NGT6 1315

And that is why the 481 is called "Air Raid Siren"!

Cab ride on the U2 line on a GI Stock set:

Then I guess this formation you mentioned might have been powered by a pair of class 27s. Twenty of these have been outfitted with automatic couplers as well.

Brussels - I was impressed last time by the push-pull loco sets combining with one loco in the middle of the train. Not sure if it was the same type as your photo.

And have those ancient-looking AM-series EMUs disappeared yet? I know they're being replaced by the AM08 series? 

Ah, I read about such sets only recently. These are usually composed of M6 coaches with a 13 series electric in the middle

We travelled from Brussels on the same day, but our train was the last one of the day and was delayed by 40 minutes but we didn't go all the way to St Pancras as we had left our car at Ebbsfleet which is very handy for south Essex. It was our first Eurostar trip and we intend to repeat the experience but probably Paris next time!

I suppose that means you were at Brussels-Midi only a short while after we had left!

Having been to Brussels a couple of years ago, I did find that not much had changed at Brussels-Midi - particularly around the platforms which appeared just as shabby as they had at the time.

Always rewarding to see such detailing work pay off, isn't it? Great work there, Jon!

An interesting story and well told. I particularly cherish the snappy name '23rd August Locomotive Works'. Priceless!

 

David

Or think of the October Revolution Locomotive Works from the days of the USSR! From today's point of view, such symbolic names certainly are unique.

I'm sure you'll like the class 132 rebuild I have on my list for the summer holidays!

Good to hear from you, Dave! I understand Gro

I arrived around quarter to ten and left with the 11.52 suburban service. I was recently talking to a fellow railfan I had met at Thekla and he said he had spent days where freight trains were literally tailing each other within block distance

Yes, at least between some of the German states. There's a similar rivalry between Bavaria and former Prussia, too!

That waiting shelter is even more basic that those that we have in the UK! The signallers accommodation looks rather nice though.

Really enjoying your photos.

 

David

Thanks! I understand Thekla Station is to be rebuilt after the renovation at Halle Central Station will have been completed, so I suppose it's not too likely that DB will put a lot of money into polishing it up in the meantime.

Thanks! I should add that looking closely, I could see that 145 001's previous "Railion DB Logistics" lettering had just been painted over and the new, "neutral" DB Schenker markings applied on top. But even so, I agree that a freshly revised locomotive is a pretty sight

In the 2nd photo, what are those green things lurking in the background, underneath the "22" and "23" signs?

These are a couple of historic electrics which are on display on the easternmost track of Leipzig Central Station:

E 04 01

E 44 046

...and E 94 056.

In addition, there's VT 137 225, a Hamburg type express DMU:

...and 52 5448, which I'm sure I also have a photo of somewhere.

Very interesting pictures, many thanks for posting.

 

It's amzing how the Talent 2 in silver livery looks quite different to the Talent 2 in standard DB-AG red livery. Wonder if Piko will produce a silver livery Talent 2 next year?

 

Keith

Keith,

The four-segment suburban 1442 is, in fact, already available in H0 scale. This may well be one of my next purchases...

Cheers,

Dom

Thanks Dom, very interesting and I hope they're going to rebuild Halle Hbf to go with it - it struck me as rather spartan when I was there 10 years ago.

Mike,

Halle Central Station is indeed earmarked for a major renovation project which is scheduled to begin next September and to be finished in 2017.

It's not just that this is a lovely build there, it's also that I'm very fond of B5 myself!

Hello,

 

yesterday I saw a couple of MEG locos on the way to my parents. These was on the line from Wurzburg to Frankfurt between Zellingen and Veitsh

A couple of MEG 143s were also used on passenger workings around Berlin within the past couple of years....

That's right. In fact, I also remembered how a MEG 143 could be seen working passenger services around the Rhine and Moselle a while ago.

Well, I certainly enjoyed your trip report! Kudos to the Swiss for having built railways in the most unlikely of places, too...

What surprised me was seeing BLS locos on freight over the Gotthard, away from their "home" route through the Alps.

That isn't uncommon at all, as DB Schenker and BLS jointly provide trans-Alpine services over both the Gotthard and L

The three-note horn they're using on those post buses are from the overture to Gioachino Rossini's opera "William Tell". Certainly is a nice touch, though!
 
It's also interesting to note that SBB have a habit of designating any combination of a Re 4/4" or Re 4/4''' (differently geared for more tractive effort at the cost of top speed) with a Re 6/6 as "Re 10/10", as if they were essentially one locomotive. The maximum formation typically used in revenue service would be two such pairs, essentially forming a "Re 20/20". Of course, pairs of Re 4/4"s or Re 4/4'''s occur as well, with pairs of Re 6/6s only but appearing to be much less frequent.

I have to say the the Swiss version of Italian is a lot easier to understand than the Swiss version of German.

 

The Alemannic varieties of German certainly are unusual. I couldn't make much sense of most of the conversations I overheard when I was riding the suburban lines in Zurich a few years ago!

The second loco at the head of the Orient Express would be one of those eight Re 4/4"s which had been set aside for the Swiss Express formations, consisting of EW III type coaches. These had been painted orange and light grey, so the locos were given a matching livery, and also fitted with knuckle couplers as SBB had been intending to shorten the turnaround times for these formations as much as possible. However, these Re 4/4"s and the coaches were reverted to UIC couplers in later years, with the coaches having been refurbished and sold to BLS a few years ago.

ISTR that only 11108 and 11109 have retained the Swiss Express livery, though.

That does look like a beautiful patch of Switzerland to be living on. Especially for us railfans... Thanks for posting!

I certainly can, Chris! That's the kind of trip I'd like to be doing myself some day...

True enough, Ian. Though I'd be dishonest if I said Nazism had become extinct over here. In fact, parts of the Eastern states have a significant presence of far-right parties...which I guess makes it all the more important for us at school to do anything in our power to enable our pupils to make a decent living, rather than having neo-Nazi f*ckers prey on them.

Yeah, let me just say that going by opinions brought forth on German railway forums over the years, you either love or hate the 423s and 425s