My railway photography trips in 2019

2019 was a busy year for me. It, for starters, marked the launch of my English language travel blog (this one), and also has seen the blog decline in the number of posts. The sad reality is that I will not be able to make posts as frequently as I wanted to - but 2019 was at the same time a beautiful year with colourful trips to various locations that may be represented in upcoming posts on this blog. Altogether, partly because of my hobby, partly because of work, I have taken railway-related photos in 15 countries in Europe, which is a lot. Each country on its own is easily an adventure of weeks for a railway traveller and I could be to this many countries without being shocked by the different sensations is that this year I have only been to countries I have visited before, most of them many times already. But in those countries, there were many new locations to discover. Let's see, what my 2019 travels looked like!

2019 started by a photo charter called Fények Fotósvonata (Charter of Lights), which was an appropriate name for the night photography trip at the Királyrét Forestry Railway, a narrow-gauge railway in Hungary.

Retro Liveries of the Locomotives of the Hungarian State Railways

Retro is a term often used in Eastern and Central Europe for things that are left behind from the end of the 20th century, or, in an increasing number of cases, have been recreated to resemble the typical looks of those things. Unlike 'old', retro doesn't imply that the thing is incapable of doing its job anymore, just identifies it as something which has a unique style to it because of the year it was made.

When talking about trains, we must differentiate between retro vehicles and historic vehicles, both can mean locomotives, carriages or multiple units and railcars. Something is historic if it is kept in a museum or is only used on special occasions. They are often privately owned or belong to an identity separate from the railway companies that serve the usual traffic in the region. Retro, on the other hand, usually means a vehicle that still has some daily work to do and is actively used to earn revenue in ways which are not connected to the tool being older than the average stock. To put it straight: they carry passengers just like any other vehicle belonging to their operator or are used for daily freight or departmental trains. But they all wear a special livery that can turn back the wheel of time for the people who remember, force some good memories to resurface and add a significant bit to the class and mood of rail travel. In the UK this kind of repainting is often called a heritage livery.

The Hungarian network is not the only one to have retro trains, but the number of such vehicles has greatly increased recently and for the second year in a row, passenger operator MÁV-START has organized special Retro Weekends for enthusiasts and the general public to enjoy, thus bringing attention to the existence of these nice vehicles.

Bzmot 343 (117 343 in the current numbering scheme) is allocated to the MÁV-START depot at Balassagyarmat and wears the livery these tiny railcars had worn until the mid-90s refurbishment and engine replacement.

Photo of the Week: Neretva River Gorge with Old Train

The Neretva Gorge is one of the most spectacular views of the Balkan and a highlight of the train travel from Sarajevo to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The twice-daily trains used to be run by ASEA-license locomotives and an assorted set of carriages but nowadays the Spanish Talgo high-speed sets are mandatory. In the summer, extra trains are provided. See more about Bosnia and Herzegovina on my website.

Narrow-gauge train to Cortina d'Ampezzo

Using the groundworks of the 70 cm Austrian military railway and utilising the reparations paid by World War losing Austria to Italy, Ferrovia della Dolomiti, a 950 mm/95 cm gauge narrow-gauge railway had been built of a total length of 65 km from Toblach in South-Tyrol through Cortina d'Ampezzo to Calalzo, where connection to the Italian mainlines was provided. The railway line was opened for civil travel in 1921 and electrification was finished by 1929 with 2700 V direct current.

Retro Weekends at Lake Balaton in Hungary

Retro locomotives become increasingly popular with Eastern European railways. A retro locomotive is not a historic vehicle: it is still in operation, even if not in everyday but departmental use, but it is painted in a livery resembling a previous era of the railway, in many cases the livery in which the locomotive had been delivered by the factory.
MÁV has only recently jumped on the bandwaggon but now taking part fiercely: this year two, so-called retro weekends are organised, during which the regular, usually more reliable and modern locomotives are swapped for some retro units on the scenic line running on the Northern side of Lake Balaton. The lake is extremely popular among Hungarians as a beach but has a strong culture and lots of vineyards, meaning that tourists soar in the summer season, making sure the trains will have an impressive length and the diesel locomotives will be forced to emit nice smoke and an easy to distinguish roar.
The first such weekend started only yesterday, with MÁV-START 408 224 (ex M40,224) hauling a fast train to the end of the railway, Tapolca, which is about ten kilometres from the shores of the lake and is situated in a basin surrounded by remnants of volcanoes, which is good for the wine and also creates a remarkable scenery. If you are interested in taking part, either by taking photos or videos of the spectacular consists or would like to travel on one of the trains, you are not late in any way: August 2nd to 4th is the next occasion. Before any details, let's see what yesterdays train looked like on photo...

