The last full day in Morocco! We started in Nador, where we ended up last night in our search for a hotel. The hotel was good so we started the day all refreshed. This line was our last hope to see a DF 100 locomotive in action. Somewhere we had read that these locomotives run freight trains here.
Well, all we got to see was a quite modern railway line with large, seemingly abandoned stations, and not so dense passenger train traffic. As the stations were unmanned, we have no idea if freight trains ever ride on this line.
We then concentrated on the few passenger trains to and from Aït Nsar, next to the Spanish enclave Melilla. Near Taourirt, while standing on a hill overlooking the railway line with Taourirt in the background, we had another interesting encounter. A man came up to us and started talking, pointing to holes in the ground. After a while it became clear to us that we were probably standing in a location where snakes lay their eggs. We tipped the man to thank him for the information, but didn’t leave before making a photo of the train to Casablanca.
We had to start moving back towards the airport for our flight the next day. On the way there we stopped in Taza, as I thought I had seen, in a glimpse, something green in what I supposed was the station. No chance was left unexplored to maybe see a DF 100, and yes, this time we were lucky. Although the locomotive was standing still, we were glad we got to see one. And I was proud of my sharp eye view.
Last stop was the station of Koucha, where the friendly station master had helped us before to figure out when freight trains would be running. No more freight today, bu we got to see our last diesel-hauled passenger train of the vacation.
Railscapes 