The last sighs of steam

Standard Gauge Steam in Bosnia-Herzegovina October 2025

In October 2025, we visited the last steam locomotives in Europe that operate within real revenue services and we were able to experience seven engines of four different classes, all in steam.

Planning the trip was once again a nail-biting experience right up until departure, as the planned train services were only confirmed at the last minute and the final price announced. Until two months before the trip, we were repeatedly told that the engines could be damaged by being used on the line. They were only suitable for shunting purposes, we were told. But wait, these are ‘Kriegsloks’. They don't have to be perfect, but as long as you have a hammer and a can of oil and bravado, the thing should run. I have experienced very frightening things in Turkey, and other countries, so I think I know in what condition steam locomotives are still capable of hauling a train.

After a very successful week in Austria, where on two lines we had to endure welded rails on concrete sleepers and had to search very carefully for visually perfect photo motifs, it was a pleasure to see again rails screwed and lashed to “fragrant” wooden sleepers impregnated with tar oil. Just like in the (good?) old days! And the locomotive stabling areas look just like they used to when they still relied on steam locomotives. Of course, modernisation is also progressing in Bosnia, but much more tentatively than elsewhere. There are still manually operated barriers at level crossings manned by gatekeepers, red-capped station masters, manually operated points, semaphore signals and, in some cases, manned signal boxes. The Bosnian State Railway is simply too poor to afford modernisation. Without an EU aid package, this is likely to remain the case for some time in the future, because on the one hand freight traffic is declining and on the other hand the railway’s customers are not paying their bills.

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Railway in distress

The Bosnian railway company ŽFBiH is in serious financial difficulty. This is due to the companies whose goods it transports (or has transported) but which are unable to pay. This led to three strikes in October 2025: at the Lukavac coking plant, workers went on indefinite strike at the beginning of October. The issues there concern the preservation of around 800 jobs, unpaid wages and the crediting of length of service to that company. One of the reasons for the financial difficulties is that the main customer for coke, the steelworks in Zenica, has shut down production for two months from November 2023 because steel production no longer appeared to be economically viable. However, business continued to be so poor that in 2025, ArcelorMittal sold the Zenica steelworks to the Pavgord Group, accepting a loss of $200 million. In October, the Zenica coal mine was also hit by strikes because it too was unable to pay wages. It also supplies the steelworks next door. Both the now insolvent Lukavac coking plant and the Zenica steelworks are important freight customers of the Bosnian State Railways, especially in the Republika Srpska. The coking plant obtains or obtained large quantities of coal from Croatia, which was transported by train as well. On 8 October 2025, railway workers went on strike because they had not yet received their August salaries. The coking plant alone owes ŽFBiH over €8 million – a considerable amount by Bosnian standards.

As a result, a few days before the start of the tour, not a single railway wheel was moving in the (predominantly Serb-inhabited) Republika Srpska, and I could only hold my breath and hope that the problem would not spill over into the Muslim part of Bosnia, i.e., the (Bosnian-Croatian) Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the coking plant is located. Fortunately, this was not the case, and everything ran like clockwork on the Bosnian railway. Let's put it this way: if the employer doesn't pay, then the customer with special requests has to take over. Without tips, not much happens here ...

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Kreka coal mines and the war

What war, you may ask, as there is currently no war in Bosnia. However, the emphasis is on currently, and there are certain politicians who like to stir things up. And in the Balkans, verbal exchanges can quickly become a spark that can ignite entire regions. Nevertheless, I do not currently see a new civil war on the horizon, as the EU is exerting a moderating influence and Bosnia-Herzegovina's desired accession to the EU is a possible way to bring lasting peace to the region.

One reason why the Kreka Coal Mine Administration has not yet abandoned steam traction is that there was no diesel fuel available during the civil war in the 1990s. There were hardly any buses and only a few diesel locomotives – but steam locomotives ran very well on local coal. It was even reported that a passenger train service was offered, hauled by steam locomotives, in order to at least partially meet the most urgent transport needs. And since there has been a certain tension in the air again for some time now, there is no desire to say goodbye to the steam locomotives. Because if you get rid of them, that would also mean having no electricity in case of a diesel fuel crises. The coal has to be transported from the open-cast and underground mines to the power station somehow. The state railway has taken over these services to such an extent that even the feeder services from the coal mines to the nearest state railway station are in the hands of the state railway. This increases the state railway's income base and condemns the steam locomotives to shunting duties in the Šikulje and Dubrave coal mines. Since the light engine transfers of the steam locomotives from the workshop in Bukinje to the mines the Kreka administration also cost a lot of money, it was decided to place two locomotives in each of the mines and to carry out running maintenance and minor repairs there. This means that there is always one operating locomotive and one spare locomotive in the mines, and only one of the five locos belonging to the operating fleet is in the workshop Bukinje.

The number of skilled workers employed at the workshop has fallen to a bare minimum. There are now only four fitters. It is easy to imagine how long a heavy overhaul takes – not to mention the financial problems that arise if spare parts have to be procured. This situation counters the desire to maintain steam. But this is by no means the only threat to the last Kriegsloks in regular service.

