Tuesday 15th November 1994

Woippy Station

Woippy Station is situated south of Woippy Yard on the mainline between Thionville and Metz and is one of the busiest stretches of line for freight traffic in France. After staying in Thionville overnight we arrived at Woippy Yard a little earlier than planned and parked the car up at the station for half an hour.

Locomotives passing: BB16684, BB26028/042/059/064/095, CC72026, Y7133 

Woippy Yard

Woippy Yard is situated on the mainline between Metz and Thionville and is one of the busiest yards in France with forty eight roads and a locomotive stabling point. We arrived at the control centre at 0900 hours in driving rain and the car was parked in a very large pool of water. Regretably, I dropped my car keys into the water and as the car has automatic locking the central locking system went absolutely berserk but fortunately defaulted into the unlocked position as I retrieved them. The Operations Manager greeted us upon arrival and gave us several publications regarding Woippy Yard which was most helpful. Our guide suggested that we take his motor car around the yard to due to its size and I was specifically interested in the CC14100 class Monocabine that had just arrived on an oil train for a local distribution point which spurred the yard. After driving several miles around the yard and crossing it by foot we entered the cabin of CC14100 which was about to deliver its train and talked to the driver. He gave us a conducted tour of the locomotive and did not hesitate in telling us he would be glad to see the back of this class of locomotives as they were slow, noisy, cold and draughty. The driver entertained to us what could be best described as internal fireworks display within the control cabinet as he put the locomotive into motion and opened the cabinet door. We were once again very well looked after and the following images reflect that.

Woippy Yard from the Signalling Centre			Woippy No 2 Panel	CC14200

Woippy Stabling Point

Woipyy Stabling Point is situated within the yard complex.

Locomotives stabled: CC14183, BB16608/652/661/720/741/749/752/775/790, BB22229, BB26015/042/059/064/075/093/094/098/156, BB63823, BB64045/062/706+806/708+808/709+809/721, CC72057, Y7135/8008/8498

BB26015	BB64708+BB64808	BB64721

Hagondage Station

Hagondage is the third station north of Woippy Yard and all freight to and from the north passes through it. These were the noted movements during the lunch hour:-

Other locomotives passing: BB12041/059/097, CC14126, BB15028/050/065, BB16658/673/685/693/741, BB22256, BB25122/159/167, BB26122/123/156, BB63913, Y7135

BB26064

Wednesday 16th November 1994

Today I decided to let the train take the strain and we parked the car up at Chalons-sur-Marne station and took the 0532 train into Gare De L'est, Paris.

Chalons-sur-Marne

Locomotives passing: BB15026/054, BB25104/114/117, BB26122, A1AA1A 68007, Y8123

Gare De L'Est Station, Paris

We arrived at the Gare De L'Est station just after seven. It was still dark and bustling with BB16500 class locomotives working push pull passenger services, so out came the pod and a few images were snapped including this one of a line up of 3xClass16500 locomotives.

Gare De L'Est

Locomotives arriving/departing: BB15019/022/065, BB16552/555/562/563/564/567/569/573/574/577/592/593/598/622/627/645/647/674/676/677/698/702, BB63170, BB67433/584, CC72033/047

La Villette Depot

La Villette depot is situated one mile outside Gare De L'Est station and can be easily accessed by foot with the road running parallel to the railway. Entry to the depot is controlled by credit card at the gate or telephone. La Villette is a no frills depot with a heavy maintenance facility, plenty of stabling sidings and locomotives. There were clear signs of the recession biting with several long lines of stored locomotives.

Stored BB63000 Class locomotives	BB15030	BB67249	CC72033

Locomotives stabled: BB15030/046, BB16554/556/563/567/568/575/581/584/586/588/594/597/599/623/631/637/642/649/652/669/677/700/702/703/704/705, BB25125, BB26032, BB63136/159/160/161/171/181/190/195/206/212/235/423/536/552/593/594/633/636/788/801/834, BB64000/030/063, BB67456/526/584, CC72003/007/033/037/040/049, Y5143/6289/6408/6567/6573/6606/7211/7286/7291/7405/7471/7505/7670/7674/8150/8360/8410

Villeneuve St Georges Depot

Villeneuve St Georges depot is situated ten miles outside Gare De Lyon station which serves the south east of France and is probably the busiest depot in Paris servicing Gare De Lyon, Villeneuve St Georges and Valenton and marshalling yards. The depot can be found within a maze of lines within the marshalling yards and the Grand Ceinture (Paris orbital freight line) and consists of a massive roundhouse, heavy maintenance facilities and plenty of locomotives and movements within it. we arrived at the depot just before midday and was well greeted, as I am a regular to it. Once again we noticed lines of stored locomotives which is depicted below.

Locomotives stabled:- BB307/11/33/47/49/53, CC1101/06, CC6543/71, CC7103,  BB7223/254/285/287/301/304/306/311/312/313/375/393/394/400/407/409/433/440/494, BB8113/172/208/225, BB9251/274/315/322, BB22212/307/334, BB25156/512/535/543/548/554/562, BB26001/015/020/029/039/044/048/054/058, BB63148/248/416/422/560/649/679/779/805, BB64026,  Y5152/6423/6426/6468/6483/6513/7383/7618/7843/7510/8058

CC7103	Roundhouse Roads 5-35

BB7400 & BB7306	CC1101	CC6543	BB7301	BB25156	Y6423

Villeneuve St Georges Station

Villeneuve St Georges station is situated at the south side of the yard and is one of the busiest places in france for freight activity.

Locomotives passing between 1215 and 1430 hours:-

BB9322

CC6501/57, CC7101, BB7215/223/251/254/298/341/383/427/440, BB8172/190, BB8529/566, BB9291/315/322, BB9704, BB22266, BB25506/527/548/554, BB26054/168, Y7472,  

Juvisy Yard

Locomotives stabled:- CC6550, BB7383, BB9251/56, Y8403

Paris Sud Quest Depot

Paris Sud Quest Depot is situated a couple south of Paris Austerlitz station and primarily services this station with locomotives together with the local yards. Sud Quest is one of my favourite depots as there is always a variety of ancient BB class locomotives many of which are to be found behind the traverser at the rear of the depot. Several years ago one of these locomotives over ran the bufferstops, demolishing the wall behind and ending up in the main road behind. Somewhere in my collection is an image with graffittti sprayed over the rebuilt wall requesting trains to stop !

Locomotives stabled:- BB319/22, BB4206/224/757/769/770, CC6504/10/12/14/29/30/31/74, BB7223/236/240/241/244/245/246/253/261/264/269/271/279/283/288/292/335/338/339/386/387434, BB8114/127/168/240/257, BB8502/506/513/516/527/539/543/555/575/587/621, BB9204/205/208/209/210/213/215/231/236/241/242/252/254/257/259/262/263/266/277/278/279/284/288/290/325, BB9701, BB22278, BB26034/057, BB63005/082/092, Y5127/5769/6229/6581/6609/6613,

BB319	BB4769	BB6512	BB7279	BB8257	BB9284

Locomotives en-route:- BB4211/45, CC6503/50, BB8266, BB9246/63, BB26057

Paris De L'Est Station

We returned to Chalons-sur Marne on the 1948 train after spending a most wonderful day around Paris.

Locomotives arriving/departing:- BB15027, BB16554/579/586, CC72077