A visit to Vienna and Bratislava

[station cat]

Some pictures of my trip to Vienna in February 2014. I made a one day excursion to Bratislava as well. Vienna strikes me as a great place to go to see trains, whilst the passenger services didn't seem to be very exciting there was huge amounts of freight about and a surprising amount of vintage rolling stock lying around. Too bad I saw most of it from a moving train which made photographing it nigh on impossible. Since I know nothing about Austrian and Slovak trains I would appreciate help with captioning. Most of my pictures aren't very good but hopefully they'll be of use or inspiration to somebody.

 

Vienna Hauptbahnhof is in the midst of heavy construction with a view to being fully open next January. Here are views of a PW wagon and one of the shiny new signals

 

 

 

We passed a marshalling yard on the outskirts of Vienna which contained an impressive variety of tank wagons

 

 

Devinska Nova Ves was the first stop in Slovakia. Here we have views of the station, the locos working the yard and a very pretty visitor (but why the curtains?)

 

 

 

 

At Bratislava we have the wall around a bit of the station, the station forecourt, another colourful loco and some very filthy coaches. Plus the Slovak Railway device on the station roof. And a loudspeaker by the bus stop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of the Museum Dopravy in Bratislava will follow

 

[EddieB]

As far as the Slovak locos are concerned...

 

The green and cream loco is a class 770 Co-Co diesel electric, built by CKD (Praha), originally classified T669.0 and dating from the 1960s.  Around 300 of these locomoties and their 771 (T669.1) development were built for the Czechoslovakian State Railways.  They represented one of the most numerous types of diesels worldwide with over 7,000 exported to the former Soviet Union (ChME3 family).  Others also form the backbone of the Albanian state railways locomotive fleet.  The shunter behind looks to be either a 702 or 701 B diesel-hydraulic, again dating from the 1960s.

 

The orange and red electric is a 25kV AC Bo-Bo of class 240 (originally S499.0) of a type introduced by Skoda (Plzen) in the late 1960s, and locally nicknamed "Laminatka".  Similar locomotives were exported to Bulgaria.

 

The blue and yellow vehicle is an MTV-2 catenary maintenance railcar.

[station cat]

Thanks for your help EddieB. Now for some of my pictures of the Museum Dopravy in Bratislava which is actually a disused bit of the main railway station. They had a lot of cars and motorbikes but I concentrated on the trains. Unfortunately most of the explanations were only in Slovak, especially annoying where the armoured train is concerned. I do have multiple pictures of most of the locos and also lots of photos of signalling equipment, lineside stuff etc. Happy to post them if they'd be of use to anyone.

 

Station dustbin?

 

Locos

 

Drainpipe

 

Haulage vehicle (I have a picture of the trailer and a close up of the controls if anyone wants)

 

Yard light

 

Signal

 

Part of the armoured train

 

Rail car (I've got a better picture of the crossing barrier)

 

Lamps

 

Vans

 

Goodness knows

[EddieB]

Some information here (with help from Google translate): http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sk&u=http://www.muzeumdopravy.com/&prev=/search?q%3Dbratislava%2Btransport%2Bmuseum%26biw%3D1457%26bih%3D882 and here http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sk&u=http://www.mdc.sk/&prev=/search?q%3Dhttp://www.mdc.sk/index.php%26biw%3D1457%26bih%3D882

 

 

 

It seems there have been some changes since I paid a visit around a dozen years ago - I don't think the armoured train was present (although there was an "armoured" loco awaiting restoration at Vrutky, the "armouring" being applied for a film). Were there any diesels or electrics present when you visited?

 

A little about the steam locomotives:

 

534.0471 (seems you also had problems with the angle of the sun) is an example of the post-war development of lightweight, yet powerful 2-10-0s. The original design (534.0) was introduced in 1923, production carrying through into the war years, ending in 1943 when 149 had been built. Facing the need for new locomotives in the immediate aftermath of WW2, the design was updated as the 534.03 class, with no less than 228 being built by CKD and Skoda during 1946 to 1948. Many survived in service into the 1970s.

 

"3679" is a standard gauge industrial 0-6-0T (type CP 600) formerly of ZTS Dubnica nad Váhom. It was built by CKD in 1955 (3679 was the works number). http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sk&u=http://www.mdc.sk/katalog-predmet/25/&prev=/search?q%3Dhttp://www.mdc.sk/katalog-predmet/25/%26biw%3D1457%26bih%3D882

 

The fireless loco was built by CKD in 1948 for a plant in Trnava, see here: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sk&u=http://www.mdc.sk/katalog-predmet/24/&prev=/search?q%3Dhttp://www.mdc.sk/katalog-predmet/24/%26biw%3D1457%26bih%3D882

 

(Edited link to home page of MDC Bratislava).

