Big Balkan Bash!

THIS REPORT CONTAINS HYPERLINKS WHICH WILL SHOW YOU PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE RELEVANT ITEM! JUST CLICK ON THE LOCO NUMBER WHEN SHOWN!!

Locomotives shown on a yellow background are those which I have scored for haulage.

Introduction:
This bash had been planned since about May, with the flights being booked in June with British Airways (for a fairly reasonable £116.30 each). I was joined by Andrew Sutton (aka Sutty), Andrew Brown (aka Wez) who flew with me from Gatwick and also Richard Lea and Phil Marsland (aka Blackwater) who flew with Croatia Airlines from Heathrow. Validity for all 5 of us was F.I.P. free passes for rail staff.

WEDNESDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2001
As arranged I met Richard at Birmingham International and we then met Wez on board the train. We all leapt off at Watford Junction, Richard to do the Rail Link bus to Heathrow and Wez and I for the South Central service via Kenny O to Gatwick. We had arranged to meet Sutty at Gatwick, he was travelling with Midland Mainline down from Loughborough - an SMS from him telling us he would be on the 08.00 Gatwick Express from Victoria.

All was fine until we passed Selhurst and there were major signalling problems in the Croydon and Purley areas. We were booked slow line via Redhill and Sutty's Gatex unit passed us just South of Horley - with him bellowing through the window at us!

We met him on the concourse at Gatwick and used the rapid transit link over to the North Terminal for check-in and a McDonald's breakfast. The flight was very punctual and hassle free. On arrival at Zagreb airport we viewed what I think was the Canadian equivalent of the US Air Force One plane - certainly the whole place was teeming with Canadian military personnel.

We were forced (!) to wait in the bar for an hour before Richard and Phil's flight arrived - us greeting them with homemade cards saying "Mr. I.N.Sect" and "Mr. L.Ice" amongst the other people with more sensible ones! We just made the 15.30 Croatia Airlines bus into Zagreb (cost - 25 Kuna) and them jumped onto the tram round to the main station (Glavni Kolodvor).

Our first port of call was the Croatia Express office over the road from the station to organise our sleepers for the overnight. This was accomplished with relative ease compared to my last visit in 2000! We then made our way to the Hotel Astoria where we were due to stay the following night to dump our big bags there free of charge (cheeky eh!).

As the overnight wasn't until 22.45 we had time for some moves, and what better way to start than a shunt move using a 2.132! This was totally pointless as the shunt returned the stock to the same platform without actually doing anything!!!

I only had last year's diagrams and things were going well until we did the greedy move to Zapadni Kolodvor and back and found units on both trains!

THURSDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2001
It didn't take long for us to get woken up by the thrash from the beast on the front, despite there being a cartic and brake van between it and us. The wet rails meant much slipping and an eventful ride, though I did manage some sleep (yes Mr. Lea I know I could sleep anywhere!).

We bailed at Perković, because staying on until Split would have stranded us for most of the day thanks to HŽ now decimating the Split line timetable. There were 2 coaches for the Šibenik branch train, one of which was a through one which was knocked off the back of our overnight - but no loco! At about 07.10 2.062 055 appeared and after combining the 2 coaches set off to Šibenik. We were worried that we wouldn't make the train back (as we were now on a minus 2) so we enquired with the guard as to whether it was the same stock. He said it wasn't but it was the same loco, so we were safe! He then spent the rest of the journey telling us how he had been talking to some other UK rail staff about 4 weeks previously - turns out it was none other than Kev Tipple and Gruntle!

After photting the loco we bailed onto the train back and on arrival back at Perković there were 2 connections, 2.062 029 on the 0716 Knin-Split or 2.061 101 on the 0711 Split-Knin. '101 was the best choice for 2 reasons; (a) doing '029 would have given us a big fester at Split and (b) '101 is a unique required subclass!

We spent the 2 hours at Knin in a bar, strangely enough! Tried to get the ada in the Booking Office to issue us with reservations for the IC but she refused saying we didn't need them. Cheers then, still got chung up by the gripper.

At Split we leapt straight round to the Pizzeria around the harbour on the road lined with palm trees. It was a gorgeous afternoon and we weren't prepared for the heat - most of us wearing fleeces and winter weather gear!!

