Sunday 1st April 2018: Mainline “Warship” on a budget

If you’ve wanted to experience sole mainline Maybach-engined Deutsche Bundesbahn V200 (“Warship”) V200 033 on a charter, but are limited in the amount of time or money that you can throw at it, then you may be interested in its booked workings for Easter Sunday.

On Sunday 1st April 2018, this famous machine will haul a series of four trains on the mainline in the south-east of the Ruhr area as follows:-

201 10:09 Witten Hbf to Wuppertal Hbf 11:44
202 12:11 Wuppertal Hbf to Witten Hbf 13:25
203 14:09 Witten Hbf to Wuppertal Hbf 16:10
204 17:21 Wuppertal Hbf to Witten Hbf 18:47

Each run is approximately 25 miles in length.  All trains are routed via Hagen, but using the freight-only line (2144) via Wengern Ost between there and Witten in both directions.  They are operated by the Ruhrtalbahn (details here) and the fare for one round trip is €20 (€11 one way).  Online tickets are bookable here and must be booked more than 10 days prior to the running of the train(s).

To clarify, I am not saying that “pounds per mile” this is the best-value haulage opportunity currently in the calendar for V200 033.  However, it does give you the chance for a valid, interesting main line move with Maybach power for as little as €11 should you wish to avail of it.

The above is a link to a video uploaded to YouTube by user Dennis te D. of V200 033 departing Lingen on a railtour last year.

The loco

V200 033 is currently (and for the foreseeable future) the only Maybach-powered V200 that you can travel behind.  These locos were the precursors of British Railways’s Swindon-built D800 “Warship” class locos which obviously have a strong following in the UK.

Getting there

Probably what makes this most attractive is the fact that it is eminently doable in a day from the UK.  This again brings down the cost for a British-based enthusiast to experience a V200 this way as it removes the need for hotel accommodation; although naturally Easter Sunday is quite an expensive day to fly.

I am loath to quote exact air fares, as these are an ever-changing thing, but potential moves are as follows which are currently available in their entirety (plane/service train/V200) for less than £150.  That may sound a lot, however it is probably not appreciably less than what it takes to travel on a domestic railtour these days, and is certainly less than you would usually pay to get the V200 in the book.  Service train and bus travel on the below can be done on the SchönerTagTicket NRW, €30.50 each for a day or €45 for a group of up to five.

07:25 Stansted – Weeze (NRN) arrive 09:35 (Ryanair)
10:25 no.73 bus Weeze airport to Kevelaer arrive 10:43
10:51 DMU Kevelaer to Neuss Hbf arrive 11:51
12:24 loco-hauled Neuss Hbf to Witten Hbf arrive 13:40
14:09 V200 Witten Hbf to Wuppertal Hbf arrive 16:10
17:21 V200 Wuppertal Hbf to Witten Hbf arrive 18:47
19:19 loco-hauled Witten Hbf to Hagen Hbf arrive 19:30
19:39 EMU Hagen Hbf to Köln Messe/Deutz arrive 20:34
20:43 EMU Köln Messe/Deutz to Köln/Bonn Flughafen arrive 20:55
21:50 Köln (CGN) – Stansted arrive 22:10 (Ryanair)

08:05 Heathrow – Düsseldorf (DUS) arrive 10:30 (Eurowings)
11:25 EMU Düsseldorf Flughafen to Düsseldorf Hbf arrive 11:42
12:00 EMU Düsseldorf Hbf to Wuppertal Hbf arrive 12:01
12:11 V200 Wuppertal Hbf to Witten Hbf arrive 13:25
14:09 V200 Witten Hbf to Wuppertal Hbf arrive 16:10
16:25 EMU Wuppertal Hbf to Düsseldorf Hbf arrive 16:46
16:54 loco-hauled Düsseldorf Hbf to Düsseldorf Flughafen arrive 17:01
18:15 Düsseldorf (DUS) – Heathrow arrive 18:50 (Eurowings)

These are just ideas; there are many ways that you could cover the trains.

Easter Monday

It has also recently been confirmed that V200 033 will work a train the following day, Monday 2nd April 2018 – a 14:00 round trip from Hamm (Westf) Süd to Lippborg-Heintrop (for an Easter egg hunt) and return, getting back into Hamm Süd at 17:00 (details here).  Fares for this are again very reasonable at €14 second class or €18 first.

However, if choosing one day or the other, you may wish to bear in mind that the line from Hamm Süd to Lippborg-Heintrop is a 10-mile wayside branch that takes an hour to cover in each direction.  It should also be considered that Hamm Süd is not on the national network – it is here and is a good 15-20 minute walk to and from the Hbf.