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Steam in Bosnia, February 2008 |
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Tuzla - the last 'hot spot' Together with Dragan Jovanovic from Belgrade, I (Alex Gillieron) organized a small group tour to Tuzla, Bosnia-Hercegovina from February 25th to 29th 2008. We were greeted with plenty of steam action and bright weather, no less than nine different steam locomotives were seen in action during our stay. Photographic permits are essential in order to visit the operations. These may be obtained at the (three different) mine railways operation HQs at Tuzla, Banovici and Durdevik, but it is much easier to organize such visits through Dragan, who is a dedicated railway enthusiast and has the best contacts in order to be 'at the right place at the right moment'. There are very nice hotels at Lukavac ('Senad od Bosne' on the Modrack lakeshore) and 'Zlaca' (forest) deep in the woods 7 km away from Banovici. Both have excellent restaurants and plenty of 'Tuzlanska'-beer available ! Kreka Mines, Tuzla This company founded in 1885 still operates four mines in the Tuzla and Lukavac area : Bukinje, Dubrave and Sikulje are all in operation. The mine at Mramor, on the mainline to Brcko is currently under revision and not operating. The depot / repair shop is located at Bukinje, making it the very last place in Europe 100% devoted to commercial steam operations. The new technical Chief is very friendly as is the rest of the staff. In the small workshop, 'Kriegslok' 33 236 is still getting a heavy overhaul. Since my last visit in November, the tender has been completed, new boiler tubes and superheater are installed, now the work concentrates on wheels, engine and connecting rods. It is still an incredible sight to see such work being performed in our time of waste-and-rubbish production. Bukinje mine was worked by 62 637, which is used to shunt and bring a loaded train to the nearby Tuzla power plant early in the morning. The mine is extremely photogenic, with old-style loading facilities and shaft. The loco may then do some more work during the afternoon according to the mine production requests. 62 637 brings a new load of freshly-extracted coal from the Bukinje mine to the nearby Tuzla power plant. Sikulje and Dubrave saw the usual shunting operations with line work to the ZFBH exchange-sidings at Lukavac and Ljubace stations 2 or 3 times a day. The station at Ljubace is very photogenic in the afternoon. There are 2 or 3 good photo-positions on each line. Engines used during our 5-days stay were : 33 064, 33 248 and 33 503. 'Kriegslok' 33 248 with a loaded train from Dubrave mine has just arrived at the junction station of Ljubace. From here the train will continue diesel-hauled to Tuzla:
Another 'Kriegslok' 33 064 arrives at the Sikulje mine entrance gate with a rack of empties taken at Lukavac station. Right is the main ZFBH-line to Doboj.
Other engines seen at Bunkinje : 33 216 cold, servicable RMU Banovici Banovici narrow gauge : 83 158 was chartered for a run on the whole line from Oskova to Turia. The loco performed well and crew were very cooperative. The line is double-track between Oskova and the loading station at Grivice and offers fine photographic opportunities. From Grivice to Turia it is single-track (this section was rebuilt some years ago) also with some very nice scenery. Instead of running-round its train at the terminus, the engine was left in front and pushed back the charter all the way back to Oskova, allowing some more runpasts! This is 83 158, Duro Dakovic-built member of the famous 'Bosnian'-class and most successfull loco design that ever rolled on the 2000 km-narrow gauge network of Bosnia. It is seen here with a charter approaching Grivice, on the double-track section. Other engines spotted were: 83 159 cold outside Banovici workshop, 25 30 (Skoda) and 55 99 (Budapest) both under repair inside the workshop. Other four 25 class and one 83 are stored outside. The 55 is a typical forest-railways 'Budapest'-design delivered to Yugoslavia in large quantities after WWII. It is intended for a tourist-operation on a yet to be rebuilt part of the former Banovici forest railway system. On the other days, 83 158 was used to shunt the loaded trains from Oskova station to the washery, unfortunately these workings are tender-first. Both sisters 83 158 and 159 are seen at Oskova (November 2007). Banovici standard gauge : there are plans to dieselise the operation by the middle of the year. However, during our visit we saw on different days both 62 125 and 62 677 busy shunting at Oskova. Skoda 19 12 is in ex-works condition and waiting for its boiler certificate. It should be used, according to the staff, 'later in spring'. RMU Djurdjevik (Durdevik) 62 111 was active on 4 consecutive days from February 25th to 28th on what should be one of the best remaining 'big thrash' operation in Europe. Every morning, the loco went light engine to the ZFBH exchange sidings at Zivinice, some 5 km from the Durdevik mine. There it would take a rake of 35 to 40 empty wagons and set off at about 8:00 back to the mine. This is a very hard working, as there is a grade outside Zivinice station to the Tuzla line junction. The line itself offers some good photographic opportunities with small villages and hilly backdrop. Here, 62 111 brought 37 wagons from Zivinice and passes the coal bunker. Sisecam Soda Fabrik Lukavac Active nearly every day was 62 638 bringing heavy container trains from and to Lukavac ZFBH station. There is some good thrash leaving the factory to the junction with the main line from Tuzla. From there it is downhill to Lukavac station, where the engine will quickly run round its train and go back to the factory. There are one or two trains a day to the station. The rest of the time the engine will shunt within the Soda factory, which is off-limit without a permit. Lukavac Coke plant This is the former KHK Lukavac plant, now owned by Ispat. Presumably, both 'Energie' Belgian 0-8-0T are still there awaiting scrapping. Shunting in the plant was done by an elderly diesel locomotive, 1952-vintage 'Baume-Marpent / HSP' which was positioned for us by its staff for photography ! |