Back at the station glad to see that the locos had swapped and we had another winner for our journey back. I was the only one of our group that had been to Split before and the remainder were in total agreement about the beauty of the line. Where else in Europe can you get solid thrash combined with beautiful weather and idyllic scenery?

The journey back on the IC was a long slog, but we passed the time by playing cards and generally enjoying the top quality traction. If you've never been to Croatia you just don't know what you're missing - it's mind blowing stuff!

On arrival at Zagreb we visited the supermarket (open until midnight) to stock up on supplies for tomorrow morning's breakfast then back to the Hotel Astoria for a very short night's sleep.

FRIDAY 26TH OCTOBER 2001
Just why do we do this?! After about 5 hours doss it was back to the station for the 05.00 departure to Ljubljana. Breakfast was consumed on the train (ham & cheese rolls naturally!) and the first border grip of the bash was made at Dobova (Croatia/Slovenia border).

At Ljubljana we got rid of our bags at the Left Luggage Office and met up with Ferenc Joó (Hungarian crank for those of you that don't know him - there can't be many!) and Misko Kranjec. Misko is a Slovenian enthusiast who had organised the next two days' events on our behalf. On the train to Sežana we discussed our jobs and rail in general, Misko being keen to gen us up on current events in Slovenia, including the site of one of the recent accidents.

At Sežana we visited the local supermarket to stock up on supplies then back to the station to board the scheduled DMU on the 1048 to Jesenice. We unexpectedly met Charles Hinton on the platform, he was on his honeymoon in Italy and had obviously managed to talk his wife into looking round the shops while he had a day on the bash!

This was a DMU with a difference - there was a set swap at Nova Gorica with the DMU being replaced by a Class 664 GM Loco on a rake of 4 wheeled stock (wheely-bins!). This had been arranged by Misko with the SŽ motive power department for our benefit! The say that the Transalpina route between Nova Gorica and Jesenice was beautiful would be an understatement. The thrash off the loco was also superb, with many of us being treated to cab rides along the way.

At Jesenice the loco ran round and we travelled back as far as Most Na Soči where we baled off to join the "Autovlak" train. This is a Class 644 GM Loco with some flat wagons and 1 wheely-bin which goes back and forth through a very long tunnel carrying cars and their occupants to avoid them having to go the long way round (taking about an hour longer).

I prefer the noise of the 644's with their 567 GM engines. The on-board crew (guard and shunter) allowed us to open the corridor connection door leading onto the flat wagons to allow us to take better pictures. Wez and Ferenc rode on the flat wagon behind the engine through the long tunnel!

A couple of units later we were back in Ljubljana and checked into the Hotel Park. We went for a walk around the city centre in the evening, then met Ferenc and one of his female acquaintances in the Kratochwill brewpub near the station for a well needed proper meal!

SATURDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2001
Our first lie in - bliss! We met Ferenc, Misko and Izidor (another Slovenian crank) in the hotel reception at 08.00. In Misko's Jeep Cherokee and a taxi we made our way to the SŽ central workshops at Moste. 

Misko had arranged a visit round the works and loco dump for us, despite there being only a skeleton staff on duty at the weekend. Inside the works we saw electric locos in various stages of repair and overhaul, including the locos damaged in the recent collisions. Misko described how the driver of one 363 escaped injury by jumping just inside the engine room prior to the collision - a very lucky man indeed, the cab was completely obliterated. There were also some of the new Siemens plastic units on comissioning inside the works.

Outside the works was the loco dump, full of withdrawn or stored 342's, 362's and 363's - most of the latter were accident damage so may be repaired, the others being life expired.

We made our way back to the station and did two unit moves to get us to Celje. Walked up the track to the small stabling point for some photos - including a couple of group seminar shots! A quick visit to McDonald's (the only place that seemed to be open) and another unit move to the end of a branch line that used to be a through route to Croatia - Rogatec. 

Misko's 3rd gem was that he had arranged a ride on a freight train for us, and sure enough 644.022 was waiting in the small yard at Rogatec with one brakevan! We exchanged pleasantries with the traincrew and everyone piled into the brakevan, except Richard and I who had a cab ride to the first shack. The secondman said they had some wagons to pick up at Šentjur.

