116-Talgo_III_RD.jpg (112488 bytes)

RENFE : Talgo III RD Tren Talgo III RD (ancho variable) en acabado rojo y aluminio. Valencia 10/99 Passenger cars of the Talgo III RD (variable gauge), finished in red and aluminium. Photo : Carlos Pérez Arnau (carlosperez@studio3.es)

Catalan-Talgo1.jpg (94202 bytes)

The legendary gauge-changing train «Catalan-Talgo» (Renfe Talgo III RD) from Barcelona to Genève in 1991, stopping in Perpignan - the station which Salvador Dalí considered the center of the world .... On the right, a Z2 to Villefranche (Le petit train jaune). Funny that despite all the big tail lights of the Talgo, SNCF has installed additional battery lights on the buffers. Photo: tobias b köhler

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Le "Catalan Talgo" Barcelona-Montpellier à PORTBOU s'acheminant vers l'échangeur d'écartement (03/2006) Photo Christian et Daniel Fincato (dfg@waika9.com)

RENFE-IIIRDvsSNCF-Teoz_1.jpg (66061 bytes)

Unexpected encounter in Montpellier, on the very first day when Corail Téoz services began to run on the Greater South corridor: • Left: Talgo III-RD set of RENFE-GL, seen on Talgo 73/2 "Catalan-Talgo" from Barcelona-Sants. Interestingly, this service had been announced as "Corail Téoz 72 from Barcelona" on that day... • Right: Corail Téoz set of SNCF-VFE, diagrammed on the VIP inaugural service, which ran 1-2hrs ahead of Corail Téoz 4657/6 "Grand Sud" (Bordeaux St Jean--->Nice Ville), the very first scheduled Corail service to be upgraded to Téoz on this corridor. Hard to believe that the age-gap between the former and the latter (A5t2u car, ex-A9u VU-75) is as little as 7 years (1969/1976)... Montpellier-St Roch. 5th September 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr).

RENFE_193_Plasencia_1.jpg (67759 bytes)

Talgo 193/2 (Badajoz-Madrid Puerta de Atocha), seen upon reversal at Plasencia, miles away from Geneva, which these III-RD cars would originally serve.. This is the only domestic service diagrammed with III-RD stock. One can notice that this formation is very short (TG2z+TA2+TC2+TB2+TG2), with just 17 seats in Preferente and 75 in Turista. Also obvious is the poor track condition, as put in evidence by the articulation profile... The author had himself been travelling on that Train from Merida, and reported that it had taken some 45min to run on the chord (16km-10mi) from Mirabel, on the Badajoz-Madrid line, owing to very questionable track condition... Plasencia. 12th January 2005, shortly before 06pm. Photo by José Carde (jchcarde@hotmail.com) (Acknowledgements). Posting and comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

RENFE_Catalan1_Fitou_2.jpg (38305 bytes)

TEE 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Genève Cornavin--->Barcelona Término, via Lyon-Brotteaux), seen between Narbonne and Perpignan. Fitou. 1st September 1979. Photo by Michel Lavertu (Acknowledgements) Posting and comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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TEE 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Genève Cornavin--->Barcelona Término, via Lyon-Brotteaux), seen between Narbonne and Perpignan. Fitou. September 1979. Photo by Michel Lavertu (Acknowledgements) Posting and comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

RENFE_Catalan1_Narbonne_2.jpg (44830 bytes)

TEE 72/3 "Catalan-Talgo" (Barcelona Término--->Genève Cornavin, via Lyon-Brotteaux), seen at Narbonne, while changing locos. BB-67502 (Portbou-->Narbonne) had already gone, but the Class 9300 (9319-9331) that would remain on duty until Geneva was still to be coupled with the Talgo III-RD formation. Narbonne. 4th September 1980. Photo by Michel Lavertu (Acknowledgements) Posting and comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

RENFE_Catalan_Cerbere_3.jpg (81165 bytes)

Rear car of Talgo 72 "Catalan-Talgo" (Barcelona Sants-Montpelliers), seen while calling at Cerbère (French sector, 1435mm-4ft8in). Further left stands Regional 5187 (Barcelona Sants-Cerbère), on the broad-gauge track (Spanish sector, 1668mm-5ft6in). This stopping service had left Barcelona 25min ahead of the Talgo service, and was passed by the latter when calling at Flaçà. However, the slower service had subsequently passed the faster between Portbou and Cerbère, as the Talgo set was changing gauges and swapping locos. There is thence a 14-min gap from the arrival of Regional 5187 until the departure of Talgo 72. Fairly enough to go through French Immigration checks and to hop in the 72 afterwards. All in all, a French connection between 2 Spanish trains :-) Cerbère. 18th September 2004. Photo by Albert Maestre (a448@tranvia.org) (Acknowledgements). Posting and Comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

RENFE_Catalan_Cerbere_4.jpg (68602 bytes)

