European Railroad Discussion > Mukachevo Ukraine, Oct 2019

Hi All, 

Probably a repost, but I came across these in a folder today, and am impressed with them.  

Mukachevo, Ukraine.  October 2019.  

Mukachevo is in the far Southwest of Ukraine.  As far from the war as you can get.  I hope things are going as well as possible there now.  And that the war ends with peace sometime soon.  

It was a beautiful October day, I spent a lot of the day lingering around the train station, watching the parade of local trains, long distance trains, and freight trains.  And a few Hungarian rail buses leave on the European guage track, headed for the Hungarian border.  The city had a good bustle to it.  

I think I shot these with a Canon DSLR, not my iPhone.  I can zoom in to any specific areas of interest.  Post a request.  

https://opentopomap.org/#map=16/48.42800/22.71077 (overhead photos taken from the pedestrian overpass just west of the station) 
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.4289203,22.7095953,522m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=48.428830362804874&lon=22.71646499633789&zoom=16
https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=gauge&lat=48.427064790986094&lon=22.70601511001587&zoom=16 (Track gauge map, showing the European Gauge track ending on a spur a few blocks west of the main station) 

Questions, comments, observations?  

Ted in OR



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/24 00:38 by gobbl3gook.

---

---

---

Ted,  Thanks for this interesting posting.  It's a bit early right now, but I'd like to go to the Pizzeria Kolizey later on.  Gerry

Nice!

Lots of equipment on the motor to the right in pic 1. High clearances have their benefits.

Posted from Android

Mukachevo, Ukraine has an interesting history, that's for sure. Today it at the point where Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine meet.  In recent centuries it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, a trading point for travel on to Russia. Hence the Russian gauge and European gauge tracks. Awarded to Czechoslovokia in 1918, taken by Hungary in 1938, re-taken by the Red Army in late 1944. Awarded initially to Czechoslovakia, and then given to Soviet Ukraine. It was also, briefly controlled by Romania.

Initially its Jewish residents were protected by the Hungarian leadership, but were massacred in 1944 when the Nazis took control of their former ally Hungary.

Terrific images, all. But number one really grabs my attention - so many interesting things to see there. As you stated, one hopes that all is well for the people there, and throughout Ukraine. They have been though so, so much.

Lackawanna484's historical comments on Mukachevo were fascinating. I was not specifically aware of this location, but have had contact otherwise with the scope of that history. And someone who was of considerable importance to our hobby would have immediately identified with that history as well, former Southern Railway General Counsel and head of its steam excursion program, Mr. James Bistline.

On a Southern 4501 steam excursion out of St. Louis for which I was the trip chairman, he sat down next to me in a coach late on a pleasant summer's afternoon as we were heading back to St. Louis. I had spoken and corresponded with him in making the trip arrangements, so he knew my name, which is of Czech descent. He asked about that, about my family's history, and then explained that he had a deep interest in eastern European history. I found over the next 30 minutes or so that it was far more than mere interest. He was deeply read and quite learned on the subject, and could have carried on an erudite discussion in that field with any professor or scholar. I was amazed. I knew he was a well-educated man (Duke, Columbia law), and a very good lawyer (he represented SR well in some very important cases). But never would I have imagined that his interests, courtly gentleman and railroad attorney that he was, would trend to such topics.

My guess is that were he still with us (he passed away in 2005), and were a TO member and saw these photos, he would be 1) fascinated with the variety of rail equipment and would engage in a detailed discussion about the various locomotive and car types, and 2) would soon after launch into a detailed and scholarly discussion about the history of Ukraine and its relationship to its two powerful neighbors, Austria-Hungary to the west, and Russia to the east. Any of us would have been fascinated. Some biographical information on Mr. Bistline (pronounced "Beist-line", with a hard "i": https://steamspecials.com/in-memoriam/james-a-bistline/

Our railfan and railroading world has a lot more depth and diversity to it than we sometimes think that it does.

Thanks again for the marvelous images. And prayers for Ukraine.

MC



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/24 17:32 by ironmtn.

Very nice post, thanks, I recognized the name but not the details of his life well-lived! Charlie Rice

Charles Rice
Saint Louis, MO