FarRail Tours Blog

Dampfbetrieb in Bosnien/Steam in Bosnia April 2013

Bernd Seiler — Sat, 04 May 2013 21:40:44 +0000

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. Vielleicht wird man auch wieder per Bahn an das Kraftwerk liefern. Es handelt sich nur um wenige Zugfahrten pro Monat, die geplant sind, aber immerhin …

Dampf nach Durdevik

Kohlemine Breza

62 636 ist nicht mehr betriebsfähig. Man hat zwischenzeitlich 62 020, die letzte original amerikanische 62 im Plandienst, von Kakanj angemietet. Aber deren tage sind gezählt. Im August oder September wird die bestellte tschechische Diesellok geliefert, und diese wird die Dampflok ersetzen. Damit müssen wir den Besuchspunkt Breza für die im Herbst 2014 geplante Fahrt streichen. Es wird einsam um die letzten planmäßig und kommerziell eingesetzten Dampflokomotiven Europas.

*****

English version

Coal mine Durdevik

Recently the coal mine in Durdevik re-activated the railway connection to the state railway station in Zivinice. An order from Slovenia made it possible, about one to two trains per week running over the line, hauled by 62 111.

Currently there are talks with the power plant in Tuzla to deliver coal by train. There are chances that they will transport coal by rail. Only a few trains per month, but that’s better than the last two years with no trains at all.

Coal mine Breza

62 636 is not serviceable any more. They rented the last original American-built class 62: 62 020. But the use of steam is coming to an end soon. The mine ordered a new diesel locomotive from the Czech Republik. It should be delivered between August and September 2013. Then steam will be history. I need to cancel the planned visit to Breza on the planned Bosnia tour in 2014 …

Breza with 62 636 and 62 020

Indien 2012 Über die Westghats – an der Küste & Galerie / India 2012 Across the Western Ghats – along the coast & Gallery

Ronald Kappel — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:41:47 +0000

Hallo!

Der letzte Teil meines Reiseberichts aus Indien, plus eine Galerie mit über 700 hochauflösenden Bildern:

Indien 2012 – 14: Thums Up für Ankai Killa! (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 15: Pune – Deccan Queen (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 16: Pune – I have been to Monkey Hill! (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 17: Angry Birds Pune (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 18: Goa – Diesel im Paradies I: Anpfiff! (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 19: Goa – Diesel im Paradies II: Klassenausflugsmorgen (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 20: Goa – Diesel im Paradies III: Dudhsagar Fälle (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 21: Goa – Diesel im Paradies IV: Eisenbahn-Traumstrand (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 22: Goa – Diesel im Paradies V: Zuari Amazonas-Querung (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 23: Goa VI – Zu Wasser, Schiene und Elefant (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 24: Erste Klasse Goa – Mumbai – Pune (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 25: Mumbai – Vaitarna Western Railway Morgen (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – letzter Teil 26: Mumbai – Churchgate nach C.S.T.
(50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 27: Retrospektive 1/2 (50 B.)

Indien 2012 – 28: Retrospektive 2/2 (50 B.)

Zur Galerie:
Indien 2012 – Galerie

Hi,

The last part of my travelogue from India, plus a gallery containing over 700 high resolution photos:

India 2012 – 14: Thums Up for Ankai Killa! (50 p.)

India 2012 – 15: Pune – Deccan Queen (50 p.)

India 2012 – 16: Pune – I have been to Monkey Hill! (50 p.)

India 2012 – 17: Angry Birds Pune (50 p.)

India 2012 – 18: Goa – Diesel in Paradise I: Kickoff! (50 p.)

India 2012 – 19: Goa – Diesel in Paradise II: Class Trip Morning (50 p.)

India 2012 – 20: Goa – Diesel in Paradise III: Dudhsagar Falls (50 p.)

India 2012 – 21: Goa – Diesel in Paradise IV: Railway Dream Beach
(50 p.)

India 2012 – 22: Goa – Diesel in Paradise V: Zuari Amazon-Crossing
(50 p.)

India 2012 – 23: Goa VI – On Water, Rails and Elephant (50 p.)

India 2012 – 24: First Class Goa – Mumbai – Pune (50 p.)

India 2012 – 25: Mumbai – Vaitarna Western Railway Morning (50 p.)

India 2012 – final part 26: Mumbai – Churchgate to C.S.T. (50 p.)

India 2012 – 27: Retrospective 1/2 (50 p.)

India 2012 – 28: Retrospective 2/2 (50 p.)

To the gallery:
India 2012 – Gallery

Enjoy! / Viel Spaß!

Cheers,
Roni

Update to my web site

Ian Silvester — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:25:12 +0000

Have added galleries featuring King Edward II in blue on the Great Central Railway in March and 1450 and auto-coach on the Severn Valley Railway in April 2013.

