Yearly Archives: 2019

Building an underground station while trains pass by

This is the story of Tverskaya station on the Moscow Metro – retrofitted to the existing Zamoskvoretskaya line during the 1970s, while trains continued to pass through the neighbouring tunnels. Photo by A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace), via Wikimedia Commons Early history Originally […]

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Retrofitting an underground station to the Kiev Metro

How does one go about retrofitting a station to an existing underground railway? It was was problem that Ukrainian engineers solved in the 1970s, when Teatralna (Театральна) was added to the Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line of the Kiev Metro system. Photo by […]

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Bending a tram like a banana

Modern low floor trams are made up of multiple articulated segments, which allow these long vehicles to make their way around sharp corners. But this 2018 crash in the German city of Bochum shows another thing these trams can do […]

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Reversing a tram in Düsseldorf, Germany

On the tram network of Düsseldorf, Germany is a curious terminus arrangement – a turning wye that crosses over itself! Google Street View This triangle is found at the route 706 terminus in Hamm, at the corner of Auf den […]

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Trams and freight trains share the road in Bremen

I’ve written about freight trams before, but in the city of Bremen in northeast Germany freight there is something a little different – a freight siding that shares the tram tracks. Photo by Spoorjan, via Wikimedia Commons The freight siding […]

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A change of pace

Eventually everything comes to an end, including this blog – I’ll no longer be posting new articles every fortnight. I started Euro Gunzel back in 2013 following my month long trip to Europe, and since then I’ve been digging through […]

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Cable hauled train at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport

Automated people movers between airport terminals are a common sight around the world, but the system at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport is a little different – the trains are hauled by cables. Photo by A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace), via Wikimedia Commons It is […]

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Delivering a crane by train

I’ve seen many interesting pieces of Russian heavy machinery, but this is a new one – a crawler crane that can be moved by rail. The crane arrives at the Tyosovo Railway Museum in Novgorod Oblast on the back of […]

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‘Do Re Mi’ music as the train powers out of the station

It’s normal for electric locomotives to make some kind of ‘buzzing’ noise as their accelerate, due to the way that power is applied to their traction motors. But the Siemens EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives make an unexpected sound – […]

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Transporting railway track by train

You can transport many things by train – but what about the railway tracks themselves? Photo by Falk2, via Wikimedia Commons Used to deliver pre-assembled pointwork or crossovers directly to the work site, the tilt mechanism ensures that the bulky […]

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