Worn Out Workhorse

A class 120 electric at Cologne Central Station, pulling an InterCity train. Thought I'd go with setting the lower edge up parallel to the pavement, rather than with a standard shot.

This locomotive here is one of the very rare examples that still have the old and rather abhorrent "orientrot" livery from the early 90s, complete with a white "napkin" on the front. The only other 120 that I caught with the tattered remains of this livery was 120 148 in Duisburg:



Many railfans consider this class to be the last Mohican of the former Bundesbahn of West-Germany, since they were built years before the formation of today's Deutsche Bahn. While it's not nearly as good looking as the legendary 103, there's definitely something to that utilitarian front and that slanted roof edge. It was also highly advanced for its time, being the first production locomotive to make use of power electronics to produce 3-phase current for asynchronous drive motors. This also made it the first locomotive that could reliably feed power back into the grid when dynamic brakes are used.

All trains* built today make use of the technologies that were developed and refined for use in this mighty machine. I can't think of any other modern locomotive that has a more meaningful heritage than the 120.


_{*All trains that are not technologically retarded, like the class 66 for example.}