Grumpies, Goggles, Vectrons and a whole lot more!
The October meeting was a presentation by the branch Chairman, John Godfrey, of Central and Eastern European counties under the title Grumpies, Goggles, Vectrons and many more. To explain the title of the talk, Grumpies and Goggles were nicknames for locomotives based on their appearance a Grumpy being Czech Republic Class 749 and 751 and Slovakian classes 751 and 752. Goggles are Czech Classes 753 and 754 and Slovakian classes 754. 756, and 757 with distinctive cab windscreens. Vectcons are a series of locomotives produced by Siemens.
The evening began with a visit to Hungary and the Budapest cog railway, after which a trip was made to the Budapest Children’s Railway. Much time was them spent in the Czech Republic as it was, now Czechia, where “Goggles” were seen in a wide variety of liveries. Freights conveying many different commodities were seen operated by a number of small independent operators and national carriers, as well as the usual intermodal traffic. At the time of John’s early visits many local services were loco hauled, but they are being replaced by multiple units such as Stadler’s Flirt series of trains.
Other counties visited on the European tour included Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Germany, and Belgium.
Our thanks to John for sharing his interest in continental railways with the audience.