tarboat's photos with the keyword: banovici

A pair of 83 class 0-8-2 locomotives head a train of empty coal wagons for the opencast mine loading point at Turija on the 760mm gauge Banovici coal railway. The train is on the lower section of the line between the interchange with the state railway at Oskova and Banovici town.

Loaded skip at the spoil chutes of the Oskova coal washery. This was a long ropeway running over wooded ridges to the dirt tips. This is a reprocessing of an image posted many years ago.

The now dismantled ropeway carrying spoil from the coal washery at Oskova to the tip had this protective structure over the road in Jezevak village. Banovici, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A pair of class 83 0-8-2 locomotives west of Banovici as they get to grips with the climb to Turija opencast coal mine.

Brown coal mining in the Tuzla region of Bosnia-Herzegovina is largely from opencast workings, but there are a few underground mines too. These are the loading bunkers for coal being brought by conveyor from a drift adjacent to the mining railway workshops in Banovici. From here the coal was taken by rail to the washery at Oskova a few miles away. At the time of my visit this drift mine was not working and I do not know if it ever reopened.

The light is fading on a cold, snowy afternoon as coal from the opencast mines arrives at the Oskova washery on the Banovici narrow gauge system.

Winter murk as Kriegslok 33-503 nears Banovici with coal empties from Tuzla.

Loaded skip at the spoil chutes of the Oskova coal washery. This is a long ropeway running for several kilometres over wooded ridges to the dirt tips.

Shunting the coal washery at Banovici in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A 'Kriegslok' approaches a rural crossing with the coal empties for Banovici washery. The first snows of winter had carpeted most of Bosnia over the previous few days.

Frames, with boiler behind, from a locomotive under major overhaul at the repair shops of the Banovici Coal Railway.

I don't take much pleasure in photographing lines of rusting, derelict locomotives and have to seek alternative approaches. In the yard of the Banovici works there were several disused locomotives of a variety of classes, including this example of a class 25 tank engine which were still sometimes used to shunt the washery and sidings at Oskova. It is seen here through the glassless window of the one of the loco cabs lying around on the ground.

The dirt tips of the Banovici washery are several kilometres from the mine over hilly terrain. The waste material is transported by this aerial ropeway, seen here about 2 kilometres from the mine.

83-158 departing the yard at Oskova on the Banovici Coal Railway with a train of empties for the Turija opencast loading point.

Two 83 class 0-8-2 locomotives shunting at the opencast mine loading point at Turija on the 760mm gauge Banovici coal railway.

Evening in the yard at Oskova on the Banovici coal railway. 0-8-2 locomotives 83-158 and 83-159 simmer by the water column.

I really wanted to see the ropeway loading and start point at Banovici but it was hidden at the back of the washery, well out of the public gaze. However, fortune favours the brave, and after a series of misadventures I finally found myself watching the tubs of dirt as they began their long journey to the tip with a steep climb of the ridge behind the loading station.

A pair of class 83 0-8-2 locomotives pass a mosque west of Banovici as they head uphill with the empties for Turija opencast mine.