www.iberianrailwayssociety.org

Issue No. 19 Winter 2010 he inaugural IRS meeting took place at the Model T Railway Club in London on 22nd February 2006, and was attended by about 20 prospective members from all around the UK. A general discussion took place and introductions, suggestions and proposals were made. At this meeting a small committee was voted on and tasked with setting up the Society on a formal basis.

The Committee members are: Chairman David Stevenson Secretary Charles Phillips Journal Editor Michael Guerra Treasurer & Membership Secretary Tony Bowles Publicity & Exhibitions post vacant

THE BASICS The remit of the Society is to stimulate interest in and disseminate information about railways on the Iberian Peninsular and the Balearic Islands. It was felt at this time that extending this remit to Spanish and Portuguese speaking areas of the world would be too ambitious.

It is proposed that a Society Journal be published four times a year and that this would be the main conduit between members. Local meetings and branches were also to be established wherever possible to encourage membership from the widest possible area. A fledgling library could be made available to members as time went on.

Consideration would be given to organising trips from the UK, both formal and informal, as a way of enabling members to meet in a very convivial atmosphere and whilst indulging their passion for rail travel!

MEMBERSHIP Membership was to be open to all and would entitle the member to receipt of the magazine, use of the Societies’ facilities and attendance and voting rights at an Annual General Meeting.

MEMBERSHIP RATES FOR ONE YEAR – APRIL 2010-MARCH 2011 UK £13.50 EUROPE £16.00 REST OF WORLD £17.00 Web Download £5.00 Payment CHEQUE (Payable to: Iberian Railway Society) - Send to: Tony Bowles 1 Station Cottages Stow Road Toddington Cheltenham GL54 5DT

Those joining during the year pay the Annual Rate and will receive all copies of the journal for that year. Membership of the IRS is subject to the rules and constitution of the IRS. Membership records are held on a computer database in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. 2 Title Page

The Society 2 The Chairman’s Page 4 The Editor’s Page 5 About 6 North 2009, Part 5: & Burgos 17 Electrotren Renfe Short Wheelbase Van 28 Mabar N Gauge Renfe Renault Railcar 30

Contributions for publication should be, if possible, by email or computer disk (to avoid time spent transcribing text). Photos should be of good quality, sharp, well composed or of significant historical interest. Prints, slides, digital photos or good scans can be accommodated. All prints and slides should be sent by recorded delivery, they will be scanned as quickly as possible and returned by recorded delivery. Scans of 6”x4” prints should be scanned at 300dpi, 35mm slides should be scanned at 1600dpi, digital photographs should be 1920x1200 minimum. Articles can be of any length, though generally of between 500 to 800 words for a book review, and up to 4,000 words for a main article. Maps should be of a good clear line, and legible at quarter page size.

Submissions should be to: Michael Guerra, 6 Nash Close, Welham Green Hatfield, HERTS AL9 7NN Email (pref): [email protected] Front Cover: Bilbao 30.07.09. CAF Euskotram 405 heading towards Guggenheim at Uribitarte while mowing the lawn. Photo by Michael Guerra 3

HOLÀ !

n behalf of the myself and the Committee I would like to wish you all a very O Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Winter Meet to be held at Epsom Coaches on a Saturday 26th February 2011, please check www.iberianrailwayssociety.org website for more details.

Adios.

David Stevenson, Chairman – Iberian Railways Society 3, Aldersey Road, Worcester, WR5 3BG Tel: 01905 358440 Email: [email protected]

IRS SALES (for Christmas!) Correo Back Issues. A CD containing all previous issues of Correo up to the preceding year in PDF format. £5.50 including postage.

DVDS The Society now sells the Ticket to Ride DVDs Out & About Barcelona. Includes RENFE, the FGC, freight, TALGOs and an overview of this wonderful city. £25.00 including postage Out & About Lisbon. Includes CP, the trams and elevadores, Barreiro and scenic shots of the city. £25.00 including postage Cabride - Portbou to Girona TALGO Cabride - Girona to Barcelona TALGO Cabride - Barcelona to Reus Algarve Cabride - Lagos to Tunes (with a Class 1800) Algarve Cabride - Tunes. Faro to Vila Real (with a Class 1800) Cab Rides are £20.00 each including postage. More than just cabrides they include station views, scenic shots where appropriate and shots of rail action en route.

COASTERS Set of four square coasters showing some modern scenes from the FGV, RENFE and FEVE. £6.50 including postage

For all items please send a cheque to IRS Sales, 3 Aldersey Road, Worcester, WR5 3BG. Overseas members should enquire first about postage costs, send an email to [email protected]. Payment can be made via Paypal for overseas members only.