[dagrizz]

Thanks for this info about Bratislava as I'm hoping to visit later this year. 

 

I've noticed on Google Earth that there is a good looking half-roundhouse about a mile from the main station. Has anyone been there? Can you get near enough to it for photos?

 

 

Regards

 

Graham

[Supaned]

Thanks for this info about Bratislava as I'm hoping to visit later this year. 

 

I've noticed on Google Earth that there is a good looking half-roundhouse about a mile from the main station. Has anyone been there? Can you get near enough to it for photos?

 

roun9.JPG

 

Regards

 

Graham

I'm pretty sure they have an annual gala at that Roundhouse every summer , the gala goes by the name of "Rendez" - usually they have visiting locomotives and run special trains , so that would probably be the best time to visit,

[dagrizz]

Well I found this reference to the Rendez events  

 

 

 

http://www.mdc.sk/stranka/sezona-2014-v-zeleznicnom-muzeu-bratislava-vychod/

 

 

The museum is in the North-East of Bratislava, 3-4 miles from the main station.

 

 

and 

 

[EddieB]

Yes, the Rendez events are based around Bratislava-Vychod (East) depot, where the museum collection (active and stored locomotives) is based.  Google shows a few of the stored locomotives around the yards there.  The collection of stored locomotives has grown since I was last there, when it was possible to have a look around.

 

The roundhouse is at a different location, nearer to the main station, and I think is the running shed for locomotives allocated to Bratislava.

[DavidR]

In the 'station' museum, there used to be a lovely Sentinal/Skoda steam wagon. Is it still there, did you notice?

[petethemole]

It was included in post #3 yesterday but seems to have disappeared.

 

Pete

[station cat]

It's still there, I posted a picture of it in early risers with my general trip pictures. But here it is again.

 

 

The sun was indeed being totally unhelpful. I get the impression they've only had the armoured train for a couple of years, sadly my Slovak isn't up to much. I don't think there were any diesel locos thugh there was some kind of PW machine which looked fairly modern and I didn't photograph.

[petethemole]

I knew I'd seen it; just forgot where.

 

Pete

[EddieB]

As an update, the museum depot at Bratislava Vychod will be open Wednesdays and Saturdays 10:00-17:00 from 15th April to 15th October.  The RENDEZ event takes place 14th-15th June.  There is also a "Night at the Museum" on 17th May (no Ben Stiller so, hopefully, not too scary).  Visits on others days by advance arrangement.

 

Here is the MDC the home page (translated by Google) to correct the wrong link given in post #4. http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sk&u=http://www.mdc.sk/&prev=/search?q%3Dhttp://www.mdc.sk/index.php%26biw%3D1457%26bih%3D882, details available there.

[EddieB]

An update to the update...

 

A brief visit to Bratislava recently gave opportunity to revisit both the Transport Museum and the Museum Depot at Vychod.

 

If you're coming by car, the Transport Museum has free parking available for its guests.  (Saves a walk, but parking in front of the main station is quite reasonable at €1,50 per hour).  A strange place as you pay admission and then a fee to take photographs - apparently I hadn't paid sufficiently for all my cameras and an extra euro was demanded (which seemed less than warranted). 

 

Much as depicted in Station Cat's pictures, except the armoured vehicle has been removed to Vychod.  There are fewer railway items than when I last visited (2002), but that does mean the exhibits are more widely spaced.  During that last visit I struggled with photography with a clear sky and pointing into the sun, this time it was overcast and dark!  A tripod would have helped but there would be a €33,00 surcharge for "professional" photography.

 

I hadn't noticed the collection of road vehicles during my previous visit.  If you're into Skodas or Tatras (and much more besides) there's quite a collection inside the buildings.

 

Having chosen a Wednesday, I found the Vychod museum depot open.  What "open" means is open to conjecture as I couldn't find an office open and was basically free to wander around the whole site (including the "dumped" locos tucked away in the corners).  I was far from being the only visitor, one party appeared to be having a guided tour, there was a largish party of children and several others besides.  Sadly the locomotive I had really wanted to see - CSD 399.001 (a Pacific built for Lithuania, but not exported due to WW2) was present as an incomplete collection of pieces.  There's car parking on site (if you enter through the official entrance) - or ioff the side road by the "staff entrance" where "310.507" (really 310.442) is plinthed.