 1 An early start with a very long day ahead. Up at 05:00, at 06:20 on my home town's station, 12:30 in Frankfurt, 15:00 the first half day of the conference, 19:00 pre-dinner meeting followed by the dinner itself, back to the hotel and to bed at 22:00. Although I enjoy travelling and meeting people I will not deny it is extremely fatiguing. But hey, I was to have a wonderful day. |
 2 Change trains at Geldermalsen. This station never fails to draw my attention. |
 3 Utrecht Centraal, waiting for the ICE to arrive. The greenish office building is my daily workplace. |
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 5 The ICE's arrival causes a stir among the waiting herd. |
 6 Selfie |
 7 The ICE took me to Frankfurt Flughafen in one straight line in about three hours. I love the buzz of stations. |
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 10 AsI had some time to spare I took a look in the transit hall connecting the railway and the airport |
 11 My local to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main station) |
 12 The relatively new Classe 430. Deleveries are still underway, 178 have been ordered. No special design, just bread and butter trains. |
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 14 At last! |
 15 Frankfurt is ...... huge! I had a glimpse of it once on one of my previous business travels. Having had only 10 minutes or so to spare I vowed to return and take my time. I was quite happy with the nice autumn sun. |
 16 The massive feet of the arches. Look at the intricate casting! |
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 18 And a whole lot of such arches make a splendid play for the eye |
 19 Simply glorious |
 20 On the way to Frankfurt I took the precaution to take one train earlier than my conference necessitated. Luckily all connections worked to plan and I suddenly had two hours to spend at the station. What a pity :-) |
 21 Bombardier Twindexx Vario "dressed" as a Class 446 |
 22 Being an international terminus, you can find all sorts of trains here. A double deck TGV to Paris. |
 23 This EuroDuplex serves the luxury brand name InOui.The topspeed of 320 km/h is impressive. |
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 26 Passengers boarding for Paris |
 27 Oh boy, would I like to hop on! |
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 29 Frankfurt's impressive signalling tower. |
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 31 Two locomotives of an era gone by. And still working. Class 218, 410 built. |
 32 Their profile is iconic. |
 33 A local train from a private operator. |
 34 The private operators certainly add to the colour of the railways in Germany |
 35 The impressive yard leading out of the station |
 36 and (I now turned around on the same spot) all five canopies in one photo. Impressive! And again I relished in the fine autumn weather. |
 37 Although being away from home for several days, I left my coat at home as I had no need for it with temperatures still clinging to the twenties |
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 39 Remarkably train traffic simply continued with these workers on active lines. |
 40 The train to Paris leaving at last |
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 42 The TGV crossing where the workers stood in the previous photo. |
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 44 Dirty Diesels. Many local lines are yet to be electrified. |
 45 Incoming traffic and again these workers on the line, well within profile. They seemed to be very much aware though. |
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 49 Never a dull moment in this station, again a private operator |
 50 And a very old if not ancient buffer stop. |
 51 Another detail of the intricate detail on the station canopy |
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 53 Not entirely sharp, this photo yet reveals just how much work went into its construction |
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 55 A Desiro Classic diesel motor unit awaiting departure. I am amazed how clean it is. This is a trainset of at least 14 years old! |
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 60 Quote from Asterix and Cleopatra: "There's no denying it, she does have a pretty nose." |
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 62 Contrary to this bulldog shaped 445 |
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 64 With the unification of Germany quite a few ex-GDR locomotives spread around the country. No less than 647 examples were built between 1984 and 1991. |
 65 Three noses |
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 68 An ICE 4,137 built from 2017-2023 |
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 70 A double deck push-pull unit powered by a Class 146 TRAXX |
 71 The other end of the same unit |
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 73 The colourful ET344 DMU we had seen in the yard, pulled up into the station |
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 75 Why there is a control car of a push-pull unit behind the Vectron locomotive is beyond me. |
 76 The Vectron design is instantly recognisable. |
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 79 I simply love the buzz of a station |
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 81 After spending an enjoyable hour in the station itself I turned my attention to the main building. |
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 84 The station building was inaugurated on 18-8-1888 ! Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof was the largest station in Europe until Leipzig Hauptbahnhof was built in 1915, but it still remains "the most important railway station" in Germany due to its central location in the country. |
 85 Due to the cramped conditions in front of the building and also due to its sheer size, it was very difficult to get a good angle |
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 88 The sun made me go back inside once more to catch this view of the main hall. That said it was about time to go to my conference. |
 89 This would be my workplace for the next one and a half day. I have seen far worse workplaces |
 90 By the end of the day I passed the station and snapped this shot |
 91 Stations have quite a different character at night. |
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 93 The following morning, again from my workplace for the day |
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 97 At the end of the day I was due for a trip with this ICE to spend the weekend with a friend of mine, some 150km further south |
 98 Bye bye, Frankfurt |
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