Fire in the mountains

The plan for our last day in the Taurus mountains (and probably the last steam train here too) was to run back to Belemedik for a few shots, then come back through Pozanti and on to Gümüş. It sounded so simple, but of course nothing here is…

TCDD 56 548 approaches the entrance to tunnel 18 between Pozanti and Belemedik

We set off from Pozanti at 8.08am and tackled a few runpasts on the way to Belemedik (around tunnel 18 again) but after our arrival at 9.10am we sat around for ages. Eventually, we got the news that services had been disrupted by a lineside fire north of Belemedik (which we must have started) that had resulted in a delay to the northbound passenger express of about an hour. Oops…

One of the locals, whose house sits at the lineside (with a front gate onto the track), picked some apples from the tree in his garden and handed them up to the passengers in our train through the open windows. A lovely gesture and a measure of the friendly welcome we have received everywhere. It was much appreciated by us all, particularly in the extreme heat (it is by far the hottest day of the trip so far).

Alot of traffic had clearly been backed up by the closure of the line and we sat on our train watching freight after freight pass in both directions. One of my fellow Brits on the tour joked, “I think we’ve got all the DE24s now…”. It certainly felt that way!

After a seemingly endless series of freights we set off at 11.53am, once the Kayseri-Adana express (Erciyes Ekspresi) had cleared the line, passing the scene of the fire on our way back to Pozanti. The fire was located between two tunnels which must have made it a little bit tricky. The fire brigade were still in attendance, waving cheerfully to us as we passed, despite the trouble we had caused them. We arrived back at Pozanti at 12.15pm.

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Pozanti diesel gala

An early breakfast for an early start that didn’t materialise! Instead, we ended up hanging around our starting point, Pozanti, waiting for our chance to get moving. Eventually, two hours later than expected, we headed off to Belemedik and the end of the section of line constructed in 1912.

Diesel 24 275 hauls a southbound freight through Pozanti

Whilst we were hanging around at Pozanti we were entertained by three diesel hauled freights and one passenger service (even briefly stopping a police car to stop it getting in shot!). It is easy to forget that the electrification programme will have just as much impact on the opportunities to see and photograph diesels on this historic line so I was not at all disappointed to grab these shots.

Our diesel extravaganza continued even when we headed south on our rather unsuccessful expedition to Belemedik with few shots possible and the sun already uncomfortably high for photography. Taking all of this into account I found a comfortable perch on some concrete sleepers and soaked up the sun instead!

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