European Railroad Discussion > Finland: hunt for the Dm12

This Sunday Hannu and me decided to take advantage of the fresh snow and spend a daylight chasing Dm12 rail bus between Karjaa and Hanko.
Dm12 manufactured by ČKD Vagonka. VR runs now 16 units (correct me?).

1. Arrived to Karjaa station in the morning. Frozen, sleepy, empty station with only couple of IC trains from/to Turku made a traffic.
On the picture: IC 950 from Turku with Edo driving trailer forward.
2. Another participant of the traffic: IC 945 to Turku with Edo #10.
3. Still life: three Sm2 units spent a night at the station.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/15 15:08 by Stas.

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The station itself is under restoration, covered by scaffolding. Nothing to see.
4. Finally, our target. Dm12 #4401 is ready to depart for Hankoo.
5. When Dm12 was leaving the station, battery in one camera suddenly failed in the cold and I missed zoomed shot. Got only this wide shot.
6. We came to Tammisaari and positioned our self near this nice bridge. By that time monotone white-grayish clouds moved away and we got a photogenic textured sky. Photography mood improved :) Soon, double unit from Hanko rushed towards the Hanko station.

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7. After that we went to Tammisaari station. It is nice wooden station building, kind of what I like. On Sunday the place looked quiet and desolated. The platform was not even cleaned from snow. On the other side of the station, small square was neatly cleaned, but tractor left very slippery pavement. Passenger, should he happen here, must be extremely careful not to fall down. Actually, we didn't noticed any footprints of the passengers on the platform. Although, we saw some people on the streets in the town.

8. Pretty looking vintage station clock. They should have been typical for the stations in Finland. With the station name on a wooden board, photograph looks very vintage.

9. Funny frozen bus parked next to the station. The driver will have some work to do before driving away, specially that weather forecast gives -17C for Monday morning. Just could not resist temptation to publish this photo. Sorry for OT :)

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8. After Tammisaari station we went back to the bridge and waited for about half an hour for the same double units to return from Karja.

9. Dm12 at speed.
Then we harried up and managed to chase the rail bus in Lappohja, small middle of nowhere between Tammisaari and Hanko. We were just enough to jump out of the car and point the cameras.

10. Dm12 in Hanko. The place looked bigger, there was some movements around. Next to the station located sea port.

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10. Dm12 close up.

11. Hanko station building. Built in 1949 in functionalism style.

12. The other type at the station was this Dv12 #2647 in the new livery.

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13. When Dm12 was about to leave back to Karjaa, something got broken in one unit, passengers had to go out. The driver took one unit to the side track, and Dm12 continued solo.

14. Boarding ones again.

15. By that time it started to get dark and temperature began to drop quickly. Began snowing. We drove to a small coffee place at the roadside to get a hot drink, than went to another middle of nowhere place: Skogby. It's a tiny, frosty platform in the forest. And we waited again. Three yellow lights broke through the snow blizzard: Dm12 was returning from Karjaa.

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16. Dm12 #4415 at Skogby platform.

17. And then quickly vanished into the blue.
"One way ticket to the blue" :)

18. Ready for Santa?
Dm12 at Karja station.

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20. Sm2 with Viking Line advertisement. Karjaa station.

So, that was quiet day in the traffic.

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Kiitos, Stas! Here are some older and warmer (there was still some snow in the shade) images from May 2004.

1 & 2, Arriving and about to depart Karjaa.
3, About to depart Hanko.

Gerry

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Very interesting stuff looks really cold! Like Canada! :)

Stas Wrote:



-------------------------------------------------------
> This Sunday Hannu and me decided to take advantage
> of the fresh snow and spend a daylight chasing
> Dm12 rail bus between Karjaa and Hanko.
> Dm12 manufactured by ČKD Vagonka. VR runs now 16
> units (correct me?).
>
> 1. Arrived to Karjaa station in the morning.
> Frozen, sleepy, empty station with only couple of
> IC trains from/to Turku made a traffic.
> On the picture: IC 950 from Turku with Edo driving
> trailer forward.
> 2. Another participant of the traffic: IC 945 to
> Turku with Edo #10.
> 3. Still life: three Sm2 units spent a night at
> the station.

Very interesting photos. Are these more or less commuter style, short haul trains? The number of single unit consists, which seem to be problematic in the US, is also fascinating. Thanks for posting.

Karjaa-Hanko is about 50 miles. The main attractions for this rail line are the connections at Karjaa to trains to Helsinki and Turku. Hanko also has ferry connections to Germany. Gerry

Nice set Stas, especially 6. Thanks.

Thanks Gerry,

Nice to compare with the older days, from the same angle :)
Interesting that number of cars stays same - two then and two units now.