| A group of us travelled over via Belgium with Pathfinder Tours, who arranged a coach from Gloucester to Ghent on the Friday. We spent a pleasant evening exploring local pubs and enjoying the hospitality of the Hotel Ascona. On Saturday morning we left on the 06.24 service train to Brussels, where we picked up another service train for Luxembourg, which connected with the railtour.
The State of Flux was originally booked for four engines, in a change from previous practice, the types of locos and locations of loco-changes werent announced. But Mercia and CFL pulled out all the stops and in the end provided eight locos. The suspense of not knowing what was going to appear where actually made it a far more interesting event. The locos and combinations were: 802/904 Lux Ettelbruck Diekirch (rev) Ettelbruck Bissen (rev) Ettelbruck (rev) Lux. From Ettelbruck to Diekirch we replaced the branch service train much to the bemusement of a few locals who joined us. From Lux the pair were replaced by 857/1501 which worked: Lux Sandweiler,Contern Oetrange (rev) Bettemberg Ville Noertzange - Brucherberg Langengrund (rev) Brucherberg Scheuerbusch - Esch/Alzette (rev) (and loco change where rear loco 857 was removed and substituted for 907 to allow CFL to swap station pilots) Noertzange Bettemberg Ville Berchem Lux. In the yard outside the station 907/1501 were replaced by 1818/1807 at the head of the train and 1102 at the rear. We then continued via the freight curve to Bertrange -- Mamner- Klienbettingen (rev) Capellan Mamer Bertrange - Lux. The train was originally planned to terminate back at Luxembourg. But as the depot visit had been cancelled due to the fact that the depot was one big building site, our train worked through the line around the back of the roundhouse. At this point the three locomotives were removed and 907 again added to the train to work it back into the station (and keep the haulage enthusiasts happy!) Full marks go to all the stewards and staff at Mercia for organising an excellent and very enjoyable trip. Particular credit should go to Denzil Morgan, who was the Train Manager for the event. The whole day was helped by a superb programme which not only documented the timings and route details, but also included a full CFL fleet list and colour photographs of all the different CFL locos. The groups stayed in Luxembourg city for the night, after which the Pathfinder team headed back to Ghent via service trains and the coach back to England. Thanks to Chris Brooks and Michael Cooke (Cooky) for organising the PF end of things and driving the coach. And finally, thanks to all on the PF coach for whom I provided hours of unintentional fun by forgetting my passport! |
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