This is from a June, 2010 letter:
Thirty Eight years ago, (in 1972) Suzi and I fleetingly encountered a narrow gauge steam powered train while driving the back roads of Bosnia. Last week, near the same place, we saw that train again. The rail company is just re-opening the narrow gauge line into Bosnia after closing it in the 70s. This time we chased the train to get a better look, driving onto side roads and catching up with it at a siding where the engine could un-hook its cars, shuffle around to the other side of the train, and pull the train back into Serbia, the engine would now be going backwards because there was no roundhouse in which to turn the engine, but at least it would be pulling rather than pushing.
Tracking a steam train is not all that difficult. Residual steam puffs hang in the mountain rain. We took a wrong turn and I knew it immediately because I could smell coal smoke. The train had been here and gone. This is the same line we encountered last year at Mokra Gora where we had our summer school, but the construction has pushed the line into Bosnia towards Visegrad. The train makes an excursion trip from Mokra Gora to the Dobrun Monastery just over the border in Bosnia.
(We took the pictures with clear skies at the Monastery in 2009 on an excursion from Mokra Gora.)
