Work in progress…
It is now over 60 years since the first production machines entered traffic for Deutsche Bundesbahn. 8 remain in service with DB Fernverkehr as Class 115 locos, but their work is now almost exclusively on stock transfers and other ECS workings, save for one weekly passenger diagram (see below). The oldest of these – 115 114, the former 110 114 – reached its 60th anniversary in November 2017.
110 428 at Stuttgart Hbf on its first passenger train in its new ownership, 11/02/17 (JW)
Seven 110s have been sold into private ownership predominantly for use on charter train operations (three with TRI Train Rental, two with Centralbahn AG and one each with BahnTouristikExpress and Euro Express). Despite this, it is not always easy to travel behind them – much of their use being on closed private charters.
Surviving Locos
Of the 415 locos built (plus a further one converted from an E40), only a paltry 42 remain extant. Click here for a list.
The E10s, in their various forms, were part of the furniture all across western Germany in my youth, so it came as a shock to me in some ways to realise that only 10% or so are still around.
Booked Passenger Workings
Since 29th January 2018, TRI machine 110 469 has had a passenger diagram each weekday in Nordrhein-Westfalen, operating for National Express. 110 428 has occasionally deputised, as has the odd DB class 111, but generally 110 469 has been very solid – very creditable availability for a 51-year-old machine! There is currently no expected end date for its use on this.
There still remains a seasonal DB Fernverkehr class 115 service train diagram – on Winter Fridays, it is booked to work IC1285, the 18:25 München Hbf to Wörgl, in Austria (arr 19:51), returning as IC1280 10:25 Wörgl to München Hbf (arr 11:34) on a Saturday. This is not currently booked to run, but it is hoped that it will return in Winter 2018/19.
Forthcoming Railtour Workings
Aside for the aforementioned closed, private charter work that are the bread-and-butter for some of the machines, there are numerous charters in the calendar advertised for 110 haulage:-
TRI Train Rental’s 110 428 is thought to be the planned 110 to work on a railtour from Rosenheim to Augsburg and return on Saturday 1st September 2018.
However, the most frequent advertised use of these machines is on the AKE Rheingold series of railtours. There are currently 28 such tours planned between March and December 2018 (details in the Haulage Calendar). The locomotive earmarked for all of these is E10 1309 (ex-DB 110 309, 113 309); on past experience, if it is unavailable, then a modern electric – e.g. a class 193 “Vectron” – deputises.
Recent Workings
Purely for posterity, some recent notable 110 workings, showing that you cannot really keep a classic design down!
- The evening Meridian commuter train which ran with loco haulage between May 2016 and December 2017 enjoyed “110” haulage on a number of occasions. TRI’s 110 469 handled the service on both 19th and 20th December 2016, and was apparently intended to work the very last one on 29th December 2017, but did not reach München in time to do so. Additionally, five of Lokomotion’s class 139 electrics are known to have worked these trains, and two of these machines – 139 177 and 139 213 – were formerly 110s. However, more modern motive power was the rule on this interesting service.
- On 24th and 25th May 2017, BTE’s 110 491 worked the Hamburg-Köln-Express, a service usually handled at that time by a class 120 (110 469 had previously handled one round trip for them on 17th April). This appears, however, to have been an isolated event.
- 28th May 2017 saw “110 043” (the former 110 511, previously 139 134) work a number of additionals between Erfurt and Leipzig in connection with a special event – but little is known about these workings. That day was “Kirchentag” in the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, so many extra and strengthened trains were running to and around Lutherstadt Wittenberg, so this may have been a result of this.
- On 29th November 2017, 115 293 took IC2288 from München to Nürnberg as a farewell trip for the driver in question, who was retiring on arrival. It has been suggested (and seems plausible!) that 103 245 was intended for this turn, but was unavailable.
- Though sporadic, unpredictable and always in lieu of more modern electric traction, Class 115 remained occasional performers on Intercity workings on the Stuttgart to Singen route (the “Gäubahn”) until the December 2017 timetable change. At that time, the majority of the Switzerland-bound ICs became booked for ÖBB “Taurus” locos, and no 115 has worked on the route since.
European Traction 