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The state railway in Turkey, the TCDD, had a goodly amount of steam workings in 1983, so the chance to travel round by special train - steam hauled by locos still in regular service - was an offer worth taking up.
Organised by World Steam magazine, the three coach train had a baggage car, restaurant car and sleeper - in other words pretty self-contained and allowing stops overnight at places where hotels might be scarce or not big enough for a group of sixty or so participants.
There was the added attraction of seeing steam on regular passenger and freight trains and visiting loco depots with working engines. It wouldn't be one of those railtours where the only steam locos in action are the ones on the special.
We had an 'interesting' flight from London to Istanbul via Warsaw, the latter leg being in a Russian plane, a four engine turbo-prop Ilyusin Il18. There was time next day to visit Yedikule Works in Instanbul, where an old Sharp, Stewart 2-4-0 and Robert Stephenson six coupled 'ogee' tank were seen, ostensibly held for preservation.
We then crossed the Bosphorous from European to Asian Turkey on one of the 45 or so steam powered boats, the one I travelled on was built in 1912 in Port Bou, France, and had a six cylinder triple expansion engine. The oldest ones were built at Fairfields in 1905.
A visit to the loco shed at Haydarpasa found only diesels and electrics, apart from our engine, a magnificent 4-8-0, 46005.
Istanbul dockside scenes with steam boats. Looks like the catch is in on the fishing vessels.
'THE SKYLINER EXPRESS' special
On the first day our special waits departure at Haydarpasa station on the Asian side of Istanbul.
The loco,46005, is a Henschel 4-8-0 ordered by the Baghdad Railway. This type is said to be basically a 'stretched' version of the famous Prussian Railway 'P8' 4-6-0.
Introduced in 1927, locos of this class worked expresses from here to Ankara.
From Istanbul our train went down the Ankara main line, including the main street in Izmit, with lots of whistling, causing carthorses to bolt!
There was great scenery en route with viaducts and tunnels and at least one long stop on the single line for trains to cross.
On most sectors of the journey there were opportunities to ride on the footplate of the various locos we had on the trip.
At one or two stations, our train was met by local dignitaries and traditional dancers.
Our special turned off the Ankara line at Eskisehir and stabled overnight Monday at Kutahya, where the station shunter had a familiar outline for UK railway enthusiasts. The loco is depicted in the 'TCDD Regular Steam' section. We carried on next day with 46005 to Tavsanli, a distance of 441kms from Istanbul. There we visited the loco shed and saw some regular services, before going on to Balikesir with 46005 for the next overnight stop., 202kms from Tavsanli. On most sections of our journey there were ample stops for photo runpasts.
Left: 46005 takes water at the imposing water tower at Alayunt.
Above: Mountain scenery at one of the photo opportunities en route.
On Wednesday our train had a different engine from Balikesir to Manisa, 174kms, one of the wartime 'Middle East' 2-8-2s, 46210. But before we left Balikesir there was a chance to visit the loco shed and photograph a freight ot two on the Bandirma line, see 'TCDD Regular Steam' section.
After our special stabled on Wednesday night at Manisa, we left there next morning in the dark - at 4am - with another loco.
The loco that hauled us the 101kms from Manisa to Alasehir was 2-6-0 34054 seen at Alasehir after arrival. The early start was necessary because at Alasehir our three carriages were attached to the regular mixed departure at 7.40am to Usak.
The mixed left Alasehir with our three carriages, one regular coach and fifteen freight wagons doubleheaded by 0-10-0 55016, a Prussian 'G10' type and a 'Kriegslok' 2-10-0 56523. Two locos were needed due to the steep gradients on this highly scenic line going through barren landscapes with many tunnels and several impressive viaducts. The distance between Alasehir and Usak was 118kms. A further eight wagons were picked up en route.
At Usak we were able to visit the loco shed and also photograph the loco at Usak Sugar Factory which was in steam. From Usak it was just our three coaches hauled by another 'Kriegslok' 56541 heading for the important railway junction at Afyon. Progress was rather slow, but all was revealed when we got to Afyon - another reception committee waiting for us to take tea at the station with the Mayor! Our train stayed here that night. Afyon was a busy place with plenty of steam activity.
