🤔 Whatever it is, it seems to apply either way. (It’s too hot today for making a more meaningful post.) #Istria 🇭🇷

#Grožnjan #Grisignana 🇭🇷 is one of these picturesque hilltop towns in #Istria. Beautiful morning lights as we visited earlier today. Views include #Motovun, high up above the #Mirna valley.

#Trieste 🇮🇹 coffee break ☕️

#Venus #Moon #Bird. Evening in #Istria.

A visit to #Trieste 🇮🇹 would be incomplete without a ride on the #Opicina #tram … except when the tram is not running. It seems they’re performing some scheduled maintenance works. The “Bar alla Tramvia” is located at the upper terminus. They’re always open. So we’re stopping here for a coffee break.

We were out early today, avoiding the afternoon heat, for a hike on the #Parenzana trail near #Buje #Buie and #Savudrija #Salvore in #Istria 🇭🇷. This former narrow gauge railway line, built during Habsburg times, closed to traffic long ago. The trackbed now hosts a lovely cycling and hiking path.

#Stadler “noses” meet at #Villach 🇦🇹: on the left, a #Westbahn High Speed Train of the Stadler #SMILE type, arriving from #Vienna and registered in Switzerland as #RABe501. On the right, a multi-system Stadler #FLIRT unit of the Slovenian Railways 🇸🇮, Class SŽ510, awaiting departure for #Ljubljana.

#Villach 🇦🇹 today at dusk, between Auen Abzw Junction and Warmbad Villach. An #ÖBB 1163 electric is hauling a short mixed freight. 1163s are switchers, yet they can also be seen working mainline duties. The train, using the westernmost track, most likely originated at Villach Süd marshalling yard.

With #Westbahn 🇦🇹 from #Vienna to #Villach this afternoon. This is a leased #Stadler #SMILE High Speed Train, like the ones in service for #SBB🇨🇭Gotthard Base Tunnel #Giruno workings from #Zurich or #Basel to #Lugano, #Milan and beyond. On the new-built #Koralmbahn line we reach a top speed of 250kph.

#LeoExpress, a #Renfe Intl. subsidiary, is currently operating a service between #Prague 🇨🇿 and #Bratislava 🇸🇰 vv, twice daily. The consist, hauled by a #Railpool #Siemens #Vectron Class 193 electric, includes #TalgoVI cars that previously used to work #Talgo services in Spain. There’s also a #Bistro.

#Bratislava 🇸🇰 hl.st. is a meeting point for #Siemens #Vectron electrics hauling passenger trains, it seems. Within just an hour today, I spotted an #ÖBB 🇦🇹 Class 1293, a #ČD 🇨🇿 Class 384, some #ZSSK Class 383 and a #Railpool Class (7)193 in #LeoExpress livery, the loco being registered in Germany 🇩🇪.

An #ÖBB 🇦🇹 Class living its twilight years, or days, even: 4020 suburban units will be withdrawn in less than a month, if I understand correctly. This is why I’m hurrying up to take a photo of one such veteran trainset, while changing trains at St. Pölten station. (Its Class 6020 trailer is leading.)

Always a moment of particular beauty: #Salzburg 🇦🇹, seen from the train while passing the rail bridge, right before entering the station from a westerly direction. Picture taken a moment ago, from on board the Munich to Vienna (and Budapest) #ÖBB #Railjet Express.

On the road, err, on the rails, again. Lunch in the #DB 🇩🇪 #ICE #DiningCar as we head north, from #Basel🇨🇭SBB. Chicken and a Bavarian 🍺, always a good choice. We cross, and then follow, the #Rhine river. Travelling along the vineyards, we reach speeds of about 250 kph (on a new-built section that is).

Public transport ‘above’ the southern #Paris 🇫🇷 suburbs: a cable car. Seen from on board a train entering the South-East #TGV line. This seems to be the ‘Câble 1’ #C1 line, running between Créteil and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.

#Paris 🇫🇷. An afternoon stroll at the Luxembourg Gardens. You can rent a miniature wooden boat: kids, adults and even the ducks in the pond enjoy seeing them ‘sailing’. You can also play chess with a friend, or a random stranger. Or you just sit in one of the comfy ‘Senate’ branded deckchairs.

Lunch(break) in #Paris 🇫🇷 today, followed by a coffee break, or two.

