On The Austrian Straight and Narrow Part 5

 Friday, 6th August 1982

Today was a day of two halves.

Foregoing the various tourist attractions of the city of Salzburg (bottom centre of the map) I was down at the railway station awaiting the 09.55 "Eilzug" (local train) to Vöcklamarkt (centre-right along the "Westbahn")  Most of the trains I'd ridden on so far this week were running late, but it was difficult to assess the punctuality of the 09.55 as every clock on Salzburg station was showing a different time!

We must have been reasonably punctual as I made the 15-minute connection onto the metre-gauge line to Attersee on one of a number of minor lines in this part of Austria run by the organisation "Stern und Hafferl".

The Vöcklamarkt - Attersee railcar at Attersee

Unlike the semi-preserved Achenseebahn and Zillertalbahn lines already sampled, this was more like the sort of thing I had come to Austria to see. Although Attersee (an inland lake) is undoubtably a tourist attraction the branch from Vöcklamarkt provided a definite public transport service. My notes say that the vehicle I rode on (image above) was a 1936-built tram originally operated by the Rheinbahn inerurban tramway in Germany. Not seen above, when it left Vöcklamarkt it was hauling a short rake of flatbed freight wagons!

I also noted that whilst on the way to Attersee the driver had been responsible for checking and issuing tickets, for the return trip we aquired a conductor - and an inspector, who boarded in the midle of nowhere in what was presumably a surprise check.

After this adventure I returned to Salzburg on another Eilzug (this one running 20 minutes late) before setting off on part two of my travels.

This involved catching a train on the Salzburger Lokalbahn - a sort of interurban tram-cum-railway akin to the Tyne & Wear Metro. 

Salzburg Lokalbahn station.

The "lokalbahn" ran due north from a separate station in the city and I rode as far as Bürmoos, which was then the junction for another Stern und Hafferl branch line, this time to Trimmelkamm

The Stern und Hafferl railcar to Trimmelkamm at Bürmoos

The seemingly random distribution of unconnected Stern und Hafferl lines and the motley collection of aging rolling stock formed an impression in my mind of an ancient railway company led by Dickensian characters "Herr Stern" and "Herr Hafferl" in frock coats, recording the day's takings in ledgers with quill pens and struggling against the odds to survive at a time when rail traffic was in decline across Europe. But the company is still going today albeit having closed or transferred several of the lines that I rode on, inlcuding that to Trimmelkamm, which is now part of the Salzburger Lokalbahn.

When planning the trip I knew that there were not going to be any package holidays that suited my needs as they were unlikely to include most of the places I wanted to visit. Trimmelkamm was one such place. Every picture tells a story:

Trimmelkamm, where the line terminated in a coal mine!

I had just 30 minutes to enjoy the delights of Trimmelkamm before returning to Bürmoos and back to Salzburg on a Lokalbahn railcar that I noted "had cushioned seats", which presumably none of the other trains that afternoon had been equipped with.

That evening, it being a Friday, no doubt I was thirsty again. I seem to have visited "Zum Fidelen Affen" (The Jolly Monkey) where I drank "Trumer Pils"; The "Gasthof Schwarzes Rössl", in which I tried the Schnaital Dunkel and the Edelpils Hell. This claimed to be a "Genuine Scottish Pub" and it did have tartan wallpaper, fruit machines and old handpumps on the bar as well as bar service, but no Scottish beer, although as at the time this would have been Youngers Keg Scotch Bitter or McEwans Tartan that was no bad thing.

Final call of the night was at the "Bierstübe zum Braumeister", which sold its beer in stone jugs although it was only Brau AG, which at the time was the largest brewing company in Austria.

to be continued.