Switzerland May 2016 (In/out from Budapest)
A simple trip to Switzerland to basically cover the SBB Cargo Re4/4 turns that had started working in the December 2015 timetable change. As I left it late to book it worked out a lot cheaper to fly out and back to Budapest and do the overnight from Budapest Keleti to Zurich in either direction.
Flights
Booked through Wizz Air – £38 return
W6 2206 1430 Luton – Budapest
W6 2207 1520 Budapest – Luton
Hotels
Budapest (Köbanya Kispest) – Hotel Chesscom – a short walk from the exit from the shopping centre outside Köbanya Kispest station; in fact, it’s visible from the steps as you walk out. It was cheap and cheerful and I wasn’t expecting much. The front desk is manned 24/7 and the staff spoke fluent English. The room was quite a big one and was clean with toiletries being provided in the bathroom and free WiFi is available throughout the hotel.
Zurich (Winterthur) – Hotel Ibis Budget Winterthur – a 15-minute walk from Winterthur station. The room was positively miniscule and there was hardly any room to move round the twin beds with the shower only having a frosted door and the toilet being separate and with no actual door handle on it. There was barely enough room to leave our stuff the following morning but at least there were enough plug sockets to charge everything we had; of course though with it being Ibis none were anywhere near the bedsides so we made sure there were four alarms set just in case we didn’t hear them with them being at the other side of the room.
Train Tickets
Interrail Global Pass (7 days in 1 month) – £215 with a 15% discount offer
Booked in the UK through Interrail direct
Sunday 8th May 2016 (A day of travel to Budapest; not one that started well)
As seems to be the norm on a Sunday the first trains from Doncaster to Kings Cross were retimed later, due to engineering work, and were booked for HST’s instead of the usual 91’s! Unfortunately, when I looked at getting to Luton via Sheffield and the Midland Main Line everything was booked a DMU so the lesser of the two evils was to go via the ECML and Kings Cross.
All was well when I boarded the 0805 Leeds – Kings Cross at Doncaster, with 43257/43295. At least the quiet coach wasn’t wedged out, which is what drew me onto the train as I’d been toying with waiting for the 0853 behind as it was only 6 minutes later into Kings Cross. When the announcement came at Retford, advising that we’d be delayed due to overrunning engineering work, I was soon wishing I’d waited for the 0853; as it ultimately headed through Retford before we departed, as did the following Grand Central service!
Apparently the possession overrun was due to some issue with ballast cleaning overnight, the result being my 0805 Leeds – Kings Cross being 46’ late away from Retford. Still, at least I’d had a decent conversation with Rubble while I was festering, who was in Hungary, and knew that GySev Vectron 193235 was working the booked turn; having been viewed on IC937 0819 Sopron – Budapest Keleti. The added bonus being that GySev Cargo 182570 was also out and had been viewed on IC919 0659 Csorna – Budapest Keleti. This at least gave me something to ponder on the journey to London!
Further time was lost en-route to London and for some bizarre reason we stopped at the signal outside Copenhagen Tunnel, with Kings Cross clearly visible at the other side of it, with only 5 minutes to arrive before the train was 60’ late. During the 4 minutes we stood at the signal the HST an hour behind from Doncaster went trundling by to arrive into Kings cross bang on time; meanwhile we’d been held just long enough to have us rolling down platform 2 at 1135, 61’ late. So the 4-minute needless stop outside the station had cost Virgin Trains East Coast dearly as everyone on board would now be entitled to a full refund for their troubled journey. Quite how that would go with my Interrail I was intrigued to see, but that would have to wait until I returned.
Thankfully the hour late arrival didn’t hinder me too much and there was 1210 St Pancras – Nottingham that stopped at Luton Airport Parkway; which unfortunately turned out to be a pair of units! I had no problem boarding the airport shuttle bus with my Interrail ticket, which was wedged to the gunnels and at the airport a new bus stop is in use while the area immediately outside the terminal building undergoes a complete facelift; which is a building site! Getting through security at Luton Airport was simple and while security didn’t seem that busy, it was rammed airside and I was grateful I only had 30 minutes to wait before my gate was displayed.
The flight was about as harmless as they come for a low-cost airline. We only queued at the gate for 5 minutes before being allowed to board and the plane was even early away. The result of this was an early arrival into Budapest and having landed at 1740 I was standing on the platform at Köbanya Kispest at 1820 after being delivered there by 480018, having scurried through the airport, jumped onto a 200E bus to Ferihegy and made IC33 1420 Chop – Budapest Nyugati!
MAV EMU 415027 was sat in waiting to depart Köbanya Kispest with the 1827 to Szekesfehervar and a quick look on the Vonatinfo app, courtesy of the free WiFi from said EMU, revealed that IC943 1619 Sopron – Budapest Keleti was running a little late; so when I realised that the EMU would make it I was Kelenfold bound on it. The move that followed was nothing short of a bonus with GySev Vectron 193235 leading IC943 1619 Sopron – Budapest Keleti into Keleti, where GySev Cargo 182570 was on hand to whisk me straight back to Kelenfold on IC938 1905 Budapest Keleti – Sopron, which made the 1916 EMU from Kelenfold back to Köbanya Kispest, which in turn dropped me nicely into IC618 1923 Budapest Nyugati – Nyiregyhaza, with what appears to be the booked loco for the turn, MAV Cargo 630019.
My luck seemed to remain with me after I returned from Ferihegy with a dud 431221 on IC733 1745 Szeged – Nyugati, and 432258 did nicely as it headed 2738 2003 Nyugati – Cegled. 431111 duly arrived with 16203 1503 Zahony – Nyugati, which I did through to Zuglo for 431101 back to Köbanya Kispest on 6008 2028 Nyugati – Debrecen and decided to call it a day.
I’d booked the Hotel Chesscom through Booking.com, which is a short walk from the exit from the shopping centre outside Köbanya Kispest station; in fact, it’s visible from the steps as you walk out. It was cheap and cheerful and I wasn’t expecting much. The front desk is manned 24/7 and the staff spoke fluent English. The room was quite a big one and was clean with toiletries being provided in the bathroom and free WiFi is available throughout the hotel. There was quite a bit of noise coming from the adjacent room when I arrived so I ended up going back out, in an attempt to find something to eat. Of course I ended up back at the station and when 418150 rolled in with the 2016 Dabas – Nyugati I was Zuglo bound for the random T&T formation of 431208 leading IC728 2053 Nyugati – Szeged back, with 431221 dead on the rear.
I was going to view IC711 1945 Szeged – Nyugati but as it was late I headed off into the large shopping centre to find some food. The only thing I found open was the massive Tesco in the middle of it so I ended up back at the station again and on IC711 1945 Szeged – Nyugati to Budapest when it rolled in with 431132. After a good meal at the Okay Italia, a short walk from Nyugati, I knew 418174 would be on the 2318 Nyugati – Lajosmisze so headed back to Köbanya Kispest with that. My body clock was on UK time anyway so it wasn’t that late in my head. Thankfully the hotel was deftly quiet when I got back to my room and there wasn’t a peep at all from next door. With the alarm set for 0600, so I could check the mapper out to see what was around, I was soon in bed!
Gen for Sunday 8th May 2016
GySev
182570 IC938 1905 Budapest Keleti – Sopron
193235 IC943 1619 Sopron – Budapest Keleti
MAV
418150 2921 2016 Dabas – Budapest Nyugati
418174 2968 2318 Budapest Nyugati – Lajosmizse
431101 6008 2028 Budapest Nyugati – Debrecen
431111 16203 1503 Zahony – Budapest Nyugati
431132 IC711 1945 Szeged – Budapest Nyugati
431208 IC728 2053 Budapest Nyugati – Szeged
431221 IC733 1745 Szeged – Budapest Nyugati
432258 2738 2003 Budapest Nyugati – Cegled
480018 IC33 1420 Chop – Budapest Nyugati
630019 IC618 1923 Budapest Nyugati – Nyiregyhaza
Photos for Sunday 8th May 2016
Monday 9th May 2016 (A day nedding about in Budapest)
I didn’t need the alarm to wake me up and was up and messing about with the phone to try and get the MAV mapper working by 0545! What I did discover rather quickly is that it’s a nightmare on a phone to get the map to behave and do what you want; even worse when the WiFi connection isn’t that great. After a good 15 minutes of messing about I decided to get myself a day’s Europass through 3 so I could have access to the Vonatinfo live train display all day, and attempt to use the mapper when needed; little did I realise then that it would be the best thing I did that day and would do me a sterling job in working moves out in advance later in the morning!
Having found that MAV Cargo 630019 was en-route on IC619 0535 Nyiregyhaza – Budapest Nyugati I turned my attention to other things and found that my luck with MAV 418’s on the Lajosmisze turns wasn’t going to turn into anything on this particular morning. I did find a few 431’s heading into town that were new so I checked out of the hotel by 0620 and had the bonus of 431093 out to Ferihegy with 6202 0628 Nyugati – Zahony. A rather busy but rewarding morning ensued from the moment I set foot on railway premises, which finished up on the Nyugati side of things with 418106 on the 0918 Nyugati – Lajosmisze delivering me to Köbanya Kispest so I could do the 0957 EMU round to Kelenfold and start the second part of the morning in a similar fashion!
