5th November 2019 · European Miscellany

Presenter: Rob Freeman

We welcomed back Branch Member Rob Freeman for a European Miscellany and we had a good attendance of 29 to mark the occasion!!

Rob was giving a digital presentation and there were 10 folders, we picked a number one at a time and first up was the SE region of France. Here we saw a CC7100 and a CC6500 which was pulling a first generation TGV, also Prototype TGV 001. Moving to Dijon several other classes were shown along with a 2D2 9100s of which just 35 were built.

At Lyon Mouche Depot we saw varieties of locos built from the 1930s to 1980s.

On to Nîmes we saw a Panoramic DMU which served the Massif Central area and at Chamonix we saw a third rail EMU.

Next up was Austria in 1985, in the city of Innsbruck where a ‘Crocodile’ appeared along with a wonderful assortment of locos against a snowy mountain backdrop, and then former WR gas turbine No. 18000 plinthed in Vienna.

We then went to Luxembourg where the first shot was of a DMU number 208 (Radio Luxembourg for those with long memories!) and many locos in the roundhouse.

Back to the1960s, Rob’s formative years, where in Germany we saw 50 134 on the sole daily steam working on a long closed branch at Bergheim-Giflitz. Over at Hannover was V200 067. In France we saw some 141R Class 2-8-2s.

Greece in 1991 was next with a LCGB trip to Thessalonika with Alco diesels, ex-German 221s and WD 2-10-0 A964 plinthed and USA Tanks, S160s rotting away in the shed yard.

Over to Switzerland in the Summer of 1985 where we saw locos of the Historic Fleet.

Holland was next and at Gouda we saw a dog-nosed EMU ‘Shooting the Gap’ where there is a 2-3 car gap in the overheads to allow the river bridge to open. At Tilburg we saw the six former BR Class 77s on Hook to Venlo expresses.

Off to Liège in Belgium and French and Belgian 4-Voltage locos and in Kortrijk depot were a couple of Class 03s.

Next was France again at Saulieu where we saw a Picasso unit along with BB71022 on a pick-up freight before going to Avallon for a Class 66, an SNCF one that is!

The evening finished in Germany at Mühldorf where many ECR Class 77s and some ‘Rabbits’ were in the depot.

Another great evening featuring Rob who did it all WITHOUT any notes and we look forward to seeing him again next November.

Rob Davidson, Branch Secretary