Photo charter: Viborg-Rønbjerg-Randers

After the day’s events I joined a Klub 40 photo charter with E991 from Viborg-Rønbjerg-Randers.

Our locomotive for the evening (E991) was built to a Swedish design by Frichs at Arhus in 1947 and had a relatively short spell hauling express trains as NOHAB GM diesels took over this work in the mid 1950s. This evening E991 was scheduled to run to Viborg to take passengers home from the day’s events and would then be used for the photo-charter.

The charter was scheduled to leave at 16:56 and was carefully timetabled to allow service trains to cross, giving us a good two hours of runpasts and photo stops via before arriving at Rønbjerg just before 7pm. Afterwards we could just sit back and relax with a tender first run back from Rønbjerg to Randers, arriving around 9pm.

I think luck was really on our side as the light was perfect and made for a wonderful evening of photography. Sometimes you go days trying to get one good shot whilst on other occasions, like today, you can rattle off several good shots within an hour or two. The rural scenery was a great backdrop for E991 and the steel mainline stock.

Open day at Randers

I made an early start to make the most of the DSB Museum’s open day at Randers. The focus of events was split between their roundhouse/shed and the line between Randers and Langa.

Throughout the day the line between Randers and Langa saw museum services hauled by a mix of steam, diesel and railcar, dovetailed between regular services. Additional steam and diesel services brought visitors to the event from Arhus and Viborg. A vintage bus service also ran between Randers and Langa. It was all quite affordable – it cost around £8 to visit the shed (including steam shuttles) and about £8 for a return ticket to Langa.

Steam locomotives E991, HV3 and F441 were in action (F441 operating shuttles between the station and the shed) as well as Nohab/GM diesel-electric locos and railcars.

I spent most of the day exploring the area rather than at the shed – following the footpaths that ran alongside the line to see which afforded the best views. I didn’t really set out with much of a plan on this occasion and just went with the flow. It was probably just as well – a more ambitious idea of travelling between vantage spots by bus might easily have unravelled as I discovered that the local bus services could (and did) run as much as ten minutes early at times!

Dockside at Randers

E991 approaches Randers with a special from Arhus

NOHAB Mx 1101 leaves Randers

NOHAB Mx 1001 passes Randers Regnskov on the approach to Randers

NOHAB Mx 1001 at Randers with a demonstration freight

A NOHAB GM diesel on the track outside Randers station

Ascension Day in Denmark

An early morning flight from London Stansted delivered me to Arhus in Denmark for a short trip built around the Randers Open Day and a Photo Charter with a Danish steam locomotive (E991).

I was slightly surprised by the compact nature of the airport at Arhus, particularly queueing for passport control in an outside corridor before entering the terminal building! Still, it was good to arrive and after a bit of a wait I was relieved to see the bus to Randers appear. However, when I arrived I was quite surprised to see Randers looking as deserted as a ghost town…

I hadn’t realised that (a) it was ascension day, (b) that it was a public holiday celebrated in Denmark and (c) that consequently almost everywhere would be shut. Anyone who knows the depths of my homework before any trip will realise that this was a little embarassing. Never mind, if nothing else it was a good excuse to eat some chocolate bars – seeing as the newsagents was the only shop I could find open!

Although I hadn’t anticipated starting the trip on such a quiet day, I couldn’t really complain. The weather was superb and I was able to have a good walk around town and soak up the calm atmosphere of the wetlands at Vorup Enge. I was also delighted with my choice of hotel – the Scandic – which gave me a great view across the town from the hillside.

A view across Randers from the Scandic