A ludicrously early start got me to Cheriton in time to catch the 05:48 shuttle sous la Manche to Calais. The drive across northern France, southern Belgium and western Germany was long, slow and very boring but eventually I reached the Koblenz - Trier line at Pünderich, south of Bullay, just before 14:00.

The weather was generally overcast but there were occasional breaks in the cloud and one of the eighteen trains seen in the next two and a half hours actually passed in sun. By amazing good fortune it was an iron ore train hauled by a pair of 151s, something I’d never managed to photograph before. Six freights were seen in total, all southbounds and all hauled by DB locos of classes 140, 151, 152 and 185. Three ICs were seen, all hauled by 181s, and the RE and RB trains were a mixture of class 425 or 426 units and 143s on push-pull sets. On one train, the whole set was the wrong way round with the driving trailer at the south end while on another the set was the right way round but the loco was coupled to the driving trailer end. A set with 143s top and tail was also seen.

By 16:00 the cloud had thickened considerably and there was no chance of any more sun. I waited for late running IC137 and then gave up and went to find my hotel, near Simmern. After such an early start, I needed some kip.

Pünderich

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
151.054 151.126		SB Iron Ore	13:55
181.214	IC136	08:34 Emden Hbf - Luxembourg	14:11
143.932 propelling	RB12225	13:21 Trier Hbf - Koblenz Hbf	14:13
185.004		SB Freight	14:16
152.019		SB Intermodal	14:26
143.925	RB12224	13:36 Koblenz Hbf - Trier Hbf	14:43
143.xxx propelling	RE12014	14:22 Koblenz Hbf - Trier Hbf	15:09
143.058 t & t with 143.194	RB12226	14:40 Koblenz Hbf - Trier Hbf	15:42
151.081 151.071		SB Coal Hoppers	15:57
181.216	IC134	09:53 Norddeich Mole - Luxembourg	16:12
185.xxx		SB Freight	16:16
181.xxx	IC137	14:20 Luxembourg - Emden Hbf	16:17
140.xxx		SB Freight	16:23
143.xxx	RB12231	14:31 Perl - Koblenz Hbf	16:23