European Rail Photos

Romania

Sun Oct 7 2007

Sunday 7 October 2007: My first trip to Romania was made in October 2007 to cover the area around Arad and Timisoara.

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Tunisia

Mon Feb 1 1999

Monday 1 February 1999: In the search for something new and interesting, during the mid to late 1990s many British enthusiasts ventured over to Tunisia. Again it was largely down to the fact that much of the network was operated by hauled (or push-pulled) trains with many North American, noisy diesel locos. I made a visit to Tunisia in early 1999 with the help of a cheap package holiday and an excellent value for money rail rover for a week. Much of the system (a mixture of both standard and metre gauge) was covered.

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Switzerland

Wed Jul 24 1985

Wednesday 24 July 1985: Often regarded as the most efficient and well run railway networks in Europe! In addition to the main 'national' network (SBB/CFF), Switzerland has a huge number of privately run railway companies ranging from a short branch line of a few kilometers to some very large ones like the Rhatische Bahn (RhB). Over the years I have made several trips to Switzerland and have covered much of the network.

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Sweden

Fri Jun 13 1986

Friday 13 June 1986: 12 photos from a visit to Sweden in June 1986. In fairness, it was only a brief visit and Sweden has an extensive system. In recent years many passenger operations have been handed over to private operations not helped by the fact that concessionsionery travel for foreign railway employees was withdrawn a few years ago.

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Spain

Sun Nov 3 1991

Sunday 3 November 1991: Although not the densest of European rail networks, nonetheless it took several trips to Spain to make big inroads to cover the network. The state run system, RENFE, had everything you would have hoped for, mainline diesels and electrics plus local suburban and rural lines. At one time (again not so good nowadays) there was an abundance of overnight trains and it was never that difficult (or expensive) to spend a night in any hotel. Once I managed to visit most of the RENFE system, I began to investigate the many privately run systems, in particular the FEVE system along the north coast. Like France, trips back to Spain will always be needed over the forthcoming future as the high speed network is constantly expanding.

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Slovenia

Fri Sep 23 1994

Friday 23 September 1994: Following independence in the early 1990s, Slovenia (and neighbouring Croatia) were high on my list of countries to visit. Despite a fairly small and compact system, it has a bit of everything although diesel loco hauled trains are much fewer than in the other parts of the former Yugoslavia. This collection covers photos taken on three visits made in the mid-1990s.

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Slovakia

Wed May 14 1997

Wednesday 14 May 1997: Very similar to the Czech Republic, hardly surprising as at the beginning of 1993 what was Czechoslovakia split into two countries. As seen, I have made only a brief visit to Slovakia in 1997 and here is a collection of photos from then. Hopefully I'll return back at some point in the near future.

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Republic of Ireland

Sat Apr 6 1985

Saturday 6 April 1985: I made my first visit to Ireland in early 1985 to take part on a "Pathfinders" railtour. Since then I have been back several times both for railtours (covering many freight only lines) as well as travelling around on scheduled services. Always a favourite, for a long time other than DEMUs in the North and EMUs on the DART system around Dublin, the network was 100% loco hauled. Things began to change in the early 1990s with the delivery of DMUs for Irish Rail in the South, however mainline services are still hauled all by General Motors built locos.

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Portugal

Mon Nov 26 1990

Monday 26 November 1990: Back in the late 1980s and 1990s many British enthusiasts headed off to Portugal thanks to the similarity between the British class 20 (CP class 1400) and class 50 (CP class 1800) However that was not all, Portugal had a many other delights up it_s sleeve with both mainline diesels from North America, French style electrics as well as an interesting 760mm gauge network around Porto. My first visit was back in 1991 for a week, with a return back in 1993 and a shorter visit in 1999. I have always enjoyed the railway and the country itself with a very laid back approach. So hopefully this collection of over 120 photos will give a good cross section of what was to be found at the time.

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Poland

Mon Mar 21 1994

Monday 21 March 1994: Poland's rail network has seen quite a bit of reduction in recent years, whilst the main lines (many of which are electrified) have a reasonably good service, many of the non-electrified lines which cris-crossed the country weren't so lucky. Rural services despite almost all diesel hauled, were exceedingly slow.

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Norway

Sun Jun 8 1986

Sunday 8 June 1986: My one and only visit to Norway was back in 1986 as part of a two week trip around Scandinavia. I managed to cover most of the network including as far as Bodo. My lasting memory was the comfort and relative low cost of sleeper berths on the overnight services! Needless to say the network has changed quite dramatically since then including the withdrawal of the popular Di3 locos.

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Netherlands

Sat Jul 27 1985

Saturday 27 July 1985: Like Belgium, the Netherlands was an ideal country for a long weekend type visit. Helped by the fact that services operate at least one per hour (often two or more per hour) making covering lines an easy task. Needless to say the Netherlands was one of the first countries I completed all passenger lines on a trip in August/September 1986. Much of the Dutch rail network is electrified, many EMUs to be found, however several routes are regularly operated by loco and stock. Sadly, many of the older more interesting locos have now gone, included here are several examples of them in traffic.

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Morocco

Wed Oct 30 2002

Wednesday 30 October 2002: I made a one off trip to Morocco in October/November 2002. It was to be a once only trip to cover the passenger network starting and ending at the port of Tanger. Most of the system is loco hauled, with diesel haulage on the lines to Tanger and Oujda. The system was very impressive and is well worth a visit. A mixture of motive power was caught on a selection of photos contained in this collection.

