General Notes
Part of this trip (3 to 5 April) was organised by GIL Incentive- und Bildungsreisen, Margarete-Massias-Str. 14, D-69124 Heidelberg, Germany, and comprised a group of over 40 enthusiasts from across Europe. The party was led by Kai Hellwig, to whom I offer my thanks for a really good trip.
For other general notes, and the meanings of the abbreviations, go to the Reports index page.
Operating Company Abbreviations:
| Place | Arrive | Depart | Train | Traction details & notes |
| Timperley | 16:06 | SM tram 1016 | ||
| Altrincham | 16:10 | 16:12 | taxi | |
| Manchester Airport (MAN) | 16:23 | 17:25 | LH5995 | Lufthansa Boeing 737-300 D-ABIZ |
| München Airport (MUC) | 20:25 | |||
| München Flughafen Terminal | 20:55 | 'S1' | DB EMU 423 134 + 274 sets | |
| * Neufahrn | 21:03 | 21:09 | + DB EMU 423 set on rear | |
| München Hbf | 21:37 | 23:43 | D297 | ÖBB EL 1116 013-2 dep 45 late awaiting connection from Berlin |
| * Jesenice | SŽ EL 342-044 | |||
| Sevnica | 07:27 | arr on time | ||
| New passenger track today: München Flughafen Terminal - Neufahrn (- München). | ||||
| Notes A simple way to arrive in Slovenia. We wanted to return via Austria and Germany so a München flight made more sense than one nearer Slovenia. Good to know that the overnight train was held for a late-running connection, at it happened there was plenty of spare time anyway. Used a T3 sleeper, cost GBP29.50, but got woken up at both Villach and Jesenice by border staff. |
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| Sevnica | 08:38 | IC158 | SŽ EL 362-018 via Zidani Most curve photo | |
| Celje | 09:14 | 10:33 | 3506 | SŽ DMU 813-130 set |
| Velenje | 11:22 | 11:30 | 3507 | SŽ DMU 813-130 set |
| Celje | 12:19 | 13:37 | 3611 | SŽ DMU 813-128 set |
| Imeno | 14:26 | 14:34 | 3612 | SŽ DMU 813-128 set |
| Stranje | 14:55 | 15:06 | 3701 | SŽ DMU 813-116 + 117 sets |
| Sveti Rok ob Sotli | 15:48 | 15:56 | 3718 | SŽ DMU 813-117 + 116 sets |
| Rogatec | 16:08 | 16:42 | 3706 | SŽ DMU 813-036 set |
| Stranje | 17:10 | 17:13 | 3618 | SŽ DMU 813-128 set |
| Celje | 17:44 | 18:23 | 2921 | SŽ EMU 312-115 set |
| Zidani Most | 18:47 | 19:00 | 2274 | SŽ EMU 312-125 + 017 sets |
| Ljubljana | 20:03 | |||
| New passenger track today: Zidani Most curve - Celje, Celje - Velenje, Celje - Stranje - Imeno, Stranje - Rogatec - Sveti Rok ob Sotli. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Turist, Dalmatinova 15, Ljubljana (8 minutes walk from station) (two nights). | ||||
| Notes The overnight move also got into pole position for the curve at Zidani Most, which is only used by two trains per day each way. A simple traversal of the three Celje branches followed. There is a buffer stop at the end of a headshunt beyond Imeno station, confirming that the line is closed towards Kumrovec and Savski Marof in Croatia. The line beyond Sveti Rok ob Sotli towards Đurmanec in Croatia appears to be intact. |
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| Ljubljana | 06:00 | 2602 | SŽ EMU 312-137 set | |
| Divača | 07:35 | 08:15 | special | SŽ DMU 711-001 set |
| via Hrpelje Kozina - Rakitovec - Buzet - Lupoglav - Učka (photo) - Raša (rev 11:13/11:40) - Lupoglav - Buzet - Hrpelje Kozina (rev 14:49/15:01) - Črnotiče (15:10/15:19) - Koper Tovarna - Koper Luka, four branches: Terminal za Razsute Tovore (Iron ore and coal terminal, 16:10/16:20); Terminal za Glinico (Alumina terminal, 16:40/16:50); Kontejnerski in ro-ro Terminal (Container and ro-ro terminal, 16:58/17:02); Terminal za Sadje (Fruit terminal, 17:14/17:21) - Koper Tovarna (rev 17:33/17:34) - Koper station (rev 17:42/18:10, photo) - Črnotiče (18:39/18:44) - Hrpelje Kozina - via Divača west curve | ||||
