Saturday, 7th August 1982
Today's travels
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| From Salzburg (bottom left) north-west to Attnang-Puchheim then south to Gmunden. Back north to Lambach and north-east to Linz (top right). |
I started today's travels by retracing my steps along the "Westbahn" past Vöcklamarkt and on to Attnang-Puchheim on the named train the "Pfänder", which left should have left Salzburg at 09.40 but was running 25 minutes late. We arrived at Attnang-Puchheim only just in time for my connection on to a "Salzkammergutbahn" train for Gmunden, although that was then held for ten minutes awaiting the following train from Salzburg!
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| The Gmunden tramway running in the gutter in the town centre. |
Gmunden station was linked to the town by an urban tramway run by our old friends Herren Stern und Hafferl, which I photographed before walking down to the "Seebahnhof" on the lakefront. There I caught a Stern und Hafferl narrow gauge train on the Traunseebahn to Vorchdorf-Eggenburg. My notes say that this was "a small tram, with two compartments and wooden seats" and it certainly seemed ancient and rather primitive to me. The whole line was very run down and I noted from the timetable that some journeys had been replaced by buses.
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| The Stern und Hafferl train from Gmunden at Vorchdorf-Eggenburg |
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| Another Stern und Hafferl railcar at Gmunden |
Remarkably, this line has not only survived but has been modernised and linked with the street tramway to form a through route from Gmunden railway station to Vorchdorf-Eggenburg, which is now operated by modern, low-floor interurban trams. There are some modern photos on this link. Gmunden, incidentally, has a population of about 13,000 and Vorchdorf-Eggenburg about half of that. Similar sized towns in rural Britain would be lucky to be linked by a half-decent bus service, let alone a modern light-rail line.
Vorchdorf-Eggenburg was the junction for yet another Stern und Hafferl line, but this one was standard gauge, so a change of train was needed for me to reach the main line again at Lambach
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| A more modern Stern und Hafferl railcar for Lambach at Vorchdorf-Eggenburg. |
Back on the main line punctuality was improving and after just over half-an-hour at Lambach I boarded the 16.47 to Linz, which was a mere 5 minutes behind time. Linz was my destination for the night and after checking in at the hotel I went off to find the No.3 tram route - operated by diminutive 26-seater trams with perimiter seating. Despite every tram carrying a conductor, all the tickets were sold from on-board ticket machines. The doors were operated by the driver and all the second staff member appeared to do was ring the bell to stop and start the tram!
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| A Line 3 tram in Linz at the Hauptbahnhof |
Linz was also blessed with a trolleybus network as well as its own "Lokalbahn" and I contrived to get a shot that included both modes somewhere on the edge of the city centre.
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| The Linzer Lokalbahn meets a trolleybus on what appears to be an unprotected level crossing. |
Another reason for visiting Linz was to sample the Postlingbergbahn - a steeply graded rack-tramway linking the town centre to the top of the local Postlingberg mountain.
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| The Postlingbergbahn and its Roman trams. |
At the top of the hill there was a restaurant, which seemed as good as anywhere to have my evening meal, enjoying the view from the terrace and the attentions of the rather charming young Fraülein who was waiting tables. If only I'd been brave enough to ask her out....!
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| One of the views at the top of the Postlingberg |
Instead, back down in the town there was time for a bit more tram watching before bed.
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| A night time view on Line 3 |
to be continued...
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