European association of Modelrailroader and Railroad Friends

65th MOROP Congress 2018 in Vienna

September 2 to 7, 2018

 Ladies and gentlemen, dear participants, dear MOROP community

In the name of the Verband der Oesterreichischen Modell Eisenbahn Clubs – VOEMEC – I would like to invite you whole heartedly to Vienna for the 65^th MOROP Congress. For the fourth time the congress will take part in Austria after Graz, Linz and Innsbruck this time in Vienna. The motto of the congress will be: “Electric traction on three gauges”. I hope that you will find our excursion very interesting and you will honor Vienna in great numbers.

Our hotel – more at the end of this program – is located in close proximity to the new main station of Vienna and will be visible shortly before the entrance to the station. From the hotel, you can reach literally everything on foot: railway, S-Bahn, tram, buses, underground as well as restaurant, our meeting points for the excursions and our location for the general assembly. They are all within 150 meters of the hotel.

I will lead you now through the program.

Program:

The reception – MOROP office -   will be in the Lobby of the hotel for the arriving participants.

Saturday, September 01 and Sunday September 02 from 09:00 to 18:00 hrs.
Monday, September 03 from 09:00 to 13:00 hrs.

Sunday, September 02, 2018:  TC and MOROP presidency meetings

Technical commission meeting from 09:00 to 16:30 hrs.

There will be a break where everybody can individually go for lunch. Several good restaurants of various kinds are available not far from the meeting place.

MOROP presidency meeting from 16:30 to 18:00 hrs.

Monday, September 03, 2018 TC meeting, General assembly and Opening 

Technical commission meeting from 09:00 to 12:00 hrs

There will be a break where everybody can individually go for lunch. Several good restaurants of various kinds are available not far from the meeting place.

General assembly from 14:00 to 16:30 hrs.

Opening of the congress – a reception is planned in the “Konzernzentrale” of the ÖBB around 17:30 hrs.

Tuesday, September 04, 2018 – Great journey to Linz at the Danube

Our first journey will take us to Linz. We will ride on a special train pulled by the 6 axle electric engine with electric resistor break – Serie 1100.500 – and restored coaches of the type “Schlieren”. After arriving at Linz we will split into 2 groups. Probably the larger will visit the plant “Technische Service GmbH” (previously the main plant of the ÖBB), the other one will take a city tour through Linz.

Following these visits parts of the group will drive with a historic unit onto the Pöstlingberg, the “Hausberg” of Linz. This tramline was changed from meter gauge to 900 mm gauge during a modernization during the last years, to enable the city trams to run up the mountain as well. The line is considered with 96 °/₀₀ the steepest adhesive slope in the world.

On the Pöstlingberg we will have a wonderful overview of Linz and the surrounding country side. You can partake in a ride on the Grottenbahn (not included in the tour prize) and dive into the world of dwarfs and fairy tales.or you can visit the pilgrimage church, We will take our lunch at the restaurant “Kirchenwirt”.

After that we will slowly start our return trip. We will ride the Pöstlingberg tram to the main square of Linz and change into any available tram to the main station where we will join our special train again. The ride will take about 2 – 3 hours and snacks and drinks will be available.

Approx. times: Departure between 07.45 and 08:30, Return around 20.00

Wednesday, September 05, 2018 – Vienna public transport day

Today we can recover from the strenuous adventures of yesterday. Not meaning that we will not experience anything, but we can take it more easily. At about 09.00 two special trains from the Vienna Tramway museum will wait for us for boarding in the turn-around not far from our hotel. The early photograph will get the best pictures – a must for railway friends – but all other participants have to be on time to board. We will ride along the famous “Ringstraße” and will have 2 photo opportunities before we drive into the Wiener Straßenbahn Museum. Once upon a time Vienna had the largest tramway system in the world and still has one of the largest.

Therefore, the museum is very large as well. We will split up for the visit into several groups. Whilst parts we be led by knowledgeable guides of our members through the museum the others (3x20 persons) will ride in an old bus to the U-Bahn control station for a tour. Or you can have some refreshment in two restaurants close to the museum or walk through the museum on your own.

In the afternoon we will picked up by (3) historical railcars of the “Wiener Lokalbahn” at the museum (shortly name “Badner Bahn” as well) and we will ride for about 30 km to Baden. After a photo-opportunity we will walk to a “Heurigen” restaurant. They will greet us with a drink and snacks. The buffet dinner will be in the “Kaiser Friedrich Saal” and you can choose between piglet, schnitzel, meatballs and other specialties or Strudel, dumplings, salads and sauces. Special Vienna desserts are offered as well. Not included in the tour price are your drinks. The selection of vines, lemonades etc. are too great and the tastes are different as well.

The return tour is on your own with the modern units of the Badner Bahn and the Vienna tramways to the main station. You only have to change once at the same platform.

