It's been a while since we've had any real railways on the blog, and a trip to Germany a couple of weeks back saw the chance to rectify that, very much out of my comfort zone railway wise. Apologise that the follow images aren't the sharpest, but in the interests of space saving for thee plane trip only the camera phone was to hand!
There were planned to be at least three rail journeys on this trip, but the majority overruled on two occasions meaning that the first train encounter was rather an unexpected one in Phantasialand's 'Rookburgh' area. Don't let the above photo fool you, this was a full size replica!
From what I can gather of the theme, this steampunk society has essentially created a suspended railway system (The area's flying rollercoaster) with little traces of regular railway equipment scattered here and there, the centre piece being the life size locomotive plinthed high above. Perhaps this is more the thematic route that Hornby's recent 'Bassett Lowke Steampunk' range should have taken?
A mock poster hanging in the shadows.
Following on from a couple of (Far to hot!) days at the park an overnight stop in Cologne was on the cards. Certainly this has to be the best view from an Premier Inn I've ever had! This is the station throat at Hansaring, probably comparable with the likes of Manchester Oxford Road geography wise being just outside of Cologne's main station. A cup of... passable... hotel tea and an hour just watching the trains go by was the perfect antidote to the effects of the heat.
Just out of shot to the left was a large MPD and junction, proof that there is indeed a prototype for having a large locomotive works so close to a station, modellers rejoice!
From there a very short train hop into Cologne centre itself. One thing I've never heard mentioned before and that came as a bit of a shock was not only the size of the gap between the platform edge and the train, but also that the carriage floor was a step down from platform height!
Normal tourists would probably take a picture of the cathedral outside of the station, I decided to be different. It also gives a good sense of just how close the railway is to the building.
Interesting to see how the trains appear in the destination board here, with train allocation numbers being listed alongside the destinations and times. I can certainly think of a few situations where this would be useful in the UK, I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen passengers board the wrong train as they didn't read 'front train only'.
Up on the platform level allowed for a first encounter with a double decker train, I've always wanted to try one of these. The chance to ride on the lower level appeals to me being that much closer to the ground than normal must create an even greater impression of speed.
I was rather surprised to see that wooden sleepers are still being used in the station. There's certainly nothing wrong with it, but it's a bit of a culture shock compared to the UK's concrete sleepers in stations policy.
Quite the contrast is the station at Cologne Airport - Essentially a big concrete cutting!
Normal model railway content continues next time!
