European Railroad Discussion > German ID help please

I was at Cologne's Hauptbahnhof on Saturday May 2nd, and managed to spend a little time at the Rhine bridge end of the station. It was an amazing spectacle for this North American railfan.

Here are two trains that I could not identify, so I'd be grateful for any insight into what I captured.

...John Reay
Toronto, ON

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The second photo is a Siemens Vectron locomotive, which is the basis for our ACS64 being delivered to AMTRAK on the NEC.

I think it's an earlier generation, the Taurus [ in ÖBB-speak ], rather than the Vectron; just do an internet search for ' ES 64 U2 Siemens '. 

Is that train in the photograph being propelled by the locomotive and, if so, do you have a photo or photos of the front of the train ?

Best rgds, SZ

The MRCE locomotive is propelling the train and I don't have a photo of the front as it snuck up on me. It seemed to be some kind of cab car in the same colours as the coaches. I'm aware that MRCE is a leasing company. It was the train I was interested in, as the carriages looked older than anything else I saw that day and with a different paint-scheme.

The Nord-Ostsee-Bahn DMU was a surprise as a Google search led me to believe that these trains would only be seen in the Hamburg-Kiel area. However the destination LED display says "nach Hamburg" so I guess this is a regular service.

Edit: I think I might have found my answer re NOB operating to Cologne. The (English language, dated 2010) Wikipedia page for parent company Veolia Verkehr states "It is planned to extend these trains from Hamburg on to Berlin and Cologne under the operation of "Ostseeland Verkehrs GmbH" (OLA), which runs all Veolia long-distance trains in Germany. Unlike the trains between Sylt and Hamburg, the trains from Hamburg to Berlin and Cologne are not subsidised by any State of Germany."

2nd Edit: Further examination of my photo of the NOB DMU shows the destination as "HKX nach Hamburg", and the meta data shows the time as approx 15:00, which corresponds with departure time of  an HKX service from Cologne to Hamburg.  However the Taurus propelled train of older carriages departed within a minute of the NOB DMU. Not sure what to make of that!



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/15 13:11 by newtonville150.

The NOB trainset was most definitely the HKX service from Cologne to Hamburg. HXK employs Veolia (since renamed Transdev) for train operations as the latter is a licensed train operating company whereas HKX is not, though this arrangement has nothing to do with the fact that HKX leased the NOB trainset (among other hodgepodge equipment) when it started operations as the ÖBB trainsets they purchased were not certified for use in Germany yet.

The other train is an extra using Euro-Express equipment (see: http://www.euro-express.eu/). This could either have been a trip organized by Euro-Express itself or a chartered train. I'll go out on a limb and say that you are mistaken about there being a cab car as Euro-Express doesn't have any; there was most certainly another locomotive at the other end of the train.

I'll go farther out on another limb and say that your two photos are the front and rear of the same train.  Those are not dmu's in the first photo, but what are called "Bombardier married pairs" with a cab car leading.  As it is a Saturday, the NOB cars are augmented by the leased cars at the rear of the train.   [ Edited to add:  the -034 is one of four, I think, leased by NOB.]

With best regards, SZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/15 19:40 by Steinzeit.

Steinzeit Wrote:
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> I'll go farther out on another limb and say that
> your two photos are the front and rear of the same
> train.  Those are not dmu's in the first photo,
> but what are called "Bombardier married pairs"
> with a cab car leading.  As it is a Saturday, the
> NOB cars are augmented by the leased cars at the
> rear of the train.   [ Edited to add:  the -034
> is one of four, I think, leased by NOB.]
>
> With best regards, SZ

There are 38 seconds between the image timestamps, so I guess you are correct ;)  Strange that I don't remember it like that....however in my defence, the action was simply staggering! The video I shot at the same location sometimes has four trains in the same scene.

Glad I could help.  If time, etc, permits, perhaps you could post some other photos from that location ??  Did you see any freight while you were there ?

Best rgds, SZ

Steinzeit Wrote:
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> Glad I could help.  If time, etc, permits,
> perhaps you could post some other photos from that
> location ??  Did you see any freight while you
> were there ?

I surely will. My trip included the U.K., Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. The only freight I photographed was in Maastricht. and it appeared to be German..

I took photos and videos of trains at both ends of the Cologne Hbf, and also at Aachen Hbf and Maastricht, NL. I also rode trains on the Eifel line (Kall-Euskirchen-Cologne) into and out of Cologne, I rode Eurostar/Thalys from London St. Pancras to Brussels and on to Aachen and back. Also on South Eastern's Javelin EMUs from St. Pancras to Ashford, Kent and Abellio Greater Anglia Stansted Express and other services from London Liverpool street to Cambridge and Ely,  and Heathrow Express into London Paddington. In addition I also photographed and videoed the tram system in Ghent.