REOS 302

REOS 302: Freight through Aachen, to the Belgium border

DVDR £ 14,95 € 22,50

In February 2007, REOS visited Aachen, the German city, which is situated close to the Dutch and Belgium borders. Of particular interest is the “Montzen Line ”, a dedicated freight only route into Belgium from Aachen West.

Many trains, to and from Belgium, stop at Aachen West to change locomotives before continuing their journeys. As a result of open access, one can witness trains from different countries and operators. Motive power from the national railways of Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and even Austria can be seen as well as private operators, such as DLC and Rail4Chem.

We begin at Aachen Hbf. Local German and Belgium trains, as well as the “Thalys” from Köln to Paris can be seen. In addition to the passenger action, there are also through lines, which cater for the flow of freight traffic to and from Aachen-West. After a short stop at Aachen-Schanz we arrive at the “freight station” of Aachen-West. We take an in depth look at the varied and interesting operations here.

We depart from Aachen West and head towards the Gemmenich tunnel at the Belgium border. The catenary ends at the tunnel portal, therefore all motive power heading to and from Belgium is diesel. The DB uses BR 225 and BR 241, the Belgium use their class 55 and 77, DLC and Rail4Chem operate with Class 66. The 2.5% climb towards the tunnel enquires the use of DB electric banking locos to assist the heavier freights as far as the tunnel. REOS only uses original sound recordings without any commentary or music. Maps are added to point out the camera locations.

The film is divided over 2 DVD’s.