Trip to Portugal and Spain - Christmas/New Year 2023/2024
General Notes
Christmas with family at my sister's place in Sanlúcar de Guadiana in Spain; then a few days covering some track in Portugal.
Operating Company Abbreviations:
- CP - Comboios de Portugal (operator of Portuguese main line and suburban trains)
- ML - Metropolitano de Lisboa (operator of the Metro in Lisboa)
- MP - Metro do Porto (operator of the Metro in Porto)
- STCP - Sociedade de Transportes Coletivos do Porto (operator of trams and buses in Porto)
- TPE - Trans Pennine Express (operator of trains across northern England and into Scotland)
CP trains listed here are all Iberian (1668 mm) gauge. Lisboa Metro (ML), Porto metro (MP) and trams are standard (1435 mm) gauge. Other gauges as listed.
| Place | Arrive | Depart | Train | Traction details & notes |
Friday 22nd December 2023
| Timperley | 04:11 | taxi | ||
| Manchester Airport T3 (MAN) | 04:26 | 06:25 | FR4052 | Ryanair EI-EMB B737-8AS push-back 06:23, take-off from runway 23L at 06:33 |
| Faro Airport (FAO) | 09:20 | landed 09:00 on runway 28, on stand 09:05 | ||
| By car to my sister's village Sanlúcar de Guadiana | ||||
Saturday 23rd December 2023
| By car from Sanlúcar de Guadiana | ||||
| Talleres Mina | 13:30 | Rio Tinto DL 931 (Babcock & Wilcox, Bilbao, 1975) 1067 mm gauge | ||
| Los Frailes | 14:08 | 14:25 | Rio Tinto DL 931 | |
| Talleres Mina | 15:00 | |||
| By car to Sanlúcar de Guadiana, via Tharsis | ||||
| Notes A visit to the Rio Tinto mining museum railway. I'd been here before but other family members had not. Today's photos. |
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Friday 29th December 2023
| By car from Sanlúcar de Guadiana | ||||
| Faro | 18:15 | IC674 | CP EL 5612 | |
| Sete-Rios (Lisboa) | 21:43 | arr 12 late | ||
| Jardim Zoological | 22:04 | Linha Azul | ML metro | |
| Terreiro de Paço | 22:14 | |||
| New CP passenger track today: Linha de Sol main line: Grândola - Pinheiro via new line; south-north line at Águas de Mours; south-to west curve at Poceirão. | ||||
| Overnight: Hotel TURIM Terreiro de Paço, Rua do Commercio 9, Lisboa (5 minutes walk from Terreiro de Paço metro station) Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes A lift to Faro station when taking other family members to Faro airport; then by train to Lisboa. I had only previously travelled between Pinhal Novo and Tunes on a railtour in November 2022, so needed the above sections of the main line. |
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Saturday 30th December 2023
| Walk from hotel to Cais do Sodré station | ||||
| Cais do Sodré | 09:20 | CP EMU 3157+3263 | ||
| Cascais | 10:00 | 10:24 | CP EMU 3157+3263 | |
| Cais do Sodré | 11:04 | 11:20 | Linha Verde | ML metro |
| Baixa-Chiado | 11:21 | 11:32 | Linha Azul | ML metro |
| Lisboa Santa Apolónia | 11:37 | 11:50 | 6409 | CP DMU 592 221/2 |
| Via west curve at Santa Apolónia; centre tracks Benfica - Monte Abraão | ||||
| Caldas de Rainha | 14:16 | 14:20 | 6457 | same set arr/dep 6 late |
| Via south-to-west curve at Bifurcação de Lares | ||||
| Figueira da Foz | 16:01 | 16:58 | 16825 | CP EMU 2273 |
| Coimbra-B | 18:03 | 18:47 | ALFA 147 | CP ALFA set 003 arr 6 late/dep 13 late |
| Porto Campanhã | 19:58 | 20:36 | IR876 | CP DL 1432 arr 18 late / dep 10 late |
| Porto São Bento | 20:30 | arr 10 late | ||
| Walk from São Bento station to hotel | ||||
| New CP passenger track today: Cais do Sodré - Cascais (1500 V dc overhead); Lisboa Santa Apolónia - Roma Areeiro - Benfica; Amieira - Bifurcação de Lares - Figueira da Foz; Bifurcação de Lares - Reveles. | ||||
