"Ud og Se med DSB" = [Go] Out and See with DSB

One of my missionary friends, Ældste Karl Hugh, greets a passing freight train in proper Danish fashion.
Middelfart station, June 1986

As a much younger man, I spent 22 months working in Denmark as an LDS (Mormon) missionary.  And during that time I rode a lot of trains.  A lot.  Did this break my heart?  No, it did not.

The first train I rode in Denmark was “hyggetoget” leaving from the main Copenhagen train station (Københavns Hovedbanegård, or KBH for short) on the way to my first area in Kolding.  Each month for transferring missionaries around the country, the mission office relied mainly on two trains.  It worked like this: the intercity train that left KBH about 8 AM would haul all transferring missionaries moving west/north, and the train leaving the far end of the line at Fredrikshavn at the same time would haul all the transferring missionaries moving south/east.  Wherever you were in the mission, your transfer letter would instruct you to travel toward the mainline such that you ended up on the same train as the rest of the transferring missionaries.

A typical DSB route diagram. Frederikhavn is at the end of the rail lines at the upper (northern) end of the country, while Copenhagen is at the far east (right) edge of the map where all the lines converge.

"Hyggetoget" (the hygge train) was a nickname missionaries gave these two trains, because once you had boarded the train, it was easy to find and make friends among the other missionaries transferring that same time.  Hygge is a uniquely Danish word that implies comfortable companionship with good friends, and that's what we usually enjoyed for those few minutes traveling together.

This will always be my ideal passenger train - a Danish State Railways Intercity train with an MZ-class diesel leading a long string of B-class carriages. This eastbound IC train was photographed in my wife's hometown of Middelfart in May of 1993. The then-recent advent of mainline electrification to support the new IC-3 trainsets, meant this type of train did not have long to live.

So, on that first train there were several other missionaries leaving Copenhagen for new areas elsewhere in Denmark.  Cities we stopped where other missionaries may have hopped on or off the train included Roskilde and Slagelse on Sjælland, then Nyborg and Odense once we crossed Storebælt by ferry.  Middelfart could also have been one of those stops, except I’m pretty sure neither Ældste Lund nor Peterson transferred in or out of there that time.

For me, I got off the train at Fredericia and found my way to the train heading west toward Kolding and Esbjerg.  Søster Asplund, whom I’d met in the MTC, was transferring to Esbjerg, so we changed trains together.  With my Danish not being 100% yet (or even 10% for that matter), I had difficulty understanding the station announcements on the loudspeaker.  I almost got off at the first stop, Taulov, but Søs. Asplund helped me avoid that mistake.  The next stop was Kolding, where I stepped off and met my trainer, Ældste James Jensen.

Travel by train was a very frequent occurrence for all missionaries serving in Denmark, not just during the time I served. This photo was taken of my district while in Odense when Søster Bradley (front left) hopped on a train for a new assignment in København, August 1986. Søster Bradley's companion, Søster Dansie, is at my right. In the rear are (from L to R) my companion, Ældste Jeff Hill, then Ældste Chad Lambourne and Ældste James Healy. Within less than a year, I would have served as a companion to both of the other elders in this photo.

There was too much new stuff for me to process all at once, but after further experience with DSB, the Danish State Railways, I can now comment on the equipment used during this May, 1986 time frame.  The main Intercity trains, which ran the length of the KBH to Fredrikshavn mainline usually consisted of one or two 1^st class cars (A vogne) and a long string of 2^nd class cars (B vogne).  The only difference between the two classes were fewer, larger compartments in the 1^st class cars and more, smaller compartments in the 2^nd class cars.

These were the European style compartment cars, similar to those seen in the Harry Potter movies, with six-seat compartments along one side and an aisleway on the other side of the car.  In addition to the privacy afforded by the compartments, the best part of the cars was that the top half of the windows slid down! And if your compartment mates didn’t want it open, you could also stand out in the aisle and open one of those windows. "Læn Dem endelig ud!"

