On the Austrian Straight and Narrow Part 9

 Tuesday, 10th August 1982

Today's Travels:

Today's journeys cross the page in the atlas and Blogger won't let me align them correctly. The journey starts on the right hand map.

Starting on the right-hand map, I went north from Graz (middle-right) to Bruck-an-der-Mur and then west to Unzmarkt (middle-left). Continuing westwards over the page to Tamsweg and returning via the same routes to Graz.

Although the pain in my gums was still there I decided it could be tolerated enough to enjoy another day's travels and so was down at the Hauptbahnhof in Graz for 08.20 to catch the "Robert Stoltz", another of the ÖBB's named expresses, (I looked him up: he was a composer, songwriter and conductor, born in Graz in 1880), which would take me back north to Bruck an der Mur, although this time on the rails rather than the road. We left on time, but somehow contrived to lose ten minutes on the way to Bruck. Fortunately, I still managed to make the connection onto the 09.08 to Unzmarkt, the highlight of that part of the journey being the 5,460m Galgelberg tunnel.

Unzmarkt was - and still is -  the junction for the Murtalbahn and another new operator for me - the Steiermärkische Landesbahn, or Styrian Government Railway. The Murtalbahn was another 760mm line and my train was formed of an almost brand-new diesel railcar.

The Steiermärkische Landesbahn train for Tamsweg at Unzmarket

The diary doesn't record it, but it appears from the photo I took (above) that this train was being operated on  a "pay as you enter" basis. (You can see the driver sitting facing the boarding passengers and collecting fares). The modern-day timetable for the line shows 34 stations. There would have been at least that number in 1982 and we stopped at all of them, with the pay-as-you enter system no doubt contributing to the 100+ minute running time.  My plan for the day shows that by leaving Unzmarkt on the 10.20 departure I had a choice of breaking my journey at Murau,  either on the way up the valley or on the way back down.

As Murau was the headquarters and main depot for the Murtalbahn I assumed there would be more to see there than at Tamsweg, so I opted to ride to the end of the line initially and break my journey on the way back, even though this meant I would only have eight minutes at Tamsweg.

After arrival at Tamsweg

I thought it was a reasonable assumption that the railcar that arrived at Tamsweg at 12.02 would be the same one that operated the 12.10 back to Murau, so I was a bit surprised that after unloading the passengers it disappeared into the shed at the far end of the station. With departure time fast approaching it showed no sign of returning and I suddenly realised that I was the only person on the station actually waiting for it!  A quick perusal of the timetable confirmed my suspicions: the 12.10 was only a train on Saturdays. On other days of the week the service was provided by a rail replacement bus!  I dashed outside just in time to see a bus, well loaded with passengers, leaving the station forecourt - and leaving me stranded in Tamsweg!

It was at least two hours before the next train, so I thought I'd walk into the town centre to see if there was any other way of getting away from Tamsweg. To my surprise, I came across what I'm fairly sure was the same bus waiting at a bus stop and now clearly displaying a destination board "Murau".  It appeared that my Austria Ticket couldn't be accepted on the bus and a single to Murau cost me 54 schillings but at least it put me back on schedule.

That schedule allowed me a couple of hours at Murau, which turned out to be well worthwhile. I hadn't noticed when planning my itinerary but on certain days of the week the Steiermärkische Landesbahn operated special steam excursions between Murau and Tamsweg and today was one of those days. Not only that, but I was just in time to witness the departure of the 13.45.

The steam special for Tamsweg leaving Murau.

I'm not sure why I didn't actually ride on it. It might have been because I'd already been to Tamsweg or perhaps because by the time it got back to Murau I would have been struggling with connections back to Graz. Or, of course, it might have been because the Austria Ticket wasn't valid on specials and I was too mean to pay the extra fare. After all, I had just spent an unnecessary 54 schillings on the bus!

But there were plenty of things to see and do in Murau and I even managed to wander around the depot and take photographs, although I don't remember asking anyone permission.

Inside the depot at Murau

 

At 15.36 another railcar took me back to Unzmarkt for my connection to Bruck an der Mur, where I had a 25 minute wait for a train back to Graz.

This was a stopper, so the plan contained an option to alight at Peggau-Deutschfeistritz  "to see the Steiermärkische Landesbahn branch line train to Ubelbach", as the diary puts it.  The plan didn't allow for the possibility of actually going to Ubelbach - perhaps the times didn't work (it was an hour's ride each way) - but it seems that I couldn't resist the temptation to get out and have a look! I wasn't disappointed.

The railcar for Ubelbach at Peggau Deutschfeistritz

At some stage during the day I'd decided that the pain in my mouth was probably a wisdom tooth and that if I could just get some painkillers to keep me going for a day or two it would probably take care of itself. Looking up the words for "have you got anything to stop my toothache" in my pocket dictionary I went to a chemist and was satisfied to come away with a packet of aspirin - although the pharmacist's subsidiary question of "do you want some with or without Vitamin C?" rather confused me. (I opted for "with" on the basis that every little helps).

The aspirin worked well enough to allow me an evening out in Graz watching the trams. There seemed to be two lines in the city centre: One operated by modern two-car bogie trams

Modern two-car bogie tram on line 1

and the other run by much more interesting four-wheelers, some of which hauled trailers.

Four-wheeler car operating an "Extra" (E)

And one with a trailer on line 4

Two tram lines met in the city centre, one running north-south and the other east-west. Every 15 minutes throughout the evening four trams converged on this junction all arriving within seconds of each other. The tram stops were placed right on the junction where the two roads met and whilst there the trams completely blocked the roads to all traffic. This allowed passengers to transfer safely between the two lines and once these transfers were completed the trams all went their separate ways. I couldn't help thinking that back in the UK:

1. No one would have thought about scheduling the trams to make a connection in the first place.

2. Even if they did, one of more of the trams would be running late - or early.

3. The tram stops would have been positioned well away from the junction because traffic flow would have been prioritised over passenger safety and convenience.

4. Anyone attempting to change lines would probably miss their connection due to being unable to cross the road and reach the other stop in time.

5. Because of all this no one would attempt to make the connection, which would justify all the above decisions to do things that way!

to be continued.