You probably can imagine my surprise when I saw this New Jersey Transit ALP-45DP parked next to a German Autobahn. While returning home from a vacation in the Harz mountains, I saw this engine some miles west of Hannover on Autobahn 2 (Hannover-Dortmund). We especially left the Autobahn to catch a second glimpse of the engine and to make sure our eyes didn’t fool us. The engine didn’t have any trucks and was loaded on a flatbed trailer. It probably was on its way to Berlin for the Innotrans exhibition, early September 2012. I guess it wasn’t moved by train as the European clearance is smaller than the American. I’ve got no idea why it was parked here, but there was a low bridge a few miles ahead. Maybe the engine was to tall to pass this bridge.
This is the first time I’ve seen an American commuter engine on the Autobahn. These shots were made through the windshield while flashing by at 140 km/h on the right lane of the highway. Too bad a concrete barrier prevented a better view of the engine…
Not heading for Berlin if you saw it west of Hannover. They come from Kassel by truck up the A7, then the A2 and then to what ever port they are going to for shipment to the US or Canada(for the AMT locos).
You have all probably read or heard about the “Secret Terminal” below the Waldorf Astoria, or the subway with 6 stations built under Cincinnati, but never used, or the Indianapolis subway that was started but never completed… well, this is just the result of one of the lessor known Railroad oddities… the fabled transatlantic RR that branches off NJT just south of Hoboken, obviously some vandals threw the switch and it was not caught in time to stop the car. Since there are no places to turn around in the tunnel, it had to go all the way to the exit near Kassel to be turned on the wye at Hannover. Don’t worry or fret, the passengers will be issued transfer tickets to get back, uh… “on track”, so to speak.