When I got to Kelenfold I already knew what the GySev locos out were, thanks to gen from Rubble, who’d been in Gyor of a morning. Unfortunately, the Vectron turn was 193235 again and even GySev Cargo 182570 was out on the same turn again. While I was sat in the sun at Kelenfold scouring the Vonatinfo app for a train line-up at Kelenfold I decided to delve into the app and scour it for individual trains. When I listed a schedule a complete stroke of luck changed the outlook of the day; without a doubt!
While looking at the schedule for 847 0747 Balatonszentgyogy – Budapest Deli I managed to keep my finger on the screen too long and half swiped it to one side so curiosity then got the better of me to find out what swiping the screen actually revealed; it was only the bloody loco that was consisted to the train who’s schedule I was looking at! Quite baffled by what I’d just discovered I had a go at another schedule and it revealed the same. I soon worked out that by looking at a station line-up you can click on the individual train and when it’s expanded tap the train symbol in the bottom right of it. This reveals the whole schedule for the train and then if you swipe the screen right the loco gen is revealed. Unfortunately, this only works for trains that are actually on the run and for general MAV/GySev locos but not things that are non-standard on passenger trains in Hungary like the Vectron and OBB 1116’s for example.
Having discovered that 431190 was heading 847 into Budapest Deli, I spent the journey in, and back out on 431340 with 904 1030 Deli – Szombathely, looking at everything that was heading towards Budapest Deli & Keleti and was basically allowed to plan my morning. And to some extent the early afternoon moves as well. This new-found gen source had certainly made paying for my £5 Europass with 3 all the more value for money and while there was actually a lull in the service at Kelenfold I did 193235 into Keleti again, this time with IC937 0819 Sopron – Keleti, for GySev 470502 back out on IC942 1105 Keleti – Sopron.
The aim for the day was to try and cover as many of the Dombovar 433 turns as I could, that headed into Deli/Keleti and the GySev 430 turns working into Deli. Unfortunately, 430321 heading into town with 0907 0805 Szombathely – Deli was dud but thankfully 430333 already in town off 909 0605 Szombathely – Deli was new. A move was hatched to make sure I was into Deli for 430333 departing at 1230, which involved five different classes of loco by the time I ended up at Keleti off 480007 on IC947 1021 Sopron – Keleti; the move involving 470003 into Keleti on EC345 0842 Wien Hbf – Beograd for 433242 back to Kelenfold with IC804 1145 Keleti – Pecs. Then it was 431072 into Deli with IC857 1103 Siofok – Deli (which is technically the 0833 Nagykanisza – Deli but due to engineering works buses were substituting part way) for GySev 430333 back out to Kelenfold with 9004 1230 Deli – Szombathely and then 480007 into Keleti.
As I didn’t need to bother with the GySev Vectron turn a lull in service had me heading from Keleti to Deli by the very efficient Metro. This allowed me to get some food from one of the may fast food counters at Deli and then view the 1330 Deli – Veszprem and 1335 Deli – Nagykanisza. I chose the former as it was 431348, over the latter which was 480010, and having had time to relax, charge my phone battery and figure out what was coming my way later in the afternoon I was soon heading back into Keleti with 433347 on IC805 1114 Pecs – Keleti for 433313 back out with IC204 1445 Keleti – Zagreb GK.
With the afternoon pretty much mapped out, until I would head into Keleti for the evening rush, I made sure I was around for 975 1301 Tapolca – Budapest Deli. Staying around meant doing an EMU into Deli for 480022 back out with 856 1535 Deli – Siofok for 431134 back into Deli with 9005 1205 Szombathely – Deli and then 431072 back to Kelenfold with 8506 1600 Deli – Nagykanisza; which just so happened to be a nice cross platform move into 418331 with 975 1301 Tapolca – Deli, with both trains coming to a stand opposite each other at the same time. 431310 was already sat waiting to depart Deli with 906 1630 Deli – Szombathely, which put me nicely into 470007 at Kelenfold, which delivered me into Keleti as EC145 1442 Wien Hbf – Budapest Keleti. It was a bit of a mad rush for the remainder of the evening.
As I walked down towards the train shed I noticed 448419 dropping onto a commuter set and didn’t really think much of it as MAV Cargo 630019 got my attention, which was sat in the bay having arrived with IC654 1023 Budapest Nyugati – Budapest Keleti and was basking nicely in the evening sunshine next to 432270; so out came the camera. When I eventually got round to walking down the platform I noticed people on the set that 448419 had just dropped onto and my first thought was that it was going to shunt 432376 off the set, which had its pantographs down. I stood near a door anyway and when the road came off, without 432376 having been uncoupled, I leapt on and the whole set was duly shunted from one side of the train shed to the other; for seemingly no apparent reason. Which of course there must have been a reason for but still, my afternoon fortune had actually saved me a walk and I was right side to now see what 432’s were lurking about on the Hatvan/Sulysap commuter sets. Not that it seemed to matter as people were just walking from one set of bays to the other, straight over the main train shed tracks anyway, so I wasn’t going to be wasting my time walking round at any time soon……
I discovered new 432307 to be sat with a set that was showing on the screens to work the 1815 Keleti – Szolnok, which would be a bit of a tight plus for me as I planned to do 433211 out to Kelenfold on IC808 1745 Keleti – Pecs, for the cross platform plus 1 onto what I knew from Vonatinfo would be 433161 back in with IC803 1514 Pecs – Keleti. The latter not being booked to arrive into Keleti until 1814. Undeterred I did the move anyway as both 433’s were new. 433161 rolled into Keleti at bang on 1814 and I’d been hoping for a bit of luck with the platform it arrived into. However, it arrived onto the platform in the train shed furthest from where 432307 was. While not the most sensible option, it was definitely the quickest, I legged it round the back of the train and straight over all the tracks of the train shed and was aboard the 1815 Keleti – Szolnok with about 60 seconds to spare; and that was only as it left a couple of minutes late!
As 432307 eased out of the station 432256 was visible in the bays, and was well loaded, so I suspected it would be departing soon after I had. Sure enough it arrived at Kobanya Felso almost right behind; with 3418 1820 Keleti – Sulysap. In the 5 minutes I had at Kobanya Felso I watched 432273 run through with a non-stop train towards Keleti, which was closely followed by CD 380018 also heading into Keleti. I was soon back in Keleti myself having made 432144 at Rakos with 3343 1700 Szolnok – Keleti, which gave me another made dash across the tracks at Keleti to make 431022, which was about to depart with 3328 1845 Keleti – Szolnok! 15 minutes later I was departing Keleti again with 432270 on 5508 1900 Keleti – Eger; having done 432299 straight back in from Kobanya Felso with 3233 1813 Gödöllo – Keleti. The evening was called a day after I headed back into Keleti with 432377 on 3033 1811 Hatvan – Keleti and I was son sitting in the Chinese Restaurant just outside the side entrance of the commuter platforms. The place had been wedged when I walked in, which was definitely a good sign, and my food took 30 minutes to be prepared but it was well worth it. The portion was massive, the food very tasty and it cost me about £3 for a main course with rice!
As I walked to the front of EN462 2040 Keleti – München Hbf to spot the loco a mystery was solved. Rubble had sent me a message earlier in the morning to say that soon to be Cargo only OBB 1116037 had departed Wien Hbf with 16463 heading towards Budapest Keleti; only when I saw the train at Kelenfold it turned up with MAV 480006, which Rubble had seen at Hegyeshalom that morning also. 1116037 had cleared been removed from 16463 en-route but had worked through to Keleti later in the day as it was sat proudly at the front of my EN462 waiting to depart with it! The booked diagram for the loco of EN463 at Keleti would have been to work EC344 1640 back out of Keleti but I’d found also soon to be Cargo only 1116033 on that. Little did I realise at the time that it would be waiting for me at Salzburg with EN466 2125 Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf!
