Maybe the grilles are for keeping rocks falling down the mountain from clobbering the engineers? Of couse, that would leave the passengers vulnerable, no?
As these are engineers vehicles and are running through work areas I guess they are just protecting the windows from any debris. The windows are of course much nearer the ground than on a locomotive. There are lots of different types of TMD, here is another variety.
Next day, saturday 5th july, we made a point of being at the station in Ljubljana as a steam trip was leaving early afternoon for Naklo during the 100 year celebrations of the line. A steam loco was placed on a plinth at Naklo. A nice clean "Spanka" 644 was stabled. These were built in Spain under licence from EMD Quite a lot of freight trains pass the station, this one is a 363 "Brigitte" on side-tipper ballast wagons. A mixed freight headed by an Austrin "Taurus".
The class 25 steam loco arrives from Siska Roundhouse, just round the corner and backs onto the waiting 4-wheel coaches. The regular steam crew.
One of the Slovenian contacts I had arranged to meet was Stani, conductor of the steam trips. Other Vlaki forum members I had been in contact with. The one in red bought me a beer.
We returned in the evening to see the steam train return. Here the loco has uncoupled, run round and is heading back to the roundhouse. Night shot of a 342
The following day, Sunday, we again took a train to Maribor. The scenery along the route is stunning, so we were happy to take another look. In LJ station several locos were stabled including Brigittes and Mopeds in both earlier yellow livery and the later red.
342-027 was at the head of our train to Maribor, the EC100 Jose Plecnik, Ljubljana-Prague. We rode in a Czech air-conditioned coach.
Plenty of freights run on Sundays. Here are two 363's awaiting departure. A 363 arrives with an Austrian express, heading back home.
On monday we took a diesel railcar for the short run (about 45min) to Kamnik, which is a small town with many medieval buildings. At Domzale we crossed another railcar heading to LJ. Railcar crossing the road just past the station in Kamnik. At the station this old buffet car is in use as a cafe - selling kebabs!
A 'Djurica' was at the station between freight duties, with the crew van usually used on pick-up freights. This gave me a good opportunity to take detailed photos of the van, as I am going to kitbash one (or two).
Thank you for sharing these photos and your experiences. The last time I traveled by rail in Europe there was still an "Iron Curtain" so we only traveled as far East as Austria. Trains did go from Vienna north into what was then Czechoslovakia but we did not take them. Some day I would like to go back.
