Paul Steane's Photography Pages

Sunday 8th October 2023 A day out from Alacant. Time to cover Alacant tram routes 4 and 5 this morning, which share a unidirectional loop though the seaside village of Platja de Sant Joan, but with two different termini in Alacant: line 4 to Luceros, the main terminal, and line 5 to Porta del Mar nearer the old town. Then over to Murcia on the high speed line (and with time to spare to go out to Orihuela and back, for something to do) before the main aim of today - the broad gauge loco-hauled Sundays only Archena-Fortuna to Madrid InterCity train, which with its Fridays-only opposite working are the only passenger workings between Archena-Fortuna and Albacete. This requires a rail-replacement bus between Murcia and Archena-Fortuna. Presumably when the long-term Murcia engineering works are finished, trains will restart running through Archena-Fortuna to Murcia del Carmen. Back to Alacant from Albacete on the high speed line.
Route: Luceros 09:29 (route L4, Alacant tram 4241+4213) - Avenida Naciones 10:08; 10:23 (route L5, Alacant tram 4214) - Porta del Mar 10:44; 10:48 (route L5, Alacant tram 4214) - Lucentum 10:59; 11:11 (route L1, Alacant tram 4106/6106/4156) - Luceros 11:20; Alacant Terminal 12:50 (Avant 9125, RENFE EMU Class 104 set 18) - via high speed line - Murcia del Carmen 13:43; 15:00 (Avant 9157, RENFE EMU Class 104 set 18) - Orihuela Miguel Hernández 15:15; 15:49 (dep 9 late) (Avant 9155, RENFE EMU class 104 set 14) - Murcia del Carmen 16:08 (arr 6 late); 17:10 (RENFE rail replacement bus) - Archena-Fortuna 17:40 (arr 10 early); 17:53 ( IC 10033, RENFE DL 334022) - Albacete Los Llanos 19:13; 20:39 (AVE 5382, RENFE 112021 set) - Alcant Terminal 21:26. Overnight: Hotel Leuka, Alacant (2nd of 3 nights).