My three berth sleeper in the MAV portion of the train was full and unfortunately the compartment next door had a young child in it, which did a very good job of keeping people awake until well after midnight; purely by being a pain in the arse as the kid was a good 3-4 years old and was whining for no reason really! Even my earplugs couldn’t keep the noise out! Sleep did eventually come though……
Gen for Monday 9th May 2016
MAV
418106 2942 0918 Budapest Nyugati – Lajosmizse
418150 2932 0818 Budapest Nyugati – Lajosmizse
418331 975 1301 Tapolca – Budapest Deli
431022 3328 1845 Budapest Keleti – Szolnok
431072 857 1103 Siofok – Budapest Deli
431072 8506 1600 Budapest Deli – Siofok
431074 7009 0436 Szeged – Budapest Nyugati
431093 6202 0628 Budapest Nyugati – Zahony
431119 6099 0414 Debrecen – Budapest Nyugati
431134 9005 1205 Szombathely – Budapest Deli
431165 6109 0545 Nyiregyhaza – Budapest Nyugati
431190 847 0747 Balatonszentgyogy – Budapest Deli
431193 IC702 0653 Budapest Nyugati – Szeged
431219 IC707 0645 Szeged – Budapest Nyugati
431223 6292 0828 Budapest Nyugati – Zahony
431270 5508 1900 Budapest Keleti – Eger
431310 906 1630 Budapest Deli – Szombathely
431340 904 1030 Budapest Deli – Szombathely
431348 964 1330 Budapest Deli – Veszprem
432144 3343 1700 Szolnok – Budapest Keleti
432213 2662 0908 Budapest Nyugati – Monor
432256 3418 1820 Budapest Keleti – Sulysap
432264 2777 0610 Albertirsa – Budapest Nyugati
432299 3233 1813 Gödöllo – Budapest Keleti
432307 3318 1815 Budapest Keleti – Szolnok
432311 2517 0542 Szolnok – Budapest Nyugati
432377 3033 1811 Hatvan – Budapest Keleti
433161 803 1514 Pecs – Budapest Keleti
433211 808 1745 Budapest Keleti – Pecs
433242 804 1145 Budapest Keleti – Pecs
433313 IC204 1445 Budapest Keleti – Zagreb Glavni Kolodvor
433347 805 1114 Pecs – Budapest Keleti
448419 Shunt stock for 3376 1745 Keleti – Szolnok at Keleti
470003 EC345 0842 Wien Hbf – Beograd
470007 EC145 1442 Wien Hbf – Budapest Keleti
480007 IC947 1021 Sopron – Budapest Keleti
480022 856 1535 Budapest Deli – Siofok
GySev
182570 IC919 0659 Csorna – Budapest Keleti, IC922 1010 Budapest Keleti – Szombathely, IC925 1510 Szombathely – Budapest Keleti, IC938 1905 Budapest Keleti – Sopron
193235 IC937 0819 Sopron – Budapest Keleti, IC934 1305 Budapest Keleti – Sopron, IC943 1619 Sopron – Budapest Keleti
430321 IC907 0805 Szombathely – Budapest Deli
430333 9004 1230 Budapest Deli – Szombathely
470502 IC942 1105 Budapest Keleti – Sopron
OBB
1116037 EN462 2040 Budapest Keleti – München Hbf
1163004 shunt MAV portion EN462 to EN466 at Salzburg Hbf
1116033 EN466 2125 Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf (to Buchs; topped by 1116129 at Innsbruck)
SBB Cargo 11251 EN466 from Buchs
Photos for Monday 9th May 2016
Tuesday 10th May 2016 (A day of nedding in Zurich)
A stroke of luck had me heading to the bog in the middle of the night, which just so happened to be when EN462 had just rolled into Salzburg Hbf. A quick scan out of the door revealed a loco dropping onto the rear of the train, which is the Keleti – Zurich through portion, and a run down the platform revealed OBB 1163004 as the loco. This then shunted our portion off the rear of EN462 and onto the rear of EN466 2125 Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf. After the shunt a quick run to the front, with 5 minutes to booked departure time, revealed OBB 1116033 at the head of EN466. I was keen to see what it was while I had the chance as EN466 was booked to have another 1116 top it from Innsbruck. Just in case and all that…….
I was up in time for the reversal and loco change at Buchs and was very surprised to find Skidmore running down the platform, as I was running back up it having found 1116129/1116033 just being removed from EN466. While we walked down to the opposite end of the train discussing why we were both on the train and what we planned to do next, we were both taken by surprise when a border security guard asked for our ID. Mine was still on the train but Skidmore produced his passport. The fact that we were both traveling through to Zurich prevented the need for me to go and get my passport and we were allowed to head to the front of the train where SBB Cargo 11251 was just dropping on; the SBB Cargo Re4/4’s being the sole reason for my trip into Switzerland so the day started as I hoped it would continue; a few bad decisions later and I’d be regretting most of the day and resenting myself for making the decisions I had!
Arrival into Zurich Hbf was spot on time at 0820 and I met Aidy at the buffer stops, who was just as amazed to find Skidmore getting off the same train as me, as I had been to bump into him at Buchs! My immediate move was already sorted as SBB Cargo 421383 should work EC193 0747 Basel – München Hbf forward from Zurich. However, Skidmore was soon on the phone telling me that SBB Cargo 11247 was sat waiting to depart with EC163 0840 Zurich Hbf – Graz Hbf. As it was right away Sargans and would take me away from Zurich for over 3 hours I decided it was a dud move with there being plenty of other Cargo Re4/4’s about so decided to flag it and get it in the following day; this decision and the consequences of it turned out to haunt me for the following 2 days!
While waiting for EC193 to arrive from Basel an unexpected SBB Lion Re420, 420219, dropped onto IC764 0900 Zurich Hbf – Basel; which was working vice Re460! This was actually one of the 3 SBB Lion Re420’s I wanted so was noted for later in the day. As expected SBB Cargo 421383 dropped onto EC193 0747 Basel – München Hbf, after SBB Re4/4 11112 arrived with the train from Basel. The subsequent move out to Zurich Flughafen revealed SBB Re4/4 11172 heading back in with IR2262 0842 St Gallen – Basel, which is booked for a Cargo Re4/4. As Aidy had been in Switzerland for 2 days already I was expecting it to be a pain hunting the Cargo Re4/4’s down as they didn’t seem to stick to the booked Cargo turns! And when SBB Cargo Re4/4 11243 was sat waiting to depart with IR2417 1009 Zurich Hbf – Locarno when we got back; this was a casing point! Still we were Zug bound anyway.
460063 dropped us back into Zurich with IR2638 1035 Luzern – Zurich Hbf and we soon found our next candidate on the blocks; SBB Cargo Re4/4 11249 having arrived with IR1967 1013 Basel – Zurich Hbf, which did as it was booked to and dropped onto IR2267 1047 Basel – St Gallen to work it forward. It was another out and back to Zurich Flughafen with Re4/4’s and this time SBB Re4/4 11122 took us back into Zurich Hbf with IR2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel; another SBB Re4/4 not doing what it should have been but this one was actually vice Re460 so was a bonus!
There was a bit of a lull in the early afternoon in the Cargo Re4/4 activity and the next new one we found was 11245 arriving into Zurich with IR2422 1047 Locarno – Zurich Hbf; which would work back with IR2429 1609 Zurich Hbf – Locarno so we had a bit of time to kill before doing it out of town. Prior to spotting it I’d figured out that one of my winning Re460’s could be caned in on IR2644 1210 Luzern – Zurich Flughafen and after returning with 460047 on IC720 1225 St Gallen – Geneve Aeroport, via the new Weinberg Tunnel to the low level platforms 31 to 34, there was time to plot moves to get in two other Re460’s I’d seen during the course of the morning, 460045 & 460059.
460045 would work IR2175 1334 Bern – Zurich Hbf by diagram and a leap out to Baden with 460005 on IR2174 1406 Zurich Hbf – Bern revealed that it had stuck to diagram. This then dropped me into 460059 on IC721 1233 Geneve Aeroport – St Gallen, which was done out to Zurich Flughafen via the new Weinberg Tunnel from the low level platforms, for SBB Cargo Re4/4 11249 back in with IR2274 1442 St Gallen – Basel; which had also stuck to diagram and was actually on one of the 8 booked Re4/4 Cargo turns!
SBB Cargo Re4/4 11245 was already waiting to drop onto the set to form IR2429 1609 Zurich Hbf – Locarno, as we arrived on IR2274. As Aidy didn’t need it Skidmore, having returned from Sargans and now caught up with all the Cargo ones out, and I did it to Zug on our own. On the way out I figured out it might be a sensible idea to try and get 11247 in on its return from Buchs in the evening; just in case! The EU Rail app gave me a move, which involved 460063 back to Thalwil on IR2262 1635 Luzern – Zurich Hbf and then an EMU to Sargans on RE5081 1712 Zurich Hbf – Chur. Everything was going swimmingly, and I thought I was going to complete the day having had everything there had been to offer and go to bed that night a happy chappy! At 1807 Skidmore changed that outlook completely……..
While sat minding my own business on the EMU towards Sargans a WhatsApp message from Skidmore told me that 11159/11258 were working IR2433 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso. 11258 had been sat in the sidings at Hardbrucke all day, attached to another Re4/4 which we couldn’t get the number of. While what Skidmore had sent me was quite feasible I was very skeptical that he & Aidy were winding me up as I needed both 11159 & 11258, with 11159 being one of only 4 passenger Re4/4’s I now wanted! Messages to Aidy revealed he wasn’t anywhere near IR2438 and was spinning elsewhere and eventually I ended up with photos via WhatsApp of the pair sat at Arth Goldau with IR2433. The word bowled didn’t even begin to describe the situation and this was when the consequences of flagging 11247 earlier in the morning came back at me 3 fold, as had I actually done it to Sargans I could have had all the other Cargo Re4/4’s that were out, including 421383 which I’d flagged it for, and would have been in Zurich to not only get 11159/11258 in but would have also had a new Lion Re420, 420214, on the 1740 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt before the pair. Fucking cheers then; overhaul on decision making policies needed me thinks!
