ONCF DH 428 / Touabaa – Matmata

In January and February, severe storms battered northern Morocco. The last time such heavy rainfall was recorded there was over 20 years ago. This not only led to exceptionally high water levels at the Barrage Idriss 1, but also left the countryside unusually green. This made it possible to take photographs that are anything but typical of Morocco. For the Al Atlas 204 route from Oujda (وجدة) to Tangier (طنجة), we set up our position near Oulad Ayyad (أولاد عياد) on the afternoon of 12 February. As luck would have it, a shepherd and his flock were standing right on the very meadow we were heading for. His sheepdogs barked furiously at us, but fortunately kept their distance. My relief was written all over my face when the diesel locomotive could be heard approaching slowly in the distance. The shepherd now realised too that we were there not because of him, but because of the railway. Shortly afterwards, we were able to photograph the DH 428 with the Al Atlas 204. With an absolute highlight under our belts, we made our way back to the car, which we reached without being bitten by any dogs.

Automatically translated from German. Show the original

Vehicle

DH 428

Operator

ONCF

Line

Al Atlas

Train number

204

Photospot

Oulad Ayyad, Fez-Meknes

Taken

12. Feb. 2026, 4:35 p.m.

Licence

All Rights Reserved

Camera position

From the ground

Photo type

Railway

Camera

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

Focal length

42 mm

Aperture

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/2000s

ISO

400