Wednesday March 19 2025 was a very sunny day, and I was glad that I was able to take a day off work. Some interesting traffic to and from the stone quarry of Quenast was announced. First of all, TUC RAIL with a train headed to Schaarbeek, hauled by two class 55 locomotives. These locomotives may have lived their last winter, as rumors go that … Continue reading Late winter diesel day
Fall is not only the season of the colored leaves, but also that of the short days. On November 25, 2019, a few minutes before sunrise in Gent-Sint-Pieters, I pictured Lineas 186 346. It is finding its way through the southern entrance of Gent’s main passenger station. Kudos to the maintenance crews keeping this complex installation in good working order. Continue reading Short days of fall
On april 3rd 2016, commercial operation started on the second phase of LGV-Est. High speed trains from Paris to Strasbourg could from then on run at high speed until Vendenheim, where the LGV connects to the classic network. SNCF and SNCB now expect people travelling to Strasbourg to to use Thalys and TGV trains, with a transfer in Paris. For that purpose the classic international … Continue reading Last time in style to Switzerland
This is the last spot of the afternoon already: freight train traffic was scarce. A northbound intermodal train runs through the town of Braubach. “through” has to be taken literally here: it passes right in front of the houses. Considering this is one of the busiest freight lines in Germany, you can understand why inhabitants of the villages are complaining about noise. Let’s hope authorities … Continue reading A railfan’s dream house
A spot I keep returning to is this one close to Kamp-Bornhofen. Is it because of a previous time when I missed this same train hauled by a black class 66 engine? I had taken a group photo using the camera’s timer a few moments before, and had forgotten to turn it off. And you only notice it when pressing the shutter button results in … Continue reading About beeps and clicks
An afternoon shooting trains along the Rhine river with my good friend Eurorailer started in Boppard. We mainly saw intercity trains, no freight. The sun was there fortunately, bathing the winefields in a warm glow and preparing the grapes for wineyear 2016. Continue reading Where the wine is growing
It was a beautiful spring evening that I wanted to enjoy until the end, before the 2 hour drive back home. So I watched the sun set, the occasional passing train covering it. A quiet, enjoyable moment to finish an intensive day full of discoveries. Continue reading Solar eclipse
With the end of the day approaching, my two very kind photo-colleagues took me to a spot in Bösinghoven. The wide open plain allowing for long light, and making you basically forget you’re in the heart of Germany’s heavy industry. We saw more NordWestBahn Lint41 motorcars, a Talent 2 electric unit operated by National Express, and one freight train. Someone forgot to put containers on … Continue reading The green heart of industry
I was out of inspiration as to where to photograph next. CFL1800 and Peter Gootzen kindly let me follow them to the station of Krefeld Linn. Standing on the platform we awaited a few trains – from the expected trains, one would be hauled by a recently repainted Ludmilla engine! The building on the left of the frame is an old signalling cabin, I think. … Continue reading Particular engines
Sun would be standing at the west of the mainline by now, so I went to chec out the famous spot at Duisburg-Entenfang. Famous means that a lot of people hang out at a spot; this was also the case this day over here. I met 3 people: CFL1800, Peter Gootzen, and 37001 overseas. Big thanks to these people for sharing their knowledge about the … Continue reading Social time
Railscapes 