Narrow Gauge in S.W. Ukraine

[490fan]

A few weeks ago I was on a tour of south-west Ukraine. It was not intended for railway fans as such, but we did get to have a ride on the last surviving narrow gauge railway in this region.

This area was part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the end of the First World War (it then became part of Czechoslovakia until 1939 when the Hungarians got it back only to lose it for good in 1944 when the Red Army drove them out) and quite a dense network of narrow gauge railways was built. This particular line runs from Vynohradiv to Irshava and Berehovo (I am using the spellings from a map in English of the south-west Ukraine that we were given.)

There is one train a day over the Vynohradiv/Irshava section; we took it at Irshava:

 

 

This is the line from Irshava to Vynohradiv that IS in service...

 

 

View of the station area. The track is still in place for a few more kilometers but its condition is such that it is no longer suitable for anything other than a draisine:

 

 

A hexagonal maintenance locomotive:

 

 

 

 

The station building at Irshava is quite substantial:

 

 

 

These wagons haven't been anywhere lately...:

 

 

Couplings:

 

 

"The train now arriving at Platform One..."

 

 

"...is the only train today to Vynohradiv...":

 

 

Running around the train:

 

 

 

Locomotive details:

 

 

It had been established by the time of this item on the programme that I was the railway enthusiast, and I was allowed to ride in the cab. The locomotive is a diesel-electric; the diesel motor...:

 

 

...was from a tractor - though I am sure that I have read somewhere that diesel motors from old submarines were used in locomotives too.

The driver's controls:

 

 

and the co-driver's:

 

 

Note the tachograph on the pillar between front and side windows.

 

No gates or barriers at crossings:

 

 

 

Out in the countryside...:

 

 

...the line in places has almost a forestry railway air:

 

 

A wayside station:

 

 

A junction in the forest:

 

 

with station-mistress:

 

 

 

A former water-tower?

 

 

This rail has its date of manufacture - 1900:

 

 

I measured the gauge; it's 75cm. I would have thought that the original gauge when built would have been 76cm; in which case it has been carefully re-gauged by one centimeter...

 

It might have been a 'scheduled' train but we were still able to organise a run-past at the bridge over the R. Irshava:

 

 

The track runs on a slight embankment through the middle of this village; the houses are typical Hungarian village houses:

 

 

 

 

View from the train - they don't use herbicides here:

 

 

Another staion - with passengers waiting!:

 

 

 

Vynohradiv station seen from the normal (= broad-gauge) side.

 

 

The locomotive ran round the train again for its departure to Berehovo:

 

 

Hope you find these pictures interesting!

 

With best regards from sunny (too hot ) Szeged,

 

Jonathan

[Burkitt]

Fantastic set of pictures, thanks for posting. I really like the totally overgrown track, it gives the railway a slightly post-apocalyptic feel. It would certainly make an interesting and unusual model.

 

Paul

[Tony_S]

Thank you for sharing your photographs. I really like the hexagonal (rather like summerhouse) loco.

 

Tony