Moves at Limoges and other French Photos

[jamie92208]

I looked back through my notes and I haven't seen a Sybic since August 2020 when they were working freight at Poitiers.

 

Anyway I managed to get out for a few hours yesterday before the lockdown lite starts. Andy and I went to our usual spot by the line. In 2 and a half hours we didn't see a single freight but a couple of workings were out of the ordinary.  First an unexpected northbound double TGV duplex working that had come via Angouleme. Here it is accelerating up to the LGV.  Sets 852 and 865.

Nothing happened then for well over an hour but a southbound repeater signal cleared and 15 minutes later this arrived.

A very rare  beast on the classic line, a BROOM.  Thanks to Mike (Stationmaster) I can tell you what BROOM stands for, Bimoteur Rapide d'Observation et de Overture par la Maintenance.  In other words High speed track inspection machines for the LGV from Tours to Bordeaux. Capable of 160kph two of them are based at the Villognon maintenenance depot just south of where we were and cover the high speed lines every morning before services start.  here's another photo of it.

 

And that will be it till lockdown lifts unless by chance I see some trains whilst taking my other half for a medical appo

 

Jamie

Edited August 14, 2022 by jamie92208

[Mike Storey]

Great pics again Jamie! Back to locos for a moment, I read in TR that Fret SNCF has recently been reorganised (again) and told it must break even (again), this time by 2023.

 

This has resulted in about 100 locos being up for sale (instead of scrapping them so that no-one else can have them, as was much the case before). The majority are Classes BB 27000 dual-voltage electrics (for general sale to anyone who will have them) and BB 60000 diesels (for primarily track maintenance companies). So, many of the locos at Rouen will, I would guess, be part of this.

 

But the BB 26000 Sybics are being withdrawn as they come up for major overhaul, due to "severe bodyshell corrosion". The article does not state whether an attempt will be made to sell them or not, but they are included under the title "Locomotives for Sale"? Somehow, I doubt it.

[jamie92208]

Thanks Mike, I sawcthat about the locos for sale. It will be interesting to see where they end up. We don't get a huge variety of 27000's this far south due, I think to the pantograph issue. The private companies such as Millet rail seem to be pucking up quite a bit if traffic, so perhaps we might get some greater variety.

 

Jamie

Edited April 4, 2021 by jamie92208

[JeffP]

I find it heartbreaking to see empty freight yards on YouTube and Google Earth, when I think back to the late 90's.

And, of course, freight on roads has increased exponentially.

In the 80's, travelling on routes nationales after about 10pm meant being largely on your own.

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, JeffP said:

I find it heartbreaking to see empty freight yards on YouTube and Google Earth, when I think back to the late 90's.

And, of course, freight on roads has increased exponentially.

In the 80's, travelling on routes nationales after about 10pm meant being largely on your own.

Huge yards at Poitiers, and Angouleme and also Tours, though there is some activity there from the private freight companies.  As I understand it SNCF staff have shot themselves in the foot with strikes and other industrial practices.  Freight is at a fraction of what I used to see in the 90's.

 

Jamie

[Mike Storey]

8 hours ago, JeffP said:

I find it heartbreaking to see empty freight yards on YouTube and Google Earth, when I think back to the late 90's.

And, of course, freight on roads has increased exponentially.

In the 80's, travelling on routes nationales after about 10pm meant being largely on your own.

 

It's all to do with pricing, and that has something to do with industrial relations, but much more to do with the unwillingness of SNCF to experiment beyond grand schemes, citing restrictive practices which are not just of the unions' making, and latterly much more to do with ridiculous track access charges. Even the private firms entering the market now are complaining about the latter, both for passenger and freight. There was a report lately that "showed" that the average cost of moving a train in France was double per kilometre, compared to Germany, which is making entry difficult. It is also causing SNCF to mothball many freight only lines. Many of the Regions are actively considering taking the TER infrastructure under their own wings, to reduce such costs, re-open some lines and encourage greater frequencies. This may help freight too.

 

Road freight, for bulk items, is not necessarily cheaper in France (given high road tolls and many new restrictions on HGV movements) but is much more flexible and adaptable. That is where rail freight must regain their advantage.

[jamie92208]

A quirk in the lock down rules, allows me to visit Ruffec to shop even though it's more than 30 km's but there is a departmental boundary part way.  So yesterday I headed off and met Andy and we had a very pleasant 2 and a half hours sitting lineside just north of where Andy lives.  There was more traffic than normal but the strong and cool wind meant that we got very little warning of approaching trains. Almost as soon as we got there 186 177 headed north wrong line with a long train of new cars.   The next was a convoy of infrastructure locos headed by 22292.

This was towing 63861, 22288 a loco we didn't get and 67511

5 in all.

 

Then  an empty stock railcar 72505 headed south at the same time as 27007 headed north with a long mixed freight. Then a G1206 went north light  engine  followed by 27006 heading south with tanktainers.   Not a bad afternoon.

