19th July 2015 - All we like sheepSunday 19th July 2015 There wasn’t much time this morning to get too carried away as we had to be at the airport before 2pm so it was a case of packing the bags and heading off to Wien Hbf to dump them, a large luggage locker big enough to take both cases only costing a reasonable €3.50. Whilst getting ready we received a text to say that MÁV 470.009 was running about 30 minutes on EN346 but unless we left the hotel almost immediately we would not get to Wien Hbf in time and would then have to return from Wien Westbf all the way back to the hotel to finish packing and have breakfast. The friend who sent us the "gen" pronounced us “not desperate enough!”. 470 009 at Budapest6th July 2015. On Budapest-Keleti shed. When we did finally get out we had a reasonable haul of new locos including a Czech class 380 round to Wien Westbf which was a shadow of its former self with a distinct lack of trains to get us back round to Meidling so we shelled out for a couple of U Bahn tickets. Once on board U6 we discovered that Philadelphiabrücke station had finally been renamed Bahnhof Meidling to match the mainline station it served. One final change and a vast improvement in our eyes was the fact that we could now get an ICE direct to the airport, no more messing about with S Bahns and changing at Rennweg, even if it was cross-platform. Whilst waiting at Wien Hbf for the ICE we noticed a large number of people on the platform and guessed that most of them were off to Prague on the RailJet train that was eight minutes in front of ours and on the departure board. Unfortunately, the next thing that pulled up in the platform was a class 4024 local EMU to Bratislava-Petržalka which gave us a good laugh when most of the punters gave a passable impression of a flock of sheep as they hurried towards it without reading what was on the actual train. Of course it would not be very funny for anybody who ended up in the wrong capital city and we hoped that all those who mistakenly boarded it managed to get off again before it departed; just as well the unit had a brief stand time at the platform. 4024 055 at Bischofshofen26th January 2016. On an S3 service, 12:24 Schwarzach-St.Veit to Bad Reichenhall. When the Praha train finally did arrive we were treated to a fine performance of what we call “one door train syndrome” where everybody tries to cram in the same couple of doors, ignoring all the others to the detriment of timekeeping. The train looked distinctly “cosy” as it passed us, must remember to try not to travel to Prague on a summer Sunday afternoon. The ICE service was next and whisked us to the airport via a section of new track over new and imposing large flyover across Kledering Yard, the whole journey taking just 15 minutes – a lot quicker and less hassle than the S Bahn. This seamless experience was spoilt a bit by some minor delays and other irritations getting home but we did get some amusement on our 12 car train for the final leg out of Euston. Despite the outside of each unit clearly stating where it was going, the on-train and platform screens saying the same and the guard making announcements, we were disturbed by an almost constant stream of people asking “Is this part of the train going to Birmingham?”. If we had charged a pound for each person who asked it would have gone a fair way towards financing our next trip and it also went to prove that “sheep mentality” can afflict “normals” in any country!
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