Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Unfortunately not a bashing trip as such, being a family holiday so had the "normals" in tow, but did manage to gather quite a few numbers through some careful planning allowing for a bit of sightseeing in Paris each way. 
Setting out from St Pancras last Thursday 8th on the 9022 ( 11.31 ) non-stop to Paris, the haulage was well dud 3219 / 3220. Emerging from the tunnel I just saw 9821 heading towards Blighty on the rear of a shuttle but it was Lille before the first notable items were seen in the form of 67252 and 67273 in the depot along with what looked like 66061. Not the DBS shed, the SNCF class BB66000 of course.
There were a few units and RIB / RIV sets present as well, but it was impossible to harvest the numbers.
Approaching Paris there was the usual procession of Z20500s on the RER D services and at Le Landy I noted 15040, 15065 and TGVs 04, 17 and 31. La Chapelle is still used as a locomotive stabling point although it is a strange sight without the rows of Z6100s that used to live there! 22349,7377 and 17062 were present along with one or two others that I could not get.
Arrival at Gare du Nord yielded 22274 and TGV sets 10, 4322 and 4342.
We then had to proceed to our hotel opposite Gare Montparnasse ( The Timhotel ) which was achieved by means of Metro Line 4 but after checking in and dumping the suitcases the sightseeing commenced. First things first - keep the wife happy, so it was a visit she had requested to the Pantheon to visit the tombs of Marie Currie and Louis Braille ( my wife is a partly sighted Pole hence her interest in doing this ).
We then had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Place d'Italie which I know from experience does a very good lasagne. After that I was able to take advantage of our 6¾ year old son being into trains to do a ride the full length of Metro Line 1, making sure to travel at the front of the train so that he could see out ahead ( this line is operated by automatic trains with no cab ) which both he and our 9 nearly 10 year old daughter enjoyed.
This left us at La Defense so the obvious way to return to the hotel was RER Line A to Etoile and then Metro Line 6. Naturally "by pure coincidence" ( ha! ) this meant travelling in one of the incredibly musical MS61 formations in the long, fast, tunnel section, making sure to travel in the 3rd carriage from the back with the windows open to hear the orchestra of the motors echoing off the tunnel wall. For the record, the formation, a triple unit rake, was 15070 + 18005 + 15065 + 15044 + 18036 + 15043 + 15154 + 18095 + 15153.
Next day the 9th was the outwards Lourdes journey. Oops - we turned up at Gare Montparnasse with nearly 90 minutes before departure; how unfortunate. Never mind, that gave time to note 7324, 7235, 7316, 27315, 27311, 8594 and 8596. Amongst the whole host of TGV-A sets there were some surprises; double decker sets 711 and 258 put in an appearance as well. I hadn't realised the double deckers were now being used on the Atlantique and Sud Ouest routes.
There was some chaos on board the TGV to Lourdes, set 337 on sservice 8577, as half way through boarding all the seat reservations were suddenly reversed...!!
Locomotives present at Chatillon depot included 67203 and 67239.
The next sightings were 27145 at Villeperdue and 26087 at Poitiers, followed by 26012 and 27007 at Angouleme. Naturally a large number of other locomotives went unrecorded!
At about km post 467 ( location, please, anyone??? ) 186.345 was waiting in a loop with a northbound freight.
A short while later I observed Y8130 at Coutras and at La Gorp exiled DBS class 66 033 was pulling out of the yard northbound. Typical.... I go all that way and get a home grown red zig zag thing....!!
Bordeaux produced a mixed TGV pairing of 740 + 4527. Yes, that's right - a single and double decker coupled together. Y8060, 22317, 69237, 63947, 63618, 67457, 67612, 67547 were among the locomotives present, but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the train to harvest much of what was in the depot and even worse we were facing backwards so number crunching was doubly restricted.
7359 was lurking at Lacq and 64036 at Artix.
Our return trip was on TGV 8581, formed of set 371, on the 13th. Noted at Lourdes were 7218 amd 7285 with 7408 seen at Pau.
