I love trains so the chance to see a train museum really appealed. It was about a 15 minute walk from my hotel so I donned my heaviest jacket and beanie and headed off. It was still cold and windy.
The entrance.
Cute little steam engine parked outside.
The museum is housed in an old station terminus called Delicias. It opened in 1984. You can read more about the old station here.
OK, I understand that many of you do not share my enthusiasm for trains, but just look at the next few photos which feature one of the world's most unusual carriage sets. This is one of the early Talgo trains.
As I mentioned in the blog on my train from Malaga to Madrid, a Talgo carriage has only one set of wheels per carriage which you can see here. The carriage can be lighter and go round curves more easily. More about it here.
I went inside and took a couple of photos.
The cars are probably over 60 years old but look so curvy and art deco.
I sat in one of the seats. I think these were the Mark II carriages.
Back in 1974 when I was back-packing in Europe with my 1st class Eurailpass, I would occasionally ride the Catalan Talgo that traveled between Barcelona and Geneva. It used the Mark III carriages and was a really classy train. The scenery was as spectacular as you could want with a lot of variety. I traveled on it again in 2007 but the train was looking old and worn and the service was discontinued in 2010.
Non train buffs can stop now.
I have left in some of the signs in Spanish in case you can read them.
Curious looking rail motor.
Map of where Spanish trains ran back in the 70's. Spain now has additional high speed lines.
These trains ran everywhere.
A very American looking diesel engine.
Robin would immediately recognize that this is a steam engine for pulling freight because of the small driving wheels.
Cute little rail car.
It had a small kitchen
I suspect it was for carrying rail bosses around.
Early electric engine.
I took one look at this and said to myself 'German'.
And so it turned out to be.
The southern end to the station.
I've always liked the crocodile electric engine shape.
Maybe I should come out of retirement and become an engine driver. Maybe not.
An impressive collection of dials in the corner.
There appeared to be some smoke at the other end of the station. It turned out to be a crew taking a picture of a model with atmospheric steam.
Look at that seat cover.
Another kitchen.
A Wagon-Lit design, similar to what would have been used in Murder on the Orient Express.
Luxury as it used to be.
As you might expect, there are quite a few old steam engines.
And one of these of course. It must have been fun to ride on one of these in the open air.
This is a high speed engine that got up to 150 kph. Note the large driving wheels.
More rail motors outside.
There were several groups of young school children making quite a din. A group was looking at this model railroad.
Most of the clocks were stopped but a few showed the correct time of 10:45.
Somehow I suspect it would not put out a very large fire.
One particularly good exhibit was an old steam engine that had been cut away at the sides to show the insides. Here is the water tank and the baffles that would stop the water sloshing around.
The fire compartment where the coal was burned.
The pipes carrying the water and steam.
The funnel exhaust.
The driving pistons.
And there was the model looking elegant against the old carriage. A couple of minutes later she walked past carrying a hot water bottle. Yes, it was quite chilly.
And finally, a really tiny engine.
Really tiny, perhaps four feet across.
I enjoyed the museum even though I cannot read Spanish.
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