On Track - a Gricer's Tales
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    • 1991-1999 >
      • 1991
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        • April 1993 - Belgium & Luxembourg
        • September 1993 - Germany & Poland
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        • May 1995 - The Netherlands
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        • October 1995 - Belgium
        • November 1995 - Belgium
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        • January 1998 - Germany
        • February 1998 - Belgium
        • April 1998 - Belgium and Germany
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        • August 1998 - Germany, Poland, Czech Republic
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        • January 1999 - Germany
        • February 1999 - Belgium
        • April 1999 - Germany, Czech Republic, Poland
        • June 1999 - Belgium, Germany
        • July 1999 - Germany
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      • 2000 >
        • February 2000 - Germany
        • March 2000 - Germany
        • April 2000 - France
        • April 2000 - Germany
        • May 2000 - Germany
        • August 2000 - Germany, Czech Republic
        • September 2000 - Belgium
        • September 2000 - Belgium and Germany
      • 2001 >
        • January 2001 - Germany
        • February 2001 - Northern Ireland
        • March 2001 - Germany
        • April 2001 - Germany
        • May 2001 - Germany, Denmark and Sweden
        • May 2001 - Netherlands and Germany
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        • December 2001 - Germany
      • 2002 >
        • February 2002 - Germany
        • March 2002 - Germany
        • April 2002 - Germany
        • August 2002 - Czech Republic
        • September 2002 - Netherlands
        • October 2002 - Germany
        • November 2002 - Germany (1)
        • November 2002 - Germany (2)
      • 2003 >
        • January 2003 - Germany
        • April 2003 - France
        • May 2003 - Germany
        • June 2003 - Czech Republic and Slovakia
        • October 2003 - Czech Republic
        • December 2003 - Germany
      • 2004 >
        • March 2004 - Germany
        • April 2004 - Various countries
        • May 2004 - Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary
        • August 2004 - Germany, Switzerland, Austria
        • October 2004 - Germany
      • 2005 >
        • April 2005 - Germany, Czech Republic
        • June 2005 - Portugal
        • August 2005 - Belgium and Germany
        • October 2005 - Germany and Czech Republic
      • 2006 >
        • January 2006 - Germany
        • March 2006 - Germany
        • May 2006 - Ireland
        • July 2006 - Germany
        • August 2006 - Germany
        • September 2006 - Czech Republic and Slovakia
      • 2007 >
        • February 2007 - Czech Republic
        • May 2007 - Czech Republic
        • June 2007 - Germany and France
        • October 2007 - Czech Republic and borders
        • October/November 2007 - Czech Republic
      • 2008 >
        • April 2008 - Czech Republic
        • April 2008 - Germany
        • July 2008 - Czech Republic, Poland
        • August 2008 - Austria (1)
        • August 2008 - Austria (2)
        • December 2008 - Czech Republic
        • December 2008 - Austria
      • 2009 >
        • July 2009 - Czech Republic, Slovakia
        • August 2009 - Austria
        • September 2009 - Slovakia
        • November 2009 - Austria
    • 2010-present >
      • 2010 >
        • April 2010 - Germany
        • July 2010 - Germany, Belgium, Netherlands
        • July 2010 - Austria
      • 2011 >
        • April 2011 - Austria
        • June 2011 - Germany and 6 others
        • October 2011 - Germany
      • 2012 >
        • April 2012 - Belgium and Germany
        • May 2012 - Germany
        • July 2012 - Germany
        • October 2012 - Germany
      • 2013 >
        • March 2013 - Czech Republic
        • April 2013 - Germany
        • August 2013 - Germany
      • 2014 >
        • May 2014 - Germany
        • July 2014 - Germany
      • 2015 >
        • April 2015 - Germany, Czech Republic
        • June 2015 - Slovakia, Czech Republic
      • 2016 >
        • March 2016 - Slovakia
        • April 2016 - Slovakia
        • June 2016 - Netherlands plus 5
        • November 2016 - Germany, Poland
      • 2017 >
        • March 2017 - Germany, Poland
        • July 2017 - Czech Republic and Poland
        • July 2017 - Poland and Slovakia
      • 2018 >
        • August 2018 - the best laid plans of mice and men
      • 2019 >
        • July 2019 - Interrail part 1
        • August 2019 - Interrail part 2
      • 2022 >
        • June 2022 - Interrail
        • September 2022 - Belgium
  • Contact
Picture
'Difficult track' : the train has finished its journey at Medzilaborce mesto (town) station in Slovakia in April 2016. But the track goes on across the border into Poland (click here to see!), and in 2017 you could do that stretch on Saturdays and Sundays in the height of summer...
What on earth is a gricer, you may wonder. Well, it's all to do with being a railway enthusiast. Among railway enthusiasts, some people collect numbers, some enjoy restoring steam locos, others are interested in signals or wagons or timetables or railwayana or tickets or ... the list goes on and on. An Internet search will give you numerous definitions; here are a few:

