Thread by @jonworth

Welcome to #CrossBorderRail Day 32 - Simeria to Vidin twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Simeria. It’s a small railway town.

Today’s route map

The first train. Despite it only arriving 5 mins late from Cluj (where it starts), CFR is incapable of putting the locomotive on the other end in less than 20 minutes. So we’re late departing…

And CFR really makes SNCF look customer friendly. The station is empty. The locomotive is here. And they’ve managed to *increase* the delay just through the process of putting the locomotive on the other end of the train. And no announcement or info.

And we’ve just been routed out of Simeria like this. Why?

This one’s for you @FloEllebrecht - the outposts of DB Cargo! Calan Bai, on the line Simeria - Petrosani 🇷🇴

Standing to attention

#CrossBorderRail Train 120
IR 1836 11:18 Simeria - Craiova 16:30
Ave speed: 46 km/h
Operator: CFR

Train type: Electroputere electric locomotive and 4 carriages
⚡️
🚲: ✅ (one carriage is part baggage car)
🦽: ✅ (labelled as possible, not sure quite how!)
📶: ⛔️
🍽: ⛔️

A cute little works machine at Subcetate - pic for @zugkatze

One carriage here seems to be the CFR version of the TGV Lacroix design!

This used to be a dual track electrified line. One track has fallen into disrepair… to ever be re-opened I wonder?

The answer: yes it will be re-activated. A bridge is being re-constructed, necessitating a single track section.

Ok. If @vorortanleiter recommends a route, trust the recommendation! Simeria-Craiova is *wonderful* south of Petrosani

And how about this out of the back window! 🥰

Passengers straying across the tracks as the train approaches? Just hoot!

Now we’re south of the mountains it’s insanely hot. The air in the 3 air conditioned carriages is grim and people are coughing. I’m in the only #fensterauf carriage but the air coming in feels like from a hairdryer…

The listed line speed. And the speed the train actually does here - on the main line approaching Craiova.

So the train to Calafat was long gone when I got to Craiova almost an hour late. No minibuses going on a Sunday. So it’s the first use of the #CrossBorderRail emergency fund - to get driven to Calafat. There in 75 mins or so, then 🚲 to Bulgaria (Vidin)

And as my driver races through Craiova glimpses of some wonderful old houses out of the window. I think I need to do a Central Europe secondary cities tour… Varazdin, Szeged, Subotica, Craiova…

So this is actually proving to be useful. This is the main road to Calafat. It’s in good condition, but it’s not even a dual carriageway. The Calafat-Vidin bridge isn’t much use to locals. The train is awful. This road isn’t great. Who does it serve?

Did I just detour to Dover? 😜 Border queues ahead at Calafat - Vidin. But I might manage to go ahead a bit by bike!

Trucks. As far as the eye can see! 🤯

Passing some trucks

Currently stuck. The tool booth operators have a shift change. And the Romanian border guard is there but his Bulgarian counterpart is not. So I can’t go onto the bridge even though the bike path has no toll 🤷‍♂️ Calafat-Vidin bridge

I’ve been through some pretty awful borders in my time, but this tops the lot. Nothing is moving *at all*. The tailback grows… And as far as I can tell it’s all something with the Bulgarian border people. The Romanian guy is here…

And the Bulgarian side: trucks as far as the eye can see… I’m leaving the main road now and taking small roads into Vidin.

Yay. Puncture 2km from Vidin. Had to push. But I’m at the hotel in 1 piece. Damned shattered.

And one final tweet from a long day… due to these crazy temperatures I’m running out of clean clothes

How do I pack light and still have clean clothes each day?

The so called burrito technique

This hotel in Vidin has extra large towels - helps demonstrate!

1) Hand wash clothes in the sink. Shower gel is fine as detergent. Rinse and wring items

2) Lay items on a towel on the floor

3) Roll it up, then trample on it for a minute. You’ll feel towel getting damp

4) Hang items

Dry enough to wear tomorrow!