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Nardo's real life pictures

Started by Nardo69, May 24, 2009, 04:37:14 AM

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Nardo69

Warning 1: contents rather big pictures that may take some time to load!

Warning 2: you might be astonished but beneath railway and / in Sc4 there are some other things I am interested in  :D


Something I do love in May is the bloom of rhododendron and azalea. Not far away from the place where I am now a rather big gardener has made a quite well known rhododendron garden and each year there is a rhododendron party there - nothing big some coffee'n'cake, beer (obviously) and sausage, of course you can buy plants all over the weekend ...

...  and you can make a nice walk through this rhododendron garden. It is wonderful as you may see on my pics; it is just a pity that I cannot give you the smell of the flowers and blossoms there ...
















Have fun!


Bernhard  :thumbsup:


PS: Of course there might be railway pics here in the future ...

kwakelaar

Beautiful pictures, Bernhard. Pink and orange together, you would think it would look awful, but I have the same combination in my garden with azaleas, and I love seeing these two colours combined every spring.

rooker1

Absolutely superb pictures.  The first is the best.
This year my garden will most likely not look its best as I juust moved into the house and have many other projects.  But next year I hope to amaze my neighbours with my green thumb.

Robin  :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.

Nardo69

I should post here more often I guess ... Quite exactly one year after the initial post here is my first update in the RL picture section.

Right at the moment there is the "[urlhttp://www.sailtraininginternational.org/events/2010-sail-training-international-events/historical-seas-tall-ships-regatta]Historical Seas Tall Ships Regatta 2010[/url]". Quite a lot of big sail ships race here in the Aegean and Marmara sea. This weekend they landed at the international harbor of Karaköy in Istanbul where they could be visited.
It was the first time ever I went there as this area is international ground like in big airports and as such off limits for locals.

Here are some impressions from today. I hope to be able to make some more photos tomorrow when the ships leave Istanbul for the next race.


The "MIR" (Russia), "Shabab Oman" (Oman), "Dewaruci" (Indonesia) and "Dar Mlodziezy" (Poland) at the quai of Karaköy, Istanbul


The russian sail ship "MIR"


The polish sail ship "DAR MLODZIEZY" The "DAR MLODZIEZY" and the "MIR" are sister ships, the "DAR MLODZIEZY" ist the first and the "MIR" the third of a series of five sail ships.


The German sail ship "Alexander von Humboldt" which was the first in a long row of sail ships was the oldest ship to be seen in Karaköy this weekend.

If there is some interest I may show some more pictures. Also, I hope to make some pictures of the ships under sail when they leave tomorrow.

Have fun!


Bernhard  :thumbsup:






wes.janson

Nice pics Nardo. Personally, I love anything to do with Tall Ships.. the history, the craftsmanship, the beauty. We recently had the Russian tall ship: Kruzenshtern berth in Vancouver carrying the Sochi 2014 flag during the 2010 Olympics. Seeing that giant monster was quite the treat.


Henrik Sedin: 82gp 29g 83a 112p - 2009/2010 Art Ross/Hart Trophy winner!

wallasey

Great images of the tall ships there....they normally come into Liverpool but I haven't heard anything of them this year.

Are you on Flickr out of interest?

Nardo69

An interesting thing about the TCDD (Turkish railways) is that its network is separated in three parts:


  • The European Network, with the Istanbul Sirkeci Terminal Station, the start and end of the famous Orient Expres
  • The Anatolian Network, with the Istanbul Haydarpasa Terminal Station, the start of the famous Bagdad railway
  • The connection between the Van Lake and the border to Iran
These three networks are connected by railway ferries on the Bosporus and the Marmara Sea between Sirkeci and Haydarpasa and the ferries on the Van Lake. However there is the tunnel project in Istanbul which will finish the ferry connection there so if you want to see them it's time to plan a trip to Istanbul - soon!



Seeing their front makes it a bit difficult to separate them from the standard car ferries Sirkeci - Harem which ran almost parallel to the railway ferries.



Seen from the side passing at Topkapi Palace ...



and at Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia they are easily to be recognized as their load is higher than cars as well as railway ferries have only one bridges ...



... while car ferries have two bridges.

Have fun.

Bernhard

Ciuu96

Istanbul is such a beautiful (and dense, especially in the old parts, like Sultanahmet) city, I visited there last summer. Full of historical beautiful mosques, palaces, streets and other buildings, and a great atmosphere too.  :) One of my favourite cities where have I ever been, even though I always say that after being somewhere.  ;D

Didn't use the railways though, never left the city and the local train system isn't very useful for a tourist. That might change with the Marmaray Project, though. Trams, metros and ferries were enough, I never use taxis unless there is no other way to get to your destination.
Has it really been almost 2 years?
Must return. :)

Nardo69

On Saturday I received the DSLR back from the repair of the memory card slut that I got from my father's heritage. So I decided to make a walk to find a suitable motive to get used to the DSLR - Haydarpasha station!


The railway station head with the depot and some old  banliö treni (the railway metro)


Some years ago there was a truck under that green thingie - I think it was for cleaning the rolling stock.


