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Roquetas de Mar visit on 9th to 16th October 2023
Page last updated on 4th September 2024
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The last of my annual holiday days from work saw us undertaking a trip to sunny Spain, for a week in October 2023. Other than my visit to Fuerteventura back in 2005, this was my first visit to Spain. After a three hour RyanAir flight from Dublin to Almeria, a pre-arranged shuttle brought us to our hotel close to the seafront in Roquetas de Mar. As we drove along, I spotted an interesting bus in a roadside yard near Almeria, this being a red painted dual door Bristol VRT double decker. Unfortunately it was too far away to see the registration clearly, but an email to the Bristol buses expert (Rob Sly) brought the reply that it was most likely to be ex Bristol Omnibus 5148 (AHW 199V) which was new in March 1980.
Bus services in the area are provided by Alsa (or Automoviles Luarca, S.A., to give it its full title), and has been operating since 1923. Since 2005 it has been owned by Britain's National Express Group, now known as Mobico Group. Alsa operate a variety of different types, including Setra, Mercedes, MAN and Volvo, the fleet being adorned in a variety of liveries. The ones I saw in Roquetas were tri-axle Setras with dual door 65 seat bodies, mostly in grey, green and white, although at least one was cream instead of white. Other ones seen in Almeria were either allover white with a red roof, or grey with two tone blue stripes.
The town of Roquetas is one of the few large Spanish districts which don't have a rail service, although RENFE, the national rail operator have services into nearby Almeria, which we visited on Saturday October 14th. Sightseeing operations are provided by Dotto trains, which are a similar product to the Deltrains I saw in Portugal in 2004 and Furteventura in 2005. Finally (with the help of google) I figured out the Spanish registration plate system. Since 2000 it has been four digits followed by three letters. A, E. I, O, Q and U were not used, so the first one issued was 0001 BBB, and the highest letter combination I spotted was MVJ. All vehicles show black on white plates, except taxis which have blue rear plates. For information on the two systems that were used prior to 2000, see this page for details.
This is a Nogebus Titanium, from the fleet of S. Rodrigues. This design is built on Mercedes, MAN and Volvo chassis, but this one didn't have any badges to say what was underneath. Those doors at the rear open to give full access to the engine.
Next up was this Polish registered MAN coach, 80 UL 74 and owned by Roma Tours.
3942 HHV is a 65 seat Setra dual door service bus, Alsa fleet number 3260, and is seen on the service from Roquetas to Almeria.
One of two Dotto trains in Roquetas, AL 0254 V is a pre 2000 registration issue, the AL indicates it was registered in Almeria. Our trip on this was slow but gave a good tour of the town, at one stage we were overtaken by a chap on an e-scooter!
Another Nogebus Titanium, this one from the Jimenez fleet and showing the frontal styling. Was that grille inspired by Alfa Romeo cars?? Livery is red and very pale blue.
Pepe Tours is a large coach tour operator and this Irizar bodied Mercedes was spotted near their office in Roquetas De Mar.
Saturday October 14th saw us catching a bus to Almeria, this being another Alsa Setra 65 seater, number 3129, with the 15 mile journey via Aquadulca costing just 2 euro. Arrival in Almeria brought a sighting of a massive jetty in the harbour which was formerly connected to the rail network (until 1973) and is now preserved as a cultural heritage site, as is the former station building. A newer station now adjoins the large bus and coach terminal.
Alsa Setra 3260 again, about to depart from Almeria towards Las Marinas. The Setra in the background has a cream rear instead of grey.
Alsa 3216 is a Mercedes Tourismo coach, in the grey and blue livery.
This building dates from 1893, when the line to Madrid opened. A new station to the left of the site opened in 2005, as part of a rail and bus interchange. Unusually it was built parallel to the tracks, the reason being the afore mentioned link to the port.
Cafes in Almeria are hard to find, and on our quest to find one we came across this pink scooter. The MBC reg letters would suggest it was no more than a year old at the time of the photograph.
This is the jetty referred to earlier. This bit of it is 55 metres above the water, and its purpose was to transfer iron ore from trains to ships bound for Glasgow.
The line rose from ground level via a ramped stone arched and metal girder viaduct, part of which is seen here.
And another section of the line, to the right of the previous picture. The whole structure is restored and it is possible to walk along it, not something for those who are afraid of heights! Beyond this section it drops to ground level and the line remains in place, complete with a tank wagon now trapped by the many palm trees which have grown up between the rails.
While waiting for a bus back to Almeria, I spotted a train arriving, so went for a look. The double headed diesel intercity set produced two surprises, first being what sounded very like an Irish Rail 071 class loco. A check on google later revealed that both types have basically the same power unit, althought the Spanish locos are very different in appearance. The second thing was the coaches have a single axle at each end, and one under the join of each coach.
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