Railfanning in Iraq

[Mr. SP]

Dan
Thank You and the others with you for keeping the world a safer place. The Armed Forces personnel are America's BEST.
The photos are excellent. The locomotive looks to be an EMD export model possible G18

[Triplex]

EMD export? I don't think so. The cab windows look similar, but the sides on standard EMD export units aren't tapered like that. I don't see any typical EMD carbody features. The lip on the hood ends also isn't EMD, but it's a clue. West Germany, you say? That's odd, because this reminds me very much of East Bloc hood units.

EDIT: There are West German-built EMD designs in Iraq... cowl units. http://emdexport.railfan.net/mideast/iraq.html

[ConrailDan]

Heres one more. I really appreciate everyones nice comments. thank you . This was the squad i was assigned to and the vehicle i rode in. One other interesting thing was with all the boredom of this war : no tv, no stereo, no women, i did have a some enjoyment cause i had a railpace magazine stuffed in my flak jacket. i remember it had pics of the wheeling and lake erie and ohio central.

[Glenn Woodle]

2004 sounds about right for the issue you were talking about. IIRC a former editor from Trains Magazine went to Iraq to help rebuild the railroad. Not sure what progress may have been made since.

Thank you for your service to our country. Thanks for posting the photos.

[ajg41]

Originally Posted by Triplex

EMD export? I don't think so. The cab windows look similar, but the sides on standard EMD export units aren't tapered like that. I don't see any typical EMD carbody features. The lip on the hood ends also isn't EMD, but it's a clue. West Germany, you say? That's odd, because this reminds me very much of East Bloc hood units.

EDIT: There are West German-built EMD designs in Iraq... cowl units. http://emdexport.railfan.net/mideast/iraq.html

It looks like a CKD Praha loco. IRR numbers DES3101-3200, delivered in the early 1980s as a tropicalised variant of the T669.

http://www.hobbyseiten.de/T669/t669co.html has details.

There was an article about Iraqi Republic Railways by Mark Hemphill, senior railway consultant for the US Department of State’s Iraq Reconstruction Management Office, in the November 2006 issue of Railway Age magazine.

[BoxcabE50]

ajg41-

Welcome to TrainBoard!

Boxcab E50

[oldrk]

I want to echo the sentiments of the other guys in saying thanks to you and your comrades for making the world a safer place for me and mine. Note what it says at the bottom of my posts. Also, was wondering if the guys still over there would like some copies of Model Railroader and Model Railroad Craftsman that I probably wont look at again. Thanks again.

[Triplex]

Apparently, this engine does have US descent. Not EMD. Not Alco or FM, like so many other East Bloc designs. Baldwin.

[Eagle2]

Dan,

Good to see some photos from the sandbox. Figured I'd add a couple of mine:



This one is a logo for the Iraqi Republic Railway painted on a wall at the repair depot in Al Qaim

[Eagle2]

A French made locomotive with an Alco engine, looking like it's seen better days



And the daily (at the time) run from the Syrian border crossing at Husaybah to Baghdad: