This is a story about hunting down a train for weeks and the final success! The Moscow – Nice Express which operates once a week comes through Upper Austria Friday afternoon on its westward trip and briefly calls at Linz main station on the run back home late Sunday afternoon. I first encountered the unique consist with modern Siemens built cars in a slick grey and red livery during my commute on a Friday afternoon in Linz. Curious about the unusual train I quickly found out the purpose and route. So I planned for getting a nice shot of the consist when coming back the following Sunday. In order to be on the “safe side” I deployed ÖBB Train-Radar for tracking the train on its way through Austria. So far it seems the Express is pretty much on time usually and it was exciting to see the symbol on the screen coming closer by the minute. Unfortunately, whenever I got ready and excited a rather common and boring WestBAHN bi-level MU came round the curve – no Nice – Moscow Express far and wide…. 🙁 ?!?!?

The whole thing became even more mysterious as the remote station screens of Linz Hbf stated an on time departure of the train? What the heck? But after some weekends waiting for a train that never showed up it dawned on me. What if the “object of desire” simply takes an alternative route to avoid interference with the WestBAHN train occupying a mainline track? There is a cutoff route between Marchtrenk station (near Wels) and Traun along the outskirts of Linz which is also used as “third track” between Wels and Linz. Especially if traffic is heavy on the Westbahn, freight trains are routed that way. Last weekend I positioned myself along the junction of the two lines in Gaumberg near Linz and for sure- the “Russian Train” approached from the bypass route while WestBHAN rolled in on the main.

After figuring out the exact route I moved on with making plans to catch the train in question along its detour route. Actually I liked the development as the line follows the wetlands of the river Traum and therefore there is a lot of nature in this densely populated area. Furthermore I remember the route from previous train watching trips in the late 90s when this line was brand new.

Today was another bright and sunny Sunday in Spring and I decided to put my knowledge into practice: Lacking a bicycle which would get me to all the nice spots in the woods, I took the car to the station of Traun and after a brief hike I reached the wye which connects the track from Marchtrenk to the so-called Phyrnbahn just south of the station. There I got ready for the shot, clinging to the embankment along the particular leg of the way I knew the Russian Train would have to follow. Taking a picture of a train moving east in the afternoon is a tricky thing but I hoped the curve would ease the reflections and shadows. Well, then it came and I got a nice photo- finally.

That’s the story of “chasing” a train. I reached the goal but I hope to get some more shots along the scenic detour within the following months.