Some good news from Austria is the imminent return to traffic of diesel-hydraulic loco 2143 056.
If you followed this site’s Haulage Calendar through the summer of 2017 you will doubtless have been familiar with the tireless use of Regiobahn’s blue and orange machine 2143 062, which has put in many shifts on special trains from Wien to Ernstbrunn.
Regiobahn/Verein Neue Landesbahn are now soon to restore sister machine 2143 056 to traffic, which will be in “blood orange” livery with its original number of 2143.56.
It appears that ‘056 is intended to complement, rather than replace ‘062, as the video linked below (from Facebook) shows them engaged in a multiple-working test on shed at Mistelbach in July 2017 – prior to work on ‘056’s repaint commencing. I reckon the pair sound pretty good!
Verein Neue Landesbahn also have 2143 070 in 1980s-era livery which is currently in the works at St Pölten – but it is possible that next year may see a fleet of three 2143s available for use on the special trains to Ernstbrunn.
Check out this article which was a preview of Summer 2017’s heritage diesel operations in Austria, to give an indication of what may be in store in 2018!
European Traction 