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2023 / Spain - January 2023 / Albacete Valencia Xativa Alcoy Alicante
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2021 / Trip to Spain - November 2021 / PTG Railtour day 1 - Madrid to Zaragoza
23 photosMonday 08/11/2021 Day 1 of the PTG "Alco Holic 6" 5-day railtour. Today's highlights are coverage of the long broad gauge classic route between Madrid and Zaragoz, including the branch from Torralba to Soria which only sees two train pairs per day; with two class 321 Alco diesel locomotives. At Casetas, nearly at Zaragoza, we visited the workshops of AZAFT, a local preservation centre. We were supposed to get a short ride in historic English Electric/Vulcan Foundry electric loco 7702, built in 1952, but unfortunately it wouldn't take power. The short run from Casetas to Zaragoza-Delicias was by Cercanías EMU.
Route: Madrid Chamartín 07:57 (PTG special, ALSA DL 2150, former RENFE 321050; train 39028) - Jadraque 09:25/09:37 - Torralba - Almazan-Villa 10:54/11:06 - Soria (rev; train 39129/8) 11:42/12:45 - Torralba (rev) 14:00/14:30 - Morata de Jalón - Casetas 16:59 (arr 17:29); walk to visit AZAFT workshops; Casetas 19:09 (RENFE EMU 463201) - Zaragoza-Delicias 19:15. Overnight Hotel Eurostars Zaragoza (3 nights), in the station building. -
2021 / Trip to Spain - November 2021 / PTG Railtour day 2 - Zaragoza and Canfranc
31 photosTuesday 09/11/2021 Today was a run from Zaragoza to Canfranc and back: out via a reversal at Huesca, and returning via the non-passenger Huesca avoiding line and the Zaragoza Ronda Sur. The route into the Pyrenees is very scenic. Canfranc station is the famous border station with huge building, now being converted to a hotel. There was time at Canfranc to walk to the Somport Tunnel that passes into France; it is used for scientific experiments. Also there was time in Canfranc for some lunch. Heading back into Zaragoza we took the non-passenger north to east curve avoiding Zaragoza-Miraflores, then from La Cartuja via the mostly non-passenger Ronda Sur (south ring) to meet up with the Sagunt to Zaragoza route and into Zaragoza-Delicias from the west.
Route: Zaragoza-Delicias 06:44 (PTG special, ALSA DL 2150, former RENFE 321050 top-n-tail ALSA DL 2148, former RENFE 321048; train 39132) - Huesca (rev; train 39135/4) 07:50/08:49 - Jaca 10:48/11:08 - Canfranc (rev; train 39137/6) 11:43/15:15 - Sabinanigo 15:04/15:19 - Ayerbe 17:23/17:38 - Almudevar 18:33/18:40 - Zaragoza Ronda Sur - Zaragoza-Delicias 19:48. -
2021 / Trip to Spain - November 2021 / PTG Railtour day 3 - Zaragoza and Pobla de Segur
21 photosWednesday 10/11/2021 Today's itinerary was from Zaragoza to Pobla de Segur and back, via Lleida. Zaragoza to Lleida is the classic broad gauge route to Barcelona. The Poba de Segur branch is very scenic. Shortly after departure from Lleida on the way back, 2148 failed, despite various attempts to fix it. Returning to Lleida it was agreed that the tour participants would return to Zaragoza, with the tickets paid for by PTG/ALSA. This is a big job for a lot of people as every booking on Spanish main line trains is individually recorded, with ID details. I opted to wait at Lleida for an hour or so and catch an AVE working via the high speed line, this taking 37 minutes instead of what would have been nearly three hours on the railtour via the classic route.
