Thread by @fuenareva

The beautiful Bilbao-Abando station, the perfect starting point for a rail trip with friends across the Iberian peninsula 🚞🇪🇸🇵🇹

Expect a thread with plenty of trains, trams, beautiful cities, nice scenery, narrow gauge trains, retro trains & more trains 😄

#Porturail begins!

Renfe being renfe means... check-in before boarding 🤷🏻‍♂️

Also, Bilbao must be one the largest cities in Europe with the worst long distance rail service. Tell me about another place in Europe with a population of +1M in the metro area that only gets 4 trains per day...

Agur Bilbo 👋🏼

(These views have expiry date. The whole Abando station will soon be fully reconstructed for the arrival of high speed trains... and all platforms will be located on underground levels 😢)

Excited about this Iberian mini-interrail!

Traveling on my own on this Alvia Bilbao - Madrid, where I'll join the rest of the team @danalfcorc @ekainmunduate @inibelli234

#Porturail

A little overview of the route for the next few days, from the excellent European Rail Map of @EuropeanRailTT (seriously, if you don't have one already, buy it!)

Roughly Bilbao - Madrid - Lisboa - Porto - Vigo - Bilbao. With a couple of side trips, obviously 😄

A misty morning as we climb from the Basque seaside towards the Castilian plateau

Little stop in Miranda de Ebro, as we wait for the second "half" of the train to arrive from Irun

They couple together here and continue as one towards Madrid

Love the retro feel of what once was a major junction station of Northern Spain. Old maps. Old screens. Staff waving 👌🏼

Through the Pancorbo gorge, we enter the never-ending plains of Castilla

After Valladolid, we go through one of the wonders of "Alvia" trains. We enter the gauge-changing shed

Iberian standard lines are 1668mm wide - High speed lines use European standard 1435mm

Thanks to this "device" we can gently roll from one width to the other in less than 5'

Some pictures of the inside of this Renfe series 120 made by CAF.

It's one of the two series used for Alvia trains. It's not luxury on wheels, but seats are fairly ok and spacious. There are 🔌

I managed to grab a promo+ ticket. 26€ for a 5 hour trip in "1st class". Not bad.

Short visit to the @_DiningCar to grab a coffee.

Choice is very limited (cold & hot snacks only - elcafedeltren.com/#pdf), but at least prices are very reasonable (☕ 2,- €)

Seeing the snacks just piled there on top of a shelf brought memories of the Bulgarian dining cars 😂

Arrival at Madrid Chamartín station with a mere 4 minute delay.

This is the lesser known of the Madrid mainline stations (the other one is Madrid Atocha). Chamartín is the point of departure for trains to the North/Northwest of Spain, aka "green Spain"

Some pictures of yesterday's quick sightseeing around Madrid.

Here the old metros and old metro signs in Chamartín.

The old Atocha station. In 1992 the main hall was taken out of railway service, as trains moved to a new concourse further south.

The old "Estación del Mediodía" is now a shopping area with a massive tropical garden. Wonderful!

Príncipe Pío station.

This used to be the main station for northern Spain, until those services moved to Chamartín.

Fortunately part of the old building was preserved and converted in the 90s into an interchange pole between metro, cercanías and a few regional services.

🚈 Suburban railways (@CercaniasMadrid) flying above 🚇 @metro_madrid trains in an old mainline station at Principe Pío.

What a cool place!

Templo de Debod - even an Egyptian temple you can find in Madrid!

A short ride on the @Teleferico_mad up to "Casa de Campo" and then a pleasant walk around the park.

Really enjoyed the retro cabins of the cable car!

Continuing yesterdays thread with the mini tour around Madrid...

Lago metro station, one of the few @metro_madrid station located above ground. And with a beautiful entrance building, from when it was part of a narrow gauge suburban railway.

And onto day 2 #Porturail

We're doing what may well be one of the most adventurous train journeys on the Iberian peninsula. Madrid 🇪🇸 to Lisbon 🇵🇹. Seems easy, it should be easy, but it's not so much 😅

4 trains, 3 tickets & 9 hours on the 🛤️ with some very tight connections!

Normally you'd start this journey at Madrid Atocha, but since we stayed overnight at a friend's house south of Madrid, it was surprisingly more convenient to board the train at the village of Illescas, rather than going back north to Madrid.

It's a charming station 😄

We're on a Renfe 599 train, single class. There are plugs and seats are spacious, but that's it, no more amenities.

Renfe insists on calling these trains "Media Distancia" (middle distance), even if this particular train goes from Madrid, via Extremadura, all the way to Seville.

This is obviously not a @_DiningCar 😂

However, if we're lucky we may get one later on the day.

Views can get a little bit monotonous as we cross Castilla La Mancha and Extremadura 😅

Fortunately there are some nice reservoirs between Monfragüe and Cáceres.

As we approach Mérida, we get a sneak peek of the Roman viaduct.

Mérida is famous for its well preserved Roman ruins, of what was once one of the main Roman cities of the Iberian peninsula.

