Fredericia

Because this is where the country's only two main axes meet. From the north comes the Jutland line from Aarhus and Aalborg, from the south the approach from the German border, and to the east runs the only rail crossing of the Little Belt towards Funen and Zealand. Every freight train between Scandinavia and continental Europe has to pass through this point – there's no alternative.

Yes. The 1935 bridge carries a public footpath and cycle path alongside the railway tracks. From there you have an open view of the crossing, the water and the coastline. Two honest notes: the walk from the station takes around half an hour each way, and it's almost always noticeably windier on the bridge than it looks from below.

Realistically four to six hours. A junction with three directions can't sensibly be worked through in two hours, and the walk to the bridge alone eats up an hour. Anyone with only a short stopover should stay at the platform end towards the Little Belt – that's where the hit rate per minute is highest.

Yes. The connections between Copenhagen and Germany run via Funen, Fredericia and on via Padborg to the border. That means cross-border passenger traffic also passes through this station, supplemented by seasonally varying overnight train workings. The article Europe's overnight train network gives an overview.

No. Marshalling, stabling and transhipment areas are operational land, even where they look open in many places. Everything essential can be documented from the freely accessible platforms and from public roads. What entering track areas means is explained in the article entering the tracks and the consequences.

On the platform, a standard zoom is enough for most situations; for the approach tracks, a telephoto zoom up to 200 mm is useful. On the bridge, on the other hand, you'll want something wider, because you want the structure and the water in the frame too. A detailed breakdown is given in the article which focal length for train photography.

To some extent. Passenger traffic is predictable and easy to document, but the real appeal lies in the freight traffic – and that demands patience and prior knowledge. Anyone just starting out should begin at a clock-face-timetable station like Copenhagen Central Station and plan Fredericia as a second step.

The most obvious pairing is Padborg: both lie on the same axis, and whatever is formed in Fredericia changes traction in Padborg. Anyone heading further south reaches the next big destinations at Maschen and Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. How to plan such a chain is covered in the guide planning a station spotting tour.

Part of the passenger traffic between Copenhagen and Hamburg will shift onto the shorter axis via Lolland. For freight traffic within Jutland and for north-south relations, however, Fredericia remains indispensable, because there's no second crossing of the Little Belt. So the junction loses passenger trains, not its operational function.

On the platform, yes; en route, hardly. The platforms are partly covered, but the paths to the bridge and the terminal area are completely exposed. On Jutland's east coast, the wind can make a visit noticeably unpleasant – the article weather and emergencies at the spot describes how to deal with that.