McGomez

Hi I have just moved to Spain, (Murcia region) does anybody know of someone else who models railways in this region?

 

Len Cattley

Hi Len.

You have a PM.

Regards

Andy.

If anyone could give me info on this photo, I would be delighted.

 

Such as - where is it? And the working?

 

The slide mount gives the loco as 33201 and the date 21st Aug 1985. Did the Cliffe-Uddingston cement trains last that long?

 

 

 

 

33201_21_8_85.jpg

I´m only 4 and a bit years late to this thread but the location looks like it is East Hyde, just north of Harpenden.

Look for Tim Easters Flickr site as it is one of his favoured locations.

That would also tie in with Eastwestdivides info regarding the Dunstable Cement service.

Superb modelling Pete.

That is looking superb.

Looking good Pete.

The wall colouring looks like a dirtyish London Yellow brick to me but then I am colour blind.

My two penneth regarding the name, St Pancross East.

You could then have the odd invasion of Peaks and not feel too bad about it.

Looking forward to seeing this progress Pete.

As others have said, it already has that KX feel.

Murcia has its dry and arid zones but it is also known for its green and fertile áreas too, the same as can be found in the Province of Almería, where the Spaghetti westerns were filmed. Tabernas to be exact.

Depending on the zone of Murcia you are moving to, Tarragona can reached between 4 (from Yecla) and 6 (from Aguilas) hours.

  Above: About 6 minutes after the electrically hauled freight moved off, the points changed and this diesel hauled container freight began moving out onto the single track line. This Class 335 Co-Co is a product built in Spain and reputedly 4,000hp, using a GM power plant. The Operator "Transitia rail" is new, and I can't find any reliable info as to the technicalities of the loco or the operator as yet. Which was a primary reason for grabbing these pictures.  

 

Here is some info from Wikipedia regarding the Euro4000 loco.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vossloh_Euro

And this is the info on Transitia Rail from Ferropedia. I can only find it in Spanish.

http://www.ferropedia.es/wiki/Transitia_Rail

I'd concur with that. I drove a Vivaro for a while and it had, er, "gremlins". Then last year I drove a similar Renault Trafic for a while that had a completely different set of "gremlins". Neither are on my mental short-list.

I´ve driven a Vivaro for the past 2 years and no problems at all apart from the radio going pop last month. A 1.6 diesel that returns 6,4 - 6-7 l/100 km. I´ll let you work the MPG out.

For the 5 years previous I had a Renault Taffic and not a single problem.

Both had cruise control that is invaluable for long distance driving in spain.

I recently came across a spot of modelling by a Spanish gentleman called Jose Manuel, his diorama is called "Despeñaperros" - I spotted this on a German forum, mainly because I remember this place as a child and miscalling it "Desperate Perros" (Desperate dogs!)

He kindly provided me with the following links;

Building the diorama step by step

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMJeTbBpFbneOqP6EeAPqf0YgpvwnV6eJ8ie7Aef1BiLp9bQpKCy4hAhuXvkGyMmw?key=cWhVNDZrTlRZRGtZaUdTZ3pzTmptWWhEd3F2d3hR

 

Level crossing step by step

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNVIWW3O_hbXjXQmU3zCvaiCyCwtMcRXwgowgzP3RtBytHQif2ksHTr8JWVwC14sw?key=TTZhc29XdlNYblVxbXo3N1VsWHgtUG45b0dXVVZ3

 

Railway yard (another diorama)

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMpBs9_dehOof5fLHsHNjrVVQ0wVr3w_aIOOWaNvf4gX7JAROI5B2qNtx7ZGpky6A?key=d1hVelVYcGh0OGgzSXBmcVd0SXRQVzgyWTB6b3Zn

 

Personally, I think Jose's work elevates him to the standard of Josef Brandl, Patrice Hamm or our own Gordon Gravett. I only wish that I could work to these standards.

Cheers,

John.

Hi John.

He has a blog which can be seen here.

http://trainscape.blogspot.com.es/

I believe he was part of the team that was involved with Scopic, a Spanish version of Miniature Wonderland that closed its doors a couple of years ago.

Another museum that Eddie didn´t mention the the Galician Railway Museun at Monforte de Lemos.

For 2€ they will let you wander around the maintenance shed and if there are enough visitors to form a group of 20 they take you for a 300m run up to the roundhouse for a spin on the turntable and back on a diesel powered maintenance vehicle for 1€ extra.

Unfortunately they don´t let you have a wander around the turntable/roundhouse area.

There are a couple of exhibits of British origin.

The English Electric built, series 7721.

And the North British built Mikado 141F2111.

There is also an Alco, series 318, 1812.

A series 308 diesel. 308.006.

And a series 269/6 electric loco that was the loco that held the Spanish high speed record for electric traction at one time, attaining 241Kmh in 1991.

They also have a collection of coaches kept up in the roundhouse.

The majority of the exhibits are kept in immaculate condition and are in full working order.

