A complicated and complete day

At the exit of Barcelona - Sants station, heading south, in what is nowadays referred to as "the Sants box," the tracks passing between the neighborhoods of Sants and Bordeta were covered. To carry out the catenary change, the circulation was halted for a few days.

I decided to go on a day that threatened a storm, which turned out to be a good idea. I headed to Arbós, where I managed to photograph various trains that had been diverted. Shortly afterward, the storm began to loom in the background, providing me with the opportunity to take some fantastic photos with the sun shining at a perfect angle and the overcast sky as a backdrop.

Soon after, I received information that a catenary hitch had occurred at the southern exit of San Saturnino de Noya, resulting in all traffic being single-tracked between San Saturnino and La Granada. To minimize the impact, some unusual overtaking maneuvers were carried out.

In the first snapshot, we see the Talgo No. 01171 from Barcelona Sants to Murcia del Carmen passing through Arbós.

In the second snapshot, we see the Regional Express No. 18091 from Hospitalet de Llobregat to Tortosa.

In the third snapshot, after a long wait due to the hitch, the Euromed No. 01152 from Valencia to Joaquin Sorolla – Barcelona Sants, departs from the siding at Arbós towards Barcelona, while the Regional Express No. 18054 from Tortosa to Hospitalet de Llobregat awaits its turn to depart.

For the fourth snapshot, I moved to the Lavern - Subirats halt, where the storm was at its peak.

I sympathize with the poor driver of this train, who has to advance painfully slowly due to the fact that his train has lost the windshield wiper blade. It was the final touch to a day that was already complicated enough. This train is the Regional Express No. 15014 from Zaragoza Delicias to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

When the storm passed, I headed to La Granada, where I had the pleasure of seeing for the last time as a common occurrence, a single 269 series locomotive. It was the 269-211, the first one built by MACOSA.

From that date onwards, all the ones I saw were tandems. The original headlight housing with the double optics is striking. It's the TECO Barcelona-Morrot – Bilbao Mercancías No. 80863.