Paul Steane's Photography Pages

Saturday 5th November 2022
Porto to Vigo to do this northerly cross-border route between Portugal and Spain, which only has two train pairs per day, and the two routes between Vigo and Santiago de Compostela (one mostly diesel and one electric). The return train from Vigo to Porto failed at Vigo and for a while I was at risk of missing the start of the next day's railtour, but a replacement train was found to get us across the border to connect into an internal Portuguese service train.
Route: Porto-Campanhã 08:13 (C421 CP DMU 592-220/210/219) - Vigo Guixar 11:35 (arr 15 late); walked up the hill to Vigo Urzáiz station and back again, looking at former railway alignment; Vigo Guixar 15:02 (R12538 RENFE DMU 599009) - via diesel route; not via Portela; via Catoira - Santiago de Compostela 16:34; 17:30 (MD9173 RENFE EMU 121003) - via AC electrified route - Vigo Urzáiz 18:20; walk down the hill; Vigo Guixar 19:56 (C422 CP DMU 592-220/210/219) - unit failed at departure, replaced by: Vigo Guixar 19:56 (C422 RENFE DMU 594101, dep 20:45) - Valença 20:24; 20:23 (IR856 CP EL 2607+2C, dep 5 late) - Porto Campanhã 22:30 (arr 7 late); 22:45 (CP EMU 3433) - Porto São Bento 22:50. Overnight at Porto Peninsular Hotel, close to São Bento station.

Monday 7th November 2022
Day 2 of the PTG Railtour.
Route: (PTG tour: train numbers 13846 to 13854) Tomar 09:08 (13846 CP EL 2609+3C+DL 1557(D)) - Entroncamento 09:32; 09:40 (13847 CP 1557+3C+2607(D)) - Ródão 11:23; shunt to branch track (11:45) – paper mill branch (rev 12:05/12:45) – Ródão (shunt, arr 12:55); 12:20 (13849 CP 1557+3C+2607(D)) - Castelo Branco (lunch break) 12:45; 14:02 (13851 CP 1557+3C+2607(D)) - via Guarda avoiding curve – first passenger train? - Vilar Formoso 16:35 (arr 55 late); 17:20 (13852 CP 2609+3C+1557(D) (dep 37 late) - Guarda 17:52 (arr 66 late); 18:22 (13854 CP 1557+3C+2607(D) dep 48 late) - Covilhã 19:00 (arr 51 late). Overnight Hotel Dona Maria, Covilhã.

Wednesday 9th November 2022
Day 4 of the PTG Railtour.
Route: (PTG tour: train numbers 13863 to 13868) Setúbal 09:20 (13863 CP DL 1436+3C+1461(D)) - via Águas Moura west/south curve - Alcacer do Sal (10:11/10:20) - Tunes 13:25; 14:00 (13866 CP DL 1461+3C+1436(D)) - Lagos 14:49; 16:10 (13867 CP DL 1436+3C+1461(D)) - Tunes 16:55; 17:25 (13868 CP DL 1461+3C+1436(D)) - via Alcacer do Sal (19:43) - Águas Moura south/west curve - Setúbal 20:25. Overnight Hotel Melia, Setúbal.

Friday 11th November 2022
Day 6 of the PTG Railtour.
Route: (PTG tour: train numbers 13881 to 13961) Setubal 10:12 (138960/1 CP DL 1461+3C+1436(D)) - via Pinhal Novo - 25th of April Bridge - Campolide-A – extreme western line – Benfica – Águalva-Cacém – West Line - Caldas da Rainha 13:05; 14:59 (13881 CP DL 1436+1461+3C) - via Almieira – Verride – Alfarelos – Coimbra-B – Pampilhosa – Aveiro - Espinho - Porto Campanhã 20:10; ??:?? (? CP EMU 3149) - Porto São Bento ??:??. Overnight Legendary Hotel, Porto.

Sunday 13th November 2022
Heading home the long way around, via Spain..... firstly via Entroncamento to Badajoz to cover the cross-border route that only has two train pairs per day (only recently increased from one pair per day). Then a trip from Badajoz to Mérida and back to cover the new high speed line here and its connections.
Route: Porto São Bento 09:50 (U15723 CP EMU 3413) - Porto Campanhã 09:55 7; 10:38 (IC720 CP EL 5618 dep 6 late) - delayed due to overrunning engineering works again! Couldn’t find my reserved coach 1 – found out that my reserved seat was on the following relief train, which bizarrely had the same departure time and train number on the reservation message! Alighted at Espinho to wait for the correct train - Espinho 11:02 (arr 14 late); 11:08 (20750 CP Alfa Pendolar set 010 dep 17 late) - Entroncamento 13:00 (arr 27 late); 13:36 (R5503 CP DR 0365) - opposite train 5500 was running very late - Torre das Vargens (14:42/14:48, not crossing train 5500) - Portalegre (15:27/15:34, crossing train 5500) - Badajoz 17:26; 1736 (IC193/MD37393 RENFE DL 334003+334004+Talgo set) - stopped outside Badajoz for 10 minutes, no apparent reason - via high speed line – connection off HSL into Montijo Station (17:53/18:06, 12 late) - connection onto HSL - connection onto old line - Mérida 18:10 (arr 15 late); 20:25 (ALVIA194/MD37394 RENFE EDMU 730XXX) - via HSL throughout - Badajoz 20:55. Overnight Hotel Mercure Rio Badajoz.

Tuesday 15th November 2022
First thing to do was to cover the former FEVE metre gauge route from Cartagena to Los Nietos; then on to Alicante via the same route as yesterday, in daylight this time. Time for a quick tram route then bus to the airport for the flight home.
Route: Cartagena FEVE 09:00 ( RENFE FEVE DR 2912+2906 metre gauge) - Los Nietos 09:28; 09:40 (RENFE FEVE DR 2906+2912 metre gauge) - Cartagena FEVE 10:08; Cartagena 12:19 (IC264 RENFE DL 334025 top, 334026 tail) - via Murcia del Carmen (rev 13:16/13:38) - Crevillente (14:07/14:11, cross DMU) - San Gabriel (14:43/14:46, operating stop) - Alicante Terminal 14:44; short walk to Luceros 15:39 (tram line 2, tram 4236) - Sant Vicent del Respeig 16:06; 16:11 (tram line 2, tram 4236) - Luceros 16:42; short walk to Alicante Terminal (Av. Salamanca) 18:04 (Bus C-6) - Aeropuerto 18:24; Alicante (ALC) 20:35 (Easyjet EZY1922 G-EZWI; ALC push-back at 20:39, take-off 20:51 from runway 10; MAN landed 22:12 on runway 23R, on stand 22:16, Manchester Airport (MAN) booked 22:35; 22:16 (taxi) - Timperley 22:32.