While on my way back into Zurich on 11247 with EC164 0945 Graz Hbf – Zurich Hbf I contemplated what would be the best move to do the following day in an attempt to recover from what had turned out to be a disastrous evening. The best I could come up with was to head into Zurich early to get 420214 in before having no real choice but to cover both IR2414 0611 Locarno – Zurich Hbf and IR2418 0847 Locarno – Zurich Hbf; the latter actually being the booked loco diagram for the loco working IR2433 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso, after working the 0710 Chiasso – Bellinzona and then going dead on the rear of IR2309 0818 Bellinzona – Locarno to work IR2418 out at 0847. For the very reason that the booked diagram involved some dead on the rear move I wasn’t holding my hopes up at all for getting either 11159 or 11258 in at all the following morning but my ill-fated decision making during the day certainly provided some discussion points when Skidmore, Aidy & I met up back at Zurich Hbf!
Skidmore was heading overnight to Ljubljana to have a last blast with a 664 on the Citadella before it finished in June. Aidy and I were staying in Winterthur and had while we were waiting for IR2283 1847 Basel – St Gallen to depart with Re4/4 11151 we watched Re4/4 11181 arrive with IR2434 1647 Locarno – Zurich Hbf and Cargo Re4/4 11243 drop onto the other end to work IR2437 2009 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso.
At Winterthur we had a 15-minute steady walk to the Ibis Budget, which is attached to the main Ibis, at Winterthur. The walk takes you past the old Winterthur loco works, which has been very nicely redeveloped into industrial until and shops. The whole place is massive though and shows what a big works Winterthur really was back in its day. The highlight of the walk though was really a bus stop, which was called Sulzer and had buses departing to Toss; of course this could only be funny to cranks and the normal watching Aidy photograph the sign didn’t really have a clue what he was doing or why!
The Ibis Budget was a very quick check-in, mainly as Aidy had already checked in online which means your keys are already waiting for you. The room was positively miniscule and there was hardly any room to move round the twin beds with the shower only having a frosted door and the toilet being separate and with no actual door handle on it. There was barely enough room to leave our stuff the following morning but at least there were enough plug sockets to charge everything we had; of course though with it being Ibis none were anywhere near the bedsides so we made sure there were four alarms set just in case we didn’t hear them with them being at the other side of the room. Which let’s face it wasn’t really far anyway!
Gen for Tuesday 10th May 2016
SBB Re4/4
11112 EC193 0747 Basel SBB – München Hbf (Basel – Zurich)
11122 IR2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IC776 1500 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11125 IR2260 0747 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich)
11135 IR2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich)
11139 IR1975 1413 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf
11143 IR1972 1336 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11150 IC775 1407 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf, IC778 1600 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11151 IR2260 0747 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IR2270 1242 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IR2283 1847 Basel SBB – St Gallen (ex Zurich)
11152 IR2266 1208 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB, IR2273 1347 Basel SBB – St Gallen (to Zurich)
11157 IR2418 0847 Locarno – Zurich Hbf, IR2425 1409 Zurich Hbf – Locarno
11158 IR2426 1247 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
11159/11258 IR2433 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso
11172 IR2262 0842 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IR2265 0947 Basel SBB – St Gallen (ex Zurich), IR2272 1342 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IC929 1607 Zurich Hbf – Chur
11181 IR2421 1209 Zurich Hbf – Locarno, IR2434 1647 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
SBB Cargo Re4/4
11243 IR2417 1109 Zurich Hbf – Locarno, IR2430 1447 Locarno – Zurich Hbf, IR2437 2009 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso
11245 IR2422 1047 Locarno – Zurich Hbf, IR2429 1609 Zurich Hbf – Locarno
11247 EC163 0840 Zurich Hbf – Graz Hbf (to Buchs), EC164 0945 Graz Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Buchs)
11249 IR2267 1047 Basel SBB – St Gallen (ex Zurich), IR2274 1442 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich)
11251 EN466 2125 (09/05) Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Buchs), IR2272 1342 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich)
11159/11258 IR2433 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso
SBB Lion Re420
420219 IC764 0900 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
420207/420228 19050 1540 Zurich Hbf – Wohlen
SBB Cargo Re421
421383 EC193 0747 Basel SBB – München Hbf (Zurich – Lindau)
421392 IC181 0829 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf (from Singen), EC195 1309 Zurich Hbf – München Hbf (to Lindau)
SBB Re460
460005 IR2174 1406 Zurich Hbf – Bern
460045 IR2175 1334 Bern – Zurich Hbf
460047 IC720 1225 St Gallen – Geneve Aeroport
460059 IC721 1233 Geneve Aeroport – St Gallen
460063 IR2638 1035 Luzern – Zurich Hbf
460063 IR2662 1635 Luzern – Zurich Flughafen
460107 IR2644 1210 Luzern – Zurich Flughafen
Photos for Tuesday 10th May 2016
Wednesday 11th May 2016 (Another day in Zurich; trying to recover after my bad decisions!)
We were up and out of the hotel with enough time to get some breakfast at Winterthur station before doing 19122 0630 Winterthur – Bülach to Zurich Hbf LL with SBB Lion Re420’s 420216/420202 T&T. Aidy was off at Hardbrucke to cover some of the other Lion Re420 turns but I had a plan sussed and went through to Zurich Hbf to head upstairs and do 20124 0710 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt; which should in theory be 420214/420218 by diagram. When I found an EMU in platform 18 waiting to depart with 20124 I naturally assumed that 420214/420218 would be on the other Regensdorf Watt turn and headed straight back downstairs and did some Re450’s to Hardbrucke to cover 20125 0701 Regensdorf Watt – Zurich Hbf. When I passed 420214/420218 stabled on the shed between Zurich Hbf & Hardbrucke though I soon realised that my crap decision from the previous morning was going to haunt me for the rest of this trip!
When two winning Re450’s came into Hardbrucke on the train preceding 20125 I did them back to Zurich Hbf LL, where I hung around for a bit to see if any of my other Re450’s turned up and was pleased to get one more in before heading back upstairs to meet Aidy before I had to head off to Zug to start covering trains off the Gotthard Pass, in an attempt to claw both 11159 & 11258 back from the previous evening! While stood waiting on the platform end I had the pleasure of watching 420211/420213 arrive with 20129 0801 Regensdorf Watt – Zurich Hbf; I needed 420211 and had I actually covered the 420’s that I’d gone out to Hardbrucke to cover in the first place I’d have bumped straight into them! Now I had to rely on them producing later in the evening.
We were a little surprised when Re4/4 11146 arrived with a push-pull set Ersatzug to cover the 0837 Zurich Hbf – Konstanz, which I was itching to do as I’d never done Konstanz with Re4/4 but with 11159 & 11258 somewhere in the ether my red penning got the better of me. Of course this was another case of my bad decision of not doing 11247 the previous morning coming back to haunt me as I would otherwise have been on the 0837 to Konstanz! Instead I was reluctantly doing 460063 to Zug on IR2631 0835 Zurich Hbf – Luzern to cover IR2414 0611 Chiasso – Zurich Hbf coming back in; which rolled up with Cargo Re4/4 11243 as per diagram!
Re4/4 11198 was waiting to drop onto the stock as we rolled into Zurich Hbf, to form IR2417 1009 Zurich Hbf – Locarno and no sooner had we arrived did 420219/11300 in a pair working IR2263 0847 Basel – Gallen vice Re460! Cargo Re4/4 11249 dropped onto the other end of their stock to work forward to St Gallen. The next part of the Re460 diagram for the loco off IR2263 was to work EC8 to Basel at 1100; which if 420219 did do then we could get it in on its return from Basel with IR1973 1313 Basel – Zurich Hbf. Meanwhile I was heading back out of Zurich with 11198 on IR2417.
Arth Goldau was a bit of a building site with one platform having the tracks relayed through it while I was there and various platform works were taking place throughout the station. While minding my own business I was surprised when BLS Re4/4 165 arrived into the Zurich platforms with SBB stock forming what turned out to be a test train. While 165 was run round there were at least photo opportunities of it and Arth Goldau was actually busy with freights passing through with 11672/11334, 11637 and even a quad set of Cargo locos heading through while I was there. Unfortunately, my attention was focused on the BLS Re4/4 and I completely missed the quad set approaching. It also seemed that my lack of attention warranted a blast on the horn of an arriving SOB EMU when my foot was just over the white line at the end of the platform. This was followed by a very irate rant from the driver of said EMU when I got back toward the centre of the station a few minutes later; who clearly felt the need to vent at me even though I told him I understood nothing of hat he was says. Still, I got the impression he was a little pissed off! I hadn’t thought that where I was stood had been that big of a deal but he clearly did and I guess while my attention was focused elsewhere I could well have been so easy to take another step back while he was approaching with his train and his blood pressure would have been sent sky high then; along with mine when the horn blasted in my ear! The moral of that rant being to pay bloody attention as it is very, very easy to lose track of your surroundings and be oblivious to thing around you.
