Germany and another bit of Poland 25-27 March 2017
2017's first venture was thanks to Max The Mole who had closed the Forst-Zary line for two weekends in March resulting in the special Berlin-Wrocław 'Kulturzug' workings being diverted via the freight only Horka - Bielawa Dolna - Wegliniec line.
2017's first venture was thanks to Max The Mole who had closed the Forst-Zary line for two weekends in March resulting in the special Berlin-Wrocław 'Kulturzug' workings being diverted via the freight only Horka - Bielawa Dolna - Wegliniec line.
Saturday 25 March
A very late decision to go meant that I had to traipse to Heathrow for a heavily 'subsidised' (by 9000-odd of my Avios) BA flight to Berlin. Up betimes therefore, for 07:53 ATW to New Street, which surprised me by both being on time and having free WiFi. It even worked! I just made 08:33 LM to Euston, also on time having run fast line from Ledburn Jn to Euston.
Along to the Metropolitan on a no. 30 for an early lunch of Spoon's breakfast accompanied by a pint of something quite acceptable from Windsor & Eton brewery. Investigation then revealed that I had time to get to T5 by other means than the Piccadilly line, so I did. Hammersmith & City to Paddington (long walk back from the Met platform!) just in time for 12:20 GW kart to Hayes. Straight on to an air-conditioned, hybrid 350 outside the station for a circuitous ride to T5. Straight through Fast Track security (not that standard would have been any slower) for a very long fester. The Airbus pushed back right time at 15:55 but wasn't airborne until 16:05. Quite quick really!
The excellent afternoon tea followed by a G&T almost stopped me resenting all those extra Avios for business class, this having been the only Avios flight I could get at short notice. Very satisfactory, rounded off by punctual-ish arrival at TXL, not that I was in a rush. Passport checked, facilities visited, and BVG tickets obtained, I was on the bus within 20 minutes of touchdown.
First stop was Berlin Hbf where the ticket machine eventually yielded tickets Lichtenberg-Wrocław and return, then M8 tram to Springpfuhl to check the SEV setup for tomorrow, and a walk back to the Ibis Budget Berlin Ost.
Sunday 26 March
Clocks going forward presented an interesting dilemma. Would my fancy gadgets pick up the time change? I settled for 06:00 alarms on the basis that if they didn't I could still make 07:29 tram, just, and if they did I'd have time for a shower etc. The mobile did, alarm clock didn't because of poor signal, but all was well and I strolled up to Springpfuhl on a fine, if cold, morning rather than wait for the tram.
Max had still managed some inconvenience as Springpfuhl-Lichtenberg was bustituted for the weekend but a herd of omnibi were on hand for a very efficient SEV operation. Another longish fester at Lichtenberg but the 628 for Wrocław turned up at 8:15 by which time McD's had provided me with a free coffee as part a promotion which you'd have thought would require the purchase of breakfast. Still, I'd offered payment and been refused, so I took the gift horse approach!
Off at 08:32, on time and almost empty. Round the newish curve to Ostkreuz - glad I went out of the way to do that one last year, then. On to Cottbus by normal routes, with an 8 minute stop there. Northernmost, surface, route was taken, stopping in P6 as 7-10 are being reconstructed.
A satisfying lurch to the right leaving Cottbus put paid to any lingering worries about the diversion. Sure enough we turned left just before Horka, noting at the top of the curve that the line west towards Niesky very rusty and secured OOU with sleepers barring one line. Is this permanent? [Subsequent discussion with travelling companions on the return journey suggests not]. The sidings after the junction seem to have been renovated as part of the electrification work. Track has been renewed all the way to Wegliniec; masts are in place as far as the border, with the Polish side fully wired.
A pause at Wegliniec marked 'mission accomplished' for me though it's over 20 years since I did the line on to Wrocław. Right time arrival at Legnica turned into a 4 late departure while a westbound kettlex with a tank loco (Tk48??) bunker first was photted.