This time we were on the correct side of the train at Bordeaux, and facing forwards, so the list of locomotives noted was much longer although still nowhere near exhaustive! 67585, 22299, 7205. 7338, 7303, 7255, 60009, 67475, 67612, 69237, 64043, Y8060, 22294, 22318 and TGV set 96 was an unexpected sight, being a Sud Est set now working off Nord.
Sybic 26090 was at Charmant while classmate 26068 was at St Saviol. Poitiers produced Y8199 and 27094 while 27115 was at Port de Piles ( that must be an uncomfortable place! ).
Back in Paris, 67203 was again noted at Chatillon while at Montparnasse were 8620 and 8594.
We then crossed Paris by Metro Line 4 again as this time our hotel back was near Gare du Nord. It was a good choice indeed as you will see later...
First, however, after checking in and dumping the cases we went to have dinner then did a bit more sightseeing, this time the destination was the view of the Seine at Asnieres. Oh, hang on a minute, isn't there a major bit of railway there? What another amazing coincidence!
As we had promised our son a double decker ride we proceeded via RER A again, this time letting an MS61 go ( surely it is against the grain to fail to board an MS61 rake, but alas that had to be on this occasion! ) before catching 1505 + 1577 to La Defense.
Upon changing to the higher level platforms we found that we had missed the last departure that calls at Asnieres by about 20 minutes so we had to go in to St Lazare and then out again on the other route. The train from La Defense was 6473 + 6485, the latter being a new haulage for me. Now, the Z6400 class are another wonderfully noisy unit but in a very different way from the MS61s; while the MS61s are very musical, the Z6400 are very "grindy" - think 4-EPB on steroids and you'll be half way there...
There was a working back out from St Lazare to Asnieres within 5 minutes and this gave my my first Z50000 Francilien haulage, 50173, on the 20.05 to Becon L. B. After doing our pictures at the riverside, just getting there in time before the light failed as the sun went behind the buildings, we returned to St Lazare behind SNCF's oldest electric locomotive, 17002, on a 7 car RIV / RIB rake. The loco was dud, but I needed all 7 carriages, so that was a good piece of luck.
All this travel in and out of St Lazare resulted in my noting 15052, 15034, 27345, 17024, 26017, 15032, 17014, 27326, 15022, 27349, 27356, 27346, 27343, 17056 and, obviously, 17002. Return to the hotel was made via RER E to Magenta, the haulage being 22535 + 22569. the latter was dud but the former was required.
Now, about the hotel... The Timhotel is just down the road from Gare du Nord immediately across the bridge over the lines out of Gare de l'Est and the rooms at the front overlook the lines... the 4th and 5th floors are at the perfect angle and distance for photography...
Before going to bed I observed 17060, 17068, TGVs 4717 and 4722 plus DB ICE 4685 which appeared to be the final arrival of the night.
Wednesday morning of the 14th saw me up rather early ( I wonder why?! ) and a rather long list included DB ICEs 4680 and 4682. The SNCF locomotives seen were 17047, 17068, 67406, 17060, 17103, 72160, 72121, 72151, 26168 ( this was heading for a depot hauling the ecs of the Sleeper from Moscow ), 17069, 72138, 72172, 17092, 67539, 17065, 17102, 72139 ( do I mean 72189??? ), 72179, 15003 and a mixed TGV rake formed of 547 + 4714.
Eventually getting to Gare du Nord for the journey home I noticed 22237, 15046, 22238, 15042, 15006 and 22344 plus a lot of TGVs. Rather to my annoyance, the 9037 ( 14.43 ) non-stop to St Pancras was formed of 3219 / 3220.... groan!
This time I was able to note three of the residents of La chapelle; 17062, 22244 and 22231 while 22388 and Y8310 were at Le Landy. Lille produced 66126 ( the SNCF one ) and at Frethun 9036 + 9706 were on ither end of an HGV shuttle that was just emergig from the tunnel; there were four 92s at Dollands Moor including 92 038 and 92 014 and that was that.
