A Couple of Wide Gauged Spainards

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Sorry that I have not been on the board much recently. I have been switching jobs the last few weeks, which I have somehow allowed to take my time away from my armchair railfanning!

For those who are interested in some foreign stuff - here are two shots from a 1982 trip when I passed through Port Bou, Spain.

Railfanning at the same time that one is traveling with three non-railfans is an ugly proposition, and because of that I didn’t shoot anywhere what I should have on this trip. But Port Bou was one place I had to stop and grab some pictures. It is where the standard gauge French railroad meets up with the Iberic gauge (wide gauge) Spanish railroad.

First image is of a Spanish Class 276 (the one time fleet premiere) moving about the yard with a well dressed railroad employee moving towards it.

http://freericks.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2126385

Second image is another Class 276, but with a long-distance train that has just arrived, with box cars on the head end.

http://freericks.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2126790

2

[tup] again. Almost a sci-fi look. But so many different details to study. I am still working on the wheel area.

3

I agree, Mookie… there was some really neat stuff in Europe back in 1982. I wish I’d carved a little more time out on that trip to railfan, but it was tough, traveling with folks who honestly compared my stopping to take pictures of trains to stopping to take pictures of telephone poles. It just made no sense to them, and I was really at their mercy, not wanting to get separated in a country that I did not know.