Austrian and Czech Narrow Gauge Trip 2018

[Hobby]

This year David and I decided to visit the Austrain NG with a trip to the Czech JHMD line tagged on the back. It was all done in 10 days and was to a very tight schedule using OBB to get around... 

 

Right, Part 1, the Zillertalbahn.

We did this line in three parts, the trip from Jenbach to Zell am Ziller when we got there, a trip from Zell to Mayrhofon and down to Jenbach the next morning and then a wander round the depot before heading off to Zell am See later in the day...

 

Our train from Jenbach on arrival:

 

 

Zell am Ziller station, out hotel was a couple of hundred yards behind it with a view of the railway from the balcony!

 

 

Mayrofon the next morning:

 

 

D15 shunting the steam train stock for the next day, unfortunately the tight schedule didn't allow us to see it:

 

 

Z1 plinthed outside Jenbach museum:

 

 

D14(?) at Jenbach:

 

 

D8 at Jenbach, I keep seeing this loco in different places around the depot but haven't yet seen it move, spooky!

 

 

The steam engines all hidden away in the shed, the Uh, class 83 and a U:

 

 

Next up the Achenssebahn...

Edited May 15, 2018 by Hobby

[Hobby]

Part 2: The Achenseebahn

 

Despite have been to Jenbach several times over the years I'd never managed to travel on it as the trains have always been full up but this time we were out of season so managed to do a round trip from Jenbach up to the lake and back on the 1100 from Jenbach. The line is unusual in that half way along it goes from cog to normal adhesion so the loco has to run round the train at the top of the hill section and haul it the rest of the way!

 

Our steed for the day was No4 Hannah:

 

 

 

Hannah earning her keep half way up the cog section, with specially put on black smoke!

 

 

Having run round the train we are ready for the off on the flat-ish section to the Achensee:

 

 

Down at the lake she was filled up using a steam driven water pump from the lake:

 

 

 

Which obviously wasn't working very well as we had to stop off for more water en route, trouble is the local farmer who's hose it was had added many holes into the pipe to water his field, however we managed to get enough!

 

 

Finally off she goes to get some coal on arrival back at Jenbach:

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Hobby

[Hobby]

Part 3: The Pinzgauer Lokalbahn

 

We arrived at Zell am See late afternoon and went to our apartment which was only a few hundred yards from the depot at Zell. After dumping our stuff we went to the depot to see what could be seen and then get dinner. As we arrived the 1900 service from Zell came past:

 

 

Next morning we walked down the lake front to Zell am See and went to have breakfast and then catch our train to Krimml, seen here alongside an arriving service from Krimml:

 

 

General view of Krimml:

 

 

The reworked station at Mittershill:

 

 

Arriving back at Zell, we decided we had enough time to get off at thye halt alongside the depot, have a look and then walk back to Zell station. Luckily for us there was a member of staff around who was servicing the stock in use (it was a Sunday) and he allowed us to go into the depot and take photos. Inside was the small shunter, Vs51, AquariusC, the class 73 and one of the big diesels getting an engine change:

 

[Hobby]

Part 4 The StLB

On we went on a 4 hour (and a bit more!) trip through the centre of Austria from Zell am See through to Unzmarkt. We had a slight problem on this leg, being the only time OBB really fouled up, when something went wrong (we never did find out what) and we ended up with a rail replacement bus which delayed us an hour. I tried to tell the B&B we were going to but the owner didn't speak English so that went by the board! When we arried it was about 7.30pm and we found the bar at the station full of locals drinking and one of them drove us up to the town. We then found out why they were all at the station drinking... There was only one other place open and that was more of a restaurant (and did a good meal!), you've heard of "One Horse Towns" in the Westerns, well this was Austria's version of one, the only thing missing was the tumbleweed! Bear in mind this was Saturday night! The locals were friendly, though, and made us welcome and the B&B was very good value.

