Day 2 dawned bright and early (well early) with the 0754 Koln HBF to Koblenz. I had planned a later train but as I was awake and raring to go I thought a bit of a longer time at Koblenz may prove interesting. The 0754 was however an all stations which is good in that you get to see more of the stations rather than a glance as you whizz past. The faster regional express passed at Remagen (of bridge fame) and I actually had ten minutes less that I had hoped at Koblenz. Several items of extreme interest on the way – firstly Koln Elefetor Yard and Freighliner terminal, secondly a dual gauge yard at Brohl (with the Brohltabahn), some good views of the Rhine and just to the north of Koblenz several items of museum stock and another small (by German standards) freight yard (with a derailed wagon to boot). I had about 40 minutes at Koblenz noting mostly multiple units and one freight before departing on the longest leg of the day that took me down the Moselle to Trier thence via Saarbrucken (a big steel town – plenty of rail interest there), Kaiserslautern, Neustadt and thence Mannheim. The Moselle Valley is stunning with steeply sided vineyards one side and the river the other it really is a train journey you should try and do. We had a family holiday there in 1975 and although I was not interested in trains I always remembered the number of trains that used it so it was a pleasure to finally do the line. The train was about 25% full and there was a depot at Trier, a Luxemburg dmu (I think) at Karthaus (cross border service) and some stunning scenery on the way. The steel works came as a bit of a surprise and a SNCF cross border unit was observed at Saarbrucken. The run down to Neustadt was very pleasant – steep wooded valley with what looks like a fearsome gradient – with a small railway museum by the station. One thing the Ball atlas bought to my attention was the amount of tourist railways and rail museums Germany has. Mannheim proved a break for lunch -.and I consistently managed to be in the wrong place when freight trains passed south of the station. Plenty of passenger stock around and I did manage a photo of a triple headed freight before taking a train towards Freidrichsfeld Sud which passed the carriage sidings to the east of the station (containing another specialist electrification loco) and then the huge Mannheim freight yard. Unfortunately, Freidrichsfeld Sud proved to be away from the yards and the freight tracks were rusty and overgrown so I caught a train back one stop (Mannheim Seckenheim) where I had noticed a road overbridge spanning the yard. There was a small museum between the two stations with a few interesting looking bits of rolling stock visible for the train. The bridge afforded views over the yards – not too many trains visible for my fleeting visit – the pictures hopefully describe this better. There was a bit of an issue in getting back to the station which was badly signposted (if at all) and the busy road layout was no help. However, I caught a train back to Mannheim and then a EuroCity train which I think is formed of Swiss coaching stock back towards Kolblenz via the East bank of the Rhein. Stunning scenery and castles abound and it was mildly amusing to see two container trains (one on each side of the valley) heading south. Well I’m easily pleased. I had intended to change at Koblenz for a train up the east bank back to Koln (via Linz) but a train of loco hauled double deck stock via Bonn proved too good to resist (and I was tired) so back to base it was to see the England v Croatia match and one too many beers.
