Ships and one train of the Aegean

Hi, My wife and I went on a cruise from Venice, Italy to Istanbul, Turkey via the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia and a number of Greek Islands in the latter half of June. I thought I would share some of the vessels and the one train I saw. This is our ship, the Aegean Odyssey, moored outside the harbor of Naxos in Greece. She carries about 380 passengers and displaces almost 12,000 tons; very small by today's standards.

We boarded our ship in Venice. It was docked along the Canale della Giudecca where the next 3 images were made. The first 2, of the tug and the passenger and vehicle ferry, were taken from the ship.


The final image in Venice shows a large, ocean going ferry navigating the canal. I believe the tug at the rear is to assist the ship in steering in the confined spaces of the canal.

Our first stop in Croatia was Rovinj. As we left our bus in preparation for taking the tender back to the ship this switcher showed up with two flat cars in tow. It was the only train I was able to photograph during the trip.

From Rovinj we sailed to Zadar where we tied up at a dock. Here is a fishing boat.

At this point in our trip we began to see more large ferries designed for travel of longer distances over more open waters.



At Split we again tied up at a dock. A smaller cruise ship was moored across the dock.

Again, ocean going ferries were common.

Our ship after dark.

A rather menacing looking, I thought, black yacht was tied up behind us in Korkula. Wonder what it costs. Oh well, I know I can't afford it.

Our first Greek port was Corfu where this tug was tied up at the dock. Its appearance is very different from the tug in Venice and the ones I saw a few months earlier in Amsterdam.


The variety of ferries is increasing. This one is double ended but has a sort of prow,

while this one has its deck house at the rear and appears to have an open area for the vehicles.

These ocean going ferries are on the small side.


We docked in 2 different harbors along the island of Crete. In the first one there were tugs tied up directly behind us.

In the second one a Greek research vessel was right next to us.

Santorini was a highlight. Here is a tourist charter boat taken from our tender,

and another style of ferry at the dock. This one loads from the rear and has a very small deck house at the rear.

I think this is a small inter island passenger and freight vessel.

The Golden Prince, a small cruise ship, arrived a few hours after we did and moored near by. Mooring is to buoys anchored to the bottom here as it is too deep for standard anchors.

Santorini also attracted the wealthy.

Apparently this ship in Naxos carries only trucks.

This ship is a vehicle carrying catamaran. I think it may be the only one I saw.

At the last island in Greece, Lemnos, we saw not ships. From there we sailed to the Dardanelles, on our way to our final destination of Istanbul. This is a narrow strait connecting the Aegean Sea
with the Sea of Marmara. This empty container ship is bound for Istanbul and possibly the Caspian Sea via the Bosporus.
Istanbul has a variety of ferries operating from ferry terminals along the Golden Horn, an inlet off the Bosporus. This vehicle and passenger ferry is just below the Haggai Sophia, built as a church, converted to a Mosque, and now a museum.

Most of the ferries were for passengers only.



Here a container ship is navigating the Bosporus.





I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Railfanning 6-10 and 6-11-2010

Hi, I spent the afternoon of Thursday, 6-10 and the morning of Friday 6-11 showing friend Dale Diacont some of the places I consider most interesting along the Northeast Corridor. Mutual friend Doug Koontz joined us on Thursday. I met Doug at St. Dennis, MD where I photographed Q216 before he arrived.

Doug and I stopped at Halethorpe on the Corridor where we found a tie train sitting with a GP38H-3 on the point. We believe this is a former GO Transit GP40TC. Shown are 2 of the trains we photographed passing the tie train. MARC had 2 of its new MP36s running on its Penn Line route on Thursday.


After lunch we picked up Dale at the BWI Airport station where he arrived on Amtrak's new train from Lynchburg. We headed for Havre de Grace where we spent most of the afternoon. Our first photo location was on the down river side of the bridge where we located in an apartment complex. Amtrak and Marc provided a variety of trains including Acelas,

A MARC MP36 which would terminate on the east side of the river at Perryville and then, after about a 20 minute layover, head back to DC,


and a Northeast Regional train with an HHP-8.



When the sun became aligned with the bridge axis, about 3:00 PM, we decided to head for the west end of the bridge across Bush River. After shooting a few trains here,

including the southbound Crescent,

we returned to Havre de Grace, this time on the upstream side of the bridge. Shown below is the southbound Silver Meteor.

An eastbound MARC train with and HHP-8 is pushing its train westbound after a short layover in Perryville.


For our last shots Dale and I crossed the Susquehanna River and shot one Acela at Perryville.

Note the fencing next to the tower. Amtrak has put fencing up on both ends of the tower and now it is difficult to find a place to stand in the morning for photography of trains passing the station.
Dale likes signal bridges so this day was given over to photographing them. Dale spent the night at my house and we left early in the morning for Bowie. Again, Amtrak and Marc provide a number of trains for our entertainment.




We then moved south to the MARC station at Seabrook, MD.


After shooting a MARC commuter train headed for Baltimore we returned to Bowie for a second photograph of the train.

Dale got one last shot at Bowie State University MARC stop while I was driving around looking for a parking spot. As it was getting close to lunch time we headed for Baltimore where we had great sandwiches at a New York Jewish style deli called Attmans. I then left Dale off at his hotel.

It was great showing Dale some of the corridor and I look forward to doing it again in the near future. I hope you enjoyed the photos.