See the New Galleries section

www.dorneyphoto.com

Enjoy

Steam is fading out in Sandaoling/Dampfende in Sandaoling

Bernd Seiler — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:32:19 +0000

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 will be built. It will take about two years to construct the new line. Initially it will be served by seven JS, later by diesel.

*****

New prices for Baiyin: 500 Yuan per person and Fuxin: 600 Yuan per person and day (200 each for stabling point, depot and workshop). Less steam for more money …

Steam in Sandaoling open cast mine

Soeben erhalte ich von Jun diese Information über neue Beschlüsse aus Sandaoling:

Der Dampfeinsatz im westlichen Tagebau wird 2015 beendet. Noch ist nicht klar, ob Anfang oder Ende 2015.

Auf der östlichen Seite werden weiterhin zwei bis drei Dampflokomotiven eingesetzt werden.

Die geplante Strecke zur neuen Mine wird nun doch gebaut. Das dauert vsl. zwei Jahre. Anfangs sollen sieben JS dafür vorgehalten werden, später soll die Strecke verdieselt werden.

*****

Neue Preise in Baiyin: 500 Yuan pro Person und Fuxin: 600 Yuan pro Person und Tag (je 200 für Personaleinsatzstelle, Aw und Bw). Weniger Dampf für mehr Geld …

Sandaoling: Xibolizhan

Personenzugdampf in China/passenger steam service in China: Diaobingshan (Tiefa)

Bernd Seiler — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:26:23 +0000

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 Diaobingshan – Daqing eingestellt. Das war bis zum Schluss die Dampfstrecke von Diaobingshan (früher Tiefa). Siether werden aber die beiden Personenzugpaare auf der landschaftlich schöneren Strecke nach Dongguangtun mit SY gefahren, auch bekannt als “Faku-Strecke”.

Bernd

Diaobingshan: Dongguantun line

The Mount Lyell Abt Railway (the West Coast Wilderness Railway), Tasmania

Bernd Seiler — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 22:44:48 +0000

by James Waite

It’s early in the morning at Queenstown loco shed and works. In the foreground are no. 5 to the left and no. 1 to the right. Between them is the bunker of no. 3 and to the right is ex-Tasmanian Government Railways Drewry-type diesel no. V9. It was the first of the class to have been built at the TGR’s shops in Launceston rather than being imported from the UK. It started life working on the Strahan-Zeehan railway and so is very much a local machine. It was sold to the Puffing Billy line in Victoria as a source of supply for spare parts and bought from there by the WCWR. It’s now been restored to its original TGR red paintsheme as is used as the depot shunter at Queenstown.

The 3ft 6ins (1067mm) gauge Mount Lyell Abt Railway opened in 1898 to provide transport from the copper mines rapidly being developed at Mount Lyell, near Queenstown in western Tasmania. The use of an Abt rack section provided the only feasible means for the railway to reach Strahan, a port on McQuarie Harbour around 40kms to the west. The line closed in August 1963, largely because of the prohibitive expense of maintaining the large number of bridges along the route, many of which were prone to washouts thanks to the large amount of rainfall in this part of the island. It was rebuilt at the expeense of the state and federal authorities as a tourist attraction and reopened throughout the old route in April 2003. Happily four of the line’s old 0-4-2 tank locos had survived and the railway was able to acquire three of them and to restore them to working order. Operation was let out to Heritage Group, an upmarket travel and leisure organisation operating on the west coast. Recent years have seen visitor numbers fall and the operators recently announced that they would close the line and give up their lease at the end of April 2013.I made a brief visit to the line in the last week of March 2013. I was more than usually lucky with the weather considering that this is a rainforest in the mountains which are on the receiving end of the Roaring Forties and where, as one of the drivers told me, they reckon it rains on 350 days every year except for leap years when they have one extra rainy day!

: Alex, the firelady on no. 3, oils round her loco at Dubbil Barril station. Some say that this is an aboriginal name and others that it’s named after a shotgun by someone with limited literacy skills.

The person in charge of the locos is Nigel Day, a talented British steam engineer whose previous appointments include the Snowdon Mountain Railway until about 18 months ago and before that the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire. Initially he was on a temporary appointment to improve the standard of maintenance and the performance of the locos, something in which he has certainly succeeded. He is very much into radical methods of improving the locos’ efficiency in the Porta and Wardale fashion and has been given a free hand to experiment on no. 3 (Dubs 3730/1898), the black loco which was running on the first day I was there. The latest version of its blast pipe incorporates ideas which Porta had been working on up to the time of his death. This necessitates the wide stovepipe-type chimney in place of the old copper-capped one. Nigel’s current project is to try to replicate its improved performance with the other locos. They currently currently carry an older form of improved draughting of his design while keeping the outisde dimensions of their old chimneys. This design has previously been fitted to all the working locos on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway in Wales in addition to other locos elsewhere. There’s a long and detailed article by Martyn Bane about the work he is doing in the new issue of Locomotives International (no. 84, Spring 2013) available via http://www.locomotivesinternational.co.uk/, one of the most worthwhile and perceptive articles which the magazine has carried for a long time in my view.

