The Way of the Warrior

Day 4 : 9th September 2002

Tour Review
(by Gary Thornton)

Day four - our final day on this superb railtour. It was to prove to be a bit different as, with the exception of the narrow gauge railway visit, we were using service trains.

A later start was much appreciated. Some however missed out on a cooked breakfast, having assumed it was going to be the same rolls, meat and cheese as the previous morning....my motto is "never assume anything"!

We arrived to find our first service train already in - V43 1054 at the head of a rake of Romanian railway coaches. MAV looked to have cocked-up as we'd been reserved compartments in the 2nd class and not 1st as advertised...a rant soon corrected that and seats were claimed in the rearmost (1st class) compartment coach. Two of our number were a bit dis-chuffed to fins out the V43 was dud for haulage (in one case I can sympathise as he'd only had three of them before!)

En-route to Füzesabony we began to stagger then finally pulled to a halt just short of a station. I was a little puzzled to see an M62 on the opposite track just in front of us but all soon became clear...

....the power was off so the M62 was going to propel us until the V43 was back under juiced-wires. The M62....

M62 178....arrgghh, the one we'd had from Putnok to Miskolc on day two, who could have believed that!?!

M62 178 pushed us for about a kilometre before the V43 took over and sped us onwards to Füzesabony where we changed to the Eger train.

V43 1372, oh dear, my turn to be bowled out with a dud loco! A short sprint had us at Eger where a coach was waiting for us. We also had the services of a Hungarian tourist representative who spoke very good English. A guided coach-tour of Eger was made en-route to the narrow-gauge railway at Felsötárkány. The tourist rep even tried to get us to participate in a sing-song, offering a bottle of wine to whoever could stand up at lunch and sing the song in question in English (or Hungarian). We all decided we'd need to have consumed the bottle of wine first! The song was somewhat bizarre....for the record this is it in both languages;

An old Hungarian Children's Song:

Megy a gözös, megy a gözös Kanizsára
the steamer goes, the steamer goes to Kanizsa

Kanizsai állomásról Kaposvárra
From the station of Kanizsa to Kaposvár

Elöl ül masiniszta
(Ahead sits the driver

Ki a gözöst, ki a gözöst igazitja
Who directs the steamer, the steamer

(repeat)

Elöl ül masiniszta
Ahead sits the driver

Hátul meg a krumpli-fejü kutya Pista
At the back sits the potato-headed dog Stephen

...I kid you not!

The narrow-gauge railway at Felsötárkány was another interesting visit. A C50 greeted us - numbered C04-406 in this railways numbering series. Eyes however fell on a rather small rail-mounted vehicle that looked not unlike a miniature Land-Rover - that just had to be inspected further later!

A good uphill run to the other end of the line was had. We stopped at one point to pick up a passenger (a normal "effing" a Mercia Charters tour, whatever next!)  then once again to be introduced to a local celebrity - a large deer which lived at a local farm.

With plenty of time to make the trip we managed to get a "BSK" move in, the C50 getting right up to the buffers at the end of the line. A propelling move back for a short distance was needed to get to a run-round loop. With the C50 on the other end we arranged a few photo-stops on our way back. One of them in the forest was memorable for we were all promptly set upon by many mosquitoes - making probably the fastest photo-stop in history!!

One stop was at the farm where we'd earlier seen the deer. Apparently they had a celebrity cow too and one of the crew went off to "borrow" said beast to enhance our photographs! Sadly Daisy (or whatever she was called) was dossed out and not available for a public appearance.

The train crew had us sussed and on returning to Felsötárkány we ran right to the buffers!

Back at the railways depot we were given a guided tour by the operating manager. Our coach driver had come along for the ride and he was rather taken by the miniature "Land-Rover" I'd mentioned earlier. So whipped-up by it in fact that he convinced the train crew to start it up and run it down to the buffers! It was explained to us that this vehicle was in fact powered by a Trabant engine - and it sounded it too! To get it turned round it had a rather nifty "foot" which was extended down in between the rails, lifting its wheels off the rail. The whole vehicle was then swivelled round before the foot was retracted dropping the wheels back down onto the rails! This was demonstrated for us much to our amusement!

Our eyes were however on the lines other two locos, which were now very conveniently parked up either side of a single coach.

After a quick negotiation the two C50's were crewed and a top-and-tail run to the buffer stops was made, one powering one way and the other back. Another lines loco cleared!

All in all we had a superb time at this railway - the railway personnel ere a bit unsure what to make of us and our requests but to their credit they did what was asked!

We all piled back on to the bus for the run to the restaurant where we were due to have lunch...all of 50 metres away! We were met by the owner, a Norman Preedy look-alike, and a reasonable meal was had, including a reasonable quantity of wine which was included.

All to soon as we were back at the station for our train back to Budapest and tours end. MAV disgraced themselves again with NO reservation on the train at all! As the first class coach was basically half full the train crew offered three 8-seater compo's in 2nd class but we just invaded the 1st's instead. Not sure if any "normals" moved as a result but we consolidated into a number of compartments as some left at their stops.

We arrived into Budapest Keleti station about on time at 17.33 and walked over to the same hotel we'd had to start with for our last night. A PYB meal was taken at a nearby restaurant before were tired for the night.

Verdict: What a four days! I had been looking forward to this trip for quite a while and it certainly delivered what was hoped for...and much more! It was memorable as much for our off-train activities as on-train...but then again isn't that the way it should be as there is more to life than just railways!

It is hoped/intended that Mercia Charters will be organising a similar trip next year, probably to Hungary again as there are still many things to go and see/do both on and off the train.

Finally - spare a thought for Denzil Morgan, Mercia Charters Publicity Officer. He carted the tour headboard (weighing 8kg) from home (Coventry) to Hungary by air/train only to find that it wouldn't fit on the majority of locos we had!! As you'll see from the photos however we managed to prop it up somewhere for the photos to be taken!

...And also spare a thought for Denzil, Matt, Sutty and a few others who were flying back from Graz in Austria on the Tuesday with RyanAir. Their flight was cancelled (technical defect) and they eventually got back to Stansted a mere 19 hours late! At least three of their group didn't bother to wait and set-off for home by rail!

Route, Distances and Timing's (Booked & Actual)
(by Gary Thornton)

Train Reporting Codes:
517 : Miskolc Tiszai - Füzesabony
5532 : Füzesabony - Eger
???? on narrow gauge
S5503 : Eger - Budapest Keleti

This day ran using service trains, with the exception of the narrow gauge which was opened just for our visit.

Key;
a : arrival time
d : departure time
r : reversal of direction
/ : passing time
A time in brackets is approximate.

All distances, in kilometres, are taken from the timing sheet given out on the train (compiled by Ferenc Joó). No attempt has been made to verify the distances given.

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