The Paris - Belfort line was long overdue for a visit so I took a detour from my usual driving route to Germany to try a few shots of CC72100s. After a very early start and an uneventful journey under the Channel on EuroTunnel’s 05:48 shuttle, it was straight down the Autoroute to a spot west of Troyes, arriving at 11:30.

Although most of the drive from Calais had been in sunshine, it started raining just before the first train appeared. It was still a pleasant surprise to find a CC72100 on 11647, as I had half been expecting a unit, but I gave the picture a miss. All of the non-InterCités workings seen were bi-mode AGCs of the B82500 persuasion in one of the most repulsive liveries I’ve ever seen.

On to Bayel, east of Bar-sur-Aube where the expected CC72100 on 1741 passed five minutes earlier than expected in the middle of another downpour, meaning that I missed seeing the number. Although the timetable fiche showed the 13:20 ex Belfort as running, it wasn’t on Hafas and it was no great surprise when it didn’t show up. The spot I’d found for it was a cracker but will have to wait for another time. Two westbound freights were seen, a block train of cereal hoppers behind a BB75000 and a mixed freight led by no less than four BB67400s, three of them in yellow livery. I didn’t manage a picture of either freight but it was third time lucky for the CC72100 on the 15:12 from Paris, which passed in good light.

The day’s final location was in the Marne Valley between Chaumont and Langres where another CC72100 was bagged in good light. Just as I decided the light wasn’t going to last for the next loco hauled passenger, the nearby crossing gates closed and an eastbound freight, hauled by a pair of BB67400s rolled by, again in good light. Then it was off to find my hotel and try to make myself understood in French that was almost as bad as the livery of the local DMUs.

Savières, W of Troyes

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72140	11647	10:42 Paris Est - Troyes	12:05
B82505	11944	10:47 Culmont-Chalindrey - Paris Est	12:20

Bayel, E of Bar-sur-Aube

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
B82501 B82513	11649	12:12 Paris Est - Culmont-Chalindrey	14:23
721xx	1741	13:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	15:07
B82511	TER1542	14:53 Culmont-Chalindrey - Troyes	15:42
75457		WB Cereal Hoppers	15:56
B82505	11743	14:12 Paris Est - Culmont-Chalindrey	16:23
67xxx 67xxx 67xxx 67xxx		WB Freight	17:17
72190	1745	15:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	17:18

Thivet, W of Langres

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72121	1848	16:50 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	18:17
67528 67617		EB Freight	18:22
B82515 B82501	11948	18:17 Culmont-Chalindrey - Paris Est	18:35

A second day on the Paris - Belfort line in the Chaumont area.

It was raining when I woke and it carried on raining for most of the day. The sky was completely overcast apart from an hour or so in the late afternoon when there was the chance of some sun, but not at the same time as a train. The whole day was spent at various locations in the Marne Valley between Chaumont and Langres, most of it sitting in the car watching the rain hammering down.

Trains ran much as expected, which meant there were some very long gaps, including one of over three hours, broken only by a single light engine movement. In contrast, no fewer than five trains passed in a hectic period of less than 30 minutes in the middle of the afternoon.

CC72100s turned up on the four trains expected, the 08:20 ex Belfort, 13:12 and 15:12 ex Paris and the 16:50 ex Belfort. The 09:12 ex Paris and 13:20 ex Belfort were no-shows again. There was more variety on the DMU front with AGCs of the X76500 variety working as well as the B82500s.

Once again, three freights were seen, this time a DB class 66 on a train of steel coil, a pair of Fret SNCF BB67400s on a westbound mixed treight and a Europorte Euro4000 on oil tanks. that’s six freights so far with four different types of loco belonging to three different owners, remarkable variety for a relative backwater.

The most remarkable sight was BB12107, or at least the cast number plate from BB12107, complete with SNCF roundel, being carried by a barge on the Marne et Saone canal at Luzy sur Marne.

