Sun 15 April 2012
Sun 15 April 2012
31/07/12 16:58
It was forecast to be a dull, wet day and that was exactly how it turned out. Instead of sitting around feeling miserable, I decided to go exploring in the hope of finding some new photspots. The Konus Guest Card didn’t cover all the lines required so I bought a Baden-Württemburg Lander Ticket and was pleasantly surprised to find there was a first-class version available for €31, well worth the extra €10 to avoid the Sunday afternoon hordes and travel in a manner befitting an English gentleman touring foreign parts.
My route took me from Oberndorf to Tuttlingen first, shoved by 146.203 on RE19035. The next leg was on IRE3220, the “Schwarzwald Bunny”, pushed to Donaueschingen then pulled to Neustadt by 218.464, well off the beaten track for a Kempten loco. There are a handful of really nice locations on the Donaueschingen - Neustadt section, including Döggingen and Löffingen stations, each with a full set of semaphores, and a viaduct on the descent to Neustadt. It’s just a shame there are only four loco hauled trains a week, eight if you count the pushers.
I didn’t know what to expect from Neustadt down to Freiburg and was happy to find 143.810 and 143.350 top’n’tailing a packed 6-coach dosto set. Apart from a single train hauled by a 146, every train I saw on the line was top’n’tail 143s.
At Freiburg things went very wrong. I had planned to take an RE to Offenburg then travel down the Schwarzwaldbahn to Konstanz before returning to Oberndorf. I’d checked Max’s Moleworks website and the only alterations seemed to be south of Freiburg with everything to the north running according to plan. Unfortunately it wasn’t true and the 13:07 RE was shown as cancelled with no obvious alternative arrangements made. The ICs and ICEs were running on time so the line wasn’t closed.
When I enquired, the 14:03 was also said to be cancelled but I couldn’t understand the explanation or what the alternative arrangements were. The people in this corner of Germany seem incapable of stating things clearly, so you never get a simple answer to any question and my brain couldn’t cope with the stream of complexity coming it’s way.
At this point I gave up on Offenburg as I would have struggled to get there in time to complete my planned trip. The only sensible way out was to return to Neustadt. The first train up the Höllentalbahn was going to Seebrugg (143.312 and 143.972) so I took that all the way to the end of the branch (new track) before returning with the same locos to Titisee and catching the next train (143.350 and 143.810) to Neustadt. Unfortunately my calculations were an hour out and instead of getting the 218 back to Donaueschingen, it was a horrid, whiny class 611 DMU.
Things improved at Donaueschingen with a run behind 146.233 down to Singen and then good old 146.203 back up to Oberndorf.
Apart from a reasonable number of new locations noted, there were a couple of points of interest on the journey including the old steam depot south of Tuttlingen containing at least 17 unrestored steam locos, most if not all of them ex-DR rebuilt class 50s or 52s. I was also surprised at the number of stabled 185s and 152s at Singen. There are a limited number of freight workings over the Gäubahn so there must be a fair amount of freight over the Schwarzwaldbahn to account for so many locos.
I saw both the Stuttgart - Singen IC turns booked for class 115 haulage on Sundays. 110.480 was working one turn but the other was 115.509 in a really stupid livery. Just as well it was cloudy or I’d have been very annoyed!
My route took me from Oberndorf to Tuttlingen first, shoved by 146.203 on RE19035. The next leg was on IRE3220, the “Schwarzwald Bunny”, pushed to Donaueschingen then pulled to Neustadt by 218.464, well off the beaten track for a Kempten loco. There are a handful of really nice locations on the Donaueschingen - Neustadt section, including Döggingen and Löffingen stations, each with a full set of semaphores, and a viaduct on the descent to Neustadt. It’s just a shame there are only four loco hauled trains a week, eight if you count the pushers.
I didn’t know what to expect from Neustadt down to Freiburg and was happy to find 143.810 and 143.350 top’n’tailing a packed 6-coach dosto set. Apart from a single train hauled by a 146, every train I saw on the line was top’n’tail 143s.
At Freiburg things went very wrong. I had planned to take an RE to Offenburg then travel down the Schwarzwaldbahn to Konstanz before returning to Oberndorf. I’d checked Max’s Moleworks website and the only alterations seemed to be south of Freiburg with everything to the north running according to plan. Unfortunately it wasn’t true and the 13:07 RE was shown as cancelled with no obvious alternative arrangements made. The ICs and ICEs were running on time so the line wasn’t closed.
When I enquired, the 14:03 was also said to be cancelled but I couldn’t understand the explanation or what the alternative arrangements were. The people in this corner of Germany seem incapable of stating things clearly, so you never get a simple answer to any question and my brain couldn’t cope with the stream of complexity coming it’s way.
