[FR] Captrain France releases its first branded Euro4001s [updatedx2]

The original plan was to paint them red, but the paint they got was more like fuchsia. As such, the locomotives were released from Stadler’s plant in Valencia and taken to France. The operator who will use them has a new name since the beginning of this year, so even before the machines enter commercial service, their look will change again.

We thank Jean-Claude Mons for sharing his photo with us. This article was originally published on 02.02.2021 – and updated on 11.02.2021 and 22.02.2021 (new pictures added). Scroll down to see the update.

The first locomotive on display by Captrain France was ‘E4001-3979’ – A number that refers to the Stadler Rail works number of the machine (3979). Like all other branches of the Captrain organization, the machine is lime green and light grey. It is combined with white, and we see minimalistic artwork on the sides of the machine. Also different: The Captrain logo combined with ‘France’ – no other Captrain branch has that as far as we know.

Update 11.02.2021: E4001-3982

Thanks to Jean-Claude Mons’ photo-submission, we see a nice sunny view of E4001-3982, seen in Louvres (FR), while coming from Dourges and bound for Valenton:

E4001-3982 of Captrain France, seen in Louvres (FR) 10.02.2021 Photo credit: Jean-Claude Mons

Update 22.02.2021: E4001-3980

E4001-3980 was also spotted on rails already, thanks to a picture from Patrick Sambourg. It was captured pulling aggregates train leaving Flamboin on its route from Courcelles to Gudmont:

Captrain’s E4001-3980 leaving Flamboin on 16.02.2021. Photo credit: Patrick Sambourg