4 Happy Seasonal Greeting to you all. I certainly hope that this winter edition finds A you ensconced in a comfortable armchair with a hot steaming mug of something adjacent while reading the latest Correo. This was written after a couple of hours of freezing in a partially insulated loft, trying to complete it before my birthday (December 25th…). We have decided on a non-prototypical model railway of 3 gauges: 16.5mm (HO), 12mm (HOm) and 9mm (Hoe/OO9). The reason was driven by available rolling stock. The range of gauges suggests something Swiss/Austrian, but our stock varies from all the countries we have been to, except for Russia/Belarus/Poland as we have been unable to find any decent models. We also have a mobile N gauge layout which will find its way upstairs. Reading back through our trip to Spain in 2009 and the trips over the Pajares Pass brought to mind the difficulty the engineers had in tunnelling through the limestone Cordillera. An item in Today’s Railways by Dr Bent brought this to light with now exporting a good deal more fresh water to Oviedo and Leon by virtue of pumping out flood water from the tunnel bores. One wonders how this will effect the local water tables, or even the local environment, as streams that spring from underground cease to run. Heroic engineering needs to be balanced with its effect on the landscape, both below and above the ground. News from Spain and Portugal suggest that the banking-led recession is affecting some of the big infrastructure projects, delaying them due to a restriction in cash-flow. Spain is rethinking the Basque Y, the North Coast high speed line and perhaps some of the major station layouts on the new routes north. Portugal seems to be faring worse and perhaps like Ireland will be severely constrained if they have to be bailed-out. The North-South high-speed lines are already far behind schedule, while it is possible that the proposed Spain-Lisboa high-speed link will be returned to the back-burner again. Behind the headlines one can only imagine the effect La Crisis is having on everyday maintenance and ticket prices. Already Renfe is reconsidering the availability of cheap promotional web fares (Tarifa Web). But back to Correo: I need a steady stream of illustrated articles if Correo is to be worth producing. Some of you have produced un-illustrated articles (that have not yet seen the light of day) and some of you regularly send in pictures. Thank you. Unfortunately, the pictures that I have do not go with the articles that need some (why should they, I can’t expect all of you to be psychic!), hence the problem. I could just print random pictures and articles, but I wouldn’t want to edit or read it, so please, if you take a picture (or buy a postcard) write a story to go with it; and if you have an article please find a picture for it. It can’t be that hard?

Michael Guerra

5 About Barcelona By Rarfe Chambers

can only claim to tell you a bit about Barcelona, much as I would like to tell you a lot. I Recent correspondence through the IRS group chat site has shown me, as if I didn’t know it already, how thin and incomplete is my knowledge of my Barcelona. Everybody has their own Barcelona. Even if you have never been to the city you will know something about it, or you may have passed through en-route to somewhere else, or paid a flying visit as part of a Costa Brava or Costa Dorada package tour holiday. Or you may have stayed in the city, for longer or shorter periods, and on a greater or lesser number of occasions. This is my Barcelona. I am not an expert on the wonderful buildings, nor the art and history, nor the seaport, railways or trains and trams, but I offer you my comments and some information, which I have to warn you may in some places be quite inaccurate or down-right incorrect. You will be welcome to “pick me up” on this through the IRS chat-room. I visited Barcelona in 1962, 1967, 1975, 1981 and several times in this young century as well. My brother Richard was resident in the city during most of that period, and his knowledge of Barcelona, its railways and trams was little short of encyclopaedic.

2008 Adif/Renfe Cercanias Map.

6 Barcelona’s architecture, culture, night life and gastronomy are superb on every count, but I must try to keep on the subject of steel wheels on steel tracks. The main railway lines into Barcelona come from (Valencia and ) Zaragoza (Madrid and Bilbao) Port Bou/Cerbère (Perpignan) and Puigcerda/ La Tour de Carol (Toulouse). This latter was to have been much more important than it is, but ambition was not followed by practical fact. The main stations are at Sants and the Estació França, and there is a through west-to-east connecting main line between the two, with a junction at Clot for lines away to France and the northern interior. Sants, very much the main station nowadays, grew underground on the site of Barcelona Central, but the other main terminal station, Barcelona Nord (near to the Arco de Triunfo) has long since become nothing more than a bus station. There was at one time a terminus named Barcelona Magoria, and one day I am going to research it further, but in the meantime it remains something of an enigma to me. At one stage in recent years, it looked as if the França station would become disused, which would have been a terrible shame for such a grand train-shed. It was as quiet as Marylebone in its quietest days, but happily there is more traffic again nowadays.

18/04/09 Barcelona França , early in the morning, the train is a Talgo 3 (Set. P9) with Renfe Class 252-044 just ready to leave for Montpellier just before the Talgo 3 was retired. (At the time of publishing a Talgo 3 set was seen by Chris Elliott! - ed)

The França terminus is a good place to linger and watch trains. I have heard of enthusiasts being harassed by the security people, but it has never happened to me. It is an “open” station at present, except when they are despatching a main-line train and try to herd people through the baggage radar line. Usually, you can walk all the way out along the eastern side platform (I am reminded of Paddington arrival side platform – what was its number? I can’t remember) for a grand view of the comings and goings. If 7 Comparison of the 2008 Adif Barcelona Map with a scan of the 1979 Renfe Map (thanks to Graham Walker).

8 by chance you were harassed by security, you could get a ticket to Paseo de Gràcia and become a bona-fide passenger, eventually riding back into the city centre that way. The Sants station is not a place to linger, being a closed station, gloomy (although brightly lit) and inconvenient for views across the platforms. The line from Tarragona through Sants and out to Gerona and France belonged to the Madrid Zaragoza and Railway, formerly the Tarragona, Barcelona and Francia Railway, formerly (in very early years) ten separate small Catalan companies. The line from Zaragoza and Manresa into the Nord terminus via Moncada Bifurcació was ex- Ferrocarril del Norte. Two other stations count as city termini, both underground unfortunately, but not without interest. One is the Ferrocarriles de Cataluña terminus in the rabbit warren that is Plaza de Cataluña metro interchange. The FFCC Cataluña was formerly the FC de Sarrià a Barcelona, 5’6” gauge and steam-worked, changed to a standard-gauge tramway in 1905. It became the FFCC de Cataluña in 1912 and upgraded to a rapid-transit surface line, buried underground from 1925. It merged into the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, but remains the odd man out being standard gauge. The other station is part of the Plaza Espanya metro rabbit-warren, and is the Barcelona city terminus of the metre-gauge Ferrocarriles Catalanes, with frequent trains out to Martorell and Manresa. These, and the trains from Plaza Catalunya to Tarrasa and Sabadell, are integrated into the excellent Barcelona public transport system.