At the halfway shack we changed places and rode in the brakevan. This was certainly an experience, bellowing out of the open side doors, the traincrew just couldn't believe it! At Šentjur a series of complicated shunting manoeuvres (including up into an industrial set of sidings - beat that BLS!) made our train up to about 7 wagons. A quick thrash down the mainline and we were in Celje Yard. We said thank you and goodbye to the traincrew, then walked down the line (about 2km) to the station at Celje.

Here we met up with some other local enthusiasts who treated us to tours of the old signalbox, midway through preservation (where we got to sample some homemade blackcurrant brandy!) and the current modern powerbox, built in the mid 80's.

Misko and Izidor were heading back to Ljubljana so we thanked them for treating us so well, we were off to cover the 664 turns! First an electric scratch move to give us some time in Pragersko for food. We leapt at Poljčane for the train behind, which turned out to be dud 342.038 which we had had yesterday! Plan B was to eat in Poljčane so we asked the redcap where the nearest restaurant was - there aren't any here he replied! We asked the local "youth" outside, and they infomed us of a pizzeria about 10 minutes walk away.

We found the small pizzeria and each had a large pizza and beer - noone opting for the unusual "No Parking Pizza"! The pizzas were excellent, the only others in the pizzeria were a group of teenagers who were bemused by all the burping, farting and other antisocial behaviour coming from our table!

Back at the station a new 363 produced on the Murska Subota IC and a nice out and back 664 scratch move scooped us 2 more of the class. At Ptuj we withered Gonk with when Wez had an SMS from him saying he was on the Pathfinder spin tour - we replied where we were and what we were having! As booked 342.038 just had to be on the train through to Ljubljana that we were shunted onto at Pragersko! We spent the journey playing cards, Ferenc was in the next compo with a young lady!

SUNDAY 28TH OCTOBER 2001
The clocks went back at 01.00 so we had a much needed extra hours doss. We had arranged to meet in the reception at 06.45 except my phone had switched itself off during the night and hence the alarm didn't activate. Wez had to come and wake Phil and me up when the others realised we had over-dossed!!

Typically the 664 forward from Pragersko was one we had scored last night. Ferenc was heading home to Budapest, we wanted to get to Szombathely as early as possible to check into the hotel and dump the bags, hence the Bzmot leaps. We checked into the Hotel Savaria and made our way back to the station for some moves.

M62.180 was working S19806 the 16.08 to Pécs - it was dud for me but the others needed it. An SMS to Ferenc revealed it would come back on S9803 so I worked out a move to get it in later and we headed off to Celldömölk as Ferenc had just fallen onto an M47 that might work later.

It didn't and we got bowled out when we boarded the wrong portion of the train, we wanted the Zalaegerszeg portion but inadvertantly got on the Szombathely portion - D'oh!! 

Phil and I decided to cut our losses and spend the rest of the evening scratching M41's and V43's. The others were going to do a Bzmot down table 17 to get the M62.

In the end all I managed to score was 2 V43's, but Phil needed everything so he was happy. We had a +28 at Sárvár so popped into the station bar for a beer. The bar was just closing but we got served, the only other occupants being 1 guy mending the fruit machine and 3 off duty policemen. They looked at us very dubiously but were obviously taking the piss out of us. Phil started taking the piss back, despite neither of us understanding each others language. They soon became our best mates though when we bought them a beer!

We had a right laugh with them, even telling one of them he looked like George Michael with the other 2 falling about laughing saying he must be a homosexual then!! They tried to persuade us to stay but we were starving and wanted to get back to Szombathely. Who'd have thought drinking with the local police could be so much fun!

Back at Szombathely we met the others in the usual hellfire restaurant, they had flagged the Bzmot move and were on their 3rd bottle of Hungarian wine! 

MONDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2001
We all vowed to write yesterday off as a bad day! We started with a new M41 for everyone except me on the 09.25 Budapest IC! In fact that was the way the whole day was going to go - I did manage to pick up 1 new M41 and a handful of V43's though. Leaping off V43.1339 at Győr, Richard noticed an M47 backing onto some stock. A quick flick through the Menetrend (MÁV timetable) revealed it to be a portion shunt so we leapt on and scooped M47.1205!

We managed to be in the correct portion of train 595 today so we could cover the M62. Tension was rising as we approached Nagykanizsa on S9803, but M62.180 had stuck to diagram - the others were very happy! This was Richard and Phil's first M62 a seminar phot appears here!