Next morning we ventured out and found our train for the day. The original idea was to stop at Murau for a couple of hours but as it was Sunday and everything was shut we stayed on for the whole journey to Tansweg and we were glad we did, it was a lovely run. In fact of the 6 lines we travelled on I'd rate this as my favourite despite the lack of variation in stock.

Unzmarkt:

Murau (and David who didn't get out of the way in time!):

Tamsweg, the turntable will take a U Class:

[Tim Hall]

Very interesting. We had a trip on the Pinzgauer last August, whilst staying near Zell:

 

[009 micro modeller]

Very interesting. What's the small 4 wheel railcar thing? (middle picture from Murau).

[Hobby]

It's a works car, they use them to haul small wagons around with stuff to fettle the track, etc., on them You'll see a few more variations when I do the Steyr photos.

[Hobby]

Part 5a: The Mariazellerbahn.

 

We arrived at St Polten after a trip over the Semmering Railway (no photos) and the high speed line out of Vienna to Linz. The trip was over the lower half of the line as the top half was shut due to engineering works. We also visited the Mh6 Club's depot and that will be part 5b!

 

St Polten:

 

 

The half way point and terminus whilst we were there, Laubenbachmuhle. an impressive station made mainly of wood and like the stock, brand new. They must have spent a fortune on the railway!

 

 

It was a lovely run, as this shot shows:

 

[009 micro modeller]

Like the all over gold livery. How recently was all the new stuff done?

[Hobby]

2010/13 according to Wikki.

[Hobby]

Part 5b was a visit to the Mh6 HQ at Ober-Grafendorf. I had emailed them on the off chance and had a reply from Willi who offered us a guided tour round the depot. We arrived on the 0937 fro St Polten and were driven to the depot just up the line and given a glass of schnapps in greeting and bottle of beer to take away with us! They were a friendly bunch and have many locos, though their pride of place is the Engerth, Mh6. Unfortunately the land the depot is situated on has been bought by someone else who wants to use it for other purposes so their future is a little bit up in the air at the moment, we wish them good luck in sorting things out. Unfortunately apart from the four class 1099s and coaches and wagons all of their locos were in the semi-roundhouse which did not lend itself to decent photography especially as it was a bright sunny day outside!

 

 

The Mh6:

 

 

I couldn't get a decent photo of the 2091, hopefully David has so onto the next selection, the three four wheel diesels including classes 2190 and 2090:

 

 

Their U class in course of restoration, they recon about 3 years to go:

 

 

A line up of four class 1099s outside including 01:

 

 

Their fully restored Post Van, used up until a decade or so ago:

 

 

 

Finally, though not strictly part of the line now whilst we were at Zell am See on the PiInzgauer we saw the Class 4090 railcars from the Mariazellerbahn scattered around the depot so here's a photo of the end unit of one of them:

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Hobby

[Hobby]

Next onto our first and only preserved railway of the trip, the Steyrlokalbahn. As I said we were very lucky, though connections in the Austrian Railway Group to be invited to travel up and down the line on a special being run for a couple of groups of people on the day we were staying in the area. First up, here's our train at the Steyrlokalbahn station only a few hundred yards from where we were staying:

 

They have various U class, though several are in bits being restored:

298.52

 

 

298.53

 

Also 298.102 ready for use:

 

Finally Uh 498.04

[Hobby]

They have quite a selection of Works Cars, the two yellow ones and the red one are converted SG versions. They are converting the two yellow ones into traleirs for the others so they don't have to use coaches for smaller visiting groups, The green/yellow one is an original 760mm gauge version:

 

Edited May 27, 2018 by Hobby

[Hobby]

Finally some general views along the line. Half way down the line at their repair shed the train was split with the front coach being taken forward by one of the works car:

 

What to do with that Liliput coach with the duff chassis:

 

Photo stop:

 

Grunberg:

[Hobby]

