3rd February 2015 - Steaming through a winter wonderlandTuesday 3rd February 2015 It was a bright and clear morning as we trooped the short distance to the station for the 7:08 REX service to Wörgl which would take us to Zell am See to visit another narrow gauge line, the Pingaubahn which runs between Zell am See and Krimml. Although it was bright and sunny, it was very cold and we were looking forward to getting on a nice warm train but there was nothing at the platform. Whilst we were standing there trying to keep warm the platform board suddenly changed from showing the 7:08 departure to an arrival from Saalfelden which was 30 minutes late, was that the coaches to form our train? Time dragged on and the arrival started showing as getting later and later though the 7:08 departure which was alternating on the indicator by now was only 15 minutes late, who are you trying to kid?! An announcement was made apologising for “technische störung” (technical difficulties) but did not elucidate whether the problem was with the train or the infrastructure. An S Bahn EMU came and went, still no further information and thoughts turned to the 8:12 IC departure which, with a change at Schwarzach St.-Veit, would get us to Zell an hour later than planned but there was no sign of the coaches to form that either. The REX from Saalfelden eventually arrived about 90 minutes late with top and tail class 1144s of which the rear one was required by us for haulage. At the same time the coaches for the 8:12 IC were shunted into the opposite platform by the station pilot so now we had a dilemma as it was gone 8 o’clock, which was going first? Whilst this was going on, the loco that had brought the REX into Salzburg had been detached and 1144.058 uncoupled from the opposite end before it was picked up and taken away by the station pilot, we guess that its failure must have been the cause of the delay and 1144.036 was rustled up to rescue the train.
We now had the situation of a group of people standing on the platform between two trains, neither of which had an engine. Some of our group boarded the IC whilst others hung around outside to see what would happen next, the answer being 1144.036 completing it’s run round move of the REX so it was everybody off the IC and onto the REX just as another 1144 appeared and was coupled to the former. Our tour leader quickly established that the REX would still run and be leaving first so, as it was going to where we needed to be we made ourselves comfortable on it for the run to Zell am See. It did go first as promised, it was fully light now with unbroken sunshine, there were some great views of glorious snow-covered scenery and most people appeared to have got over the irritation of standing round in the cold for so long once they had warmed up. We arrived at Zell am See just short of an hour and a half late and were ushered straight onto the special so that it could leave in the same path an hour later than booked but not before we noticed that we had suffered another “bowl-out”. Instead of the expected 2-6-2T, Mh.3 was on the front of the train, a sister loco to Mh.6 and dud for us, the overhaul of 73-019 was not yet complete and had been delayed hence the substitution. Never mind, these things happen; at least there is steam on the front, the sun is out, the scenery is great and covered in a thick layer of snow so sit back and enjoy the ride!
As we were running an hour late we were a little surprised when we stopped on a level crossing next to a river and a photo stop / run-past was announced. It was a superb location for photographs as there was loads of room for everybody to spread out along the bridge and get some shots of the smart-looking train with the river in the foreground though we doubt that the local video photographer who was already on the bridge was too impressed.
A few kilometers further on we stopped at Uttendorf Stubachtal where we should have crossed a service train but there was no sign of it. Although we were originally asked to stay on the train, as time ticked on we were allowed to get out though getting a photo on the sunny side meant wading through about a foot of snow. There was still no sign of the service train and we gathered that there was some sort of failure but it did eventually appear and was a hauled set with Vs83 on the rear. By now, a pair of DMUs had sneaked up behind our train so we had to shunt out of the way to let these go first but even after our train had moved out of the way the pair of units still did not leave. Word went round that we were now waiting for another train heading towards Zell am See which would mean another shunt for our train but the service train eventually departed, then it was our turn, the oncoming train having apparently been cancelled.