Back at Szombathely we returned to the same restaurant. 5 of us opted for an unusual starter - Hatted Palota - this turned out to be a beef and potato broth served in a hollowed-out huge bread roll - hellfire! Wez was withered when his steak and chips appeared - a large steak served with a plateful of Walkers Crisps! This caused much amusement to the rest of us and a lot of ammunition for the rest of the week!

Back at the hotel I decided to pay for the rooms tonight as we were leaving early in the morning. The new young receptionist had problems with the computer and it took her half an hour to sort it out. Her English was brilliant and it turned out she had been working as an au pair in London for the last 2 years! She finally got it sorted and offered me her phone number as a concellation!

TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2001
An 05.30 taxi to enable us to get breakfast provisions from the supermarket across the road from the station. We had a GYSEV V43 forward from Csorna, then leapt at Kelenfold for another one into Keleti. We obtained some BKV (Budapest Transport) tickets and walked to the 74 trolleybus route. We located the correct stop and found the prebooked Gold Hotel Panzió easily. The hotel is spotless and in a very nice suburb of Budapest - OK it's not in the handiest place but is fairly easy to get to and very good value for money - highly recommended.

We made sure we were back at Keleti for the 12.00 departure (via Pizza Hut Express on the way!) which is the booked M62 'drag'. Ferenc met up with us on the train at Keleti and M62.224 did the honours, all of us except Ferenc scored it for haulage! 

We had a home-brewed beer at the kiosk outside Zugló station then Ferenc had some business to attend to, whereas we went by tram to Jósefváros, a small terminal station,  for the 14.05 departure that gets the other M62 on the drags from Ferencváros. This turned out to be M62.265, the Ferencváros depot pet,  as expected - everyone scored that apart from Sutty and I - we'd had it last month!

We met Ferenc at Kalvin Tér Metro station and he took us to the 2 Budapest model shops. Phil bought a model M41 for about £30! We then went to the MÁV nostalgia shop and bought some MÁV ties and maps. Budapest is a lovely city, shame it is now so 'touristy' - just like Prague. 

We made our way by Metro to Nyugati station, then out to Rákosrendező for the staff train. This takes MÁV workers from the station up to the power box at the other end of the yard and runs at shift change-over time. Officially it is staff only but this was the second time I'd done it and was rewarded with new M44.408 (I had '404 last time!).

Back in Budapest we ate and drank in the Crazy Café with Ferenc, his girlfiend Andi and her sister. Richard and Phil were withered by the jungle theme of the place, complete with sounds!

WEDNESDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2001
We all had a well deserved lie-in this morning. We checked out of the hotel at about 09.30 and made our way by tram and Metro to Deli station where we left our bags in the left luggage office. 2 trams and the rack railway took us to the Budapest Childrens' Railway. MK45.2003 was scored - I've now had 4 of these locos! 

We took the number 56 tram back down the hill to Moskva Tér where the emergency services were swarming round a number 6 tram. Typically we went over for a closer look and saw a dead person being put into a body bag - nice!

This didn't ruin our appetite though and 10 minutes later we were in the Pizza Hut across the road from Deli station!!! Ferenc met up with us and finished off the left overs! The waiter then had the cheek to tell us we hadn't tipped him enough (it is customary to tip 10%) - so we told him that the service had been crap anyhow!

Collected our bags and caught the IC to Pécs hauled by one of the HŽ 1.142 class that are currently on loan to MÁV as repayment of the debt owed to them. The train was unusual in being non-stop - at 228km surely the longest non-stop run in Hungary?

On arrival at Pécs Phil got talking to a nice young female who invited us to a big party that was going on that evening. He declined saying we had a busy day tomorrow! We hung around for an hour hoping that an M47 would appear on a Bzmot or MDmot turn (there had been one out 2 days previously) but none did so we took 2 taxis to the Delanta Pension, about 15 minutes drive from the station. As we were all tired we crashed out early.

THURSDAY 1ST NOVEMBER 2001
Up at about 05.30 and down to the station for the 07.00 MDmot to Villány to cover the booked M47 turn. This produced M47.1208 and we took the train for the whole 7 minute journey, 1 shack 7 km! Nothing else to do other than the Croatian unit all the way to Pécs then back to Osijek, causing the border police at Magyarbóly much amusement as we'd only been there an hour or so earlier.