While VAE2568 0905 St Gallen – Luzern had been in the station when I arrived formed with T&T EMU cars, VAE2573 1040 Luzern – St Gallen turned up with Re456’s T&T but due to the hoarding I couldn’t get their numbers. I knew by the gen on the screen that IR2418 0847 Locarno – Zurich Hbf was only one loco and when Re4/4 11159 arrived with it I was both pleased and disappointed that it wasn’t 11258 instead! There is just no pleasing some people eh?
Arriving back into Zurich Hbf 11196 was waiting to drop on to my stock to work back out with IR2421 1209 Zurich Hbf – Locarno and not Cargo Re4/4 11243 as it should have been. The bonus was though that Re4/4 11300 was sat waiting to depart with IC921 1207 Zurich Hbf – Chur so it seemed that possibly 420219 had stuck to the Re460 turn and had done the 1100 Zurich Hbf – Hamburg Altona to Basel? That theory was soon disproved when Aidy & I did Re4/4 11161 out to Zurich Flughafen with IR2267 1047 Basel – St Gallen; when we found 420219 on shed at Zurich as we went over the top on our way out! But 11134 had appeared on shed, which was now one of my last 3 passenger Re4/4’s.
When we headed back into Zurich Hbf with 460108 on IR 2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel, Re4/4 11134 had disappeared off shed and we assumed it could only have done IR1970 1236 Zurich Hbf – Basel so would plan to do the 1536 Zurich – Basel out to Baden for it back in on IR1977 1513 Basel – Zurich Hbf, which should be a pair and the turn we assumed it was covering was actually a Cargo Re421 turn! With nothing else really to cover a fill-in move to Zurich Flughafen with 460038 out on IC817 1049 Brig – Romanshorn and 460113 back on IC720 1225 St Gallen – Geneve Aeroport passed the time; I’d been hoping to find some more Re460’s on the downstairs trains that you now didn’t get to see upstairs I the rush but no such luck.
As Aidy was going to do 11159 back out of Zurich with IR2425 1409 Zurich Hbf – Locarno it would have been rude not to see what arrived with the inbound stock. By diagram from the previous day it should have been Re4/4 11157 but when the screen showed there to be two locos on the arriving set I feared the worst and had the feeling I’d done another wrong move in not covering IR2422 1047 Locarno – Zurich Hbf but when Re4/4 11157 did arrive with the train, just in multi with Cargo 421394 I was quite relieved but it seemed that 11258’s addition to the 1809 Chiasso the previous evening had been to allow 421394 to return to Zurich? Sure enough 11159 dropped onto the stock to work IR2425 to Locarno and that was my cue to do some investigating.
I’d never heard of the Sihltal-Zurich-Uetliberg Bahn (SZU) until a recent post on one of the forums mentioned SZU locos so a quick scan on Railfan Europe revealed what SZU had but SZU’s website has no timetables on it at all other than an online one; which isn’t much good to a crank of course. So not actually knowing what I was doing I headed downstairs to platform 21/22, which was the only place I could think of that the SZU would be hid away; and sure enough it was. In the platform I found a load three double deck set with an Re456 attached to the rear end to form the 1418 Zurich Hbf – Sihlwald. As the loco nose was off the end of the platform and inaccessible I couldn’t get it before departure and didn’t realise that the number on the side of the loco at the opposite end was actually the SZU number; as it said Re546 I wrongly assumed that SZU had reclassified them as Re546’s! A quick leap out to Zurich Geisshübel soon revealed the loco number to be Re456 456101. When 456104 arrived with the 1410 Langnau-Gattikon – Zurich Hbf I soon realised that the black number on the side of the loco was the SZU number as 456104 was numbered Re543.
With the service being half hourly during the daytime I realised SZU needed three sets so I did 456104 back out to Zurich Geisshübel on the 1438 Zurich Hbf – Langnau-Gattikon to cover the other set; which turned out to be ex SBB Re450 450067, with SZU number Re551, working the 1430 Langnau-Gattikon – Zurich Hbf. The SZU moves only killed an hour but it was enough time to have me getting back up top to do Cargo Re4/4 11249 out to Baden for what we hoped would be Re4/4 11134 back in with IR1977 1513 Basel – Zurich Hbf. However, as 11249 departed 11134 arrived. A quick scramble to the window to try and read the platform screens on the platform 11134 had run in on revealed that it had arrived with a slightly late running IC185 1229 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf; which it had obviously worked from Singen. When we suspected that it had worked out of Zurich on the 1236 to Basel we were out by a minute and it had actually worked out with IC186 1235 Zurich Hbf – Stuttgart Hbf to Singen!!!
Now knowing we weren’t going to have 11134 back from Baden made no difference as we were already en-route and when 11139 arrived with IR1977 1513 Basel – Zurich Hbf, on its own, it was no surprise we’d seen it at Zurich; having worked into Zurich with IR2267 1047 Basel – St Gallen and was actually the booked loco for IR1970 1236 Zurich Hbf – Basel anyway! Re4/4 11147 should actually have been the 2nd loco on IR1977 but it had disappeared into the ether at Basel after we’d seen it at Zurich with IR2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel. Had we actually sat down and figured all this out in the first place we might have realised that 11134 probably should have done something else anyway?
Back at Zurich though Re4/4 11155 arrived, at the same time we did, with IR2827 1547 Schaffhausen – Zurich Hbf and my winner 11134 dropped on the other end to work back out with IC182 1635 Zurich Hbf – Stuttgart Hbf; with some extra stock as well. As I had an appointment with SBB Lion 420211 on the 1640 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt I flagged 11134 to do 420211 instead and would head out to Schaffhausen on the 1735 from Zurich to have it coming back in instead.
Thankfully 420211/420213 were sat in platform 18 waiting to depart with 20162 1640 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt when I got over there. In the adjacent platform was Re4/4 11161 waiting to go with IR1978 1636 Zurich Hbf – Basel. During the short run out to Hardbrucke I noticed one fundamental difference to the surrounding scenery; 420214/420218 had disappeared from the sidings between us arriving from Baden on IR1977 at 1624 and me departing on 20162 at 1640! A scour of the Lion Re420 diagrams revealed that they could potentially only have done two turns, one would be 19163 1631 Hardbrucke – Winterthur; which would have then finishing up at Schaffhausen to then work the Winterthur – Schaffhausen local turn the following day. The fact that 420221/420201 turned up with 19165 1701 Hardbrucke – Schaffhausen immediately discounted my second suspected turn so I clung to the suspicion that they’d done the 1631 to Winterthur; until I was disproved!
Another stab at the SZU trains beckoned and I made it downstairs for the 1708 Zurich Hbf- Langnau-Gattikon and found 456106 (SZU No. Re545) waiting to depart. At Zurich Geisshübel I was greeted with 456104 (SZU No. Re543), which I wasn’t expecting and had clearly worked my turns out wrong but I didn’t have time to wait for the next one as I needed to be on the 1735 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen and the next one missed it; despite the service being every 10 minutes in the rush hours.
Re4/4 11122 produced for IR2830 1735 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen and provided a nice run through to Schaffhausen; the highlight being the run by the spectacular Rhine waterfalls at Neuhausen. At Oerlikon I passed the ecs off 19163 1631 Hardbrucke – Winterthur returning to Hardbrucke to work 19169 1801 Hardbrucke – Schaffhausen but wasn’t able to spot either loco due to them both being conveniently obscured by the station footbridges! So at that point I still couldn’t confirm if 420214/420218 had worked what I suspected they had!
At Schaffhausen 11122 shunted its stock out and I headed out to get some goodies from the nearby shops. When I returned IC281 1624 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf was showing 13’ late and eventually turned up a bit later than that, with Re4/4 11134 heading the train as expected. What the late arrival did do was allow me to watch 19169 1801 Hardbrucke – Schaffhausen arrive, with what I expected to be 420214/420218 but when 420217/420203 arrived that threw a theory I’d had about what locos could have worked out of the window for the second time that day! I had the last laugh on this one though when I just happened to lift my head at the right time and spotted 420214/420218 stabled at Bülach. At that time in the day there was only one turn they could have worked there as only one set stabled there overnight; they’d obviously arrived off 18068 1821Stadelhofen – Bülach. This would have them working 18027 0712 Bülach – Stadelhofen the following morning; which I would be paying attention to!