Setting out from St Pancras last Thursday 8th on the 9022 ( 11.31 ) non-stop to Paris, the haulage was well dud 3219 / 3220. Emerging from the tunnel I just saw 9821 heading towards Blighty on the rear of a shuttle but it was Lille before the first notable items were seen in the form of 67252 and 67273 in the depot along with what looked like 66061. Not the DBS shed, the SNCF class BB66000 of course.
There were a few units and RIB / RIV sets present as well, but it was impossible to harvest the numbers.
Approaching Paris there was the usual procession of Z20500s on the RER D services and at Le Landy I noted 15040, 15065 and TGVs 04, 17 and 31. La Chapelle is still used as a locomotive stabling point although it is a strange sight without the rows of Z6100s that used to live there! 22349,7377 and 17062 were present along with one or two others that I could not get.
Arrival at Gare du Nord yielded 22274 and TGV sets 10, 4322 and 4342.
We then had to proceed to our hotel opposite Gare Montparnasse ( The Timhotel ) which was achieved by means of Metro Line 4 but after checking in and dumping the suitcases the sightseeing commenced. First things first - keep the wife happy, so it was a visit she had requested to the Pantheon to visit the tombs of Marie Currie and Louis Braille ( my wife is a partly sighted Pole hence her interest in doing this ).
We then had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Place d'Italie which I know from experience does a very good lasagne. After that I was able to take advantage of our 6¾ year old son being into trains to do a ride the full length of Metro Line 1, making sure to travel at the front of the train so that he could see out ahead ( this line is operated by automatic trains with no cab ) which both he and our 9 nearly 10 year old daughter enjoyed.
This left us at La Defense so the obvious way to return to the hotel was RER Line A to Etoile and then Metro Line 6. Naturally "by pure coincidence" ( ha! ) this meant travelling in one of the incredibly musical MS61 formations in the long, fast, tunnel section, making sure to travel in the 3rd carriage from the back with the windows open to hear the orchestra of the motors echoing off the tunnel wall. For the record, the formation, a triple unit rake, was 15070 + 18005 + 15065 + 15044 + 18036 + 15043 + 15154 + 18095 + 15153.
Next day the 9th was the outwards Lourdes journey. Oops - we turned up at Gare Montparnasse with nearly 90 minutes before departure; how unfortunate. Never mind, that gave time to note 7324, 7235, 7316, 27315, 27311, 8594 and 8596. Amongst the whole host of TGV-A sets there were some surprises; double decker sets 711 and 258 put in an appearance as well. I hadn't realised the double deckers were now being used on the Atlantique and Sud Ouest routes.
There was some chaos on board the TGV to Lourdes, set 337 on sservice 8577, as half way through boarding all the seat reservations were suddenly reversed...!!
Locomotives present at Chatillon depot included 67203 and 67239.
The next sightings were 27145 at Villeperdue and 26087 at Poitiers, followed by 26012 and 27007 at Angouleme. Naturally a large number of other locomotives went unrecorded!
At about km post 467 ( location, please, anyone??? ) 186.345 was waiting in a loop with a northbound freight.
A short while later I observed Y8130 at Coutras and at La Gorp exiled DBS class 66 033 was pulling out of the yard northbound. Typical.... I go all that way and get a home grown red zig zag thing....!!
Bordeaux produced a mixed TGV pairing of 740 + 4527. Yes, that's right - a single and double decker coupled together. Y8060, 22317, 69237, 63947, 63618, 67457, 67612, 67547 were among the locomotives present, but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the train to harvest much of what was in the depot and even worse we were facing backwards so number crunching was doubly restricted.
7359 was lurking at Lacq and 64036 at Artix.
Our return trip was on TGV 8581, formed of set 371, on the 13th. Noted at Lourdes were 7218 amd 7285 with 7408 seen at Pau.
