My biggest regret has always been that I didn’t “discover” Europe sooner. I’d never even left the UK shores (if you don’t count Northern Ireland), before 2006, however I’ve now made up for that, on average having two or sometimes three trips to Europe each year. I’m quite lucky in that my shift rota allows me a large amount of free time with which to travel.
A lot of my trips, even cross-border ones are initially based in Germany, either in Berlin or Munich. I can speak a wee bit of German; some “ropey” French and five Czech and four Russian words!! It’s stood me in good stead so far!
From Berlin, it’s possible to have day trips to Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and even the Netherlands, while a base in Munich can afford trips to Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy and Eastern France (Strasbourg). Admittedly, some of these day trips are major undertakings, lasting anything between twelve and twenty hours, but hey, that’s half the fun. Berlin and Munich can both be reached by EasyJet, from airports which are less than an hours travel from where I live.
When I’m travelling across Europe, I use an Eurail One Country Pass, if I’m staying within a single country, however, if I’m planning some cross-border international travelling, I’ll use an Eurail Global Pass. There are also some very helpful planning tools on the Internet such as Seat 61 and “The Enthusiasts Guide to Travelling the Railways of Europe”, normally known as EGTRE, which have a wealth of information on European railway travelling. For timetable information, the Deutsche Bahn electronic timetable covers the whole of Europe (including the UK), and is frequently referred to when planning trips.
Why do I like European railways? Probably because they seem to be everything that UK railways aren’t any more. They’re punctual, efficient, frequent, loco-hauled and comfortable.
Check out the drop-down list for information about individual countries. I’ll be adding more when I have a a bit more time, and if I can be of any help to anyone, exploring the railways of Europe for the first time, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
The table below shows the individual European locomotives & multiple units that I have most seen. The last update to this list was: 30-09-2022.
Country Code | Class | Loco or Unit Number | Total Number of Sightings |
---|---|---|---|
DEU | 99 | 997236 | 56 |
DEU | 99 | 997247 | 55 |
DEU | 99 | 997234 | 55 |
DEU | 99 | 997222 | 48 |
DEU | 99 | 997243 | 46 |
DEU | 99 | 997240 | 41 |
DEU | 99 | 997245 | 38 |
DEU | 187 | 187019 | 37 |
DEU | 99 | 997241 | 34 |
DEU | 99 | 997239 | 34 |
DEU | 199 | 199861 | 34 |
DEU | 99 | 997232 | 33 |
DEU | 187 | 187017 | 31 |
DEU | 187 | 187018 | 31 |
DEU | 99 | 997235 | 30 |
DEU | 99 | 997237 | 28 |
DEU | 187 | 187016 | 28 |
DEU | 199 | 199874 | 25 |
DEU | 189 | 189201 | 23 |
DEU | 99 | 995901 | 23 |
DEU | 481 | 481201 | 23 |
DEU | 99 | 997238 | 23 |
DEU | 481 | 481302 | 22 |
DEU | 481 | 481033 | 21 |
DEU | 481 | 481336 | 20 |
DEU | 481 | 481221 | 20 |
The table below shows the top 25 locations visited in Europe listed by the total amount of sightings returned from these locations over the period in which I’ve been logging European railways (currently 07/08/2007-07/03/2020).
On examination of the sightings table, it will be noted that a few locations appear more than once, this is due to the category system used to count particular types of rail-borne vehicles. If the name has no letter in brackets beside it, this indicates main line rail, (S) indicates S-Bahn (Schnellbahn, city trains), (U) indicates underground and (T) indicates trams.
Country Code | Location | Total All Time Sightings |
---|---|---|
DNK | Kobenhavn H | 1951 |
DEU | Ostbahnhof (S) [Berlin] | 1437 |
IRE | Dublin Connolly | 1036 |
DEU | München Hbf | 1008 |
NLD | Amsterdam Centraal | 996 |
DEU | Berlin Hbf (S) | 865 |
DEU | Hamburg Hbf | 837 |
DEU | Lichtenberg (S) [Berlin] | 568 |
NLD | Amersfoort | 505 |
CZE | Praha hl.n. | 499 |
AUT | Innsbruck Hbf | 443 |
BEL | Bruxelles Midi | 435 |
DEU | Berlin-Ostbahnhof | 408 |
DEU | Wernigerode (HSB) | 350 |
CHE | Zurich HB | 345 |
DEU | Alexanderplatz (S) [Berlin] | 326 |
DEU | Berlin-Lichtenberg | 316 |
DEU | Berlin Hbf | 293 |
DEU | Schönefeld (S) [Berlin] | 286 |
DEU | Berlin Flughafen Schönefeld | 286 |
DEU | Bornholmer Straße (S) [Berlin] | 281 |
DNK | Fredericia | 255 |
POL | Szczecin Port Centralny | 243 |
DEU | Alexanderplatz (T) [Berlin) | 218 |
IRE | Dublin Hueston | 216 |