At Zurich Hbf food was sought from a Chinese takeaway in the depths of the maze below Zurich platform level! It was consumed on board IR2283 1847 Basel – St Gallen as we headed back to Winterthur for the night. While we sat on the train Re4/4 11196 arrived with IR2434 1647 Locarno – Zurich Hbf and 11198 dropped on the stock to work IR2437 2009 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso, while Cargo Re4/4 11249 worked forward from Zurich Hbf with our IR2283 1847 Basel – St Gallen. While en-route back to Winterthur I pondered just how ironic it had been that Cargo Re4/4 11247 had actually stuck to diagram all day, which would have meant I could have got it in at various points during the day if I’d left it alone the previous evening and not done my silly Sargans EMU move for it! While my decision making on this particular day didn’t have as dire consequences as the previous day, I wallowed in what could have been instead and particularly the fact that I made the choice not to do the 11146 to Konstanz on the Ersatzug push-pull set; which became the second time I’d now missed Konstanz while I’d been in Zurich. I’d still be reeling from my decision not to do 11247 the previous morning on the following day; but that’s another day’s story………
As we departed Zurich Hbf Cargo Re4/4 11255 had just run out of one of the platforms and light towards Hardbrucke; at least there was possibly a new kid on the block the following day?!
Gen for Wednesday 11th May 2016
SBB Re4/4
11112/11128 IC180 1835 Zurich Hbf – Stuttgart Hbf (to Singen)
11122 IC187 1429 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Singen)
11124 IR2814 0935 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen
11125 IR1962 0836 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11134 IC185 1229 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Singen), IC182 1635 Zurich Hbf – Stuttgart Hbf (to Singen), IC281 1624 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Singen)
11139 IR2267 1047 Basel SBB – St Gallen (to Zurich), IR1977 1513 Basel SBB – Zurich
11144/11151 IR2281 1747 Basel – St Gallen (to Zurich)
11146 IR2111 0837 Zurich Hbf – Konstanz, IR2116 1003 Konstanz – Zurich Hbf, IR2117 1137 Zurich Hbf – Konstanz, IR2122 1303 Konstanz – Zurich Hbf, IR2123 1437 Zurich Hbf – Konstanz, IR2128 1603 Konstanz – Zurich Hbf (push-pull set vice Re460)
11147 IR2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich)
11148/11164 IC181 0829 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf (from Singen)
11148 IR2834 1935 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen
11151 IR2266 1208 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11152 EC163 0840 Zurich Hbf – Graz Hbf (to Buchs)
11153 IR1972 1336 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11155 IR2822 1335 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen, IR2827 1547 Schaffhausen – Zurich Hbf
11157/421394 IR2422 1047 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
11159 IR2418 0847 Locarno – Zurich Hbf, IR2425 1409 Zurich Hbf – Locarno
11161 IR1967 1013 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf, IR2267 1047 Basel SBB – St Gallen (ex Zurich), IR2274 1442 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IR1978 1636 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11164 IC282 0835 Zurich Hbf – Stuttgart Hbf (to Singen), IR4233 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso
11196 IR2421 1209 Zurich Hbf – Locarno, IR2434 1647 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
11197 IR2262 0842 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich)
11198 IR2417 1009 Zurich Hbf – Locarno, IR2430 1447 Locarno – Zurich Hbf, IR2437 2009 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso
420219/11300 IR2263 0847 Basel SBB – St Gallen (to Zurich)
11300 IC921 1107 Basel SBB – Chur (ex Zurich)
SBB Cargo Re4/4
11243 IR2414 0611 Chiasso – Zurich Hbf
11247 IR2818 1135 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen, IR2823 1347 Schaffhausen – Zurich Hbf, IR2272 1342 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich), IR2280 1742 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich)
11249 IR2270 1242 St Gallen – Zurich Hbf (to Zurich), IR1976 1536 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB, IR2283 1847 Basel SBB – St Gallen (ex Zurich)
11251 IC183 1029 Stuttgart Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Singen)
SBB Lion Re420
EMU 20123 0631 Regensdorf Watt – Zurich Hbf, 20124 0710 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt
420201/420221 19124 0631 Schaffhausen – Zurich Altstetten, 19165 1700 Zurich Hardbrucke – Schaffhausen
420203/420217 19169 1800 Zurich Hardbrucke – Schaffhausen
420207/420228 20168 1810 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt
420208/420216 19122 0630 Winterthur – Bülach
420211/420213 20129 0801 Regensdorf Watt – Zurich Hbf, 20162 1640 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt
420215/420220 18027 0712 Bülach – Zurich Stadelhofen
420225/420229 19026 0646 Wil – Zurich Hbf
420227/420230 19126 0700 Schaffhausen – Zurich Altstetten, 19050 1540 Zurich Hbf – Wohlen
420219/11300 IR2263 0847 Basel SBB – St Gallen (to Zurich)
SBB Cargo Re421
421371 IC195 1309 Zurich Hbf – München Hbf (to Lindau)
421392 CNL479 2014 (P) Hamburg Altona – Zurich Hbf (ex Basel)
11157/421394 IR2422 1047 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
SBB Re460
460038 IC817 1049 Brig – Romanshorn
460063 IR2631 0835 Zurich Hbf – Luzern
460105 IR2268 1142 St Gallen – Basel SBB
460113 IC720 1225 St Gallen – Geneve Aeroport
SZU
450067 (SZU 551) 1430 Langnau-Gattikon – Zurich Hbf
456101 (SZU 546) 1418 Zurich Hbf – Sihlwald
456104 (SZU 543) 1410 Langnau-Gattikon – Zurich Hbf, 1438 Zurich Hbf – Langnau-Gattikon, 1700 Langnau-Gattikon – Zurich Hbf
456106 (SZU 545) 1708 Zurich Hbf – Langnau-Gattikon
Photos for Wednesday 11th May 2016
Thursday 12th May 2016 (A final day in Zurich; decisions, decisions!)
It had been a decent day’s weather the previous day an I’d been thinking that it would be a bit of a pain carrying a heavy bag around all day in the heat. I needn’t have been so concerned as from the moment we entered railway premises at Winterthur it literally didn’t stop raining all day and was quite cold with it!
Having checked out of the Ibis Budget by just dropping the key off we were soon at the station and breakfast was in hand moments later. While we planned to do 19122 0630 Winterthur – Bülach into the city again we ended up viewing the Re460’s that T&T’d the massive rake of IC806 0538 Romanshorn – Brig. Both were dud though and when at the furthest point we could have been from the steps we spotted an Re4/4 arriving with IR2256 0542 St Gallen – Basel and scurried underneath the subway to do that in instead of Lion Re420’s 420216/420202 on 19122.
At Zurich I initially planned to head downstairs to see if there were any Re450’s out that I needed but instead headed to the SZU platforms and did 456105 (SZU No. Re544) out to Zurich Selnau with the 0658 Zurich Hbf – Langnau-Gattikon, where the cross platform minus made with ease and I was back in on 456106 (SZU No. Re545) with the 0645 Sihlwald – Zurich Hbf. I then made my way to the SBB low level platforms to head out to Hardbrucke to cover 18027 0712 Bülach – Stadelhofen coming into the City and was pleased to find 450013 gracing a train with it presence as I did so. The only loco at Hardbrucke was Cargo Re4/4 11255, stabled with its pantograph down; which was about right!
Sure enough 420214/420218 did turn up with 18027 and I was soon back to platform 21/22 at Zurich Hbf to get the last of the 6 sets in during the peak; after Aidy had been plying me with gen while he’d been spinning about on the SZU in the rush hour. Knowing where Re450 450070 (SZU No. Re552) was made life a bit easier and for the second time that morning the cross platform minus made for me at Zurich Selnau as I leapt from 450070 on the 0748 Zurich Hbf – Langnau-Gattikon to 456105 (SZU No. Re544) on the late running 0730 Langnau-Gattikon – Zurich Hbf. Back at Zurich Hbf that was my SZU spinning done for the day as all 6 sets were then dud; with 456101 (546), 456104 (543), 456105 (544), 456106 (545), 450067 (551) & 450070 (552) all being out that morning.
Having not got much of a plan and thinking that there might not be much more on offer in the Zurich area I’d decided I would do IR2417 1009 Zurich Hbf – Locarno to Art Goldau and either head into Luzern or do some Erstfeld moves, in an attempt to flush out Cargo Re4/4 11258 and that’s really what I should have done but when Re4/4 11109 arrived into Zurich Hbf with a push-pull set forming ICE271 0550 Frankfurt Hbf – Chur, obviously vice ICE which it had worked from Basel, it seemed rude not to do it. The bonus of doing it actually being a fill-in move from Landquart to Buchs and return, which I knew would involve new Re460’s from and to Landquart and there was a good change the OBB Railjet moves to/from Buchs would be new sets too. So I bode farewell to Aidy, who was heading towards Luzern and then back to Geneva for his flight home that night and quickly said good morning and goodbye to Skidmore who’d arrived back into Zurich some 20 minutes previous! At least Skidmore had the knowledge of 11300 being out and where it was, which was one of his winners.