Inside no. 3’s smokebox.

The line is adhesion-only for about one third of the route starting at the coastal end and this stretch is usually worked by one of two diesels – narrow gauge versions of the British Railways Drewry/Vulcan Foundry class 04 diesel shunters. Quite a number of these were built for the Tasmanian Government Railway from the late 1940′s onwards and the Mount Lyell company also bought two of them direct from Drewry in the 1950′s. They are both now back on the line having been sold off after it closed in 1963 and work trains from Strahan, the port, as far as the start of the rack section. I started the trip by riding on the train from Strahan having told Nigel that I’d be doing this. I hadn’t expected to be greeted at Dubbil Barril, the changeover point, by Tristan McMahon, the driver, and told that I was invited to make the rest of the journey on the footplate! Quite a trip and it was most impressive that the boiler pressure never fell more than 10 psi below its 200psi max at any stage of the climb to the summit which is nearly 3 miles long. The loco was almost silent when pottering along the level stretches of the line and produced a monumentally sharp bark when climbing the rack. Altogether most impressive – testimony to the success which Nigel has had in improving the loco’s exhaust to enable much more efficient combustion.

Journey’s end. No. 3 and its train rest at Queenstown station. This must be one of the grandest narrow gauge stations anywhere. The overall roof provides much-needed shelter on the frequent days of heavy rain which characterise the west of the island. The original station included a much smaller overall roof. It survived the 1963 closure but was destroyed by fire in 1998 shortly before the reconstruction effort began.

The following day no. 1 (Dubs 3369/1896), the light green loco in these photos, was rostered to work the service train as Nigel had called in no. 3 to instal a system for pre-heating the fuel oil. The day started with heavy rain but I took a chance on the clouds clearing to drive up to the only spot on the rack section where there is road access and luckily the sun made a brief appearance to coincide with the train. I’d been told that no. 5 (NBL 24418/1938), the third loco, would probably be making a test run later on as work on servicing its rack mechanism was approaching completion and I might like to make sure I was around the depot at Queenstown to check this out. I duly headed back there to find the loco in steam and was treated to another footplate ride up to the summit of the line at Rinadeena as it made its test run. By now the rain earler in the day had cleared away and the train and the scenery looked magnificent in the late afternoon sunshine.

No. 1 climbs through the rainforest between Dubbil Barril and Rinadeena.

No. 2 (Dubs 3594/1898), the only other surviving loco, has lived in the Tasmanian Transport Museum at Glenorchy in the northern outskirts of Hobart since the 1970′s and where I called in on my way back to the airport. No. 4 (Dubs 4085/1901), the only other rack loco was used as a stationary boiler at a quarry in Queenstown after the 1963 closure. The quarry was later flooded leaving the loco’s remains submerged under many metres of water. The quarry lies behind what is now the town’s motel where I stayed. I resisted the temptation to dive in to try to find the loco!

Tristan admires the view up the King River Gorge, as no. 3 climbs up the 1 in 20 rack section from Dubbil Barril to Rinadeena.

Very recently the state government, which owns the railway, has bowed to local pressure and much lobbying from further afield and will fund the salaries of most of the staff staying on in their jobs from May onwards while attempts are made over the Australian winter to find a new operator. The line will still close over the winter, the first time this has happened since it reopened in 2003, but with luck it should see use again rather than closing permanently as seemed likely a few weeks ago. There has been much talk about the track needing major refurbishment. The state government now says it will carry out at least some of this at its own expense. The ride through the verdant rainforest is spectacularly beautiful and it would be a crying shame if this were ever to be lost.

No. 1 stands at the south end of the station alongside the old railway storeroom, the only part of the original station to survive the 1998 fire. In the background is Mount Owen which dominates the view from the town towards the east.