Approx. times: Departure 09.00 – Return individual (earliest around 18.00)

Thursday, September 6, 2018 – World heritage Semmeringbahn

Today we will travel in a special train on the world famous Semmering. This is the “Hausberg” of Vienna, recreational area and “Sommerfrische” during the monarchy. Evern now large hotels show the former glory of the Semmering, which was used as summer holiday area as well by the Hungarians. Our train will be pulled by the first new locomotive built after the war – the electric engine type 1041 (new edition of Piko and Roco) and 2 axle coaches with open platforms.  We will ride in style on this railroad built by Carl Ritter von Ghega, which has been included to the world heritage list in the meantime. The 25 ^o/_oo  slope was used as a test track for nearly all engines in Europe. The railroad buildings are very famous along the track and some are even pictured on a bill- Feared by engines drivers because of the tight radii the line offers unique views.

We will ride from Vienna – with photo stops – to Glognitz. There starts the mountain line over the Semmering. Directly to the right we can see the preliminary construction of the new base tunnel. Our tour will continue till Mürzzuschlag the end of the crossing of the Alps. There we will split into different groups again. There will be visits to

• The information container about the new tunnel
• The Südbahn Museum
• A bus ride to the observation platform for the tunnel construction

(at the platform we will be limited to 2 groups of 25 people)

After the visit of the Südbahn Museum we will have a lunch in form of a buffet. We can expect different soups, fried chicken, beef rolls or vegetarian “Strudel” as well as different sides, salads and cake. The drinks are not included in the booking prize.

After lunch we drive back over the Semmering to Payerbach-Reichenau.

There we will change to a electric narrow gauge train with 760mm which will bring us to Hirschwang. After a short visit to the depot and turn around we will drive back to Payerbach. Photo stops are planned.

From Payerbach we will continue our tour back to Vienna.

Approx. times: Departure around 08:30 hrs – return around 18:30 hrs

Friday, September 07, 2018 – Clima wind channel Vienna, Model Railway and Closing banquette.

We drive with the S-Bahn to the station Florisdorf-Siemensstraße. From there we have about  1200 m on foot. For handicapped and elderly participants an Old Timer Bus will be provided as a shuttle. We will meet in front of the company “Rail Tec Arsenal” at 09:00 hrs. We will be guided in several groups through the wind channel. The tour will take about 1 ½ hrs. The bus will take us with several shuttle tours to the S-Bahn. Here we will spilt up according to the interest of the participants. We can visit several model railway clubs using the Vienna public transport system or the rest of the day is for your own touristic intentions till we meet for the closing banquette.

Our closing banquette takes place on the Donau Tower. This tower is 252 m hight and has a turning restaurant at a hight of 164 meters with a wonderful view over Vienna and the surrounding area even till Preßburg. The restaurant is completely for our own use. Because of the turning dining room with the fixed center we will not be able to see us all at the same time but a public address system will enable us to hear the speakers. Due to the time we well be able to enjoy the twilight and near the end we can see the beautifully illuminated Vienna. A four course meal will accompany us through the evening.

The U1 will take us from the Hotel to the Station “Alte Donau”. Because the will be a longer distance to the Donau Tower the shuttle bus will be available for transportation. The ones who will be earlier then 18:00 in the Donau Park can take a ride with the Donau Park Railway – 15 inches gauge like the one in the Prater. But there are only Diesel driven engines whilst there are steam driven ones on weekends in the Prater). We can take the lift to the restaurant at 18:30 hrs.

Around 22:00 hrs we will return via the fast elevator, the shuttle bus and the U 1 to the Hotel.

Approx. times: Departure for the wind channel around 08:10 hrs, return around 22:40 hrs – in between liberty time.

General information’s:

Getting around in Vienna:

For the duration of September 03 till 09 there will be a tourist ticket in your congress folder for the Vienna public transport system. If you will arrive on September 02 already and want to get around you have to buy a day ticket for the prize of 8 €.

Program for accompanying participants:

There will be offered city tours on September 02 and 03 and on special requests Fiaker tours (horse driven coaches) through the city center. More will be detailed later. There will be a tremendous amount of possibilities to get to know Vienne during your stay. Museums, Castle of Schönbrunn or close to the Hotel Schloss Belvedere (Prinz Eugen). Several guides tours are available like the Third Man Canal tour will be handed out.

!! Please bring with you a “warning vest” for the visits and photo stops  !!

Hotel: AZIMUT Hotel Vienna

            Sonnwendgasse 8, A 1100 Wien

            Tel:     +43 (0) 1 9616400 902

            Fax     +43 (0) 1 9616400 950

            Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

            Prize: € 84 single room                € 94 double room

All rooms have SAT TV, phone, shower/bath and toilette, safe, desk and seating area

Cancelation policy:           till July 31, free of charge

                                               Till August 14., 50% of the booking costs

                                               After that 100& of booking costs

Booking can be made by phone over the booking department or by email with the booking code “MOROP- Gruppe”. The booking has to be confirmed with a valid credit card.

Final booking date is: July 16, 2018 !!!

We wish you all a nice journey to and a wonderful stay in Vienna

Ing. Wieland Zimmer