Rurtalbahn’s Vectron is a nice-looking, and often seen, guest on Belgian tracks. Even on Easter it was adding mileage, with a car train towards Gent. After an on-time notification, I was able to make it to Argenteau. Freight traffic from Germany towards the Belgian ports is rerouted through the Meuse valley due to important infrastructure works between Hasselt and Aarschot. Continue reading Rerouted beauty
Still cold, but standing on the shore again. The short day is over already, but the shadows of the west side of the valley don’t reach the east side yet. Perfect for this colorful train to Luxemburg. Continue reading Green and grey leading blue
January 6th 2017 was a cold day, very cold. So cold that the slower flowing parts of the Rhine river froze over. With a thick jacket and good shoes, this created some new vantage points, like here, standing between the 2 shores. Continue reading Walking on water
The location at Usti nad Labem Strekov also looks good in the other direction, albeit not as spectacular Continue reading Turning around at the waterfront
The Elbe also has a Czech name: Labem. On this photo, the train is running along the Labem river. Yes, I have finally arrived in the Czech republic. South of Decin, there are railway lines on both sides of the river. I had no idea where to see the trains, but I guessed cargo traffic woud run on the right bank of the river when … Continue reading Labem’s right bank
One recommendation when visiting the Elbe valley: try to avoid using a car. Roads that aren’t accessible and few parking spots give the car driver a hard time. And spots like this one are easily missed. It has been on my wishlist for a while, and I knew approximately where I needed to be… but had some difficulty locating it exactly. WIth a bicycle I … Continue reading Wish I had a bicycle
In the second half of september 2016 I had a week off work that I used for a trip to some – for me – unknown territory: the Czech and Slovak republics. Day 1 of the trip was the day to cover most of the distance: destination Dresden. I would use the following days to follow the Elbe river to Usti Nad Labem, and then … Continue reading Pilgrimage to eastern Europe
Here’s another one continuing the “trains and castles” photo series. Pictured are the ruins of the 12th century Burg Ehrenfels, while a DB Cargo train is seen passing underneath. The Archbishop of Mainz had this castle built, as a defense, but is also served as a customs post together with the Mouse Tower that was built in the Rhine river and is still in good … Continue reading Burg Ehrenfels
A completely new view, for a long time on my wishlist, and this day I finally got there. Clouds and sun were playing games, but I was able to make some nice sunny shots with the town of Sankt-Goarshausen in the background. This spot can easily be reached on foot. Just beware when parking the car during tourist season: the parkings at the Loreley site … Continue reading Katz und Maus
The gloomy and short winter day ended at the monumental bridge over the Rhine river at Duisburg. I squeezed the camera through a fence to get a decent view on the steel monster, hoping for some freight but getting a bright passenger train. Nicely contrasting the bridge. It was only getting darker and I was getting more and mmore soaked and cold: the signal for … Continue reading Giant steel monster
Railscapes 