Despite the slight delay, into Wrocław RT at 12:35. Managed to find and beat the ticket machine in time for 12:48 tram 0P which lost time and lost time and … missed the +6 at Dworzec. Sigh. Lost about 15 minutes but worked out that Marino was a shopping centre and eponymous bus stop only about 50m from the tram terminus (which is Poswietne) and there was another route (7) that went there. On arrival, set out to walk along the railway to get to Browar Prost but found a parallel and much safer footpath to Paprotna which got me to Browar Prost in about 6 minutes. A very fine establishment in a pneumatics factory, as they are, with superb, if expensive by local standards, unfiltered pils and hefeweizen. Highly recommended.
Back to the tram stop for the no. 15 at 14:13 to Rynek, then a short walk into the old town for Browar Spiz, a German style cellar beer hall. OK can't fault it, but £2.40/pint (Zl10/0.5l) for a fairly uninspired darkish Märzen. The last call was the Browar Złoty Pies (Golden Dog) just across the square – this one offered a splendid 'Golden Weizen' very much along German lines, and none the worse for that. The accompanying schnitzel was covered in grains of some sort, topped with a fried egg, and immediately gained the soubriquet 'hedgeschnitzel' as its positioning atop a pile of sauerkraut made it look a little like a hedgehog...
All this excitement caused me to miss the bus back to the station and as time was getting a little short for replanning I decided on a rapid walk instead, aided as ever by OpenStreetMaps and GPS. I made it with a few minutes to spare, thus avoiding being stuck in Wrocław, incurring great expense and quite possibly missing my flight home tomorrow. Memo to self : leave a bit more time for these mad dashes in future!
The trip back to Berlin was uneventful and being accompanied by three fellow members of a certain British railway society much concerned with railway infrastructure, passed quite quickly. Lichtenberg was reached via the Aussenring and Biesdorfer Kreuz – how nice would it have been to go straight across and reverse back, but it wouldn't have counted, as it was dark despite the change to summer time! Straight on to a jam-packed SEV which deposited me at Springpfuhl for the short walk back to the hotel.
A very late decision to go meant that I had to traipse to Heathrow for a heavily 'subsidised' (by 9000-odd of my Avios) BA flight to Berlin. Up betimes therefore, for 07:53 ATW to New Street, which surprised me by both being on time and having free WiFi. It even worked! I just made 08:33 LM to Euston, also on time having run fast line from Ledburn Jn to Euston.
Along to the Metropolitan on a no. 30 for an early lunch of Spoon's breakfast accompanied by a pint of something quite acceptable from Windsor & Eton brewery. Investigation then revealed that I had time to get to T5 by other means than the Piccadilly line, so I did. Hammersmith & City to Paddington (long walk back from the Met platform!) just in time for 12:20 GW kart to Hayes. Straight on to an air-conditioned, hybrid 350 outside the station for a circuitous ride to T5. Straight through Fast Track security (not that standard would have been any slower) for a very long fester. The Airbus pushed back right time at 15:55 but wasn't airborne until 16:05. Quite quick really!
The excellent afternoon tea followed by a G&T almost stopped me resenting all those extra Avios for business class, this having been the only Avios flight I could get at short notice. Very satisfactory, rounded off by punctual-ish arrival at TXL, not that I was in a rush. Passport checked, facilities visited, and BVG tickets obtained, I was on the bus within 20 minutes of touchdown.
First stop was Berlin Hbf where the ticket machine eventually yielded tickets Lichtenberg-Wrocław and return, then M8 tram to Springpfuhl to check the SEV setup for tomorrow, and a walk back to the Ibis Budget Berlin Ost.
Sunday 26 March
Clocks going forward presented an interesting dilemma. Would my fancy gadgets pick up the time change? I settled for 06:00 alarms on the basis that if they didn't I could still make 07:29 tram, just, and if they did I'd have time for a shower etc. The mobile did, alarm clock didn't because of poor signal, but all was well and I strolled up to Springpfuhl on a fine, if cold, morning rather than wait for the tram.
