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Moves at Limoges and other French Photos


jamie92208
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Whilst scanning a batch of unsorted slides that I found in a box this one turned up.   Fortunately the station name gives a clue to date and place.   It's taken between Chalon Sur Soane and Macon, on the ex PLM main line in Burgundy.   From memory we were en route back home form the south of France on a family holiday, roundabout 1990.

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If anyone has any other info I would be grateful as all my pencil markings have been rubbed off the slide. As it would probably have been taken in the evening I would guess from the lighting that it was a northbound express. Funny to think that those very modern looking coaches are the same type that are now being scrapped.

 

Jamie

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1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Whilst scanning a batch of unsorted slides that I found in a box this one turned up.   Fortunately the station name gives a clue to date and place.   It's taken between Chalon Sur Soane and Macon, on the ex PLM main line in Burgundy.   From memory we were en route back home form the south of France on a family holiday, roundabout 1990.

983535821_SlidesOS0031985.jpg.1b8c60c0026c2b9a48a642412d3e0ce8.jpg

If anyone has any other info I would be grateful as all my pencil markings have been rubbed off the slide. As it would probably have been taken in the evening I would guess from the lighting that it was a northbound express. Funny to think that those very modern looking coaches are the same type that are now being scrapped.

 

Jamie

 

Could be a trick of the light but it looks as though there are a couple of German coaches on the back end. So probably a Lyon-Strasbourg or Lyon-Metz train.

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Zooming in I reckon the last two coaches are a USI (penultimate) and UIC (last carriage) in the standard green/grey livery.   Both coaches are different with the USI coach having a lower body than the back one. 

 

the loco looks to be BB7322 so a dc only one.  Either heading to Paris or, if heading towards Strasbourg/Metz would require a loco change at Dijon.  

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22 minutes ago, kintbury jon said:

Zooming in I reckon the last two coaches are a USI (penultimate) and UIC (last carriage) in the standard green/grey livery.   Both coaches are different with the USI coach having a lower body than the back one. 

 

the loco looks to be BB7322 so a dc only one.  Either heading to Paris or, if heading towards Strasbourg/Metz would require a loco change at Dijon.  

 

I considered that but the upper part looks more cream than silver/grey.

 

If I remember the map correctly, there would be a reversal at Dijon so a change of loco not an issue, indeed likely.

 

If indeed the two at the back are SNCF stock (I take your point about apparent height difference), this is probably a Lyon - Dijon semi-fast on a busy day when a couple of extra coaches were needed. ISTR there were some trains from further south that terminated at Dijon but I think they would have a longer set of Corails.

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2 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I considered that but the upper part looks more cream than silver/grey.

 

If I remember the map correctly, there would be a reversal at Dijon so a change of loco not an issue, indeed likely.

 

If indeed the two at the back are SNCF stock (I take your point about apparent height difference), this is probably a Lyon - Dijon semi-fast on a busy day when a couple of extra coaches were needed. ISTR there were some trains from further south that terminated at Dijon but I think they would have a longer set of Corails.

I wonder if the two rear coaches are for 'permissionaires' going on, or returning from, leave? Such traffic, either entire trains, or portions, lasted until the end of National Service in the late 1990s. Certain stations served as concentration points, where trains from all over France would converge. I remember an ill-advised stay in a hotel overlooking Reims station, where we had to sleep with the window open; several RSMs (or equivalent) would be bellowing out unit names and platforms all night.

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25 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

I wonder if the two rear coaches are for 'permissionaires' going on, or returning from, leave? Such traffic, either entire trains, or portions, lasted until the end of National Service in the late 1990s. Certain stations served as concentration points, where trains from all over France would converge. I remember an ill-advised stay in a hotel overlooking Reims station, where we had to sleep with the window open; several RSMs (or equivalent) would be bellowing out unit names and platforms all night.

