image121-Bryrup-Triangle-railcar
Bryrup Vrads, Denmark on a Triangle Railcar, 18 Aug 1984
In August and September 1984, the California Air National Guard gave me a paid working vacation to Karup, Denmark, with time in Wiesbaden, Germany before and after our time in Denmark.
Karup is about dead center of Jutland, the peninsula that sticks up like a thumb from northern Germany.
Jutland has an extensive railway network by US standards and in years past had an even more extensive net. An old atlas that I have shows lines going seemingly everywhere, including a route that ran through Karup. By 1984, that was abandoned and replaced with an hourly bus service and the rail grade was a bike/hike trail.
Another abandoned line was the Horsens-Bryrup-Silkeborg Railway, a bit east of Karup. 5 km of that line through a scenic stretch of lakes, hills and forests is preserved as the Veteranbaner Bryrup-Vrads. Bryrup is a town of about 1500 people which the operational base of the railway. Vrads has all of 200 inhabitants, but if you just ride the railway to end of track and back, you might not see them, as the station is situated a bit out of town.
I took the bus from Karup to Herning, and an MR DMU to Vjele, which is situated on a fjord on Jutland's east coast. If you think a a spectacular mountain valley when you hear fjord, well, in Danish it means "inlet" or "bay" and a Danish fjord does not look like a Norwegian fjord.
I had a bit of time to kill in Vjele before the bus to Bryrup, and did a quick look around the town including some trackside time, where I got MZs on freight and passenger trains.
The bus to Bryrup dropped me off near the veteran railway. I got there before operations started and saw another couple looking around at the Triangle rail car set and Class F 0-6-0T.
"Kein Dampf", said the man. "Ja, kein Dampf, aber ein sehr interestant benzinmekanische Triebwagen." Having established that we spoke German and I spoke it with an American accent, I think we switched to English. (If you don't speak German, he said, "No steam" and I replied, "Yes, no steam, but a very interesting gasoline-mechanical rail car.")
In a short time, railway volunteers arrived, fired up the railcar, a 1929 Triangle (See veteranbanen.dk/index.html for information about the line and its equipment. The site is in Danish, but Google translate will help if you are using Chrome.), sold us tickets, and away went our time machine through the woods and past lakes to Vrads station. Perhaps Vrads was supposed to grow, as its station is far more impressive than you would expect for a town of 200 people.
I stopped in Vrads for a while and photographed a couple of Scandia railcars from the 1950s as well as other equipmetn the line had stored there. The website shows that the Scandias are in far better shape today than when I saw them 34 years ago.
The Triangles came back and I photographed their arrival, then rode them back to Bryrup. The crew allowed people to ride in the cab and the German couple and I did so.
I noticed a rustic halt along Kvindso, one of the lakes and walked to that to catch the Triangles after photographing their departure from Bryrup.
Google Maps today shows more houses along the ROW in Bryrup, along with what might be a new building for the railway. The website mentions another Class F 0-6-0T as well as a 2-6-0T that I did not see in 1984.
From my photos, it looks like I left Bryrup toward sundown on the bus back to Vejle. I arrived back at Herning after dark in time to see an MZ on IC 171 from Copenhagen.
A good day out.
image121-Bryrup-Triangle-railcar
Bryrup Vrads, Denmark on a Triangle Railcar, 18 Aug 1984
In August and September 1984, the California Air National Guard gave me a paid working vacation to Karup, Denmark, with time in Wiesbaden, Germany before and after our time in Denmark.
Karup is about dead center of Jutland, the peninsula that sticks up like a thumb from northern Germany.
Jutland has an extensive railway network by US standards and in years past had an even more extensive net. An old atlas that I have shows lines going seemingly everywhere, including a route that ran through Karup. By 1984, that was abandoned and replaced with an hourly bus service and the rail grade was a bike/hike trail.
Another abandoned line was the Horsens-Bryrup-Silkeborg Railway, a bit east of Karup. 5 km of that line through a scenic stretch of lakes, hills and forests is preserved as the Veteranbaner Bryrup-Vrads. Bryrup is a town of about 1500 people which the operational base of the railway. Vrads has all of 200 inhabitants, but if you just ride the railway to end of track and back, you might not see them, as the station is situated a bit out of town.
I took the bus from Karup to Herning, and an MR DMU to Vjele, which is situated on a fjord on Jutland's east coast. If you think a a spectacular mountain valley when you hear fjord, well, in Danish it means "inlet" or "bay" and a Danish fjord does not look like a Norwegian fjord.
I had a bit of time to kill in Vjele before the bus to Bryrup, and did a quick look around the town including some trackside time, where I got MZs on freight and passenger trains.
The bus to Bryrup dropped me off near the veteran railway. I got there before operations started and saw another couple looking around at the Triangle rail car set and Class F 0-6-0T.
"Kein Dampf", said the man. "Ja, kein Dampf, aber ein sehr interestant benzinmekanische Triebwagen." Having established that we spoke German and I spoke it with an American accent, I think we switched to English. (If you don't speak German, he said, "No steam" and I replied, "Yes, no steam, but a very interesting gasoline-mechanical rail car.")
In a short time, railway volunteers arrived, fired up the railcar, a 1929 Triangle (See veteranbanen.dk/index.html for information about the line and its equipment. The site is in Danish, but Google translate will help if you are using Chrome.), sold us tickets, and away went our time machine through the woods and past lakes to Vrads station. Perhaps Vrads was supposed to grow, as its station is far more impressive than you would expect for a town of 200 people.
I stopped in Vrads for a while and photographed a couple of Scandia railcars from the 1950s as well as other equipmetn the line had stored there. The website shows that the Scandias are in far better shape today than when I saw them 34 years ago.
The Triangles came back and I photographed their arrival, then rode them back to Bryrup. The crew allowed people to ride in the cab and the German couple and I did so.
I noticed a rustic halt along Kvindso, one of the lakes and walked to that to catch the Triangles after photographing their departure from Bryrup.
Google Maps today shows more houses along the ROW in Bryrup, along with what might be a new building for the railway. The website mentions another Class F 0-6-0T as well as a 2-6-0T that I did not see in 1984.
From my photos, it looks like I left Bryrup toward sundown on the bus back to Vejle. I arrived back at Herning after dark in time to see an MZ on IC 171 from Copenhagen.
A good day out.