Bosnia - Europe's last Plandampf 6 - 10 October 2018
The time of the steam locomotive revival at the Bosnian RMU coal mine in Banovici is over since this week.
During our preparatory visit we were able to see the two standard gauge tender locomotives 62-125 (Duro Dakovic 614/57) and 19-12 (Skoda 1912/49) in full operation - thanks to a very high demand for coal, they were really shunting back and forth almost without a break.
The reason for the planned use of the museum locomotive for several weeks was an unexpected breakdown of both shunting diesel locomotives, which demanded a reactivation of the steamers. Unfortunately the personnel cover of the mine is so thin that the steam locomotives had to be driven partly even with only 1 man in the driver's cab.
If a third man was available, at first the Skoda locomotive was manned with heater and locomotive driver.
For us the return of the diesel locomotives is a blessing, because during our visit in Banovici at the beginning of October we could not have released the two steam locomotives from the production plant for our photo trips!
With the diesel locomotives in planned operation, the two tender locomotives are now available to us again without restrictions - we will also use both for our photos in Banovici!
If you want to come at short notice: there are still rooms in our first-class lake hotel, flights to the Balkans are still available - and we will also find a place in the bus. You can read the here.
