German RR

[Eb Zane]

German Bahn has stopped ALL traffic because of high winds. I would guess that this is happening through out Europe north of the Alps plus the UK. Study winds of about 50 here with gust approching 120mph in higher areas. Berlin expecting winds in the 90's later this evening

EZ

[Gwizz]

I guess we will have to start calling this a windy planet. I've still not cleaned up all the limbs from my trees. It has been just tooooo cold outside until now in Seattle.

[sbaros]

My opinion is that "Gegenzug" is not just any oncoming train, but the very same train service running on the opposite direction. For example, the "Gegenzug" of D290 Akropolis Express from Athens to Munich is the D291 Akropolis Express from Munich to Athens. The corresponding odd/even schedule numbers are usually a reliable indication to tell. So, not every train has necessarily a "Gegenzug". For example, a consist that will leave as an express, but return as a stopping service for revenue reasons, has no "Gegenzug". There are other cases too. If my memory serves me correctly (which becomes increasingly rare with age), when I rode the Steyertalbahn as a teenager shortly before its closure, there was a night service out of Garsten with no equivalent service to the opposite direction. Instead, its consist returned coupled to the consist of the 1st morning service into Garsten, and of course double-headed. This should be considered a "Gegenzug" to the 1st morning service out of Garsten, not to the unidirectional night service. Thus, the timetable contained 7 outward departures, but only 6 returns! And of course the train numbering reflected that situation.
The "Gegenzug" translation issue is complicated specifically here due to the features of Railroad Tycoon 3 itself. For all other purposes, where you have defined mileposts, it is perfectly equivalent to refer to the "up" and the "down" run of a specific train. The "Gegenzug" of the "up" Flying Scotchman is undoubtedly the "down" Flying Scotchman(*). But here, we have no mileage direction. I also avoided using the alternative expression "return leg" because it might be mistaken as the return trip of the same locomotive after completing the outward journey.
Oncoming traffic in general is better designated as "Gegenverkehr" (always in relation to the schedule one refers to).
As I said though, this is just my opinion related to my general philosophy on railway jargon. For me, some German railfans use the term mistakenly too! A correct usage of the term in exemplified in this article. You will read

Deshalb startete der D 903 Akropolis...
Der Gegenzug D 904 startete mittags in Athen...

(*)Similarly, in Greek we would say "ANEPXOMENO TPAINO" vs. "KATEPXOMENO TPAINO"