| Divača | 19:12 | shunt to depot | ||
| 20:04 | 2753 | SŽ EMU 312-115 set | ||
| Ljubljana | 21:40 | |||
| New passenger track today: Ljubljana - Divača (mostly dark), Divača - Hrpelje Kozina - Prešnica - Rakitovec - Buzet - Lupoglav, Prešnica - Koper, Divača west curve. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Turist, Ljubljana. | ||||
| Notes First day of the GIL railtour. Main highlights were the long Croatian freight-only branch from Lupoglav to Raša, and the visit to the harbour at Koper. The Rakitovec border crossing only sees one pair of weekday trains in winter and one pair of weekend trains in summer. We finished with the curve at Divača which only sees one pair of summer weekend trains. |
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| Ljubljana | 07:15 | special | SŽ DMU 713-111 set | |
| via Škofja Loka bypass line - Kranj - Naklo (rev 07:49/08:13) - Kranj - Škofja Loka station - Ljubljana (08:53/09:15) - Grosuplje - Kočevje (11:03/11:26, shunt to end of line 11:09/11:14) - Grosuplje (rev 12:40/12:51) - Trebnje - Novo Mesto (rev 14:10/14:16) - Straža (rev beyond station at km8.3 14:29/14:47) - Novo Mesto (15:00) - Novo Mesto-Revoz (rev 15:08/15:18) - Novo Mesto (15:28/16:20) - Trebnje (rev 16:38/16:53) - Sevnica (rev 17:27/17:35) - Zidani Most, via curve to north junction - | ||||
| Zidani Most | 17:55 | 18:24 | IC152 | SŽ EL 362-038 |
| Maribor | 19:52 | |||
| New passenger track today: Škofja Loka bypass line, Ljubljana - Grosuplje - Trebnje - Novo Mesto, Trebnje - Sevnica, Celje - Pragersko. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Piramida, Heroia Slandra 10, Maribor (10 minutes walk from station) (two nights). | ||||
| Notes Principal highlights were the freight branches Kranj - Naklo, Grosuplje - Kočevje, Novo Mesto - Straža, and also the branch to the Renault car factory at Novo Mesto-Revoz. Fitting-in Trebnje - Sevnica was also useful as this section has a poor passenger service. The Škofja Loka bypass line is (normally - see next Wednesday) used by any train not calling there, and is one of those sections of lines that is not obvious unless you're looking out for it. |
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| Maribor | 07:55 | special | SŽ DMU 711-015 set | |
| via Dravograd - Otiški Vrh (rev beyond station at km2.2 09:25/09:30) - Dravograd - Maribor Studenci (10:50/11:00) - curve to Maribor Tezno (11:07) - Pragersko (rev 11:19/11:39) - Pragersko north junction (rev 11:42/11:47) - Ormož - Središče (12:30/12:51, delayed crossing train) - Čakovec (13:01/13:08) - Lendava (13:44/14:43, rev at end of line km22.5 13:56/14:01) - Čakovec (15:24/15:31) - Središče (15:42/16:05, delayed crossing train) - Ormož (rev 16:13/16:17) - Ljutomer (16:40) - | ||||
| Gornja Radgona | 17:10 | |||
| Gornja Radgona bus station | 17:30 | bus MB CS 925 | ||
| Maribor, opposite railway station | 18:24 | |||
| New passenger track today: Maribor Studenci - Maribor Tezno, Pragersko north - east curve, Ormož - Čakovec, Mursko Središče - Lendava. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Piramida, Maribor. | ||||
