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Trainhopping across Spain
🕑 Added 2022-03-25 12:23:23 +0000 UTCSpain had been on my mind for a long time. The good temperatures and beautiful scenery made trainhopping there very attractive. After doing a lot of research, I concluded that the country wasn’t possible to travel by freight because of the Iberian railway. The Iberian railway has a different track gauge than the rest of Europe, meaning that not a lot of freight trains cross into Spain. Instead, they transport most of their cargo on trucks. They do have their freight wagon fleet, but they’re impossible to ride.
It was after my Portugal trip that I started thinking about it again since I had seen rideable trains going to Spain. After doing some research I found out that the train we rode on in our Portugal journey came from Madrid. It ran full of scrap metal to a factory in Portugal, where they recycled it and turned it into steel rolls. Those were transported back to Madrid.
The first ride went surprisingly well, the train was fast and the wagons were perfect to hide in. The scenery was amazing and we had a great sunset on the train. Unfortunately, that was also our only ride. There was only one more rideable train, which we could take to the coast. That was also an empty scrap train, the problem with these trains was that there needed to be a request for transportation, and they didn’t have a schedule. So we were just relying on good luck. The yard was also very secured and time was running out.
It's unfortunate, but I’m happy we got to ride the first part and see at least a bit of the beautiful Iberian railway from a freight.
I hope you will enjoy this video!