Photo of the Week: Narrow-gauge Interurban Tram in Slovakia

TREŽ (Trenčinská Električka Železnica) 411 902-0 is a ČKD-built, 76 cm gauge railcar that operates on the interurban tram line between Trenčianká Teplá railway station on the Bratislava-Žilina-Košice mainline and Trenčianske Teplice, a renown bath resort. The line mostly runs next to the road or on the embankment of the creek and passes by scenes of different character: village, hilly countryside, Socialist-era blocks of flats and townhouses dating back to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Trains only operate on selected weekend and are ran by the association TREŽ. The photo was taken during a photo charter at Trenčianske Teplice zastávka.
Learn more about the railway from my recent travelogue about narrow-gauge trams in Slovakia.

Photo of the Week: False History at Lake Balaton

MÁV owns a number of locomotives that are still in regular service but are in a historic livery. This one is different: all Nohabs have been stopped and this one is used by a special institute of MÁV for moving the track measurement car. Its livery is not at all historic - the stripes on the side are made up and no Nohab actually had this coat of arms on its nose. For a few years MÁV had used this locomotive to pull one of the regular fast trains as a form of retro and advertisement but does not follow this practice anymore. The photo was taken in 2013, so its ancient wibe is nothing but Photoshopped.

Tram 38 of Bytom

Okay, this should be a railway-related blog, but this is also a personal one, and this one was a personal interest for me, so here it comes. The Upper Silesian Interurbans may be something an enthusiast is familiar with, but do not be sad if you are not - people only get addicted to its intriguing story and unbelievable existence when they hear about it, but since it is an undisclosed secret of Poland, it is not easy to hear about it.

Poland had a complicated history, in some eras, the neighbouring nations simply split up its territory, so at the beginning of the 19th century Poland simply didn't exist: at the current area of Poland, Russia, the Habsburg Empire and Prussia has expanded its borders. Silesia had been a Prussian territory and the Germans made use of the coal to be found deep in this area, bringing economic growth to Silesia.

Photo of the Week: On the Train to Zakopane

The PKP ED 160-009 (type Stadler FLIRT3) electric multiple unit arrives in Chabówka, Poland as an InterCity train from Zakopane to Warszawa.

The Zakopane-Kraków railway in Souther Poland offers a connection to the resort in the High Tatras. Zakopane is popular both in the summer for its beauty and the hiking possibilities and in the winter for skiing and partying. The railway gets there in a curvy and long path which is worsened by the low speed because of lack of maintenance. Still it is the most comfortable and reliable way of getting there because of the traffic jams.

• This photo is featured in my album about the Chabówka steam locomotive festival
• You can find additional photos in the freshly published travelogue on my homepage, benbe.hu

Photo of the Week: Frame of Flowers

This may look like just an ordinary flower-framed photo, but it was taken on the Budapest - Esztergom railway in Hungary which has since been completely rebuilt, and therefore this photo location at the boundary of Budapest and Urom does not exist anymore.

Photo of the Week: A Last Winter Photo from Grisons

Spring is already high in Europe but I wanted a last reminder of the beauties of winter before moving on. I am always looking forward to winter, snow and the glorious high contrast photos you can take in winter and four years ago we had enormous luck when heavy snow, a mostly clear sky and great trains in Graubünden, Switzerland, on the network of the Rhätische Bahnen (Rhetian Railways, a local, metre-gauge network in the Alps).
Visiting the RhB is always great but autumn and winter offer dramatic landscapes so a visit in those times is definitely recommended even though the days are short.
Additional photos

The ÖBB 4020 electric multiple unit from Austria

S-Bahn train in the tunnel under Wien Hauptbahnhof (Vienna Main Station)

