Saturday Variety

Better or Bitter on the Betuweroute?

No, neither had fbb! 

But it is a freight only line which links Rotterdam Haven (Harbour) area across the border to Germany.

A variety of operators uses the line as in Austrian Railways above and (below) one of the many independent traction suppliers.

A clone of a UK class 66 hauls a consist of 40 foot containers.

But soon to arrive on the route will be one of these, plus train.

It will be driverless - in theory - but doubtless with multiple staff in its experimental phase.

The "without any level crossings" implies a certain unease about the experiment, surely?

There are enough problems with Tesla Taxis trundling troublingly where they shouldn't trundle, or not trundling at all. Think what mayhem an errant umpteen ton freight train could cause!

But, Talking Of Driverless

News from Paris is that the first MF18 train has entered revenue earning service. This marque is designed to become the standard Metro train for the future with over 400 units on order.

Various train lengths will be built and part of the order will come without cabs for the fully automatic lines. Unit 001 below ...

... does have cab and driver's  doorway.

Also on the way is stock for new orbital lines 15, 16 and 17 ...

... due for 2027.

Not Driverless But Discontinuous?

'Discontinuous' always sounds like a pompous word to describe train cancellations; but it refers to the cheapskate policy of electrifying bits of the railway in bits.

Batteries (or even diesel engines) power the train when the electric string is unavailable.

So 'permanently earthed' sections have wires but no electric.

Whereas some areas simply have no wires!

Such areas are ...

On the whole there seems to be an awful lot of tech to go wrong with the possibility of mangled pantographs and mangled overhead wires.

Is it really cheaper than doing the job properly?

Beautiful Bricks Build Bigger and Better!

When sons of fbb were young, you bought a box of Lego which included instructions for making a whole range of different but simple models.

You found errant bricks when you stepped on them provoking excruciating, but thankfully brief, agony.

Then came Lego technic, Lego pneumatic, Lego castles and Lego space to name but a few.

But Lego, like model railways, has now become much more of a hobby for rich old men. Now you buy an expensive box of bricks just to make up one large, spectacular model.

One of the latest is NCC-1701-D.

(Profuse apologies to No 3 son if this designation is wrong! He is a Star Trek expert. fbb just enjoys the programmes.)

This was the 'Enterprise' of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) from the 'Next Generation' series.

The Lego set comes with a selection of small models of the key characters.

So, as a special treat over the next few blogs, fbb will present these characters from the on-screen shows in Lego form. All you have to do is identify the character's role on the star ship. Non Trekkies or even non Trekkers (they are different, you know) can guess!

Do you care?

But for a bonus non-prize can you recall the actors' names.

Jean-Luc Picard?

Beverley Crusher?

Worf?

Answers tomorrow.

The Same Or Different?

Three versions of a Lima tank wagon.

All three were sold with UK couplings. Left has the black band, never seen in the UK, but designed, on the real thing, to disguise ugly oil spills; centre is a very 'European' paint scheme, also never seen in the UK, right is a poor effort at a UK livery. Equally poor representations of UK 'Shell' livery are on the wagons in the background.

Agreed, fbb is almost as obsessive as thise assembling huge Lego spacecraft with ludicrously out of scale figures!

Who Runs Copenhagen's Buses!

Or is it this lot?

More tomorrow. 

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 8th Nov 

Copenhagen 5

 It Looks Like A Tram ...

... but Copenhagen calls it a 'Letbane' - Light Railway. Google  does offer a Danish word for 'tram' - 'sporvogn' which literally means "track wagon"! So you can see why Copenhagen uses a nicer word!

The southern section of the route opened on 26th October with much rejoicing, ceremony ...

... and goody bags!

Next year, when the rest is complete, the tracks will continue to follow "Cityring 3", a major dual carriageway road running south to north well to the west of the city centre.

You should be able to match the route map above with the yellow road following a similar path on the road map below.

Here is the opened section in a bit more detail ...

... and here is the track plan at Ishoj, the southern terminus.

The 'goody bag' picture was taken at Ishoj. 

Because the line is so new, Streetview has yet to catch up, so most locations show tram tracks and stations under construction.  But we do have a view of the tram from the Ishoj S-bane station building.

Note the adjoining bus station, of course!

One of the purposes of this wholly suburban route is to offer better orbital interchange with the 'S-bane' suburban network; thus the tram stop at Vallensbaek also provides a meet-up with heavy rail.

A pre-opening 'artist's impression' does show the stop as well lit and almost inviting ...

... although there is a bit of a walk to find the big railway; along a well lit footpath.

But by far the best station for tram fun is Glostrup, also connecting with the S-bane network.

The map above gives a clue as to the arrangements. Travelling northwards, the tram tracks veer from the central reservation, crossing the northbound carriageway to achieve a triangular junction leading eastbound to the tram stop and station.

Likewise a similar repeated interruption of road traffic happens in the other direction.

The tram now runs alongside the heavy rail to a mini terminus with bus interchange as well. Below is a view of the triangle looking towards the stop and stations.

Of course there is a bus station as well!

fbb thinks the term is "integrated transport"! 

The overhead wiring presents a fearsome collection of knitting somewhat exaggerated by a long distance lens!

There is a scissors crossover on the approach to the platforms ...

... so trams can get from everywhere to everywhere. And that includes a third platform alongside the main island. Below a tram, during the testing phase, runs into the "platform 3".

fbb guesses that the extra track is there to provide flexibility in operation if things go awry; which, being Denmark, they usually don't!

The video from pre-public operation training gives us a chance to see the signalling at work. The principles are similar to UK tram signals, but the actual signal display is different. Here is a stop signal ...

... then we have go straight ahead ...

... and taking a branch at pointwork.

In the UK, most systems use a pattern of dots.

But back to Glostrup station! Here, again, there is quite a walk, past the bus station towards the traditional station building, there beyond the hoardings.

But the splendid buildings are no longer in use as a passenger entrance ...

... something more modern and more modest suffices for 'commuter' needs.

Under normal circumstances S-bane trains use one of the two island platforms. In the past the other two were served by longer distance trains. 

Access is by a clean and well lit subway.

Of course there is a lift and escalators ...

... and toilets are, again of course, free.

Back to the tram!

After all this rail based richness of experience, the temporary northern terminus is a bit of a damp squib.  The trams (and the tracks) just stop ...

... but have no fear dear Danish tram travellers, the rest of the line is due to open next year and, being Denmark, it will!

Public transport is done proper in Copenhagen.

A glimpse at Copenhagen bus services will follow, possibly as part of the weekend blogs.

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 8th Nov