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Luxembourg

Fri Sep 11 1987

Friday 11 September 1987: We musn_t of course forget tiny Luxembourg! With the main station being at the cross roads of routes into Belgium, France and Germany a very varied range of both _foreign_ traction could be seen with of course local trains worked by CFL locos and multiple units. Sadly, many of the more interesting locos which worked passenger trains such as the class 3600 _Flat Iron_ electrics and classes 1600 & 1800 diesels have now gone. Hopefully these picture bring back a few happy memories of the scene back in the late 1980s and 1990s.

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Italy

Sun Jul 21 1985

Sunday 21 July 1985: For many years Italy was never high on my list of countries I visited in any great detail, often I would just pass through rather than give it a more detailed look. In 1995 I made my first "full" one week trip there and have made several repeat visits back. A country with much variety, not necessarily a loco haulage paradise, however numerous lines both in the hands of the main national operator (Trenitalia) and many much smaller private ones.

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Hungary

Fri Feb 7 1992

Friday 7 February 1992: Hungary has always been high on my list of favourite countries. I made several trips during the 1990s and have managed to cover most of the national network (MAV). Typical of much of the former Eastern-bloc, the secondary and branch lines were always the more interesting albeit extremely slow. Many of the lines are worked by Czech built four-wheel railcars (Bzmot), however in amongst them the network had a good number of hauled trains. Best of all was a collection of 760mm gauge lines scattered across the country which have been caught on camera along with standard gauge locations.

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Greece

Sun Nov 1 1992

Sunday 1 November 1992: Once again a country I have only made the one visit. I spent a week in Greece back in 1992, flying in and covering most of the network. Split roughly in to two parts, the metre gauge Peloponese system to the west of Athens and standard gauge to the north. At the time the Greek rail network (OSE) had a very varied mixed bag of diesel traction including some fine examples of MLW, Bombardier and ALCO built machines imported from North America. These plus others can be seen in this collection.

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Germany

Thu Jul 25 1985

Thursday 25 July 1985: I've made numerous trips to Germany over the since my first visit in 1985. No doubt the extensive network of branch and secondary lines, many of which were worked by loco hauled trains was the main attraction. The unification of the old East and West in 1989 opened up the door for yet more interesting trips. Sadly things began to change, quite a few lines (especially in the old East) closed and the move towards DMUs replacing loco hauled trains started in earnest by the early 1990s. My collection of photos from my many visits makes this collection very large - over 750 to be exact. Fortuneately many were taken whilst many of the lines were still hauled by single, centre cabbed locos.

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France

Sat Jul 20 1985

Saturday 20 July 1985: One of Europe_s biggest networks and probably hardest to do! I made several trips from long weekends to full weeks over to France during the late 1980s and 1990s. Well before the days of the Internet, planning the trip to cover many of the lines, which had an extremely infrequent service, was more like a logistical exercise. Fortunately during that time I had access to the printed SNCF timetables, which were an invaluable asset. When I got there, things normally worked out to plan and with a vast array of overnight trains (sadly now much fewer in number) plus the ease of getting hotel rooms, it was always a pleasure to travel around. The SNCF system had (and still does have) a very varied mixture of traction - locos and multiple units, diesel and electric. Again, the expansion of the TGV network has seen some significant changes to the classic main lines. This collection of over 250 photos hopefully gives a good representation of my travels around France during those trips.

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Finland

Sat Jun 14 1986

Saturday 14 June 1986: A selection of photos taken over few days in Finland on a trip made back in 1986 are to be found in this collection. A mixture of both diesel and electric traction can be found and since then quite a few changes have taken place. Other than passing back through Finland en route from St Petersburg through to the UK (via the Helsinki to Stockholm ferry) back in 1998 I have yet to return back. Consequently this country remains on my list of places to go back to at some point!

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Denmark

Thu Jun 19 1986

Thursday 19 June 1986: Altogether I have made three trips to Denmark and has always been impressive with regards to a slick railway operation. Split basically into a national rail network (DSB) and a collection of many privately run branches, it has a relatively small proportion of electrified lines. Up until the early 1990s, most of the main line DSB network was loco hauled or push-pull with distinctive sounding locos, many caught on the photos. Off the mainline routes, both DSB and private lines were mainly DMUs.

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Czech Republic

Sat Feb 15 1992

Saturday 15 February 1992: I've made a few trips to the Czech Republic, a country with an abundance of lines to cover, many still to visit! Whilst much of the network of non-electrified lines is operated by DMUs, loco hauled trains were quite common on the main lines, though like with so many other countries across Europe, the numbers are diminishing. Whilst most Czech (& Slovakian) diesels are fairly uninteresting, the examples of unsilenced class 749 and 751s do provide some entertainment.

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Croatia

Sat Sep 24 1994

Saturday 24 September 1994: Once the civil war in the former Jugoslavia war ended and Croatia gained independence in the mid-1990s I headed off there for two or three visits. For me, the main interest was centred around the fleet of General Motor's built locos. One line in particular, namely to Split (including branches to Zadar and Sibenek) were dominated by these distinctive American looking and sounding locos. In addition many lines saw DMU and electric services.

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Belgium

Sat Jul 27 1985

Saturday 27 July 1985: Just across the channel, Belgium was often a favourite destination for a long weekend. Initially most of the lines were covered in the space of about a week back in 1987 basing myself in the capital, Brussels. For a country of it's size, the range of motive power both diesel and electric, locos and multiple units made it that more interesting. Sadly, the diesel loco hauled trains have now gone, several lines had a regular hourly (or two hourly) service worked by class 62s with class 51s appearing on rush hour Peak ( or "P") and weekend Tourist ("T") trains.

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Austria

Tue Jul 23 1985

Tuesday 23 July 1985: Having made several trips to Austria, often in the cold depths of winter, I have covered virtually the entire Austrian network - both the national system (OBB) and privately owned lines. Included here is pretty much everything there was to see during the period from the mid-1980s to the 1990s.

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