theblackwatch
Established Member
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2006
- Messages
- 10,889
As part of a few days away in Europe, last week I undertook a journey on the City Night Line overnight to Copenhagen, which is due to finish in December (as mentioned at http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=105083 ). I booked my ticket, from Dortmund to Copenhagen, back in July at a cost of 44 Euros, opting for seated accommodation rather than a sleeper berth or couchette.
The train, which originated at Amsterdam, was timed to leave Dortmund at 23.56, but was around 20-25 minutes late. The train was formed of around 12 coaches, with portions for Copenhagen, Prague and Warsaw. A look at the departure boards showed that the Copenhagen portion was the first 4 coaches behind the loco, so I was in the correct part of the platform when 120140 rolled in with the train and I spotted my coach (204). I found my compartment, which was already inhabited by three people, an American chap with his Danish wife, plus a woman who was sat in my seat! A German guy who had been sat near me on the station, probably a student, followed me into the compartment. I attempted to tell the lady she was sat in my seat, but even with the showing of tickets she didn’t understand and produced a ticket which also had the same seat number as mine but was for a different coach (174) – I tried to point this out, even using my limited German, but she didn’t understand as she spoke no English or German, so I gave up and sat in the seat next to her. I then noticed her ticket was to Prague, so she was not only in the wrong coach but the wrong portion of the train!
I’d already struck up conversation with the others in the compartment, and the Danish lady decided to get a member of staff. Unfortunately, nobody came though, and we all wondered what we should do next to get her to move. I then came up with the idea of getting the coach number from the door and showing it to her – followed by the destination label if necessary. Fortunately, when I showed her the coach number, and my ticket, the penny finally dropped that she was sat in the wrong portion of the train. Her coach was at the back of the train, and she also had to move a bicycle from the brake van (at the end of my coach) right through the train. I could tell she apologised, and last saw her heading down the corridor with her bike!
After the first 30 minutes or so ‘entertainment’ I settled down to some sleep, waking up when the train arrived at Hannover. This is where a big shunt takes place. Three sleepers arrive from Amsterdam, Basel and Prague, and are remarshalled before heading off in different directions. After the 120 had been removed from the front of our train, 5 more coaches, which had been taken out of the adjacent platform by a shunter, were added to the front of the rake I was on, and we were detached from the rest of the coaches which had come from Amsterdam before being towed out by the shunter and moved into another platform to be coupled to some more coaches. I had to walk through around 7 coaches in order to identify what I was being hauled by (it turned out to be 363147). It got worse, as a 120 was added to the other end so I had to walk through another 5 coaches so I could find what was hauling the train from Hannover to Padborg (120111). Fortunately, there was no problem wither walking up and down the train or having a leg-stretch on the platform, although I did think it rather bizarre that one chap had clearly got out of his sleeping berth and was on the platform in his underwear and t-shirt…
I settled down to some more sleep as we headed north, and was awoken by a ticket ‘grip’ around 04.00, just before Hamburg. I can’t remember the loco change at Padborg, and woke again somewhere in Denmark. Surprisingly for a train of such length (in time and number of coaches), there was no proper catering, but I managed to buy a coffee from one of the sleeping car attendants. Also, there were washrooms in a couple of carriages in addition to the toilets, so I was able to freshen up and enjoy the rest of the journey. The Danish lady pointed out a couple of interesting things that I would otherwise have had no idea about. I also noticed a roundhouse at Roskilde where a steam loco which looked very similar to No. 385 from the Middleton Railway was parked outside.
Arrival at Copenhagen was around 15 minutes late, after which I spent some time riding behind and photographing the Danish diesels before returning to Germany via the Rodby-Puttgarden train ferry - another experience!
The train, which originated at Amsterdam, was timed to leave Dortmund at 23.56, but was around 20-25 minutes late. The train was formed of around 12 coaches, with portions for Copenhagen, Prague and Warsaw. A look at the departure boards showed that the Copenhagen portion was the first 4 coaches behind the loco, so I was in the correct part of the platform when 120140 rolled in with the train and I spotted my coach (204). I found my compartment, which was already inhabited by three people, an American chap with his Danish wife, plus a woman who was sat in my seat! A German guy who had been sat near me on the station, probably a student, followed me into the compartment. I attempted to tell the lady she was sat in my seat, but even with the showing of tickets she didn’t understand and produced a ticket which also had the same seat number as mine but was for a different coach (174) – I tried to point this out, even using my limited German, but she didn’t understand as she spoke no English or German, so I gave up and sat in the seat next to her. I then noticed her ticket was to Prague, so she was not only in the wrong coach but the wrong portion of the train!
I’d already struck up conversation with the others in the compartment, and the Danish lady decided to get a member of staff. Unfortunately, nobody came though, and we all wondered what we should do next to get her to move. I then came up with the idea of getting the coach number from the door and showing it to her – followed by the destination label if necessary. Fortunately, when I showed her the coach number, and my ticket, the penny finally dropped that she was sat in the wrong portion of the train. Her coach was at the back of the train, and she also had to move a bicycle from the brake van (at the end of my coach) right through the train. I could tell she apologised, and last saw her heading down the corridor with her bike!
After the first 30 minutes or so ‘entertainment’ I settled down to some sleep, waking up when the train arrived at Hannover. This is where a big shunt takes place. Three sleepers arrive from Amsterdam, Basel and Prague, and are remarshalled before heading off in different directions. After the 120 had been removed from the front of our train, 5 more coaches, which had been taken out of the adjacent platform by a shunter, were added to the front of the rake I was on, and we were detached from the rest of the coaches which had come from Amsterdam before being towed out by the shunter and moved into another platform to be coupled to some more coaches. I had to walk through around 7 coaches in order to identify what I was being hauled by (it turned out to be 363147). It got worse, as a 120 was added to the other end so I had to walk through another 5 coaches so I could find what was hauling the train from Hannover to Padborg (120111). Fortunately, there was no problem wither walking up and down the train or having a leg-stretch on the platform, although I did think it rather bizarre that one chap had clearly got out of his sleeping berth and was on the platform in his underwear and t-shirt…
I settled down to some more sleep as we headed north, and was awoken by a ticket ‘grip’ around 04.00, just before Hamburg. I can’t remember the loco change at Padborg, and woke again somewhere in Denmark. Surprisingly for a train of such length (in time and number of coaches), there was no proper catering, but I managed to buy a coffee from one of the sleeping car attendants. Also, there were washrooms in a couple of carriages in addition to the toilets, so I was able to freshen up and enjoy the rest of the journey. The Danish lady pointed out a couple of interesting things that I would otherwise have had no idea about. I also noticed a roundhouse at Roskilde where a steam loco which looked very similar to No. 385 from the Middleton Railway was parked outside.
Arrival at Copenhagen was around 15 minutes late, after which I spent some time riding behind and photographing the Danish diesels before returning to Germany via the Rodby-Puttgarden train ferry - another experience!
), a Swiss social worker en route to Turkmenistan, and a Dutch girl from Rotterdam who was intending to do media studies in Norwich. Fortunately English was spoken by all, and I was able to explain Norwich is a fine city 