Santa Eulalia, on LI nearer Sants. The there is good overbridge and it is not far from where the Hospitalet de Llobraget, and Martorell line diverge. An Aeropuerto train with the usual Class 465 is overtaken by a Class 447 on the Hospitalet de Llogrebgat line.

9 Crossrail is causing interest (and frustration through lateness?) in London, but there has been an excellent “crossrail” service through Barcelona for many years, from Vilanova, San Vicenç or L’Hospitalet in the south-west to Sant Andreu, Cerdanyola or Sant Celoni in the north-east. The Rodalies (not Cercanías – that Castillian word has been dropped entirely in Barcelona) services are frequent and cheap, and have some interesting EMU trains, including the very fine class 450 double-deckers. It is a mystery why “they” never ordered more than the original fifty sets. If you come to Barcelona by aeroplane, you will meet the Rodalies service immediately at the airport, with smart class 464 ‘’ EMUs running through the city to San Celoni. The situation at the airport has been complicated, and looks like becoming less convenient, by the introduction of a big new terminal at the airport. There has been confusion and delay over the provision of a new terminal station. It seems a shuttle-bus within the airport complex may be involved for some time. In due course, there will be a station labelled Barcelona Aeropuerto on the new AVE line near to El Prat de Llobregat, but not particularly near to the actual airport! If you come to Barcelona by train from France, you will probably arrive at the França terminus, pretty much just as convenient for the city centre as the huge Sants station, although not quite directly on the Metro network. It is two or three hundred metres to the Barceloneta station on . It is an interesting walk up through the Born district and the Barri Gótic into the city centre. Soon, with the introduction of AVE/ TGV through trains you will arrive at Sants, or the “interchange” station at Sagrera in the Sant Andreu district. Inner city local public transport is very comprehensive. The Metro is most useful, although with the disadvantage that you ride around in the dark tunnels. Some main interchange stations, such as Plaza Cataluya and Plaza Espanya involve long long walks from one line to another. Incidentally, at Sants I discovered during my latest visit a lift down to that is also a “funicular”. You get into the lift car in the usual way, only to see out of the glass doors the sloping tracks and cables descending to the lower level. I’ve never seen a funicular lift before. I know there are enthusiasts who specialize in the London “tubes”, and the Barcelona Metro would be just as interesting, with varied stock of varying ages. A point to note is the very useful and reliable solid bus-bars overhead instead of wires to feed the pantographs. Very good value at less than eight euros is the T10 ticket, good for ten journeys (within the inner zone, which has wide boundaries, but best to check). Unusually, the tickets are marked as fully transferable, so two people making five journeys can pass the ticket back across the automatic gates, and Bob’s your uncle, as they say. There are myriad buses on complicated routes, but I have rarely used them myself. I think you need to know the street geography a little better than I do. There are also two groups of “new” tram routes, well worth a visit and a ride. The “old” metre- gauge tramline network declined, wore out and finally died in 1976, but now there are fine Alstom Citadis trams, centred on the Avenida Diagonal and Glories. For all of these names, and the geography of the city and the routes, you would do best to obtain information from the “web”.

10 The Montjuic line funicular: driverless. Only a short ride and nearly all in the tunnel. L2 metro.

One of the next generation of trams, last year at Marina, a stop on L1 between Glories and Arco de Triunfo. That is L1 on the metro but L4 on the tram routes. 11 Plaza de Espana, local train to Martorell on the narrow gauge. Oct. 09

Plaza de San Boi, local train to Plaza de Espana, on the narrow gauge, Oct, 09

12 For conventional tourist sites I’ll just list some of my favourites, not in order of greatness or personal preference, before reverting to “gricing” again. • The buildings – La Pedrera, the Casa Battló, the Palao de Musica and many more. • The Maritime Museum – it has been closed this winter for refurbishment, but I hope it is open again by the time you and I visit Barcelona next. • The Picasso Museum – it is quite a revelation to follow his work through all its phases. • The Boqueria market – it is amazing to see a brilliant thriving covered market within the “tourist strip”. • The giant Corte Ingles stores on the Plaza Catalunya – my wife can be left there safe and happy for hours whilst I seek out the trains. • The Park Guell – typical idiosyncratic Barcelona, and great fun. • The Zoo – The old albino gorilla is dead now, but the zoo is a fine example of what animal care and presentation should be. • Montjuic Hill – you can get up there by funicular, connecting with and integrated in the Metro from Parallel. At one end is the view over the harbour, and a modernised “teleférico”, sadly not at present flying over the harbour to Barceloneta; and at the other end is El Poble Español – a sort of nearly full-scale model of Spain packed into a small space on top of Montjuic Hill. El Poble Español is nearer to Espanya stations, and you can walk or take the bus. • Two shrines – La Sagrada Familia and (more important, most say) Nou Camp, the home of FC Barcelona. Neither one really rates in my favourites list, but there they are. La Sagrada Familia is too weird, not a cathedral, although they hold some services there; it is more of a basilica. The The lovely old cathedral of Sant Jaume is down in the Barri Gótic. • Tibidabo Park – a wonderful place, high up on the hill behind the city, where all of Barcelona goes to escape the hot and humid Los Angeles style temperature inversion that engulfs the city all summer.