A small manoeuvre diesel pushed and pulled some cars while a banliö treni was about to arrive at Haydarpasha.


Another one was leaving mostly at the same moment passing the electric locos on the waiting tracks.


Some seconds later they passed each others.


While the banliö treni entered the station a read DE24 Diesel started to move from the depot to the harbour tracks. Diesel locos pulling trains are not so often to be seen in Haydarpasa as the two railway lines at Istanbul (one on the Asian, one on the European side) are electrified.


All these pictures were made on a street bridge that crosses the station head of Haydarpasa station. Due to the traffic on that one way road I hardly catched the loco on the other side ...


No, no graffitti. Interesting thing though that I cannot remember seeing trains with graffitti here in Istanbul ..

Next part will be inside the station so stay tuned. ;) Oh, and each picture contains a link to the same picture with a higher resolution ... ;)

Nardo69

Not much traffic around here - maybe we can change that a bit with part 2? ;)


Half portrait study of the E43, the standart electric loco of the TCDD. It's a japanese Bo'BoBo' Type, designed for freight trains ...


An Adapazari Ekspresi is waiting for departure. They are the only trains except Express trains that use cars and are not mototrains in Haydarpasha.


The faces of the old and the new Banliö treni (commuter trains).


New faces in front of old faces ...


This building must be something like a repair shed for freight cars. At least old cars in front of it are kind of a treasure for those who like old freight cars ...


A restaurant car is supplied with Coke&Efes (most well known Turkish Beer ;))


Old and new faces again ...


A new commuter train is arriving at Haydarpasha.


And the Diesel Loco has reappeared from the harbour tracks. The red one on the left pulls trains while the blue one on the right side is a shunting Diesel.

That was part 2. Have fun!


Bernhard  :thumbsup:

RickD

Very interesting pictures. I wonder what importance railway has in Turkey. Is it heavily used or dying out?
My name is Raphael.
Visit my MD: Empire Bay (My old MD: Santa Barbara County)

Nardo69

@RickD: Depends on. Most railway lines are single track, non-electrified, with no or old and badly maintained mechanical signal towers. Because of this they are mainly used by freight trains with no more than 2-3 passenger trains per day given that they aren't cancel due to bad acceptance as they are slow - 40-60 km/h as maximum speed.
If you love oldfashioned railways it's paradise (compared with 20-30 years the main difference is that the steam engines have been replaced by Diesels) but halfway modern passenger traffic is almost impossible.

The exceptions are the commuter lines in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir (haven't been there, though), Adana-Mersin and the main line between Istanbul and Ankara (obviously). Right now they are installing a High Speed Train network - at least they try to do so. Finished is Eskisehir - Ankara, Konya - Ankara is under construction (there hasn't been a direct railway connection before). Let's see how it all looks like in 10 years - continuity or maintenance are not really typical for Turkey ...

Anyway - ready for the final third part? Here it comes:


Back to the Diesel where we stopped last time. This is a DE24000, a french construction. Turkey bought all patents and licenses of this type in order to replace the steam engines (even though steam stayed in Turkey until the nineties). After almost 40 years in service they are replaced at the moment by a GM type - the DE 33000.
But as you can see - light conditions aren't the best at afternoons so I looked around for a better place.


A E43000 in between cars. There are two Ekspres treni waiting for departure in some hours on the same track. Because of this the engine for the second one is placed in between to supply the cars with energy (air conditioning!)


While I was looking for a good spot to take my photograhs the Adapazari Ekspresi departed so I could only take this "emergency shoot" - gee, I wish I took that 80-200mm tele with me ... :(


When I got back to the Diesel the machinist showed me that he would leave the station immediately.


So here it goes. The sound was nice. :)


This was the first time I could take a photograph of a Diesel pulling a (freight) train in Haydarpasa as the line to Ankara is electrified.


Remember the fire of Haydarpasa station some month ago? It destroyed the roof of the center wing that has been repaired since then. The original roof looked like the roof of the side wing to the left.


Fortunately the wonderful waiting room of Haydarpasa hasn't been damaged. Isn't it wonderful?


The counter for the commuter trains ...


and for the Ekspres treni (whereas Ekspres is rather ... well ...  :-[)


With this view into the waiting room I say good-bye for today.

Have fun!


Bernhard



Terring7

The interior of this train station reminds me the interior of the Soviet subway stations. Truly classic museums :)
"The wisest men follow their own direction" Euripides
The Choice is Ours
---
Simtropolis Moderator here. Can I help? Oh, and you can call me Elias (my real name) if you wish.

rooker1

Call me Robin, please.

WC_EEND

that genuinely is a beautiful station &apls
RIP Adrian (adroman), you were a great friend

My LOT thread                                    

SCAG BAe146/Avro RJ Project

Nardo69

Right now I am staying at the house of my mother-in-law in Adana that is rather close to the TCDD railway line and main station. The railway line that passes Adana isn't very scenic or spectacular IMHO except the old Bridge over the Ceylan river  that had been erected by German Engineers - Haydarpasha is the beginning of the Baghdad railway, Adana a stop at the Baghdad railway ;)
And it has become kind of a tradition for me to escape from my Turkish family to the bridge and taking pictures of the train there. The following pictures are made yesterday and today. 