I´ve not had the chance to photograph railway stuff just recently but managed to spy the double headed empty butane tanks near Alguazas, Murcia on the 1st December.

The 2 locos are not needed for this 11 wagon train that is destined for Escombreras, near Cartagena but will be needed for the return service that leaves around 15:30h and will be a 20 wagon service for Getafe, near Madrid.

(313011 being a particularly late arrival IIRC)

 

 

You do remember correctly Gwiwer.

It was the last to be underlined in my book.

The rumour mill of the day had it that it was cannibalised at Hornsey to keep the others running although I still find that hard to believe.

Was it used for testing purposes elsewhere, I wonder?

Some more images from my trip to Galicia back in August.

This is the Martín Gil Viaduct over the River Eslo, still in the province of Zamora.

More info here in Spanish. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaducto_Mart%C3%ADn_Gil

Seen here with some decent traction traversing it.

http://www.trenzamora.es/Fotosvarias/epoca%20dorada/Christian%20Wenger.jpg

Once in Galicia we headed for Tuy on the border with Portugal and crossed the international bridge over to Valença do Minho and got a couple of shots from the castle looking back towards the Spanish side.

Here a class 592 leased to CP and painted in their house colours heads towards Vigo. The train originates in Oporto. This international service runs twice a day in both directions.

30 minutes later a series 596 "Tamagochi" railcar crossed over to Valença on a local service from Vigo.

There is a large movement of timber that uses this route from various sources in Galicia to plants in Portugal and the change over from CP traction can either take place on the Portuguese side at Valença or at Tuy on the Spanish side.

Comsa Rail class 335.003 awaits its next turn of duty at Valença.

Series 592 DMU awaits its next service to Viana do Castelo.

That looks to be a wild and lonely place, Andy. Behind you, there is no doubt a town of 20000 people, but the station would appear to be in the middle of nowhere...

Only 9000 inhabitants.

In the following image, the station is located just behind the trees and a bit to the right and the town is perched on a platau about 3 km from the station

Toro10 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], by Dirkvde (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

The station only has 1 stopping train in each direction every day. It probably had a couple of Madrid - Galicia Talgo services stopping there before they went over to the high speed trains (AVE) on the newly built line that runs about 10 km from Toro.

I seem to have dissappeared off the radar once again but here is a video of a Spanish Alco in the infrastructure operators (ADIF) house colours of green and white heading light towards Zamora.

We had spent the night in the town of Toro which is moreorless half way between Murcia and where we were heading in Galicia and is also a well known wine producing region. Highly recommended food and wine. Prices were good too.

We dropped into the station knowing that the only passenger train of the morning had long departed but got lucky just as we were leaving and the level crossing barriers came down and this loco came into sight.

McGomez, if you like world beers check this place out, can't go wrong 8 keg beers and over 600 bottle beers

 

DSCN2283.JPG

 

https://wego.here.com/directions/mix//Cervecer%C3%ADa-ArteSana-Craft-Beer-Caf%C3%A9,-Plaza-de-la-Merced-5,-29012-M%C3%A1laga:e-eyJuYW1lIjoiQ2VydmVjZXJcdTAwZWRhIEFydGUmU2FuYSBDcmFmdCBCZWVyIENhZlx1MDBlOSIsImFkZHJlc3MiOiJQbGF6YSBkZSBsYSBNZXJjZWQgNSwgTVx1MDBlMWxhZ2EsIFNwYWluIiwibGF0aXR1ZGUiOjM2LjcyMzMyNjg1NDcxMiwibG9uZ2l0dWRlIjotNC40MTc4NzAwMzA1MjEsInByb3ZpZGVyTmFtZSI6ImZhY2Vib29rIiwicHJvdmlkZXJJZCI6NjExNDM1Njk1NTYyNjE0fQ==?map=36.72333,-4.41787,15,normal&fb_locale=en_GB

 

DSCN2319.JPG

 

Well, hic, worth a visit!!!!!  ,also there's a couple of good tapas restaurants on the other side of the square. 

 

 

Ray

Thanks for the tip Ray.

We finally managed to find the place and have a couple of beers. Good place.

Some information and plenty of photos on this site.

http://www.eastanglianrailwayarchive.co.uk/Railways/East-Anglian-Railway-Archive/i-zqXbz3t

Good pictures Ray.

I´m going to Malaga tomorrow with the wife for a long weekend.

I´ll stay away from the station if there is a shopping centre there now.

Although on second thoughts, the wife will probably be suspicious as to why I don´t want to go a see the railway station!! :senile:

Here are some of the the freight turns that originate in the Region of Murcia.

The "Butano" usually runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from the port of Escombreras just east of Cartagena to Madrid (Getafe) and is usually double headed in the winter months with the 3300HP class 333s on the front and 19 bogie tanks. It usually departs the yard in Murcia around 17:05h just after the Altaria service to Madrid has passed.

09-08-12 Campo de Blanca by McGomez441, on Flickr

Here is a single loco in charge of 10 bogie tanks.

The 10 wagon train does run during the winter months as can be in this image from 2012?

