Author Archives: Marcus Wong

Bending a tram like a banana

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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 […] Continue reading →

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Cable hauled train at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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 […] Continue reading →

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Delivering a crane by train

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Marcus Wong

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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Rerailing a tram with a front end loader

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Marcus Wong

Derailed trams aren’t an uncommon occurrence, but using a front end loader to get it back onto the tracks is – an activity captured by Вечерний Краснотурьинск in the Russian city of Krasnoturinsk. They provide the backstory here (via Google […]

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Why did the train stop to close the bridge?

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Marcus Wong

On Facebook I recently came across a video of a train coming to a halt, so that a man could swing a piece of track into place before it could then proceed. So what is the story behind it? The […]

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