Photos of your French stock

[jivebunny]

Hi all,

 

Thought I'd try to bring something new to this subforum by starting a thread for us all to post our latest (or even our not-so-latest / favourite) acquisitions, in the hope of getting some new discussions going. In any case it's always interesting to see what others are doing and buying, especially in slightly niche areas of the hobby (niche outside of France, of course), and often this sort of thread allows others to discover manufacturers and suppliers that they weren't aware of. I'll get the ball rolling with some photos of my recent purchases and hope that others feel motivated to contribute their own!

 

Most of my childhood summers were spent in western France, specifically around Angers where my (French) mother's parents lived, and so I'm very firmly attached to the rolling stock my railwayman grandfather used to take me to see at Angers Saint-Laud in the late 80s and the 1990s, such as the below.

 

First up is this EAD X 4630 "Caravelle". EAD for "Element automoteur double" - double self-propelled unit or "EAT" for the three-car versions. These 1970s two-car DMUs were lightly modernised from 1985 onwards and 21 of them were repainted into the rather obscure "Pays de la Loire" livery (nicknamed the "ambulance" livery for obvious reasons). Anyone who's been to Nantes since December 1984 is likely to recognise the TAN livery that adorns the trams there, which has evolved little in the 38 years since it was introduced. Having never been produced by a manufacturer, this livery is a limited series of models based on the recent Hornby-Jouef production, professionally repainted by TEC Aura and sound-equipped with a Yohan Delage Loksound v5. Sold exclusively by Train de France and - because of me - now sold out.

 

Next up is this Z 9600 EMU (of the Z2 family), in the slightly later Pays de la Loire livery, which should sit nicely alongside my other Z2 which is in original livery. I'm particularly fond of these colours which remind me of trips to the seaside

Digital sound ones are very hard to come by so I jumped on the opportunity to acquire this one last week. Same supplier and once again I purchased the last one (sorry).

 

And finally some proper traction, in the form of this first-series BB 66000 in the classic "Arzens" livery (named after its designer, Paul Arzens).

These were often to be found trundling through Angers on freight moves or parked up in the bay platform waiting to shunt wagons in the nearby yards (long overgrown now, sadly).

 

Cheers,

 

Alan

[Barry Ten]

I've taken delivery of the new Jouef RGP X2700 (I think it's an RGP2?):

 

There are a few more pics in my layout thread. It's a nice model.

[Gordonwis]

2 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

I've taken delivery of the new Jouef RGP X2700 (I think it's an RGP2?):

 

There are a few more pics in my layout thread. It's a nice model.

 

Yes, it is an RGP2. Note that the 2 refers to the fact that this version of the X2700 class had two engines, not because it came before or after the RGP1 !. The RGPs belonged to the standard SNCF autorail series that was developed after WWII, comprising (the numbers referred to the CV (horsepower) so can be compared to the original power of the 2CV car!

 

U150 (ie 150CV) aka X55 or 5800 aka  'Mobylette' (4 fixed axles, all the other types have proper bogies) - my brother and I called them 'fake bogie' autorails when we were gricing the Bellegarde - Annemasse 141Rs steam route  in the early 1970s

U300  aka X3800 aka Picasso 

U600  aka X2400

RGP aka X2700

U850 aka X2800

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Gordonwis

[Gordonwis]

N gauge:

 

My most recent purchase was the superb new Arnold SNCF DDm DEV type car carriers. French N Gaugers have been waiting for years for a proper French style car carrier as used on French motorail for many years  (the German design of d/d car carrier has been available in N for decades but it has inclined girders at each end of each side rather than the very obviously vertical ones on SNCF carriers 

[Gordonwis]

I've also bought two of the retooled Fleischmann BB7200 (these are not 'recent' despite the wording in the latest issue of Continental Modeller). I got mine from France as far back as March 2022 - what |CM should have said was 'recently available in the UK for the first time'

[sncf231e]

Some of my latest French stock (all O gauge):

Regards

Fred