A typical DSB MR-tog, seen crossing Gudenaaen (Denmark's largest river) as it approaches Silkeborg in June 1987

MZ class locomotives pulled the IC trains almost exclusively.  These Swedish-built locomotives had EMD 16-cylinder, turbocharged 645 engines and rode on three-axle “C” trucks, so except for having two cabs pushed as far as possible to the opposite ends of the frame, these were equivalent to the SDP-40F locomotives once used by Amtrak.  Plus they were "dual-purpose", meaning MZs powered high-speed freight trains just as often as they did passenger trains.


An eastbound freight just west of Slagelse. It is led by an MX-class locomotive, with an MY-class and MH-class switcher in tandem behind the MX.

The smaller MX and MY classes with A-1-A trucks had EMD 567 engines, 12-cylinder versions for the 1425 hp MX class and 16-cylinder versions in the 1900 hp MY class, so they looked and sounded just like double ended American "F-units".  These saw use primarily on freight trains, although from photos in books I understand MYs may still have been used as passenger power on some of the more obscure routes while I was in Denmark.

Most of the DSB branchline passenger runs I rode were the MR-class self-propelled cars, very similar to the Budd RDC cars that ran some places in the US.  The MRs were two cars, each with a cab at one end, and semi-permanently coupled at the non-cab end to form an articulated dual-end car.  These had a more American-style seating plan with a central aisle and pairs of seats facing each other to form four-seat “pods”.  There was actually a two-seat compartment at the end of one of the cars, which were nice to ride in if not already occupied.  These were the trains serving much of the Esbjerg-Fredericia traffic, so Ældste Jensen and I rode them a lot to and from our Saturday post-P-day district meetings.  I also rode them frequently while serving in Silkeborg a few months later.

Another enjoyable aspect of rail travel in Denmark, up until about 15 years ago, was the need to cross Storebaelt (the Great Belt) between the islands of Sjælland and Fyn by ferry, instead of the bridge/tunnel now in place. Riders could leave their rail car and ascend to the upper decks of the ship, purchase refreshments, and enjoy the view and fresh air from the open decks. Sisters Dansie (left) and Asplund (right) join Elder Healy (center) and two I don't remember, November 1986.

Hers's a shot taken at Korsør of an MT-class switching locomotive shoving half of an intercity passenger train into the lower deck of the ferry Kronprins Frederick.  August, 1987

Nearly all my train travel while in Denmark consisted of trips on either local passenger trains to and from meetings, and occasionally on the IC trains either during transfers or to Zone Conferences. 

There was a “hobby” among the missionaries at that time of “collecting lines”, meaning one would trace on a map all the highway and rail routes they travelled during their mission.  I fell easily into this hobby because of my interests in geography, travel and railroads.  I collected some interesting routes by bus on a few occasions, but my favorites were those I covered by rail.  Some of these were part of our missionary work, and some were as tourists on P-days:

·         While in Kolding, we rode the train out to Esbjerg (July ’86) with other missionaries and members to attend a music fireside at the ward there.  Nici King (a recently returned missionary from Fredericia Ward, and my future wife) was also on this trip, and she regretted wearing the shoes she did because of the long walk from the station to the church.

·         Shortly before leaving Odense (Nov ’86), I arranged for a cab ride with a DSB engineer we’d met while tracting.  Unfortunately, I got transferred shortly beforehand, and Ældste Hill and Dozier had the most boring day of their lives on that trip.  They may have ridden an MY, but I’m not sure.

A Lollandsbanen Y-class arrives at Nykøbing F station, December 1987

·         While assigned to Nykøbing-Falster for a few weeks (Nov-Dec ’86), Ældste Talbot and I rode the private railway Lollandsbanen from Nykøbing out to Nakskov and back (equipment note:  all the private railways I rode used Y-class trains for passenger service, basically older versions of the MR trains DSB was using).

