Hi folks,
Well I'm back from my trip to Lapland, and everything went smoothly in regards to the car transportation. Some notes that might be useful to others doing this itinerary in future.
I left the rest of the family (and dog) at Central instead of Pasila. We'd been staying at the Scandic Grand Central adjacent to the station, and that was a very pleasant spot to wait rather than trekking to Pasila. It was a very quick trip back on a HSL train from Pasila to Central to have a drink at the hotel in pleasant surroundings before boarding the sleeper!
The address of the car loading station is wrong in the app - follow Google Maps instead. The approaches to the car carrier station are through a building site, but keep going and the entrance is off Tulistimenkatu. I pulled up to the check-in booth, was asked my name, and then told to wait by the lower level loading dock. It took less than 30 seconds and I was the second car there:
Loading began pretty much bang on time at 18.00: we drove up the ramp and along the car carriers to the third of three. An additional one was attached in Tampere during the journey.
The staff use chocks that clip into rails that run the length of the wagons to keep your car from rolling about, though you are also asked to ensure your handbrake is on. Don't forget to disable your alarm's motion sensors!
It felt like a tight squeeze but after parking I was able to walk back along the car to the entrance ramp. There is a segregated pedestrian walkway back to Pasila passenger station, so you don't have to navigate the building site and dual carriageway crossing to get there:
You can wait here for the sleeper or do as I did and buy a ticket on the HSL app for the frequent trains back to Helsinki central.
A shot of the car carriers at Tampere, just before the Tampere one was attached (they're coupled as double-wagons):
Unloading in Rovaniemi was straightforward - I had the car off the train within 20 minutes of arrival. Definitely needed the snow tyres on this trip - we had heavy snow in Helsinki, Rovaniemi, and further north in Levi and Kolari! Since the rest of the family were flying home from Kitalla, I made the return trip from Kolari rather than Rovaniemi as it was a shorter drive. There's pretty much nothing to do in Kolari, so if you are doing this, don't arrive at the station too early! I'd say there were about two dozen cars on the Kolari - Helsinki train (Thursday of last week) - it was very cold at -20ºC so the 500 metre walk from the car carriers to the station waiting room was refreshing to say the least!
The shots below show our train waiting at Kolari. We had a pair of Dr16 diesel-electric locos as far as Oulu, where an Sr2 electric took over - the line to Kolari isn't electrified. Note the gen van immediately behind the locos.
From memory, the consist was two car carriers, five older-style sleeping cars, the restaurant, a double-deck seated coach, and two or three double-deck sleeper cars of the more modern variety.
Going north I had a deluxe berth with ensuite shower and toilet. These are very comfortable and quiet, given their distance from the wheel sets. Coming back south I decided to try out the older stock. I was right over one of the bogies so it was quite loud in the compartment and I didn't get much sleep. Something to consider. Here we are about to board the sleeper car at Kolari:
Overall it was a fantastic experience and would recommend it to anyone wanting to bring their own vehicle to Lapland without wanting to drive it all the way there!
/csd
