Crossing The Strait Of Messina
The Strait of Messina is the strip of water between Sicily and the Italian mainland. you don’t change trains, but they shunted it into a ferry for the crossing.
Unlike the crossing from Denmark to Germany, I took in my return from Stockholm, you can stay in the train if you like.
Along The Coast To Messina
The train didn’t get up great speed as it made its way to the port of Messina, where it would cross to the Italian mainland.
I was surprised that we could actually see the Aeolian Islands and at one point, I thought I made out the distinctive double-peaked shape of Salina, where the salt for my supper came from.
My Train From Palermo
My train from Palermo to Naples was an old-fashioned corridor train, the like of which we haven’t seen for years in the UK, as since the development of the Mk 3 coach in the early 1970s, we’ve not built any of this type.
The class E565 is unusual compared to the UK as it is an articulated electric locomotive. Usually this type of locomotive is used, where there are a lot of tight curves or they need to run large locomotives on regular lines.
Incidentally, there doesn’t seem to be many passenger trains left these days, which are effectively single-ended like this one. In the UK, we do have trains with an engine at one end only, but there is usually a cab from which the train can be driven at the other end. The one exception is the long-distance sleeper trains, like those that go from London to Scotland.
Leaving Palermo
I left Palermo by train just after ten for my trip to Naples, which was scheduled to take a few minutes over nine hours.
Palermo station is a typical Italian edifice, but it does have a chapel.
The catering facilities were basic, with no signs of anything gluten-free, that I could eat, but then I’d had a large breakfast in the hotel.
The cappucino was just €1.50, so I couldn’t complain about the price. It wasn’t too bad either!
Into Palermo By Train
Getting into Palermo from the airport is easy by train, especially if like me you’ve chosen a hotel within walking distance of the main station.
I took the trip in, on a fairly empty train with a German girl, who was going cycling over Sicily. That is not for the faint hearted, as the island is fairly mountainous.
Sicily has quite an extensive rail network and it must be third only to the UK and Irish railways in size for an offshore European island.
Off To Palermo Tomorrow
I’m off to Palermo tomorrow on the 06:20 easyJet flight out of Gatwick, to do another home run by train.
My schedule is looking like this at the moment.
8th – Palermo
9th – Naples
10th – Genoa
11th – Turin
12th – Geneva
13th – Paris
14th – I’m booked on one of the last Eurostars back to London.
It’s Not A New Train
This may look like a new train, but it’s just a well refurbished one!
The story of the refurbishment of these Class 455 trains is detailed here in Wikipedia. It includes this comment.
This refurbishment was so comprehensive that many passengers thought the refurbished units were new trains.
But refurbishment of trains is something we do well in this country. And there are lots of similar trains built like these Class 455, running all over the UK. Some like the Class 317 are already being earmarked for full refurbishment and upgrading.
So don’t despair that the old rattletraps on your line are beyond improvement. Some designer or engineer has ideas for your trains. Whether they will get done is up to the Treasury, which is not a real bastion of hard core engineering and design.
A Stopover At Lincoln
Although my ultimate destination was Sheffield to see Ipswich Town play, I had brunch with an old friend at Lincoln on the way.
In some ways Lincoln and its station is a very sore point in the UK’s rail network. And my brief visit flagged up many of them.
The rail service from London for an important city like Lincoln, is inadequate despite many promises of direct trains from the capital. I changed at Newark and the train from there to Lincoln was a very clean, but very crowded Class 153. But then it was run by East Midlands Trains, who aren’t exactly famous for providing services that customers want, as my trip earlier in the week to Derby showed.
I found the information at the station to be up with the worst in levels of inadequacy. I knew that our meeting place; Carluccio’s was in the High Street, but I ended up walking the wrong way down it, as maps were not of the standard that many places now have. If they want to get tourists from London on the eight hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta in 2015, they ought to get some wayfinding experts in to advise.
There is also the infamous level crossing that causes endless holds-up to pedestrians and drivers going about their business. Surely, this relic of the nineteenth century should be done away. But as Beeching removed the obvious solution, it looks like it is something that the city will have to live with for some time.
Peterborough Station Gets Improved
Peterborough station is one I used to use a lot, as I changed from trains from East Anglia to the North. It is getting improved.
It certainly needs it and hopefully, the city will get the station it deserves.
The East Coast Main Line’s Lightweight Catenary
I tried to get a good picture of the overhead wiring or catenary as the train went north to Newark. This was the best I got.
The East Coast Main Line’s Lightweight Catenary
Compare this picture with some I took last week of the electrification at Eccles. As the lines at Eccles are not designed for 200 kph, you can understand, why the East Coast Main Line‘s electrification is not very robust and frequently gets dragged down.
The Anonymous Widower 