Locomotive of the State Railways of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes for the narrow gauge track of 760mm – Mechanical Department of the Sarajevo Directorate, 1923. This is the original title of the booklet we are exclusively publishing.
This rare and well-preserved document (a collector’s rarity) visually and technically depicts narrow-gauge locomotives that operated on the railways of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Indeed, after the end of World War I, workshops and boiler rooms across Bosnia and Herzegovina encountered locomotives of various types and manufacturers (Germany, Austria, Hungary, etc.) that required a complete overhaul. However, even then, it couldn’t be classified as simple servicing because spare parts for these locomotive types were unavailable, and due to the obsolescence of the traction equipment, serial production of most of them was discontinued. According to some sources, after the end of the war, the Sarajevo Directorate operated approximately 290 narrow-gauge locomotives, with about 50% of them undergoing repairs.
Due to the decreased number of qualified workers (almost all foreign workers were repatriated after the war, or replaced by workers who participated in the general railway strike of 1920) and in order to meet the needs of railway traffic across Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, as well as for vocational training and skill development, in 1923 a Craft School was established at the Main Railway Workshop in Sarajevo. At that time, this was the only school for manual trades with practical training in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We can assume that the first generations of graduating students (one of the professions being technical clerk-draftsman) created this document back in 1923. It was made by hand on a blue-backed paper with white ink. For today’s generations, this rare document serves as proof and as a subject of study in the history of narrow-gauge steam locomotives in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The booklet contains series of locomotives: 73; 83; 90; 97 (cogwheel); 173; 176; 178; 185; 186; 189; 191 (radial); 195 (older type cogwheel); and 196.
Srećko Ignjatović