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Notes The final day of the GIL trip. Dravograd - Otiški Vrh formerly continued to Velenje (and on to Celje) and is used for timber traffic. Maribor Studenci - Maribor Tezno has one weekday train. Pragersko north - east curve is not too difficult to do but is a useful fill-in. Mursko Središče - Lendava still sees some cross-border freight traffic; the line was long-ago lifted from Lendava to Rédics in Hungary. Final highlight was the branch from Ljutomer to Gornja Radgona, which used to continue across the border/river bridge to Bad Radkersburg in Austria. To get back to the hotel at a reasonable time we took the local bus. |
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| Maribor | 07:50 | ICS13 | SŽ EMU 310-004 set | |
| Zidani Most | 08:53 | 09:55 | 2259 | SŽ EMU 311-221 set |
| Sevnica | 10:12 | 11:14 | 2261 | SŽ EMU 312-125 + 017 sets |
| Dobova | 11:43 | 12:00 | EC157 | HŽ EL 1141-210 |
| Zagreb Gl.K. | 12:26 | 13:21 | 4056 | HŽ EL 1141-046 |
| Karlovac | 14:19 | 14:25 | 7766 | HŽ DR 7221-025 |
| Metlika | 15:18 | 17:04 | 3222 | SŽ DMU 713-125 set |
| Ljubljana | 19:45 | |||
| New passenger track today: Zagreb - Karlovac - Metlika - Novo Mesto. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Turist, Ljubljana (three nights) | ||||
| Notes We paid our supplement to go on the tilting ICS train, to make a good connection at Zidani Most into a Zagreb train. Then, at departure time from Zidani Most, the train (MV415) was announced as 120 minutes late! This was reportedly due to problems in the Arlberg area (the train comes from Zürich). We worked out that we could still do our intended route, but several hours later, by getting to Dobova in time for a Wien - Graz - Zagreb train that had come around the Zidani Most curve, so this is what we did. We were forced by this, however, to spend two hours in Metlika, fortunately there is a nice bar at the top of the station drive. |
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| Ljubljana | 10:08 | EC212 | SŽ EL 342-020 via Škofja Loka station | |
| Jesenice | 11:05 | 12:10 | 4205 | SŽ DMU 813-001 set photo |
| Nova Gorica | 14:04 | 14:30 | 4253 | SŽ DMU 813-123 set |
| Ajdovščina | 15:12 | photo | ||
| Ajdovščina bus station | 15:25 | bus LJ M3 068 | ||
| Ljubljana bus station | 17:16 | |||
| Ljubljana | 18:15 | 3186 | SŽ DMU 713-126 set | |
| Kamnik-Graben | 18:59 | 19:18 | 3191 | SŽ DMU 713-126 set |
| Ljubljana | 20:04 | |||
| New passenger track today: Jesenice - Nova Gorica - Ajdovščina; Ljubljana - Kamnik-Graben | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Turist, Ljubljana | ||||
| Notes Main aim for today was the two train pairs only, schooldays only, branch to Ajdovščina. Lots of snow overnight! We ran via Škofja Loka station, despite not calling there, to cross MV415 which was two hours late again! Returned on the bus from Ajdovščina to save a few hours (the connections on the Jesenice - Nova Gorica - Sežana line are awful) and so to fit in the Kamnik-Graben branch. |
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| Ljubljana | 06:20 | MV481 | SŽ EL 363-005 | |
| Šapjane | 08:10 | 09:33 | bus ZG 295 UL | |
| Rijeka | 10:22 | 10:00 | HŽ bus ZG 295 UL dep 35 late | |
| Lupoglav | 10:40 | 11:38 | 4707 | HŽ DR 7122 001 arr 33 late |
| Pula "obala" | 13:11 | photo | ||
| Pula | 13:20 | 4706 | HŽ DR 7122 010 + 007 | |
| Buzet | 15:33 | 16:00 | 7704 | SŽ DMU 711-001 set |
| Divača | 16:56 | 17:01 | 2615 | SŽ EMU 312-121 set |
| Ljubljana | 18:40 | 18:50 | 2612 | SŽ EMU 312-121 set |
| Ljubljana-Tivoli | 18:53 | |||
| New passenger track today: Pivka - Šapjane, Lupoglav - Pula - Pula "obala", Divača - Ljubljana (in full daylight). | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Turist, Ljubljana. | ||||
