The BeerTrain

A welcome return to the Fatherland as I'd not managed a train & beer trip here since August 2018. My main aims being to sample some new brewpubs & breweries and travel behind some 218 diesel locos as their booked workings on passenger trains are diminishing fast. Wednesday 3rd April 2019 As with all short trips the best way to maximise them is by an early flight, to this end I had booked one with Ryanair at 0630 on Thursday morning from Manchester. I booked a single room at the Gardens hotel, on Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, for £34. No Breakfast as I would be departing about 0430 am! Unit Barnsley - Huddersfield 1900 Barnsley - Huddersfield Unit Huddersfield - Manchester Picc xxxx Hudd - Manc Piccadilly I checked in at the Gardens and was upgraded to a double room, very kind of the receptionist. I dropped my bag in my room and set several alarms for 0430 / 0432 / 0435 etc! due to the very early start next day.. As the time was about 2100 I went out in search ...

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 ...

After Dan & Robs wedding in New York we included a visit to Plymouth & Boston (both in Massachusetts). Tuesday 04/08/15 I was nursing a hangover this morning, we took a Metro to City Hall then walked down to Ground Zero, many many people paying their respects – a very moving location. We then hopped into a cab to Greenwich village to sample the Caffe Reggio on Macdougal street which has been a coffeehouse since 1927 and has been featured in many movies including The Godfather part II,Serpico, Next Stop Greenwich Village and Shaft. Many celebrities have been spotted or photographed here. In 1959 presidential hopeful JFK made a speech outside the coffee shop. Here we had a nice lunch (which came with a Bellini included) & washed down with a bottle of Brooklyn Lager (hangover cure). Al Pacino outside Caffe Reggio. We walked down past “the Cage” basketball court to the West Fourth st / Washington Square subway station to catch a tube to Maceys for a spot of shopping. ...