Route: Zaragoza-Delicias 06:44 (PTG special, ALSA DL 2148, former RENFE 321048 leading ALSA DL 1603, former RENFE 316003; train 39556) 06:30 - Marcen-Polini 07:37/07:46 - Raimat 08:51/08:54 - Lleida-Pirineus (rev; re-form train with DL 1603 leading and DL 2148 on rear; train 39594/T2) 09:10/11:53 - Pobla de Segur (rev; train T1/39585) 13:44/14:14 - Lleida-Pirineus (train 39501) 16:30/17:05 - DL 2148 failed after departure, returned to Lleida-Pirineus. Tour participants were returned to Zaragoza by several service trains according to seat availability: I caught Lleida-Pirineus 21:05 (AVE 3202, RENFE EMU 103020) - high speed line, via short curves - Zaragoza-Delicias 21:42. -
2021 / Trip to Spain - November 2021 / PTG Railtour day 4 - Zaragoza to Bilbao
12 photosThursday 11/11/2021 Zaragoza to Bilbao via Castejón de Ebro and Miranda de Ebro; we took the non-passenger curve avoiding Bilbao Abando to cover the suburban branch to Santurtzi before heading directly into Bilbao Abando. Unfortunately due to a combination of an error somewhere and a bit of late running, we were signalled in the wrong platform at Bilbao Abando, one that we had been specifically been refused access to due to reduced clearances (the suburban trains have a different gauging profile from main line stock); this caused at least one of the carriages to scrape along the platform edge. Someone was taking a video from the platform and this has appeared on the internet at various times, usually with incorrect reasons for it happening. After checking into our hotel we covered the Euskotren branch to Bermeo, then had some dinner in the hotel restaurant. After that I did the short Metro route to Basauri.
Route: Zaragoza-Delicias (PTG Special, ALSA DL 2150, former RENFE 321050 top-n-tail ALSA DL 1603, former RENFE 316003; train 37567) 06:50 - Castejón de Ebro 07:54/08:09 - Alfaro 08:15/08:20 - Haro 09:54/10:09 - Miranda de Ebro 10:36/11:52 - Orduna 12:50/13:05 - Bilbao A/L - Santurtzi (rev) 14:11/14:41 - Bilbao Abando 15:06; check into hotel; Zazpikaleak 16:43 (Euskotren EMU 973, line E4) - Bermeo 18:03; 18:18 (Euskotren EMU 973, line E4) - Zazpikaleak 19:38; evening meal in hotel; Abando 21:48 (Metro Line 1) - Basauri 21:59; 22:03 (Metro Line 1) - Zazpikaleak 22:15. Overnight NYX Hotel, a short walk from Abando station. -
2021 / Trip to Spain - November 2021 / PTG Railtour day 5 - Bilbao to Madrid
11 photosFriday 12/11/2021 Bilbao to Madrid via Miranda de Ebro, Venta de Baños, Medina del Campo and Avila. At Venta de Baños we walked to the AVENFER workshops for a look around, also having a short ride in turns hauled by a steam locomotive and a small diesel locomotive. At Avila a Class 333 diesel was attached to the front of the train: it being a GM product not an Alco this was not appreciated by everyone! The train should have terminated at Madrid Chamartín but anyone wishing to could stay on through the Madrid tunnels out to Principe Pio station. Return to Chamartín was by suburban train but this ran late and it would have been much quicker to get the Metro!
Route: Bilbao Abando 07:30 (PTG Special, ALSA DL 2150, former RENFE 321050 leading ALSA DL 1603, former RENFE 316003; train 39636) - Miranda de Ebro - Pancorbo 09:33/09:48 - Burgos - Venta de Baños 11:45; walk to visit AVENFER workshops; 14:00 (train 39602) - Valladolid Campo Grande - Medina del Campo 15:09/15:24 - Avila 16:25/16:35 (attach ALSA DL 333107) - Madrid Chamartín 18:12; continuation via Recoletos - Atocha (platform 4) - Madrid Principe Pio 20:00; 20:08 (RENFE EMU 450033) - Madrid Chamartín 20:45. Overnight at the Hotel Madrid Chamartín The One.