Talgo 72 "Catalan-Talgo" (Barcelona Sants-Montpelliers), seen leaving Cerbère (French sector, 1435mm-4ft8in). The buffer further left is where the broad-gauge track (Spanish sector, 1668mm-5ft6in) ends. All RENFE domestic services bound for Cerbère terminate here. Cerbère. 05th October 2004. Photo by Bernat Borràs (trenscat@menta.net) (Acknowledgements). More info on Railways of Catalonia at www.trenscat.com . Posting and Comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo 71 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier St Roch->Barcelona Sants), seen leaving Montpelliers. Montpellier-St Roch. 18th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo 71 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier St Roch->Barcelona Sants), seen leaving Montpelliers. Montpellier-St Roch. 20th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo 73 "Catalan-Talgo" (Barcelona Sants->Montpellier St Roch), seen shortly after arriving at Portbou, while awaiting the Class 311 which was to shunt this formation until the gauge-changer... Portbou (Spanish sector). 22nd February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

RENFE_Talgo-IIIRD_Catalan_Montpellier_2.jpg (48296 bytes)

Interface between loco 7293 of SNCF-GL and the Talgo III-RD set of RENFE-GL diagrammed on the "Catalan-Talgo". The very special buffers of Talgo III-RD sets have led SNCF to adapt the buffers of its locos diagrammed with such stock. Montpellier. 17th April 2004. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

RENFE_Talgo-IIIRD_Catalan_TG2z_Montpellier_1.jpg (53362 bytes)

Talgo III-RD (Dual-axle) Generator-car (TG2z-211.003), seen awaiting departure to Barcelona-Sants on Talgo 71 "Catalan-Talgo". Unlike passenger cars, this one has not gone through any regeneration, hence the mediocre carbody condition... Montpellier-St Roch. 20th February 2005. P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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The very last Talgo III-RD set of Renfe-LD, seen shortly before being shunted to the gauge-changer of Portbou. Talgo 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier-St Roch ---> Barcelona-Estaçió de França). Cerbère. 2nd June 2009. P.L. Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo III-RD Generator-car (TG2-212.004) of Renfe-LD. "Grandes Líneas" (ex-RENFE) labels. Talgo 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier-St Roch ---> Barcelona-Estaçió de França). Montpellier-St Roch. 23rd June 2006. P.L. Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo III-RD Generator-car (TG2-212.004) of Renfe-LD. "Grandes Líneas" (ex-RENFE) labels. Talgo 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier-St Roch ---> Barcelona-Estaçió de França). Montpellier-St Roch. 23rd June 2006. P.L. Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

Renfe_TalgoIIIRD_TG2z_Mpl_1.jpg (74157 bytes)

Talgo III-RD (dual-wheelset) Generator-car (TG2z-211.003) of Renfe-LD. "Grandes Líneas" (ex-RENFE) labels. Talgo 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier-St Roch ---> Barcelona-Estaçió de França). Montpellier-St Roch. 23rd June 2006. P.L. Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

Renfe_TalgoIIIRD_TG2z_Mpl_2.jpg (139528 bytes)

Talgo III-RD (dual-wheelset) Generator-car (TG2z-211.003) of Renfe-LD. "Grandes Líneas" (ex-RENFE) labels. Talgo 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Montpellier-St Roch ---> Barcelona-Estaçió de França). Montpellier-St Roch. 23rd June 2006. P.L. Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)

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Talgo III RD - Catalan Talgo Barcelona - Montpellier. December 09 History on wheels... Here's one view of how not to keep your historic trains in good condition. Even though the inside is clean, the classic red painting of Talgo III is falling apart in some bits. Photo by A. Rueda (ad.rueda@gmail.com)

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RENFE : Talgo III RD Composicion especial de 2 Trenes Talgo III RD (ancho variable) compuesta de 20 coches. Special composition of 2 Trains Talgo III RD (variable gauge) composed by 20 cars. Las Palmas (Castellon) 10/12/2000 Photo : Carlos Pérez Arnau (carlosperez@studio3.es)

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Genf, Herbst 1990. Ein Talgo steht im franzoesischen Teil des Bahnhofs abfahrbereit Richtung Barcelona. Foto: S. Panke; Scan: P. Berlich (peter@berlich.de)

renfe-talgo.jpg (109035 bytes)

RENFE Talgo train in Banyuls Sur Mer, Southern France, July 1990. Photo by Finn Møller finnmoller@hotmail.com  More pictures at http://www.finnmoller.dk

talgoend.jpg (67914 bytes)

Talgo III RD - trainset with changeable gauge for international use of 1968, before being coupled to its locomotive. Both end cars are equipped with generators for the air-conditioning system. The big tail lights are distinguishing this train from the Talgo III for domestic trains inside Spain. Photo: tobias b köhler

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TALGO III RD at the Alicante Station in May of 1995 Relation Alicante-Barcelona Alicante 15:00 Barcelona 21:05 Top Speed 160 km/h This train was in the direc relation Barcelona-Geneve that was eliminated in May 1995, and this material are running now beetween Barceloan at Alicante. It has variable gauge(spanish-international gauge) Photo by Manuel Peña Trenet@redestb.es

276-IIIRD_Termino_1.jpg (55358 bytes)

A rare view: Class 276 (276.005) and Talgo III-RD set of RENFE, seen awaiting departure on TEE 71/0 "Catalan-Talgo" (Barcelona Término ---> Genève Cornavin, via Grenoble). This loco has a special "Talgo" livery (hence its "Talguera" nickname), while the TG2 generator features the Trans-Europ-Express label. Those labels were removed as early as in 1974/1975, owing to the introduction of the "Barcelona-Talgo" overnight service. Barcelona-Término. 1973. Pic by Xavier Tomás Martínez. Posting and comment by P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr).