JAMIE'S RANDOM EUROPEAN AND REST OF THE WORLD RAILWAY PHOTOS.

[EddieB]

That Hudswell (0-6-0 "FIJI", HC 972/1913), based at Statfold, is one of three* steam locomotives repatriated from Laukota, Fiji.  Also at Statfold is 0-4-0ST "LAUTOKA" HC 1056/1914.  The third is 0-6-0T Fowler 10249/1905 which is part of "Collection X" in North Wales.

 

*Are there others?

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a slightly cloudy Charente.  The tardis though is still in the South Pacific. By the miracle of the tardis it's still 27th April 2019. Here is the text from the other information board.  

That evening we left Lautoka and headed north to Savusavu, one of the other Fijian islands.  This was a a couple of hundred miles north but the anchorage was lovely and we were greeted by a colourful set of buses when we got ashore. .No doubt some readers may know more about them.

After enjoying fresh coconut milk from a roadside stall  we went back to the ship and this rather tired but nice looking ferry arrived.  The less said about the state of the ferry ramp the better, more rust than steel.

Some Canadian friends who live on one of the islands off Vancouver thought that the ferry looked kind of familiar.  This was it's name.  A bit of research revealed that was indeed a former BC Ferries ship.

We then had a second 28th April as we crossed the international date line but on the 29th April we arrived at American Samoa where there was a further line up of buses.  We had a very intersting taxi tour of part of the island with our driver explaining some of the pros and cons of being a US colony but not a state.

One the tour we were shown some of the long sheds that shelter the huge canoes that are used for racing.  These two were photographed through an opening in the ventilation bricks at one end.

It's not rust but fabulous painting on the bows.

 

Then it was back to the ship for a fabulous exit with some very good ship handling out of a narrow L shaped harbour.  Then 5 days at sea to come.   We were however a little distracted as our daughter was showing signs of going into labour with our first grandchild on the other side of the world.   She wasn't even pregnant when we booked the cruise.

 

Jamie

 

1

 

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon from a rather damp Charente where the sky has started leaking.  The tardis though is still in the South Pacific. 2 days after sailing from American Samoa we both woke up about 04.10 local time on 1st May.  Our phones went off shortly afterwards with the news that our first granddaughter had made her entrance into this world.  Far more momentous news than anything railway related. Emily Kate a few minutes old.

I later found out from a ship's officer that we were at roughly 180 degrees West and 6 degrees south when this event occurred.  Somewhere i have a piece of paper with the exact coordinated on.  This will become a keepsake for the young lady in due course.

Anyway we made it to Hawaii and in particular Honolulu on 5th May.   One shop we visited was Walmart who seemed to be catering for the lowest IQ amongst their Walmartian customers with this sign.

 Anyway after doing the usual tourist things  went for a walk and found the maritime museum next to our pier. This steel hulled square rigger was there.

It was called the Falls of Clyde.

And another sailing shop.

We left that evening and I always find the cranes looking strangely alien.

We then sailed up to Kauai, another island in the chain north of Oahu with a harbour named Nawiliwili and a shore excursion caught my eye. After a bus ride from the harbour we turned into a former sugar plantation and what should I see but this.

Jamie

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I hadn't realised that the Falls of Clyde had deteriorated that much since I saw it in 2000....

 

 

It is supposedly coming back to Scotland to be restored at some point, though I hate to think what the transport costs would be, let alone the restoration work !

https://www.foci.scot/

 

 

.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:

I hadn't realised that the Falls of Clyde had deteriorated that much since I saw it in 2000....

 

 

It is supposedly coming back to Scotland to be restored at some point, though I hate to think what the transport costs would be, let alone the restoration work !

https://www.foci.scot/

 

 

.

There was very little info about her that I could see.   I hadn't realised that she had been used by the Matson Line.  They are still going strong.

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

I hadn't realised that the Falls of Clyde had deteriorated that much since I saw it in 2000....

 

 

It is supposedly coming back to Scotland to be restored at some point, though I hate to think what the transport costs would be, let alone the restoration work !

https://www.foci.scot/

 

 

.

 

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

There was very little info about her that I could see.   I hadn't realised that she had been used by the Matson Line.  They are still going strong.

 

Jamie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_of_Clyde_(ship)

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente, where it is sunny.  It was also sunny in Kauai on the 6th May 2019 where the tardis is currently.  The excursion had been advertised as a visit to a former sugar plantation and the chance to rude a train.  As well as the diesel loco there was this skip wagon.

