Early Christmas Gift

It could be seen as an early Christmas gift that the sleek and stylish Bombardier Talents have returned to Duisburg, after they had been made redundant by the arrival of NWB Lints one year ago.

I already mentioned the good news here, but didn't know why exactly NWB had to borrow trains from DB, apart from there obviously being rolling stock shortages. Well, now I can tell you that it's all down to an incorrectly set signal back in August, which sent a worktrain onto a track full of parked NWB trainsets. It was an unfair battle, a lightweight DMU against a very sturdy road switcher, which made mincemeat out of it. The first one was damaged beyond repair, and as the others were coupled to it, examinations were in order to see whether they're still railworthy. This shortage of trainsets then forced NWB to borrow some extra trainsets, and what else to borrow than the trains that originally ran on this line?



The rather frozen unit we see here is running towards a buffer stop at the northern end of Duisburg Central Station, preparing to reverse for the return trip towards Moers. Interestingly, these can also be fitted with snow plows, as seen here. While that might be a great help in deep snow, it does kinda wreck the appearance. Looking at how we never have snow deep enough for trains to get stuck in, I guess I can live with our Talents being plow-less, like almost all German trains.