| Overnight: Hotel Paulista, Avenida dos Aliados 210, Porto (close to São Bento and Aliados metro stations) (first of two nights) Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes Main aim this morning was to cover the former Estoril Railway to Cascais, which will be converted to 25 kV over the coming years. Trains 6409 and 6457, which in reality are formed from the same stock, cover the only two sections of obscure track in Portugal: the west curve out of Santa Apolónia, and the south-to-west curve at Bifurcação de Lares, though these sections are over three hours apart and near the extremes of the journey! Time to have a wander around Figueira da Foz looking at the closed line towards Pampilhosa. As the ALFA from Coimbra-B was late due to ongoing engineering works on the main line south of Porto, I waited at Campanhã a bit longer to take the EE 8CSVT-equipped class 1400 for the four minutes into São Bento, working through from Pocinho in the Douro Valley. |
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Sunday 31st December 2023
| Walk from hotel to Infante tram stop | ||||
| Infante | 09:00 | '1' | STCP tram 216 | |
| Passeio Alegre | 09:20 | 09:30 | '1' | STCP tram 216 |
| Museu do Carro Eléctrico | 09:40 | |||
| Visit electric tramway museum | ||||
| Museu do Carro Eléctrico | 11:30 | '18' | STCP tram 218 | |
| Clérigos | 11:40 | |||
| Walk to Trindade metro station | ||||
| Trindade | 12:17 | 'B' | MP metro 002+006 | |
| Campanhã | 12:22 | |||
| Porto Campanhã | 12:55 | IC721 | CP EL 5603 dep 11 late | |
| Braga | 13:33 | 13:59 | IC722 | CP EL 5603 arr 13 late / dep 13 late |
| Porto Campanhã | 14:38 | 14:55 | IC621 | CP EL 5618 arr 15 late / dep 7 late |
| Guimarães | 15:49 | 16:41 | IC620 | CP EL 5618 arr 5 late |
| Porto Campanhã | 17:37 | |||
| Campanhã | 18:00 | 'F' | MP metro 022 | |
| Fânzeres | 18:19 | 18:26 | 'F/A' | MP metro 022 |
| Vasco da Gama | 19:12 | 19:22 | 'A' | MP metro 010+072 |
| Campanhã | 19:43 | |||
| Porto Campanhã | 19:50 | 15245 | CP EMU 3420+3430 | |
| Ermesinde | 20:01 | 20:17 | IR876 | CP DMU 592204 dep 7 late |
| Porto São Bento | 20:30 | arr 11 late | ||
| Trindade | 21:25 | 'B' | MP metro 002+006 | |
| Campanhã | 21:41 | 22:22 | 'F' | MP metro 114+110 |
| Trindade | 22:28 | |||
| New CP passenger track today: Nine - Braga, Lousado - Guimarães. | ||||
| Overnight: Hotel Paulista (second of two nights) Today's photos. | ||||
| Notes The day started with travelling over the two tram routes in Porto, which use heritage vehicles; plus a visit to the very interesting museum which includes both historic tram cars and power generation and substation equipment. Next I visited the two CP branches north of Porto: to Braga and to Guimarães. I was able to fit in both on the loco-hauled InterCity services rather than the normal EMU workings. I went the short distance north to get the inbound train from Pocinho again, but it was a DMU rather than the normal 1400 loco - perhaps due to it being New Year's Eve. I failed to find anywhere to eat around the hotel - everywhere was either very busy or closed - so I caught the metro back to Campanhã where I knew there was an Indian/Italian restaurant. |
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Monday 1st January 2024
| Walked from hotel to Clérigos tram stop | ||||
| Clérigos | 09:45 | '18' | STCP tram 216 with police escort as far as Viriato | |
| Bicalho | 09:57 | 10:02 | '1' | STCP tram 203 |
| Infante | 10:09 | |||
| Walked to São Bento metro station | ||||
| São Bento | 11:30 | 'B' | MP metro 012 | |
| Trindade | 11:33 | 11:44 | 'E' | MP metro 033 |
| Aeroporto | 12:12 | |||
| Porto (OPO) | 14:40 | FR1174 | Ryanair EI-HAX B737 MAX 8-200 push-back 15:00, take-off from runway 17 at 15:11 | |
| Manchester (MAN) | 17:10 | landed at 17:22 on runway 23R, on stand 17:28 | ||
| Manchester Airport | 18:04 | 1Z04 | TPE EMU 397001 | |
| Manchester Piccadilly | 18:17 | |||
| Piccadilly | 18:33 | Metrolink tram 3022+3036 | ||
| Timperley | 19:00 | Today's photos. | ||
| Notes: Enough time, before getting the metro to the airport, to go back to Clérigos for the novelty value of the police escort (today a quad bike) for the tram. The metro is a very good way to get to Porto airport but unfortunately, presumably due to it being New Year's Day, only single vehicles were in use on a half-hourly service; this resulted in very full carriages. | ||||
Summary
An excellent combined family and rail trip which fulfilled all my objectives