And another loco.

The former plantation house is now a sort of museum to kitsch living.

Built by an anglophile in the 1930's if my memory serves me right.  The estate is as Kilohana. It did have a station though.

Which actually had a map of the railway.

Though quite how you have a rum company store with no alcohol I don't know.

However after a short wait a train arrived.

Jamie

 

 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning from the Charente, where it is sunny.  It was also sunny in Kauai on the 6th May 2019 where the tardis is currently.  The excursion had been advertised as a visit to a former sugar plantation and the chance to rude a train. 

How do you rude a train?

 

Though quite how you have a rum company store with no alcohol I don't know.

 

You need to post that on the Wacky Signs thread.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a sunny Charente. In tardis land it' s still the 6th May 2019 and we are on Kauai island in Hawaii.  I have now found my diary from the trip and can identify the green diesel as a 1948 built GE product. I boarded the train and got a seat at the rear with a good view from the vestibule.

We set off anti clockwise and soon passed the workshops area.

Then on through what is becoming an arboretum.  

 

We then took the outer loop before coming back a bit on the inner loop to a sort of petting farm.  A local inhabitant wanted to talk.

Whilst all this was going on I spent time talking to the conductor.  He told me that the whole railway was a recreation. Though there had been sugar cane and other railways on the island, of various gauges, this estate had never had one.  Sugar production on the 30,000 acres had ceased in 1975, and the last sugar cane was grown on the island in 2005.  The estate was split up but the remaining part, round the big house, was kept to be developed as a tourist destination.   The railway is 3' gauge and a lot of material came from the White Pass and Yukon.  The coaches were from the Philippines.   The guy had helped to build the railway. They have had problems with the sleepers rotting and are now using reclaimed plastic ones.  There is apparently some preserved steam on the island and they do have good relationships with the people to share engineering resources.  However a lot of jobs have to be outsourced to the US mainland.   He was a really nice guy to talk to and I was very impressed with the team's dedication to running a successful railway.  Here he is operating a point.

As you can see from yesterday's map the layout is quite complex but gives several options for routing trains.

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a sunny Charente.   The tardis though is still on Kauai in Hawaii.  It' still 6th May 2019. A little bit more of the jungle trackwork as we headed back to the station.

In the station building there were some good interpretive boards of early railways on the island.

And here was our train departing on it's next trip.

Then it was back to the ship as we had an early departure for Vancouver.  The Matson company is still going strong and serves all of the US Pacific islands, including American Samoa,

The exit from the harbour was tortuous and this tug was with us all the way but wasn't needed. Once again some very impressive ship handling.

As we cleared the harbour we set course for Vancouver which we reached on the morning of the 12th July where the Lions Gate bridge greeted us.

That journey continues on my American thread part way down page 31.   

Readers with better memory than me may remember that I bought a small etched metal kit in Melbourne and some tools to make it in Mossman, Queensland.   Well my time was not wasted on the voyage and here is the evidence.  I even made a box for it from Cardboard and gaffer tape that got it home safely.

That's it for this thread for the moment after 2 years of uploading my railway photos.  However all being well it will resume in a couple of weeks with pictures from Switzerland.   My UK and French threads will also get updated as more travels take place.  It's been quite a journey over the past 2 years but I've enjoyed it. To misquote John Lennon, I hope I've passed the audition.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Oakland, CA, seemed to be a main Port used by Matson.....

 

 

 

The top one is actually the SS Matsonia, built in 1973 and powered by steam turbines.

 

.

Edited May 15, 2022 by Johann Marsbar
added text

[31A]

42 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

That's it for this thread for the moment after 2 years of uploading my railway photos.  However all being well it will resume in a couple of weeks with pictures from Switzerland.   My UK and French threads will also get updated as more travels take place.  It's been quite a journey over the past 2 years but I've enjoyed it. To misquote John Lennon, I hope I've passed the audition.

 

Jamie

 

Thank you Jamie for taking the time and trouble to do this; it's all been informative and entertaining.  And caused me to spend a lot of time on Google Maps, wondering what those faraway places look like.... !! 🙂

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a grey and cloudy Charente.   As promised I am going to upload some photos of my recent travels.  Andy and I set off from the Charente on  Sunday 22nd May and had a week away with 3 days in France and 4 in Switzerland.  This was the first time in Switzerland for me, the 16th for Andy.  The French part of the trip was mainly in the area round Chambery and Modane and will be reported in my Moves at Limoges thread.