The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) had electrified many railway lines at the very early days of mainline electrification choosing the then most-advanced low-frequency alternating current system with 15 kV, 16 (2/3) Hz AC voltage. The federal capital Wien was reached by electric trains in 1952 as the main area for electrification had been the mountain passes. In those years Austria was still under Allied occupation with the capital being inside the zone controlled by the Soviet Union but the city itself split up into four control zones very similarly to those of Berlin. But while Berlin and Germany gradually shifted into an Eastern and Western part Austria was jointly run by the four allies and in 1955 given independence.
After that, the development of the city sped up and required the establishment of a commuter railway network which later incorporated various rail links inside the city and became the Vienna S-Bahn. The main vehicle on the S-Bahn became the ÖBB class 4030 electric multiple unit which had almost the same features as the subject of the present article, only being different in exterior design and the electric systems.

Photo of the Week | The Schwarzatal-Viaduct

The Semmeringbahn is the world's first mountain mainline and a highlight of the European railway network. The whole line was designed to harmonize with nature and as such can be considered the first attempt to show that rail transportation is the green way to go. The route through the 898 m high Semmering Scheiteltunnel is soon going to start serving only the tourists after the opening of the new Semmering Base Tunnel (SBT). You should visit the Semmering Railway while it still has freight trains and railjet high-speed trains through the mountain pass.

• Additional photos

Photo of the Week | The V43 at Exhibition

The V43 1110 is exhibited at the University of Óbuda, one of the most renowned districts of Budapest, Hungary and had replaced the V60,003 as a piece of exhibit by the University. The University has been named after Kálmán Kandó, developer of the 50 Hz railway electrification and the V60,003 on exhibit here had been one of the original Ganz-Kandó locomotives developed for the system. The locomotive has been moved to the Füsti - Hungarian Railway History Park and a more common class V43 locomotive has been brought in as a replacement. To date, this is the only V43 locomotive not only as an exhibit but anyway as all other surviving instances had been renumbered class 430, 431, 432 or 433.

La Gruyère

The little train from Montbovon to Palézieux over Bulle in French-speaking Switzerland

After my first post on this blog, which was about the M32 locomotive class of MÁV I would like to show you an example of the other kind of post which is going to be dominant in the contents here: a description of a railway line. As the interests of railfans can be really different I am going to offer a great variety of topics and in contrast to the less-known lowlands locomotive in the previous post here you will be able to read about a railway in the Swiss Alps, and about a region that you have almost certainly already heard about.

The spectacular alpine landscape attracts tourists both by train and with motor homes

Switzerland is known not only for its stunning landscapes but for the many different standard-gauge and narrow-gauge private railways that let you get to some tiny villages by train. The train which has affectionately been called "La Gruyère" is a metre-gauge railway operating mostly in the canton of Fribourg and is part of the company Transport publics Fribourgeois that also operates local bus lines and two standard-gauge railways, one between Bulle and Romon and another one from Fribourg to Ins via Morat. As it is normal in Switzerland, the route of the Gruyère is fully refurbished, allows for comparably high speeds and is used by many locals as well as tourists visiting the region.

Picture of the Week | Spring Freight near Acsa

Picture of the Week is going to be another regular form of post on this blog and I am going to start it with the best photo my website had based on its quality and the decision of the users. The MÁV-START 478 320 was seen between Acsa-Erdőkürt and Püspökhatvan in the Nógrád region of Hungary during a warm summer day hauling a gravel train after a track reconstruction. For the photo I received information from some local engineers for which I am extremely grateful.

The MÁV M32 locomotives

I have spent a lot of time thinking where I should start this blog as there are so many things I could write about - that is the very reason I had decided to start this blog in the first place - and finally I said that it didn't actually matter where I started as hopefully everyone ever visiting will be interested in all the articles. Though it is definitely not going to be the case I will appreciate every reader and every reader feedback as well and I will try to provide a colourful look into the world of the railways of Europe.

When I started railfanning I became fascinated with these little locomotives. Unfortunately, they were not doing much those days anymore so my personal experience is limited and by now they have disappeared completely from active duty.