At this point I gave up on Offenburg as I would have struggled to get there in time to complete my planned trip. The only sensible way out was to return to Neustadt. The first train up the Höllentalbahn was going to Seebrugg (143.312 and 143.972) so I took that all the way to the end of the branch (new track) before returning with the same locos to Titisee and catching the next train (143.350 and 143.810) to Neustadt. Unfortunately my calculations were an hour out and instead of getting the 218 back to Donaueschingen, it was a horrid, whiny class 611 DMU.
Things improved at Donaueschingen with a run behind 146.233 down to Singen and then good old 146.203 back up to Oberndorf.
Apart from a reasonable number of new locations noted, there were a couple of points of interest on the journey including the old steam depot south of Tuttlingen containing at least 17 unrestored steam locos, most if not all of them ex-DR rebuilt class 50s or 52s. I was also surprised at the number of stabled 185s and 152s at Singen. There are a limited number of freight workings over the Gäubahn so there must be a fair amount of freight over the Schwarzwaldbahn to account for so many locos.
I saw both the Stuttgart - Singen IC turns booked for class 115 haulage on Sundays. 110.480 was working one turn but the other was 115.509 in a really stupid livery. Just as well it was cloudy or I’d have been very annoyed!
Oberndorf (Neckar)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110.480 | IC181 | 07:56 Stuttgart Hbf - Zürich HB | 08:58 |
| 101.xxx | IC284 | 07:10 Zürich HB - Stuttgart Hbf | 09:06 |
| 146.203 propelling |
RE19035 | 08:18 Stuttgart Hbf - Singen(Hohentwiel) | 09:38 |
Aldingen (bei Spaichingen)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 146.204 | RE19040 | 09:19 Singen(Hohentwiel) - Stuttgart Hbf | 09:59 |
Donaueschingen
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 218.464 | IRE3220 | 08:10 Ulm Hbf - Neustadt (Schwarzw) | 10:42 |
Neustadt (Schwarzw)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.810 t & t with 143.350 |
RB26932 | 11:31 Neustadt (Schwarzw) - Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf | 11:31 |
Hinterzarten
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.050 t & t with 143.316 |
RB26931 | 11:10 Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf - Seebrugg | 11:44 |
Himmelreich
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 146.109 | RB26935 | 11:40 Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf - Neustadt (Schwarzw) | 11:58 |
Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.312 t & t with 143.972 |
RB26945 | 13:10 Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf - Seebrugg | 13:10 |
Himmelreich
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.316 t & t with 143.050 |
RB26940 | 12:39 Seebrugg - Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf | 13:30 |
Hinterzarten
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.810 t & t with 143.350 |
RB26944 | 13:31 Neustadt (Schwarzw) - Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf | 13:46 |
Feldberg-Bärental
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.042 t & t with 143.364 |
RB26948 | 13:39 Seebrugg - Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf | 14:01 |
Seebrugg
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.972 t & t with 143.312 |
RB29652 | 14:39 Seebrugg - Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf | 14:39 |
Feldberg-Bärental
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.050 t & t with 143.316 |
RB26949 | 14:10 Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf - Seebrugg | 14:58 |
Neustadt (Schwarzw)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143.350 t & t with 143.810 |
RB26951 | 14:40 Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf - Neustadt (Schwarzw) | 15:25 |
Donaueschingen
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 185.269 185.391 |
NB Freight | 16:18 | |
| 146.233 | RE5323 | 14:09 Karlsruhe Hbf - Kreuzlingen | 16:18 |
Immendingen
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 214.010 {LW} | shunting ballast wagons | 16:29 Leonhard Weiss ex DB 212.188 (rebuilt) |
Singen (Hohentwiel)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11111 (SBB) | stabled | 16:59 | |
| 146.236 propelling |
RE5320 | 16:33 Kreuzlingen - Karlsruhe Hbf | 17:00 |
| 115.509 | stabled | 17:05 | |
| 146.203 | RE19048 | 17:19 Singen(Hohentwiel) - Stuttgart Hbf | 17:19 |
Talmühle (Baden)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110.480 | IC281 | 15:56 Stuttgart Hbf - Zürich HB | 17:36 |
Aldingen (bei Spaichingen)
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 146.213 propelling |
RE19045 | 16:19 Stuttgart Hbf - Singen(Hohentwiel) | 18:00 |
Talhausen
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 185.085 | NB freight | 18:16 |
Oberndorf
| Loco | Train No. |
Train Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101.049 | IC283 | 17:57 Stuttgart Hbf - Zürich HB | 18:57 |
| 115.509 | IC182 | 17:10 Zürich HB - Stuttgart Hbf | 19:04 |