| Notes Today centered around travelling the Pula branch, in the rail-isolated part of Croatia. The border crossing has only one train pair (7704 and it's inward working) so the only practical way to do Pula in a day is to use the HŽ bus that runs between Rijeka and Lupoglav in at least one direction - we had actually done the border crossing on the railtour last Saturday. MV481 covered what was my last-required Croatian cross-border route before then sitting at Šapjane without any clue as to why. Eventually the train crew told us (a friendly local translated for us) that a freight train had failed between Šapjane and Rijeka, so we would have to go by bus. After a long wait a bus turned up and got us eventually to Rijeka, but at 22 minutes after the bus connection should have gone to Lupoglav. Except - and we had worked out that this might be the case - HŽ had used the Rijeka - Lupoglav bus to rescue us, so we were already on it! Rescued from total disaster! - otherwise we could not have got to Pula and back to Ljubljana that day. Most Pula trains run to and from Pula "obala", a roadside stopping-place a few minutes beyond Pula station, and this is advertised in local posters but not in the Vozni Red. We travelled one way and walked back. Note that the single railcar worked back to the station empty and a pair of railcars went empty to "obala" to work the return train. The reason for the move at Ljubljana-Tivoli was that we had seen from the Ajdovščina bus yesterday that there were a couple of old tram cars in a side street, which we were going to walk to, but only realised after we had departed Ljubljana-Tivoli on the inward working that we could have got off there to reduce the walking distance. It was still quicker to get the train back. |
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| Ljubljana | 08:08 | 2630 | SŽ EMU 312-125 set | |
| Sežana | 10:00 | 10:17 | 4210 | SŽ DMU 811-103 set arr 14 late |
| Jesenice | 13:30 | 14:12 | 2409 | SŽ EMU 312-013 set dep 20 late |
| Kranj | 14:51 | 16:27 | IC210 | SŽ EL 363-038 + 342-027 arr 21 late |
| * Jesenice | ÖBB EL 1142 701-0 | |||
| Villach Hbf | 17:58 | |||
| New passenger track today: Divača - Sežana - Nova Gorica. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel City, Villach (opposite station). | ||||
| Notes A simple day, just to complete the Divača - Sežana - Nova Gorica - Jesenice route. The run to Kranj was just to pass the time, some of which was spent in the bar in Kranj station building. This bar, bizarrely, contains pictures of British traction engines! |
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| Villach Hbf | 08:11 | IC693 | ÖBB EL 1044 110-3 | |
| Schwarzach-St.Veit | 09:44 | 10:08 | SPR1504 | ÖBB EL 1144 240-7 |
| Jenbach | 12:14 | 12:22 | R8833 | ZB DR VS4 + B4.33 + VT6 |
| Mayrhofen | 13:18 | 13:35 | R8834 | ZB DR VT6 + B4.33 + VS4 photo |
| Jenbach | 14:34 | 14:59 | EC89 | ÖBB EL 1016 034-9 dep 28 late |
| Innsbruck Hbf | 15:28 | arr 28 late | ||
| Maria Theresien Straße | 17:00 | 'STB' | STB tram 84 | |
| Fulpmes | 18:09 | 18:33 | 'STB' | STB tram 84 |
| Maria Theresien Straße | 19:29 | |||
| New passenger track today: Zell am See - Wörgl, Jenbach - Mayrhofen, Maria Theresien Straße - Fulpmes. | ||||
| Overnight at Hotel Sailer, Adamgasse 8, Innsbruck (5 minutes walk from station). | ||||
| Notes This was a filling-in day. Fulpmes is a very scenic climb into the mountains on a tram, and rises about 420m in 16km. |
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| Berg Isel | 08:13 | '6' | IVB tram 51 | |
| Igls | 08:40 | 08:45 | '6' | IVB tram 51 |
| Berg Isel | 09:09 | 09:19 | '1' | IVB tram 36 |
