15-09-20 GUEST PHOTOS: Euro Sampler

In September 2015 I sent one of my operatives to Europe with instructions to take rail photos along his travels to London, Barcelona, Prague and Vienna. While I can't say I was necessarily impressed with the quantity of material that was returned (how do you miss seeing trams in Prague!) it was better than nothing. So anyway, let's dive right in. You can see the full set of pictures here.

We start with a train of Thameslink Class 337 Electrostar MU's waiting to depart the Blackfriars station in central London.

Here we see a National Express Class 357 MU commuter train passing alongside the Docklands Light Rail tracks in east London.

The DLR Canary Wharf station.

The commuter rail station at the Barcelona Airport only has a single track, but the airport is also served by the Metro.

The Aeri de Montserrat cable car is the most direct way for someone to reach the monestaries on that particular mountain. 

After the cable car, those not needing a cardio workout can use two funiculars to reach the attractions. The lower one, Funicular de la Santa Cova features a curved track.

Power house and info board for the Funicular de la Santa Cova.

Above that is the more conventional Funicular de Sant Joan.

If the cable car isn't your thing, there is also a winding rack railway that runs to the base of the funiculars.

Switch showing the rack and peanut system.

Both the rack railway and the cable car connect with the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya metre gauge regional rail system's Llobregat–Anoia Line. Here an inbound train of MUs arrives at the Montserrat Aeri station. The regular Spanish rail network uses the 5'6" Iberian Gauge. 

OBB train at Vienna's Westbanhof.

Clear signal indication at Vienna's Meidling Bahnhof.

Arriving commuter train at the Meidling Bahnhof.

Locomotive hauled train about to pass a signal displaying Medium Approach Medium. 

Back to the UK we find an East Midlands Trains Class 43 locomotive passing through the Harpenden commuter rail station. 

Here we see a Thameslink train pulling past a banner repeater signal at an unknown station in the London area. These signals are an LED version of a mechanical design that was intended to look distinct from non-repeating blade or disc semaphore signals.

Of course no rail photo tour of Europe would be complete without a picture of high speed trains and these Eurostar trainsets sitting at London's Saint Pancras station.

Next week we will resume our regular programming with a trip to Elkton, MD and a few other random places.