Catch them before they're gone

[Alfonso]

Hi, thinking about plans for the next couple of years I remembered that the Swiss First class panorama coaches might not be on long distance international trains for much longer (although I've not heard any news of scrapping or definite end dates, just that ever more multiple units and push pull trains, their age and non standard nature suggests they might not have a long life beyond use on things lake the Swiss gottard panoramic train). What other European things should we be looking to catch before they're gone?
[Edit... many thanks for everything so far, since people are asking, trams, metros, outside of Europe is all fair game, not aiming for anything definitive, just stuff I and any others who may be interested when considering holiday planning for the next two or three years.]

 

[StephenHunter]

DB Class 101s are on their way out, I believe. Also, the 218s can't have too long left.

 

[signed]

The Auray-Quiberon summer railcar service, the tire-bouchon (corkscrew). As there have been talks about maybe converting the line to light-rail or scrapping

 

[duesselmartin]

ICE 2 and classic IC are also getting rarer in Germany.
1144 loco services in Austria are on their way out.
CFL Luxembourg: the deDietrich EMU are also about to become extinct.

 

[D6130]

Trenitalia D445 class diesel-electric locos - the last Italian diesel locos in main line passenger service. They've already gone from the Taranto-Reggio Calabria and Firenze-Siena-Chiusi/Grosseto lines and are still just about hanging in there on the Firenze-Pontassieve-Borgo San Lorenzo route....or were prior to the December timetable change. Any more recent reports?

 

[YorkshireBear]

ICE 2 and classic IC are also getting rarer in Germany.
1144 loco services in Austria are on their way out.
CFL Luxembourg: the deDietrich EMU are also about to become extinct.

Classic IC are shortly to be extinct aren't they? A huge change since I first went to Germany in 2016 when Köln had a few ICs per hour. I'm correct on my understanding the routes haven't gone, just been turned to ICE services? As intercity opportunities down the Rhine Valley are massively reduced from what I remember.

 

[DanielB]

The Swiss panoramic cars actually are already gone on the ECs towards Hamburg.

For the Netherlands: There is still some ICR, but likely not till the end of 2025. And to Brussels it will be gone earlier as NMBS transfers more I11 coaches to the EC.
After ICR the ICM (Koploper) is the oldest stock, but it will require some more new deliveries before it can completely be replaced.

 

[popeter45]

Classic IC are shortly to be extinct aren't they? A huge change since I first went to Germany in 2016 when Köln had a few ICs per hour. I'm correct on my understanding the routes haven't gone, just been turned to ICE services? As intercity opportunities down the Rhine Valley are massively reduced from what I remember.

ICE is what IC used to be
IC2 is what IR used to be
IR is gone

 

[DanielB]

Classic IC are shortly to be extinct aren't they?

Rumours are the loco hauled IC Amsterdam - Berlin will be replaced with ICE3neo somewhere in 2025 as ICE L will take a while and the carriages are showing there age as well in terms of reliability.

 

[popeter45]

Rumours are the loco hauled IC Amsterdam - Berlin will be replaced with ICE3neo somewhere in 2025 as ICE L will take a while and the carriages are showing there age as well in terms of reliability.

are they even cleared for that route due to the poor quality track in that part of the netherlands?
would be nice to see food service on that route again thou

 

[eastwestdivide]

IC2 is what IR used to be

Think IC2 have taken over on some classic IC routes too.

 

[DanielB]

are they even cleared for that route due to the poor quality track in that part of the netherlands?
would be nice to see food service on that route again thou

Soil quality, it has nothing to do with the tracks but with the embankments themselves, is an issue with locomotives in the highest weight class such as the Vectron. DDZ regularly operates on largely the same route without issues, despite it being the heaviest trainsets NS has.

 

[MarcVD]

In Belgium, classic ”doubles” EMUs are gone since mid December. Only 8 remained in service... Nearly 90 years of belgian railways history gone : the first of those EMUs were built in 1939. I tried to convince Today's Railways Europe to publish an "endangered species" article about them but it didn't work. Next call will be for locomotives series 21 and 27, end 2025. And M4 coaches are also on their way out, slower than expected because of delayed delivery of new M7 stock.

 

[TheBeard]

Are there any 218s still on passenger services?

 

[43096]

Anything not ETCS fitted in Czech is at risk. Many main lines (basically the main lines Praha-Česká Třebová-Ostrava, Česká Třebová-Brno-Břeclav and Ostrava-Břeclav) go over to ETCS operation from next year. Bad news if you like the older electrics, but good if you like Vectrons…

 

[D365]

DB Class 101s are on their way out, I believe. Also, the 218s can't have too long left.

The DB 218s [and their sister classes] are the German Bo-Bo equivalent of Class 37. They keep going and going.

That said…

Are there any 218s still on passenger services?

This is a good question. Would I be right in saying that most of the remaining loco-hauled services have been replaced with 245s?