The Kreka coal mines in Bukinje and further north in Lipnica have been closed for years. However, Kreka still operates the workshop in Bukinje, where heavy overhauls are carried out. The old mine site lies fallow. In Lipnica, the mine facilities have been almost completely removed, and the track leading there has also been dismantled, but in Bukinje everything is still standing or lying around. The marshalling yard in Bukinje is quite large, and so is the unused site, which is dedicated for commercial use and therefore arouses interest. The Kreka Coal Mine Administration has now received an offer to purchase the entire site in Bukinje, including the workshop. The offer comes from a company that is active in the defence sector. Since armaments are currently selling like hot cakes, this company is unlikely to have any financial problems, unlike Kreka, which “only” produces electricity for peace. The offer includes not only the takeover of the site, but also the shunting services in the coal mines. This gets along with the local mindset about a feared, possible but rather unlikely hard ethnical confrontation in Bosnia and, not to forget, a very real war northeast of Bosnia. It is posing a further threat to the remaining steam operations in Bosnia.

After all, it is difficult to imagine that anyone would want to continue using the workshop for the maintenance of steam locomotives, especially if they are not so strapped for cash that they cannot even afford a handful of used shunting diesel locos. Diesel locomotive maintenance would then no longer have to take place in Bukinje.

The third major threat to steam locomotives is undoubtedly the environmental debate. The boiler of a steam locomotive cannot be made to evaporate water using a heat pump. However, the EU's declared goal is to phase out coal combustion, even though the consumption of steam locomotives does not even account for one-tenth of one per cent of the consumption of the power station they supply.

In any case, the continuation of steam operation is under pressure from several sides, and it can be assumed that the final end will come without much warning in advance in a not-too-distant future.

In Šikulje, 33 504 served as a spare and 33 236 as an operational locomotive, while in Dubrave, 33 503 served as a standby and 33 248 as the main operational locomotive. 33 064 was in the Bukinje workshop to have its superheater elements replaced.

33 248 is the best horse in the stable. Not visually, but technically, even though the water gauge has no protective cage, the crew seats have now been removed, and the regulator has a noticeable amount of play. This loco was used for our charter trains. After the tour, we received confirmation from the general manager of the Kreka coal mines that we had not damaged the locomotive and that the engine had returned to Dubrave in perfect condition (in which it never was).

The German Reichsbahn class 52 locomotive, now 33 248, has the serial number Borsig 16277 stamped to its frame and underneath it the plate Henschel manufacturer’s no. 28370 riveted, which suggests that the order was transferred from Borsig to Henschel during construction.

The locomotive had a pleasant patina. The high-gloss engines of most museum railways with ‘metallic paint’, shiny brass rings, sometimes even chrome and colourful decorative lining often offend your eyes. With the Tuzla locomotives, there is no need to reduce saturation in Photoshop. They look like real workhorses, like engines that are harnessed to trains to earn money and not to cart (sometimes clueless) tourists around.

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Banovići on the decline

Steam operations are declining. 62 125 (also a derivate of a Kriegslok, USATC S100), which was still able to accelerate powerfully in 2024 despite its completely jammed valve settings, is now only a shadow of its former self. They tried to fire it up for us, but had to abandon that attempt due to severe tube leakage. It barely reached more than 5 bar boiler pressure. We then had the poor creature moved into a photo position for night shots using the shunting diesel locomotive.

Škoda 19-12 remains out of service with its damaged bearing, and there are no plans to repair it.

In the narrow-gauge section of Oskova, 25-30 was still able to move itself and perhaps three or four wagons, while the shunting at the coal unloading point was handled by 83 159, which was in good condition. Its sister engine, 83 158, was in the Banovići repair workshop. 55 99 was also there, and in front of the assembling workshop and, after completing its overhaul, was repainted by four people at the same time. Why all this? No one could answer that question. An attempt at an explanation could be the start of the heavy overhaul: this was already planned in 2023, when the old general manager was still in office. And, in stark contrast to the current occupant of this chair, he was very open to special photo charter trains and tourist excursions. For almost two years now, the current boss has claimed that there is no official price list for charter trains and that for this reason it is not possible to offer special trains. Yes, really!

Some of the shunting operations with steam, arranged in Oskova, also had to be done very quickly. Production is the top priority, and the tracks cannot be blocked with additional shunting movements, we were told. However, when you observe the unloading speed, whereby the term ‘speed’ is rather misplaced, you wonder why the tracks are needed so urgently. It is more likely that there is a lack of willingness.

It is to be feared that no steam will move a carriage on the standard gauge section again. However, shunting operations will continue in the narrow-gauge section with the Bosnian veteran of the class 83; but no more charter trains will be seen on the line. Given the usual length of time that general managers remain in their posts, however, there is still hope. At least we were allowed to visit the workshop. Not all is lost yet!

Bosnian steam may be down, but it is absolutely and certainly, not out! We’ve planned another visit in October 2026.

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