Favourite European locomotives

[talltim]

Most of mine are Swiss
MOB FZe6/6
SBB Ae 8/14 11852
SBB Re460 (and the NSB El 18 version)
LNER F6
Any poo brown early Italian electrics

 

[Zamracene749]

Czech class 749 (unsilenced of course) and Romanian class 60. It's all about the thrash for me
DB 103s and Hungarian m61s look gorgeous, czech 363 sound great for electric locos and of course the handsome 'music' playing Siemens ES64 (Taurus) deserve a special mention!

 

[Groningen]

Class 40110 France

 

[33056]

Favourite European locomotives? Far too many to list as I like far too many things but narrowing it down to classes that I have gone out of the way to "bash" in the past then my top 5 would be:

Irish "A" or 001 class, always chased these around in preference to the other locos with the result that it took me until 2005 (started in 1986) to clear the 071s



Germany class 103. I have a soft spot for many German loco types but once spent an entire long weekend just trying to do 103s just before they finished in normal service and, even now, will often go out of the way do one of the diagrams even though the remaining locos have long been cleared for 1,000 miles each.



Austria class 1099. Loved these 760mm gauge 100+ year old beasts and made several trips to the Mariazellerbahn just to have a ride on one.



Austria class 2095. Another 760mm gauge loco which I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get all 15 for haulage (they were originally allocated to four different lines across Austria with very few booked workings). I did eventually "get them all" (not many people did) though had to ask the shed master at Tischlerhäusl if would be kind enough to put my last one on the following days train (he did, top man!)



Slovenia class 664. Came to these rather late with the result that I still need 8 of the 20 built, but not for the want of trying. Nearly every foreign trip in the last couple of years has included a diversion to Slovenia to see what was out.

 

[Senex]

Germany class 103. I have a soft spot for many German loco types but once spent an entire long weekend just trying to do 103s just before they finished in normal service and, even now, will often go out of the way do one of the diagrams even though the remaining locos have long been cleared for 1,000 miles each.

Me too -- my favourite loco class altogether. At home from the north of Germanby right through to Vienna West. I particularly enjoyed tghe few years of the 1990s when they were very much in evidence on the former DR lines -- there was something very fitting about seeing a 103 on the Stadtbahn.

 

[EAD]

As someone who spent a fair chunk of his formative years in Germany, the BR 103 is right up there - it brings back many happy hours spent as a 6 year old standing next to them at Frankfurt Hbf as they came and went along with the obligatory banana chips in hand (I seemed to be obsessed with them too!).

In terms of other German locos, certainly 218s for the hydraulic soundtrack and also the Einheitsloks for the distinctive sounds on notching up. No-one has mentioned the E94/194 "deutsches Krokodil" yet which was a distinctive design and ended their days on banking duties. They were also the OBB 1020s as seen here

Talking Austria, I always liked the 1044s as well, in particular the later built.2 series with the large cooling grills from new and altered damping, etc. Small but powerful universal locos that were the mainstay of the network with over 200 built, now largely demoted by the Taurus variants. They also had the nickname hoover for the noise they made by virtue of the cooling fans.

 

[Harbornite]

There's been some good suggestions here, good to see!

By the way, has anyone here been to the Berlin area or Poland to see and travel on trains?

 

[sarahj]

As someone who spent a fair chunk of his formative years in Germany, the BR 103 is right up there - it brings back many happy hours spent as a 6 year old standing next to them at Frankfurt Hbf as they came and went along with the obligatory banana chips in hand (I seemed to be obsessed with them too!).

In terms of other German locos, certainly 218s for the hydraulic soundtrack and also the Einheitsloks for the distinctive sounds on notching up. No-one has mentioned the E94/194 "deutsches Krokodil" yet which was a distinctive design and ended their days on banking duties. They were also the OBB 1020s as seen here

Talking Austria, I always liked the 1044s as well, in particular the later built.2 series with the large cooling grills from new and altered damping, etc. Small but powerful universal locos that were the mainstay of the network with over 200 built, now largely demoted by the Taurus variants. They also had the nickname hoover for the noise they made by virtue of the cooling fans.