The run to Landquart was relaxing, the train was empty and it was cold on board but punctual with the heritage set not losing any time en-route at all; despite working vice ICE set. At Landquart new 460071 arrived with IC568 1109 Chur – Basel as expected and at Sargans OBB Railjet set 1116210 rolled in with RJ165 1040 Zurich Hbf – Budapest Keleti as expected; after Skidmore had sent me a photo of it at Zurich via WhatsApp. At Buchs the red pen fest complemented itself when OBB Railjet 1116218 arrived with RJ362 0530 Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf and dropped me into new 460104 at Sargans with IC567 1137 Zurich Hbf – Chur. The move topped itself off nicely when Re4/4 11109 arrived with ICE70 1239 Chur – Hamburg Altona, to take me back towards Zurich Hbf. Just when I was beginning to think I’d had a good move out of the morning did my phone ring; it was Aidy at Luzern!
I’d already had confirmation from Luzern that the two ZB turns to Engelberg were 101961 & 101966, the latter of which I needed, but the urgency in his voice soon had my attention when he demanded I get a pen ready very quickly! What I was told was that Cargo Re4/4 11258 had worked into Luzern with IR2320 0947 Locarno – Basel and Cargo Re4/4 11244 had dropped on the opposite end to work through to Basel. Not only that Aidy’s train to Geneve was only one of my last few Re460’s 460006 on the 1300 Luzern – Geneve Aeroport. Don’t get me wrong, I was very grateful for the gen, but it seemed that yet again I played completely the wrong move as had I actually done the 1009 Zurich – Locarno to Arth Goldau I’d have ended up dropping straight into 11258 on IR2320 0947 Locarno – Basel and fell right into 11244 at Luzern shortly afterwards! I blame 11109; had it not turned up when it did I’d have been Arth Goldau bound on 11156! Of course, I managed to figure out a move by the time I got to Zurich Hbf; the best one being to stay on board ICE70 all the way to Basel!
A quick conversation was had with Skidmore back at Zurich, while ICE70 reversed there, and then I was on my way to Basel, where 11109 arrived a couple of minutes early with its Ersatzug. Passengers on board which were being given alternative connections to get them into Germany and ICE70 was confirmed as cancelled on the screens at Basel with the push-pull set heading straight into the sidings after the driver had changed ends.
I had just over an hour to kill at Basel but spotted 460022 arriving on a set, which I worked out would form IC1077 1531 Basel – Interlaken Ost and no sooner had I figured out that I could do my bonus Re460 to Olten for Cargo Re4/4 11244 forward to Luzern, did my phone start buzzing. I was Skidmore with a photo of Re4/4 11131, now one of my last two passenger Re4/4’s, which had arrived into Zurich with IC775 1407 Basel – Zurich Hbf and should work back to Basel with IC778 1600 Zurich Hbf – Basel and then be one of the pair on IR2281 1747 Basel – St Gallen. Suddenly my consolation of 460022 didn’t seem that much of a bonus anymore and shortly after departure another photo message came through on WhatsApp; this time it was Lion 420219 heading IR2826 1535 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen! The poorest decision of my cranking career was still taking its toll as had I had 11247 on Tuesday morning I wouldn’t need to go out on a limb to get 11258 in later in the evening; and would have been able to head back into Zurich on 11131 after returning from Luzern instead.
While waiting in the cold at Olten I did have a very hard look at what was possible now I knew where 11131 & 420219 were, as well as 11258. In the end I decided that as my move to get 11258 in was crap anyway I might as well make it a little crapper and get 101966 in on the Engelberg’s while I was in the vicinity! So Cargo Re4/4 11244 it was to Luzern on IR2331 1604 Basel – Locarno, where Re4/4 11195 dropped onto the other end to work forward and I headed over to the ZB platforms and did 101961 out to Stans on IC2980 1710 Luzern – Engelberg and was so glad that 101966 produced with IC2981 1701 Engelberg – Luzern on the way back. It made doing an EMU on the 1806 Luzern – Brunnen a little less painful!
I had joked with Skidmore earlier that he should be sending me a photo of Cargo Re4/4 11255 at Zurich Hbf, waiting to depart with IR2433 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso, but there was no such luck on this occasion and 11191 produced instead. This crossed 11198 with IR2434 1647 Locarno – Zurich Hbf at Schwyz as IR2434 was a little late. As IR2433 was on time at Flüelen I decided to go forward to Erstfeld for the booked plus but did get a little concerned when we came to a stand just outside the station at Erstfeld; this turned out to be due to the station being full of freight trains for a change; and there was no space to run passenger trains through it! Sure enough though Cargo Re4/4 11258 turned up as expected with IR2336 1747 Locarno – Basel and thanks to Aidy’s gen I’d at least clawed 11244 & 11258 back. Unfortunately, my crap move had yet to finish as I had to get off 11258 at Arth Goldau and do an ICN back to Zurich on ICN886 1810 Lugano – Zurich Hbf to make my overnight back to Budapest. Had we been in Winterthur again that night I could have actually done IR2336 through to Basel and then done 11131 to Zurich on IR1991 2213 Basel – Zurich; but it wasn’t to be and I went in search of food again from the Chinese takeaway on arrival back into Zurich Hbf.
Despite one poor decision having so much cause and effect on the three days I’d spent in the Zurich area I’d still done well to get 7 Cargo Re4/4, 1 Cargo Re421 and 2 of my last 4 passenger Re4/4’s in during the three days; so I couldn’t grumble too much? I thought I was onto a winner when the engine dropped down to work EN467 2140 Zurich Hbf – Wien Hbf but what I thought was 11131 soon revealed itself as 11151 when it got closer! Oh how the mind plays tricks eh? Bizarrely, when I boarded one of the guys who’d been in my compartment, when I’d done Budapest – Zurich, was in the compartment again for the return journey. In the end the person who should have got into the middle berth didn’t turn up but there was a similarity to the outbound journey but this time the noise next door was being made by a group of Interrailer’s! It didn’t bother me too much on this occasion though as I needed to check the engines at Buchs at 2248 anyway; and by the time I’d spotted OBB’s 1116179/1116029 at Buchs the noise had died down anyway and sleep could follow!
I left Switzerland that night having had a very good three days and looking back at the bad decision I’d been dwelling on from two days previous, I decided it was only a bad decision because I knew what I’d missed. Having three of us in the Zurich area at the same time meant gen could flow and had I been on my own I would have never known that 11159/11258 had ever worked the 1809 Zurich – Chiasso on Tuesday evening. In which case 11159 would have been a complete bonus when it arrived into Zurich the following day. Aidy would still have done what he did earlier on this particular day, in which case the gen about 11244 & 11258 would have also been a massive bonus and again had Skidmore not been in Zurich I wouldn’t have known what I’d missed. So there are two morals to this story for me, one is that I should always follow Skidmore if he’s in Switzerland at the same time as me, the second is never to go to Switzerland ever again when Skidmore is there!
Gen for Thursday 12th May 2016
SBB Re4/4
11109 ICE271 0550 Frankfurt Hbf – Chur, 11109 ICE70 1239 Chur – Hamburg Altona (Vice DB ICE!)
11112 IC282 0835 Zurich Hbf – Stuttgart Hbf (to Singen)
11122 IR2811 0747 Schaffhausen – Zurich Hbf, IR2814 0935 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen
11125 IR2259 0647 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf, IR2260 0742 St Gallen – Basel SBB (ex Zurich), IR1977 1513 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf
11131 IC775 1407 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf, IC778 1600 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11139 IR1962 0836 Zurich Hbf – Basel SBB
11148 IR2813 0847 Schaffhausen – Zurich Hbf
11151 EN467 2140 Zurich Hbf – Wien Hbf (to Buchs)
11152 EN466 2125 (P) Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf (ex Buchs)
11156 IR2417 1009 Zurich Hbf – Locarno
11159 IR2422 1047 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
11161 IR2260 0742 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich)
11164 IR2425 1409 Zurich Hbf – Locarno
11191 IR2433 1809 Zurich Hbf – Chiasso
11195 IR2331 1604 Basel SBB – Locarno (ex Luzern)
11196 IR2332 1547 Locarno – Basel SBB (to Luzern), IR2335 1804 Basel SBB – Locarno (ex Luzern)
11197 IR1963 0813 Basel SBB – Zurich Hbf
11198 IR2414 0611 Chiasso – Zurich Hbf, IR2434 1647 Locarno – Zurich Hbf
11300 IR2256 0542 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich), IR2251 0639 Chur – St Gallen (ex Zurich) (vice Re460)
SBB Cargo Re4/4
11243 IR2262 0842 St Gallen – Basel SBB (to Zurich)
11244 IR2231 1604 Basel SBB – Locarno
11245 IR2324 1147 Locarno – Basel SBB (ex Luzern)
11247 CNL471 2133 (P) Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Zurich Hbf (ex Basel)
11258 IR2336 1747 Locarno – Basel SBB
SBB Lion Re420
420202/420216 19122 0630 Winterthur – Bülach
420205/420206 19124 0631 Schaffhausen – Zurich Altstetten
420211/420213 20124 0710 Zurich Hbf – Regensdorf Watt
420214/420218 18027 0712 Bülach – Zurich Stadelhofen
420219 IR2826 1535 Zurich Hbf – Schaffhausen
SBB Cargo Re421
421371 CNL479 2014 (P) Hamburg Altona – Zurich Hbf (ex Basel), IC193 0747 Basel SBB – München Hbf (Zurich – Lindau)
421392 IC191 0547 Basel SBB – München Hbf (Zurich – Lindau)
SBB Re460
460022 IC1077 1531 Basel SBB – Interlaken Ost
460071 IC568 1109 Chur – Basel SBB
460104 IC567 1137 Zurich Hbf – Chur
ZB
101961 IC2980 1710 Luzern – Engelberg
101966 IC2981 1701 Engelberg – Luzern
SZU
456105 (SZU 544) 0658 ex Zurich Hbf
465104 (SZU 543) 0708 ex Zurich Hbf
456106 (SZU 545) 0718 ex Zurich Hbf
450067 (SZU 551) 0728 ex Zurich Hbf
456101 (SZU 546) 0738 ex Zurich Hbf
450070 (SZU 552) 0748 ex Zurich Hbf
OBB
1116210 RJ165 1040 Zurich Hbf – Budapest Keleti
1116218 RJ362 0530 Wien Hbf – Zurich Hbf
1116179/1116029 EN467 2140 Zurich Hbf – Wien Hbf (ex Buchs, 1116179 removed at Innsbruck)
1163001 shunt MAV portion EN467 to EN463 at Salzburg Hbf
1116023 EN463 2336 (P) München Hbf – Budapest Keleti (from Salzburg Hbf)
Photos for Thursday 12th May 2016
Friday 13th May 2016 (A day in Budapest before home; the Friday 13th jinx did hit!)
