More than two dozen steam locomotives of different types and gauges are in steam at collieries, power plants, steelworks and other factories. The late autumn and early winter is the peak season for steam operation in the former Yugoslavia. Most of the engines are used in shunting yards and on short connecting lines to the government railway stations nearby the factory. Most have been in service for over 50 years. The most common class is the American-designed 0-6-0 tank locomotive of class 62. This type was introduced by the US Army Transportation Corps but today only a very few are still original ones. Most are the later Yugoslavian-built ones. Beside these class 62 locomotives, the visitor will find a variety of different, very rare locomotives from France, Czechoslovakia or Belgium. And last but not least, Bosnia-Herzegovina is the last stand of the well known and once numerous, German Kriegslok class 52 2-10-0s, the Yugoslavian class 33. This is Europe's last concentration of real working steam.
| Date | Itinerary |
| 15.10. | departure Frankfurt/Main or other ports, arrival Beograd (Belgrade) early afternoon, in the afternoon free time to explore the trams of Belgrade, hotel Belgrade |
| 16.10. | by our charter bus we will go to the Kostolac open cast mine, we'll visit the loco shed and the open cast pit, hotel Belgrade |
| 17.10. | Full day for the Vreoci coal mine with a charter locomotive class 53 on narrow gauge and the two class 62 locos on standard gauge, hotel Belgrade |
| 18.10. | Lucani munitions factory, special train fireless ex-class 62 loco, continue to Pozega, visit to the museum, continue to Sarajevo, hotel Sarajevo |
| 19.10. | visit to the nearly closed steelworks Vares, where we have hired a class 62 loco for some shunting, afternoon visit to the Breza coal mine, hotel Zenica |
| 20.10. | In the morning we'll visit Kakanj coal mine (class 62). Around noon visit to the Zenica steelworks, in the afternoon visit to Zenica coal mine, continue to Tuzla in the evening, forest hotel Banovici |
| 21.10. | Banovici coal mine with regular use of and chartered narrow gauge classes 25, 83 and the standard gauge class 62, visit to the depot, forest hotel Banovici |
| 22.10. | Kreka coal mine with visit to the depot, focus on the German Kriegslok JZ class 33 (DR 52), visiting all three steam locations, forest hotel Banovici |
| 23.10. | Morning visit to Banovici again, continue back to Serbia, drop by Loznica cellulose factory, evening to Novi Sad, hotel Novi Sad |
| 24.10. | morning visit in Zrenjanin steam repairs company, at noon continue to Beograd airport, flight back, arrival at the same evening. |
The open cast mine in Kostolac has a 900-mm gauge railway system. The railway keeps its 1946 built UNRRA steam locomotives in regular service only during the winter season. Normally, two of the five engines are serviceable. We can make some nice shots especially in the depot area.
The coal mine at Vreoci belongs to a huge electric power enterprise. They have an eight-kilometres-long, 900-mm overhead wire electric railway. In case of emergency they still have one of their Dacauville-built class 53 locomotives on stand by. One of the two normally serviceable locos of this class is planned to be in steam on the day of our arrival. Beside the narrow gauge railway, the Vreoci coal mine uses two class 62 locomotives in regular service. We will also take pictures of these switch engines.
The munitions plant of Lucani uses ex-62 678, a particularly interesting fireless loco. They rebuilt this loco for their special needs in a factory that handles high explosive materials. As a result, it is the one and only fireless class 62 locomotive, which is still in use. Its normal duty was the workers' shuttle service between the railway station and the factory. This train consisted of one coach only. Nowadays they use their fireless loco for shunting inside the factory and bringing coal wagons from the state railway station into the factory. Of course, we are not allowed to enter the military factory, but they agreed to bring out their loco on the connecting line to the state railway with a special freight train.
The museum in Pozega offers a collection of nine narrow gauge steam locomotives on both 760 and 600 mm gauges. We will only make a brief visit here.
On our long drive to Sarajevo we may drop by the narrow gauge museum railway of Mokra Gora. In recent years they rebuilt 15 km of the fantastic mountain line. For tourism they have Skoda-built 25 27 (0-6-0T) from Banovici, 83 173 (0-8-2) from the former Yugoslavian State Railway JZ, locomotive Elza (0-6-0T) from the sugar mill at Zrenjanin and the diesel loco L45H 077 from Romania (Borsec). The short 600 mm track is home to a 0-6-0T from the former forest railway at Visnjicevo. We did not order a charter train here. This is reserved for future trips, when regular steam service in ex Yugoslavia is almost over.
The length of our journey to Sarajevo is about 150 kilometres, due to the topographic situation (mountains) and the border control we have to allow some three hours.
After damage in the civil war, production at the steelworks at Vares went down dramatically. Until now only a part of the works produces steel and so the railway traffic is at a very low level. However, we have paid to have one of the class 62 locos on shunting duties.
The coal mine at Breza also uses one of the well-known class 62 0-6-0T. The locomotive is only active on a very short track. However, a typical industrial mine backdrop and a pedestrian bridge over the yard offer some nice photographically opportunities. The light is a bit tricky. The best light you'll find in the late afternoon.
The coal mine at Catici belongs to Rudnika Mrkog Uglia Kakanj. It was one of the most important coal suppliers in the former Yugoslavia. Here 62 class locomotives are also used on the three-kilometre-long connection to the state railway. The line passes over a river on an interesting concrete bridge. The mine and the coal washery are still busy. There are more than four trains each day to the state railway station.