Some nice pics there. Love that snowy one, and some good bashing at Munich. Nice orange eurofima coaches in the background, but odd to see them on those platforms, that for lines heading for Garmish and Seefeldt/Innsbruck

 

[duesselmartin]

There's been some good suggestions here, good to see!

By the way, has anyone here been to the Berlin area or Poland to see and travel on trains?

If your looking for eastern European atmosphere, that is sadly gone when it comes to Berlin but the Stadtbahn is still an interesting line

 

[Harbornite]

If your looking for eastern European atmosphere, that is sadly gone when it comes to Berlin but the Stadtbahn is still an interesting line

Indeed, you can still see class 232s and class 155s in Berlin, the latter are all based at Seddin. You've also go PKP eu44s on the Warsaw express and I've seen pics of PKP cargo es64f4s in the city. PKP cargo owns one and used to lease a handful but these have been replaced by vectrons

 

[317666]

My favourite locos are probably the Ge 4/4 IIs on the RhB:

RhB Ge 4/4 II 612 'Thusis' - Klosters Platz by Max's Rail Photos II, on Flickr

As well as their big sisters, the Re 4/4 IIs on SBB (although I know that mechanically speaking they're quite different).


Also a massive fan of the sadly diminishing BR143s in Germany:

143337-4 - Halle-Trotha by Max's Rail Photos II, on Flickr

Lastly, the HLE 21s and 27s in Belgium:

2136 & 08186 - Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi by Max's Rail Photos II, on Flickr

 

[Harbornite]

I believe there are still quite a few 143s left for regio services in Brandenburg and elsewhere. DB cargo have started using some to cut costs.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Class 40110 France

That is a lovely shot.

 

[317666]

Yes, there's still a reasonable amount of 143s left (south-west Germany especially), but in recent years their numbers have decreased dramatically - especially in the former DR area since the introduction of the abysmal 442s!

 

[Harbornite]

Yes, there's still a reasonable amount of 143s left (south-west Germany especially), but in recent years their numbers have decreased dramatically - especially in the former DR area since the introduction of the abysmal 442s!

Indeed, you still get 143s and the similar 112.1s in the Berlin area, but 442s have been introduced on services to and from schonefeld which had once been operated by 143s and doppelstock. From an enthusiast's point if view, I'd rather have locomotive's but I didn't think that the 442s were particularly bad.

 

[duesselmartin]

143 used to dominante the S-Bahn system in North Rhine Westfalia. Now only a few peak trains around Düsseldorf are 143 operated.

 

[Harbornite]

143 used to dominante the S-Bahn system in North Rhine Westfalia. Now only a few peak trains around Düsseldorf are 143 operated.

Oh right. Speaking of Dusseldorf, I was looking round that city in Google earth street view and I found a turntable in the depot adjacent to the motor museum, and quite a few 143s were visible.

 

[Mag_seven]

I like any European loco given how cart obsessed the UK has become.

 

[30907]

There's been some good suggestions here, good to see!

By the way, has anyone here been to the Berlin area or Poland to see and travel on trains?

Sorry, missed this.

Berlin has a varied and interesting public transport system but TBH I don't think the main line stuff is the best bit (apart from the Stadtbahn route across the city), though there's plenty of it.

Poland I have little experience of, but my memories are dominated by decrepit infrastructure and the rigid division between the IC operator and Regio - on the rolling stock front I believe things are steadily improving though and the regions are running services to their own spec.

 

[Harbornite]

Sorry, missed this.

Berlin has a varied and interesting public transport system but TBH I don't think the main line stuff is the best bit (apart from the Stadtbahn route across the city), though there's plenty of it.

