Britons rescue Bosnian steam train
 

A sprawling steel works nestling among the mountains of central Bosnia is not the obvious place to come shopping for steam trains.

But a group of British rail enthusiasts has spent more than $100,000 (£51,234) finding and buying an old locomotive, and is now shipping it back to England.

The engine they found is an imposing chunk of dirty black steel, weighing more than 40 tonnes.

It has spent the last half century at the Zenica steel works.

Transporting the locomotive to its new home in England is not an easy job.

Two large railway cranes on Monday hoisted the engine onto a specially adapted lorry.

As the steel ropes held the engine's weight, steel workers guided it onto the trailer using tape measures to get the position just right.

Balkan antiques

Richard White is one of the men behind the project.

"We did a lot of searching, first on the internet and by telephone. Most of this type of locomotive are here in the Balkans, so we knew we'd have to come down here."

The enthusiasts also considered buying a train from a coal mine in Kosovo.
It's partly the sound, it's partly the smells as well - it's evocative of a bygone age
Richard White
Steam train enthusiast


"The people here smiled when we first contacted them. I don't think they could believe we were serious about buying one of their engines."

Richard says the workers at the steel plant already had experience of the love some British people have for steam trains.

"The previous ambassador to Sarajevo used to contact them to ask if he could drive their locomotives around the site, and they were happy for him to do that."

The journey across Europe will take a week.

After that the serious work of restoring the train will begin.

Disabled access

Once it is finished it will be used on the Mid Hants Watercress Line in southern England.

The enthusiasts hope the engine's cab can be adapted to allow access by the disabled and people in wheelchairs.

It will take two years to refurbish the train for public use

They say they want members of the public to be able to drive the train.

The management of the Zenica steel works thought the project was eccentric, but were pleased to help.

"Certain things that you feel you cannot find a use for and think you need to scrap, there is still life left in it, used for a purpose you could never have imagined," explains MK Srinivasan, director of the works.

Steam power still plays a part in daily life at the works.

Two steam trains help ferry people and steel around the enormous plant, which has more than 100km (62 miles) of track.


The distinctive sounds of the steam and the whistle, the smell of the smoke, are common sights.

"There is something very romantic about steam trains," adds Duran, a worker at the plant.

"They changed the whole world over the last 200 years. And it feels strange sending one of our trains back to Britain, the home of steam railways."

"It's partly the sound, it's partly the smells as well," agrees Richard White.

"It's evocative of a bygone age."

Value for money

Richard says the steam train industry in the United Kingdom is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, covering everything from restoration to catering and holidays.

Even small items such as name plates from old engines can raise thousands at auction.

"You could describe this train as a bargain. If you compare it to an expensive saloon car that will only last ten or twelve years we are getting very good value for money."

In two years' time this old engine from Zenica Steel Works will be back on the rails and as good as new.

That, Richard says, is when they will know that their effort, time and money have all been worthwhile.

Good to see a preservation story on the BBCs news website.:)

Thanks for that Tim.
The story and a small picture of the USA Class 0-6-0T loco being loaded onto a lorry is here.

One day, the BBC (& ITV) will learn the difference between a steam Locomotive and a Steam Train....look at the original piece and the pictures...

I always thought that the BBC were the bastions of "correct" terminology and language!

Its a wonder that the piece didnt refer to Train Buffs or spotters, and wearing anoraks and duffle bags!

Journalists...dont you just love 'em?

R

I agree Ringo but it's not only journalists that have trouble differentiating between a locomotive and a train as I have even heard some rail enthusiasts say the same. :(
It's probably not a lack of knowledge that makes the enthusiast use incorrect terminology but simply another example of the lazy way many of us talk and write nowadays. Why be specific and use a different word when everyone will understand me if I just say "train"?
I too held the BBC in high esteem at one time but I'm afraid that their standards appear to be falling rapidly to equal those of their commercial competitors.:(

In years gone by there was a huffing and puffing bit on the front that mostly bore no resemblance to what it was pulling whereas these days what is on the front often looks the same as the back and others look like the bits in between. It follows that there was an engine in in older times at the front followed by a train behind it but now with all looking more or less the same we only have a train.
Ducking behind the coal bunker now.
John

You traitor............Come out from behind that coal bunker.:D
How can someone with an obvious love of railway engineering condone this use of improper terminology?
Admittedly very few passenger trains now have locomotives but freight trains still do. They might not "huff and puff" like their ancestors but they perform the same roll and should be duly respected with the title of "locomotive".;)

I think my point was that these days I see what look like illuminated claterpillers with identical ends shuffling back and forth up the GN mainline and without any visible means of identifying the head. I do agree that the very few goods trains I see do have what appears to be a head at the front which I am led to believe might possibly be called a locomotive. Poor passengers must find it difficult to determine which direction their train will depart in with what appears to be a head at each end.
In a much lighter vein when I work out how to send some pictures while I was attending to much more important things Elizabeth (domestic manager or SWMBO) was taking photos outside on Weybourne station. The results are 'atmospheric' to say the least.
John.
PS When riding on a Push-me-pull you which way does it go when you call out 'Gee Up'?

What always amuses me is when the station announcer says something like "the first class accomodation is at the front of the train" If the train has already come to a halt before they see it, how on earth does the average person know which end is the front?:confused:

On the subject of locomotives I can see that I am never going to get you to willingly refer to diesels and electrics as such.:D

And I thought that I had accepted there is sometimes a locomotive at the head of some trains that looked different to what was behind it.
Got delightfully oily hands on a J15 today though.
John

Simple:- it's the end with the first class accomodation :rolleyes:

Diesels, Electrics, Steam , whatever
Arn't all locomotives called "prime movers"?
Or am I off the rails? (again)