1st February 2015 - WaldviertlerbahnenSunday 1st February 2015 Another bright sunny morning saw us back onto our coach for the journey to Heidenreichstein for a trip on the Wackelstein Express to Alt Nagelburg, one of the very few lines that we still required in Austria. It is not the easiest line to access and was a big factor in us deciding to book on this trip, particularly as it had been planned to use a pair of class 2091 diesel locos, one which had only just been restored after a number of years out of service. Of course “Sod’s Law” dictated that the freshly overhauled loco (2091.02, restored under its older number of 2041.02) was out of use due to an unspecified defect which could not be repaired in time so the special was hauled by 2091.09 on it’s own which we had ridden behind on two previous occasions at it’s former home on the Ybbstalbahn.
Never mind, the weather was a lot clearer today and we arrived at Heidenreichstein in bright sunshine with 2091.09 and it’s train being prepared in the platform. Clear blue skies at this time of year meant that it was rather cold but the coaches were nice and toasty thanks to their paraffin heaters and gluhwein / hot drinks were available as well. Not long after we departed, the train stopped on a farm crossing on the outskirts of the town and it was all out for photos – snow on the ground, blue sky, red engine, dark green coaches, sun just right, absolutely cracking!
A little further on, we stopped at Aalfang which did not appear to be the best place for a photo but the crew said that they wanted to pick a wagon up from the loop here so there were plenty of opportunities for photos whilst the loco shunted out from the far end of the loop and attached it to the front of the special.
We were rather hoping for another photo stop / run past but the line passed through quite a large forest, not really conducive for taking photos, before meeting the NÖVOG line from Litschau which ran parallel to the Heidenreichstein line for around 1km before reaching Alt Nagelburg station. Both lines had their own run round loop and were connected at the Gmünd end and our loco stopped right by the 0.0km stone for the Heidenreichstein line before setting back and performing a “false arrival”.
There was a brief opportunity to look round the immediate environs of the station whilst the loco ran round and our attention was drawn to some colourful glass trees “planted” nearby which were apparently made for the community by a local glass factory.
There was a bit of a hiatus after the loco ran round, we think there was an issue with the brakes, but the problem was resolved after a bit of fiddling around and we set off back to Heidenreichstein, climbing quite steeply through the wooded section and stopping at Aalfang again to drop off the van we had collected on the outwards journey. Clouds had started to appear by now and the sun had come round but a good view of the shunting activities could be had by walking across the field between the station and a minor road and the train stopped at the level crossing with the latter to pick us up so there was no need to yomp back across the field.
Lunch was provided in the station building by the society and consisted of some tasty home-made soup of which, rather unfortunately, there was not quite enough of to go round unlike the large selection of meat and cheese platters with bread. This feast was rounded off by some home-made cake after which we had time to look round the site and shed; the latter was tiny, had a rather precarious-looking chimney and contained a single wagon which looked as if it was being worked on. There was no sign of 2041.02 anywhere on the site; maybe it had gone away somewhere for repairs though classmate 2091.07 was hiding under a tarpaulin outside the shed – we were told that it was a long term restoration project.
2091.09 had been busy whilst we were looking round and was now sandwiched between an old wooden snow plough and one of the coaches, the staff wanted to take it for a spin down the line for some reason. Maybe it was an opportunity to get some photos of it in some snow which apparently is not that common in this part of Austria, but they kindly posed the train on the embankment just past the station so we could all get some photos before they headed off.
Before we took our leave of Heidenreichstein, the coach stopped so we could have a brief look at the castle though we could not go inside as it was not actually open to visitors at this time of year.
Obligatory tourist photos taken, it was back to Gmünd where a visit had been arranged to the new NÖVOG station and depot. This edifice that had caused us to gawp when we arrived three days ago had cost 8.5 million Euro and a further three million had been spent on the track and infrastructure between here and Groß Gerungs and Litschau, we had seen evidence of the latter in the form of CWR and concrete sleepers at the NÖVOG side of Alt Nagelburg station earlier. The new station contained a spacious booking hall and had two enclosed platforms which doubled as a carriage shed and enabled most of the coaches and two DMUs to be kept securely under cover.
Across the car park was the new maintenance depot which was heated and contained steam loco Mh1, a third railcar waiting to be painted into NÖVOG livery and three class 2095 diesels; VT12 (2095.012) in the “blood orange” livery it carried when new, VT5 (2095.005) in red / cream and 2095.007 still in ÖBB livery, looking a little sorry for itself. We had seen this loco through the window when looking round last Thursday and wondered if it was for spare parts but our guide explained that it was going to be restored to service, not least because VT12 was “high mileage” and would need an overhaul in the not too distant future.
A further addition to the fleet would be Mh4, a sister locomotive to Mh1, which was currently in Meiningen works undergoing a ¾ million Euro overhaul, the same place that Mh1 had been overhauled at in 2013. Although quite powerful, these locos can only manage 8 coaches to Groß Gerungs and there is demand for more capacity at certain times of the year, hence the need for a second loco. There was a smaller “works” shed to the side of the main one which contained a couple of coaches which were being worked on and there was also a large pile of coal in another shed to the rear of this; from Silesia and quite expensive according to our guide so best to keep it under lock and key. The tour finished just after 16:00 so the two of us wandered across the road to the main line station to see what was about. We soon worked out a move across the border to České Velenice then on the same train to Allentsteig and back to Gmünd to have a ride behind two locomotives but both of them were not required of course, one of them, inevitably, being 1116.053 which we had yesterday.
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