2018-02-27 49 11

Location

Along the Nürnberg-Bamberg S1 tracks, between Forchheim and Eggolsheim.

Participants

Thomcat

Plans

Afternoon S1 to Eggolsheim, then S1 back to Nürnberg.

Using my cell (and battery) all day at the trade show, so picturage will be limited. Must follow the maxim - If In Doubt, Go GeoHashing! (IIDGGH!)

Expedition

Left the Messe - time to geohash! -- Thomcat (talk) @49.4460,11.0826 17:17, 27 February 2018 (GMT+01:00)

The U1 ride was quick, and I was just in time for the S1 headed north, past Furth. In fact both I and it were a little late leaving the station, which turned out to be significant later.

My phone was at 20% battery from a long day at the trade show, so I pocketed it until I reached Forchheim. Very much dusk when I reached that station, though unfortunately the picture banner covers up what little of the sign I was able to catch. The twin fish (their coat of arms) is visible on the wall, however.

I snapped a photo of myself and waited to click the "wiki upload". The tracks go right through the hashpoint, and are not accessible to the ordinary public (as I understand it), so this and a "speed racer" are the best I would manage. As we passed through the point I clicked - and managed to hit 13 meters from the hashpoint!

The original plan was to get out at the next station (Eggolsheim), hustle across or around to the other platform, and get on the return train, then snap another picture and try the upload again. Our train arrived around 5 minutes late, which completely consumed that margin, and I was left on the platform. How long until the next train? Turns out to be only once an hour from this mostly uninhabited station. I snapped a few photos, then bundled up and settled in to wait.

The temperature here was at or about -10 Celcius, though fortunately there wasn't much wind. My dying phone had little to offer of maps, but when I realized I would be here for a solid 45 minutes, I thought I might strike out towards the hashpoint on nearby roads. I missed the turning in the gathering dark, and ended up back at the station. In hindsight, I could probably have made it there and back, though I probably wouldn't have been able to reach the point - and may have even missed the next train, consigning me to another hour long wait.

Also in hindsight, I should have skipped Eggolsheim altogether and continued on my late train to Bamberg, which is likely a much more populated (and warmer) station, then had a quick bier while waiting for the next train. Hindsight gets all the best bier!

The homeward bound train arrived, just a few minutes after the next S1 northbound (which was on time). In other words, if I had been on this new train, my hustle around would have probably worked. Headed south again and now down to single digit percentages, I contented myself with watching the GPS status as I was ready to upload my prepared message - would I end up at less than 13m?

Less than 13m? -- Thomcat (talk) @49.7563,11.0538 19:04, 27 February 2018 (GMT+01:00)

Nope, my new point ended up just a smidge more than 13m from the geohash. We passed through at a speed (according to my US phone) of 85 miles per hour, roughly 135 km/h. I don't vouch for the accuracy of that measurement, or for much of anything on my very low battery phone. What I can say for certain is that set of tracks has an S1 pass each direction once an hour, plus other ICE and RE traffic. Several people passed this hashpoint on 27 February, and this particular one was quite aware of that fact.