I was aware of the time when I woke in the early hours and a trip to the toilet resulted in me standing in the corridor trying to figure out where we were. It wasn’t until Freilassing that I eventually figured out how far we were from Salzburg. It would have been stupid to head back to bed at that point and on the outskirts of Salzburg we passed 1163004 shunting in a yard; which had been the loco that had shunted the stock on the way into Switzerland. Upon arrival into Salzburg another 1163 was sat up ahead already and when 1116029 was removed from the train, having already lost 1116179 at Innsbruck, 1163001 dropped onto the stock and then shunted the Budapest portion off EN467 and over into the adjacent platform to attach to the front of EN463 2336 (P) München Hbf – Budapest Keleti. When 1163001 was detached initially I thought 1116029 was being dropped back on, which wouldn’t really have made any sense, but when the loco revealed itself to be 1116023 it made sense that the loco change to/from shed took place while the stock was being shunted; although I’m not convinced this loco change is actually booked as it would make sense for the loco ex EN467 to shunt the stock and work forward with EN463 to Budapest? Either way I was pleased with the outcome and the fact I’d managed to end up awake at Salzburg Hbf during the night again.
Having returned to bed it was almost 0730 before I got my ass out bed again and my compartment compadre soon had my lower berth turned into a row of three compartment seats so we could eat our breakfast sensibly. Despite me leaving Hungary at 1520 that afternoon I still decided to shell out the £5 for a Europass from Three and immediately began trying to figure out what was heading into Kelenfold and Nyugati. It was immediately evident that there were some issues somewhere in MAV land as hardly any trains allowed me to see the loco that was working it and even when I attempted to enlist the help of Rubble back home in the UK he had the same issues with the mapper site; and once he’d checked that 630019 was actually on its booked turn things started dropping off the screen in front of his eyes! This issue, coupled with the fact that my phone kept playing up as Three thought I was tethering and threw my internet connection off, soon had me wishing I’d not bothered wasting my time with the Europass and it took me five attempts at turning the phone off and back on again before it would allow my connection to the internet to remain so; not that it actually helped me out at all!
When I stepped off EN463 at Kelenfold, about 20’ late, the only sure fire gen I had was the GySev gen that Rubble had sent me; which confirmed that unfortunately the Vectron working IC937 0819 Sopron – Keleti was the same one I’d had before heading to Switzerland, 193235. Ironically by Sunday it was 193245! The other three GySev IC turns were all 470’s with no bonus GySev Cargo loco out on this occasion and as luck had it, the only GySev 470 I’d had was out of the equation. A quick look at the screens downstairs soon revealed that not only had Vonatinfo not been linking to the loco info, it was also not linking to realtime running info as there were plenty of late running trains on the screens; which actually helped me out a bit and I was soon Keleti bound with GySev 470504 on IC917 0710 Szombathely – Keleti which surprisingly made 1116219 with RJ62 0940 Keleti – München Hbf at Keleti; which should have been a -9! I found myself back at Kelenfold 35 minutes after leaving and being dropped into IC819 0602 Pecs – Keleti, which was itself 60’ late!
I wasn’t quite able to figure out what was causing the late running and late starts from Keleti but when 433185, working IC819 into Keleti, made GySev 470503 with IC922 1010 Keleti – Szombathely at Keleti I wasn’t complaining, which in turn made the late running IC807 0714 Pecs – Keleti back at Kelenfold and 433210 took me back into Keleti again. At this point I’d already decided to head round to Köbanya Kispest but did the metro across to Budapest Deli first to cover IC854 1135 Budapest Deli – Nagykanisza. This allowed me to grab a bite to eat again and gather my thoughts while doing so. The move paid off too as 431011 headed IC854 and at Kelenfold I decided to flag GySev 470501, heading into Keleti with IC317 0822 Szentgotthard – Keleti in favour of doing the 1146 EMU straight round to Köbanya Kispest instead.
No sooner had the doors open on my EMU at Köbanya Kispest did the morning continue to unfold and it was evident that there was even more of a fiasco occurring on the Nyugati side of things than on the Keleti/Deli side of things; as 431057 was sat in with 6109 0544 Nyiregyhaza – Nyugati, which should have departed at 0916 and was just the 2h55m late! A quick blast too Zuglo had me back at Köbanya Kispest off 432199 on 2734 1203 Nyugati – Cegled, only to watch the next Nyugati bound IC, IC629 0528 Zahony – Nyugati, head into Nyugati 3 hours late itself! All this late running and the fact that all the locals I saw were hauled sets and not EMU’s gave the impression of an almighty mess somewhere; which I never did find out where, or what, it was! Still, when 418211 arrived into Köbanya Kispest with 2915 1042 Lajosmisze – Nyugati I did it to Zuglo for 418177 back to Köbanya Kispest with 2934 1218 Nyugati – Lajosmisze, running late! It was at that point that I decided to call it a day and not get stuck anywhere; at least at Köbanya Kispest I could get the bus direct to the airport if need be.
It was with no surprise that IC trains heading out of Nyugati were nowhere to be seen, having seen trains going into Nyugati 3 hours late and I was grateful when 432247 turned up with 2664 1238 Nyugati – Monor to take me to Ferihegy, where I only had a few minutes to wait for a 200E bus to the airport. Tickets can be bought on the bus from the driver and change is given but tickets from the driver cost HUF450 and not HUF350 as they do from ticket machines; of course there isn’t one anywhere near the bus stop!
The Budapest airport experience was a decent enough one and even the food I had was ok and relatively cheap for an airport. My Wizz Air flight had no delays and was away a little early in the end, which gave me that little extra time at Luton to get through security and out onto a bus to Luton Airport Parkway station. Having already asked for the 91 gen for my journey home I knew I needed to make the 1833 Kings Cross – Bradford and therefor needed to be on the 1732 EMT train from Luton Airport Parkway into St Pancras. Despite the queue for the bus initially at the airport I made the 1732 to St Pancras with ease and found 91105 at the head of 1D27 1833 Kings Cross – Bradford as expected. I was glad I knew what I was doing and had hung around at the top of the platform to wait for boarding as the train was full and standing in the aisles from Kings Cross; a typical Friday according to commuters that were talking amongst themselves!
Despite the setbacks with MAV’s late running and the fact their system’s weren’t talking to each other, I managed to have a decent morning, with no gen at all; and was quite pleased with how things had turned out overall on the trip. Now I knew how to get the MAV gen at my fingertips and had learnt from my mistakes in Switzerland, I was looking forward to returning to both countries in the near future; quite when that would be though would be a thought for another day, there just never seems to be enough time these days……..!
Gen for Friday 13th May 2016
MAV
418177 2934 1218 Budapest Nyugati – Lajosmisze
418211 2915 1042 Lajosmisze – Budapest Nyugati
431011 854 1135 Budapest Deli – Nagykanisza
431057 6109 0544 Nyiregyhaza – Budapest Nyugati
432199 2734 1203 Budapest Nyugati – Cegled
432247 2664 1238 Budapest Nyugati – Monor
433185 819 0602 Pecs – Budapest Keleti
433210 807 0714 Pecs – Budapest Keleti
GySev
193235 IC937 0819 Sopron – Budapest Keleti
470503 IC922 1010 Budapest Keleti – Szombathely
470504 IC917 0710 Szombathely – Budapest Keleti
OBB
1116219 RJ62 0940 Budapest Keleti – München Hbf
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