The coal mine and the steel works at Zenica are another location of the class 62. Probably we will not be allowed to enter the steelworks (in 2003 we got the permission, but it's not for certain if we can arrange this again). If they do not allow us to enter the steelworks, they will bring the locomotive out of it for us. This means we will get at least a good shot of this loco. The nearby coal mine, with its very photogenic, wooden loading facilities, is open to foreign visitors. For several years now there have been discussions over closing the coal mine of Zenica. Maybe, we will too late to visit this site, but hopefully we will be lucky again.
The time to reach Tuzla by bus depends on the actual road conditions. We expect it will take about three hours, but the journey is well worth the time. Tuzla is host to the administration of the Kreka power plant and their coal mines around the area. The loco depot is in Bukinje. Here we'll meet the last 2-10-0 German Kriegsloks class 33 (DR 52) and some 62. The depot repairs all locos for the coal mines in Bukinje, Dubrave and Sikulje. Mramor was closed recently. These mines are close together, and we will visit all of them. Our special interest here is the class 33, of course, the famous Kriegslok class. In Sikulje the class 33 locomotives returned to serve the sate railway station after several years of shunting in the mine area only. This will give us special opportunities for interesting pictures.
All three sites can be served either by a class 33 or a class 62 locomotive. Bukinje and Sikulie normally using one Kriegslok class 33.
In Banovici there is a coal mine with steam on two gauges: 760 mm and standard gauge. All line work on the double track narrow gauge is normally done by diesel locomotives of class 720 and 740. Steam is used only for shunting. We will organise a steam hauled train to go out on the line. They have two interesting types of steam locomotives: the class 25, a 0-6-0 tender loco built by Skoda, and the ex JZ-class 83, a 0-8-2 from Slavonski Brod. On the standard gauge we expect a working class 62 or, and this is another rarity, 19 12, a 0-6-0 tender loco from Skoda. The other delight on the standard gauge is 144R, a 0-8-0 from Fives, Lille. This loco is dumped and probably not serviceable.
The viscose factory of Loznica has two fireless locos, built by La Meuse in 1956. Because the factory is not running very well it is uncertain if one of the locos will be in service, or if we will be allowed to visit the locos in this factory, but we will try to see and photograph these interesting machines.
Our last destination is Zrenjanin, where the repair shop for all surviving Serbian steam locomotives is located. How many locos and which types we will see there is impossible to determine in advance. We hope for the best and some very interesting pictures of locos under repair.
Four years after the regime came down; Serbia is a secure and hassle-free place for organised tours. However, regulations for visitors are changing frequently, so it is possible that Serbia will demand a special "Entrance Fee" at the border. Although there are still some objections to westerners by some of the population, caused by the NATO bombing, our group will be lead by a local Serbian travel agent, so we have nothing to fear.
Taking photographs of railways still causes some sceptical looks from railway workers and local people. We have organised (and paid for) a permit for every site we want to go to. To avoid any difficulties we shall not take pictures at places where we have no permission. At most locations (which aren't on our permission list) it's possible to obtain a permit from the local staff. Please be patient if this procedure takes a few minutes of our precious time. However, at some locations the officials will not issue permits to foreigners, such as the munitions factory or at some steel works. Please remember that any unauthorised pictures can cost the whole group a lot of time. It is much better to follow the restrictions and in any case most factories have agreed to show us their locomotives outside the forbidden areas.
For ethnic and political reasons, Bosnia-Herzegowina is still separated into two parts. We will pass through the Republic Srpska only. We’ve not planned any stops for taking pictures there.
The standard of the selected middle class hotels cannot be compared with central European standards. After two wars in recent years, the tourist infrastructure has not recovered completely. Investment for tourist purposes in remote and coal mining areas is not on the priority list. Please accept that not everything will be perfect. However, the supply of food is sure, and quality and quantity are quite good.
For the journey you need a passport. Your passport has to be valid for at least one year (not just six months) after the expected date of leaving the country. Please check the expiry date of your passport.
We are travelling in the fall time. Please expect some days with rain or snowfalls. The temperature range could be from plus 15 degrees Centigrade, with deep blue skies, down to minus 5 degrees and a dark grey sky. The time of our travel was especially chosen because the mines and power plants work at their highest levels during this period. The chances of seeing steam in regular service are significantly higher in October - December than in the summer time. At several locations we will need tripods for pictures in the dusk or by night.
The tour is planned with the dedicated still photographer and videographer in mind. Therefore, we decided to use hotels close by the railways rather than first class resorts far away from any railway. In addition, we will use the few daylight hours for photography rather than for substantial meals.
We will mainly visit regular steam sites. Sometimes we will hire a special train or pay for a special duty. At the sites with regular steam, it might happen that we have to wait a bit longer to get our pictures. At several locations there are one or two serviceable locomotives only. So it may happen that we won't see the described locomotive or train. In that case we will try to find an adequate alternative site with interesting operations. In any case we are sure to see some fascinating and unusual steam locomotives with lots of variation in the settings and types of operations.
| ex-Yugoslavian Steam | 15 and more participants | 1.620 Euro |
| 15.10. - 24.10.2005 | 10 to 14 participants | 1.870 Euro |
| single room supplement | 165 Euro |
Minimum number of participants: 10
Maximum number of participants: 24
The price includes:
Not included are:
Above prices are based on specific bookings with the respective airlines, which have to be confirmed well in advance. Your early booking is hence appreciated. Flight from London or other airports on request. Its also possible to choose a land only arrangement. In this case please subtract 260 Euro from the above price.