#PicsFromTrains
#Porturail

Changing 🔀 trains in Mérida

This station acts as the regional hub in Extremadura. 4 trains meet exactly at the same time going on all four directions, with "guaranteed connections" (Renfe will make trains wait each other if not very late).

We continue west towards Badajoz!

And we made it!

After some slight delays, we catched up and arrived with 10 minutes to change 🔀 train in Badajoz. Enough to take once-per-day Badajoz 🇪🇸 - Entroncamento 🇵🇹, train by Portuguese CP, on a 1950s railbus

As always, thanks @seatsixtyone for the inspiration & advice!

Bem-vindos a Portugal 🇵🇹

Beautiful station after beautiful station, we reach the Tejo in Abrantes.

Arrived in Entroncamento after a, well, a rather bumpy ride on that old-school diesel railbus.

Entroncamento is, in a way, the core of the Portuguese railway network. It was created as a railway town in the mid 19th century, and the name literally means "junction".

Cafezinho e Super Bock, with railway views

Portugal 🇵🇹

Museu Nacional Ferroviario, now that's a very very good reason to come back some other time to Entroncamento!

Look at our train for Lisboa! A portugese classic!

A series 5600 loco, hauling some beautiful 1st & 2nd class corail inox cars. The standard set of an InterCidades train. I seriously can't love this enough. Retro vibes and comfort in equal shares.

Now that's a proper train! 😍

Some more pics of these classic #Corail coaches.

Comfort on wheels! 🤩

I think it's safe to say that we're #TeamCorail 😄

And look at this! 🤩

Now, this is a proper @_DiningCar ! 🚃🍽️☕

@danalfcorc and myself couldn't avoid paying a visit to the "Cafetaria", grabbing a quick cup of coffee, and enjoying it as we approached Lisbon at 200 km/h. A real train travel feeling!

Brief stop in Lisboa - Oriente, before arriving into our final stop

Perhaps one of the few Calatrava buildings that didn't turn out to be a complete disaster? 😅

So... The twitter thread was paused during the holidays. But I will continue it during the next few days.

Expect trams, trains, amazing scenery, #FensterAuf, and amazing coffee 🇵🇹

#Porturail continues!

Arrival into Lisboa Santa Apolonia station.

What a beautiful station to end our trip in the iconic Corail first class.

It brought me memories of an early morning arrival in the Sud Expresso some years ago 🥲

See you later inox!

Direct transfer from CP into @metro_lisboa, which will bring us to our hostel.

That was all for #Porturail day 2. After 4 trains, 3 tickets and a little bit of stress. Madrid to Lisbon, all by rail!

🇪🇦🛤️🇵🇹

#PortuRail 🇵🇹 Day 3 starts with a visit to Rossio station. Here we will get our passes (bought online). And check this out 👉🏼 we're using the EXCELLENT deal of CP called #IntraRail for under 31s with a local youth card

7 days unlimited travel + 6 nights of youth hostel for 127€

Morning walk around Baixa.

Touristy but not as packed with tourists as it was before covid.

Oh look at that!

We were walking around Lisbon and suddenly saw some trams. That was unexpected! 😄

We must have found by pure luck, the stop where the less touristy line starts 😏

Lisbon tram line 1️⃣8️⃣ Cais do Sodré - Cemitério de Ajuda

While tourists flock to line 28, other lines get much less attention.

Surely, the route of line 18 may be a little less scenic, but is still a beautiful line, served exclusively by the charmful "remodelados" old trams.

🚋 A retro tram just for us, in the morning of a workday in August.

Much more enjoyable than cramping into a 28 tram full of tourists and pickpockets.

Just open the window, feel the breeze and enjoy the ride!

As we walk back through Ajuda we have to opportunity to photograph these "remodelado" trams

Built in the late 30s, they were modernised in the 90s (new motors, conversion to unidirectional, added a pantograph), as it was decided then to preserve what was left of the tram network

Near Boa Hora stop there is one of the few spots where interlaced tracks remain in Lisbon. Vestiges of the old, much bigger, tram network.

The curve is so narrow that the tram track must go beyond its lane to allow for a minimum radius.

Tram/train nerds will appreciate 🤓

Reject touristy 2️⃣8️⃣

Embrace local 1️⃣8️⃣

25 de Abril Bridge seen from Miradouro de Santo Amaro

Visit to the Lisbon tram museum, managed by the local tram & bus operator Carris.

First you visit a building with a little exhibition about the history of public transport in Lisbon.

Then you get a short ride in this beautiful retro tram through the depot to the second site.

The second site of the museum is located in some old sheds of the depot.

It includes quite a nice collection of old Lisbon trams (americanos, caixotes, etc) and old buses.

A nice visit for those interested in public transport history.

The Ascensor da Bica was unfortunately closed due to summer works. A pity, it's definitely my favourite of the 3 😢

So we took the metro uptown and enjoyed the endless escalators of Baixa-Chiado station.

From Largo Camões we took Elétrico 24, to Campolide

This line is rather particular, since it's the first line to have re-opened recently. Closed in the 90s, like most of the network, it came back to life in 2018

It offers some unusual views of the old trams outside the old town

🎥 Elétrico 24 departing from Campolide with destination Largo Camões

#PortuRail

As tram 24 descends from Campolide to Largo Camões, it passes through the "Arco Triunfal das Amoeiras".

