Lokomotion Zebra

Ladies and Gents, I'm proud to announce that the first Lokomotion Zebra has made it onto DeviantArt!

Saw this loco in front of a freight train as my RegionalExpress overtook it. Since it was just a few minutes from Leverkusen, I thought I'd stick around and ambush it with my camera. As usual, more photos can be found in my DSO post.

About the Zebra: It's a 48 year old class 139 freight locomotive, which is basically a 140 with electric brakes, created by putting old class 110s onto class 140 bogies. That as such would already be a neat find, but this one is obviously not your usual DB machine that's about to be sent to the Bender. As the writing on the front tells you, it's owned by Lokomotion, a private rail company. Here's their website, should you want more info on them. Among all the modern rolling stock they own, their roster also shows a total of seven class 139s, which were bought secondhand from the DB. Their striking livery, though not well visible in this head-on shot, earned them the nickname Zebras, also valid for other Lokomotion locos. See this link for some more Zebra awesomeness.

Interesting little detail: This loco received some high beam headlights! The old standardized electrics all had headlights that only served the purpose of showing everyone else where the train's front is, not providing any lighting for the driver to see in the dark. Some 140s and 139s were fitted with these extra headlights, which were well liked by drivers, but DB didn't seem to care enough to add it to more engines. Another little detail: The steam engine style whistle, characteristic of all old standardized electrics, has been replaced by a horn.