29th August 2013 - Going HungaryThursday 29th August 2013 Time to leave Croatia for Budapest in Hungary, not via the obvious route on the direct train we did yesterday but via Slovenia and Vienna. The reason for this slightly roundabout route was to cover one of the few bits of track that we still needed in Slovenia, the Zidani Most avoiding line which only has a handful of trains over it each day. One last new HŽ loco for this trip in 1142 004 but only as far as the first station in Slovenia, Dobova, where there was still a passport check; though Croatia had just joined the EU it has yet to join the Schengen agreement. The train was also booked to stop at Savski Marof which used to be the customs point on the Croatian side of the border but the train sailed straight through without stopping this morning. 1142 004 at Zagreb Gl kol29th August 2013. On EC158 07:25 Zagreb Gl kol to Wien Meidling which it would work as far as Dobova, just over the Slovenian border. At Dobova, the 1142 was replaced by the expected Slovenian Railways class 342 electric whilst the border formalities were taking place, unfortunately it wasn’t one of the two still in service that we needed. The Zidani Most avoiding line was duly scored and we sat back to enjoy the scenic run to Maribor and Spielfeld-Straß, where the 342 would be replaced by an Austrian Railways loco. 1016 012 at Spielfeld-Straß29th August 2013. ÖBB's 1016 012 removes SŽ 342 025 from EC158 07:25 Zagreb Gl kol to Wien Meidling. We leapt out as soon as the train came to halt with the intention of getting a picture of the 342 but found the “man with the gloves” standing in the four-foot in front of the loco rather than uncoupling it from the train as expected. Turning round, we noticed a class 1016 “Taurus” loco bearing down which was going to remove the 342 from the train; the overhead line voltage is 15Kv AC in Austria and 3,000V DC in Slovenia so we can only assume that the 342 had coasted into the platform after dropping its pantograph and needed a bit of help to get back under the DC wires. The 1016 duly removed the Slovenian loco to the north end of the station and sent it back to the correct voltage by giving it a shove so that it freewheeled back to the south end, a manoeuvre also practiced at Brenner on the Italian border. 342 025 at Spielfeld-Straß29th August 2013. 342 025 freewheels back to the 3000V DC overhead wires after being given a shove by 1016 012 after working EC158. We had a good run through Austria, through Graz, over the picturesque Semmering route and arrived at Wien Meidling one minute early meaning that plan A would be followed, this being taking booked 6 minute connection with the Railjet service to Budapest. Plan B would have been to have a meal to fill the two hours before the next such service. It was a slow run to Bruck a d Leitha and the train lost about 10 minutes by the time we reached the first stop at the border station of Hegyeshalom which resembled an international loco depot with ex British Rail class 56s and 86s (including a Network Rail yellow one) two ex Romanian Railways electrics, one belonging to DB Schenker, a Floyd class 186, a Swiss Railways “TRAXX” electric and Czech / Slovak “goggles” type diesels. Budapest-Keleti was eventually reached a few minutes late and we were immediately accosted by someone asking if we wanted a taxi, we don’t think so! The bloke was quite insistent and seemed a little put out when we said we were quite capable of walking a short distance down the road, in fact it was probably quicker than being driven down there. Our base for the next eight nights would be the Mercure Metropol about 10 minutes walki from Keleti station which was booked in the Accor summer sale therefore secured at a very good rate indeed of around £40 per night. Once we had checked in, we went across the road to the Rakoczigrillhaz which has a good selection of food and an all-you-can-eat menu for a reasonable set price. This feast was followed by a stroll down the road to get a 7 day Budapest travel card (4,950 Ft, approx £15.50) from the ticket office which is still in a container outside Keleti station and an abortive attempt to get a new timetable (Menetrend) from the information office in Keleti station which had sold out.
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