Simon:
Follow the signs off the autobahn for the autohof. You’ll then see the signs for the train. It isn’t much of an autohof either, there’s next to no truck parking at all.
Basically it’s an in town petrol station which caters for trucks. There’s a cafe and a truckwash, but only parking for around 4 trucks, if you’re lucky.It’s at least 14 years since I last used it, but I doubt it’s changed much.
There were two types of drivers coach, neither type of coach had comfortable beds.
The older version had three bunks per compartment and a three seater ‘settee’, compartments the full length of the coach plus a toilet at each end. The back rest of the middle seat folded down to make a table.
The newer version had four bunks per compartment and a kitchen area at one end, with a trestle type table and two long wooden benches. The toilet was at that end as well, there might be a toilet at both ends, I don’t remember.The only kitchen type equipment was a water boiler.
You supply your own bedding and any food or drinks you think you might want. I used to take my own brew kit, complete with cooker and kettle.
The passage was a little over 9 hours when I used it, which was overnight, so my boss considered I’d had my rest time.It’s a drive on, drive off facility. So the first truck on only has a short walk to the drivers coach, but a long walk back to their truck at Novara.
It starts off with a German Rail engine, then at the border that’s swapped for a Swiss engine. When you get to the mountains they hook another engine up.
At the Italian border the engines are swapped again for an Italian Rails engine.
At sometime during the passage the drivers coach is un-hooked, then moved to the back before being hooked back up.
For some reason it isn’t unheard of for the whole train to be turned around. I know because I helped a driver resheet his load. Obviously you sheet your load for driving forwards, because the train had been turned around we were going backwards, so the wind was getting under his front sheet and making it ballon. The engine was pushing and the train driver couldn’t see because of the balloning sheet. He wasn’t a happy bunny. All the shunting, turning around, putting engines on and off, moving the drivers coach from front to rear, etc, etc, it’s like trying to sleep in a double manned moving truck.
Brilliant Simon! that is just how I remember it, 4 years ago with a flat bed sheeted trailer & yeah, you guessed it I was that driver trying to rescue my sheets as it hadn’t occurred to me that we would be going backwards at high speed! the train driver/guards were not best pleased
Not pleasant but got my daily rest in (although nowhere near refreshed when we arrived in Novarra!) so onwards to Lake Garda, tip, reload and back for the next nights train! it was an experience I can tell ya.