Have just returned from holiday in Italy. Part of journey was made on train from Denderleeuw (near Gent, Belgium) to Milan San Cristoforo, car being transported on car carrier wagon and people in (cramped) compartment which converted to couchette (sleeping compartment) for nighttime portion of journey. I have never spent two more uncomfortable nights in my life, trying to sleep on a railway seat turned into a bed, covered by a sheet, being pitched and tossed around laterally and lengthways with every movement of the train, roasted with heat, eaten alive by mosquitos and deafened by passing trains and station announcements in the middle of Gxx knows where in the middle of the night. The service is wonderful as it saves much time and several hundred miles of driving, but the standard of accomodation is basic to say the least and I could not understand why in both directions it took an age to travel at very moderate speed thru Belgium (which I thought was a small country) and why the FS had to route the train round absolutely every rarely used railway byway on the outskirts of Milan before it arrived/got on its way on return journey (so that it was dark when we passed the Italian lakes and Swiss scenery which were the most interesting parts of the journey). The Italian railways are actually very interesting and well run, being nearly all electrified with a large variety of different locos in use (including some delightful chocolate coloured freight locos which I loved at first sight and which I now know are class E424 (I think) and are nicknamed "Brown Bombers" by someone on another website and are over 50 years old. All the other types of locos and rolling stock are fascinating but man, do they have a bad graffiti problem! Has anyone else used the Motorail car transporter service and what do they think of it and does anyone know why the track at all the stations for the Cinque Terre villages near La Spezia is painted white? Ben
<font color="3333cc">Welcome home, Ben. Hope you had a good holiday, in spite of the travelling discomfort I saw some of the variety of Italian locomotives last year, and wondered how the Italians can design beautiful cars, but such gawky locomotives Although they do have a kind of charm, especially the articulated, brown ones Some of the more modern ones look very impressive indeed. I too, noted the BAD graffiti problem </font> ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Yes, thanks Alan, we had a wonderful holiday, most of the time in near 90 degree heat, in two parts of Italy (Siena, Tuscany and "Spezia", Liguria). I don't think their locos are gawky; they are big and noisy but have charm as well - the articulated joins make them look like bendy caterpillars. I am not really a car enthusiast so couldn't comment on the comparison. I will be trying to find out what Ital. locos are available in n scale (I think Arnold/Rivarossi do some). Am going to NMRA meeting at Enfield tomorrow (might be able to meet Rappahanock Terminal) and may post a comment on the n scale forum afterwards. Ben
Ben, I think that the holiday car trains are an extra to train tables during the summer holiday months. I suppose they get no priority over other trains, resulting in more stops and using other lines as well. I remember when doing my military service, I was stationed in Arlon, the most southern station in Belgium. We had a special military train that brought us from Brussels to Arlon on sunday evenings. That journey lasted mostly over 4 hours!!! we were put on sidings for long times (maybe they expected an invasion of the Russians) anyway there was a bar car on the train and that softened the pain a lot!!! People took all kinds of excercise munitions (called thunderflashes) with them from the military depot and threw them through the windows when travelling along the station platforms in the passing cities. This was just like war!!! Dozens of explosions going off amidst people waiting on the platforms for their train. Of course a lot of empty beer cans flew also through those windows. Paul ------------------ Paul Van Herwegen Rappannahock Terminal Railway
Great story Paul; we didn't have any thunderflashes with us on our trip but with the number of empty soft drink and beer tins we had stacked up we could have done a fair imitation of your group passing through the stations (if the windows hadn't been so stiff and we could have got them to open a bit wider)! Some of the Belgian diesels look a bit like the diesel hydraulics the WR of BR used to operate in the late 50s, 60s and early 70s. Ben
The ones you mean are probably class 62 or 55, Ben. But the likeness had not struck me before ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Great to read about Ben and Pauls exploits in Belgium and Italy......It's amazing what gets uncovered and confessed to in these railroad forums !! Going back to one of Ben's original questions.I too have wondered why Italian track is often "whitewashed".I have been led to believe that it is lime to kill the weeds but that sounds a bit dodgy from a safety point of view.....would love to know the real reason. ------------------ John Whitby See Swiss Trains at http://website.lineone.net/~john.p.whitby
Thank you for the information John. By the way, I have had a quick look at your Swiss railways website which is fascinating - I wish someone would do the same for Italian railways which seem a bit neglected! Ben
Ben, A couple of sites where you can see Italian material. www.move.to/graf/ www.i-ra.org/ Paul ------------------ Paul Van Herwegen Rappannahock Terminal Railway [This message has been edited by Rappannahock Terminal (edited 29 August 2000).]
Thank you Paul, these sites are very interesting - I just love those "brown bomber" electric locos! Ben
Thanks Paul. I already had the second site bookmarked, but had not seen the first one before It is now bookmarked as well! I agree with Ben about the lack of sites about Italian railways. Could it have something to do with the fact that it is/was supposed to be illegal to photograph Italian trains? Has this now been relaxed? ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
