Autumn Eurocrankhop- Day 10

Mondercange v Sandweiler,  Luxembourg - Promotion d'Honneur

Early morning back at Dresden Hauptbahnhof, rebuilt after the wartime bombings, then rebuilt again after the late communist era neglect.

Some iffy connections at Leipzig and Mainz, meant I headed off an hour earlier than planned, with the 0620 ICE to Wiesbaden, taking me directly to Mainz and a much more robust connection.

I didn't have a reservation but found some empty seats, with this message in the reservation display.

Being unfamiliar with the phrase, I put it into google translate, which came up with this rather strange message.

On checking, I'd misplaced an 'r' and an 'n', which when corrected, came back with this more sensible instruction.

Reversal at Leipzig, my favouritist station in the whole wide world.  Nine train sheds, like three Paddingtons side by side, then a huge stone forecourt, akin to a couple of grand centrals.  Add in the fact that you can get gose here and it also has a cheese shop and a collection of old trains, and you get absolute perfection.  Hitler had some very questionable habits, such as liking dogs, but he sure could build a station.  This photo not only shows the train sheds, but also the German bloke opposite me using a teaspoon to drink coffee like you would soup.  Crazy foreigners.

Although there are stretches of high speed track, mostly it is trundling along the classic lines amongst the edges of the Harz mountains and the Thuringia forest, down through Erfurt, Gotha and Fulda.

Back through Frankfurt, with the financial district.

Onwards, and as we entered Mainz, we crossed over the Rhine, one of my companion rivers for the day.  Mainz gave Jurgen Klopp to the world.

A four way meeting of intercity trains, these two heading for Hamburg and Wiesbaden.  I was on the Stuttgart-Hamburg service.

This took us along the Rheine valley, with its barges and wine bushes.

After this pleasant little hop, I left the train at Koblenz.

I had an hour to kill so wandered down to the river to have a look at the ferries.  Koblenz is where the Mousel converges with the Rheine.

Back to the very pleasant station, overlooked by the city fort.

My next leg was over to Luxembourg.  Because of the variations in the overhead electrics, this used to have some unique multi voltage class 181 locos working two hourly intercity services.  However, these have now been replaced by these CFL (Luxembourg railways) units.

Immediately leaving Koblenz and we pass over the Mousel.

As well as having previously had the excellent traction, this route is also incredibly scenic, as it wanders along the Mousel valley.  The new units are double deckers, with first class up top, giving an even better view than before, though less rateable thrash.

The valley is home to some delightful villages, with the hillsides all covered in wine bushes.

Into Luxembourg, and the works outside the station to add another viaduct across the Alzette Valley, which will give the capacity for a branch to the airport to be built.

A -3 onto a Metz bound service took me to Bettembourg....

....for the branch unit to Dudelange-Centre.

Dudelange is the third biggest town in Luxembourg, with a whopping 19k population, but is probably the nicest.  It also hosts four football teams, each with their own ground, including F91, who won all but one of the Luxembourg titles in the 2000s.  It is therefore a well known place to me, though chosen this time to avoid the horrendous hotel prices in the Luxembourg City.  This meant I had to head back into the capital, this time from Dudelange Ville, using the one through train a day, which is formed of intercity stock, and means I can red line the crossing from platform 3 at Bettembourg.

However, the train then came to a grinding halt.  Luxembourg runs an extremely intensive train service.  However, mixed in with these are numerous freight service, as the country is a junction for a number of secondary routes that are ideal for freight traffic.  The problem with freight trains is that they are long and slow, and rarely run to time, especially long distance ones such as those passing through the Duchy.  This creates havoc with the CFL passenger services.  My train ended up being twenty minutes late, giving me two minutes to get some change and catch my bus, without knowing where it went from.  Fortunately, the bus was waiting at the first stop I came to....

....and a flash of my train ticket, perplexed the driver enough for him to let me on with it.  It was one of the bendy buses that have the double virtue of cutting up cyclists and pissing of Boris Johnson.  On the minus side, they also have a habit of catching fire.

After a meander through central Luxembourg, I left the bus in the centre of Modercange.  This is a village adjacent to the industrial town of Esch.  Modercange only has a population of three thousand, but is the home to the Luxembourg Football Federation.  It is perhaps best known for its carting circuit, as you can get professional carting licenses at an earlier age in Luxembourg, so the top youngsters come here to race professionally.  The village has one of the top karting circuits, and was therefore Michael Schumacher's base as he entered professional racing.

Having a rough idea where the ground was, I then picked up signs for it, as we as for a seemingly more interesting form of kart racing.

With the ground in my sights, I headed down to it, only to find the game was already underway.

I got some photos of the stadium....

....and the mysterious mist hanging over the main stand.

I then started to watch the game.  I had thought that even by Luxembourg standards, the crowd was sparse.  Then almost immediately, the whistle blew and the players starting shaking hands, with the game having apparently ended.  I cursed Soccerway for having the wrong kick off time, which it is prone to do.  However, it was only when leaving the ground and taking a picture of the club house, that I noticed more glowing floodlights to the left.

A quick check of the map revealed that indeed, there was another ground somewhat out of the village, so off I headed......

....past the local wildlife.....

.....eventually finding the ground, having seemingly walked half way back to the capital.

Mondercange 1 v Sandweiler 1, Luxembourg - Promotion d'Honneur

Modercange were formed in 1933, and that's pretty much what I know about them.  They were promoted to the top league in 2005, and have since had a couple of stints in there, though currently find themselves in this division, the Division of Honour, which is the second division.  They were losing finalists in the Luxembourg cup, a couple of times in the late nineties, which qualified them for Europe, though the two games were lost with a goal difference of -11, suggesting they didn't trouble the prospect of any further progress.

Sandweiler is a village just east of Luxembourg City.  It is basically the main road to Germany and also the national airport.  Allegedly three thousand people live there but I can't recall actually seeing anyone when I've been there.  Union Sportive Sandweiler were formed in 1937, playing right down the leagues.  However, they seem to have been infiltrated by Portuguese ex-pats which has seen a rise up to the second tier, with half the team being Portuguese.

The stadium was built in 2005, and the complex houses the Luxembourg Football Federation.

The main feature is the stand on the near side, which backs on to all the amenities.

On the far side is a seared concrete terrace, just about coping with its sole spectator.

The home team had a @keepers_towel on display, getting pissed wet through on the dew ridden floor.

The programme had a stunning picture of the club committee.  Quite why the bloke on the bottom left chose to wear cycling shorts is beyond me, perhaps to appeal to the Louis Van Gaal female lookalike next to him.

The crowd was below 50.  As ever, most just chose to stand around the dugouts.

The away side took the lead just after half time, the home side equalising mid-way through the half, which is how it ended.

Because of the lengthy walk, I'd missed the direct bus back to the station, so had to get a one to the village centre, and then on to Esch bus station.

A change onto the train took me to Bettembourg, for a slick connection onto the branch and back to Dudelange Ville.

Lowland Times