The Great Circular European Railway Challenge

[Mark_Lester]

Find them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-12-4 -

that's one hell of a tank engine. You'd have thought someone would have taken a pic of one if it's still in one piece.

I made a blog post summarizing the last 2 week's discoveries and changes, and I also stuck a thread on RailDude several days ago, with no result.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Mummy Bear. That's rather cute.

 

[Mark_Lester]

this tunel in istanbul is a funicular (still), a proper one.it's just got rubber tyres which is still a bit weird. i've just been educated on what a funicular actually is, and by definition it's a thing on string. not a rack railway. even though half of our city rack railways call themselves a "funicular".
http://www.funimag.com/
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

this tunel in istanbul is a funicular (still), a proper one.it's just got rubber tyres which is still a bit weird. i've just been educated on what a funicular actually is, and by definition it's a thing on string. not a rack railway. even though half of our city rack railways call themselves a "funicular".
http://www.funimag.com/

the ljubljana and prague funiculars really are funiculars, so I stand corrected on that also.
the cog, obviously, isnt trying to claim that.

so I think that makes this cog tram the only rack railway we've got, the Bernina, and all the stuff in Graudbunden, is of course famously just adhesion, hence some of the whacky loop the loop stuff around Filisur. (and as such breaks all records for inclines and the like for adhesion railways). and these lisbon elevadors are normal counter-balanced funiculars.

 

[87015]

Don't know if any of you are on the yahoo groups, but there are unconfirmed murmurings that the Belgrade/Bucharest - Istanbul is about to be seriously disrupted whilst they apparently dig up most of Istanbul to build the Bosphorus tunnel and will have significant bus replacement (which would be a nightmare given the times of day)

Seat 61 says:

 Latest update 2 February:  It now looks as if the work will start on 22 February, with the Bosfor terminating at either Kapikule or Cerkezköy (it hasn't yet been decided which) and a bus will take passengers on to Istanbul.  This will apply in both directions from 22 February 2012, for up to two years.  This is while railways in Istanbul are transformed with the new Bosphorus rail tunnel, and a new underground station in European Istanbul, serving train to both Europe and Asia.

Might be worth some serious investigating if you have any TCDD sources.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Don't know if any of you are on the yahoo groups, but there are unconfirmed murmurings that the Belgrade/Bucharest - Istanbul is about to be seriously disrupted whilst they apparently dig up most of Istanbul to build the Bosphorus tunnel and will have significant bus replacement (which would be a nightmare given the times of day)

Seat 61 says:

 Latest update 2 February:  It now looks as if the work will start on 22 February, with the Bosfor terminating at either Kapikule or Cerkezköy (it hasn't yet been decided which) and a bus will take passengers on to Istanbul.  This will apply in both directions from 22 February 2012, for up to two years.  This is while railways in Istanbul are transformed with the new Bosphorus rail tunnel, and a new underground station in European Istanbul, serving train to both Europe and Asia.

Might be worth some serious investigating if you have any TCDD sources.

yes we know, we aren't going till 2013 of course, so we're hoping none of our remaining countries have done a Greece by then an canceled all international trains.

 

[mickpop]

yes we know, we aren't going till 2013 of course, so we're hoping none of our remaining countries have done a Greece by then an canceled all international trains.

And the way things are going we may be carrying a sack full of deutschmarks, francs, lire,pesetas and escudos.

 

[Donbacsi]

How does one do it on this forum?

 

[Mark_Lester]

went into London today, hadnt been to St Pancras since it was finished.
the John Betjamin is a must do, it's superbly situated, you can sit outside and view Kings X and also the spectacular st pancs crescent
I had a quick word and basically yes. If we all stump up £20 that will be enough to get the chef in for 7pm and have us all fed by 8. I didnt discuss deviled kidneys but I'm sure that's feasible.

 

[mickpop]

went into London today, hadnt been to St Pancras since it was finished.
the John Betjamin is a must do, it's superbly situated, you can sit outside and view Kings X and also the spectacular st pancs crescent
I had a quick word and basically yes. If we all stump up £20 that will be enough to get the chef in for 7pm and have us all fed by 8. I didnt discuss deviled kidneys but I'm sure that's feasible.

Sounds good - the condemned men ate a hearty breakfast! I suspect it will not only be the kidneys that are frazzled by the end of the trip - the livers will have taken a good hammering too.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Sounds good - the condemned men ate a hearty breakfast! I suspect it will not only be the kidneys that are frazzled by the end of the trip - the livers will have taken a good hammering too.

