SNCB slash NMBS 2812

Some more from yesterday evening. Aachen West is an interesting station, but there are few good locations to take pictures, so I tend to milk the few that I know for all they are worth. This one, for example, I already used three times before, with the excuse for this one being that it is the first non-winter one where the light comes from the right direction, and also the train is switching to a different track here. What can I say, with the slope and the bend and all, I really love this spot. I wonder how long I can get away with this.

The Bombardier TRAXX 2E F140 MS series of locomotives has somehow managed to become the standard for cross-border traffic operated by belgian state railroad company SNCB (french)/NMBS (dutch) to Germany, the Netherlands and France. Not that they actually own any: They are all leased from what used to be Angel Trains Cargo and is now called Alpha Trains, the company that is also responsible for the paint scheme. As a result, all of these locomotives have two numbers: One E 186 xxx, following german practices and given by ATC, and a four-digit one as 28xx or 29xx (the 28ers are configured for service in Germany and the Netherlands, the 29 for France) by SNCB. I prefer to use the belgium one because it is far easier to spot from a distance.

Here it is pulling a mixed freight train into Aachen West station, coming from somewhere in Belgium via the so-called Montzenroute.