Prototype The DB/DBAG and some trams in Dusseldorf in the nineties

[Roger Pound]

On my many visits to Dusseldorf, I also made the occasional side trip to Koln but only once to Aachen (primarily to visit Hunnerbein's extensively stocked model shop, and a short visit to the Hbf whilst there was also a must, !) It was a bitterly cold morning - so much so that my friend waited for me in the station cafe! In the short time I was there I took just a couple or three pictures, which are contained with the following group. For a bit of further interest I've also added two pictures showing the removal of the original platform platform roofing at Koln, which was done on a later date.

No. 1 An unknown Br111 in Rhein S-Bahn livery with a train of Belgian stock arriving with a train from Koln for Bruxelles Midi.
No. 2 Br 110 131, still in blue livery, travelling light engine to the loco sidings in the adjacent yard.
No. 3 SNCB Class 27, 2741 has come off the yard and taken over haulage of the train brought in by the Br 111 in picture 1. The line voltage was changed at the signal box between the two locos movements to accommodate the dc system used by the Class 27.


Nos 4 & 6 show the removal of the old roofing over the platforms at Koln. No. 4 features Br 110 260.
No. 6 features Br103's 152 and 241 with IC services, waiting departure.
Lastly, No. 5 returned to Aachen with yet another light engine move, this time Br 140 259, still in green livery.

Apologies for the poor continuity in the arrangement - it's an age thing........ See you again soon.

Roger.

 

[Roger Pound]

A couple of classes that haven't featured much in this thread. First, the Br 120, designed to replace the Br 103 originally but rapidly superceded by the ICE units now so common. I was fortunate in that I saw Br 120-003, one of the five prototypes at Nurnberg in 1987 in its original red/cream livery. Unfortunately I had no camera with me at the time - it's always the same, isn't it ? However, in the nineties the class was in common use on passenger services and the following three pictures show members in the Dusseldorf area.
I believe that these locos may now all be withdrawn. The last time I saw one was when I visited Germany in 2011 and I managed to capture it on film. I rather feel that ultimately these fine locos were overtaken by events which curtailed their further possible development.


No. 1 Br 120 130 at Dusseldorf Hbf.
No. 2 Br 120 138 passing Derendorf Bf.
No. 3 Br 120 122 entering the Hbf.

The second group shows a number of one of my favourite diesels, the Br 290 class. These locos were in daily use hump shunting at Derendorf although the hump was unused in the later period. However, here are three all in the original livery before the onset of blue and then the various shades of red that followed.


No. 1 Seen from Derendorf Bf platform, Br 290 270 propels a train over the hump. The hump itself was beyond the end of the Bf itself.
No. 2 Taken from the road overbridge Br 290 265 on the same sort of work.
No. 3 Similarly to No. 1 above, Br 290 345 hump shunting.

In my earlier visits the hump was in constant use amd the small fleet of Br 290s were mostly allocated to Krefeld. Odd ones came from Koln Depots. The were out-stationed at Derendorf and the allocation there appeared quite constant as the same locos were seen on subsequent visits, all employed on yard work or local freight movements.

Thanks for looking,

Roger.

 

[Roger Pound]

Anything running on rails has always taken my interest to a greater or lesser extent, as the case warranted. To this end tramway systems have always been of interest. So, in a tribute to my late friend Artur Simons I offer some photographs from my collection, kindly taken for me by him at an Open Day at Dusseldorf Tramway Depot in the general time period of this thread, which I hope are of interest.
Artur often sent pictures of new types of cars being introduced in Dusseldorf and the last pictures I received from him before his passing were of the latest type.

The first three pictures show the general approach to the Depot with the 'old-timer' types (or Museum Cars) in echelon at the far end. Unfortunately Artur did not supply a great deal of details so I regret I cannot enlarge on any particulars.




This batch show closer views of the Museum cars in the first two pictures and the last one shows what were current vehicles. The red&white liveried ones worked on the underground system in the city . The cream and lighter red liveried unit was used on the normal street services.



Two views of a visiting Wuppertal Musem car.


A view of the maintainance area in the depot , followed by two work cars and finally an unidentified two car musem set doing a run past.



I hope these pictures have given some pleasure. More of current (1980's-1990's) cars in the city streets to come.

Roger.

 

[Roger Pound]

A further loo at the trams and tramway maintenance with the final group of pictures from my late friend Artur with one or two of mine added here and there.

The first two show a section of track being relaid with a new tarmacadam infill replacing the original cobbles. It may be useful to modellers in that it shows details of the track-work from the foundations up!
The last picture shows a unit from the U-bahn on service 717.



A couple of street scenes: the first showing a unit with full advertising livery applied, whilst the trailing set has the standard livery withl panel adverts on the sides. The second picture shows a pair of standard liveried units - the use of pairs of units running together was a standard feature,


The final four pictures are dated 1995 and were the last I received from Artur. They show the latest additions to the tramway fleet just introduced. Regrettably I have never been back to Dusseldorf since that time and it is more than likely that what was then the newest type has long been superceded.




I hope you have enjoyed this brief excursion into the world of strassenbahnen and u-bahnen. A very limited quantity, I'm afraid, but I do have a few more DB/DBAG pictures to come.

Roger .

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The final four pictures are dated 1995 and were the last I received from Artur. They show the latest additions to the tramway fleet just introduced. Regrettably I have never been back to Dusseldorf since that time and it is more than likely that what was then the newest type has long been superceded.

The NF6 as shown are still in operation and are having their electronics upgraded. Also newer NF8 and NF10 have been introduced.

However, given the history of preservation of examples of their fleet (similar to London Transport with their buses and trains) it wouldn't surprise me if a working example of the DÜWAG GT6 (routes 701 and 714 above) and GT8S (route 717 above) have been preserved in operational order.

Generally the older trams get sold on to operators in other countries such as Poland and further afield.