The final line of the holiday was another visit to the JHMD in the south of the Czech Republic, hopefully to (at last!) travel on one of the refurbished railcars. We found out that they'd increased the trains on the south line from 2 a day to 3 a day and we took the 0935 the next morning on the 3 hour round trip. Trains awaiting departure at Jindric Hradec, the railcars were working the north line, the locos and coach the south, this was the night before, including two standard gauge wagons on rolboks, we don't know what they had in them, though we suspect wood:

 

Next morning, ours was the Blue T.47, we got to ride the railcar later:

 

Running round the train at Nova B and general shots of te plinthed T.47 and station:

 

Back at Jindrich we found that our train on the north line to Kamenice nad Lipou was the one we'd just come in on! Still no railcar!! 

 

We passed the Red One in the forest, the "OS" board we worked out was a stop board fro the trains, it was placed half way down the loop and the trains stopped in front of it, that gave the passengers time to get on and off without being run down by a train!

 

If you travel on the line make sure you take a stop on the south line to Nova Bystrice, but on the northern line make sure to stop off at Kamenice nad Lipou for luch at the hotel/retaurant just behind the station, lovely food and beer and railway themed interior!

 

Finally we got to travel on one of the railcars... It was horrible... I have travelled on some pretty bad stock over the years, including thye dreaded 142s but this thing took the biscuit, it was rough and noisy, it's no wonder the locals don't like them!

[Hobby]

That's it, folks, hope you enjoyed them!

[Owd Bob]

Many thanks for sharing Hobby, i have really-really enjoyed looking at them all and reading all the info'    

[009 micro modeller]

The railcars seem a very unusual design. Is there a particular reason for the round windows?

[Orion]

The railcars seem a very unusual design. Is there a particular reason for the round windows?

 

Very reminiscent of the McKeen railcars

 

[Hobby]

The railcars seem a very unusual design. Is there a particular reason for the round windows?

 

I don't know why they decided on the round windows, they have caused a lot of trouble since they came out, there have been many problems with them. They were converted from the Polish Mxbd2 railcar here's one before the rebuild:

 

[NHY 581]

The final line of the holiday was another visit to the JHMD in the south of the Czech Republic, hopefully to (at last!) travel on one of the refurbished railcars. We found out that they'd increased the trains on the south line from 2 a day to 3 a day and we took the 0935 the next morning on the 3 hour round trip. Trains awaiting departure at Jindric Hradec, the railcars were working the north line, the locos and coach the south, this was the night before, including two standard gauge wagons on rolboks, we don't know what they had in them, though we suspect wood:

 

Next morning, ours was the Blue T.47, we got to ride the railcar later:

 

Running round the train at Nova B and general shots of te plinthed T.47 and station:

 

Back at Jindrich we found that our train on the north line to Kamenice nad Lipou was the one we'd just come in on! Still no railcar!! 

 

We passed the Red One in the forest, the "OS" board we worked out was a stop board fro the trains, it was placed half way down the loop and the trains stopped in front of it, that gave the passengers time to get on and off without being run down by a train!

 

If you travel on the line make sure you take a stop on the south line to Nova Bystrice, but on the northern line make sure to stop off at Kamenice nad Lipou for luch at the hotel/retaurant just behind the station, lovely food and beer and railway themed interior!

 

Finally we got to travel on one of the railcars... It was horrible... I have travelled on some pretty bad stock over the years, including thye dreaded 142s but this thing took the biscuit, it was rough and noisy, it's no wonder the locals don't like them!

I have to agree. The ride is breathtakingly bad!!! Very bouncy.

 

 

Here are a few of my photos taken on my last visit.

 

 

Rob.

[johnofwessex]

What braking system is used on the Austrian lines?  Those look like vacuum hoses

[Hobby]

No straight answer, the old system, still used on preserved lines, is vacuum, some of the modern stuff is dual fitted (especially 2095s) but the people on the ARG Yahoo Group seem to think that most modern stock uses air but also often has vacuum as well!

Edited January 16, 2019 by Hobby