Railfanning in Holland

With a new camera (well, my wife's camera :tb-wink I am able to make better films than with the photocamera. OK, it is still some tryal and error, because it is difficult to keep the camera steady.

The first film shows Enschede, a town in the east part of the Netherlands. Once an industrial town (textile) with Dutch and German railroads serving the many factories, now it is the end of the line for the Dutch Railways. A few years ago, they reactivated the sleeping track to Germany and now two different German operators offer passenger service. One of them is de Prignitzer Eisenbahn.

One of their trains is leaving Enschede station for the German town Gronau.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGPOn54mwd8"]YouTube - Prignitzer Eisenbahn, Enschede (the Netherlands)[/ame]

The second film has been shot at Zwolle, a city in the northern part of the country. I hoped to see the Northlander that has been there for many months, waiting for its rebuilding into the TEE train is once was. Alas, no Northlander anymore in the yard of Zwolle. But there were many freightcars though.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwzAcnTePgU"]YouTube - Freight trains in Zwolle (the Netherlands)[/ame]

 

Very interesting. Thank you Thieu.

 

The railway line Enschede - Gronau hadn't been used for many years, but it was not allowed to break it up. NATO wanted to keep the line for emergency situations, to move troops to the east. So it was not so difficult to reactivate the line.

 

Interesting history....Private enterprise builds the line, owners want to tear it up when it loses money, military saves it for defensive reasons, military doesn't want it any more, private enterprise takes it back and the line starts making money again.

Is this a case of far-sighted vision, or a sluggish government that needs decades to make a decision and take action? However you look at it, the end result benefits the people and especially the railfan.....:thumbs_up:

 

In Europe, most railway lines are state owned. This line too. Due to less freight and less passengers, they had to shut it down. But in de 90's the city was growing and there became a need for passenger service for the suburbs and Germany. The goverment reactivated the line and railway companies could offer exploitation proposals. The best (and cheapest) proposal won the contract. The first years it was Deutsche Bahn, but later they had to share the track with the Prignitzer Eisenbahn. By the way, the line still needs financial support from the state, because the passenger service will never make enough money to become profitable.

 

Today I tried to shoot some films from the bridge above two mainlines. I had my family with me, so after a few minutes they wanted to go. And on the moment we left, a coal train came along....:tb-wacky:So I missed it for the film.....

Well, I have some passenger trains for you instead:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NiedSPRbiI"]YouTube - Utrecht (Lunetten)[/ame]

 

That certainly is an active area, with lines apparently converging from all over. Thanks.

 

At this junction 3 lines come together:
- the mainline from Utrecht to the city of Arnhem (a city well-known from the movie 'A bridge too far');
- the mainline from Utrecht to the south;
- the line that runs through the eastern part of the city and is the remains of a 19th century mainline from a competing railroad. That's why you see a diamond, an unusual feature in Dutch railroading. Today, the line is used by freights to avoid the busy central station, and it is used by the national railway museum that has its site in the former station along this line.

 

Indeed, it is the 1700 series, that engine.

I planned to go to this bridge today, but it was raining cats and dogs..... There are a lot of freights these days, from all over Europe: Belgian B-Cargo diesels, German Railion electrical engines, Dutch Railion diesels, many small carriers with all kinds of traction (a lot of class 66, of course), coal trains, iron ore, containers, auto parts trains to and from Sweden...... And some night passenger trains from/to Switserland, Germany, Kopenhagen, Poland and Russia too.

Well, I sure have to go to that bridge again! It's just 5 minutes by bike from my home.

 

My office even had a view on these mainlines, so I could see the trains all day. But somebody found it necessary to move all the offices to the streetside of the building..... :tb-mad:

 

The camera is brand new, so I haven't got many opportunities yet to make a lot of videos. I don't visit Rotterdam that many times, and the harbors are not near the city center. And thanks to the anti noise walls around many tracks, I think it will be quite difficult to shoot videos. The largest yard is outside the city and is the starting point of a new freight line to Germany. Since I have no car, it can be difficult to make videos of this yard and freight line. :tb-sad:

Maybe I will be able to make some videos this weekend. Hopefully the weather stays like today: dry, with some sun.......

 

Today the weather was OK: warm, some sun, no rain. And I had the opportunity to spend an hour along the tracks, so I have shot some video's: intercities, locals, ICE, and freight.

I have uploaded two videos so far:

1. a short freight pulled by a Railion 6400 series diesel:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f0fAUUMy4s"]YouTube - Railion 6400 series[/ame]

2. a longer freight, pulled by a class 66:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdsYhUa7SAo"]YouTube - Class 66 with Railion freight train[/ame]

 

A short video: the ICE, owned by NS Hispeed (the international division of the Dutch railways NS), going to Frankfurt (Germany).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpMR3AnBbkc"]YouTube - ICE NS Hispeed[/ame]