A 1 APPLIANCE PARTS

An SNCF locomotive of the BB 22200 class. These were a version of the earlier BB 7200 and BB 15000 classes which were, respectively, d. c. and a. c. variants. The BB 22200s (7200 + 15000 = 22200 ...geddit?) were the dual-voltage development. Together they made a large family of locomotives. The BB 22200s were at first allocated to Marseille, but are now found throughout the electrified French system working through trains on routes with different voltages. This information, I should add, is derived from my little bilingual book of French locomotives, which is now twenty years old ...so things may have changed since. The Frenchies don't seem to go in very much for naming their locomotives, but this class is an exception. This particular loco is 22287 SAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE.
The photograph was taken on Sunday 10th April 1994. It was a weekend of squally showers ...heavy at times, as they say in the weather forecasts. I was subjected to several drenchings during the few days I was out and about in Paris. The rippling sinuosities of the rain-washed asphalted platform are very pleasing and could not be enjoyed with the relentlessly uniform paving used at today's stations. The locomotive had just been brought into the Gare Du Nord, by two very casually attired footplatemen, to be attached to its train. This is why the red tail lights are still showing.

Painted to my mind in the much superior livery to that of the replacement DB Schenker colours