Lithuania and Latvia - September 2018
Although I've been to Latvia a number of times in the last two and a half years, this is my first return visit to Lithuania for 23 years!
On the 16th I flew from Bristol to Lithuania's second city Kaunas spending two nights there, two nights in Daugavpils in Latvia and two nights in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital. The weather was unbelievably good for all five days, just falling apart on the Saturday morning, a foretaste of what I could expect back home that afternoon!
Day 1, Monday 17th was spent west of Kaunas along the mainline to Kaliningrad in Russia. I started at Kazlų Rūda, the junction between the Kaliningrad line and the line down to the Polish border, both of which see plenty of traffic. I contined west to the Russian border at Kybartai before spending the last couple of hours in the countryside near Pilviškiai.
Day 2, Tuesday was more problematic. My intention was to spend much of the day around Jonava, to the NE of Kaunas along LG's mainline from Kaišiadorys to the Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda which, like Ventspils and Riga in Latvia, exports raw materials - coal, oil, wood chip - from Russia and Belarus. It also supports passenger services, both long distance (Vilnius to Klaipeda) and local. Well that was the intention. It started well enough, at Kaišiadorys I saw both a Klaipeda bound freight, with 68 cars double headed by two ER20Cs, and the 06:40 Klaipeda to Vilnius. From Kaišiadorys I drove to Jonava, stopping in the small village of Gaižiūnai where there was a yard and a connection to a chemical plant which had a number of interesting looking shunters. But nothing moved. I waited, and waited and then gave up and drove on to Jonava, where all became clear; there were no trains because LG were carrying out track maintenance work between Jonava and Gaižiūnai, on the single track to the east of the bridge over the Meris River. It was about 13:00. A passenger train was due at 15:30 so I guessed the maintenance team had possession of the railway until then. I was due in Daugavpils in Latvia that evening so I decided to try my luck there instead, Jonava could wait. Glad I did.
Day 3: my intention on Wednesday was to follow the line east from Daugavpils towards the border with Belarus. It's a busy single track railway with most motive power supplied by Belarus Railways (BCh) and most being 2TE10s with the Khar'kov OP engine. Of course busy is relative, it can mean multiple hours between trains, but I saw a fair number, including an LDz powered trip working to the wood pulp mill at Kraslava, the only real town between Daugavpils and the border. Back in town I shot some pictures of Daugavpils small three route tram system.
Day 4 Thursday turned out to be a stellar day, firstly watching the action in the bigger of the two yards in Daugavpils and secondly because of the large number of trains I saw in the afternoon. Because I had to be in Vilnius in the evening, a drive of 178 kms from Daugavpils, I restricted my afternoon activies to the 62 km stretch between Daugavpils and Līvāni.
Day 5; On Friday I started off on the Minsk mainline towards the Belarus border. On my way I was stopped at a level crossing on the Vilnius freight by-pass by a train which could only be going to Belarus. I found a spot near the village of Kena and didn't have to wait long before it showed up, another burly ER20C upfront. From there I went back towards Vilnius and spent some time on the line which heads due south towards Lida in Belarus but nothing moved. So for the afternoon I headed back to Jonava, stopping firstly on the mainline to Kaunas at a nice little spot with wide lineside views near Zasliai station. LG's Russian design OHLE is far less obtrusive than the stuff Network Rail is erecting. From Zasliai I followed the 143 towards Jonava, stoppng once again at the Achema plant where three of the TEM7As were visible and one was clearly under power and waiting to go, which it did shortly after I walked up to the bridge. Then to Gaižiūnai again and on to Jonava and beyond, returning to Gaižiūnai for what may be the best train of the holiday, the 17:45 Vilnius to Klaipeda - a TEP70 and eight cars.
On Saturday I had to be back at Kaunas Airport by late morning so spent a couple of hours lineside at Zasliai. Conditions couldn't have been more different. On Friday it was still 20C when I left Gaižiūnai at 18:50, i walked around Vilnius that evening in shirt sleeves, sitting outside enjoying a beer overlooking the station. Less than 12 hours later it was blowing a gale, there was some torrential rain at times and the temperature was barely 12C. But that's the Baltic for you.