 

[eastwestdivide]

Very recent 218 working pictured on a Hof-Regensburg RE2 here

Drehscheibe Online Foren :: 03/02 - Bild-Sichtungen :: 218 446 am RE2 (26.12.2024)

www.drehscheibe-online.de

and some more if you look in the listing at

Drehscheibe Online Foren :: 03/02 - Bild-Sichtungen

www.drehscheibe-online.de

 

[duesselmartin]

The DB 218s [and their sister classes] are the German Bo-Bo equivalent of Class 37. They keep going and going.

That said…

This is a good question. Would I be right in saying that most of the remaining loco-hauled services have been replaced with 245s?

There is still fair amount on the Westerland route. Although many are owned by TRI and other private companies.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Are there any 218s still on passenger services?

218 and a double deck set are currently running on the RE6 Karlsruhe - Neustadt. This is short term thing due to some problems with the 643, because of that there's also the 628 from SyltShuttle plus running on the Kusel and Lauterecken-Grumbach lines.

In general, the (standard) 628 in the south Palatinate area are not running that long anymore: by December next year, the new battery trains are going to start running on RE6 and RB51, probably cascading 642 and 643 onto the other lines.

 

[alex397]

A very useful thread to have. I tend to only find out about older vehicles / rolling stock going after they have been withdrawn.

I’m more interested in buses, trolleybuses and trams. Sadly I’m not sure I’ll be able to go on many trips in 2025, but if I do I’ll be looking for older vehicles.

Vilnius is one of the last places with large batches of Škoda 14Tr and 15Tr types still in service (the boxy Eastern Bloc era type). 91 new Škodas are on order for delivery in 2024 and 2025 so I imagine that will see off all the older types.
The 14Tr and 15Tr are very difficult to track down in their native Czechia now. All gone from Brno. One 15Tr was still running in
České Budějovice in October but I didn’t manage to get a ride on it.

 

[Richard Scott]

A few that spring to mind are SNCF BB67400s, down to a few diagrams around Strasbourg, SNCB 2100 and 2700 must be on borrowed time as must Norwegian Di4s?

 

[StephenHunter]

Milan's 1930s Class 1500 wooden-floored trams, I believe.

 

[D6130]

Milan's 1930s Class 1500 wooden-floored trams, I believe.

I think quite a few of them may survive for some years yet. Apart from the fact that - electrically and mechanically - they are very simple and reliable....they are quite a big tourist attraction in their own right.

 

[stadler]

I have heard that a lot of the Danish multiple units are being withdrawn soon once the new Alsthom Coradia Stream IC5 units and Talgo locomotive hauled stock enters service. I know the Ansaldo Breda IC2 have already been withdrawn and i believe the Ansaldo Breda IC4 are next. I believe these trains are also replacing the unique folding gangway IC3 units so they will be withdrawn too. I think there is still another year or two until the new trains enter service so they still have a little while but they will be gone within a couple of years.

 

[popeter45]

I have heard that a lot of the Danish multiple units are being withdrawn soon once the new Alsthom Coradia Stream IC5 units and Talgo locomotive hauled stock enters service. I know the Ansaldo Breda IC2 have already been withdrawn and i believe the Ansaldo Breda IC4 are next. I believe these trains are also replacing the unique folding gangway IC3 units so they will be withdrawn too. I think there is still another year or two until the new trains enter service so they still have a little while but they will be gone within a couple of years.

IC5 are electric only iirc so will still need IC3's for a while on diesel lines, believe they are even getting refurbished to also include ETCS albiet with loss of German compatibility

 

[stadler]

IC5 are electric only iirc so will still need IC3's for a while on diesel lines, believe they are even getting refurbished to also include ETCS albiet with loss of German compatibility

So what are the IC5 replacing? Is it the IR4 trains (the electric version of the IC3 trains) that are being replaced?

 

[popeter45]

So what are the IC5 replacing? Is it the IR4 trains (the electric version of the IC3 trains) that are being replaced?

more routes are getting electrified in denmark so at the moment many IC3 are running under wires the entire way such as fredericia to padborg but not all, such as fredericia to arhaus
as Denmark electrifies more and more the areas IC5 will cover will expand and areas that need IC3 will shrink

 

[eastwestdivide]

In Belgium, classic ”doubles” EMUs are gone since mid December

So that leaves the AM75s as the oldest MU in Belgium? They seem to have some life left, as their wiki page says modernised 2016-2020, and planned withdrawal in 2033!

Uit dienst	Gepland 2033

MS75 - Wikipedia

nl.wikipedia.org

 

[43096]

CFL 3000 series electric locos are an endangered species. Always liked them, particularly on the Liége-Luxembourg service that is now rancid suburban karts. They still have a few workings around Luxembourg on double deck stock.

 

[MarcVD]

So that leaves the AM75s as the oldest MU in Belgium? They seem to have some life left, as their wiki page says modernised 2016-2020, and planned withdrawal in 2033!

Yes. AM75 - 44 originally built, 41 modernized, 2 lost because of fire, one preserved, but not operational. All modernized units have received ETCS.