BTB Blog

Another famous Austrian cog-railway was target of my recent train watching trip in the beautiful “Salzkammergut” region at the border of Upper Austria and Salzburg. This line climbs from St. Wolfgang at the lake called (surprise!) Wolfgangsee up to the top of the mountain called “Schafberg” (Mount Sheep). It is the steepest of all Austrian cog lines and was opened in 1893. The railway still runs the original steam engines on Sundays in Summer but the daily, on nice days…

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Before we go deeper into the specifics of today’s post I’d like to say sorry for being offline for some weeks. After finishing the US train watching tour I moved to Europe and it took me some time to settle in over here. But now I am “back on track” (literally)! Lovely Austria not only greets souls used to US pace a “life in slow-mo” but also is known for its awesome landscape. A 45 minute train ride from Vienna got…

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The “High Line Park” can be regraded to be one of the best tourist attractions in Manhattan- and it’s a free one! The interested rail-fan is on one side happy that the trestle structure survived and got another life as an elevated park and on the other hand is sad to be “born too late” in order to experience operation on the old “West Side spur”. Nevertheless it is quite a nice walk from the Penn Station area down to Gansevoort street….

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On the way from Toronto to New York City, Amtrak train #64 – “The Maple Leaf” gets its single locomotive (right) exchanged for a pair of P42s (lead engine far left). The action takes place in Albany, NY and I do not know if this is a common procedure- as the crew changes as well- or if the smoky exhaust on the engine that pulled the train out of Toronto was a sign for an overdue stop at the shops. Anyway, the short…

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In Toronto I had the chance to experience the “classic” Canadian Light Rail Vehicles of the TTC in action. These cars, built in the 1980s are to be replaced by more modern units by now but delays in delivery of the Bombardier Felxity vehicles keeps the CLRVs and ALRVs moving- much to the delight of the rail and streetcar fans. Besides of other rail attractions in downtown like the Toronto Railway Museum and the bustling Union Station, I managed to visit…

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VIA train #2 – The Canadian takes locals and tourists alike on a 4,466 km (2,775 mi) long journey across Canada from Vancouver, BC to Toronto, ON. Riding this train has been on my bucket-list for a long time and finally the dream became true. This is an exciting experience. VIA, the Canadian long distance passenger rail agency, kind of like Amtrak, leases trackage rights from CN. The stainless steel cars for the Canadian were built in the 1950s. VIA inherited then from CPR in…

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Back in Tim Hortons’ land. Amtrak Cascades train dropped me off right in Vancouver, BC. This bustling city turned out to be a pretty good spot for hanging out before going on the big transcontinental ride to Toronto. I utilized the time for a sightseeing flight on one of the float planes. This was the smallest aircraft I have been on so far. Its fun and actually more stable than I expected. Vancouver acts as the western terminal of the major rail…

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I dropped of the rental car in Portland and from now on I will travel by train till Chicago. Therefore the trip turns from a train watching focus towards a train riding adventure. In order to get as much daylight train riding as possible I paused in Seattle, WA for an afternoon and continued the next morning on to Canada, Vancouver, BC to be exact. So what can you do in Seattle if you have just a couple of hours and no…

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From one of the most pleasing front ends in rail equipment design to one of the ugliest. The cab car of the Amtrak Cascades trains is a compromise to crew safety and operation but definitely not pleasing to the eye. But these train sets are interesting in other ways as well as they feature Talgo pendular design cars with single wheel sets, each wheel mounted independently. The cars are rather short and the business coach I rode to Seattle (and the…

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Some say the ALCO PA/FA locomotives were the most beautiful first generation diesel engines and I do not disagree. Although the F and E units showed good propositions the more pronounced edges and the big nose-headlight make the Alcos a favorite. One of this breed got to live a little bit longer after starting working for Santa Fe and ending up in Mexico. It is now undergoing restoration at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center and “rebirth” as NKP 190. The ORHC is an…

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