Trips “out” to see trains and the railway in action may be short or long. The main thing is to ensure that you are in the open air, because so much of the Barcelona network is under the ground. For instance, if you would like to do some “linesiding” a good place is Santa Eulàlia on Metro line 1, two stops south of Sants. Here, there is a useful pedestrian overbridge that spans all the lines to the south except the new AVE line, which is still in tunnel at this stage. Main line trains to Tarragona and Lerida, and Rodalies trains to L’Hospitalet, the Aeropuerto and Sant Vicenç de Calders pass this spot with great frequency. Out on the other side of the city, a favourite place for platform-end viewing used to be Sant Andreu Comtal, but at present they’ve got the builders in, and it is only a shadow of what it was. The down-side yard has gone, and that side of the area is obscured by an ugly metal fence. One used to be able to observe a lot of movements here, with ECS traffic in and out of the yard, including sets, that are serviced a short distance out to the “country” side. It is now just a cramped two-road station, with little opportunity to see what is going on. Probably still worth a visit though. May I slip 13 The famous Tibidado line tram. The last remnant of the pre- 1976 tram system.

18/04/09 Av. Carrillet, L1 almost at the Hospital de Bellvitge the where the ECS 490 class (ECS returned distance stock and goes to Sants) Note the heavy presence of muzzled dogs - not noticed anywhere else. 14 in a little anecdote here? Sant Andreu Comtal used to be a favourite place for my brother Richard to while away some time at the platform end. One day, and for several days of subsequent visits, a local woman accosted him and told him not to “do it”. She said suicide was a terrible sin and life must be better than he was seeing it. Why didn’t he come with her to the adjacent Saint Andrews Church and they would pray together. Eventually, Richard was driven to round on her and say “Señora Entrometida (busybody), please go away. I am not suicidal. I was quite happy until you came along. Please do not persist in bothering me, or perhaps I shall change my mind and fling myself under a train after all”. In the same quarter of the city is Moncada Bifurcació, another of Richard’s favourites, where he could watch Renfe potash freight trains reversing to go down to the docks. I went there last visit, but was disappointed. The first place out along the metre-gauge ex-FC Catalanes line out from Plaza Espanya towards Martorell and Manresa that is in the open air is Sant Boi, just across the river Llobregat. It is just past the branch down to the docks, along which pass the FCC potash trains, so it is possible to see a freight train here, although perhaps unlikely during the busy periods of daytime Rodalies trains passing back and forth. Don’t forget that farther out towards Manresa is the connection with the funicular up to Montserrat. I have not been up there personally, but I bet it is interesting, even if virtually brand-new, having been comparatively recently re-built and re-started. Going out from the standard gauge line terminus at Plaza Catalunya will take you to Terrassa or Sabadell, or to Avenida Tibidabo. This makes a good short trip, transferring to the vintage tramcar then the funicular up to the shrine at the top, surrounded by the wonderful amusement park and the wonderful views over the city. It is an important Catholic shrine because the Tibidabo is supposed to be where the devil tempted Jesus with all the pleasures of the world. A proud Barcelona bookseller told the American novelist and travel writer James Michener that the name derives from the Latin, “tibi”, meaning to thee, and “dabo”, I give. He said “If the devil took Jesus to some arid hilltop in Palestine and Jesus had rejected a slice of desert, that would not signify, but if Our Lord was not tempted by what he saw on El Tibidabo, then he was beyond temptation!” If you were very lucky, you might be there on a Sunday morning when they run steam and diesel “garden railway” trains on a quite extensive layout. Longer excursions can be made quite easily, for instance to Massanet-Massanas. You can go out north from the França terminus via Mataró and Blanes (take care, most trains terminate at Blanes), and home via Granollers. Massanet is a good place to watch trains, (ref. Correo issue 5, page 20). It is not much farther to Girona, but I don’t suppose there’s much evidence of the two narrow-gauge lines from there to Olot and to Sant Feliu. An expedition of similar length can be made to the south, to Vilanova i La Geltrú or Sant Vicenç de Calders. Most may choose Vilanova, for the railway museum, but do remember they close in the afternoons, so get there for opening time around 9.30 to 10.00. You might be a little more ambitious and take the Catalanes to Manresa, walk across to the Renfe and take the local down to San Vicenç and back home on the main line. Tarragona is not much farther along the main line and a good railway place, the ride along the coast past Garraf giving nice views. The other longer distance trip to mention is towards the Pyrenées at Núria. It is a good ride out from Barcelona França towards Puigcerda and the French junction of La Tour de Carol as far as Ribes de Freser, and the change there to the metre-gauge 15 electrified rack-railway line up to Núria. Nigel Hatch told us about this interesting line in Correo 14. I mentioned the Montserrat funicular, but there are several others in the area, if that is your specialty (ity?). On the line from Plaza Catalunya to Terrassa is the Vallvidrera, and on the broad-gauge line from Barcelona to Tarragona via Martorell and Vilafranca is the Funicular de Gelida. This line has yet to be modernised, I think, and has wooden-bodied cars dating from the 1924 opening, whereas all the others have been much modernised. The Montjuic funicular is automatic and driverless. All in all, Barcelona has much to offer, and I recommend it to everyone, however long or short a visit you can manage to make. It’s brilliant. The city has become stubbornly Catalan speaking and spelling, but where tourist, travel and other business is concerned, you will find Castilian, English and French will serve you very well.

