Eritrea: steam, rain, sun!
With mixed feelings we return from Eritrea. On the one hand a still exciting track layout in some stunning scenery, with very friendly staff and the chance to return home with gigabytes of photos and films.
On the other hand, the typical African idea of time, which also addresses urgent tasks in a quite relaxed way, and the non-improving technical condition of steam locomotives.
Although new pipes have already been installed in 442. 54, 55, and 56, 442. 59 are waiting for it, the basic problem of a lack of a thorough overhaul remains.
Instead, the railway now enjoys a donation from Italy: a dozen small yellow biaxial shunting locomotives from military stocks... for a railway that basically has nothing to shunt!
Oh well...
Our tour was successful, we were able to see all operational steam locomotives in action (442. 54,55,56 / 440,008 / 202 008),
had beautiful sunrises and sunsets... attractive train compositions, and saw camels, turtles, monkeys, and birds of prey beside the track. The one or the other rain and hail showers stopped our movements sometimes but at the end of the day the sky cleared and we enjoyed a lot of sun...
Are we going to Eritrea again?
Yes. From October 12 to 22, 2019, we will plye the Eritrean rails again. And if everything goes according to the "plan", we will even see the port in Massawa again!