Post by EE507Right, after many hours of tinkering I've finally managed to book a
ticket, and I think I understand the quirks of DB's system. As part of
a Plzen to Sussex journey, I've bought a Furth im Wald to London first
class ticket for EURO 102.50 (inc EURO 3.50 postage, not that it actually
costs that, but never mind).
Firstly, I found connections to Frankfurt, then onto ICE 14 as above.
Green tick for availability (no availability of EURO 49 second class)...
through to booking... enter payment details... then, oops, the system
stated it couldn't make a reservation on the compulsory reservation
leg i.e. Eurostar. At this point I was ready to throw a brick at the
screen or, even worse, turn to easyJet.
Not wishing to be a climate criminal, I 'changed details' and inserted
a 90 minute wait at Brussels Midi. Yes, of all the places to spend 2
hours, it has to be Midi. Anyway, this worked: an unnecessary delay of
53 minutes, but saves me the trouble of finding food and booking an
expensive E* single.
OK, here we go with a trip report while it's all fresh in my mind.
Plzen 07:00 rt R 350 754027 to Furth im Wald
Nürnberg 10:09 -1 218467 forward; ČD compo stock
Plzen hl. n. is a fascinating place to observe railway operations,
with three long island platforms, each divided into two sections
thanks to Cambridge-style scissors crossings. Passengers use barrow
crossings (!) and there seems to be an element of Swiss-type hub
operation, with almost every bit of platform space occupied for short
periods, maximising connectional opportunities.
I asked for a ticket to Furth im Wald and was issued with one to FiW
Grenze - cost 99 CZK, or about £3. Haulage was courtesy of an
overhauled 754 'Goggles' diesel loco on load 4. I found a comfy 6-
seater second class compo near the front of the train, and settled
down for a very pleasant journey through the snow-covered countryside
to the German border. The gripper asked to see my onward ticket from
FiW, although I hadn't been asked to show it at the ticket office. I
assume a ticket to Furth im Wald (proper) is more expensive?
At FiW I leapt out for some pics of the rabbit provided for onward
traction, with a kolomna and the 'goggles' posing alongside. I then
sat at the very front of the train in an air conditioned first class
compo - more legroom but otherwise slightly less comfortable than
second class! Not much more to report, other than an ALEX loco on shed
at Schwandorf.
At Nürnberg I had a look at the departure sheets to identify
potentially interesting ICs, having failed to bring any gen with me.
The 10:20 to München duly produced 103245 on a rake of 5 standard IC
vehicles. Marvellous to see in 2009, and it's refreshing to be able to
take photos at a major station with no hassle.
Nürnberg 11:00 rt ICE 722 ICE-3
Frankfurt Hbf 13:05 +4
Sadly no more loco haulage, but first class ICE is a rather fine way
to travel. I found a solo airline seat and read for a while.
Complimentary items are limited to newspapers and occasional Ferrero
Rocher (Herr Mehdorn, you are really spoiling us...). For about 20
minutes there was a spell of self-important mobile phone
conversations, all beginning with the classic "Ich bin im Zug...", but
the journey was pleasant enough. Checked outside Frankfurt Hbf, making
me feel at home.
Only 20 mins to kill this time, so a quick search for 110s was
conducted with no success. My next train was a double ICE, with
portions for Amsterdam and Brussels.
Frankfurt Hbf 13:29 rt ICE 14 ICE-3
Bruxelles Midi 16:53 +2 Filthy windows
My set was a particularly scruffy one externally, but cleanliness is
the least of DB's worries with these trains at the moment! All bar
four first class seats were reserved, mostly from Koeln to Brussels,
but I found a forward-facing table seat in the non quiet coach. Just
as well, as I intended to use the laptop to type up some meeting notes
for a few hours. I ordered the red cabbage soup (tasty!) to keep me
going, with a couple more Ferrero Rocher coming my way later on. No
internet access that my laptop could detect (although my laptop has
problems with connecting - Vista is a disaster).
A large number of no shows for all those reserved seats - EURO 4 is
clearly no deterrent for expense account travellers. Time really flew
- it's a great working environment - and we were soon on the tortuous
but beautiful section of classic line around Verviers, then climbing
out of Liege and finally into Midi. At this point I gave a moment's
thought to trying to sweet talk my way onto my preferred E* at 17:59 -
it had been green-ticked while trying to book online after all. I
thought better of it, and naturally the priority was then to get out
of Midi at the earliest opportunity.
Now the good news is that Midi plays host to loco-hauled trains all
day, and they become most interesting in the peaks, at least for a
while longer. To cut to the chase, I did 2301 to Central and 1601 from
there to Nord, where I remained for about 45 minutes. I then returned
to Midi on a unit.
Swiftly through E* check in at 18:29 (no point going sooner), with
boarding from 18:39.
Bruxelles Midi 18:59 rt EST 9157
London St. Pancras 19:56 +9
Leisure select was lightly loaded, enabling me to switch to a forward-
facing seat with moderate alignment, and food was served about 20 mins
after Lille. I assume this is normal practice but I was rather hungry
by then. We lost time during the dwell at Lille, and perhaps another
30-60 seconds at the English end of the tunnel (transit time 20 mins),
but I'm not sure how a full 9 mins had been squandered.
Out of St. Pancras E* in about 2 minutes, but one inevitably compares
the labyrinth here with the ease of egress at Gare du Nord. Onto the
Northern Line, arriving at London Bridge main concourse 6 mins after
my train had departed. The Central side platforms resembled carriage
sidings, with at least one stabled unit in every platform. The 20:54
to VIC was on top of the 20:58, so doors were not released on the
latter until the former had departed - a pain given the volume of pax
wanting on.
London Bridge (20:28) missed 20:58 rt 4.377 - called
additionally at
Brighton (21:26) 21:55 +5 Redhill.
Wedged to ECR. The CIS there announced we would be calling at Redhill
(no mention of that at LBG) - apparently in reaction to yet another
suicide on the BML earlier in the day. Small compensation for this
came in the form of the relatively unusual down slow to down fast move
at Earlswood. 7 late at TBD with 2 clawed back by Brighton - it could
have been more, but we were checked and 'called on' to the top of
platform 8 at Brighton.
Sprinted round to platform 1 to find no driver for the 22:03, so I
gave up on further rail haulage and went to find a bus, eventually
arriving home exactly one hour later than if I had made the 20:28.
A shame it had to end like that, as I greatly enjoyed the trip:
traditional haulage (the best bit in fact) with a swift and efficient,
no-fuss loco change, ICE sophistication, breaks long enough to stretch
the legs and indulge in photography, and a meal (eventually) on the
Eurostar.
If the DB booking engine quirks can be sorted, and Thalys comes to be
regarded as complementary rather than a competitor to the ICE, then
rail will offer a serious alternative to the grim business of flying
to certain destinations these days.