The arch was built in 1748 as part of the "Águas Livres" aqueduct, which ensured a water supply for the city in the 18th century.

A nice place for some tram pics 📸🚋

The views of Lisbon from São Pedro de Alcântara garden 😍

🚋📽️ Another tram 24 as it goes down to Chiado

#PortuRail

Elevador da Glória

The first lift opened here in 1885 and was powered by water counterweights. In 1886 it switched to steam power, and was finally electrified in 1915.

At the time it was a comfortable way to climb Lisbon's steep streets. Now it's rather slow, but full of charm!

📽️ The Elevador da Glória slowly climbing the 44 meters of incline between Baixa and Bairro Alto.

Elevador do Lavra

The less well-known brother of the Glória lift. Even if they're almost identical, it gets much less attention.

It opened in 1884, which makes it the oldest funicular in the city.

Walking down Pena neighbourhood.

The intense August sun and the colourful buildings, such a beautiful combo!

Tram 12

The circular route that climbs up the steep streets Graça. Wonderful.

Riding the 25 up to Prazeres.

In the terminus we witnessed some shunting manoeuvres to allow for a correct timetabled departure , since two 28 trams had arrived one after the other, with the second 28 blocking the way of the 25.

Through the narrow streets, up and down the hills.

The beautiful 28 tramline is best enjoyed in the evening, when crowds disappear and the centre & trams become more manageable.

🌃🚋 Night trams

#PortuRail

What a wonderful day with the old trams around Lisboa and enjoying the charming neighbourhoods. I never get tired of it.

#PortuRail 🇵🇹 Day 3

#PortuRail 🇵🇹 Day 4

#Railxploring around Lisbon, Sintra and surroundings. And then onwards to Coimbra

The day started with a trip on the suburban train from Lisboa Entrecampos to Portela de Sintra.

A short walk away from Portela de Sintra, we arrive to the terminus of the Elétrico de Sintra, the wonderful retro tram of Sintra

Opened in 1904, the 11 km narrow gauge line links the centre of Sintra with Praia das Maçãs on the seaside

It is operated with beautiful retro trams

The tram is not particularly fast, although it does provide some nice views of the hills around Sintra.

We also cross some villages like here in Colares.

Note that there is no pneumatic brake, so the driver uses mainly the handbrake, a rather demanding task!

We arrive at Praia das Maçãs, by the seaside, where the line ends.

The guard turns around the trolley pole and the tram is set to depart towards sintra.

But there's always time for a quick group picture 📸

#PortuRail

Saying adeus 👋🏼 to the Atlantic Ocean from the best seats on the tram!

The views from the back seats as we slowly climb back from the ocean to the town of Sintra.

#PortuRail

🚋 Ding ding, and there it goes the Sintra Tram back to the depot.

What a pleasant ride on this retro open tram.

#PortuRail #SintraTram #EletricoSintra

Lunch ended the Portugese 🇵🇹 way. Wonderful.

Back in Lisbon, we find ourselves in Campolide station, where we change 🔀 trains.

From a CP suburban train we change into a Fertagus train. These are the only private passenger trains in 🇵🇹 and operate the commuter line from central Lisbon to the southern suburbs through the 🌉

Crossing the always impressive 25 de Abril bridge 🌉

The bridge itself opened to road traffic in 1966. It was only in 1999 that after some works, the rail tracks were laid out on the lower level.

Little photo that the transit map geeks will appreciate.

Look at the line between Pragal and Campolide... love the little detail 😄

#TransitMaps @transitmap

In Pinhal Novo we change back to CP, where we take a series 2240 EMU to Barreiro, along the Linha do Sado.

Get used to the inox, there's lots of it used by CP 😄

Barreiro - end of the line

Before the opening of the rail tracks on the 25 de Abril bridge, almost all trains from Southern Portugal would end here, and then passengers would proceed to Lisbon by ferry

Long distance trains are gone, but commuter trains & ferries still meet here

Boarding our quick @cacilheiros Soflusa ferry, from Barreiro to Terreiro do Paço, in downtown Lisbon.

The ride takes approximately 20 minutes.

⛴️ Sailing across the Tagus river estuary

A last glimpse of the elétricos in Lisboa 🤩

Here tram 28 at the Miradouro Sta Luzia stop.

#PortuRail

Ending our stay in Lisbon the best possible way.

Enjoying the wonderful view from the Santa Luzia outlook, and getting lost on the back alleys of Alfama.

#PortuRail

We continue our trip from Lisboa Oriente station.

While we wait for our InterCidades to Coimbra, there's enough time to take pics to some of the Sorefame coaches serving another InterCidades going south to Évora

We travel 2️⃣ class this time on this corail InterCidades. Not the same retro vibes as 1st, but still a very comfortable ride.

Each car has spice for bikes, excellent!

And obviously, there's plenty of time to pay a quick visit to the @_DiningCar to get a little bottle of wine 🍷

Arrived at Coimbra-B.

Now, a little bit of "Need for speed" Coimbra and we're already at the hostel!