A typical DSB railroad depot for medium-size towns such as Silkeborg

·         While in Silkeborg (May of ’87 maybe), Ældste Linford and I were invited to spend a night at the President’s home in Greater København (can’t remember exactly where at that time - President and Sister Jacobs later lived in Holte).  We took the standard route to get there, but then received permission to return via the Kalundborg to Aarhus ferry, with some “rare mileage” (for missionaries, at least) by rail out to Kalundborg and between the Aarhus ferry dock and the station.

A section of my line map showing roads, railways and ferry routes I traveled while on my mission. The line from Herning, in the extreme upper left, angling southeast down to Vejle required special permission from the Mission President, since it deviated from the route I was directed to take when I transferred out of Silkeborg.

·         While transferring out of Silkeborg (July ’87), I called the office and received permission (after a lengthy and pointless discussion with Ældste Jakobsen) to deviate from my assigned routing (Silkeborg-Skanderborg) and travel via Herning to catch “hyggetoget” at Vejle, resulting in another rare mileage line on my map.

·         While in Slagelse (Aug ’87), Ældste Saunders and I rode to Høng on the Høng-Tølløse Jernbane at least once to visit some potential investigators.

·         Also while in Slagelse (Sep ’87), Ældste Lambourne and I rode down to teach a potential investigator living on the north edge of Falster.  On the return trip, we missed the next-to-last bus.  Although we then caught the last bus and successfully made our rail connection at Nørre Alslev, we were too late into Næstved to catch the last bus back to Slagelse.  Instead, we ended up hitchhiking halfway and walking the rest to arrive at our apartment about 5am the next morning.

Electric trains on Kystbanen - during my mid-1980's mission, this was the only electrified mainline in Denmark. Since then, nearly every mainline has been electrified. These locomotives were designated EA-class.

·         While in Næstved (Fall ’87) Ældste Lambourne and I took a P-day to visit a bunch of tourist sites in and around København on a P-day (equipment note:  the local trains on Sjælland almost exclusively used Bn class coaches in a push-pull configuration.  The end car facing toward København had a control cab, and the cars themselves were a center aisle style with two doors at the one-third and two-thirds points of the car’s length.  I did not like these cars very much. Power was either a Sjælland-only ME-class or an MZ).  He and I were no longer companions, but he was the DL for our district.  Neither my companion, Ældste Morrow, nor Ældste Lambourne's comp wanted to travel that day, so we paired them up at our apartment, and then Lambourne and I headed out. This arrangement probably would not be allowed today.  I don’t remember our exact routing, but I’m pretty sure it included the electrified Kystbane (Coast line) up to Helsinør, and the private railways to Hillerød and Fredriksværk before returning home.

·         Also at some point while in Næstved, I believe Ældste Roe and I returned from a meeting in København via Køge.  This would also have been rare mileage for missionaries back then.

·         I also seem to remember a trip to Gedser, at the far southern tip of Falster, and then back to Nykøbing, again just for the sake of a “line”.

·         In my last area, Birkerød (Jan-Mar ’88), Ældste Kolditz and I probably rode the Hillerød to Helsinør route at least once more.  And, we also rode a lot of S-tog commuter trains in the Greater København area.

Denmark's own IC-3 trains.  Great for riding, but kinda awful to look at.

I have returned to Denmark five times since my mission and ridden trains for some portion of all these trips.  My biggest disappointment has been the onslaught of diesel and electric IC-3 trains that now carry passengers on nearly all DSB routes.  I’m pretty sure things hadn’t changed too much rail-wise when I visited Nici for Christmas of 1989, but on subsequent trips it has all been IC-3s and newer versions of the old MR trains. The IC-3s are designed and built in Denmark by Scandia of Randers.  Yes, they are sleek and functional, but the blunt ends - intended for ease of coupling multiple sets in series - represents the absolute lowest point ever for Danish design (my opinion). Great for riding, but kinda awful to look at.

