HOME | DD

Description
Now this was unexpected! Saw a post on DSO, claiming that a 30-40 car scrap train had been parked here in Opladen, so I grabbed my gear and got on my bike. This pic was the result, showing a train of old n-type cars, a train so long that I wasn't able to get it into the frame from either direction. Probably because it also passes through underneath a bridge, as you can see in the distance.

Leading locomotive and the other end of the train:

Interestingly, I must've seen or even been inside some of these cars, as the train came here from Hamm, where DB stores an insanely large amount of unused rolling stock.

One of these cars (not visible on this pic, see DSO post) still wears the old mint-green livery from the 1980s, and I can definitely remember seeing that very car back in Hamm. I might dig out some of my old shots as proof, but perhaps you'll take my word for it. Seems like some cars were removed from DB's huge collection of standstill in order to be scrapped. Not here though, even though the infamous scrapyard ist just behind me. According to the papers attached to the cars, the destination is Trier, which is also the home of a well-known scrapyard that deals with rail vehicles. Nobody knows when this train will depart again, but if it departs during the night, I'm the only one who ever posted photos of it! Yay for me!

The locomotive we see here is a 1970s East-German monstrosity, known today as DB class 229 and back in the days of the Reichsbahn as DR class 119. They had two nicknames, one being u-boat, due to the round engine room windows, and one being "Karpatenschreck", roughly translated "Carpathian terror". This was due to the fact that the Soviets didn't allow the GDR to build diesels with more than 1500hp, since that role was allocated to other Comecon members. As a result, when the DR needed such locomotives, they had to import them, usually from the Soviet Union. In this case though, the DR required rather low axle loads, but the Soviets only built very large and heavy locomotives. Therefore, the 119s came from Romania (hence the Carpathian part) and were horribly unreliable (hence the terror). Upon entering service, 50% of such locomotives were in the workshop for repairs instead of pulling trains. Yep, they were really that rubbish. Reliability only improved after just about all Romanian components were replaced with German-made ones.

The specimen we see here is 229 120, owned by the Mitteldeutsche Eisenbahn, who bought four of these when DB retired them. Two of them are still in use, while the two others are kept for spares.

For more pics of this train, see my DSO post.

Description
Now this was unexpected! Saw a post on DSO, claiming that a 30-40 car scrap train had been parked here in Opladen, so I grabbed my gear and got on my bike. This pic was the result, showing a train of old n-type cars, a train so long that I wasn't able to get it into the frame from either direction. Probably because it also passes through underneath a bridge, as you can see in the distance.

Leading locomotive and the other end of the train:

Interestingly, I must've seen or even been inside some of these cars, as the train came here from Hamm, where DB stores an insanely large amount of unused rolling stock.

One of these cars (not visible on this pic, see DSO post) still wears the old mint-green livery from the 1980s, and I can definitely remember seeing that very car back in Hamm. I might dig out some of my old shots as proof, but perhaps you'll take my word for it. Seems like some cars were removed from DB's huge collection of standstill in order to be scrapped. Not here though, even though the infamous scrapyard ist just behind me. According to the papers attached to the cars, the destination is Trier, which is also the home of a well-known scrapyard that deals with rail vehicles. Nobody knows when this train will depart again, but if it departs during the night, I'm the only one who ever posted photos of it! Yay for me!

The locomotive we see here is a 1970s East-German monstrosity, known today as DB class 229 and back in the days of the Reichsbahn as DR class 119. They had two nicknames, one being u-boat, due to the round engine room windows, and one being "Karpatenschreck", roughly translated "Carpathian terror". This was due to the fact that the Soviets didn't allow the GDR to build diesels with more than 1500hp, since that role was allocated to other Comecon members. As a result, when the DR needed such locomotives, they had to import them, usually from the Soviet Union. In this case though, the DR required rather low axle loads, but the Soviets only built very large and heavy locomotives. Therefore, the 119s came from Romania (hence the Carpathian part) and were horribly unreliable (hence the terror). Upon entering service, 50% of such locomotives were in the workshop for repairs instead of pulling trains. Yep, they were really that rubbish. Reliability only improved after just about all Romanian components were replaced with German-made ones.

The specimen we see here is 229 120, owned by the Mitteldeutsche Eisenbahn, who bought four of these when DB retired them. Two of them are still in use, while the two others are kept for spares.

For more pics of this train, see my DSO post.