 

The plan was to stay the night of the 23rd at Bellegarde near the Swiss border and on the line to Geneva then take the train in the next morning.  Chambery was a good station to sit on in the evening and this rolled in heading for Paris.   No less than an FS Freciarossa unit.

 

 The next day we headed up to Modane to watch the iternational freight traffic and this was stabled at the end of the platform.

At lunchtime the quiet was disturbed by another Freciarossa heading to Modane.  A group of FS train crew were waiting for it and one of them chatted to us.  I think that they were either route or train learning and the guy we spoke to wanted to take a picture for his family.

Later that day we drove up from Chambery and stopped at Annemasse to see if there was any freight traffic from Evian.  To our surprise we found these in the station.

A Swiss 522 unit.  We later found out that the Leman Express is a joint SBB/SNCF operation in the area with the 522's from Switzerland and a fleet of what I think are tri voltage Regiolis units from France.

 

Anyway on the morning of the 24th we were up early after finding somewhere to leave the car and caught an SNCF train from Bellegarde to Geneva.   en route I saw my first Swiss loco. I think it's a class 843 diesel shunter .

Then though the unmanned border controls at Geneva and this class 460 rolled in.

I don't like the look of them but they certainly do their job.

 

More tomorrow.

 

Jamie

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente where some gutters need cleaning out but first off a bit more of Switzerland.  It's still the 24th May 2022 and we are in Geneva. Here 502 209 is waiting to head out. Very smart looking.

We headed east towards Brig and the first stop was Morges where the MBC (Morges-Bierre-Cossonay) meter gauge lines connect.  Here is one of their Stadler built units no 34/35.

It has a considerable freight traffic and standard gauge wagons are transferred to their destination on rollblocks, a line of them was near us.

They have a couple fo standard gauge electric shunters for shunting the yard, here is one of them no 155. 

Then on to where I think is Montreux and another narrow gauge unit of the MOB network.

And Montreux Oberland (MOB) electric loco 6006 on shed.

 Jamie

[jamie92208]

A rather late entry today due o other duties but the Swiss trip carried on.  It's still the 24th May and we are about a train heading for Brig along the Rhone Valley from Geneva. The first part of the journey was along the northern shore of Lake Leman.  This castle appeared and at the third attempt I got a photo without a mast in the middle of it.

^

At Aigle some TPC units were visible.

Then a rather good waterfall as we approached Martigny.

At Martigny an MC (Martigny Chatte.lard) unit was visible.

Along with a small shunter.

And a contractors G2000   840 003

The camera lens proved it's value again in ID'ing the loco.

Jamie

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[Johann Marsbar]

I think those G2000's look better with a "normal" cab like that, rather than the style they started off with....

 

 

[DaveF]

Jamie, I'm very much enjoying the photos - some of the places I've been to but many are unfamiliar.

 

I like the one of Chateau Chillon on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) at the end of today's batch.  I've walked along the path between the lake and the railway there a few times on my holidays.

 

David

[jamie92208]

Good evening from the Charente.   Here in tardis land it's the 24th May 2022 and Andy and I are still on board our train heading along the Rhome Valley towards Brig. It was great to see lots of shunters as we went along, waiting to do their work.

At Sion a 420 was in the yard.

And a better shot of it.

Then on to Brig where two electric shunters were busy adding and subtracting coaches to and from trains. This one was taking a set of single deck coaches off the front of our set of double deckers.

Whist it's sister loco was also hard at work on the next platform.

Outside the station in the Bahnhofplatz, MGB 53 was on an east bound train.

At the west end a BLS :Loetchberger 535 set had come down the north ramp from the tunnel into the station.  The ramp starts at the other end of the girder bridge that can be seen.

Jamie

 

 

[Erichill16]

Visited Brigg quIte a few times, especially when we holidayed in Kandersteg, which is a very picturesque. Spent many an evening on the bank above the station in Kandersteg waiting for the procession of trains to pass by. Its the first station north of the old Lotschberg tunnel and it’s where the car transporters arrive depart from.

