Earlier attempts to shoot the famous French nez cassé locomotives on the IC trains between Paris and Maubeuge were rather frustrating, partly due to the very sparse number of trains. That is, until we discovered that there were also loco-hauled trains running between Paris and Saint-Quentin. It turns out you can fill quite a day south of Saint-Quentin chasing these trains, which my friend Eurorailer and I have done a few times last summer.

Our first attempt we started close to Maubeuge, which proved not to be the best recipe however. Long transportation times between Hautmont and the Tergnier region, made us miss a northbound IC by a few minutes. This seemed to have triggered the bad luck, as me missed some more loco hauled trains. Result: 2 nez cassés on the full day.

A few weeks later we did a new attempt, after Eurorailer had been exploring the area a bit more in detail. With more success this time: 9 nez cassé hauled trains, and quite a few freight trains as well. My day started in Salency for a northbound IC, followed by a picture of a southbound IC in Pont-l’Evêque.

In the early afternoon we were in Ribeaucourt. While a farmer was fertilizing his field, we could get photos of 3 different nez cassé variants.

For the expected southbound trains, we went to Essigny-le-Grand. It became a true parade, with a mix of 5 loco-hauled trains and not less than 7 freight trains. Traffic turned out to be so dense that it was hard even changing position on this same location.

To those interested, I recommend not to wait too long. Rumors are that SNCF will replace the trains with Corail coaches by EMU’s by the end of 2023.