Good Morning from the #London St. Pancras Intl. 🇬🇧 to #Paris Gare du Nord 🇫🇷 09:31 #Eurostar 🇪🇺. This 300kph service is worked by a 1990s #TMST trainset, also labelled #e300 or BR Class 373. There’s a Café Car (well, there are even two of them on this long train), the place to be for #breakfast ☕️ 🥐.

6 June 1944. Normandy landings. D-Day. 82 years ago. American 🇺🇸, Canadian 🇨🇦, British 🇬🇧 and other soldiers came to liberate us from Nazism. Many of them paid the highest price. We will always be grateful to them. I will always associate their countries with this fight for our freedom.

#JFK 🇺🇸 #AirTrain. The last few miles on rails, for the next couple of hours.

Long Island City #LIRR Terminal is, arguably, the quietest of all #NYC 🇺🇸 rail termini. Only a few peak-time services originate, or terminate, here. I had to ask a local where the access was, after having passed the entrance several times, without noticing. A nice and surprisingly quiet place.

In #NYC 🇺🇸. Shuttling from #Manhattan over to #Brooklyn and #Queens, above ground, at water level that is. New York City Ferry Service offers a very scenic commute along, the East River, passing Brooklyn Bridge, and the UN Headquarters 🇺🇳, among other sights. (👋 🇦🇹 @austriaun.bsky.social )

9/11 Memorial #NYC 🇺🇸. Paying tribute to all the victims, and to all the brave women and men, first responders and others, who risked everything to preserve the freedom of this country, and of us all. ❤️‍🩹

#Hoboken Terminal 🇺🇸 is a major transfer point by the #Hudson river. It even used to see long distance trains at the times of the ‘Delaware, #Lackawanna and Western’ or, later, the ‘Erie Lackawanna’ Railroad. I’m taking the Hudson River ferry from this beautiful station over to #Manhattan.

#Newark, NJ, 🇺🇸 has also got Broad Street Station, on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line to #Hoboken. #NJ Transit commuter trains stop here, as well as the Light Rail, at street level.

Beautiful #Newark, NJ, 🇺🇸 #Penn Station, namend after the former Pennsylvania Railroad, has kept quite some design elements of its original railroad.

The yard next to #Philadelphia, PA, 🇺🇸 Penn Station is always a good place to spot some new #Amtrak trains being made ready for service. Today I saw a few #Acela trainsets for high-speed workings along the Northeast Corridor, plus some #Cascades sets for future services in the Pacific Northwest.

The northbound #Amtrak 🇺🇸 ‘Silver Meteor’ reaches #Virginia early in the morning and stops at #Washington D.C. Union Station for an engine change: we are passing from diesel to all electric here, before heading on to #NYC over the ‘Northeast Corridor’. #Breakfast 🍳☕️ is being served in the #DiningCar.

The first major stop for the northbound #Amtrak 🇺🇸 ‘Silver Meteor’ is #Orlando, FL. A beautiful train station awaits us. This stucco-faced depot in ‘Mission Revival Style’ was built 100 years ago, in 1926, for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, they say.

On #Amtrak’s 🇺🇸 “Silver Meteor” from #Miami, FL, to #NYC. Miami’s Amtrak station is a modest affair, and far away from the city centre. Our train is hauled by three diesels, two Siemens Chargers and one GE Genesis. (Not sure they’re all fired up.) The train includes #Amfleet and #Viewliner cars.

A few impressions from my trip yesterday on board the #Brightline #Florida 🇺🇸 service from #Orlando #MCO Airport to downtown #Miami. Interesting train station architecture here and very nice at-seat service in Premium/First.

#Orlando, FL, 🇺🇸 to #Miami, FL with #Brightline. The train, built by #Siemens Mobility, includes two #Charger diesels, top’n’tail, and ten #Venture cars. Max speed is 125 mph (200 kph) on a newbuilt section, and a bit less on existing #FEC Florida East Coast tracks, where we meet some freight trains.

Today I’m a first-timer, on #Brightline, Florida 🇺🇸, travelling from #Orlando #MCO Airport down to #Miami, FL. My booking was a last-minute one (I hadn’t foreseen to be in Orlando at all) and I opted for “Premium”, their 1st. They immediately won my heart: they’ve got Espresso Coffee in their Lounge.

‘Final assembly of this airplane was completed in USA’ interesting. It’s an A321 neo. And: a really relaxing flight, with a great crew, and super time-keeping. (We landed 40 minutes ahead of schedule.)