[jamie92208]

11 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Visited Brigg quIte a few times, especially when we holidayed in Kandersteg, which is a very picturesque. Spent many an evening on the bank above the station in Kandersteg waiting for the procession of trains to pass by. Its the first station north of the old Lotschberg tunnel and it’s where the car transporters arrive depart from.

Thanks for that Robert.  Unfortunately I dodn't manage to do the whole Lotchberg route as you will see and Kandersteg and Frutigen await another day.  Anyway  the day progressed.   We were joined by Flavio (@Il Dottore of this parish) who came down from northern Switzerland to spend the afternoon and evening with us. The station was busy and this Vectron loco was waiting to head west out of the yard.  Most freight now goes via the base tunnel

An FS unit came in from Italy.

Then we caught one of the BLS local operated by a 535 Lotchberger unit.   This turned right up the north ramp and the climb is spectacular.  This is the MGB workshops just west of the town but already far below us.

We headed up to hear the top of the ramp at Hohten where we got off and waited for a train back to Ausseberg.  Andy had planned this so that I cold experience most of the north ramp, which is spectacualr.

Then we headed back to Ausseberg which Andy is modelling in HO.  It's a very impressive layout lready but needs scenery and buildings.  My main task was to take as many photos of the station area as possible for Andy whilst he measured up some buildings.  Flavio enjoyed the time and even managed to get a vending machine to cough up 4 cans of Red Bull instead of 1 bottle of iced tea. This is the uphill exit from the station.

I did like the benches with their engraved letterring. I am pondering how to model some for Andy. Possible resin castings for the leg brackets and a printed label for the back stuck onto wood.

Jamie

 

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I did like the benches with their engraved lettering. I am pondering how to model some for Andy. Possible resin castings for the leg brackets and a printed label for the back stuck onto wood.

Jamie

 

I like the bench as well, I have the top of a 1970's coffee table that is solid elm about an inch thick, about four feet long and just over a foot wide, one of the long sides is the sapwood. I have ideas of making it into a similar bench, perhaps without the back.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a sunny Bournemouth, where we are now installed for the coming week.   The tardis though is still in Switzerland on the 24th May 2022. At lest some freight is still going over the old Lotschberg as we were rewarded by this one heading south through Ausseberg.

A nice view of the outskirts of Brigg as we dropped back down the north ramp.

Then an SBB train to Visp to join an MGB train to Zermatt.   Before long I experienced my first piece of rack railwaying.  

The ride up the valley was spectacular.

And I even managed to photograph another piece of MGB rolling stock with a rather nice church tower in the background.

Then into Zermatt station.

Jamie

 

 

[jamie92208]

Good morning from a still sunny Bournemouth.  In tardis land though it's still 24th May 2022 and we are in Zermatt. There was more MGB stock stored in the station.

And across the road was the Gornegrattbahnhof. With a little shunter and some stock in the platform.

I hadn'rt realised that both lines are the same gauge and there is a connection across the road.  This is used to deliver supplies and stock.  In fact there is some new stock coming in at present, brought up from Visp on the MGB.  Anyway we were able to wander across the public footpath across the station throat and see a bit if stock in the sheds.

And back into the station.

We then walked down the road and got a quite clear view of the Matterhorn.

Then back to the station for a cold beer.

 

Jamie

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a sunny Bournemouth.  The tardis is still in Switzerland and it's still 24th May 2022.

As Andy and I walked back to the station thus unit was visible.

Then a very welcome cold beer before getting onto the train for the trip back to Brigg.  The bridge near the bottom of the line was seen again.

Then a view towards the Rhone valley.

A not very good shot but it gives an idea of the winding nature of the route.

A nice meal was eaten.  Flavio, Andy and I then had an hour on the station before Flavio headed back to Basel. Andy and I then went to the hotel.  The next morning this was the view from our balcony with an MGB train heading east.

Looking north we had the main line trains.

A rather good view.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good moaning again from a sunny Bournemouth.  Here it's still the 25th May 2022 and we are still in Brigg. The older BLS loco was still outside the shed.

A couple of newer BLS locos went south with a train of lorry trailers.

Another intermodal was waiting in the yard with three locos.  My notes are back in France unfortunately.

A class 620 heaed west.

And then it was time to join our train in the bahnhofplatz for a ride to Andermatt.

That just got better and better as we headed for the Furka pass.  Here about to engage the rack section and go through a spiral tunnel.  The exit tack can be seen above.

Jamie