Oxford Dictionaries
Urban Dictionary
Collins English Dictionary

One source says the term was invented at the Bluebell Railway in 1970, but I beg to differ, as the term had been in common use in my university's railway society throughout my time there (1967-70). In that group the word was really only applied to people who, like me and many others, had a particular interest in travelling over as many different lines as possible.

As well as 'gricing', that particular pursuit is often called 'doing track' or 'trackbashing'. If it's a line you haven't travelled on before, it's 'new track'. If it's track without a public passenger service of any sort, that can only be done by a charter train, or an engineering diversion, or with special permission on a freight train, then it's 'difficult track' or 'rare track', and that is why the address of this site starts with 'raretrack'. I started 'doing track' many years ago, when there was still a bit of main line steam around in the UK, but it was many more years before I kept any sort of diary, instead of just marked up maps.

In 2006 I took the opportunity of a respite from work to 'digitise' the notes I'd kept of my European mainland travels so far, then decided that I may as well put them them on a web site in case anybody was interested. That's how 'On Track' came about. The Web wasn't even a dream when I started trackbashing in the 1960s, and it was in its infancy when I started on the European mainland at the beginning of the 1990s. Consequently my 'memoirs' were only written for my own amusement, but as I typed them up I found it quite entertaining to see myself change.

As far as rail travel's concerned I have something of a 'started so I'll finish' mentality, together with limited resources of time and money, and so I've elected to concentrate on (by comparison with many more seasoned travellers) a quite small number of countries. In those countries (BeNeLux, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria - and if you're pedantic, Monaco and Liechtenstein) once started, I've tried to cover all the lines covered by timetabled passenger services. To cover the cross-border routes I've been into all the countries bordering those, apart from Ukraine, but in most cases I've covered no more than a few hundred miles (perhaps a couple of thousand in France) and sometimes a hundred or less (Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia). There are many more that I would like to get to work on, notably Poland and Switzerland - but retirement has its advantages (time) and disadvantages (money and age)! Never say never isn't a bad adage though...

Meanwhile if you're interested in taking any of the journey (so far) with me, just click here or pick from the menu 'The Tales' at the top of this page. Most pages are illustrated (click on the pictures for a larger version), and if you're not railway-obsessed like me you'll find that there are plenty of asides, which for some reason seem quite frequently to involve visits to what in the good old UK might be called 'licensed premises' and a gradual realisation that many of 'those foreign chaps' can brew exceptionally good beers!

