Britons rescue Bosnian steam train

By Nicholas Walton
BBC News, Sarajevo

Transporting the train from Bosnia to the UK will take about a week

A sprawling steel works nestling among the mountains of central Bosnia is not the obvious place to come shopping for steam trains.

But a group of British rail enthusiasts has spent more than $100,000 (£51,234) finding and buying an old locomotive, and is now shipping it back to England.

The engine they found is an imposing chunk of dirty black steel, weighing more than 40 tonnes.

It has spent the last half century at the Zenica steel works.

Transporting the locomotive to its new home in England is not an easy job.

Two large railway cranes on Monday hoisted the engine onto a specially adapted lorry.

As the steel ropes held the engine's weight, steel workers guided it onto the trailer using tape measures to get the position just right.

Balkan antiques

Richard White is one of the men behind the project.

"We did a lot of searching, first on the internet and by telephone. Most of this type of locomotive are here in the Balkans, so we knew we'd have to come down here."

The enthusiasts also considered buying a train from a coal mine in Kosovo.

It's partly the sound, it's partly the smells as well - it's evocative of a bygone age Richard White Steam train enthusiast

"The people here smiled when we first contacted them. I don't think they could believe we were serious about buying one of their engines."

Richard says the workers at the steel plant already had experience of the love some British people have for steam trains.

"The previous ambassador to Sarajevo used to contact them to ask if he could drive their locomotives around the site, and they were happy for him to do that."

The journey across Europe will take a week.

After that the serious work of restoring the train will begin.

Disabled access

Once it is finished it will be used on the Mid Hants Watercress Line in southern England.

The enthusiasts hope the engine's cab can be adapted to allow access by the disabled and people in wheelchairs.

It will take two years to refurbish the train for public use

They say they want members of the public to be able to drive the train.

The management of the Zenica steel works thought the project was eccentric, but were pleased to help.

"Certain things that you feel you cannot find a use for and think you need to scrap, there is still life left in it, used for a purpose you could never have imagined," explains MK Srinivasan, director of the works.

Steam power still plays a part in daily life at the works.

Two steam trains help ferry people and steel around the enormous plant, which has more than 100km (62 miles) of track.

The distinctive sounds of the steam and the whistle, the smell of the smoke, are common sights.

"There is something very romantic about steam trains," adds Duran, a worker at the plant.

"They changed the whole world over the last 200 years. And it feels strange sending one of our trains back to Britain, the home of steam railways."

"It's partly the sound, it's partly the smells as well," agrees Richard White.

"It's evocative of a bygone age."

Value for money

Richard says the steam train industry in the United Kingdom is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, covering everything from restoration to catering and holidays.

Even small items such as name plates from old engines can raise thousands at auction.

"You could describe this train as a bargain. If you compare it to an expensive saloon car that will only last ten or twelve years we are getting very good value for money."

In two years' time this old engine from Zenica Steel Works will be back on the rails and as good as new.

That, Richard says, is when they will know that their effort, time and money have all been worthwhile.