Read MoreOn the 16th I flew from Bristol to Lithuania's second city Kaunas spending two nights there, two nights in Daugavpils in Latvia and two nights in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital. The weather was unbelievably good for all five days, just falling apart on the Saturday morning, a foretaste of what I could expect back home that afternoon!
Day 1, Monday 17th was spent west of Kaunas along the mainline to Kaliningrad in Russia. I started at Kazlų Rūda, the junction between the Kaliningrad line and the line down to the Polish border, both of which see plenty of traffic. I contined west to the Russian border at Kybartai before spending the last couple of hours in the countryside near Pilviškiai.
Day 2, Tuesday was more problematic. My intention was to spend much of the day around Jonava, to the NE of Kaunas along LG's mainline from Kaišiadorys to the Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda which, like Ventspils and Riga in Latvia, exports raw materials - coal, oil, wood chip - from Russia and Belarus. It also supports passenger services, both long distance (Vilnius to Klaipeda) and local. Well that was the intention. It started well enough, at Kaišiadorys I saw both a Klaipeda bound freight, with 68 cars double headed by two ER20Cs, and the 06:40 Klaipeda to Vilnius. From Kaišiadorys I drove to Jonava, stopping in the small village of Gaižiūnai where there was a yard and a connection to a chemical plant which had a number of interesting looking shunters. But nothing moved. I waited, and waited and then gave up and drove on to Jonava, where all became clear; there were no trains because LG were carrying out track maintenance work between Jonava and Gaižiūnai, on the single track to the east of the bridge over the Meris River. It was about 13:00. A passenger train was due at 15:30 so I guessed the maintenance team had possession of the railway until then. I was due in Daugavpils in Latvia that evening so I decided to try my luck there instead, Jonava could wait. Glad I did.
Day 3: my intention on Wednesday was to follow the line east from Daugavpils towards the border with Belarus. It's a busy single track railway with most motive power supplied by Belarus Railways (BCh) and most being 2TE10s with the Khar'kov OP engine. Of course busy is relative, it can mean multiple hours between trains, but I saw a fair number, including an LDz powered trip working to the wood pulp mill at Kraslava, the only real town between Daugavpils and the border. Back in town I shot some pictures of Daugavpils small three route tram system.
Day 4 Thursday turned out to be a stellar day, firstly watching the action in the bigger of the two yards in Daugavpils and secondly because of the large number of trains I saw in the afternoon. Because I had to be in Vilnius in the evening, a drive of 178 kms from Daugavpils, I restricted my afternoon activies to the 62 km stretch between Daugavpils and Līvāni.
Day 5; On Friday I started off on the Minsk mainline towards the Belarus border. On my way I was stopped at a level crossing on the Vilnius freight by-pass by a train which could only be going to Belarus. I found a spot near the village of Kena and didn't have to wait long before it showed up, another burly ER20C upfront. From there I went back towards Vilnius and spent some time on the line which heads due south towards Lida in Belarus but nothing moved. So for the afternoon I headed back to Jonava, stopping firstly on the mainline to Kaunas at a nice little spot with wide lineside views near Zasliai station. LG's Russian design OHLE is far less obtrusive than the stuff Network Rail is erecting. From Zasliai I followed the 143 towards Jonava, stoppng once again at the Achema plant where three of the TEM7As were visible and one was clearly under power and waiting to go, which it did shortly after I walked up to the bridge. Then to Gaižiūnai again and on to Jonava and beyond, returning to Gaižiūnai for what may be the best train of the holiday, the 17:45 Vilnius to Klaipeda - a TEP70 and eight cars.
On Saturday I had to be back at Kaunas Airport by late morning so spent a couple of hours lineside at Zasliai. Conditions couldn't have been more different. On Friday it was still 20C when I left Gaižiūnai at 18:50, i walked around Vilnius that evening in shirt sleeves, sitting outside enjoying a beer overlooking the station. Less than 12 hours later it was blowing a gale, there was some torrential rain at times and the temperature was barely 12C. But that's the Baltic for you.
Not sure what this hopper carries, the wording translates as Gruppa Kompanii Sodruzhestvo, but that's as far as I can get. Maybe grain or other agricultural products?
