Bukinje in motion

I captured a selection of movements on video from Bukinje which I combined in a single clip for youtube which hopefully gives something of the atmosphere of the place…

A delivery for the powerplant

After a sumptuous breakfast we started our day at Bukinje under much improved conditions. The murk of the previous day was now long gone and replaced by blue skies. In these circumstances we were able to savour the sight of a class 33 locomotive shunting and making a number of false departures before it headed off to the power plant.

Bukinje departure

After 33-504 headed off into the distance we moved on to Dubrave, Ljubace and Lukavac to capture various steam and diesel movements before returning to Bukinje where we spent some time staring up at the sky wondering if the clouds would favour us by moving clear of the sun. And they did.

It is a fascinating place… quite apart from the delights of the shed and working steam, there are also a number of locomotives stored outside in various conditions. One of these had a plate showing that it was manufactured in Poznan in Poland.

Made in Posen

Further on, there was a monorail system which seemed a remarkable kit in its own right, with the most bizarre looking vehicles – though I haven’t got any photographs or video of this.

From one track to another

After such a good day’s photography we returned to the hotel but returned to Bukinje later for a night shoot. All in all, it’s incredible to think how much we managed to pack into a single day… and how enjoyable that has been.

More photos of steam from around Tuzla

Kriegsloks!

A quick glance out of the window in the morning told me all I needed to know… this was no day to be outside taking photographs. The rain was absolutely pissing down and it was suddenly all too obvious how the forest could be so lush and green!

We drove to Bukinje depot on the outskirts of Tuzla where the yard was almost underwater, such was the deluge. A few shunting movements were arranged with their class 62 locomotive and you can see how wet the conditions were from the rapidly growing swamp…

Bukinje underwater!

It was lucky that there so much to see and keep us inside the shed, where a class 33 locomotive (the German class 52) was undergoing a heavy overhaul. A quite remarkable sight for 2010 in a world where the steam locomotive is now almost extinct outside of preservation. The staff in the shed were incredibly friendly and rightly proud of their kriegsloks (war locomotives) which had been re-patriated from the Russian front.

Kriegslok from Dubrave

In the afternoon the rain eased off and we got our first real taste of a kriegslok in action at a level crossing outside Dubrave. The sight and sound was truly superb. Later, we got a second helping at Ljubace where a diesel from the state railway had delivered some wagons which were then collected by a kriegslok.

At the end of the day we headed to the Hotel Senad od Bosne located on the shores of an artificial lake at Lukavac. It was a superb base for the final four days of our tour with great food and plentiful draughts of Tuzlanska.