On the Friday morning our special to Dinar was headed by 2-10-2 57020 built by Krupp in 1936. We had a culture visit at Dinar viewing local waterfalls, then to the loco shed. After that we had 2-10-2 57013 which really thrashed away from Dinar heading for Karakuyu, with our destination that night being Burdur, at the end of a branch off the Dinar - Egridir line at Gumusgun.
Our special used two of these 2-10-2s, which are fine locomotives constructed for working on lightly laid lines.
One of the 57xxx class 2-10-2s blasts through a bleak landscape.
We left Burdur on Saturday behind Prussian 'G8' type 0-8-0 44071 returning to the junction at Gumusgun where 44071 ran round its train and took us to Egridir. There is a superbly scenic run into Egridir across a viaduct with a lake and mountains in the background. There was plenty of other steam activity in the area too, see 'TCDD Regular Steam' section. After some time at Egridir our train made its way back to Bozanonu, junction for the branch to Isparta. There we combined with a mixed train for Karakuyu that came from Isparta hauled by 0-8-0 44055 and doubleheaded to Gumusgun, where our loco and train went down to Burdur.
Somehow we then managed to fit in a visit to underground caves in Burdur.
Having come up the Burdur branch to Gumusgun the special is going to Egridir with 0-8-0 44071.
44071 coasts towards Egridir and is about to cross the viaduct. More pictures of this area are in the 'TCDD Regular Steam' section.
Next day, after spending an hour or two observing activity at Burdur, our special departed for Afyon with 57013 in charge. The train stayed overnight at Afyon.
Monday morning brought fresh motive power with a Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows built 2-10-0 56084 taking us the 90kms from Afyon to Alayunt.
56084 was in a class of standard two cylinder mixed traffic locos. 166 were made to a pre-war German design. Vulcan Foundry and Beyer, Peacock of Manchester contributed 37 to that total in 1948 - wartime had delayed their arrival as they were actually ordered pre-war.
Back at Alayunt was our old friend 46005 ready to take us to Ankara, no less than 333kms away. Our special included travelling the whole main line from Istanbul to Ankara hauled by 46005.
We went from Alayunt to Eskisehir, top left, to rejoin the line to Ankara. Left, depicts 46005 waiting for a train to cross us.
Above is a portrait of this excellent loco taking water. On our tour we travelled many kilometres behind this loco including the whole line from Istanbul to Ankara.
We left Ankara at one minute past midnight. Our motive power was 56331, a 'Skyliner' - a semi-streamlined 2-10-0 built by Vulcan Iron Works in the USA in the immediate post-war years. We didn't leave quietly, we roared through the suburbs, shrill whistle shrieking and amazing late night passengers at the stations waiting for their last train home. Not to mention keeping the local residents awake. Every time I woke up in my couchette, I could hear the loco blasting through the night.
This loco was taking us as far as Karabuk, 364kms from Ankara. On the way, we had a trip to Ulku Steelworks which had a fleet of mainly British built steam locos for shunting.
Early morning with 'Skyliner' 56331 darkening the skies.
56331 and the railway hug the high ground overlooking a town down below.
From Karabuk to our overnight at Zonguldak was 121kms and the loco heading the special was another 'Middle East' 2-8-2, 46205. 53 were on the TCDD roster, built in the USA to the order of the British War Department for Middle East Forces. Some had only arrived in Turkey in 1955 from Iraq.
'Middle East' 2-8-2 46205 has emerged from a tunnel with the sea behind it as the train heads for Zonguldak.
At Zonguldak we stayed in a hotel, a good idea after numerous nights aboard our sleeping car. That was the end of the 'Skyliner Express' special for me, though not the end of the trip. The special covered well in excess of 2000kms, all steam hauled.
Next day, we caught a diesel-hauled service train, stopping off at Hisaronu and Catalagzi before arriving ar Karabuk. After an overnight there it was a bus journey to Ankara. We then went by overnight train from Ankara to Izmir - a place we had been relatively close to some days earlier when we were at Manisa.
More observations and photos are in the 'TCDD Regular Steam' section below.
