European Railroad Discussion > Latvia - it's like a London bus

You wait for ages for someone to post pictures from Latvia and then two TO members (dwatry and I) turn up in succession!!

I was just there for a long weekend, leaving London early on Saturday and returning late Monday specifically to chase trains. Arriving late morning on Saturday I spent the remainder of the day on the mainline which heads southeast of Riga, along the Daugava River Valley as far as Pļaviņas (120 kms), about halfway to Latvia's second city Daugavpils. Trains come thick and fast, Latvian Railways (LDz - Latvijas dzelzceļš) are a conduit for exports from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, heading for the Baltic Sea ports of Riga and Ventspils. And unlike the railways in the other two Baltic States - Estonia and Lithuania - the Latvian's still rely on the equipment they inherited on the breakup of the USSR. Some of the passenger equipment has been rebuilt but for freight LDz still relies on the products of Lugansk - M62, 2M62U, 2TE10U and 2TE116 - and CKD - ChME3 - for all road and switching power, and all of it immaculately maintained, no graffiti to be seen anywhere.

Here are some pictures

1: A 2M62U at the east end of Šķirotava Yard in Riga. Equipped with two Kolomna two stroke V12s, they have been a staple for 25 years+. This picture doesn't do the yard justice, it is very large. All inbound trains heading for Riga Docks and all outbound empties are staged in the yard, in the background are two switchers, on the left is a ChME3M, a rebuild of the orignal with a Caterpillar engine whilst on the right is a ChME3 as nature intended.
2: And here it is, with its CKD six cylinder motor chuntering nicely
3: A loaded oil train at Koknese, some 95 kms east of Latvia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/16 09:18 by 86235.

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4: On Sunday I headed east to Daugavpils (240 kms) Latvia's second city in the far southeast of the country near the borders of Lithuania and Belarus. I stopped off just beyond Pļaviņas where the line to Krustpils has recently been doubled. It wasn't long before I saw first a westbound and then this eastbound behind yet another Lugansk built 2T10U
5: These are seriously impressive machines, powered by a Khar'kov 10 cylinder 2 stroke opposed piston engine, ironically based on Fairbanks Morse designs. The SU persevered with opposed piston technology at about the same time as F-M were exiting the business in North America, I'm rather glad they did as these engine are still hard at work after almost 30 years
6: Right behind this train came another, a mixed freight headed by a maroon 2M62U. By now it was getting very warm indeed, as you can see by the heat haze. The bridge in the background is the Ventspils LIne which diverges from the Riga mainline at Krustpils which is a few kms behind me and is the Crewe / Chicago of Latvia, where all lines seem to meet.

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7: And so on to Daugavpils, which also has a large yard where trains are staged en-route to or from Belarus and Lithuania, on the right is a train about to leave for Belarus, on the left is the 2TE10U we saw at Pļaviņas earlier arriving with its empties.

8: Daugavpils also has a small tram network which, among other cars operates second hand Tatra T3s

9: The train for Belarus pulls out, another 2TE10, this time of Belarusian Railways (BCh)

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From Daugavpils I drove north the 60 odd miles to the other major staging point for trains too and from Russia and points east, Rēzekne.

10: This, if anything was even busier than Daugavpils, and the view from the road bridge over the west end of the yard and station is magnificent. the train on the right was the one in picture 6 and there are a number of locomotives going to or coming back from the servicing facilities which are out of sight behind my right shoulder, off the line to Daugavpils

11: A 2TE116 leaves town on iron ore

12: A RZD loco which has just arrived from the east heads off for servicing



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/16 13:21 by 86235.

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13: I'd watched a loco come off servicing and couple up so I presumed it would be on the move shortly and so, leaving town I headed towards Jekabpils and Riga and stopped off to wait. I wasn't disappointed, yet another 2TE10U on a heavy mixed freight.

14: These trains run at about 60 to 70 kph (36 - 42 mph) so it's relatively easy to take multiple shots, here it is again

15: I stopped off again and waited, and waited. This time it was a pair of trains from the oposite direction that appeared first, the second of which was the overnight train from Riga to St Petersburg and Moscow, behind a TEP70, Latvia's only passenger class

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And finally before I lose everybody three shots of Riga's traditional Tatra trams (I agree with Duncan Watry, the new Skodas are not things of beauty)

16: A pair of T6B5SUs on a number 7 from Dole

17: A pair of T3s on a number 5 near the docks 

18: And finally, last but not least another T6B5SU pair arriving at Dole, the terminus

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OUTSTANDING!  thanks for making the effort to post these pictures.  sure looks like they maintain their track very well..........

66

Thanks for  posting this series.

Great set Nick!

Nick - beautiful photos!  From your title I thought perhaps you were going to post a photo of a London bus IN Latvia.  But you were referring to the tendency of buses and TO photgraphers to bunch up!

However - I'm not sure you know that there IS a London bus in Latvia.  Out by the Riga port there is a bus repurposed as the "Bustaurant"!   You can watch ChME3s switch coal cars from the Bustaurant.  A foamer's dream! 

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Ha ha, I did see that, an old Fleetline of the 1980s. Horrible old things they were. Had the same yellow, orange & brown moquette as the District Line D78 stock

It's possible to ride behind 2TE10Ch's in passenger service. The Moldovan railway uses them on the three daily trains between the capital Kishinev and Moscow. I expect the RZD does as well in the Russian Far East on the BAM and other nonelectrified lines. 


Really nice collection. Thanks for sharing and the good explanations.

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GettingShort Wrote:
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> It's possible to ride behind 2TE10Ch's in
> passenger service. The Moldovan railway uses them
> on the three daily trains between the
> capital Kishinev and Moscow.

Thanks, Today's Railways - Europe had a photo feature a few months ago on Moldova with some great pictures of the 2TE10s in action.

A fantastic photo essay... I used to think European railways were overgrown streetcars but after chasing the IOREs and seeing this series, I have become a "believer."  Not every train has to have a GEVO or an EMD on the point...

In a cave, under a glacier...it's not all crap...(there is some good stuff out there.)
Yukon Yeti
 

Thanks, glad you like them. It was a very good weekend.

I've posted a few more pictures

https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2016/Latvian-Weekend/i-GcPV8Fk
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/16 03:47 by 86235.

86235 Wrote:
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> Ha ha, I did see that, an old Fleetline of the
> 1980s. Horrible old things they were. Had the same
> yellow, orange & brown moquette as the District
> Line D78 stock

The picture's of a Mk 1 Metrobus I'm afraid. And yes Fleetlines were horrible.

Nice shots!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

The IORES Bombardier Traxx series certainly makes me wish we
used electrics more for all frieght as they would be much more effective
and as result still hold on to coal mining jobs and increase the number
of potential jobs taking care of the HV electrical systems ands signals
on the railroads.