This report covers two trips to the Rhätischebahn in January 2010. The first of a large fleet of new EMUs has just entered traffic and the next couple of years will see big changes to the current fleet of locos and motor-coaches. This was probably the last chance to photograph a full winter service with the 60 year old class Ge4/4i locos playing a full part. The weather had other ideas though.

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An autumn trip to the Rhätischebahn, in south-eastern Switzerland. The trip turned out a little differently to what was expected due to bad weather. Despite the problems, there was still plenty to photograph in the beautiful Graubünden landscape, including the Berninabahn in its last autumn before the arrival of new EMUs and the veteran class Ge4/4i electrics, some of which are over 60 years old.

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report to be produced

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It had been almost two years since I’d photographed at Praha hl.n. and in the meantime, the new northern approaches have been completed and the platforms under the overall roof have been rebuilt. The station is at its best in the morning and evening light so the long days of early July seemed a good time for a return visit. I had also hoped to photograph some diesel hauled freights in the Kladno and Kralupy areas, north of Praha, and on the Nymburk – Mlada Boleslav line but that didn’t work out.

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It had been a whole year since my last visit to CDland and, as usual, quite a few operations had changed in the meantime, not all for the worse either. This trip combined some of the new opportunities, both diesel and electric, with return visits to a few old favourites and filling in some gaps in my photographic coverage.

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This was my third trip to the Rhätischebahn, Switzerland's most extensive metre gauge railway. The RhB operates a fleet of around 50 locomotives on passenger and freight trains in an area noted for its magnificent Alpine scenery and is a photographer's delight.

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A trip to photograph diesels on scenic lines in the north-east of China, starting with the Tonghua-Hunjiang area then Fushun, Bei'an, Mudanjiang and finishing on the Beijing-Longhua line. As well as the diesels, there are a few industrial electrics on standard and narrow gauges and a handful of steam locomotives as well.

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The Perpignan to Cerbere line runs along the Cote Vermielle or Vermillion Coast, an area of superb scenery where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean sea. This is one of the two main lines linking France with Spain and sees a variety of passenger and freight trains worked by a number of different classes of locomotive. I visited the area for a few days in early May 2008.

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Winter in the Swiss Alps attracts skiers and snowboarders in huge numbers but what would it be like for a railway photographer? In spite of doubts about the weather, I decided to visit the Rhätischebahn in south-eastern Switzerland from 19 to 23 December to find out. Once again, the RhB exceeded all my expectations.

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The Rhätischebahn operates an extensive meter gauge electified network in the canton of Graubunden in south-eastern Switzerland. Its lines link the regional capital Chur with the alpine resorts of Klosters, Davos and St Moritz, passing through some of the finest alpine scenery en-route. This was my first visit to this splendid railway.

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This report covers a two week photographic trip to the Czech Republic in autumn 2007, visiting four rather different diesel and electric lines across the country. I started with the loco hauled weekend trains on the scenic line from Praha to Cercany before moving on to Olomouc where some old class 141 electrics are enjoying a new lease of life. Next on the agenda was the Jaromer - Trutnov line with its diesel hauled fast passengers. The trip ended with an old favourite, the Karlovy Vary - Chomutov line, my first visit there since electrification.

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Class 753 diesels disappeared from most parts of the Czech system several years ago but Liberec depot has kept a handful in service for working freights on the scenic line to Zawidow in Poland. This report covers a short trip to the area in late summer 2007.

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The Lötschberg main line is a busy freight and passenger route across the Swiss Alps. As well as being a major trunk route, it’s a scenic delight and a real engineering marvel. Seven years had passed since my last visit and the imminent opening of the 35.6 km Base Tunnel provided the impetus for a return in May 2007 while the original route was still busy. The Base Tunnel will bypass the most scenic section of the old line and is expected to take increasing volumes of freight traffic after its official opening on 16 June 2007.

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This visit to China started with a few days photographing modern traction around Beijing, including SS4Gs on the busy Datong - Qinhuangdao coal line and 8Ks on the Fengtai - Shacheng route. The remainder of the trip was spent in the North-East visiting three of the surviving steam-worked colliery systems at Jixi, Hegang and Zhalainuoer.

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This report describes a short spur-of-the-moment trip to the Czech Republic. The intention was to spend 3 days on the Brno - Jihlava line, a route with a reasonable level of locomotive haulage, nice scenery and plenty of open locations suitable for low winter sunshine. In the event there was no sun so most of the time was spent travelling around, checking out photo opportunities and covering new track.

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A short holiday on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca included a couple of days photographing the vintage electrics on the Soller Railway.



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An Autumn trip to one of Germany's busiest freight lines, running through attractive countryside from Würzburg in northwestern Bavaria towards the cities and ports of the north. As well as a good variety of DB and Railion classes, Swiss and Austrian locos and those of a number of independent operators were seen on trains of all types.

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With no QJs on the Jitong Railway this autumn, my thoughts turned to photographing China's diesels and electrics. Steam is now confined to industrial operations and I was beginning to miss the excitement of photographing big trains on scenic main lines. China has a remarkably varied modern traction scene and those used to seeing nothing but QJs, JSs and SYs might be surprised at the plethora of different diesel and electric classes in use.

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In spite of a huge DMU building programme, there are still a fair number of diesel hauled passenger trains in some parts of Germany. The network of secondary lines in the Allgäu area of south-western Bayern sees more diesel haulage than most these days. This report covers a short photographic trip to the Oberallgäu, the scenic area around Kempten, Immenstadt and Oberstdorf, in July 2006.

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Praha is the hub of the Czech rail system and sees a variety of classes working heavy freight and passenger traffic on the electrified main lines radiating from the city. A few less heavily trafficked lines are still diesel worked and see some loco haulage. This report describes a photographic trip to the city in late June 2006.

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A short trip to Ceska Trebova on the busy electrified main line from Praha to Ostrava and Brno. Lots of electric action from an impressive variety of classes on freight, local and long distance passenger trains.



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A two-week trip concentrating on the scenic Hanusovice - Jesenik and Letohrad - Lichkov lines in the hills of the north-eastern Czech Republic where class 749s and 751 locos mix with old class 831 and 851 railcars.

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A trip to photograph diesels and electrics in the snow around Ceska Trebova during the January 2006 big freeze when temperatures plummeted well below -20°C.



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Sometimes the weather stays dull and wet for days on end and there's nothing to do but travel around, exploring new lines and seeking out new photo locations, while waiting for the clouds to clear. This was such a trip.


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A wet weekend attempting to photograph trains in Praha. In spite of the poor weather, a few breaks in the cloud did permit a number of reasonable photos, particularly around Praha hlavni nadrazi (main station) with its superb overall roof. In total, more than ten classes of diesel and electric were seen in and around the city, varying from the latest pendolino EMUs to the ageing class 141s.

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A short trip to the Tisnov area west of Brno, covering the diesel worked line from Tisnov to Zdar nad Sazavou via Bystrice nad Pernstejnem and the electrified Brno to Havlickuv Brod main line.


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