TCDD Regular Steam
It was good to go on a steam special and see other steam working on regular services. The TCDD was still pretty steamy in many places in 1983 and our tour itinerary enabled us to see quite a lot of such workings, both passenger, freight and shunting. And, being officially authorised, there was no problem visiting loco depots.
Portrait of Nohab 2-6-0 34054 at Alasehir after arrival from Manisa with our special. On that journey, we saw another of the class, 34060, on a local passenger train.
Top left is one of the numerous 0-8-0s, this one is 44069 at Burdur. These were Prussian Railways 'G8' type and came to Turkey from various countries.
Botton left is 'Middle East' 2-8-2 46223 at Hisaronu. Several of these were seen working local passenger services from and to Zonguldak.
Top right is 46052, a Henschel 2-8-2 dating from 1937 at Afyon loco shed.
Bottom right, another Prussian Railways design in service were the 'G10' type 0-10-0s, though only a few were actually ex-KPEV, the others being newly built for the TCDD. Here is 55041 at Tavsanli.
A familiar loco to British enthusiasts was this Stanier '8F' 2-8-0, this one being TCDD 45168. We saw it shunting at Katahya - in fact it was the only one we saw. A considerable number were used in military service in the Near and Middle East in World War Two and later on public railways, but the twenty in Turkey went to the TCDD from new. They were basically normally used as shunting engines by the 1980s.
Also at Tavsanli shed was 2-10-0 56100 built by Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows in 1948. This was a standard class of German design.
The 'Kriegslok' 2-10-0 was constructed in vast quantities for war service and ended up in many countries as the backbone of railway services for years afterwards. This one,56520, is depicted at Afyon.
The Ottoman Railway Company which ran from Izmir became part of the TCDD with some of the ORC's class of six 2-8-2s surviving into the 1980s. They were built by Robert Stephenson & Co in 1929 and 1932. Here is 46105 in steam at Izmir loco depot. Classmate 46102 was also seen in steam. Their work included passenger trains on the Izmir suburban service and working out to Odemis - though sadly not when I was there.
The 44XXX were very active in the Dinar/Burdur/Egridir area. Top left sees 44015 on an Egridir to Dinar mixed near Gumusgun. Bottom left is a a mixed with two locos, 44055 and 44069, heading out of Egridir across the viaduct. Right above is 44055 booked on the 4.30pm to Karakuyu. Magnificent scenery and steam too!
The area also saw the 55XXX 0-10-0s and 57XXX 2-10-2s.
Left above, 55043 brews up at Burdur loco depot, with 55022 alongside.
Left, 57009 is at Gumusgun about to haul a load of wagons for use in the sugar beet season which was just starting in October.
Above, 57021 receives attention outside the goods shed at Gumusgun.
Above top, 55016 and 56523 wait at Alasehir on the mixed bound for Usak. The first carriage is the regular one, followed by three off our special, followed by fifteen wagons.
Above, the train waits departure from Guneykoy (I think).
Right, the locos blast across a viaduct.
'Kriegslok' 56502 arrives at Tavsanli with a mixed train, possibly off the Tuncbilek branch.
Another 'Kriegslok' shunts the pick-up freight at a wayside station.
The pleasant small characterful engine shed at Alayunt. On our outward bound special, two locos were in steam here, 2-10-0 56084 and a 4-8-0 believed to be 46008.
Heavy freight climbing the steep grades out of Balikesir with three 2-10-0s - 56503 at the front, with 56511 and 56165 banking.
The sun appeared as 56503 steamed past, having negotiated another curve since the preceding picture.
Plenty of effort being exerted by the bankers.
The rear one has virtually disappeared in clouds of steam.
0-8-0 44043 pounds up the bank out of Izmir on an evening commuter service from Alsancak to Seydikoy, with the city spread out in the background.
After 44043 returned from Seydikoy I travelled behind it on the 20.10 departure from Alsancek to Buca and back.
The loco was really thrashed up the gradient out of Izmir, with sparks flying from the chimney. Though a short journey it was quite impressive in the dark with the
hills behind all lit up . The terminus at Buca was very nice too as were the other stations on this ex-Ottoman Railway line which had originally been British owned.