Metro de Barcelona

16 North Spain 2009 By Michael Guerra

Part 5: Bilbao, Burgos, Valladolid and Home Following on from Correo 18: - We are travelling on the La Robla route from Leon to Bilbao. oon after Las Rosas we are travelling through deciduous woodland and pass dairy S farms in the middle of haymaking. We pass underneath dramatic high limestone bluffs between Pedrosa and Sotoscueva as the Sun begins to colour the sky. After six and half hours we arrive at Balmaseda, site of the main Feve talleres (works) in the Northwest. The train is full to bursting now that we are on the main Feve electrified commuter line. One thing a little confusing about arriving in Bilbao on the Feve is the fact that you first see the Nervión downstream of Concordia. You see the port at Portugalete, with ships docked along the river, and the dry docks where ships are built and repaired. Then the line curves upstream towards the old city, ending up on the bank opposite the old theatre at Concordia. We saw a good deal of new Metro construction on the new southern extension near Etxebarri (extending to Basauri) and just before terminating we passed the preserved tank engine and 3 wooden coaches that hide in the tunnel just after Amétzola. Concordia has had a facelift since we were last here in 2001, along with the rest of Bilbao, and it looked particularly attractive as we crossed the bridge to our hotel next to the theatre. Our first day in Bilbao was to involve visiting the cathedral (our holidays are often called ABC tours at home – Another B****y Cathedral), the old town, a trip up the funicular and a visit to the excellent Guggenheim. Without Frank Gehry’s creation

30.07.2009 A view down to the old city of Bilbao as a Euskotram crosses the Nervión in front of the theatre 17 Bilbao would still be the dirty, polluted industrial town that it always was, with its luminous green river, unfriendly old city and under-siege mentality. When we used to drive through it in the ‘sixties my mother would roll up the windows of the Mercedes and I would try to hold my breath as we got stuck behind some struggling Pegaso climbing the west side of the valley. It was always smoky, overcast and sinister; and after the bright white of San Sebastian with its Q1s it wasn’t until the bright white of Santander that windows rolled down again. When we visit the Atxuri market we can see large shoals of a sizeable blue topped fish in the remarkably clear river Nervión. Is that sea trout? After lunch at the Guggenheim we decide to take the Metro out to the seaside. We jump on one of the lime green trams to San Mamés (just beyond the football stadium) and enter the bowels of the new autobus/tramvia/Cercania/Metro interchange. We take the Metro 40mins out to Plentzia, the end of Line 1, and find the most wonderful ex-fishing village, with marina, seafood restaurants and the most perfect crescent sandy beach that tames the Atlantic rollers for beginner surfers. The metre gauge out to Plentzia was also part of the mining infrastructure, but with the mines gone the seafront villages have become Bilbao’s up-and-coming suburbia. We had a fabulous afternoon which culminated in dining at a touring mediaeval market in the evening (we really didn’t plan this!). A perfect day. The next day (Friday) there was a bomb in Mallorca. We were to travel to Burgos on the 17h10 Alvia to Burgos, so we decided to get out of the hot humid city and take a train to Balmaseda. We left our bags at the hotel, crossed the bridge to Concordia and caught the 10h20 electric service to Balmaseda (not actually the end of

31.07.2009 Plentzia. If only all city metro lines went to the seaside! Plentzia is the end of Line 1, and we enjoyed the very best day out on the beach. 18 31.07.2010 Balmaseda station used to be junction of the Basque narrow gauge system.

31.07.2009 Feve Class 3600 EMU running between Balmaseda and the terminus at La Calzada past Balmaseda depot 19 31.07.2009 Balmaseda: The Feve Tren Touristico 3-car set runs back to Bilbao

