I was asked by my employer to make a business trip to Munich. On the way back I at no costs extra I could practically pass the house of a German friend of mine. I combined duty and fun. After the business meeting I parted with my colleagues and took the train to Stuttgart to meet my friend and spend the weekend with him.
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2 Well the journey started at my home. I first travelled to my office in Utrecht to work there for a few hours before catching the 11:07 ICE to Düsseldorf
3 Leaving Utrecht Centraal, the platforms are still visible
4 I forgot the to make a photo when our ICE entered Utrecht Centraal but at least I made this shot of our train when we got to Düsseldorf. ICE 4601
5 Düsseldorf offers a array of rolling stock classes, so our half hour to change to the ICE to Munich was well used. Class 422, 150 built from 2007-2011, seats 192 for regional traffic (S-bahn = suburban railway)
6 A very new class is this 1440. It is a member of Alstom's Coradia family. 218 units are on order and the delivery is still running. Depending on the version seating capacity varies between 188 and 293.
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8 The German built TRAXX is one of a third batch supllied to the DB and are mainly used for "normal" intercity services with double deck trains.
9 Services on board are good. As the journey from Utrecht to Munich takes seven hours you will need it!
10 On the way we had an occasional view on the landscape showing us some fresh snow.
11 Frankfurt main station, unfortunately time was too short to have a look around.
12 I had to make do with a quick shot from my seat
13 Leaving Frankfurt. For a brief moment the sun was out. S-bahn stock passes in front
14 Below Frankfurt there was no snow
15 Würzburg
16 Munich main station, only a quick snap shot as my colleagues pressed on.
17 That night fresh snow fell.
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19 The day was largely used by our business visit. During that visit a big storm hit the Netherlands and Northern Germany wreaking havoc among road, rail and air traffic. We however had no more than a stiff breeze so I was pretty confident I would get to Stuttgart later in the day whereas my colleagues, who would flying back to the Netherlands, were amusing me with their fussing about their flight and trains. I would be proved utterly wrong.
20 I went to Munich main station with the metro, my sixth Metro system: Rotterdam, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Paris and now Munich. A single fare for only three zones was pretty expensive though: €8,70 for just one person and a ride of only 15 minutes is hefty.
21 But clean and well lit.
22 Munchen Hbf is a very unattractive maze. Here is the eastfacing main entrance. I had two hours to spare before my ICE would go to Stuttgart so I had some time to look around and make some photos.
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24 Another member of Alstom's Coradia family: class 440. The class' 76 units are mainly at work in the areas around Munich.
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26 A head car of a push-pull train
27 Being close to both Switzerland and Austra makes the station attractive as many international trains end or pass here.
28 Two hours delay for Regional Intercity? That is not a good sign. By now the storm depression Friederike, as it was named in Germany, had brought down all rail traffic in the northern half of the country, but below Frankfurt there was no significant wind.
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30 Various generations of ICE's could be found next to each other. This is an ICE3
31 ICE1 Class 401
32 And an ICE3 of a later date, easily recognisable from the ripples above the lights.
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37 The weather was cold with a breeze, but fair and a bit of sun
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39 None of the ICE's moved. It should have alerted me.
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44 Leaving for Austria, oh I would like to hop on.
45 A class 111 earning its last days in local services.
46 The impressive signal box of Munich
47 Oi, all long distance travel down for the rest of the day. There goes my ICE to Stuttgart. Well no, it doesn't go at all.
48 I hung around a bit to assess my options. 1. Wait and see what happens, after all Stuttgart is not too far away. 2. Get a hotel room and travel tomorrow, the easy option 3. Rent a car (and I later thought of 4. take a Flix bus)
49 As itt was still early in the evening I waited and enjoyed myself with the buzz of a disturbed ant's nest
50 At the far right you can see the DB info counter where there was a queue of over half anhour. By now I had seen on my smartphone that regional traffic, which was also temporarily suspended, was getting into gear again. The big blue info panel still shows cancelled trains though.
51 As crowds gathered DB silently moved the workless ICEs out of sight
52 Finally a RE (Regional Express, normal speed intercity) was announced to Ulm. From Ulm I needed only one more RE to Stuttgart. It was a feasible option, about one hour slower than with the ICE, which should have left on the very moment I took this photo. People scrambled however for this train. I wondered if I could ever get in.
53 I was lucky to get a seat in that train and around 20:00 I was in Ulm. Ten years ago I slept in this hotel. I counted on this option, in case I would not be able get out of Ulm.
54 and of course I looked around, killing the time I had before my RE to Stuttgart would arrive.
55 Then suddenly a extra train was announced, obviously DB was gearing up efforts to get people home, and five minutes later I was on the way again.
56 And so it came to pass that a long cherished wish came true: I went over the Geislinger Steige, Europe's first real mountain railway. But....it was DARK!! I only heard the wheels squeal in the severe curves. I saw nothing!! The map above indicates the Steige including the maximum speeds allowed.
57 My train in Stuttgart at last. In total my delay amounted to one and a half hour which was, considering the 250 km from Munich and the state of the railway at this day, not very bad. I have enjoyed myself figuring it all out and look back on a wonderful and most enjoyable experience. I wonder though why all long distance travel was suspended. There was no serious bad weather anywhere near the southern half of the country. Imagine London suspending traffic because it had stormed in Scotland!
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59 The next day we took the S-bahn to visit a N gauge layout in Herrenberg.
60 This couple of classic German diesels ran parallel to our train
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62 Appraching Stuttgart Hbf
63 a pair of V160, like the other two a pair of oldies, in the distance.
64 Arrival at Herrenberg
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66 The layout depicts Stuttgart's main station (top left) including its feeders and its depot (bottom right)
67 When you enter the room the first view is on the depot. The layout is in N scale (1:160)
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69 My apologies for the lack of depth of fiels in the photos but I had no tripod with me so had to make do with large apertures.
70 A view over the feeder lines towards the station
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78 These passovers are characteristic for the Stuttgart station
79 A view towards the depot from the station
80 Count the locomotives!
81 The throat of the station
82 from the same vantage point: the station itself
83 It is almost beyond imagination that this layout was built by only one man over the course of thirty years.
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98 After the builder of the layout suddenly died it resided in its place for almost five year, so I was told. Moist crept in and the move to a new place also caused damage for a layout the was not designed to be moved. Although the general impression is good, the detail betrays a rather neglected state. So it will take ages to get this layout up to standard again .
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100 The main signal box
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103 The same man built a copy of the signal box traffic management table.
104 After an impressive visit we returned home.
105 You may have counted the days, I skipped day four yes, because we spent most of the day at my friend's home, enjoying the chit chat
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107 A small diorama, depicting a former local factory
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109 The main layout is in HO
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111 Party!!
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118 The cemetry taking a fresh delivery
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125 oops
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131 And amidst the super serious German layout all of a sudden this strike of humour
132 On another layout I found this gem
133 The next visit was in the city of Stuttgart itself. I visited this layout ten years ago, so see what changed.
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139 this is where the new part also started ten years ago, so not much progress.
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142 A rack railway, part still under construction
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155 Station no 2 of Kornwesthein, the start of my journey home
156 Stuttgart's signal box
157 Bye to the S-bahn
158 The ever impressive station hall
159 Everything running on schedule.
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162 Another 111 doing its last duties.
163 my train
164 A rainy goodbye to Stuttgart's depot
165 Changing trains in Düsseldorf again
166 Wainting for the ICE to Amsterdam
167 Yes, on time!
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169 My reservation. It is generally a wise thing to make a reservation. ICE's are well used throughout the day.
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171 ICE in Utrecht, now just a few local services to get home