“Sølvpilen” captured at speed just west of Slagelse in the summer of 1987

The high point of my ’89 trip, besides spending time with my intended, was returning to København aboard DSB’s “Sølvpilen”, the silver-bodied “lightning train” that was the ultimate in speed and comfort in its day.  The ride wasn’t that much more exciting than a standard IC train, but at least I can say I rode it before it was gone.

A newer self-powered passenger train passes the tiny community of Napstjært, where some of my 19th Century Danish ancestors were born. July, 2010.

On that trip, we also rode the train up to Fredrikshavn to visit Nici’s cousins Marianne and Kaj.  This was my first time traveling north of Aarhus.  Their home sits only a few meters away from one of the platforms for another private railway, Skagensbanen.  We visited them again in May of 1993, and that time I arranged to ride the Y-train up to Skagen and have Nici and Marianne meet me up there.  This ride also took me through my “ancestral home” (at least on Grandpa Brady’s maternal side) of Napstjært, so I videotaped part of the ride for posterity.

During this visit, I also made a side trip to Silkeborg, with a stopover in Aarhus to see Shad and Ulla Roe, my former companion and his wife.  He had also married a Danish girl but they chose to live in Denmark rather than the US - I can't always say I blame them.  They lived south of Aarhus and I rode another private railway Y train with him down to their home, and then by myself back up to Aarhus after our visit.

I did not have much time for recreational train riding during trips 3 and 4.  Number 3 was to see the Copenhagen LDS Temple and to visit my mother-in-law Ellen King one last time, and number 4 came a year later to arrange Ellen’s funeral with Nici.

The main railway station at Malmö, Sweden. July 2010

However, when our whole family went over in July 2010, I managed a little better.  Most of our travel was driving a rented Citröen, but I did catch an IC-3 to Slagelse one evening to meet up with another former missionary friend.  At the time, he worked for Railion - the current contract operator of freight trains on DSB rails.  I rode with him over to Malmö, Sweden for my long-awaited cab ride.  This time it was aboard a German DB electric locomotive, at the head end of a high-speed freight on the routing the new Øresund and Storebælt bridges has opened up.  Another engineer took over for my friend at Nyborg, but my friend continued with me as far as Odense, where my rental car was parked.  Between the late hour, welded rail, an electric locomotive, and green signals nearly the whole way, it was a pretty anticlimactic trip and I’m sure I dozed at some point.  Still, I was grateful for the experience!

Late-night, speed-blurred view of Roskilde Station from my 2010 cab ride.

Here are a few more images of favorite Danish locomotives:

With lines very similar to the classic American "F-unit" locomotives, and with diesel engines identical to them, DSBs MY- class are easily my favorites. I shot this particular one at Nykøbing-Falster, and by chance MY1154 was one of the last two to operate in regular service on DSB twenty years later.

By luck, I also managed to photograph this rare specimen at Nykøbing-F. Manufactured by Frichs, a Danish builder at Aarhus, the eight examples of this model, only owned by Danish privatebaner - private railways, did not have a class designation. Instead, they came to be known as "Marzipanbrød" because their curved roof and ends bore resemblance to chocolate-covered marzipan candy bars.

Most Danish trains today run off the electrified catenary wires. This one is an EG-class hauling empty container cars westbound near Odense in July 2010

Plus, here are a few segments of video I've shot on post-mission visits to Denmark:

From May 1993:

From February, 2007:

And from July 2010:

 

A Dozen Favorites from 2016

At the close of another year, here's a collection of twelve favorite photos I've taken in 2016.

I call them favorites, which is not entirely fair because I still have lots of favorites that will not be included here.  It was a good year for me - I made at least eight successful field trips to photograph shortline railroads within my travel radius, and I shot lots of photos of other railroad activity closer to home. 