I suspect that by the time we hit Berlin everyone will already be in early night mode.
St Pancras really did look awesome yesterday in very bright winter sunlight.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Nothing to report, I just didnt want anyone to think this has been derailed or run out of steam.
It's good to take a few months off it anyway, we can go back and look at the plan and sanity test some of it.

 

[Donbacsi]

I assumed you had all slipped off to a new thread to cull the herd. Scooter was hurt.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Glenmutchkin was last seen booking tickets on cleartrip, he'll be back, I sincerely hope.
I am also up to my neck in loads of stuff right now, so we're mothballed for another month at least.
But if anyone says anything in here I'll respond.

 

[Donbacsi]

There were tons of pages with photo of the childrens rail, the cog and the cable chair for B-pest in the last month on the TA forums. Didn't post them because I thought the link was dead.

 

[mickpop]

I assumed you had all slipped off to a new thread to cull the herd. Scooter was hurt.

Like Scooter, I'm pretending to be sleeping but with one ear cocked in case anything of interest occurs.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Glenmutchkin was last seen booking tickets on cleartrip, he'll be back, I sincerely hope.
I am also up to my neck in loads of stuff right now, so we're mothballed for another month at least.
But if anyone says anything in here I'll respond.

Let's hope he has not succumbed to a surfeit of Indian Railways veg cutlets and chai or fallen down the dreaded 'long drop' in the Indian style toilets!

 

[Mark_Lester]

Like Scooter, I'm pretending to be sleeping but with one ear cocked in case anything of interest occurs.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Let's hope he has not succumbed to a surfeit of Indian Railways veg cutlets and chai or fallen down the dreaded 'long drop' in the Indian style toilets!

He landed back yesterday, I told him to take some time to get his **** together....

I'm currently swamped anyway so it's good to just let this sit for another month then we can sanity, or should that be insanity, check the whole thing again.
We need to have a really good long hard look at the Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest day for sure.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Let's hope he has not succumbed to a surfeit of Indian Railways veg cutlets and chai or fallen down the dreaded 'long drop' in the Indian style toilets!

No and no. We even scored 5 out of 5 2-berth coupes. Wait till I tell all those India Mike Romeos.

Lady G can now identify which IR zone a train belongs to just by looking at the bedlinen.

There is some chat towards the end of this thread that may have some relevance to our quest.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61474&page=2

 

[saib]

Guys,

This is excellent stuff.. We always have been thinking about doing a railway trip (father-in-law was in railways, so wife almost lived in trains ) but didn't get to do it..

Immediately joined the forums to submit the request to join . then found that the 'about' section of gcerc is different to that of gcirc and it's a invitation-only trip..

Nevertheless, it is extremely inspiring and I am going to follow this thread and trip very closely, so I can make a quick version for a couple as soon as I can

Good luck guys!

 

[Mark_Lester]

Guys,

This is excellent stuff.. We always have been thinking about doing a railway trip (father-in-law was in railways, so wife almost lived in trains ) but didn't get to do it..

Immediately joined the forums to submit the request to join . then found that the 'about' section of gcerc is different to that of gcirc and it's a invitation-only trip..

Nevertheless, it is extremely inspiring and I am going to follow this thread and trip very closely, so I can make a quick version for a couple as soon as I can

Good luck guys!

Saib, the total budget estimate is about £2,000. Everyone else on the trip knows me. Also I had at least 50 Indians telling me they were coming on gcirc, only one turned up and he is quite an individual
if you dont mind the fact that it's a party, and arent flinching at the price, and are seriously not going to waste my time, then you are welcome to come, you'll need to stump up half the money (£1,000) some time before Christmas.

 

[Donbacsi]

I should have thought Said would have to get in line behind Scooter at this point. We have been running on the assumption all berths ere booked and that we were only along to give assistance. Someone owes Scooter a biscuit!

 

[Mark_Lester]

I should have thought Said would have to get in line behind Scooter at this point. We have been running on the assumption all berths ere booked and that we were only along to give assistance. Someone owes Scooter a biscuit!

My "you cant come go away" is really a reference to the caveats that the lower end of our budget spectrum on the last trip were moaning about to each other, and on their blogs too.

If you are serious and not penniless and dont mind that not just the nucleus, but actually everyone on the trip knows me already, i.e you've got enough money and a personality to match, then I really dont mind making the effort for a total stranger. What I do not want is, quite literally, a whole heap of people claiming they are suddenly about to get married out of the blue and cant make it.

If you want to join in on the thread in whatever capacity then feel absolutely free, but dont tell me you are desperate to come when really all you want to do is pretend.

As for our mascot, it's about time we put a face to the name, he might even make the t-shirt. Have you got a handy likeness or our right honorable hound ?