The Demir Köprüsü - the Iron Bridge. The bridge is single tracked while the railway line before and after has been double tracked until Incirlik. The second track however isn't used anymore for years.


Since my last visit here more than half a year ago some things changed. The useless "No Trespassing" sign next to the bridge has been renewed and the rails have been welded since then. The rails however are still the same as well as the sleepers as you can see at this absolutely gorgeous and perfect working sleeper ...  %wrd


Yesterday I was out of luck, within one hour only one freight train - usually there is one train here every 20-25 minutes ...


... however the train had two engines - a DE 33 and a DE 24 whereas the DE 24 wasn't working obviously.




Then the family ties were calling me ...


While I was preparing the video camera this evening the first freight train came from Incirlik.






I took a video from the train in the other direction hence I could take only this presentable picture.


Exactly here I wanted to take a video of the only Ekspres train on that railway line. Anything was perfect but some 8 to 12 year old boys came to me, asked me for cigarettes (I don't smoke nor would I give some of them to children!) Then they become more and more and when they were finally ten of them these small rats became "brave" and began to throw stones to me! Sometimes it's good that I am not good at all at throwing stones otherwise ...  :angrymore:


After a while I had to leave to protect me and my camera - just when the Firat Ekspresi from Malatya arrived!


You can see some of those §$%&@ to the left of the Diesel loco...


This passenger train left Adana right after the Express train. I could only take this emergence shoot because these little rats carried stones over the bridge in order to throw them at me!

For the first time since 2003 I don't know if I will go to the bridge again. But I do have some photos of Adana station that I might show here - if you want to see them... ;)

Have fun!

Bernhard  :thumbsup:

RickD

Great pictures. The turkish trains are really interesting.

I can't believe that people threw stones at you. I guess there are idiots all around the world.   &sly
My name is Raphael.
Visit my MD: Empire Bay (My old MD: Santa Barbara County)

Terring7

Cool pictures as always. I can see that you really love trains and railroads :)
By the way, did you visit Greece? There are also some nice trains and railroads here ;D

Quote from: RickD on May 29, 2011, 11:23:57 AMI can't believe that people threw stones at you. I guess there are idiots all around the world.   &sly

Those kids were terrible, but if you're talking about their parents I'll agree 100%. I really don't want to know what kind of parents those kids they have &mmm
"The wisest men follow their own direction" Euripides
The Choice is Ours
---
Simtropolis Moderator here. Can I help? Oh, and you can call me Elias (my real name) if you wish.

Nardo69

@RickD: The Turkish trains are interesting - mostly because the only change in the last 60 years was the replacement of the steam engines by diesel locos ...
And yes, idiots are to be found everywhere but until now I thought these stone-throwing were to be found in the more eastern parts of Turkey ...  &sly

@Terring7: By now I only visited Crete. However for years my wife and me planned a trip to Thessaloniki (Selanik) as her family moved from there to Turkey during the population change between Greece and Turkey after WWI.
But each time we planned to do so something else didn't let us make the trip and when finally everything was fine all international trains from and to Greece were canceled ...   :'(

Anyway on my from the city to my monster ... err ... mother-in-law as I passed at the Iron bridge a freight train just left Adana. Because of those rats I only had my small digital camera with me so don't expect anything sensational but the sound was not as bad as I feared ... :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LZHIt0fadc

Nardo69

I planned to go on with Adana Gar but then I found this video I made last year in September in the Toros Mountains. I had been there with my wife, her mother and her sister who aren't quite what you could describe as railway fans ... But after I got on their nerves for one whole day ;D  we finally reached the small railway station of Pozanti at the railway line (Adana/Mersin-) Yenice - Ulukisla (-Konya/Nigde) in the mountains. The women found some berries to collect so I had my time to enjoy that station in the last daylight where time seemed to stand still - except for the rolling stock. Gee - how would I love to see a steam loco going up the pass there!


The old engine shed. I couldn't take a shoot of the entry signal - old semaphore of German type. We are here at the Baghdad railway!


Isn't this a lovely small handcar?


Another one stood next to the tracks.


The old water tower...


... some more buildings ...


... i didn't checked if the toilet inside is as clean as outside, most probably not ...
Some railroaders I met complained that there was money for painting old houses but not for renewing the old tracks ...


Like  most other station buildings at the Baghdad railway the architecture style of Pozanti's s typical German.


The timetable ...


... and the signal box. All switchs are used by hand!






In September 2010 this railway line even hasn't lost its telegraph line!


A view into the railway station and the bridge for videofilmers. Other persons didn't use it but the direct way ...


Well, what's necessary is necessary - and an evening without soap opears unthinkable!


You can still see lots of this types of good cars in use in Turkey!


A test shoot towards the valley---


... and the mountains. At that time light was ok but while waiting the sun set ...


... and it became rather dark when the Erciyes Ekspresi ...


... and the freight train reached the station.


It was almost night when the freight train left.

You can find my video here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93dzwVfoSso

Have fun!

Bernhard  :thumbsup: