London to VelkeKapusany – A 21st Century Odyssey

Presenter: David Jackman

Meeting Held at Shenfield Parish Hall

One of the main attractions of going abroad is that things are different. As LP Hartley said in a different context “They do things differently there”. Vive la différence.

David Jackman led us on a tour from London through half of Europe – to Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, The Czech Republic and finishing up in Slovakia, at Velke Kapusany near to the Ukrainian border.

David is a frequent visitor to the Continent, making use of various good value tickets, and has an intimate knowledge of railway matters. He was able to regale us with facts and figures peppered with amusing anecdotes, many from his own experience. We learned about the mix of electrical supply systems and voltages that make life interesting – and challenging no doubt to the operators. His main focus is passenger trains and there were excellent illustrations of the wide variety of locomotives and stock to be found in these countries. In addition to the mainline trains we were shown several examples of branch lines, many of which have survived despite being poorly patronised; although the writing is on the wall for some of them. Differences inevitably strike one – double-decker trains, lack of fences, low platforms, driving on the right, strange looking signals, trains running through the middle of urban streets, and so on.

Although many things are different, there are parallels with the UK. For example: Class 810 four-wheeler Diesel units (“Wheelie bins”), equivalent to our Pacers are prevalent, especially in the last two countries covered where they evidently plod along rural lines at about 30 mph. Bustitution is not uncommon in these European countries, and in Germany cancellations due to driver shortage is a feature. We imagine perhaps that German trains are always efficient and on-time; evidently they are not.

David also took time so show us some museums, narrowgauge systems and ancient trams.