At Osijek the 2.062 turns had changed since last year and we ended up with a 2 hour fester, spent in the bar drinking the local brew. 

On arrival at Zagreb it was straight to the Hotel Astoria, then into the Chinese restaurant on the ground floor for a meal. Some of us tried the Fried Cuttlefish for starter - a winner fish and quite tasty!

FRIDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 2001
Today was 2.044 scratching day. Again the diagrams I had were out of date, so inevitably we got carted out a couple of times. The weather this morning was gorgeous, warm and sunny so some good phots were taken. Once the Varazdin line had been done to death we moved onto the electrics, then had a bonus diesel when 2.043 001 appeared on the 18.13 to Kotoriba.

We took the tram to the Pivnica Medvegrad (Bear Brewpub) where some excellent beer (4 on offer - light, semi-dark, dark and wheat) and even better food (Bear Paw Steak and roast potatoes) was sampled. 

SATURDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2001
It was a very early start this morning, as we had arranged to meet Toma Bacic, a Croatian enthusiast, for a walk round the loco dump at Zagreb. We met him at 06.00 and 4 of us wedged into his VW Beetle to get there - if you know me and Sutty you'll know how much of a crush that was!

We counted 89 demic locos, some of them in good condition, others practically wrecked, a couple showed signs of war damage. There were also 8 kettles destined eventually for the museum. Once the sun rose we were able to take some photos - a selection of which appears here. Thanks must go to Toma for taking us there and walking round with us - despite the early hour!

Back at Zagreb we visited McDonald's for breakfast, then the supermarket to stock up with provisions for the rest of the day and boarded the 09.00 Sarajevo train for a journey into the unknown. 

Kev Tipple and Gruntle had done the move into Bosnia about 4 weeks previously so we had the gen. The Croatian 1.141 got ripped at the border - Volinja - for a 661 which took us the short distance to Dobrljina where the Bosnian border police and customs did the rounds. The 661 was taken off here and replaced by a 441 electric (441 was the old JŽ class number for the HŽ 1.141's). The diesel works this portion as the bridge across the river which forms the border has not been re-electrified following the war damage - the OHLE either side of the bridge has been replaced so it would appear to be some sort of disagreement over who pays for the repairs.

The border was not as fiercely policed as we imagined, although the train did sit for half an hour on either side, making it a slow journey. Free passes are not available for Bosnia so we asked the guard for tickets - the currency used is the Konvertible Mark (KM), although German notes and coins are accepted. The guard said it was 7 marks each (he was ripping us off), but then seemed content when I gave him a 20DM note, although we didn't get any tickets as it was obviously going in his pocket!

We opted to leap off at Novi Grad and observed the 2 local trains to Bihac (with ex DB 212.307 on 2 wheely-bins) and Dobrljina (441.531 on one ex DB/DR compo coach) then made lunch. We also had time to get a beer at the small bar across the road from the station and bought a couple from the local shop to take away (the local brew being Nectar). UN forces were evident and Czech SFOR troops had set up base in the former goods platform of the station. We visited the booking office and purchased tickets for the way back, costing 2.60KM each!

On the return journey we were "entertained" by an 11 year old Bosnian kid who'd been living in the USA since his family fled during the war.

Back in Zagreb we returned to the same brewpub as last night, meeting Toma and his girlfriend Ana there for a farewell drink.

SUNDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2001
It was our last day today. Richard and Phil's flight was early, so they left the hotel at about 06.30. Ours wasn't until 15.05, but we decided to have an easy day today looking round the city. First of all though we just had to look at the 09.41 Varazdin service in case it was new - it was - 2.043 005, the only other member of the class we could score (with 003 and 006 standing in the scrapline). It was caned in for the short run to Zapadni where we caught a tram back into town for a ride on the funicular railway and a look round the market.

We were pleased with a different 737 on the way back, but then Railtrack spoilt the day with engineering works on the Quarry Line meaning the Gatwick Express was reduced to half hourly. We just missed the 16.50 so took the South Central VEP into London instead.

All in all an excellent bash - although I didn't score as many locos as I expected to do, I was particuarly disappointed with the M41 selection around Celldömölk. We discovered a lot of good new hotels and met some very good new contacts. We will certainly be back!

Misko took some phots of us in Slovenia - they are available here.

Matthew Reeves    8th November 2001.