To the previous part of the trip report:
Steam in Bosnia 2010 - 9: Banovici - Shunting II (50 p.)
http://railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34200
On April 6 2010 we took our time to leave the forest hotel near Banovici, as it was about to be the morning with the worst weather of the trip. We didn't care much about that, since on one hand blue skies had been forecasted for the rest of the week, on the other hand our next item on the agenda was indoors photography at the great workshop of Bukinje, serving as depot for the coalmine network Kreka near Tuzla, where general inspections of class 33s (former German 52s) still were taking place. Five class 33s were operational or under repair, three of them in regular operation. Alltogether, since the decline of Chinese QJs, at no other place worldwide more giant steamers with five coupled wheels were in regular service at the moment.
After an hour-long busride, during which sadly a leak appeared above one of the colleagues, we arrived at Bukinje shortly after 9.
33-504 (ex 52 793 / Henschel #28118 / built 1944 / came to Yugoslavia from the USSR in 1964) and 62-123 (Djuro Djakovic #630 / built 1957) were under steam in front of the workshop shed.
"fire service lane" - hardly needed that day, maybe for pumping water...
View into the dispatcher's office, 62-123 was shunting.
The depot Bukinje was part of a coal mine, although only with a small discharge. About twice weekly an interchange to the nearby power station took place, the next one was scheduled for the following day (in bright sunshine, promised!
).
Even professional railfans had to use their green butterfly-umbrellas under these conditions!
Shunting partly went on underwater, stopping evolved into a slippery process.
Better return quickly into the warmth!
Hotplate, cooking pot, coffee - the basic ingredients without which no Bosnian is able to survive!
Duty roster with class 33 reflection - switching duties strictly prohibited without consent of the traction staff manager!
Fed up with the weather...
... off into the sacred halls, where general inspections of class 33 locos still took place!
I was especially fascinated by the walls which were covered over and over in old hieroglyphs, almost like an ancient temple. Of course once more signs from Yugoslav times could be found: "Many workers already had accidents with electric current - this one won't!"
Contrasts: Office with modern PCs to the left, 33-248 (ex DRB 52 4779 / MBA #13830 / built 1943) under heavy overhaul to the right! But where did the workers hide?
"Stop smoking! Because with a cigarette: I dull the mind, I lose time, I cough better, I stink more, I waste money, I age faster, I suffocate the lungs, I destroy my health, I impoverish the soul. That's why: stop smoking!"
The store next door...
33-064 (ex DRB 52 1134 / DWM #548 / built 1943)
Oh, it was 10 o'clock, once more time for second breakfast! Take a closer look, how many heads were appearing...
Next to the "tub"-shaped tender of 33-064 was a good place to rest.
Towards the entrance gate of the second hall stood 62-376 (Djuro Djakovic #376 / built 1953).
Motivational poster, this was one of the "softer" pages, others sadly cannot be published...
Finally work started again.
The experts were arriving.
A fire was started to melt metal.
Portrait in front of 33-248
Casting moulds were prepared.
A fresh portion of molten metal? Here you go!
Casting of the metal, somehow I imagined something more lava-like, but it turned out to be only a slightly silvery liquid.
A quick peak into the changing room, which I found especially fascinating with its neatly lined-up shoes and umbrellas that day.
More motivation in the background...
"Happy miners day"
With this picture I would like to end the first part about this timetravel-steamloco-temple, more will follow!