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  • Home
  • The Tales
    • The Tales - Index
    • How it all began
    • 1991-1999 >
      • 1991
      • 1992
      • 1993 >
        • April 1993 - Belgium & Luxembourg
        • September 1993 - Germany & Poland
      • 1994
      • 1995 >
        • May 1995 - The Netherlands
        • August 1995 - Belgium
        • October 1995 - Belgium
        • November 1995 - Belgium
      • 1998 >
        • January 1998 - Germany
        • February 1998 - Belgium
        • April 1998 - Belgium and Germany
        • April 1998 - Netherlands, Belgium & Germany
        • August 1998 - Germany, Poland, Czech Republic
        • December 1998 - Germany
      • 1999 >
        • January 1999 - Germany
        • February 1999 - Belgium
        • April 1999 - Germany, Czech Republic, Poland
        • June 1999 - Belgium, Germany
        • July 1999 - Germany
        • December 1999 - Germany
    • 2000-2009 >
      • 2000 >
        • February 2000 - Germany
        • March 2000 - Germany
        • April 2000 - France
        • April 2000 - Germany
        • May 2000 - Germany
        • August 2000 - Germany, Czech Republic
        • September 2000 - Belgium
        • September 2000 - Belgium and Germany
      • 2001 >
        • January 2001 - Germany
        • February 2001 - Northern Ireland
        • March 2001 - Germany
        • April 2001 - Germany
        • May 2001 - Germany, Denmark and Sweden
        • May 2001 - Netherlands and Germany
        • October 2001 - Germany
        • December 2001 - Germany
      • 2002 >
        • February 2002 - Germany
        • March 2002 - Germany
        • April 2002 - Germany
        • August 2002 - Czech Republic
        • September 2002 - Netherlands
        • October 2002 - Germany
        • November 2002 - Germany (1)
        • November 2002 - Germany (2)
      • 2003 >
        • January 2003 - Germany
        • April 2003 - France
        • May 2003 - Germany
        • June 2003 - Czech Republic and Slovakia
        • October 2003 - Czech Republic
        • December 2003 - Germany
      • 2004 >
        • March 2004 - Germany
        • April 2004 - Various countries
        • May 2004 - Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary
        • August 2004 - Germany, Switzerland, Austria
        • October 2004 - Germany
      • 2005 >
        • April 2005 - Germany, Czech Republic
        • June 2005 - Portugal
        • August 2005 - Belgium and Germany
        • October 2005 - Germany and Czech Republic
      • 2006 >
        • January 2006 - Germany
        • March 2006 - Germany
        • May 2006 - Ireland
        • July 2006 - Germany
        • August 2006 - Germany
        • September 2006 - Czech Republic and Slovakia
      • 2007 >
        • February 2007 - Czech Republic
        • May 2007 - Czech Republic
        • June 2007 - Germany and France
        • October 2007 - Czech Republic and borders
        • October/November 2007 - Czech Republic
      • 2008 >
        • April 2008 - Czech Republic
        • April 2008 - Germany
        • July 2008 - Czech Republic, Poland
        • August 2008 - Austria (1)
        • August 2008 - Austria (2)
        • December 2008 - Czech Republic
        • December 2008 - Austria
      • 2009 >
        • July 2009 - Czech Republic, Slovakia
        • August 2009 - Austria
        • September 2009 - Slovakia
        • November 2009 - Austria
    • 2010-present >
      • 2010 >
        • April 2010 - Germany
        • July 2010 - Germany, Belgium, Netherlands
        • July 2010 - Austria
      • 2011 >
        • April 2011 - Austria
        • June 2011 - Germany and 6 others
        • October 2011 - Germany
      • 2012 >
        • April 2012 - Belgium and Germany
        • May 2012 - Germany
        • July 2012 - Germany
        • October 2012 - Germany
      • 2013 >
        • March 2013 - Czech Republic
        • April 2013 - Germany
        • August 2013 - Germany
      • 2014 >
        • May 2014 - Germany
        • July 2014 - Germany
      • 2015 >
        • April 2015 - Germany, Czech Republic
        • June 2015 - Slovakia, Czech Republic
      • 2016 >
        • March 2016 - Slovakia
        • April 2016 - Slovakia
        • June 2016 - Netherlands plus 5
        • November 2016 - Germany, Poland
      • 2017 >
        • March 2017 - Germany, Poland
        • July 2017 - Czech Republic and Poland
        • July 2017 - Poland and Slovakia
      • 2018 >
        • August 2018 - the best laid plans of mice and men
      • 2019 >
        • July 2019 - Interrail part 1
        • August 2019 - Interrail part 2
      • 2022 >
        • June 2022 - Interrail
        • September 2022 - Belgium
  • Contact