27th September 2012 - Sunshine and showersThursday 27th September 2012 The weather this morning was still alternating between being reasonably bright and heavy rain but luckily it did not rain as we made our way to the station. We had read a report on the European Rail Yahoo group which caught our interest regarding the service to BTC City, a shopping and leisure complex, which involved a trip down some freight track. The information was that you needed a Ljubljana City ticket to do this train which was easily purchased using the English menu on the ticket machine in the booking hall for the huge sum of €2.10 each. By now it was tipping down with rain again so we were pleased that the DMU was handily parked under the canopy on the same platform as the station building. We were the only two passengers on the train as it set off on a parallel but separate line from the main line which led into a small freight yard where we stopped alongside a container train opposite the motive power depot. The driver changed ends and we set off on what appeared to be a freight siding which went round a tight curve, over a level crossing and terminated at a blue and white paved platform next to a swimming pool and flume. There were a gaggle of young people waiting but they weren’t interested in the train as they moved off en masse to the swimming pool just before it opened at 09:00 and it was still just the two of us on board when the train departed again at 09:00; we doubt whether our €4.20 fare even covered the cost of the diesel for the trip let alone the staff wages! 713 114 at BTC City Ljubljana Our next move was the IC train to the port of Koper, departing a handy 20 minutes after the train from BTC arrived which gave us enough time to get a cup of tea and view the railway pictures in McDonalds which included Belgium, Germany, Poland and the preserved Great Central Railway but nothing from Slovenia. IC503 was hauled by one of the French-built class 363 electric locos and had started from Maribor at 06:50 that morning, we headed for the rear of the train only to suddenly realise that the rear three coaches were being detached so we scuttled back to the four coaches that were going forward and managed to secure an empty compartment for the scenic run to Koper. 363 023 at Koper Capodistria The weather at Koper was largely sunny with a few clouds and quite windy, a complete contrast to the intermittent downpours in Ljubljana. The station was a bit further from the town than we had anticipated so rather than have lunch in the near three hour wait for the IC to turn round, we decided on a quick walk round then a drink at the bar next to the station before catching the local unit back to Divača, where we hoped to get photographs of some freight whilst we waited for the IC to catch up. This wasn’t such a great idea as the sun was wrong and the second of the two freights we did see passed behind the first which had stopped opposite the station, then we then heard the sound of a diesel loco working hard; this should be good cameras ready…….not! We had forgotten that Divača has an avoiding curve; the train went straight round there and headed towards Koper with the loco being clearly audible for some time afterwards. 541 014 at Divača The IC duly turned up and we caught it back to Ljubljana where there was a move to catch a Villach Hbf to Zagreb IC train which departed ten minutes after the train from Koper arrived and ten minutes in front of the same train to Maribor whilst it attached further coaches for Hodoš. We took the Zagreb IC to Litija in the hope of getting some photographs before taking the local train back to the city and were rewarded with a couple of freights as well as the Koper to Maribor/ Hodoš IC train. 342 025 at Litija
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