Thivet, W of Langres

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
66.071 [DB]		WB Steel Coil	08:06
B82501		Chaumont - Culmont-Chalindrey Empty Stock	08:38 (assumed to be ECS of TER40707 06:37 Longueville - Chaumont)
X76703	TER40703	07:08 Chalons en Champagne - Culmont-Chalindrey	08:48
B82516	11641	06:42 Paris Est - Culmont-Chalindrey	09:31
72130	1742	08:20 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	09:52
X76737	TER39803	07:32 Reims - Dijon Ville	09:53

Luzy-sur-Marne, E of Chaumont

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
B82515	11944	10:47 Culmont-Chalindrey - Paris Est	11:41 (30 mins late!)
72176		WB Light Engine	12:38
B825xx X767xx	11649	12:12 Paris Est - Culmont-Chalindrey	14:47
B76797	TER1542	14:53 Culmont-Chalindrey - Troyes	15:21
B76701	39805	13:11 Reims - Dijon Ville	15:25
72160	1741	13:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	15:38
63xxx 63840		EB Light Engines	16:05
X82515	11743	14:12 Paris Est - Culmont-Chalindrey	16:44

Humes, W of Langres

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
4006 [EPF]		WB Oil Tanks	17:37
X735xx	TER40707	16:35 St. Dizier - Dijon Ville	17:42
72130	1745	15:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	17:53
72190	1848	16:50 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	18:16

Another dull day on the Paris - Belfort line. I went to Luzy sur Marne on the offchance that the weather might improve but it didn’t and the morning’s only CC72100 passed in the gloom. At least it wasn’t raining. With nothing of interest expected for over five hours, it seemed like a good idea to have a look at the area’s other main line, the electrified Dijon - Nancy route. Two trains were seen in the hour or so I was at Plesnoy, north of Culmont-Chalindrey, a Marseille - Metz TGV followed a few minutes later by a Sybic on a northbound freight. There seemed to be engineering work on the southbound line which might have affected traffic.

By lunchtime there was no sign of the light improving so I set off on the long journey east to the Stuttgart - Singen line in Germany, hoping for some shots on the Höllentalbahn or the Gäubahn.

Luzy-sur-Marne, E of Chaumont

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
B82513		EB Empty Stock	08:28
X76703	TER40703	07:08 Chalons en Champagne - Culmont-Chalindrey	08:38
82503	11641	06:42 Paris Est - Culmont-Chalindrey	09:27
B82501	TER39803	07:32 Reims - Dijon Ville	09:43
72166	1742	08:20 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	10:03

Plesnoy, N of Culmont-Chalindrey

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
TGV.281	TGV6866	06:14 Marseilles St Charles - Metz Ville	11:07
26204		NB Freight	11:15

My last day in Germany but the weather wasn’t co-operating. When the sun gave up trying to come out it was time to look for something else to do. Fortunately there was a plan B as I’d realised that one of the possible routes to my next night’s stop at Chaumont in France took me past the Saverne Gap on the main line west of Strasbourg. The weather was a lot better on the west side of the Schwarzwald and the afternoon was spent at Arzviller in unbroken sunshine.

A lot of trains were seen but not many freights. Only one SNCF loco was seen on freight, a BB37000. There was an ECR class 66 and two trains hauled by SNCB class 1300s as well but that was all.

There seemed to be a TGV in one direction or the other every few minutes and quite a few loco worked passengers, all with Sybics, including EC90 from Zürich to Bruxelles and EN452 from Moscow to Paris as well as most of the TERs. Two TERs were worked by AGC units and another push-pull set, which I think was empty stock, was pushed by a BB25500 that looked as if it had just been dragged from the scrapyard.

