The joy and fun of train buffs is to hunt down the last survivors of a locomotive class. I got lucky with one of those still operating in the Austrian Railway (ÖBB) roster this weekend. 1142.682 is the last one in it’s class operating in the blood-orange paint scheme with three ivory-white trim lines, four doors as well as big head lights. I recently saw this machine with rapid trains between Linz and Graz, especially on Intercity 600 reaching Linz Hbf at 6:48pm.

So I got into position at one of my favorite spits near Traum last Sunday. There the two track line from Selzthal merges with the a short cut route to Marchtrenk in a wye. The leg the IC with the engine in classic livery has the navigate features a rather tight turn and therefore both tracks are considerably banked. This puts the consist in good photo light but at the cost of eventually block some details of the wheels. With great excitement I followed the train’s progress on the ÖBB train radar, an app that visualizes positions of ÖBB passenger operation. And sure enough, there the classic face came down the track! Three big front lights framing the old logo- to enthusiasts also known as „Pflatsch“ Back in the 70s this unique sign got introduced in order to replace the traditional metal „flying wheels“ and was met with mixed reactions. Nowadays ÖBB’s corporate ID went through some iterations and the ÖBB tag is all over the property, making the „Pflatsch“ an exotic sight.

1142.682 is a sample out of the last batch of class 1042 engines build. In the mid-1990s ÖBB started to upgrade the relatively young machines locomotives for pull-pushoperation. Those were major reworks and therefore the locos left the main shops in Linz with a new class designation as 1142.531 … 707. The engines „lost“ their small round windows at the corners, gor smaller lights and received a new paint scheme. Somehow down the line not every 1142 got all the external treatment making those mavericks favorable with rail fans.

After 2010 the blood-orange pint scheme became rare amongst the ÖBB fleet and more and more photographers now turned their attention to the survivors. Recently, Railway Media Group published an excellent book about this phase. „Blutorange im Ausgedinge“ ISBN: 978-3-902894-36-6 recaps the last years of Austrian build 4 wheel locomotive classes 1042, 1142, 1044 and 1144. The authors captured numerous pictures for all of us that came too late. In addition this book, as all in this series, provide the avid modeler a great source of information about consists run by ÖBB in these days. Last but not least, the final chapter summarizes the history of smaller than 12 inch to the foot models. Dozens of versions from N to G scale underline the popularity of these breeds which will continue to show off the classic paint scheme on model railroads and display shelves.

The hunt goes on!

Recently I had some more encounters with 1142.682. The pictures below show the unit at Linz Wegscheid and Linz Hf.

In the picture below the locomotive in heritage colors has an interesting consist in tow. Behind the engine we find a first class/baggage „combine“ followed by a so-called Modular-carrige. Fun fact: the state of the art ÖBB Rail Jets feature cars derived from those Modular cars. Next in the string is an Intercity, second class coach. The end of the train is made up by a cab car usually used in computer service. As ÖBB never bothered to obtain intercity type cab cars, those units come in handy on runs that do to extend 100 mph.