The Eye of the Beholder

Day 4 : 18th September 2003

Train Reporting Codes:
13650 : Debrecen - Szerencs
13524 : Szerencs - Sátoraljaújhely
????? : Pálháza - Rostallo
????? : Rostallo - Pálháza
13523 : Sátoraljaújhely - Budapest Keleti pu.
[20151 : Budapest Keleti pu. - MÁV museum] - ECS move

Notes :
(1) V46 023 was used to shunt-release M62 127 at Budapest Keleti, most passengers got back on the stock for the shunt! M61 006 was then used to get the stock back to the MÁV museum, tour participants being allowed to ride on the stock as far as Rákos Rendezö station. The journey with M61 006 was later reported as 15.5km.

Tour Review
(by Trevor Cockram)

So today's your birthday, and what will your friends get up to? An earlier arrival than booked at the station was requested. The revenue protection squad was out on the tram today, our ticket in Debrecen was Mrs H's business card so would be in for the full half hour argument? No that will do nicely!

M44 416 (ex M44 204) brought the stock in from the carriage sidings (not unexpected as it had been on pilot duties). It then ran round our stock and buffers up as if to work the train. It so happens, that birthday boy and Matt Reeves are the only people in the party to have the loco before! All is explained when a headboard "Happy Birthday Sutty" is produced by Ferenc. Suitably wound up the pilot loco goes off on its duties and the booked engine M44 052 of the unmodified Ganz engine type takes out my the now familiar route to Nyíregyháza and then on line 100c to Szerencs. As the train is due to run round here a bashing move up the line behind M41 2175 is taken by some, whilst others photograph the loco's in the yard and on shed. After a brief photostop near Mezözombor, we collected the bashers at Bodrogkeresztúr getting off from M41 2178 and bonus powering on the rear M41 2165. The destination was the Slovak boarder station at Sátoraljaújhely, which is also the location of a scrap yard where many of the MAV loco's meet their end. Everyone in the party made the walking visit to the scrap yard. Most class were represented including V43 1034 (originally V43 1134) M28 1016, M32 2028, M32 2035, and representatives of class M43. During the visit the stock had been shunted into the sidings by M41 2181 (the only appearance of this class on the tour and no one had it!). Time for bus transfer to lunch at the Hunor hotel. A slight problem as the bus was a little small for all of the tour participants and all of their luggage.

The lunch was excellent, consisting of chicken noodle soup, Grilled port schnitzel with a kidney and mushroom sauce and for the first time on the tour chips. This was followed by fruit pancakes and cream and of course birthday cake washed down with beer or wine. Following various speeches Mrs H was presented with a suitably printed 'T' shirt.

On to Pálháza for the narrow gauge trip, the remains of the former MÁV Hegyközi Kisvasút narrow gauge line was visible for much of the way from Sátoraljaújhely with many of the bridges intact. The line was abandoned in 1980, with the remaining AÉV Pálháza forest railway reopening in 1989. The first one kilometre section of the current forest railway is in fact on the reinstated MÁV trackbed. The service train was in the platform, with the special propelled from the depot so that our special could run in front. Our loco C50 type PAÉV C01403 hauled two semi-open carriages. A depot visit was made at Pálháza Ipatelep where C01402 was dead in the depot (the only one Denzil requires!), one of the original steam engine boilers was on show surviving due to its use in the local sawmills as a steam generator. A photo stop was staged at Kökapu where the line passes through a short tunnel. The current end of the line is at Rostallo, however the line original ran as far as Susulya. Here we waited for the service train to arrive, which happened to be empty stock. A complex shunt allowed the locos to be swapped. A return to be headed by PAÉV C01401. For much of the return journey however, the loco was dead and the guard skilfully operating the hand brake on the leading coach controlled our decent. Luckily the final part of the journey is on an upgrade so 1401 had a chance to provide power back to Pálháza.

Back to the bus, Borsod Volán BPR114. Leaving the station yard was not without incident, as a lamppost is no longer upright! The presence of a number of police cars near Sátoraljaújhely station may just be a coincidence.

M47 1313 (ex M47 2059) was the motive power for the first stage of the journey back to Budapest. A very brief stop to photograph a derelict steam loco from the train was made before a lengthier stop at Sárospatak to cross the evening IP unit. The quality of the packed meal tonight was the best of all the packed meals on the trip. By the time Miscolc-Tiszai was reach slightly early it was dark. V46 060 was substituted on the front for the run to Hatvan. The final official loco change took place quickly with M62 127 being allowed to leave before the 21:31 all stations electric service. A very spirited run resulted in the tour arriving at Budapest Keleti 20 minutes early.

The use of M61 006 for the ECS move back to the museum had been confirmed so many participants remained. Bonus loco V46 023 was provided to release to stock so that the M62 could return to its home depot at Hatvan. Soon the distinctive General Motors sound of the Nohab was heard. About 75% of the party remained on board for the ECS move via Köbánya felsö to Rákos Rendezö where everyone disembarked and the stock was propelled back to the museum. Taxis were then arranged back to the hotel.

In summary yet again an excellent trip thanks to the hard work put in by the Mercia Stewards, Ferenc Joó, Mrs Hidvegi and her team at MÁV Nosztalgia.

Trevor Cockram

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

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

All distances between locations, in kilometres, are taken from the official timing sheet given out on the train. No attempt has been made to verify the distances given.

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