So here's a sampling of my bounty, presented in reverse chronological order just for the heck of it:


An "experienced" SD-40-2 still in Cascade Green leads BNSF's "Low Line" local train toward Wallula WA and a connection with Union Pacific's "Washy" subdivision, where BNSF has running rights to reach an interchange with the Great Northwest Railroad (former Camas Prairie RR) at Ayer, WA.  This was taken on the last day of the year.

An eastbound BNSF stack train cruises through Finley WA while a white heron wades in the drainage ditch looking for a meal.  This shot was also taken on New Year's Eve.

A loaded Canadian Pacific unit grain train heads through Kennewick WA on Union Pacific's truncated Yakima Sub to reach a grain transload loop track in nearby Richland WA.

Having just left Pasco Yard, BNSF's Byron Turn waits for its turn to cross the Columbia River drawbridge before heading west to work in Richland.  I had a chance here to try a slow shutter speed, keeping the stationary locomotive in focus, while giving the passing grain train some motion blur.

I finally got a chance this year to photograph a train on the Weston Loops, just south of Milton Freewater OR.  As this Palouse River & Coulee City RR train headed up the hill and around the main loop, I took a bunch of photos.  Normally, with the angle of the sun placing the train in silhouette, this would be a throwaway shot.  However, I felt the silhouette effect wasn't too terrible, and the backlighting gave some real interesting contrasting effects to the foreground trees and bushes.

This is another photo where the lighting was less than ideal, but I still like how it turned out.  With this day's Byron Turn headed home for Pasco, I knew it would be crossing this bridge over the Kennewick Irrigation District's main canal.  To get this shot, I had to speak with a homeowner to ask permission to shoot this from his back yard.  KID had just shut off the water for the season a few days prior, leaving the canal less than photogenic.  I tweaked this one with some electronic post processing, and I think the colors are a little stronger than I wanted them, but any less saturation and the image would be really flat.  Come spring, I will try to take this shot again with the canal full and, hopefully, with better lighting.

On one of my few ventures into the Palouse this year, I had a chance to chase Union Pacific's Fairfield Turn.  Just up the line from Rockford WA I found this short trestle over Mica Creek, so I waited a few minutes for the approaching train and then snapped this image.

On a rare Sunday visit to Marshall WA, I found the UP train inching down the connecting track between the former NP mainline on the floor of the valley, and the former SP&S route on the raised fill.  UP has rights to use the SP&S tracks between Fish Lake and here, so it can get onto the NP line, which is usually reserved for eastbounds entering Spokane.  After waiting at the signal for several minutes, the BNSF grainer came up from behind on the NP line, allowing me to shoot this image of both railroads' trains.

The Lions Club excursion trains on the Pend Oreille Valley railroad have been a Northeast Washington institution for over 35 years - I was able to ride them the first year they were offered.  This year, POVA announced they could no longer maintain the tracks north of Usk solely for use by the excursions when there is no freight traffic on the line.  This would be the last year for the excursions, at least on this scenic part of the line.  Fortunately, they were running two trains each day, so I dragged my family up there on a Saturday in September.  Thanks to their understanding why Dad wanted to leave so early for the trip, we managed to be at this scenic overlook to photograph the earlier train crossing the Pend Oreille River at Box Canyon Dam.  With the photos saved on my SD card, we then rode the later train and enjoyed the view from another angle.

Despite several trips to Utah this year, I had precious few opportunities to chase trains.  Fortunately, this particular early morning shot, taken in April at Honeyville UT, turned out well.  I especially like the GRS signal mast in the background.

This is a shot I've been wanting to take for several years now.  The daily CBRW train passing the brick former NP depot at Grandview WA.  The whole chase from Whitstran to Sunnyside that day resulted in several favorite images, this is just one of them. 

From another field trip in April, I got a chance to follow an Eastern Washington Gateway train led by Montana Rail Link's ex Great Northern SDP-40.  Again, a lot of great shots resulted from this trip, but this was one of the better with the train crawling up out of Deep Creek on its way toward Reardan.