Max had still managed some inconvenience as Springpfuhl-Lichtenberg was bustituted for the weekend but a herd of omnibi were on hand for a very efficient SEV operation. Another longish fester at Lichtenberg but the 628 for Wrocław turned up at 8:15 by which time McD's had provided me with a free coffee as part a promotion which you'd have thought would require the purchase of breakfast. Still, I'd offered payment and been refused, so I took the gift horse approach!
Off at 08:32, on time and almost empty. Round the newish curve to Ostkreuz - glad I went out of the way to do that one last year, then. On to Cottbus by normal routes, with an 8 minute stop there. Northernmost, surface, route was taken, stopping in P6 as 7-10 are being reconstructed.
A satisfying lurch to the right leaving Cottbus put paid to any lingering worries about the diversion. Sure enough we turned left just before Horka, noting at the top of the curve that the line west towards Niesky very rusty and secured OOU with sleepers barring one line. Is this permanent? [Subsequent discussion with travelling companions on the return journey suggests not]. The sidings after the junction seem to have been renovated as part of the electrification work. Track has been renewed all the way to Wegliniec; masts are in place as far as the border, with the Polish side fully wired.
A pause at Wegliniec marked 'mission accomplished' for me though it's over 20 years since I did the line on to Wrocław. Right time arrival at Legnica turned into a 4 late departure while a westbound kettlex with a tank loco (Tk48??) bunker first was photted.
Despite the slight delay, into Wrocław RT at 12:35. Managed to find and beat the ticket machine in time for 12:48 tram 0P which lost time and lost time and … missed the +6 at Dworzec. Sigh. Lost about 15 minutes but worked out that Marino was a shopping centre and eponymous bus stop only about 50m from the tram terminus (which is Poswietne) and there was another route (7) that went there. On arrival, set out to walk along the railway to get to Browar Prost but found a parallel and much safer footpath to Paprotna which got me to Browar Prost in about 6 minutes. A very fine establishment in a pneumatics factory, as they are, with superb, if expensive by local standards, unfiltered pils and hefeweizen. Highly recommended.
Back to the tram stop for the no. 15 at 14:13 to Rynek, then a short walk into the old town for Browar Spiz, a German style cellar beer hall. OK can't fault it, but £2.40/pint (Zl10/0.5l) for a fairly uninspired darkish Märzen. The last call was the Browar Złoty Pies (Golden Dog) just across the square – this one offered a splendid 'Golden Weizen' very much along German lines, and none the worse for that. The accompanying schnitzel was covered in grains of some sort, topped with a fried egg, and immediately gained the soubriquet 'hedgeschnitzel' as its positioning atop a pile of sauerkraut made it look a little like a hedgehog...
All this excitement caused me to miss the bus back to the station and as time was getting a little short for replanning I decided on a rapid walk instead, aided as ever by OpenStreetMaps and GPS. I made it with a few minutes to spare, thus avoiding being stuck in Wrocław, incurring great expense and quite possibly missing my flight home tomorrow. Memo to self : leave a bit more time for these mad dashes in future!
The trip back to Berlin was uneventful and being accompanied by three fellow members of a certain British railway society much concerned with railway infrastructure, passed quite quickly. Lichtenberg was reached via the Aussenring and Biesdorfer Kreuz – how nice would it have been to go straight across and reverse back, but it wouldn't have counted, as it was dark despite the change to summer time! Straight on to a jam-packed SEV which deposited me at Springpfuhl for the short walk back to the hotel.
The restored exterior of Wrocław Główny station on 26.3.2017 |
Wrocław tram 2239, just arrived from the city, passes 2207, preparing to return, at the Poświętne terminus on 26.3.17 |
A 'tourist' shot of the main square in central Wrocław demonstrates how much work has gone into restoration or replacement of historic buildings to attract visitors to the city |
Monday 27 March
A luxurious lie-in until, oh, at least 07:30 before decamping for the tram and bus to Hohenschönhausen prison, which under the GDR was the main prison used by the Stasi and is now a museum and memorial to those who died there. It turned out that you can only go round the site as part of a guided tour, which takes two hours. The first (German language) tour was at 10:00 and the first English language one at 10:30 which would have been far too close for comfort with my flight from Tegel at 14:30. So I settled for a visit to the excellent (and free) exhibition which is every bit as well presented, and every bit as sobering, as the Topography of Terror which Mrs EG and I visited in November 2016. It needs a lot longer than an hour's visit.
