Trundling up the Douro

[Train jaune]

Had a little excursion up the Douro to Pinhao and then look a boat tour. Lovely old train and fantastic views of the river and vineyards. Was a bit hot but they kept things cool by keeping the train doors open

 

[D6130]

I did that trip in 1983 with two overnight stops in order to do the narrow gauge line from Tua to Braganca. There was no hotel in Tua, so I had to commute the short distance from Pinhao. The only loco-hauled train of the day to Braganca and back left before dawn, hauled by a single cab Bo-Bo diesel and I shared the wooden benched carriage with a group of agricultural workers who kindly shared their breakfast of bread, cheese and wine with me. I returned to Tua after lunch on a much more modern and comfortable, but less interesting, diesel railcar. On arrival back at Tua, one of the narrow gauge Mallet locomotives was in steam in the shed and one of the staff (who was not a driver!) very kindly moved it out into the yard, so I could take some photos, before returning to the hotel in Pinhao. The following morning, I took a train hauled by a class 1400 diesel to the end of the Portuguese line at Barca d' Alva, where I changed onto a decrepit German-built RENFE 'schienenbus' for a spectacular journey through a completely unpopulated arid mountain landscape to Salamanca in Spain, at one point crawling across a huge, curved and very rusty steel viaduct. Those were the days!

 

[Train jaune]

I did that trip in 1983 with two overnight stops in order to do the narrow gauge line from Tua to Braganca. There was no hotel in Tua, so I had to commute the short distance from Pinhao. The only loco-hauled train of the day to Braganca and back left before dawn, hauled by a single cab Bo-Bo diesel and I shared the wooden benched carriage with a group of agricultural workers who kindly shared their breakfast of bread, cheese and wine with me. I returned to Tua after lunch on a much more modern and comfortable, but less interesting, diesel railcar. On arrival back at Tua, one of the narrow gauge Mallet locomotives was in steam in the shed and one of the staff (who was not a driver!) very kindly moved it out into the yard, so I could take some photos, before returning to the hotel in Pinhao. The following morning, I took a train hauled by a class 1400 diesel to the end of the Portuguese line at Barca d' Alva, where I changed onto a decrepit German-built RENFE 'schienenbus' for a spectacular journey through a completely unpopulated arid mountain landscape to Salamanca in Spain, at one point crawling across a huge, curved and very rusty steel viaduct. Those were the days!

I'm a tad jealous D6130

 

[52290]

I did that trip in 1983 with two overnight stops in order to do the narrow gauge line from Tua to Braganca. There was no hotel in Tua, so I had to commute the short distance from Pinhao. The only loco-hauled train of the day to Braganca and back left before dawn, hauled by a single cab Bo-Bo diesel and I shared the wooden benched carriage with a group of agricultural workers who kindly shared their breakfast of bread, cheese and wine with me. I returned to Tua after lunch on a much more modern and comfortable, but less interesting, diesel railcar. On arrival back at Tua, one of the narrow gauge Mallet locomotives was in steam in the shed and one of the staff (who was not a driver!) very kindly moved it out into the yard, so I could take some photos, before returning to the hotel in Pinhao. The following morning, I took a train hauled by a class 1400 diesel to the end of the Portuguese line at Barca d' Alva, where I changed onto a decrepit German-built RENFE 'schienenbus' for a spectacular journey through a completely unpopulated arid mountain landscape to Salamanca in Spain, at one point crawling across a huge, curved and very rusty steel viaduct. Those were the days!

I did the Tua line some 11 years earlier when Kessler 2-6-0 tank E111 built in 1904 was at the head of the 9.41 mixed train to Mirandela. This took a leisurely two and a half hours for the 55km journey. E111 was one of the more modern locos on the line, E81 & E82 also on the Tua line, and of the same design, were built in 1886. The larger and more powerful 2-4-6-0T's were on the neighbouring Corgo and Sabor lines but not the Tua line.

 

[D6130]

View attachment 99148
I did the Tua line some 11 years earlier when Kessler 2-6-0 tank E111 built in 1904 was at the head of the 9.41 mixed train to Mirandela. This took a leisurely two and a half hours for the 55km journey. E111 was one of the more modern locos on the line, E81 & E82 also on the Tua line, and of the same design, were built in 1886. The larger and more powerful 2-4-6-0T's were on the neighbouring Corgo and Sabor lines but not the Tua line.

Wow! Fabulous photo! Unfortunately I can't locate my photos at the moment, but I seem to remember that the Mallet I saw at Tua in 1983 was no. E 186. However I am, as always, open to correction.

 

[52290]

Wow! Fabulous photo! Unfortunately I can't locate my photos at the moment, but I seem to remember that the Mallet I saw at Tua in 1983 was no. E 186. However I am, as always, open to correction.

Yes, as we get older memory fades! The CP never had a loco E186. The 2-4-6-0's were numbered E181-182 and E201-216 and the 0-4-4-0's were numbered E151-152 and E161-170. Could the one that you saw have been E168.

 

[D6130]

Could the one that you saw have been E168.

Quite possibly....or perhaps E166?

 

[alf]

Took the Tua trip in 2005.
And went up the branch to Mirandela in late afternoon & luckily found a hotel there.

We took the first rail car the next morning down to Tua.
It had two passengers us, & two drivers, a guard & a ticket examiner. No wonder it closed a couple of years later.

You often see romantic pictures of a ploughman & a shire horse workin in a rustic setting.

As our rail car gathered speed in the morning mist I saw an image in this depressed area of Portugal that I still remember.

In an adjacent field a man & his horse were ploughing close to the train. It was damp, cold & misty & both the horse & man looked thoroughly miserable. And it was the start of their working day.
I enjoyed the comparison with the four train crew.

 

[Train jaune]

Took the Tua trip in 2005.
And went up the branch to Mirandela in late afternoon & luckily found a hotel there.

We took the first rail car the next morning down to Tua.
It had two passengers us, & two drivers, a guard & a ticket examiner. No wonder it closed a couple of years later.

You often see romantic pictures of a ploughman & a shire horse workin in a rustic setting.

As our rail car gathered speed in the morning mist I saw an image in this depressed area of Portugal that I still remember.

In an adjacent field a man & his horse were ploughing close to the train. It was damp, cold & misty & both the horse & man looked thoroughly miserable. And it was the start of their working day.
I enjoyed the comparison with the four train crew.

Looking up the Tua valley with the disused railway heading north

 

[D6130]

View attachment 99203

Looking up the Tua valley with the disused railway heading north

Lovely photo. The dam looks higher than the disused railway, so would I be correct in assuming that the line has been flooded by the new reservoir?

 

[Clayton]

Lovely posts here! I’m sorry I missed the little branch lines, only closed quite recently. And didnt they have our class 50s for a while in that area?

 

[Giugiaro]

... I be correct in assuming that the line has been flooded by the new reservoir?

About 10 miles of the track is now underwater.

... didnt they have our class 50s for a while in that area?

The 1800's were mostly seen between the Douro and Tagus rivers in their first years, then South of the Tagus in their later days.