The Railways of Austria
This afternoon we welcomed back Richard Morris, with his presentation “The Railways of Austria”. We also thank the 17 members who braved the 35 deg. heat to support us this afternoon.
The first few photographs dated back to 1984, in Innsbruck, taken on a Kodak 126, we soon progressed through the years travelling across Austria looking at the many different classes of locomotives serving this country and quite often over difficult terrain. Once into the 21st century where the whole scene looked very different with modern powerful locos many capable of working through Austria, Germany and Switzerland as these countries all operate on the same voltage. Many of the freight trains on these routes carry the containers from lorries along with a coach within the train for the lorry drivers. Many of the modern express services are operated with emu units very similar in design as our class 800. As we know Austria is a mountainous country, so we saw several narrow-gauge railways with all their variants.
After the break Richard brought us back home to his beloved Gloucester and Warwickshire Steam Railway, with many stories and pictures, covering a variety of open days and special events, along with a complete range of visiting engines. During this section we saw some other heritage railways as well as visiting “The Greatest Gathering” at Derby.
An entertaining afternoon in extreme conditions for us all.
Dave Elsdon
Branch Secretary