A train worked by Vs82 was passed at Mittersill which promptly departed after our train arrived so there was nothing obvious as to the reason for the delays but we did hear that there was “a computer problem” so maybe something affecting the signalling which, as far as we are aware was controlled by radio from Zell am See. Water was taken at Mittersill before continuing the journey to Krimml and one final photo stop at Rosental where there was a horse-drawn sleigh waiting outside the station. We were told to be quick and this was just a stationary photo but the train then proceeded to reverse and perform a false arrival, rather annoying for the people shooting video as some of them did not bother to get off having been told that it was a static shot. The horses remained in situ whilst all this went on and did not appear to be perturbed by the steam engine at all, leading us to wonder whether they had been specially organized as “prop” for our photos.
Krimml was finally reached just before half past one, nearly 90 minutes late, where the plan had been to have lunch in the guest house opposite the station then have a trip to the famous waterfalls on a Postbus. The latter was looking to be rather unlikely until the SLB staff came up with a solution, eat quickly, catch the 14:30 Postbus, have a quick look at the waterfalls and return to the station in time for the 15:33 departure which would overtake the special at Mittersill. The railway would let the conductor of the 15:33 know to expect a large contingent of English-speaking people and not to charge them; part of the delay was down to them after all. As usual, the pair of us had other plans and had been carefully watching the order of the service trains, working out that there was a reasonable expectation of getting Vs83 out for Vs82 back to Krimml. As we had Vs81 on a previous visit, the other two would complete the set, job done and we could join the party returning form the waterfalls. Vs83 turned up as expected so we got on and the cheerful lady conductor sorted out a pair of tickets to Bramberg where we had time for a quick walk to the village before returning to the station in time to press the button which ensured that the Krimml-bound train stopped.
Much to our chagrin, this turned out to be a pair of units rather than Vs82 though, without having any diagrams, there was no way of knowing if this was booked or a result of the earlier disruption. This was the train to form the 15:33 from Krimml so as soon as the conductor had two English-speaking people asking for tickets, she asked if we were with the party and didn’t charge us as well as helpfully suggesting that we got off at Neukirchen am Großvenediger where this train would cross the special. We were not expecting this and neither was the conductor on the special, as she initially thought that we trying to gatecrash until she realized that we were part of the group! Whilst Mh.3 took water at Mittersill and waited for the 15:33 to catch up we had been plotting again and worked out that if the next train to Krimml turned out to be Vs82 we could get that for a couple of stops and catch the 15:33 from Krimml but Vs81 turned up so we had a quick walk down the road and watched Mh.3 shunt to access the water column instead.
More gremlins reared their ugly heads when the 15:33 from Krimml didn’t appear on time and we started hearing rumours that the group visiting the waterfalls might be delayed due to issues with the bus bringing them back from there. The 15:33 finally rolled in about 10 minutes late and the “waterfall group” were on there so we got to hear the full story. Apparently the bus that was meant to bring them back from the waterfalls had failed and been replaced by a minibus, probably quite adequate in normal circumstances but not when there was a 20 to 30 strong group of tourists! Much to his credit, the bus driver had organized a fleet of taxis when he realised that there were far too many people to fit on his bus then promptly taken those that did fit on to the station so they could alert the traincrew who held the train until everyone had arrived. What with one thing or another, the tour group had certainly had an eventful day! There were no further issues and it was getting dark as Mh.3 rolled into Tischlerhäusl where the line’s motive power depot is, to be replaced by diesel 2095.01 for the final 1.5km into Zell am See. We couldn’t quite work out the logic for doing this as trains are normally propelled between Zell and Tischlerhäusl and the time it took to change locos was about the same that it would have taken to run to Zell and propel back to the shed. Perhaps a few extra minutes might have been gained to start disposing of Mh.3 by taking it off outside the shed and we were certainly not complaining about having a brief spin behind a 2095, it would have been nice to have gone a little further than just under a mile.
We arrived at Zell am See in time for the 17:48 back to Salzburg though our personal preference would have been to wait until the 18:15 and change at Schwarzach St. Veit for an IC as the first train was one of the class 4024 EMUs with horrible rock-hard seats – most uncomfortable for a long journey. Being on a group ticket meant that we had to travel with the rest of the party so EMU it was; we could have done our own thing but it had been a long and eventful day so we tagged along with the rest of the group.
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