Railfanning in a downpour - Bruges 1983

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

In 1983 a freind and I got caught in a truly frightening storm in Bruges, Belgium. Hey, a little rain wasn’t going to stop me from taking train pics though. First is of a Brussels bound train behind a freight Series 23.

http://freericks.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1064296

Second is a Series 16, “Polycurant” with a long distance train.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=224828&nseq=0

And finally, some classy looking AM54 MUs.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=224701&nseq=1

Took a lot of editing work to clean up the scratches on these, which were stored incorrectly. Cleaning scratches around catenary is something I may never attempt again. Thanks for looking, and corrections are always welcome.

Charles Freericks

2

…These European trains {engines, especially}, do not appear to have the brute strength as do our American engines as far as rugged as in if hitting a vehicle at a grade crossing, etc…Crew looks {to me}, to be more vulnerable

3

Your right they aren’t, but then most likely they will never be tested. European Drivers normally don’t try and beat the train, so collisions are rare, but they do happen from time to time.

4

any idea what the seating is like in thoes things

5

Couple of things –

  1. I don’t think that there are anywhere near the same amount of grade crossing in Europe (at least not on main lines). You do find similar engines in the USA on the Northeast Corridor, which also lacks grade crossings.

  2. I don’t know about the cab size, but I would guess it’s not that different… more of an optical illusion because of the shape of the engine.