Cerbere To Paris In The 1980s

[RichmondCommu]

G'day everyone.

The above is a journey I made a couple of times in the early 1980s and I have a couple of questions for those with a knowledge of the SNCF.

The loco which hauled the overnight train from Cerbere to Narbonne had a pointy end. Can anyone hazard a guess as to which class of locomotive it might have been?

Most of the stock on the train was Corail but one or two vehicles were painted a shade of green which I'm guessing were much older. Can anyone help with when they might have been built and when they were withdrawn?

Finally the locomotive which hauled the train into Paris had a flat end so again help with identifying it would be most appreciated! Clearly the loco swap took place at Narbonne and I'm curious to know why the loco simply didn't run round its train.

Finally can anyone explain why the train always seemed to stop in Limoges for at least 40 minutes?

Many thanks,

Richmond Commuter!

 

[Gordon]

G'day everyone.

The loco which hauled the overnight train from Cerbere to Narbonne had a pointy end. Can anyone hazard a guess as to which class of locomotive it might have been?

Most of the stock on the train was Corail but one or two vehicles were painted a shade of green which I'm guessing were much older. Can anyone help with when they might have been built and when they were withdrawn?

Finally the locomotive which hauled the train into Paris had a flat end so again help with identifying it would be most appreciated! Clearly the loco swap took place at Narbonne and I'm curious to know why the loco simply didn't run round its train.

Finally can anyone explain why the train always seemed to stop in Limoges for at least 40 minutes?
Richmond Commuter!

The line had only just been electrified (in 1982)

Loco from Cerbere was probably a BB7200 which are the dc only B-B versions of the legendary SNCF 'Nez Cassés' ('broken nose') loco type.

The 'flat ended one' was probably a BB9200 or a BB9300.

The green coaches were probably of the 'UIC' type and couchettes. They were built in the 1960s and the last ones were withdrawn 2008/early 2009.

SNCF often have a loco ready at one end of a station to drop straight on instead of running round. Various reasons for this, such as loco diagramming (the 7200 needed to stay on the Cerbere line), avoidance of bothering to signal and change points etc for a run round, driver hours etc etc

half hour plus technical/staff rest stops in the middle of the night were common at Brive and Limoges . I remember stopping at Brive for a whole hour one September to cater for the autumn clock change, and there was a raft of northbound overnight trains doing the same thing


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