2nd October 1999

Todays Railways
Black Home Railtour

Route :

Notes :
(1) 1186 on rear.
(2) 1211 on rear.

Source : Simon Bennett

Tour Review
(by Simon Bennett)

Our hotel for the two nights in Holland was the Savoy hotel close to Rotterdam Blaak station. The rooms were comfortable and the hotel offered an air of quiet efficiency. On Saturday morning the hotel staff coped admirably with serving 80 people breakfast at 7.15 before we all set off for the railtour which was to take us to Hengelo for an open day which was being held in the yard there and other associated activities. The railtour was organised in conjunction with a group of Dutch enthusiasts called Werkgroep 1501. The group are custodians of former British Rail electric locomotive 27003 (NS 1501) which was exported to Holland to work on frontline Inter-City services, following work on the Manchester to Sheffield "Woodhead" route. The tour was due to be hauled by 1501 and Werkgroep 1501's other preserved former Dutch mainline engine 1211 but unfortunately 1501 failed it's mainline certification and so was unable to perform on the day. Instead of 1501 the tour organisers provided Benelux loco 1186 for the tour. These locos are not rare for haulage as they can be seen everyday of the week plying between Brussels and Amsterdam on the hourly Benelux services. However what was rare was where we were going to be taking this everyday engine. The class 11's are restricted exclusively to Brussels to Amsterdam services and are rarely seen off this route other than works visits or maintenance at their home depot of Merelbeke near Gent.

The tour arrived at Rotterdam Blaak station on time at 8.28 and we boarded our train made up of NS couchette cars with an East German "Mitropa" buffet car. 1211 led from Rotterdam with our route taking us past the extensive complex of yards south of Rotterdam, known as Kiffhoek yard. In railway terms this complex of yards is very impressive. It was described to me as being like having Toton, Tees, Tyne, Carlisle Kingmoor and Wembley yards all on the same site and I began to understand what was meant as for mile after mile we travelled past the yard. At Dordrecht we headed East to our first photostop of the day at Geldermalsen where we spent 30 minutes photographing our train and watching the comings and goings of NS passenger trains through the station. NS run quite an intensive service with local and Inter-City trains connecting with each other at various hub stations. With few exceptions NS runs a seven day timetable with the same level of service at weekends as on Monday to Friday. Coupled with the even interval nature of the service it makes travel around Holland very easy. After our stop at Geldermalsen the tour travelled down the line to our next stop at 's-Hertogenbosch, only 15 minutes away from Geldermalsen, where we had another photo stop for 40 minutes. Apparently our Dutch cousins like to take photo's of trains and therefore railtours organised in Holland tend to have many photo stops to accomodate this. Quite a few of the British contingent commented that it would have been nice to have had fewer photo stops and to have arrived in Hengelo earlier however as the tour could not have run without the help of Werkgroep 1501, and the bookings that they had taken for the tour,then it was neccessary to meet the requirements of the Dutch tour participants. After reversal of our train at 's-Hertogenbosch, and now with 1186 leading,we headed off to Nijmegan where we were to have had another short photo stop. Thankfully this stop was omitted due to late running as we had found ourselves pathed behind a stopping train on this route when we should in fact have been ahead of it. We continued through Arnhem and Zutphen to our next scheduled reversal point of Deventer and now with 1211 leading we continued towards Hengelo via Almelo where we passed one of the special steam shuttles that was running between Almelo and Enschede as part of the Rail Fare.

Arrival in Hengelo was just about on time at 13.25 giving our party just under 4 hours to look around with our scheduled departure being 17.11. The set-up at the railfare was similar to open day events in the UK. The freight yard had been roped off and various locomotives had been lined up in the yard so that people could inspect them. What was different to the UK was that entry to the event was free and there was a steam shuttle service running the length of the yard right through the middle of the crowds of people who were walking around the exhibition. The only safety measure taken was a man walking in front of the shuttle telling people to clear the tracks. Also after arrival of our train at Hengelo, the locomotives which had brought us to the event were also placed on display in the yard again with just a man telling people to move out of the way whilst the locomotives moved through the yard to their designated display points. There were many different types of locomotive on display, from steam engines through to modern day electric and diesel locomotives. Of major interest to most enthusiasts that were there was the line up of three class 1200 locomotives. 1202/1252 and 1211 were all placed side by side so that photos could be taken of the locos. It was funny to hear the shouts of derision made by the photographers when some unfortunate soul walked out from between the locos straight into the camera shot (no different from the average UK open day then! - Gary). With so many people milling around the yard patience was definately called for if you wanted to get that "clean" shot of any of the locos on display. Many photographers took to hanging out of the cab doors and windows to get a better shot from other exhibits on display. As well as locos from NS cargo, the Dutch railways freight company, there were also locomotives from private freight operator ACTS. This company operates freight trains from its base in Rotterdam and has purchased a number of former NS class 1200 locos as well as former SNCB class 62 diesel locos. The class 62's have been renumbered into 67XX series and 6702 was on display in the yard. After nearly 2 hours walking round and taking photo's we made our way back to Hengelo railway station where a number of sales stands had been set up selling all sorts of railway related items. From the UK Platform 5 Publishing had a stand selling books and magazines on many UK and European railway subjects. Also on display were a number of model railway layouts featuring various European railway scenes. With just over an hour to spare there was time to go and look at the town of Hengelo and, thanks to a sudden downpour, the opportunity to sample some beer in a local bar.

Just before 17.00 we returned to the station to see what for many proved to be the highlight of the afternoon. The platforms were thronged with people taking photographs of the locomotives from the display as they were made ready for return to their relevant depots. One after another locomotives came out of the yard and formed an orderly procession past the station giving ample chance to get a good clean shot of the locos. Some were being marshalled into trains to be taken back home and ACTS had a nice little cavalcade of 1252 & 1501 being lead by 6702. Eventually our train was made ready and arrived in the station with 1211 at the front. For some reason 1186 was not attached to the rear of our train and this sparked rumours of a replacement having been "fixed" for the return journey. As it was 1186 had been sent forward to Apeldoorn where our first photo stop of the return journey was to take place and when we arrived in Apeldoorn 1186 was lined up on the centre road next to 1211 for a photo call before being attached to the rear of the train for the journey to Utrecht. With a further photo stop at Amersfoort the train arrived in Utrecht in time to meet the overnight train to Vienna which was also made up of couchette stock led by an NS Reizigers class 1700 loco. Here we reversed and 1186 headed back to Rotterdam Centraal and Blaak stations where tour participants detrained and headed back to the hotel or over to the excellent Cambrinus bar.

Route, Distances and Timing's (Booked and Actual)

Timing details: (booked times only as no actual running times were taken.)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank a long list of people who made us all very welcome during our two days in Holland. Firstly thanks must go to Neil Webster and all at Platform Five Publishing who made the trip possible. A further vote of thanks to Neil for his tireless efforts to make sure that everyone on the trains knew what was happening (the loud haler proved very useful!). Thanks to Werkgroep 1501 for the organisation of the Black Home railtour and their efficient and friendly service on board the train.

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