This time we were on the correct side of the train at Bordeaux, and facing forwards, so the list of locomotives noted was much longer although still nowhere near exhaustive! 67585, 22299, 7205. 7338, 7303, 7255, 60009, 67475, 67612, 69237, 64043, Y8060, 22294, 22318 and TGV set 96 was an unexpected sight, being a Sud Est set now working off Nord.
Sybic 26090 was at Charmant while classmate 26068 was at St Saviol. Poitiers produced Y8199 and 27094 while 27115 was at Port de Piles ( that must be an uncomfortable place! ).
Back in Paris, 67203 was again noted at Chatillon while at Montparnasse were 8620 and 8594.
We then crossed Paris by Metro Line 4 again as this time our hotel back was near Gare du Nord. It was a good choice indeed as you will see later...
First, however, after checking in and dumping the cases we went to have dinner then did a bit more sightseeing, this time the destination was the view of the Seine at Asnieres. Oh, hang on a minute, isn't there a major bit of railway there? What another amazing coincidence!
As we had promised our son a double decker ride we proceeded via RER A again, this time letting an MS61 go ( surely it is against the grain to fail to board an MS61 rake, but alas that had to be on this occasion! ) before catching 1505 + 1577 to La Defense.
Upon changing to the higher level platforms we found that we had missed the last departure that calls at Asnieres by about 20 minutes so we had to go in to St Lazare and then out again on the other route. The train from La Defense was 6473 + 6485, the latter being a new haulage for me. Now, the Z6400 class are another wonderfully noisy unit but in a very different way from the MS61s; while the MS61s are very musical, the Z6400 are very "grindy" - think 4-EPB on steroids and you'll be half way there...
There was a working back out from St Lazare to Asnieres within 5 minutes and this gave my my first Z50000 Francilien haulage, 50173, on the 20.05 to Becon L. B. After doing our pictures at the riverside, just getting there in time before the light failed as the sun went behind the buildings, we returned to St Lazare behind SNCF's oldest electric locomotive, 17002, on a 7 car RIV / RIB rake. The loco was dud, but I needed all 7 carriages, so that was a good piece of luck.
All this travel in and out of St Lazare resulted in my noting 15052, 15034, 27345, 17024, 26017, 15032, 17014, 27326, 15022, 27349, 27356, 27346, 27343, 17056 and, obviously, 17002. Return to the hotel was made via RER E to Magenta, the haulage being 22535 + 22569. the latter was dud but the former was required.
Now, about the hotel... The Timhotel is just down the road from Gare du Nord immediately across the bridge over the lines out of Gare de l'Est and the rooms at the front overlook the lines... the 4th and 5th floors are at the perfect angle and distance for photography...
Before going to bed I observed 17060, 17068, TGVs 4717 and 4722 plus DB ICE 4685 which appeared to be the final arrival of the night.
Wednesday morning of the 14th saw me up rather early ( I wonder why?! ) and a rather long list included DB ICEs 4680 and 4682. The SNCF locomotives seen were 17047, 17068, 67406, 17060, 17103, 72160, 72121, 72151, 26168 ( this was heading for a depot hauling the ecs of the Sleeper from Moscow ), 17069, 72138, 72172, 17092, 67539, 17065, 17102, 72139 ( do I mean 72189??? ), 72179, 15003 and a mixed TGV rake formed of 547 + 4714.
Eventually getting to Gare du Nord for the journey home I noticed 22237, 15046, 22238, 15042, 15006 and 22344 plus a lot of TGVs. Rather to my annoyance, the 9037 ( 14.43 ) non-stop to St Pancras was formed of 3219 / 3220.... groan!
This time I was able to note three of the residents of La chapelle; 17062, 22244 and 22231 while 22388 and Y8310 were at Le Landy. Lille produced 66126 ( the SNCF one ) and at Frethun 9036 + 9706 were on ither end of an HGV shuttle that was just emergig from the tunnel; there were four 92s at Dollands Moor including 92 038 and 92 014 and that was that.