12-03-09 Butanero Campo Ulea 333.354 by McGomez441, on Flickr

The return empties arrive in Murcia between 06.00 - 08.00h.

Another train that originates from the industrial complex at Escombreras is the Bioetanol train that runs to the refinery at Puertollano.

This view shows it when it was a RENFE contract.

12-06-21 333.347 Torres de Cotillas Bio Etanol by McGomez441, on Flickr

It was then taken over by the private operator, Continental Rail which used some older traction in the shape of the class 319. Two class 333s make a lot of noise going up the gradients but this loco easily beat them.

13-11-04 Continental Rail - Campotejar by McGomez441, on Flickr

It also used hired in bogie tanks from VTG.

12-09-24 Bioetanol Continental Rail 319.301 - Cieza Norte by McGomez441, on Flickr

I don´t know if this train still runs but it used to convey baby foods from a factory close to the yard in Murcia up to Barcelona. It used to run round at Albacete and continue via Valencia.

There was a backload of beer for Damm from Barcelona to Murcia.

13-04-30 Mercante Cieza by McGomez441, on Flickr

Back in 2012 there was a short lived contract to move scrap metal from Murcia to Barcelona.

12-07-27 Campotejar Chatarra 333 386  (5) by McGomez441, on Flickr

Back in the good ´ole days when they used to build houses and apartments a train of bogie hoppers conveyed clinker from Escombreras to a cement factory south of Madrid. I haven´t seen one of these run in 8 or 9 years.

This image shows a rake tagged on the back of the butane tanks but it usually ran as a 20 wagon rake.

08-07-29 Mercante mixto de butano y clincker - Detrás de la Base 2000 by McGomez441, on Flickr

A train that does still run is the "Frutero" that loads fruit and veg in reefers at Murcia yard and runs through the night to the port of Bilbao.

This has always been a Continental rail operated job.

The onward shipping is by ship to northern european ports but I couldn´t tell you where abouts exactly.

13-06-05 TECO CR en el Campo de Blanca by McGomez441, on Flickr

This usually runs with their own Euro 4000 locos (class 335) or ocasionally one of their 333s.

Primos hermanos 1 by McGomez441, on Flickr

Mostly, but you know what Spain is like!

Is my engineering yard seat still available?, I rather enjoyed the white knuckle ride on the AP7!

 

Mike.

The engineering yard seat is always available Mike. I might have to have a clear out of bad running stock that seems to inhabit the yard at the moment.

Good to hear you enjoyed the trip on the Alicante to Murcia "Mulsanne Straight". You want to try the various ring roads of Madrid.

Hi Mike.

Good to see you´re venturing down to Murcia now. Does that mean the house renovation is now complete?

When I get a moment, I´ll add some shops from further afield to the list.

The "Hobby Modelismo" shop in the Thader shopping centre doesn´t do railways, just plastic kits (Revell, Airfix, Tamiya, etc) but they do stock quite a good selection of paints, glues and tools.

Their website is up to date and they get things out of the door the same day according to what I´ve read on Spanish railway forums.

There is another shop, south of the river in Murcia about 400m from the railway station called KITS. It is similar in size to the shop in Thader but once again sells mainly plastic kits, paint, etc. It used to sell a bit of railway stuff but I haven´t been in there for years.

If you ever get down to Cartagena there is a shop called Tiempo Libre. It´s not near the touristy bits of Cartagena but it´s easy to park nearby.

The owner is a profesional model maker I believe (mainly ships) and the shop is tiny but an alladins cave.

Quite a bit of railway stuff but no British models. Seems to have stock that no-one else has but then again he charges top dollar for it although some of the wagons I´ve bought from him were not too pricey.

I don´t think he has a website but it looks like he is on Facebook. https://es-es.facebook.com/Model%C3%ADsmo-Tiempo-Libre-459529067477425/

In Valencia there is "Hobbies El Fallero" that I visited many moons ago and that had a decent amount of railway stuff but once again no British stuff. http://www.fallero.net/modelismo/

There are another couple of shops in Valencia, the more well known one is called "Mikado". http://www.comercialmikado.es/

The other one I´ve heard of is called "Altarriba Trenes".

http://www.altarribatrenes.com/

These last 2 I´ve never visited but once again, reading Spanish forums they do the odd deal/sale from time to time.

That just about covers the model shops in this eastern part of Spain. They are a bit thin on the ground unfortunately.

Hope that helps a bit.

Regards

Andy.

Now then guys, stop this joking. Serious replies needed. Hatfield is the place to go.

 

Everyone knows the enjoyment at the zebra crossings. Mr Belisha and his wonderful beacons.

Then for highly sophisticated entertainment, -- the colourful traffic lights. Shows are on continuously.

The Lights over the ECML at the Red Lion were the only ones in town in my day.

I agree Ben but for some reason I have Bilbao in my head.

If it is Asturias it would probably be Trasona.

Wasn't the model of the DH88 on the roof of the Comet Hotel/Motel?