ex Barreiro & 1620 return. I would also be trying to cover all my required diesel hauled track in Portugal. I was single manned on this trip & again # = required loco. Sunday 01/04/01 A day transiting my way across France and Spain to pick up the overnight at Irun. 3209       Waterloo International - Paris Nord 1000 Waterloo I - Paris Nord 494km 337#)      Paris Montparnasse - Irun 1555 Paris Mont - Irun 807km 402#) 252069# Irun - Valladolid 2210 Irun - Lisbon 391km Monday 02/04/01 My alarm was set for the loco change at Valladolid - Beast 333 087 forward. 333087# Valladolid - Vila Formosa   2210 Irun - Lisbon 400km 5605#     Vila Formosa - Coimbra-B 2210 Irun - Lisbon 216km Phew! that was a long journey, I had stocked up on snacks and beer in Paris then managed to stay awake ...

I had for many years attended the Weekly Wind Up, a weekly Thursday evening occurrence with about 70 like minded people working on the railway or LUL or Buses trying out varied venues in London & the Home Counties to drink Real Ale. At these events 2 things normally held true 1) I would drink more than the other 70 odd people present & get in the biggest mess & 2) conversations involving Portuguese Railways ALWAYS revolved around "Portuguese 50's, Portuguese 50's OR Portuguese 50's! (& an occasional class 20)". As I hold all class 50's in little (or No) regard that was enough to swerve Portugal for good. Until one evening when Rubble, fresh back from CP land cried out "I was bowled by a Shredder!". Tell me more - what do you mean they have a fleet of Alco RSC-2 / RSC-3 2000hp locos from 1948! and a fleet of MLW MX620's to boot. How come I've never been informed of this fact? Displeased as I was I had other fish to fry in G...