The Ruhr area is densely populated with not only people, but also train tracks. Difference is that population is probably increasing, and the number of tracks are probably decreasing. This photo is taken standing atop a bridge of a once active railway line. The line going underneath connects Oberhausen to the Dutch Betuwe route and thus sees a lot of traffic from the port of … Continue reading An abandoned bridge
Second stop on the day trip was to get the car approved in a TüV Prufcenter to drive into the Ruhr area, necessary if you want to avoid fines. Third stop was the station of Krefeld Uerdingen. I arrived here by accident, after all it was a trip meant to explore the area, and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw: a nice looking old … Continue reading Posing in Krefeld
In the first half of 2016 I (finally) started exploring the German Ruhr region, a region said to be busy with railfreight traffic. My route to the region runs along the Eindhoven – Venlo line, which also sees quite some freight trains… a logic stop for having breakfast! In America I found this view – it is stitched together using 3 photo’s to get the … Continue reading Half a horse
Thoughts of the last moment are sometimes the better ones, I must admit. While packing our stuff to go home, it appeared to us that we could still make it for the TER Service to Sarreguemines. This service was one of the last ones hauled a BB67400 series diesel. We won the race against the clock; in what were really the last rays of sunshine … Continue reading Last minute
We didn’t plan for shots in this direction, but with a southbound train approaching I gave it a try. Even though I was not satisfied with the result on the camera scren, I decided to keep this one, keeping in mind the advice of a good friend to always judge your photos on the computer screen. After some post-processing I had to change my mind and … Continue reading Always judge your photos on a decent screen
I’m always conscious of local culture when we’re out on a trip. A special interest in local beer culture makes a trip all the more interesting. In the background of this photo, you can see the buildings of the Brasserie Meteor. This independant brewery is home to Meteor (pils and lager) and Wendelinus (blonde and roussa), and also creates occasional brewings. We saw many trains, … Continue reading Brasserie Meteor
The wide plains north of Strasbourg allow straight tracks and fast trains. Here we see a local train that can ride 200 km/h. I’m sure this local doesn’t stop in every small village though. Continue reading High speed lcoal
The opening of the TGV-Est, planned for december 2016, would meant the end of the Eurocity trains between Brussels and Basel. Following all logic of French railways, passengers from Brussels to Switzerland have to use the TGV and pass through Paris… We love these classic trains, allowing cheap and relatively fast travel. That’s one of the reasons we were chasing them in the Vosges on … Continue reading Along the Marne – Rhine canal
When travelling around often, you get to know your favorite places. Whenever I travel between home and Switzerland, I try to include a stop at “Boulangerie Bernard” in the center of Mommenheim. Their butter rolls are de-li-cious and more than worth the short detour! On the morning of january 29th I had no effort convincing my fellow traveller to stop over at Mommenheim. We were … Continue reading A busy breakfast
The last freight train of the day, headed to Pontresina, passes us at Bever station. We awaited this train before heading home. Weather forecast wasn’t looking good, and because of last night’s accident, we decided to make a stop-over north of Strasbourg. It had already gotten rather dark for this photo – some boosting of the light was necessary to get a decent result. Continue reading Evening freight
Railscapes 