 

Jamie

Edited August 14, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Another 'essential' shopping expedition to Ruffec was conducted yesterday and Andy and I went to out new spot by the track just north of Courcomme.  This rime we started off by doing some vegetation clearance work (unpaid) for SNCF.  Does this count as community service?

 

The first hour was very unproductive until 15.30 when 27006 headed north with tanktainers.  We'd seen the same loco with a similar train heading south the week before. As it was heading north in strong sunlight I only got a couple of shots after it had passed us.

Then a long train, possibly 6 to 700 metres of tranktainers.

This finally got past us..

Whilst we were waiting for train we watched construction on a windfarm just east of the line. Tis tower was only started that morning, they had got the lower half of the nacelle on and then the rotor was installed while we watched.

We were wondering where the roof of the nacelle was but when I looked at this photo, it's obvious that it had been attached to the nacelle when that was installed.

There is a tunnel north of the location an the trains hoot both on entering and leaving and we heard the sound of a heavy diesel working hard.  This came into sight, a Vossloh Euro 4000  in VFLI livery.4041. This was hauling a southbound log train.

This carried on south.

There was another northbound train of LPG tankers and vans then the northbound local came past which was the signal for us to pack up.   

 

All in all a good afternoon and the world, or our little part of it was put to rights.

 

Jamie.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

I had some more 'essential shopping to do yesterday and once again just happened to spend a few hours trackside at Courcomme with Andy.  When we got to our usual spot this was hanging from the catenary on the southbound track.  Obviously there was some work going on to the south of us and the overhead had been isolated.

Shortly afterwards an SNCF van pulled up opposite us then a car train behind a 186 appeared from the south, Too quickly for me to get a photo.

5 minutes later this appeared.

It then went quit for an hour and then the usual infrastructure working came into view.  By now Andy and I had tidied up some more of the vegetation.

As so often happens with this working there was another loco tucked in behind 22278 , yesterday it was 69276

Then a couple of ballast wagons.   

 

Nothing else occurred till the EMU at 17.10 but it was a good afternoon.   

 

Macron is due to talk to the nation tomorrow so we might be able to go a little further afield next week.  Once the curfew is lifted then an afternoon/evening trip to Poitiers is on the cards.

 

Jamie

Edited August 14, 2022 by jamie92208

[Fat Controller]

The mystery object is a 'perche', acting as an earth on isolated catenary.

[JeffP]

"Macron is due to talk to the nation tomorrow so we might be able to go a little further afield next week.  Once the curfew is lifted then an afternoon/evening trip to Poitiers is on the cards."

 

Maybe we'll be allowed to visit our place?

Or will it be, by some strange twist of fate, just in time for the tourist season?

[jamie92208]

25 minutes ago, JeffP said:

Maybe we'll be allowed to visit our place?

Or will it be, by some strange twist of fate, just in time for the tourist season?

Some of our expats from the village seem to think that they will be allowed over in mid May. However I've no idea how they will go on getting back into the UK.

 

Jamie

[Mike Storey]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Some of our expats from the village seem to think that they will be allowed over in mid May. However I've no idea how they will go on getting back into the UK.

 

Jamie

 

Looks like France might be declared a Green zone! Quite what data they are looking at is beyond me!

[Joseph_Pestell]

I got on OK last week. But there was testing (Limoges Hospital) and quite a lot of paperwork.

 

Embarkation at Dieppe was slow, Disembarkation at Newhaven was very slow. Just the fourth non-freight vehicle to be dealt with, I think that I was there about 30 minutes. They won't be able to do that at the height of the summer traffic or the ferry timetables will fall apart.

 

It will be interesting to see how the return to France goes. I think that I have got my head round it all including the new customs requirements. 

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon.  I had another afternoon out yesterday and due to slight easing of covid restrictions Andy and I were able to go down to our more usual spot north of Luxe.

Within a couple of minutes of our arrival a northbound intermodal appeared behind 186 329.

This was running wrong line so there must have been some work going on north of us.

Next up was a Ferrotract G1206 on a train of ballast hoppers that we think had originated at the Villognon depot on the TGV line. There is a connecting spur just south of Luxe to the depot.

The numbers n these are not easy to get so I just had time to wind the zoom back on my long lens and snapped this one of the fuel tank area.

Fortunately I was able to read the UIC no on my camera screen and another one went in the book.

Next was a double TGV Duplex heading north with 848 leading and 885 trailing.

You might be able to see that there is no pantograph raised on the rear unit.  Andy and I then realised that we were parked alongside the voltage changeover point.  This is marked at the side of the tracks.

This is the northbound board marking the start of the 25Kv.  A little bit south of it is the neutral section.

Then 50 yards beyond that is the board marking the start of the 1500v DC.

The TGV's don't seem to slow down at all and next time I'm going to watch specifically for the pantographs.

Another freight came along with two 27002 and 27012 on, only the front one was under power and they were running wrong line.

