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Croatia – August 2011

Following Germany was a visit to Split, Dubrovnik and Zagreb. This was going to be another whirlwind tour with a total of 2 days spent in each location.

Split

I'd seen from Google Maps that Split had a main railway station on the water and the line seemed to be the southern-most point of the entire Croatian system. There was quite a bit of freight infrastructure around the base of the harbour, but it was hard to tell from Google if it was still in use.

We landed by plane from Berlin and caught the bus into town. The single line could be seen paralleling the highway, but there was zero traffic. Closer in to town there was a selection of freight stock around an industrial plant, but the larger freight yards further into the city weren't visible from the road.

Split wasn't high on my railway-viewing list; the main reason was to check out the beaches and the town. Therefore the shots taken below were all done within a 20minute segment at Split Station at around 7am on a Wednesday.

First up was 2062 110 shunting the autorail into the station platform.

Next 2062 038 departed with a passenger service, presumably North.

2062 110 then ran back around to it's consist.

DMU 7122 001 arrived with a whole bunch of backpackers... this service gets close to the airport... they may well have been smart enough to only take a taxi a short distance and a train the rest of the way.

2062 110 then shot off north.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik used to have a connected railway line... but... politics prevailed and it was cut off in 1975. It was narrow gauge too! They also used to have a tram in the city, but this was cancelled around the same time.

The beaches though... the beaches are fantastic! Take an island tour... amazing. Unfortunately, the 'old town' is a bit of a disappointment. The shops are all nastily commercial and you have to pay to even get on the city wall.

Zagreb

This place was great... I hadn't expected much from Zagreb; all the reviews were that it was a drab city from the dark ages, but this turned out to be its charm. The city has a railway line through the south and also a large tram network.

There's a funicular tram and also a cable car up in the north which wasn't running the day we were in town.

The main station is known as Zagrebački Glavni kolodvor (Zagreb Main Station). All local and regional railway services start from this location meaning it is quite busy at all times of the day. International services also arrive/depart here and there were often a lot of annoyed backpackers hanging around for late trains.

I then headed west via Tram to the next station along the line. I can't remember the exact name, but it's definitely not in use anymore. The most action seen was the red diesel shunter heading further west.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the abandonded? freight yards to the east of Zagreb Station. There are some interesting 'garden' communities here where it seems everyone gets a plot of land and a shed to grow small crops. The line to the west is also quite busy!

I also took a trip out to Dugo Selo (further east) to see what would pass through. It was a pretty desolate station, but there were people waiting for the train. A loco-hauled service paused briefly in the yard, but it seemed to just collect papers from the station master. Passengers did try to get on it though, obviously faster than the EMU.

The final afternoon was spent at the main station... there's always something going on.

They also even pay respects to bygone eras via a plynth out the front.

The entire album from Croatia is available here.