Equally spectacular in their own way are the bare, yellow colured hills around Queenstown where pollution from the mining destroyed the vegetation many years ago. It’s reminiscent of the countryside around the old copper mines at Rio Tinto in southern Spain, home to another magnificent steam-worked 1067mm gauge line which now serves a thriving tourist trade. Queenstown is a town of historic buildings rather like Rio Tinto but it’s still very much an active mining town – a place which those who like to see historic buildings in everyday use rather than being actively conserved will greatly enjoy.Everyone I met at the railway was exceptionally kind and friendly and I was treated very much as an honoured guest. Most of the shed staff are very much enthusiasts – Tristan McMahon who drove the test train was supposed to be having his weekend off but didn’t want to miss the chance of enjoying an extra day’s driving. Peter, who works at the depot, has rebuilt the rotted rold grounded body of one of the line’s old brake vans in his spare time. Mounted on a spare wagon body it now looks magnificent and is one of the few surviving pieces of rolling stock from the old railway still at Queenstown.

Alex adds a shovelful of sand to no. 3’s oil fire to help keep the tubes clear of tar residue.

Tasmania is not the easiest place to reach from Europe and Queenstown is a long drive from the nearest airport but I rated this as one of the most enjoyable railways I’ve ever visited. It was a really worthwhile trip. Wilson Lythgoe, Martyn Bane and Iain McCall were all very helpful at the planning stage and Nigel, Tristan, Alex and many others were equally helpful while I was at the railway. A big thank you goes to all of them.

“Prison Railway” Rongshan

Bernd Seiler — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:41:46 +0000

Highheels in Rongshan

Better than expected: two to three pairs of trains every day, good weather and hard contrasts between iPhone and rusty passenger coaches. They plan to re-open the closed branch line. So far a permit is still compulsory, but I think it will be a free area in a couple of months. The police came once to our group to check our permit.

Regards from Rongshan,
Bernd

Rongshan freight train

Besser als erwartet: zwei bis drei Zugpaare am Tag, gutes Wetter und harte Kontraste zwischen iPhone und rostigen Personenwagen. Man plant, die geschlossene Zweigstrecke wieder zu eröffnen. Momentan braucht man noch unbedingt eine Genehmigung, aber ich nehme an, dass das bald nicht mehr nötig sein wird. Die Polizei kam einmal zu unserer Gruppe und wollte unsere Genehmigung sehen.

Grüße aus Rongshan,
Bernd

Rongshan depot, No. 2, 3 & 211

Rongshan is running …

Olaf Gröpler — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:57:43 +0000

… and we are there (as expected).

C2 218 with a westbound coaltrain (19 March 2013).

C2 218 with an eastbound empty train (19 March 2013).

Greetings from China, Olaf

Wolsztyn update

Bernd Seiler — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:27:06 +0000

From Hans Schaefer, 15.3.2013

They have two engines: Ol49-59 and 69. Pt 47-65 is in Chabowka for major boiler repair. It will be back this autumn. Both Ol49 used to be reliable, but 59 went to Lesno on Monday for repairs an inspector required to be done. Ol49-69 got a leak out of the right cylinder, a welding job, pluss a flat on the leading axle (they send it to Poznan today by lorry). Howard hopes it will be running again Monday afternoon or Tuesday. I had four trips to and from Poznan this week on the engine.

New is: They park the train in the depot as often as possible, because some youngsters have set one car on fire in the station (at night). And: If you sleep in the depot you are now required to lock the outside door of the house after you.

Wednesday afternoon this week the engine was in too bad a shape (leak), so an ST43 (100, Electroputere 1967) came from Wroclaw to pull and the Ol49 just hanging on heating the train. Same Thursday morning. Ol49-69 was helping to accelerate out of stations, that was it. Thursday afternoon came an SU46 from Wroclaw with electric heating, it pulled the train Thursday and today (Friday).

New today: The SU 46 stopped somewhere near Rakoniewice this morning, there was a minor explosion in the cab and a fire, nobody hurt, but there is no more SU46 pulling the train here. The wreckage was pushed into Rakoniewice by a railcar. Ol49-69 is now in the shed fo repair. It looks like they combine the repair with a washout.

Situation else: Driver Janusz is retired last year but in the depot every noon. He is a good person to hire with his car to drive to Poznan and to chase trains along the line. Four drivers retiring next year. Only two new firemen are under training. AFAIK only 3 drivers pluss the two new firemen are remaining after next year.

Rongshan Narrow Gauge Railway, update 5.3.2013

Bernd Seiler — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:50:28 +0000

Rongshan is back to life. The passenger timetable (see http://www.farrail.com/pages/touren-engl/china-2013-03-Rongshan-prison-railway.php, you need to scroll down) is slightly changed … and at the moment it’s sunny there! The diesels are still in the depot, they’re running with steam.

Rongshan ist wieder zurück im aktiven Leben. Der Personenzugfahrplan hat sich leicht geändert … und derzeit scheint die Sonne dort. Die Dieselloks stehen weiter im Depot, man fährt wieder mit Dampf!

Rongshan narrow gauge railway