31.07.2009 Balmaseda carriage works with preserved FEVE 2100 DVT inside (the other end was a Billiard DMU, which I think is the graffitied unit next to it). 20 the service, which terminates at La Calzada). The train was full of South American families taking a day to barbeque and swim in the lake at Bolumburu, for it was a holiday all over the Pais Vasco. Balmaseda is a charming town, with a beautiful square just 5mins walk from the station. It used to be a major junction in the Basque narrow-gauge network, and it is possible to see where another line (currently closed to through traffic) rose north out of the town just outside the depot. It is currently being used as a place to store permanent way wagons, just outside the upper station. I tried to get into the depot to take pictures of the locos stabled there (Classes 1100, 1500, 1600 & 1900), but was rebuffed by the security guard (and dog) by the gate. As it was a public holiday there was no one he could ask, so that was that. In the town we had an excellent inexpensive meal of Cazuelo (a hearty red bean stew) and steak, before we returned to Bilbao on the 14h50. Another day, another Alvia, another sanitising of luggage. If my luggage was human it would have exceeded its lifetime exposure to radiation by now. Before the Alvia comes in we watch a single white car come in behind a Class 252. It was the Bilbao section of the Diurno from Salamanca, detached at Burgos, the other 3 cars having travelled on to Hendaye. We also take a picture of the plinthed Beyer-Peacock 4-4-0 ‘IZARRA’ at the north end of platform 1. The Ave is coming to Abando. A decision was made in 2006 that one terminus of the Basque ‘Y’ was to be the current Renfe station. Currently platforms 1-4 are used for Cercanias that serve stations to Santurzi west along the coast, southwest to Muskiz, and southeast to Orduna. Platforms 5-8 are used for the long-distance services. It would be difficult to shift the Cercanias, without compromising the station throat, so it is likely that platforms 7 & 8 are to be used for the standard gauge. They could of course put a roof over the carriage sidings on the river- side of the station and use that for either broad-gauge or standard gauge capacity. The jury is still out on the second phase of Abando’s reconstruction (the first phase was to rebuild the shopping area, lower hall and escalators to platform level, though the decision to use Abando was made to definitely rule out San Mamés, a previous favourite, due to lack of space underground. The Alvia makes heavy going chasing a Cercania out to Muskiz, even afterwards the train rarely travels above 100kph. We pass Ollargun where there is a Renfe talleres with a large 5-road shed, but there is nothing outside and it looks mothballed, awaiting the inevitable. It’s pretty slow all the way to Miranda de Ebro. There is a big yard full of Class 269, 289 Tandem, 319, and rebuilt 321, alongside disposed Class 440 units. We are booked to stand for 12mins in order to couple up with the Alvia set from Hendaye, but as we are 5mins late the slack is reduced. We climb again into the hills and I start dreaming, but wake up to find myself in the flyleaf picture in Trevor Rowe’s Railway Holiday in Spain, in the Pancorbo Pass.

Burgos We arrive in Burgos more or less on time (19h38), but I do not recognise the station. It is one of those ‘by-the-numbers’ TGV stations. I’m so disoriented I ask the security guard ‘donde esta Burgos?’ meaning the old centre; ‘esto es Burgos’ he replied proudly. Regaining my composure and realising that this was indeed Burgos Rosa de Lima, the new station, I tried again: ‘mi hotel es muy proximo de la estación vieja’, at once he understood; he then mumbled something about the old city centre being accessible by taxi (none) or 21 01.08.2009 The By-The -Numbers new Burgos Rosa de Lima station. Situated 7km out of the city on a diversion this picture was taken minutes before a thunderstorm.

31.07.2009 The sad abandoned classic Burgos station, 2 months before the platforms were levelled. Situated just 6 minutes walk from the centre of the city’s great cathedral.. 22 we could wait for the bus. We walked through the end glass doors to see if we could see where he was pointing too, but it was nowhere to be seen. Instead, all we could see was that someone had been trying to build a new Burgos before anyone would notice, but had failed, probably because of la crisis. Most everyone else we had seen get off the train was now milling about outside, we clung to them, pretty depressed and still confused until we could see a red bus appearing from behind some new flats half a mile away. Eventually the No.25 stopped by the crowd of Renfe escapees and we all paid the 85 cents to get to the Plaza Espanya. Burgos Rosa de Lima is 7km from old Burgos. It takes 20mins by bus to reach it from the Plaza Espanya, which itself is a 10min walk from the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor itself is an 8min walk from the old Renfe station just on the other side of the Rio Arlanzon (a tributary of the Ebro). Talking to locals at the bus stop it was clear that many people consider it a disgrace, and some kind of political scam. Burgos was one of the first northern cities to get a new Ave station, and while it may be that Adif was trying to force a decision it looks probable that the decision was made by developers within the city council who wanted to cash in on the old station site, yard and formation, while cashing in again on developing land out by the new station. It is entirely possible that the tunnel option was offered, but as the city would probably have to pay an additional cost, the city fathers recoiled and sold the (almost) free out-of-town option to a hard-up electorate. So instead of a new underground station at the site of the old they have dozens of new apartment blocks, to attract more people in from the campo, each one with a bank, a hairdresser and a small supermarket; but no jobs. It is typical of bad provincial thinking, greedy and unsustainable. Adif have a map which clearly shows the LAV following a big avoiding loop around the city, the shorter straight line goes straight through centre of the old city. It takes us 40mins in total to reach our hotel near the old centre, passing through the crowd in the Plaza Mayor who were listening the local politicians making speeches decrying the ETA attack. Burgos vieja is pretty compact; it lies between the statue of El Cid (whose casket is in the cathedral) and the castle hill. The cathedral is less attractive than Leon, but below the Baroque interior can be found its Romanesque foundations. The following morning we walk the short distance from the hotel to the sad, lonely old station. A taxi driver has parked in front, off duty. All the ground floor doors and windows have been bricked-up, the empty platforms are also devoid of permanent way. It is actually quite numbing, even the children understand how the transport heart of the city has been torn out, to be treated as some kind of airport, out of sight, out of mind. Burgos was also a minor narrow-gauge hub, serving as a feeder for the local mines. There was also the (mostly) freight line to Soria. Nothing remains, except for the memories of the very old and some pictures in (too expensive) books. It starts to rain, which fits our end-of-trip mood. We spend the rest of the day with my old nanny Mathilde, happy and reminiscing. She is a spritely 84, full of life and telling us that the next day she will taking the bus to Santander to swim in the sea. Residents over the age of 60 get a discount on rail tickets. A single from Palencia (where Mathilde lives) has only cost her € 2.80! When I return with her to the station we watch a new Class 253 with containers for Bilbao or

23 Hendaye. It has to stop in the platform as a Regional in front has the way. On starting he sounds his horn and startles me; old habits die hard.