We watched the two locals past, running right line and then it was off to drop Andy off and head for the fish and chip van.

 

Jamie

[Fat Controller]

Looks as though you found yourselves in the middle of the 'periode Blanche' for one of the lines. SNCF are very fond of these daytime planned possessions, where all traffic is timetabled over one line, to allow inspections and light maintenance to be carried out in daylight.

[jamie92208]

No photos today as I forgot to put my camera in the camrra bag.  However  a good qfternoon was had with 4 freights, two TGV'S and 2 EMU's.  After ladt weeks comments on the voltage changeover, Andy and I watched the procedure carefully.  The DC pans came down nearly half a mile before the short neutral section and the AC pan was raised about the same distance after. The sets were starting to slow a bit as they hit the steep grade up to the LGV and the pan was seen to go up as soon as the rear power car got to the bottom of the ramp.  We also saw a Europorte G1000 with a couple of ballast hoppers.

 

Jamie

Edited May 20, 2021 by jamie92208

[brushman47544]

Hi Jamie,

 

I don't know if you've seen it, but there's an interesting piece on the rail services in Nouvelle Aquitaine in the may 2021 news section of the French Railways Society website http://frenchrailwayssociety.org/index.php?p=1_66

 

Regards

[jamie92208]

Good morning from a somewhat grey and cloudy Charente.  I managed to get over to Ruffec last Friday and then had a pleasant afternoon in the sun with Andy, standing on our usual redundant bridge watching the trains go by. Flapjack and beer was provided by Andy and I provided coffee and transport.

First a stop at Ruffec to look at the progress of the works. The footbridge and stairs are up but it looks as if the lifts are still to be installed as there are gaps in the railing on the bridge.

The ramp in the foreground will give access to Quai 3 which is used by northbound services when there is single line working on the southbound track.  Anyway after that I picked Andy up and we headed for Villesoubis. A climb up through the long grass got us onto the bridge and almost immediately 186343 appeared, running wrong line with a lengthy train of new cars from Spain

The big advantage of this location is that we can see and identify the TGV's on the high speed line which crosses the classic line just south of where we were standing.  The road bridge was left in place though the road was severed as it would have been impossible to make a crossing of the LGV at that point.  An alternative route was provided just south of our vantage point.

Anyway several TGV's came along including 2 of the new batch of 800 series double deckers (832 to 850) that have only just been completed.

Jamie

Edited April 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[brushman47544]

You should keep a pair of secateurs in the car, for situations as in the second photo.

[JeffP]

Last time i did any long grass explorations for railway installations in France, I encountered not one, but two green and yellow grass snakes about six feet long!

They are very aggressive.

And snakes are the only creature on this planet of which I am terrified.

[Stephen Freeman]

There are more than one type of snake to look out for. Worst of the bunch is the grass snake, usually black in our experience, very long and as has been noted very aggresive. Then there is the Western Whip snake, tends to be much quicker but not aggresive towards humans, thirdly the viper which is really the only venomous snake you are likely to encounter. I believe there are nastier ones further south. No adders this far south, probably the Western whip snakes have eaten them all. Personally I have only seen the Western whip snake there, though my wife has seen more than one grass snake, quite common apparently.

 

Arguably the worst creature is the processionary caterpillar, unfortunately these have apparently now spread to the UK (even to parts further north than you might think), where most people are unaware of the danger.

[jamie92208]

Yes we have whip snakes and vipers around us and have seen both in the garden.  I have used secaturs and tree loppers to help SNCF with their vegetation control. However that TGV photo was rather snatched as we didn't get much warning of it's approach. The grass has really grown since we were last up there.

 

Jamie

[JeffP]

It does tend to. lol.

In 2020 I arrived at our property in June to find grass over 60 cm tall, various weeds over a metre tall, and nettles and ferns over TWO METRES tall.

We now employ a couple of ex pat ladies to keep it under control.

Even with a strimmer, it was miserable work when the rain had laid much of it flat.

And I was too busy trying to rewire the old part of the property and tile nearly 50 sq m before my poor wife flew out two weeks later. Fourteen hour days were the norm.

To say I'm a bit peeved with Macron forbidding Brits to enter France because we voted to leave, is an understatement!

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, JeffP said:

It does tend to. lol.

In 2020 I arrived at our property in June to find grass over 60 cm tall, various weeds over a metre tall, and nettles and ferns over TWO METRES tall.

We now employ a couple of ex pat ladies to keep it under control.

Even with a strimmer, it was miserable work when the rain had laid much of it flat.

And I was too busy trying to rewire the old part of the property and tile nearly 50 sq m before my poor wife flew out two weeks later. Fourteen hour days were the norm.

To say I'm a bit peeved with Macron forbidding Brits to enter France because we voted to leave, is an understatement!

Hope it gets sorted soon. The rain and sun we are having at the moment everything is growi g too fast especially  les meauvais herbes.

 

Jamie