DIE JZ IN DEN 80ER JAHREN [ THE JZ IN THE 1980s ] EISENBAHNFASZINATION IN NORD-SLOWENIAN [ RAILWAYS OF NORTHERN SLOVENIA ]

By Michael A Grandits / Otto Leiss THESE two books published by Austrian publisher RMG focus on the former Yugoslavia, somewhere that has become very popular with British visitors in recent decades, with railway enthusiasts seeking out EMD-design diesels that even now still work a handful of passenger trains. The first book covers the entire former Yugoslav Railways (JZ) in the 1980s, when tourist visits – especially to coastal areas and Slovenia – were becoming common for western visitors, and before the series of wars in the 1990s that followed the break up of Yugoslavia. The book begins with a summary listing of the JZ fleet and then has a series of colour pictures of various locomotive types – including steam, which was still in mostly industrial use in several places in the mid-1980s (and, rather amazingly, still is today in Bosnia). The second half of the book is black and white pictures covering everything from locomotives to track maintenance machines. The second book covers the north of Slovenia in the present day. Most of the high-quality colour pictures were taken in the period 2014-2018 and, although the older DMUs depicted have mostly been replaced by new Stadler DEMUs since then, little else in the pictures has changed. The book covers two of the country’s main non-electrified lines: the former ‘Transalpina’ international mainline from Jesenice to Nova Gorica, with multiple pictures and details of the ‘Autovlak’ car carrying train that runs daily, normally powered by EMDdesign diesel locos. The other line covered in detail is the line along the Drava valley from Maribor to Bleiburg in Austria, with multiple high-quality colour pictures. Both books are largely pictorial without any lengthy text. The text and captions are in German but many readers, with an interest in railways in the area, will be able to work out what is shown even if they are not German readers. Recommended to anyone interested in the railways of Slovenia or the former Yugoslavia. KF Published by Rail Media Group www.rmg-verlag.at 96 pages, hardback. €35 (The JZ) 144 pages, hardback. €40 (Northern Slovenia)