Travelling across the 🇺🇸 Deep South, all the way up to the Carolinas. An area full of history. 💪🏾❤️ Getting off the train at #Charlotte, NC, (➡️✈️) as we are running about six hours late. (Otherwise I wouldn’t have made it to my next destination.) 📷 Impressions from my ride on board #Amtrak’s #Crescent.

Departing New Orleans, LA, 🇺🇸 on board the #Crescent, #Amtrak train #20. As we leave the NOLA metropolitan area, we travel across Lake Pontchartrain, on a roughly six-mile-long trestle. Amtrak’s “Crescent” follows the route of the “Southern Crescent”, operated by the “Southern Railway” until 1979.

#Houston, TX 🇺🇸, the country’s fourth most populous city, isn’t exactly a railroad town, it seems. In terms of passenger traffic, there’s #Amtrak’s “Sunset Limited”, stopping here three times a week, in every direction. And the station square isn’t really a cosy place, with trees, benches and so on.

Loudspeaker announcements on the train, starting with #SBB🇨🇭: Geschätzte Fahrgäste! #Amtrak 🇺🇸: Folks! Both are quite cute actually. Inclusive language, each one in their own way, ensuring all individuals would feel respected and valued, regardless of their identity.

On its way to New Orleans, the “Sunset Limited” #Amtrak 🇺🇸 train #2 traverses the State of #Texas from west to east. This takes about 24 hours. I’m posting a few pictures here, taken along the route between El Paso and San Antonio, and during the stops we made. Post 1/2: El Paso and beyond.

Southern #Arizona 🇺🇸 impressions, while travelling on board the #Amtrak Sunset Limited. And lunch. (In the Diner.)

At #Maricopa, AZ 🇺🇸. Boarding the #Amtrak “Sunset Limited” bound for New Orleans. We will, essentially, be travelling on (former) Southern Pacific rails. As we depart, we get a glimpse of the 1948 “California Zephyr” dome observation car in the nearby park. And: delicious breakfast in the #DiningCar.

Spotted near #Maricopa, AZ 🇺🇸 #Amtrak station: a former “California Zephyr” dome observation car, the “Silver Horizon”, from 1948. Now on display here, serving as a local museum they say. Very nice!

#Denver, CO 🇺🇸, has got an interesting presence of rail-based transport. There are “Light Rail” (in Europe we would say Tram-Train) lines, there’s suburban traffic, often labelled as “heavy rail” and there is the once daily Amtrak “California Zephyr”. Plus quite some freight, mainly BNSF and UP.

The #Colorado Joint Line 🇺🇸 runs alongside the Front Range of the Rockies and parallels the I-25 and the US 85. Historically, these were two separate single track lines. The impressive #ColoradoSprings “Rio Grande” depot and the tiny #Littleton station near #Denver are particularly well preserved.

Nice views as we prepare to land at #DEN #Denver, CO 🇺🇸. In the distance: the Front Range of the #Rockies. This is where the “California Zephyr” would pass through, over “Big Ten Curve” at the beginning of the steep grades leading up to Moffat Tunnel. Yet, this is not where I’m heading today.

A few more impressions from today’s trip on board the #AlaskaRailroad 🇺🇸 “Denali Star” #DomeCar. It was built in the 1950s by Pullman Standard for the Union Pacific “City of St. Louis” Streamliner. There’s the “Dome” in the middle of the car, as well as two “Coach” areas on either side of the Dome.

No station dog 🐕 here at #Denali 🇺🇸 train station, on the #AlaskaRailroad #Anchorage to #Fairbanks line. But a station rabbit 🐇. (And it’s getting dangerously close to the #DiningCar 😳.)

The #AlaskaRailroad 🇺🇸 “Denali Star” service from #Anchorage to #Fairbanks is powered by a pair of EMD SD70MAC 4000hp freight train diesels, equipped for passenger car heating. Our dome car #502 is the former Union Pacific “Dome Coach” #7014 built in the 1950s for the “City of St. Louis” streamliner.

Doing another post from on board the #AlaskaRailroad 🇺🇸 train northbound for #Fairbanks, while there’s still mobile phone coverage. (There won’t be once we pass through the mountains.) We have just left #Anchorage. Time to switch back and forth between the #Diner (for breakfast) and the Dome Car.

Getting ready to board the “Alaska Railroad” 🇺🇸 train, the “Denali Star” from #Anchorage to #Fairbanks. Taking a few pictures as the train arrives at the station, in preparation for boarding. It’s got a variety of cars, including domes and a diner.