| Hungerbergbahn | 09:36 | 09:40 | '1' | IVB tram 36 |
| Ing. E. Str. | 09:45 | |||
| Innsbruck Hbf | 10:35 | R5412 | DB EL 111 037-8P | |
| München Hbf | 13:27 | 14:37 | RE31260 | DB EL 111 207-7P |
| Eichstätt Bf | 15:55 | 16:01 | RB31320 | DB DMU 642 093 set |
| Eichstätt Stadt | 16:10 | 17:14 | RB31325 | DB DMU 642 093 set |
| Eichstätt Bf | 17:22 | 17:27 | RB21629 | DB EL 111 030-3P |
| Ingolstadt Hbf | 17:50 | 18:05 | RB31433 | DB EL 111 022-0P arr 6 late |
| Regensburg Hbf | 19:12 | |||
| New passenger track today: Berg Isel - Igls; Innsbruck Westbf - Garmisch-Partenkirchen; Eichstätt Bf - Eichstätt Stadt. | ||||
| Overnight at Ibis Hotel Castra Regina, Regensburg (3 minutes walk from station). | ||||
| Notes The other tram route south of Innsbruck, to Igls, is also scenic but unfortunately not a patch on Fulpmes. Do Igls first if you can! Innsbruck to Garmisch-Partenkirchen was my last significant length of ÖBB track. This was followed by another fill-in at Eichstätt. The town here is full of Baroque-style buildings but we found it rather over-done. Walking around it was followed by a cheap but excellent beer near the station. |
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| Straubing | 09:27 | 09:36 | RB26516 | DB DMU 628 419 set |
| Bogen | 09:51 | 10:04 | RB26517 | DB DMU 628 419 set |
| Straubing | 10:18 | 10:28 | RB26257 | DB EL 111 167-3P |
| Plattling | 10:45 | 11:00 | RE26061 | DB EL 111 166-5P dep 8 late |
| München Hbf | 12:38 | 13:41 | EC89 | ÖBB EL 1116 093-4 via Holzkirchen |
| Rosenheim | 14:31 | 14:35 | RB5121 | ÖBB EL 1144 243-1 |
| Brannenburg | 14:44 | 15:11 | RB5118 | ÖBB EL 1116 036-3 |
| Rosenheim | 15:23 | 15:48 | EC82 | ÖBB EL 1116 080-1 via Holzkirchen |
| München Hbf | 16:41 | 16:52 | 'S8' | DB EMU 423 164 + 242 sets |
| München Flughafen Terminal | 17:33 | 17:45 | 'S8' | DB EMU 423 164 + 242 sets |
| München Hbf | 18:26 | 19:08 | 'S1' | DB EMU 423 229 + 144 sets |
| * Neufahrn | DB EMU 423 144 set | |||
| München Flughafen Terminal | 19:48 | |||
| München Airport (MUC) | 21:20 | LH5942 | Lufthana Boeing 737-300 D-ABIE | |
| Manchester Airport (MAN) | 22:26 | 22:45 | Taxi | |
| Timperley | 22:57 | |||
| New passenger track today: Straubing - Bogen; Plattling - München (in daylight); Rosenheim - Pfraundorf; München Leuchtbergring - München Flughafen Terminal via Ismaning. | ||||
| Notes Bogen was probably the last branch line I needed in Bayern. I also needed the line south from Rosenheim station; an all-Easter line blockage at Aßling meant that all EC/ICs were diverted via Holzkirchen, with a special timetable, and no other trains running on this route. This was useful as it meant that local tickets were valid on the EC/IC trains. I finished off by going up and down the "other" (older) airport branch before returning home. |
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Summary
Another excellent railtour organised by Kai Hellwig, with extra days tacked on to cover more of Slovenia. I now only need two sections of Slovenian track: Sežana to Villa Opicina and Nova Gorica to Gorizia Centrale, the latter only seeing summer specials. Also I now only need nine sections of Croatian track and a couple of small sections of ÖBB.
Tickets used (excluding special trains): 7-day Euro Domino for Slovenia, Bayern-Ticket for 11 & 12 April, otherwise single journey tickets throughout.
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Copyright © 2004, 2007, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2020 Paul Steane.
This page last updated on 02 September 2019 at 17:09.