Quite relieved to be out of Hohenschönhausen and back in the sunshine, I caught the 256 bus back to Lichtenberg and an S75 westwards. Realising this only went as far as Ostbahnhof I decided to bale out at Ostkreuz, grab a belated breakfast (thanks, Crobag) and get the anticlockwise Ring (S42) to Beusselstrasse for the TXL bus. This all worked out well and despite having to watch an absolutely wedged TXL go, and wait for the next one, I was at Tegel in considerably more than adequate time for my flight back to London. BA's A320 turned up 40 minutes before departure but barely managed to get loaded in time. This was because of Tegel's odd layout which results in incoming pax queueing back into the air bridge while waiting for their immigration check. Until they're clear of the air bridge the outgoing pax can't be sent off to the aircraft... It'll all be a distant memory if they ever get BBI open but for the moment it's a pain. Air Traffic Control then stuck their oar in, so that we left around 15 minutes late, still arriving in Heathrow's air space early and having to go round for a while east of London before eventually reaching T5 a creditable 6 minutes late.
I narrowly made the Underground gates before the 16:00 Oyster 'rush hour' time, and after a bit of a wait to get away from T5 made the 17:13 LM Euston-Birmingham, surprisingly empty at least in the front 4-car set, by 4 minutes. This ran like clockwork and was exactly on time at New Street, leaving me a luxurious 5 minutes to get from platform 3a to platform 3b where the 17:25 to Wrexham was waiting. That too was exactly on time at Telford, ending a brief but enjoyable foray.
A luxurious lie-in until, oh, at least 07:30 before decamping for the tram and bus to Hohenschönhausen prison, which under the GDR was the main prison used by the Stasi and is now a museum and memorial to those who died there. It turned out that you can only go round the site as part of a guided tour, which takes two hours. The first (German language) tour was at 10:00 and the first English language one at 10:30 which would have been far too close for comfort with my flight from Tegel at 14:30. So I settled for a visit to the excellent (and free) exhibition which is every bit as well presented, and every bit as sobering, as the Topography of Terror which Mrs EG and I visited in November 2016. It needs a lot longer than an hour's visit.
Quite relieved to be out of Hohenschönhausen and back in the sunshine, I caught the 256 bus back to Lichtenberg and an S75 westwards. Realising this only went as far as Ostbahnhof I decided to bale out at Ostkreuz, grab a belated breakfast (thanks, Crobag) and get the anticlockwise Ring (S42) to Beusselstrasse for the TXL bus. This all worked out well and despite having to watch an absolutely wedged TXL go, and wait for the next one, I was at Tegel in considerably more than adequate time for my flight back to London. BA's A320 turned up 40 minutes before departure but barely managed to get loaded in time. This was because of Tegel's odd layout which results in incoming pax queueing back into the air bridge while waiting for their immigration check. Until they're clear of the air bridge the outgoing pax can't be sent off to the aircraft... It'll all be a distant memory if they ever get BBI open but for the moment it's a pain. Air Traffic Control then stuck their oar in, so that we left around 15 minutes late, still arriving in Heathrow's air space early and having to go round for a while east of London before eventually reaching T5 a creditable 6 minutes late.
I narrowly made the Underground gates before the 16:00 Oyster 'rush hour' time, and after a bit of a wait to get away from T5 made the 17:13 LM Euston-Birmingham, surprisingly empty at least in the front 4-car set, by 4 minutes. This ran like clockwork and was exactly on time at New Street, leaving me a luxurious 5 minutes to get from platform 3a to platform 3b where the 17:25 to Wrexham was waiting. That too was exactly on time at Telford, ending a brief but enjoyable foray.
I was beginning to think that might be it for 2017, but then a railtour was advertised to do the street running section to the Brno Exhibition Centre. Like anything else I've tried and failed to do, including the Bohumín avoider, that was right at the top of my list, so the recess didn't last long and I headed back to the Czech Republic in July.
