Kohlemine Durdevik Die Kohlemine Durdevik hat den eingeschränkten Betrieb wieder intensiviert. Ein Großauftrag aus Slowenien brachte sogar wieder Güterwagen – und somit die Dampflok 62 111 – auf die landschaftlich schöne Strecke zum Staatsbahnhof Zivinice zurück. Die Züge fahren nur sporadisch, etwa ein bis zwei pro Woche. Mit dem Kraftwerk Tuzla laufen derzeit auch Gespräche. [...]

Just got an information from Jun that they held a meeting in Sandaoling. New decision is: Steam at the west end of the pit will be finished in 2015. Not sure yet whether beginning or end of 2015. Eastern side will remain steam with two to three locomotives. The planned line to the new mine [...]

March 30th Diaobingshan (formerly Tiefa) stopped the passenger service to Daqing. This was a steam service until then. Since April 1st they run the Donguangtun passengers (two pairs a day) by steam instead. This line is known as “Faku-line”. It’s the scenic line of the system. Seit 30. März ist der Personenverkehr auf der Strecke [...]

Durch heftige Regenfälle sind Abschnitte des Gleises im Bereich Baresa – Massawa zerstört worden. Der Wiederaufbau wurde beschlossen, aber die Ausführung kann sich über viele Monate hinziehen. Die Lage in Asmara ist ruhig, nachdem gestern einige Soldaten mit zwei Panzern das Informationsministerium mit dem Fernsehsender belagert hatten. Schüsse sind nicht gefallen. Wenn Sie dieses Ereignis [...]

I got this from Thomas Tedros: The railway line from Massawa up to Baresa is destroyed due to a heavy flood.  There was a heavy rain around Massawa and destroyed many houses. 15 people died as a result and the Rail ways line is washed out. The ER checked the line and confirmed the line [...]

Jeremy Browne’s Eritrea report part 2 This is the second part of the Eritrea Trip ( Part 3 to come ). We joined  ten others for a “Pre-trip” which was very interesting. Keren is the second city of Eritrea, about 100km from Asmara and still in the high country. The railway originally went past Keren, [...]

Hi, guys! Happy New Year 2013! As always I have some presents for you, 13 calendars for download here: http://raildata.info/Kalender/2013/index.html   Enjoy! Cheers, Roni   Examples:   Hallo! Fröhliches Jahr 2013! Wie immer gibt es ein paar Geschenke, diesmal 13 Kalender, zum Download hier:  http://raildata.info/Kalender/2013/index.html Viel Spaß damit! lg, Roni     Zum Beispiel:   [...]

Wujiu: Discovered in Novbember 2011 (see http://www.farrail-blog.com/englishposts/probably-new-steam-discovery-in-china-wujiu-coal-mine/) it’s already over. Since December 7th, 2012 a diesel loco took over all duties. Sad! Wujiu: Entdeckt im November 2011 (siehe http://www.farrail-blog.com/englishposts/probably-new-steam-discovery-in-china-wujiu-coal-mine/) ist es nun schon wieder vorbei: am 7.12.2012 ging die erste Diesellok in Betrieb und wickelt den Gesamtbetrieb ab. Schade! Bernd

In my trip repoort from March 2011 I published a list of freight wagons (http://www.farrail.com/seiten/tour-report/Wagons-for-museum-stock.pdf) which would be worth to preserve. The published list only showed the freight wagons – but not the also discussed luggage van. After some convincing work and phone calls to the general manager of the Eritrean Railways he agreed to rescue one [...]

I received this from Michael Pass regarding steam in Thailand:   Hi everyone, following the complete rebuild of SRT 824 & 850 & subsequent steam testing & trial runs - it’s just been confirmed that next week’s steam special from Hua Lamphong station to Ayutthaya is definitely on – tickets 150 Baht & SRT hotline N° [...]

The new timetable of Wolsztyn indicates that there are no steam trains on Saturdays and Sundays any more. The timetable starts December 9th, 2012. Der neue Fahrplan von Wollstein sieht ab 9.12.2012 keine Dampfzüge an Wochenenden mehr vor.

Andrej Hoffman reports from Romania: I send you report about the beautiful class 78: On Thursday 25th of October we saw one  four axle Malaxa in Sibiu (78.771), maybe it is used on the traditional shuttle between Turnu Rosu and Podu Olt (2482/2481, 2484/2483) – those shuttles were served with class 78 in the past [...]

Eritrea runs out of coal! The railways gave their coal to the new cement factory near Massawa and are now short of coal. For our trains in December we try to arrange a coal delivery to Massawa. Chances to make it possible are rather good. No, we do not cancel the tour by this reason, it’s [...]

Andrej Hoffman from Prague reports from Java: We visited PGs in this order between 29.6. and 13.7.2012: Pangkah: No. 1, 2, 10 in use, No. 9 repaired Sumberhajro: steamed No. 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, but working only 3, 7, 10, but no line activity 30th June Sragi: No. 5, 7, 8, 12, 16, [...]

The Pereslavl Narrow Gauge Museum, Russia It’s often forgotten that narrow gauge railways were enormously important to the old USSR. The earliest lines predated the 1917 revolution and were built to a wide variety of gauges. In 1918, in the very early days of the Communist state, a decision was taken to provide the country [...]

Silviu Darlea reports frrom Romania: At Arad depot all class 900 Malaxa railcars are out of service. In service are only the modernised class 1000 Malxas with Volvo engines and Allison gear box. From May 1st they will be use on the Arad – Timisoara main line as Regio Train 2608 and 2611 because CFR Calatori [...]

I’ve just got home from a business trip to Central America. When it first came into view round about last Christmas I wrote to the El Salvador railways to ask if either of their locos was still capable of being steamed and, anyway, whether I could visit the shed at San Salvador. A courteous and [...]

Hi! Here are as usual my calendars: Enjoy, and a Happy New Year to all! Hallo! Hier gibt es wie immer meine Kalender: Viel Spaß damit und noch ein gutes Neues Jahr an alle! Roni

High Line beyond Rockwood    This is only my subjective perception. I was only a tour member at the Durango & Silverton Scenic RR and at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR. I know that my requirements are higher than the requirements of most enthusiasts. It seems to be a good option, to stick to [...]

Am zweiten Tag unserer Reise nach Rumänien haben wir die Strecke bis nach Comanu befahren und kehrten mit einem Holzzug zurück nach Viseu. On the second day of our tour we went up to Comanu and returned to Viseu de Sus with a loaded train.