Poland I have little experience of, but my memories are dominated by decrepit infrastructure and the rigid division between the IC operator and Regio - on the rolling stock front I believe things are steadily improving though and the regions are running services to their own spec.

I've been to Berlin once, but I liked it there and I'd like to go back. I like the rail scene over there, the aussenring is good for freight and intercity loco hauled trains, while Hbf has less freight but two levels guaranteeing plenty of passenger trains, including DB regio loco-hauled and pushed stock.

As for Poland, I'd like to go because there's still a decebr variety of locos over there
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I like any European loco given how cart obsessed the UK has become.

Any particular favourites?

 

[Blillpers]

A few favourites, all Swedish...

Ra class - built in the 1950s for top-priority express trains, capable of 150 km/h

Rc class - built in several subtypes between the 1960s and early 80s. I really liked the "Midnight Blue" as seen here, unfourtantly it was only a trial and in the end the locos were painted black. In the past they carried orange and light blue liveries.

And finally, the X2 class. Technically a locomotive in the same manner as the Class 91, it is used with the X2000 trainsets in push-pull operation. Nothing else in the railway world beats seing it come around a bend at 80 mph, the driver notching up and you can hear it roar away into the distance. It's a furious, screaming beast!

 

[sarahj]

That RA looks nice.

 

[Groningen]

This Amtrak locomotive has its roots in Sweden.

 

[Harbornite]

This Amtrak locomotive has its roots in Sweden.

The last of this class (AEM 7) has literally just been withdrawn by Amtrak. They were replaced by the Siemens ASC 64, quite a good looking locomotive design in my opinion.

 

[MarcVD]

Class 40110 France

Quite a shot, that !

These locs never went to the Netherlands in regular service... Built as quadri-
system, they were used under 25 kV AC and 3 kV DC only. The Netherlands
and Germany never accepted them, for political reasons... even if similar HLE
18 from Belgium were seen in Köln almost every day.

 

[duesselmartin]

Yes, the Belgian version even went as far as Dortmund. Interesting that DB blocked a SNCF loco while operating class 181 in France.

 

[class387]

My favourite locos are probably the Ge 4/4 IIs on the RhB:

RhB Ge 4/4 II 612 'Thusis' - Klosters Platz by Max's Rail Photos II, on Flickr

As well as their big sisters, the Re 4/4 IIs on SBB (although I know that mechanically speaking they're quite different).


Also a massive fan of the sadly diminishing BR143s in Germany:

143337-4 - Halle-Trotha by Max's Rail Photos II, on Flickr

Lastly, the HLE 21s and 27s in Belgium:

2136 & 08186 - Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi by Max's Rail Photos II, on Flickr

I am also a big fan of Re420s. They can produce a great noise on a good mainline run, especially with EW I coaches.

 

[SHD]

May I ask why the loco is hauling an Z6400 EMU? Was it failed?

No - and for the sake of precision it is a BB 22000, a dual-voltage locomotive [1.5 kV DC and 25 kV AC]. It belongs to a small batch of 2 locomotives used by SNCF for support services to Ile-de-France rolling stock, such as hauling trainsets and coaches from one place to another.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Class 40110 France

Indeed a lovely shot, but not representative of these beauties' services (they never went to the Netherlands on a scheduled basis). Probably shot in 1996, the last year of their career (the VIRMs were then brand new).

They were not permitted in the Netherlands for complex reasons, mostly economical. And the CC 40100s were not permitted into Germany for a mix of political and economical reasons, as their Belgian cousins of the 18 series went as far as Köln.

 

[MarcVD]

It is closer than cousins... Sisters maybe. The only differences were the brake command, the rheostat that was stronger, because of the Liege incline, and the blue color instead of red. Otherwise exactly the same...

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[SHD]

And the headlights!

 

[MarcVD]

Not in the "out of factory" version as far as I remember. That was changed afterwards.

If you Google for "photos hle18", you will get some pictures that demonstrate this.

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