Using my new slide-scanner I scanned some
slides of Polish export to Lebanon from 1977... Three
SP45-like locomotives were found in a shed near the
freightyard in Beirout, during my tour to Middle-East in
1997. The locomotives had no duties anymore beacause of
the suspension of all the traffic some time before, but
the staff was still there and every day the motors of
each engine was started to ride a few metres for loading
the batteries! Everywhere in the roof of the shed you
could see holes from bullets, used in the civil war here.
Holes of bullets were in some waggons too. At the time of
our visit there were plans to start freight traffic, but
as far as I know it didn't happen. A lot of the tracks
disappeared under asphalt and even houses... A lot of
dust was on the windows of the locomotives as you can see
on the pics. A pity we couldn't make photos in the open
air. The slides were taken on July 10 1997. |