Sunday 13th November 1994

Jago the Rat dressed in the same clothes as he did twelve years earlier on our easy rider week on the V twin to Dijon and Lyon, namely black tee shirt, donkey jacket, odour eaters and safety boots. After taking breakfast in the room, which consisted of cereal and milk which we brought with us, we left for our first visit in very high spirits.

Chalons-sur-Marne Depot

Chalons-sur-Marne Depot is situated on the mainline between Paris and Strasbourg and is adjacent to its large marshalling yard which serves freight traffic branching off to Reims and the Metz-Dunkerque corridor. We arrived at the depot just after eight on a very dark, damp, misty and drizzly Sunday morning whilst freight traffic was passing through at the rate of four per hour. The depot had recently closed and the images show just how enormous and beautiful its concrete curvaceous structure was. Our guide was very understanding to our cause and agreed to take us for a cab ride on new Sybic, BB26134 around the depot yard. The locomotives security management system was such that, it would not move without approval from traffic control. It was very disappointing to note that at our first installation, there were no Monocabines to phot !

Locomotives Stabled:- BB15037/063, BB16014/607/666, BB17002, BB25113/117/157, BB26133/134, BB63642/680/700, BB66094/100/412/414/422-425/438/447/479/487/499/506, A1AA1A68010/020/032/036/041/042/045/046, CC72020/024/031/074, Y7102/7546/8472.

Chalons-sur-Marne Depot	BB 15037	BB 17002	BB 66425	A1A A1A 68036

Chalindrey Depot

Chalindrey Depot is situated in the sticks on the mainline between Metz and Dijon near where it crosses the Paris to Mulhouse line. The depot has a seperate heavy maintenance depot and beautiful forty plus road roundhouse, although the overhead catenary system within it has been recently removed. We arrived at the depot during a very quiet period around dinner hour and after speaking to SNCF staff who were both keen to eat their food and unable to speak english, walked ourselves around the establishment. 

Locomotives stabled:- BB22305, BB25162, BB26166, BB63124/139, BB66411/413/420/431/433/434/448/478/491, BB67409/411/526/530/582, A1AA1A68017-019/025/026/035/084/506/507/512/515/517/518/521-523/526/528/570, CC72001/007/028/036/039/048/060/066/075, Y39/71/7196/7633/7793/8134/8181.

Chalindrey Depot	Chalindrey Roundhouse	BB 66448	A1AA1A 68017	A1AA1A 68025	CC 72039

Mulhouse - National Railway Museum

The national railway museum of France is housed at Mulouse which is in the far east corner of France near to the swiss border of Basle. The museum houses a good selection of rolloing stock and railway equipment and my interest was primarily to phot the preserved Monocabine.

Electric Locomotives Housed:- 2D2 5516, BB9004, CC14018, Y2291

Mulhouse Museum	CC 14018	2D2 5516	BB 9004

Mulhouse - Nord Yard

Nord Yard wasn't too difficult to find from the museum and was our first opportunity to phot an operational Moncabine.

Locomotives Stabled: BB12111, BB15024, BB26094, BB63094/587/617/752/785, BB 64074, BB66707, A1AA1A68038

BB 12111	BB 66707	A1AA1A 68038

Monday 14th November 1994

Strasbourg - Hausbergen Yard/Stabling Point

Hausbergen Yard is situated a few miles north of Strasbourg very close to the german border in the north east of France. We arrived at Hausbergen Yard just after eight and in traditional french style very little traffic operated during the Monday morning which gave us good opportunity to phot the withdrawn Monocabines in the yard, obtain panoramic pictures of the yard and control centre and discuss our plans with the Operations Manager. It then became apparent that the CC14100 class Moncabines had been ousted from Strasbourg and redeployed between Forbach  and Woippy yards. Whilst we had not provisioned to visit Forbach, the Operations Manager made a telephone call to the Station Manager at Forbach and laid on special arrangements for us to view the installation. That's me in the picture to the left with the Operations Manager.

Hausbergen Signalling Centre		Panoramic View of Hausbergen Yard From Signalling Centre

Locomotives Stabled: BB13017/018/020/051/052, BB16670, BB22306, BB25153, BB26047/079/094/134, BB63718/63723/860/878, BB64710+810/711+811/712+812, BB67521/524, Y7749

Forbach Stabling Point

Forbach is situted very near the German border approximately one hundred miles north west of Strasburg and with a direct link to Woippy Yard. We received a very warm reception from the Station Manager and a guide was summoned very promptly to take us across the station tracks into the stabling point. Forbach is the last stronghold for CC14100 class Monocabines with four being stabled and without any hesitation I asked the guide for both a cab ride on one of them together with some pictures of it being moved on the turntable for which he was more than happy to oblige. Just before leaving, the Station Manager provided us with a listing of the diagrams for CC14100 class Monocabines and an offer to return to Forbach for a cab ride to Woippy Yard in CC14100 class Monocabine. Once we had completed our visit we stopped for a glass of Alsace wine, our second motive for the tour, before moving on to Thionville.  

Locomotives stabled: BB12077/083/101, CC14154/155/195/201, BB16617/721/756/763/787, BB22206, BB25116, BB26059/115, BB64061, BB67510/587

Stabled Locos	CC14195	CC14201 on the Turntable	BB26059	BB64061

Thionville Depot

Thionville Depot is situated sixty miles west of Forbach in the north east of France and is in a junction of lines serving the Dunkerque corridor, Woippy Yard, Metz, Luxemburg and Germany and is the home for the remaining serviceable and stored CC14100 class Monocabines. The depot is visible from the station platform. We arrived at Thionville Depot on a high after a very memorable morning at Forbach and once again SNCF pulled out all stops for our visit. The depot complex consisits of a heavy maintenance facility and a large roundhouse with roof removed and plenty of storage sidings filled with CC14100 class Monocabines. This visit was the focus of our tour and we spent plenty of time taking pictures and talking to staff about their locomotives. What became very apparent as the light was falling was that there was an excellent opportunity for some night photography and I asked the guide if we could return in darkness to take some more pictures. As he was going off duty at 1900 hours, he agreed and we opened the boot and offered him refreshment for his assistance which he thankfully received.

Locomotives stabled: BB12013/065/077/086, CC14101/102/104/109/123/125/126/129/131/133/146/153/167/183/187/195, BB15019/064, BB16602/618/671/675/681/684/688/691/695/696/724/755/774/788, BB25103/105/111/119/125/151/152/160/166, BB26024/033/133, A1AA1A62062, BB63618/828, CC72074, Y5159/5160/6510/6625/8125,    

Thionville Depot	Thionville Depot Roundhouse	BB12086	CC14125	CC14126
CC14129	BB15064	BB16675	A1A A1A62062	CC72074

Thionville Station

Not a very well lit station but there was plenty of freight activity including BB12000 and CC14100 class Moncabines. Here's the log from 1700-1800:-

Other locomotives passing: BB12013/086/101, BB15019/049, CC14154/181, BB16015/654/657/667/677/696/736/793, BB22260, BB25124/168, BB26133, BB63828, Y8011/8332

BB12013	BB15019	BB15038

Thionville Depot (By Night)

New locomotive arrivals: CC14169/182

The images have been very disappointingly scanned and hopefully someone reading this article may have a more professional scanner.

Thionville Depot	BB12065	CC14125	CC14126	BB25168