 

[saib]

Saib, the total budget estimate is about £2,000. Everyone else on the trip knows me. Also I had at least 50 Indians telling me they were coming on gcirc, only one turned up and he is quite an individual
if you dont mind the fact that it's a party, and arent flinching at the price, and are seriously not going to waste my time, then you are welcome to come, you'll need to stump up half the money (£1,000) some time before Christmas.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that. I understand your situation assuming the time you wasted in discussions with all those people who 'talk' about coming but not actually doing so.

I think £2,000 should be actually fine with us (considering it is in next year ). I shall review your plan in detail, tell wifey, and confirm it back to you. And, I won't bother you guys again unless I am finalized that I would join you

As much as I want to do the railway trip, I guess we also would like to stay down at few places a bit longer.. But, that would hurt our formal obligations of leaves and of course will cost more!.. Ohh so many things to think about! :roll:

So, i shall write back to you guys soon.

Also, I stayed in Copenhagen&Zurich some time back, so if you need any details (will you really? ) Please ask me.. i will respond back with anything i know..

Cheers!

 

[Donbacsi]

Said: Please don't feel as if anyone is trying to run you off. It's just that you haven't been around long enough to know about the running gag we have about the "Team Lester" Mascot, the gourmet wonder hound, Scooter. Please do share you insights about Denmark and Switzerland with us, and feel free to chime in with any other thoughts.

 

[lj9090]

Nuts... truly nuts.

I'm in Barcelona over Easter; do you guys need any on the ground reccy-ing done at Sants or Tibidabo? I'll be passing through both at some point so shouldn't be too much trouble to make a few notes if you let me know what you might need.
Got this amongst many other usual warnings from the place I've booked into which you might want to bear in mind:

h) Don´t store your luggage at TRAIN or BUS Station in Paid Lockers, because they may be robbed by other people who has previously made a copy of that key!

 

[Donbacsi]

Now you guys are stealing quotes from our generals!!!
I'd like to know where this info about duplicated keys came from...city etc. Everytime I look at one of those keys they look rather complicated. Or perhaps that is the bibbilous.

 

[lj9090]

If there's any plagiarism involved it's completely unintentional...

That warning is amongst quite a ridiculous number of others, most of which should be a given to anyone with any common sense really, so whether it holds any truth or is just a standard set to warn naive travellers I don't know.

 

[Mark_Lester]

If there's any plagiarism involved it's completely unintentional...

That warning is amongst quite a ridiculous number of others, most of which should be a given to anyone with any common sense really, so whether it holds any truth or is just a standard set to warn naive travellers I don't know.

Hello IJ, sorry, dunno why I didnt get a mail telling me of activity in here, we've been in stasis for a few months.

Any info on anything is always gratefully received, so if you are up in Tibidabo please let us know how you got on.

We are going to revisit all these insane plans we've got for these places, so if you come up with any rail oriented suggestions please tell us.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Dresden
I am considering ditching the trip to the steam train for this. I only stuck it in to impress Mick, and that's a tough ask as he's been everywhere already,
If it were in any way cyclical I would be more inclined.

Barcelona is another one which needs reviewing.

Just rang up Ffestiniog Travel. these guys sound great. I'll wait till we are under 12 months before trying to get a provisional quote out of them, but I'll send them a mail with the plan.

We may have a proper photographer on board, more news when that's confirmed.
I got sent this the other week
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/d...-rail-10-days-five-trains-and-2300-miles.html
This guy appears to have driven straight through Dwarka on his way from Porbander to Okha, and then when he got to the other end didnt go to see the colliery. Talk about clueless.
Anyway, while I am not going to do anything for cheridy with this (at least officially), I really do think if we pull this off, which we will, it deserves a few paragraphs and a decent pic in the press. We have at least one professional scribe on the trip for certain.

 

[mickpop]

Don't worry about me - I need days to do that kind of thing properly and now have all the time in the world. Just need to kid the missus that there is something that will amuse her in Dresden - maybe the possibility of a china bargain.

 

[Mark_Lester]

Don't worry about me - I need days to do that kind of thing properly and now have all the time in the world. Just need to kid the missus that there is something that will amuse her in Dresden - maybe the possibility of a china bargain.

thats the point, there isnt any. there's no point in doing any proper enjun stuff as we wont be dong it properly.
We've still only 4 hours in Dresden anyway, so that's enough time for a proper sausage or two and a more leisurely trip round the old city.

 

[Donbacsi]

WAIT!!! This trek will have women on it??? Scooter is disturbed that he will have to go to the landing to relieve himself. Donbacsi is disturbed he won't be able to hang out his pristinely rinsed whities overnight on the luggage rack.