#bahncard100

[aeridanus]

Today's train sketches are something special. I took an early ICE to Munich to ride my beloved Class 420 trains - with music, doodles, and a view of the Alps. Munich now runs most of the units I grew up with in Stuttgart, and meeting them again is something I cherish. <3

[aeridanus]

My good friend and I met in northern Germany and visited the Dinopark Münchehagen again today. I shot the entire journey in infrared, from the night train ride to the park visit itself, and the result was absolutely stunning. Apart from a bit of white balance and contrast adjustment, there’s no more image manipulation involved - apart from the last image, of course. That one’s the real-life equivalent of this. :)

I also took quite a bit of video, and I think I’ll use the bridge day tomorrow for another infared music video. Gotta put all these infrared trains and landscapes somewhere!

[aeridanus]

The Austrian Railways, current operator of German night trains, stops accepting German railway cards (like my BahnCard100), so I went on what’s going to be the last night train ride for a while. Took the ICE to Munich, took the Meridian to Rosenheim (already close to the Alps), and now, I’m onboard the Nightjet 420 (hehe!). The final destination will be strawberry cake on the hottest, most summery day so far!

[aeridanus]

I need to put this somewhere, just to have a mental sticky note of sorts. x) I saw Arcade Fire live tonight and I’m over the moon!

Tonight, a good friend and I went to the Arcade Fire concert in Cologne. I listen to them for ten years now, but I never had the chance to see them on stage yet. Ohh damn, they’re a brilliant live band. And I cried womanly tears of joy when they played my favorite song of all time, “No Cars Go”. It’s tied to the time when I discovered night trains for myself, and as if it was meant to be, my former regular night train was greatly delayed tonight and I was able to catch it for the ride home (read: It spared me three hours of waiting for the first S-Bahn at a train station of my choice).

So much jumping and dancing and singing. I’m husky, I witnessed Arcade Fire live, I saw my dear Class 420s and I rode the EuroNight. That went well. :)

[aeridanus]

Some very stressful weeks lie behind me and while the next few won’t be any different, there will always be some little breaks like this one. Zürich main station, yesterday evening.

[aeridanus]

Had another rail-adventure this weekend. :-)

Started in Frankfurt on Friday evening after work and took the ICE to Munich where I boarded the night train to Hamburg. There, I met up with friends and we went on a completely awesome special tour with one of Hamburg’s historic S-Bahn trains together - it’s a beautiful Class 470 train and more or less the DC equivalent of the AC-operating Class 420.

After much food and beer, a good friend and me then boarded another night train. We decadently booked into a 2-person 2nd-class deluxe compartment (less expensive than it sounds!), and just because we didn’t want to alight in Frankfurt at 4 in the morning, we rode it to Basel (already Switzerland) and went all the way back up to Dortmund to join our beloved Class 420 there for some rounds. The final way home on the ICE was spent between hangry commentary and foodful bliss. x)

Even without the S-Bahn rounds, we covered about 3,300 kilometres or 2050 miles this weekend, and I finally got a photo which unites a Class 420 unit and a rainbow. I waited 11 years for this. :-)

[aeridanus]

I visited a good friend in Vienna over the weekend. Look at the scheduled arrival time and what the clock reads in the first image x) Quite a bit of delay, but I LOVE night train delays. Images two and three show why. :)

Dumb as I am, I post photos of trains instead of famous landmarks, but they’re the real famous landmarks for me. 8-) On image 4, a Class 4020 train is leaving Vienna-Meidling, and its number isn’t the only thing reminiscent of my beloved Class 420. The 4020s can be seen as its Austrian equivalent, and they even sound almost the same. I really enjoy them. :3

... I also really enjoy the steel worm from the last image, it’s a Taurus locomotive with the night train back to Germany on its hook. My car was the first behind the Taurus, and I could faintly hear it accelerate from my bed. Insert hearty eyes and a retarded, happy grin here. x) The car itself is a former German City Night Line sleeping car, and it was the very car from my last City Night Line sleeping car ride! I was in the biggest railroad heaven this weekend, can you tell...

[aeridanus]

Maximum relaxation on the near-empty long-distance train in the late evening...