Autumn steam in West Turkey

Our tour through the autumnal landscapes of Western Turkey is due to begin in earnest today with a relatively short run from Uşak to Banaz. The tour will eventually take us on to Afyon, Dinar, Burdur and Isparta.

The motive power for the steam hauled elements of the trip will come from one of the thousands of class 52 kriegsloks, or war locomotives, that ended up across Europe during the second world war. Survivors can be found in many countries today, particularly in the East. I have already encountered members of the class in Bosnia, Serbia, Poland and Russia.

TCDD 56548 at Uşak

Our kriegslok, TCDD 56 548, was manufactured at Wiener Lokomotivfabrik Floridsdorf, near Vienna, in 1943. It was one of 43 classmates built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn which were initially loaned to Turkish Railways but later purchased outright.

During the tour 56 548 will haul an authentic passenger train formed of four refurbished green coaches (from the Usak Museum Depot) and a series of freight cars/wagons – it is a combination that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 1970s or 80s. Indeed, TCDD 56 548 was active on the branch lines we will visit until 1989.

TCDD 56548 turned and ready to shunt back onto the carriages for our tour

At the rear of the consist we will have a diesel locomotive which will be used to haul us through the longer distance stretches that we will need to cover during the tour. It is a sensible precaution, sparing us from the need to re-coal the steam locomotive en route. The diesel tasked with this job is DE 24 295, one of the 418 strong class that effectively replaced steam.

Uşak Depot Gallery