Don’t Miss The Fine Pink Steam Engine…

"Don't miss the fine pink steam engine" said the guide book to Northern Cyprus, adding that the engine in question, preserved at Guzelyurt in the north west of the island, was the only surviving relic of the railways of Cyprus. This didn't look too promising for a rail fan on holiday but how wrong it proved to be!

Two days after finding No. 1 we set off for Guzelyurt in search of the fine pink steam loco.  A thorough search of the town failed to reveal it.  Lunch time was beckoning and we had already decided on lunch at the CMC bar at Xeros, a place which the guide book described as being a de facto museum of the old mining days as well as providing the best fish and chips in Cyprus. 

Both turned out to be true!  The walls of the bar were adorned with a variety of notices, signs, builders plates and other relics from the mine including at least two loco builders plates.  Even the bar itself was built with the pyrites from which the copper ore was extracted.  Immediately outside the mine company’s old steam tugboat was moored alongside the remains of the jetty.  The part of the jetty nearest the shore had collapsed leaving the rails suspended in mid-air.  This has not stopped some of the locals from clambering precariously over the rails in order to go fishing at the far end!  The track came to an abrupt end at the road outside the bar.  Over the road lay a large United Nations army base, currently staffed by the Argentine army, from which peace-keeping operations on this part of the Atilla line are run.  Beside it stretched the remains of the mine company’s yard, barren from the copper waste and, so far as could be seen from the road, entirely empty save for the remains of two hopper wagons.

Gemal, the genial owner of the bar, talked happily about the relics under his care.  I asked him if he could guide us towards the elusive pink steam engine.  Yes, he replied, he could.  Then he asked, with a twinkle in his eye, “Why go all the way to Guzelyurt to see a railway engine when there were ten of them in the mining yard just over the road?!”

A happy half hour followed exploring the yard.  The nearest loco, just out of sight of the road, was a fairly modern 0-6-0 diesel at the head of a long train of hoppers.  Further in were two small diesels built by the Plymouth factory in the U.S.A., one of the plates of which we had earlier seen on the wall at the bar, and several of the small 0-4-0 petrol shunters, most of which had had their engines removed.  Finally, at the far end of the yard stood 0-8-2T no. 4, a magnificent steam engine with side tanks stretching to the front of its smokebox, still looking in remarkably good condition considering it must be over forty years since it last ran.  All around was eerily quiet but the silence gradually gave way to a gentle tolling of bells as a herd of goats made its way into the yard and started to pick at the meagre shrubs around No. 4.