At Izmir I hoped that the Saturday morning train to Odemis would be worked by one of the Robert Stephenson 2-8-2s. If it had been, I would have had a day on the train. Unfortunately for me the shed turned out a 2-10-2 for the service. Nice loco but not the type I wanted.
So i stayed at Izmir but did see two 2-8-2s in steam, albeit not doing much. This is 46102 trundling through Halkpinar station. We were told it was en route to Sivas Works presumably for overhaul or at least an inspection. Though there was actually a workshops here at Halkapinar which overhauled steam.......
INDUSTRIAL STEAM
From our special we were able to visit a couple of industrial enterprises that still used steam locos.
Several factories for processing sugar beet existed and with our visit being in October, the season was about to start.
When we left Ankara on the overnight journey to Izmir we passed the sugar factory where its 0-6-0T was shunting, this was a Krupp dating from as recently as 1960.
At Usak there was time to call at the sugar factory where its Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0T, below, was in steam getting ready for the season, looking very smart.
Up in the Zonguldak area, there had been metre gauge steam at Catalagzi Colliery, where we caught a glimpse of a dumped tank loco. At the TCDD loco shed was a standard gauge 0-6-0T which shunted at the colliery.
But the place to visit was Ulku Steelworks at Karabuk, which had a fleet of mostly UK built steam still in operation, as well as more recent diesels.
Nine steam locos were at work, six of which were Hawthorn Leslie/Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-6-0ST dating from 1937,1943 and 1948. Three are shown above left, while above right is 3310, a Henschel 0-6-0WT from 1922, one of a pair. A Jung 0-6-0T of 1952 was also in use.
Below left is another of the RSH 0-6-0ST, 3303, shunting TCDD wagons.
The star of the show for me was, below right, 0-8-0T 4402 built by Bagnall of Stafford in 1937 - one of a pair, the other, 4401, was dead on shed. Even in the heyday of industrial steam in the UK, eight coupled locos were not at all common. 4402 is shunting slag ladles at the steelworks tip.
By 1983 all the big UK steelworks had long since gone diesel, so it was good to see these traditional heavy industry steam sights here in Turkey.
MUSEUM LOCOS
A railway museum had been established at Izmir Alsancak shed and was well worth a visit. Part of the shed was still in use for working locos.
These two locos are 60cm gauge and had worked at a TCDD sleeper depot near Izmit. They are Henschel 0-4-0T built in 1918 for the Baghdadbahn, part of the German military effort. The narrow gauge went through the mountains and no less than 95 of these 0-4-0T were supplied for the line.
Some of the museum locos are arranged around the turntable. Nine standard gauge locos were present.
On the left is Robert Stephenson 2-8-2 46103 in the company of Corpet Louvet 2-10-0 56912.
Top left is 45132, a Humboldt 2-8-0 from 1912.
Bottom left is 45501, from Schneider & Co, Creusot in 1927, another 2-8-0. This loco was involved in Turkey's worst train accident in 1957. (Search online for more information).
Above is Robert Stephenson 2-8-2 46103, one of six delivered to the Ottoman Railway Company. It still had ashes in the firebox and looked capable of working again.
Also worthy of a visit was the Ankara Park Railway, opposite the TCDD station. This was 60cm gauge, with two 2-8-2 steam locos built in Turkey, the newest in 1971. Unfortunately due to wet weather the line was not in operation on our visit, though one loco was in steam.
A similar line was at Izmir Culture Park, this had another 2-8-2 which we saw, but the line was not operating.
Another line with one more 2-8-2 was said to be at Erzurum.
All in all, a great trip with a lot achieved in two weeks. A variety of locos in action, footplate rides, photo stops in fabulous scenery, steam boats and a fascinating country. Thanks World Steam and all the TCDD staff who made it possible!
Footnotes:
Much information for this article was gleaned from 'Steam in Turkey' by E Talbot and published by the Continental Railway Circle in 1981.
Nowadays the Izmir railway museum is at Camlik in Izmir Province. (Search online for more information).
More about Ankara Park Railway and its later history at http://www.trainsofturkey.com/index.php/NarrowGauge/ChildrenRailway
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