 

That's certainly a possibility. Defence ministry payments to the SNCF for transporting all those servicemen on leave was a major contributor to the railway budget. I had forgotten that there were a lot of squaddies based near Reims. Army buses collected them from the station.

 

There was also quite a large Foreign Legion recruitment/training barracks in the city. It was placed unfortunately close to some of the womens' university student hostels.

 

One interesting working which was mainly for the convenience of the army was a train from Paris-Est to Lindau, a good modellers' excuse for SNCF stock on a DB layout.

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Thanks for all the info about the slidebof 7322.  I discovered yesterdayvyhst itvwas from mid July 1992.  We were heading up towards Koblenz from Frejus with the caravan so Chalons Sur Soane was a good stop off.  

 

On a totally unrelated subject, uf anyone has access to the June issuevof Rail Passion it is well worth a read.  The lead article is a detailed account if how SNCF has reinvented the ambulance train to take, sedated and intubated Covid-9 patients, from overloaded  ICU's in Grand Est and Paris to hospitals in the west and South West who had spare capacity. By good fortune an exercise had been run in 2019 from Metz to Paris so when Covid hit they had a good idea what they needed. They used two double deck TGV's in multiple. The first had SNCF personnel, spare drivers, managets, technicians etc. The second was medical with enough supplies to be a hospital ICU for 24 intubated patients. The lower decks in 1st class were set up as rest/mess roons for the medics. Each trip was planned 48 hrs in advance and a total of  8 were run to places such as Nantes, Poitiers, Bordeaux  from Mulhouse or Paris. Stores included 450 oxygen cylinders plus a lot of batteries in case of power failure. The operation was refined as it went on and a speed of 220 kph was found to give the most comtortable ride. Apparently these were the first ambulance trains run since WW2.  The article is understandable  even with my O level French and is well worth a read.

 

Jamie

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6 minutes ago, enginelane said:

It was rumoured that Mr Shapp had a similar plan but using laid up Pacers 

 

At least if patients had been bounced along for any distance then hospitalisation would be neither an issue or a requirement!

 

Mike.

 

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I got out to play for another hour or so today and Andy, my mate was allowed out as well.  We went and sat on Ruffec station for an hour and saw three freights, all  northbound.   First up was 222287 in all over silver on a very short 3 wagon infrastructure train.

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This was routed through the northbound loop then was followed 15 minutes later by the regular LPG and steel train. 27070 was a cop for me.

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Then 20 minutes later 27001 rolled by with the tanktainers.

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We were very happy with that and put the world to rights before heading back to Andy's for a cuppa. All in all a very pleasant way of passing a bit of time.

 

Jamie

 

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I had an evening out earlier this week and spent it sitting on Ruffec station and tried some night photogrpahy. First though I stopped briefly on Saturday and caught a long freight heading north at lunchtime behind 27004, which I needed.

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Later on Monday evening this familiar sight emerged out of the gloom

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66029 heading north on a grain train.   Later on after sunset I tried to take a photo but just got glare from the headlights.

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There was quite a lot of traffic from 22.30 onwards with double headed freights, another grain train behind 66242, a Vossloh G2000 light engine and a 186 on intermodal. All but one heading north.

 

Jamie

 

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A trip into Angouleme today gave me a chance to call in at the station.   One of the relatively new 6 car units with the Midi pantographs was there sporting the Nouvelle Aquitaine livery.

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Then I got surprised by a Light Engine movement of 22295, 75066 and 75076 so this was the only shot I got apart from their numbers.

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On my way home I called at the scrapyard and they are obviously working their way through more Corail coaches.  This batch were very heavily graffitied

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The approach track is very heavily overgrown it must be quite a sight when a delivery takes place. The coaches do look strange with all the underframe mounted gear removed.  There were the remains of several bogies cut up outside the demolition shed.