When the spot went into shadow at 17:00 it was time to continue the long drive west to Chaumont

Arzviller, W of Lutzelbourg

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
66.190 [ECR]		EB Freight	14:15
TGV.546	TGV5406	12:36 Aeroport CDG2 TGV Roissy - Strasbourg	14:38
TGV.4717	TGV2369	12:55 Paris Est - Colmar	14:43
26140	TER35020	14:20 Strasbourg - Nancy	14:55
TGV.4707	TGV9574	12:54 Stuttgart Hbf - Paris Est	15:03
TGV.4713	TGV2431	13:25 Paris Est - Strasbourg	15:13
TGV.807	TGV2358	14:13 Colmar - Paris Est	15:18
26162	EC90	11:36 Zürich HB - Bruxelles Midi	15:23
37046		EB Intermodal	15:29
TGV.548	TGV5488	14:59 Strasbourg - Nantes	15:33
1336 [SNCB] 1327 [SNCB]		EB Steel Coil	15:38
1341 [SNCB]		WB Intermodal	15:41
TGV.534	TGV2433	13:55 Paris Est - Strasbourg	15:43
25606 propelling		EB Empty Stock	16:00
26142 propelling	TER295	14:30 Luxembourg - Basel SBB	16:11
TGV.543 TGV539	TGV2440	15:44 Strasbourg - Paris Est	16:16
Z27949	TER30808	15:48 Strasbourg - Metz Ville	16:27
TGV.546	TGV5454	15:58 Strasbourg - Bordeaux St Jean	16:29
26231	EN452	07:44 Moskva Belorusskaja - Paris Est	16:36
26144	TER35022	16:18 Strasbourg - Nancy	16:53

The weekend service on the Paris - Belfort line is better than that in the week but there are still long gaps between trains. It looked as if the full service wasn’t running for a while when the 08:20 ex Belfort failed to show up but it was just running an hour late, probably following a loco failure as it eventually passed with a dead 72160 coupled inside a very loud 72172. In total, seven loco hauled trains were seen in daylight, a big improvement on the four or five that run during the week. Timekeeping wasn’t brilliant with the 13:12 ex Paris also turning up late. No freights were seen and the expected passengers were units.

Weather wise the forecast wasn’t bad but reality didn’t match. The morning started misty but with largely blue skies above. However, instead of clearing, it became completely overcast until after the morning’s loco hauled trains had passed. The afternoon was better with half sun on a few trains but it became cloudy again later.

Luzy-sur-Marne, E of Chaumont

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72130	1643	07:42 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	10:12
72172 72160	1742	08:20 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	10:52 (60 mins late)
72148	1645	09:12 Paris Est - Vesoul	11:40

Bayel, E of Bar-sur-Aube

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72130	1840	13:20 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	15:27
72147	1741	13:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	15:33
72148	1842	15:21 Vesoul - Paris Est	16:44

Vauchonvilliers, E of Vendeuvre-sur-Barse

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72176	1747	16:42 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	18:40

The final day of the trip started with a brief burst of sunlight but it didn’t last. By the time the first loco hauled trains reached the Chaumont area it was overcast and raining. A total of nine CC72100 hauled trains were seen during the day, eight scheduled passengers and a westbound empty stock working. From its timing it appeared that the ECS was probably going to form the 14:12 from Troyes to Paris. All the trains expected to be loco hauled produced and all the others were AGC units, mainly bi-mode jobs but a few straight DMUs as well, all in the apalling Champagne-Ardennes livery. No freights were seen.

It had just stopped raining when the last daytime passengers passed but the light remained poor throughout the day. Then it was time to start the long journey home, finally arriving back around three in the morning after an uneventful drive. 9024 was the banker on the Channel Tunnel shuttle.

Luzy-sur-Marne, E of Chaumont

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72176	1742	08:20 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	10:06
72148 72130	1643	07:42 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	10:16
72151 72179		Culmont-Chalindrey - Troyes Empty Stock?	12:57

Bricon, W of Chaumont

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72190	1840	13:20 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	15:10
72147	1741	13:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	15:20
72148	1844	14:42 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	16:37

Braux le Châtel, W of Chaumont

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72145	1745	15:12 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	17:17

E of Bar-sur-Aube

Loco	Train No.	Train Details	Notes
72138	1749	16:42 Paris Est - Belfort Ville	18:51
72130	1848	16:50 Belfort Ville - Paris Est	18:52