2. Trains
  3. Continental Europe

Far-West Germany

Pictures from the triangle Cologne - Aachen - Düsseldorf in the far western part of Germany. There's quite a bit of traffic variety, in no small part due to the international trains running into Belgium and the Netherlands and a sizeable industrial base in the nearby Ruhr area.
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    I'm not a big fan of platform photography, but this location at Eilendorf is quite nice in that it provides an interesting backdrop with the dual tunnels. Railion (or DB Schenker as they are now called after the umpteenth name change) 145 074 is seen with the FE 44532 (Gremberg - Antwerpen-Noord/B) junk freight westbound in glorious late afternoon sunshine.
    Nestled deep in the forest south of Aachen lay the original 1850s Busch Tunnel. In 2004 it was still in use in mostly its original form, but big changes were a-coming. Today this scene has changed completely, with the new tunnel having consumed the hillside to the left. That's an ICE exiting the south portal visible in the distance while this Thalys enters the old Aachen Süd yard on its run to Köln.
    Dispolok was an engine leasing pool run by Siemens for a number of years (it has since been taken over by locomotive leasing company Mitsui Rail Capital Europe - MRCE). These ME26s were engines returned after a deal with Norske Staatsbaner fell through due to reliability problems with the engines. Siemens fixed them up and ran them as part of the Dispolok pool for a while. They have since found new homes with a number of operators, and as of this writing in early 2009 several of them are back in Norway for trials with one of the private freight operators there. Here two of them are passing what probably is the nicest tower in the area, Rpn in Rheydt Hbf, en route to the Siemens test center at Wildenrath.