 

Jamie

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A cracking evening was had yesterday.   Andy and I met up and went to Poitiers for the evening.  We got there about 5.15pm and set up camp on the 2nd floor of the multi storey car park just north of the station.  The tailgate of the Volvo proved to be a great place to sit and natter and a lot of trains were seen.  This was the general view to the north west with the stabling sidings across from the north end of the platforms.   passing loops and sidings are between the car park and the platforms.

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The TGV A was coming out of the stabling sidings and a Unit was coming in from the north.  The grain train nearest us had been brought in by a pair of 60XXX class diesels (60026 and 60048) and then a Sybic came creeping down behind them.

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It turned out to be 26232 and came round the train and coupled up.  It departed south about 8.30pm.

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The evening sun caught it quite nicely. The other train didn't move but shortly afterwards another Sybic came north with a 40 2 wagon train of grain hoppers.

We were surprised how fast the through freights came through the platforms, about 60mph for the intermodal and the empty log carriers that we saw.  We decided to pack up about 10.30pm and at 22.15 this came in from the south.

P7290597.JPG.7127dadcbe8365ccf93183f6c5f6134c.JPG

I've not done a lot of night photography with this camera and did try to get a shot of  the two 66's which were working in multiple.  This was the best I could do.   I need to get into the manual and probably use shutter priority.

724808612_P7290599R.JPG.3ff2158fc9bffe2a16a682382b4063be.JPG

he train had over 40 Polybulks and slowed almost to a halt till getting a clear signal.  The sound the two of them made as they accelerated away was most impressive and by the time the last wagon had passed was doing over 30mph.

 

All in all a very good evening.  Good music in the car in both directions, (John Fogerty one way the Strolling Bones the other) and some good conversation, and the temperature never dropped below 26 degrees.

 

Jamie

 

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It's a good spot with all the freight plus a lot of TGV's and units many of which stable there. We were lucky to see 4 grain trains as well as an intermodal or two plus the running round in the sidings.   It gets the traffic from La Rochelle as well as the main line.  It's the first time we've been there.

 

Jamie.

 

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Last night Andy and I had our third summer trip to the multi storey car park in Poitiers.  However we met at St Saviol, which is a convenient place for us to meet, then share a car up the N10 to Poitiers.  There was some track work ongoing north of St Saviol so the signals weren't on automatic as there was single line running to the north and the trains crossed over at 120 kph just north of the station.  3 trains came past while we were there, one was this car train, we think from Spain, heading north.

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186 331 doing the business.  we set of north about 3.30 and found it parked up in Poitiers station but where it was almost impossible to get a decent photo.

 

Shortly afterwards another 186 came south with an intermodal.

P9100767.JPG.f485474dbfcf48403046477f02aa9349.JPG

A G1206 headed north, light engine at some speed. Tiny numbers impossible to get.  Then two Z76XX's arrived from the north. I haven't seen any Z2's in use for some time.   They headed north to stable just as a TGV arrived.  

P9100773.JPG.2478f321cc01c3914dec601b21e05967.JPG

 

A pair of Sybics headed north with a long Millet Rail grain train and a pair of class 60XXX diesels headed south with another Millet rail train.  Then this pair of Vossloh G2000's arrived from the north. One had the number 1735 on it but the other had no discernible number. 

P9100777.JPG.ecb5e31ac27d750e8c7e9053cfdd3910.JPG

 Just before we left our old friend 66229 arrived from the south with another Millet rail train.   According to Today's railways Europe Millet rail have leased several 66's from ECR.

 

Jamie

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10 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

 one was this car train, we think from Spain, heading north.

 

Do any car trains start from Spain?

 

Used to be the case that they would be transported by lorry to Le Boulou or Rivesaltes and transferred to train there.

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11 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Do any car trains start from Spain?

 

Used to be the case that they would be transported by lorry to Le Boulou or Rivesaltes and transferred to train there.

 

I've seen Seat/VW car trains around Zaragoza, so I would assume they load in Barcelona?

 

Mike.