Valladolid Sunday 2nd August was our last day in Spain. We had decided to visit Valladolid on the way back to Chamartin. We left Burgos on the 09h42 Regional (Class 447) to Valladolid having taken a taxi (€13 on a Sunday – double rate) from our hotel. It was almost a relief to be on a stopping train again. We crossed the plain in pleasant warming sunshine, reversing at Palencia and arriving at platform 5 at 11h20, where the train terminates (having started at Miranda at 08h37). We passed through Venta de Baños (sale of baths?) again where the locals are having a heated debated about how the Ave is to serve their town. We arrive at Campo Grande, which looks clean, and has already been through the refurbishment process. The 2 lines adjacent to the main building are standard gauge, and it is possible to see the gauge-changer at the north end of platform 1. But this is all temporary. As long ago as 2006 Lord Richard Rogers (of the Millennium Dome and Lloyds Building in London) was engaged to plan the new development that would cover the old railway site. Valladolid is not going to be another Burgos, or Leon. The Valladolid City fathers decided (rightly I think) to keep the station more or less where it is, at the end of the long paseo/park/boulevard that is Campo Grande. While not the Plaza Mayor, Campo Grande is the recreational centre of Valladolid and it links the railway with the local government buildings. The city has to pay for its station, and to pay for it they have to develop the land left by putting the permanent way and station underground. Lord Rogers, to his credit, and with the support of the city has planned to put both the new bus and rail station underground, surrounded by mostly low-rise apartments with a couple of high-rise statements to punctuate the new development, but the old linear formation will become a tree-lined green space joining the other parks in the city. It is also noteworthy that most of the landmark railway buildings such as the main station, good shed and roundhouse are to be refurbished for public use (the Camden roundhouse has become an excellent music venue).

01.08.2009 Burgos Rosa de Lima: Brand new Mercanias Class 253.020 with a clong container freight north towards Hendaye. 24 02.08.2009 Valladolid Campo Grande

02.08.2009 Madrid Chamartin: The lgauge-changing shed that splits the broad-gauge and standard-gauge parts of Fuencarral.

25 Valladolid has always been an important part of the northern railway network. Gone is the narrow-gauge line to Medina de Rioseco and Palanquinos, gone also is the secondary line to Aranda de Duero. Valladolid has now become the lynch-pin around which the northern extension of the Basque ‘Y’ LAV revolves. While Madrid usually considers the provinces as being backward, in Valladolid they seem to have a more progressive and sustainable vision. We saw little sign of freight, except for permanent way works, and we noted locos of Classes 269, 279 (279-002 – which belongs to the local Amigos), 310 and 321. There was big Adif display in the centre of the station building promoting the coming of the line, but little detailed information about the new station. My feeling is that they are in no hurry, though you can see some preparatory works south of town. It is Sunday and we walked into town to find the Plaza Mayor and Another B****y Cathedral. Campo Grande was being used for youth cycle racing and on all the streets leading into the old centre we saw people running on roads closed to traffic. By noon it was all over, the roads opened and it was business as usual. The cathedral is a big blocky classical thing designed by the builder of El Escorial, the convent nearby is more attractive. We ate in the Plaza Mayor before wandering back to the station for our last Alvia back to Chamartin (Valladolid 14h20, Madrid 15h40).

And Home… To my dying day I shall always remember the closing paragraph of almost every disassembly procedure in a Haynes manual: ‘Reassembly is the reverse of the disassembly procedure!’ To a student engineer like me this was always deeply troubling as I gazed into the bucket of greasy bits smelling of Gunk. Anyway, our return home was to be a complete reversal of our entry into Spain, with the following exceptions: My wife and youngest child had the Grande Classe T2 with en-suite shower and toilet (which is a mixed blessing as it smells a bit) and which comes with the 3-course dinner inclus; we were an hour late arriving in Austerlitz (failed freight in Orleans area), to which we were entitled to SNCF vouchers to 25% of the cost of our ticket; and the air-conditioning failed on the back to St Pancras, to which we are entitled to a free single journey! This trip round northern Spain was an eye-opener. While my wife was cathedral and Parador spotting, and the children’s noses were pressed to sword/toy/music/cake shop windows I kept thinking about the enormous changes coming to almost every major provincial city in Spain with the stretching of those Ave tentacles. All those classic Norte, MZA and Southern stations to be discarded or at best mothballed. All those wonderful, dependable station cafeterias discarded in favour of corporate fast food. All that permanent way buried. Where are we, as enthusiasts, going to go to enjoy our pastime? Personally, I’ve gone off and Eurostars; they are getting as uncomfortable as air travel. Yes, you get from A to B that much quicker, but to what effect? People go fast to save time; save it from what, from getting bored? Life is a journey, not a destination. I keep thinking about Burgos. As people get lazier, and become more addicted to their cars, will they bother to go to the station they could once walk to? Railway stations should not be treated in the same way as airports; they are part of the transport solution, not the problem.

26 02.08.2009 Madrid Chamartin: EN 407 ‘Fransisco de Goya’ awaits departure for Paris with Class 252.031.

03.08.2009 Paris Austerlitz SNCF 7261 comes off the front of the (same) hour-delayed Trenhotel from Madrid.

27 Model Review: Electrotren Renfe Short Wheelbase Van By Myles Munsey

I was recently given this product to review. The main details are as follows: Catalogue number 1815 Era V Length 121mm

his little short wheelbase van is a welcome addition to the Electrotren range and T features in their brochure as NUEVO (New). The shortness of the wagon, which is a boon to those of us who model in limited space, in no way compromises the level of detail incorporated into such a small piece. Although very short, it packs a lot of detail into that length and is up to Electrotren's very high standards. There are very fine inscriptions mostly on the sides but also on the ends of the wagon with the RENFE double arrow roundel nicely picked out in blue and yellow. There are rectangular buffers, nicely moulded footsteps, blackened wheel sets and NEM pockets are provided so that couplings can be interchanged. The large label picked out in red with white lettering advertises 'U.N.MERCANCIAS CARGAS FRACCIONADAS VAGON T.E.F..

Other details which have to be picked out with a photographer's eyeglass are: Wagon type Gs - Running Number 4171 120 3063-g TARA 12500 CARGA MAX 27500 CAPACIDAD 44.13m² FRENO AUT (advertises automatic brakes.) The most impressive feature in my view is the brake gear (isn't it a shame that you can never actually see this when the wagon is upright!) which is quite simply stunning. Beautifully rendered and intricate in the extreme. All in all a superb product. This product was kindly supplied by Hornby International distributors. Ontracks.co.uk, Unit 1, Pontrilas Business Park near Hereford. 01981 241 268 www.ontracks.co.uk

Prototype. Picture by Carlos Perez Arnau 28 2 views of the Electrotren Short Wheelbase Van (Cat. No. 1815) 2011 Electrotren Spanish Model Railways Catalogue

e are the UK importers of the Electrotren range and all other Hornby W International brands I believe we can benefit from improved profile for the range and your members are most likely to be interested.

We would ask is £1.50 towards the P&P (to a UK delivery address) The catalogue should be available from Feb 2011.

If so members can simply email me, sending payment via Paypal or write to us. Giving their postal address and name (names will be checked against the membership list).

The reply details being: Ontracks International, Unit 2, Pontrilas Business Park, Pontrilas Hereford HR2 0AZ England

Email [email protected] (Paypal payments to be sent to [email protected]). Cheques made payable to Ontracks International.

29 Model Review: Mabar N Gauge Renfe Renault Railcar By Ian Buck

wenty examples of Renault type ABJ7 diesel railcars were constructed by M.M. y C. T under licence in batches between 1949 and 1956. The number range was between 9313 and 9330. They were used on daytime fast services on former MZA and Norte lines. Typical routes were Madrid – Cuenca – Valencia and Valladolid to Zaragoza. They were quite often used as substitutes for TAF and later TER services. Their less than 10 tonne axle load meant that they were allowed to operate on any route. They had a seating capacity of 70 and a top speed of 107 kph. The last units were withdrawn in 1976. Any further information on these units would be gratefully received. The model made by MABAR, a specialist supplier to the Spanish market based in Barcelona, is one of their first excursions into powered N gauge models. It has a plastic body which gives a good impression of the somewhat complicated profile of the prototype especially around the cab ends. The dimensions are accurate according to the drawing in Del Vapor al AVE (II). My model is MABAR serial number 85901 and represents RENFE number 9314. According to their website MABAR produces three more RENFE numbers plus four SNCF examples in red and cream livery. The model is supplied with separate bogie sides. This is to facilitate operation around the sharp curves found on most model railways (like mine). The bogie frames can be easily replaced for display purposes. Also it is possible to couple two units together using the supplied coupler bar. This has to be screwed into both vehicles making them permanently coupled until the coupler bar is removed. The finish on the body is very good being the silver prevalent on RENFE diesel units of this era. The silver is flat and looks satisfactory. Lettering is crisp and clear and can be clearly deciphered even with the help of a magnifying glass in places. Handrails are effectively made from wire. LED head and tail lights are fitted which light up red or white in appropriate direction of travel. One criticism is that the white lights look too white but this sis a general fault with all recent models fitted with LEDs. For those modellers that operate DCC it is possible to fit a decoder. Instructions are provided for doing this and it does not look too complicated. Performance is good with pick up on all wheels. A five pole can motor is fitted and drives both axles on one bogie through a flywheel, cardan shaft and spur gearing. Straight out of the box it was possible to run the model at a crawl and a faster than prototypical speed and all speeds in between. All in all this is good model of an interesting and unusual prototype and I am pleased with it. MABAR have stated that they intend to produce an N gauge version of their highly successful TER set sometime in the near future. Lets hope that this is to as high standard as the Renault ABJ7.

30 I purchased mine from EBay at a cost of €119. I assume that one can purchase direct from MABAR. Their contact is MABAR TREN SL, Rambla Volart 44, 08041 Barcelona, Spain. The photographs were taken on my yet to be completed N gauge layout “El Portus” (the bottom picture is from ‘Vapor al Ave II - ed).

31 30.07.2010 Bilbao Abando. Plinthed Beyer -Peacock no.29 2-2-0T ‘Izarra’ built for Bilbao - Tuleda line in 1862. Unfortunately being left to rust in the harsh Basque climate. (Abando -ned!). Photo Michael Guerra