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We couldn't ID the makevof car but most of the wagons had Hispanauto on the side. Presumably  these will have come up from Hendaye/Irun unless they are destined for somewhere in Western France and came from Cerbere via Toulouse and Bordeaux.

 

Another strange routing mentioned in Todays Railways is Block ceral trains From Tours StPdC to La Rochelle routed via Angouleme, and St Jean D'Angeley which must then go to Niort and turn left to La Rochelle. I have seen a 66 on grain heading north from The Danglies as we call St.Jean.

 

Jamie

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On 11/09/2020 at 13:50, jamie92208 said:

We couldn't ID the makevof car but most of the wagons had Hispanauto on the side. Presumably  these will have come up from Hendaye/Irun unless they are destined for somewhere in Western France and came from Cerbere via Toulouse and Bordeaux.

 

Another strange routing mentioned in Todays Railways is Block ceral trains From Tours StPdC to La Rochelle routed via Angouleme, and St Jean D'Angeley which must then go to Niort and turn left to La Rochelle. I have seen a 66 on grain heading north from The Danglies as we call St.Jean.

 

Jamie

 

St Jean is the Donglies, in correct Franglais......!!

 

There are some large grain silos just south of St Jean d'Angely, towards Saintes, which at the right time of year, expels at least one train a day. There is quite a large complex there, but it is only used for a few months of each year. You can just see it from the autoroute, southbound.

 

I would suspect the train routing you have spotted, includes a pick-up at these silos, but, from observation, there are usually more than enough wagons being loaded, to form a single trip on its own, at the peak of harvesting.

 

But with the strange and extended timings for harvest this year, who knows? The Vidange is early, but the oddly altered, sunflower crop was much later than usual, and the corn and wheat choppings have been all over the place. But there is no climate change, of course......

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It's a while since I posted but Andy and I had a good trip out today up to Tours St Pierre des Corps and surrounding area.   A great day was had an many numbers wait to be underlined. The biggest discovery was what could only be described as small loco heaven on the southern side of the yards with umpteen locos from several builders and operators scattered all over the place.  We even found a whole new SNCF class (to us that is) in the form of the class 79000's from Vossloh.  We started by heading for the depot and the viaduct over the yards at the eastern end.  Many locos were identified and behind some oil tanks on the southern side we saw 5 of the 79000's.  We carried on to the other bridge just east of the station and found 3 depots with lots of locos in. Ferrotract, impossible to photograph, Socofer and Imateq just across the road from Socofer. This was the sight on the south side of Imateq.

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Three DE18's with three more behind them.

On the north side of the building were some more plus some G1206's in ECR livery.

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Another one from the same viewpoint.

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And here were the two G1206's.

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Just north of the road was the Socofer plant and locos could be seen inside the shops plus this one that appeared to be having a post delivery inspection/test.

 

Some of the uploads appear to have failed so I'll try a second post.

 

Jamie

 

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As mentioned in the previous post the Socofer plant was just across the road from Imateq, here is no 38 being worked on.

P9230792_resize.JPG.aa2bdb889dbbc7a71011f414821c0db0.JPG

There were more DE18's on the north side of Socofer.

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A Ferrotract G 1206 loco came along the main line but with no identifiable number. 

In the yard behind it was a full log train due to head south with VFLI 4022 on the front.

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We also ID'd plenty of locos on the depot  then had our lunch alongside the line before heading for Amboise where this unit came through.

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Then it was time to head back.   All in all a cracking day out.

 

Jamie

 

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Very difficult to see but there are numbers on what I think are the fuel tanks below the cab they were 92 87 001 016 0 and 92 87 0o1 011 1 if you can help me with what they mean I would be grateful.  There was also some very difficult to read nu,bers on the green DEq8's which looked like 92 87 4186 021 and 025 plus 029. There was also the red and black G1206 but I couldn't get a number off that. The Ferrotract locos were also numberless.

 

Jamie

 

Edit.  I think the ECR numbers were on what may be the battery box below the cab but right at the bottom.

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