The west and south coastal areas of Turkey are the most familiar to Western holidaymakers but the interior, Black Sea coast and east of the country are less visited. As Western railway enthusiasts found less and less to attract them in Europe they discovered that Turkey had steam locomotives aplenty, reflecting the fact that this was a country that had embraced Western industrialisation and modernisation under Kemal Ataturk in the early 1900s ahead of most other Middle Eastern countries. This, and the shifting alliances Turkey had embraced, was also reflected in the variety of countries that had built the steam locomotives. Examples could be found from builders in Germany, Sweden, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. These varied from ancient specimens of Prussian State railway design to modern ten coupled designs built after the Second World War.Finding and photographing trains presented certain problems. Train services in this large country could be sparse, timekeeping notoriously unreliable and the roads, very often of dirt, hazardous. However, if these problems could be endured the landscape offered fantastic photographic opportunities.
Turkish Steam Railways Paperback edition by Mick Pope
Mick Pope is based in the north-west of England and has had an interest in the railways since a young age - his great-grandfather was a stationmaster and he caught the railway bug himself from a young age as he began to capture the final years of steam.
Author Mick Pope
ISBN-139781445687827
Format Paperback,
Publisher Amberley Publishing
Publication dateJ ul 15, 2019
Pages96Product dimensions 165 x 234 x 8mm
Turkey has some good railway museums worth visiting for art lovers and train enthusiasts. Most of these train museums are sponsored by Turkish State Railways and display steam locomotives. This is the list of 6 best Turkish railway museums.
TURKISH TRAIN MUSEUMS
Railways have historical importance for Turkey. A railway museum is a kind of museum which explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including locomotives, railway cars, trams and railway signalling equipment.
Turkish railway museums preserve both the physical elements and heritage of railways in Turkey and abroad. It is so touching to walk around, among the old and colourful vagons. You all will love it.
Some of the best train museums for you to visit in Turkey;
Camlik Railway Museum: Camlik Railway Museum is an outdoor railway museum at Camlik village of Selcuk district in Izmir province, Turkey. This museum is the largest railway museum in Turkey and contains one of the largest steam locomotive collections in Europe.
Istanbul Railway Museum: Istanbul Railway Museum is a small museum can be visited within the Sirkeci Train Station. There is a collection of objects and souvenirs.
Eskisehir Railway Museum: Eskisehir Railway Museum is a compact museum close to the railway station, only for train enthusiasts. It is worth to look if you are waiting on a departure.
TCDD Steam Locomotive Museum: TCDD Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum is a railroad museum in Ankara, Turkey. This museum is owned and operated by the Turkish State Railways.
Halic Rahmi Koc Museum: Halic Rahmi Koc Museum is the high quality industrial museum, located in Istanbul. Most of the items exhibited in the museum are selected from Rahmi Koc's private collection. Original machines and their replicas, scientific and mechanical items make up the basis of the museum's exhibits.
Çengelhan Rahmi M. Koç Museum The collection covers a wide range of railway objects from the items used in Orient Express and the model trains in working order to those of 19th century toy trains.
LMS Stanier Class 8F
The London Midland and Scottish Railway's 8F class 2-8-0 heavy freight locomotive is a class of steam locomotive designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order), as a freight version of William Stanier's successful Black Five, and the class saw extensive service overseas during and after the Second World War.Twenty five new WD locomotives were sold to Turkish State Railways (TCDD) in 1941 for diplomatic reasons, but seven of these were lost at sea en route (246-338, 343-345, 354-356. 345 sunk when the SS Jesmore collided with Baron Pentland on 16 February 1941). Two more locomotives were delivered in 1943, making a total of 20. These served as the TCDD 45151 Class, operating until the 1980s.TCDD 2201 Class
The Turkish State Railways (TCDD) 2201 Class was a class of 0-4-0ST steam locomotives.
They were built by Sharp, Stewart and Company of Manchester, England for the Ottoman Railway Company and were taken over by TCDD later. The 4 locomotives in this class were numbered 36-39, later 2201-2204. The first arrived in 1889. At least two, 2201 & 2204, were still in service in 1955 and 2202 was reported to be scrapped in 1956.
TCDD 5701 Class
The TCDD (Turkish Republic Railways) 5701 Class is a class of 2-10-2 side tank steam locomotives for banking at Bilecik. They were the last new main line steam locomotives built for TCDD. Two were built by Henschel in 1951 and two by Jung in 1952 based on the German DRG BR 85. The first of the class, 5701 survives at the Çamlık Railway Museum.
TCDD 45151 ClassThe TCDD (Turkish Republic Railways) 45151 Class is a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotives which were acquired from the British War Department to the LMS Stanier Class 8F design.
On the outbreak of the Second World War British locomotive manufacturers could no longer supply an order for 2-10-0s similar to the TCDD 56001 Class, derived from the German BR 42, for TCDD at the original price and conditions. (These locomotives were eventually delivered after the war as the TCDD 56080 Class). However, Nazi Germany stepped in to offer neutral Turkey DRG BR 52-type Kriegsloks which became the 56501 Class. Diplomatically embarrassed, the British offered the Turks 25 of the LMS Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0s, which had been adopted by the War Department as their standard heavy freight locomotive.
The engines selected were built by the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow. Originally intended for WD service but the Fall of France saw them earmarked for the LMS before they were diverted to Turkey.
The locomotives were shipped as a kit of parts (other 8Fs destined for the Middle East went complete) via the Cape of Good Hope and the Suez Canal since the Mediterranean was too dangerous for Allied shipping. Seven failed to complete the journey. The vessel transporting them, the SS Jessmore, was involved in a collision in the Atlantic with another ship in the convoy on 19 February 1941. The Jessmore sank with the loss of its cargo [343,344,345] a few days later. Four more received the same watery fate [338,354,355,356] when the MV Berhala was torpedoed by U-38 on 23 May 1941 off Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The remaining 18 locomotives were transhipped at Port Said in Egypt and went overland to Turkey where they were renumbered 45151-68. Re-erection was in Sivas under the direction of R.G. Jarvis of the LMS. In 1943 they were joined by 2 more classmates, (45169/70) taking the class number to 20, in lieu of the lost engines. These were joined by a gift of 29 of the Lend-Lease S200 Class 2-8-2s which formed the TCDD 46201 Class.
Designed for British conditions, the 8Fs were not suited to Turkish circumstances. Though large for British engines, they were underpowered by Turkish standards and so could not ascend the steep grades unassisted. Their lack of drop grates also prevented them from long-distance working. They were thus relegated to shunting and local trip freights. The Turkish railwaymen referred to them as "Churchills" after British prime minister Winston Churchill.
The locomotives lasted into the 1980s where they became of special interest of British railway enthusiasts venturing abroad after the demise of steam in Britain.
Three of the Turkish 8Fs have been preserved. No. 45161 is a static exhibit at the Çamlık Railway Museum. 45168 is preserved and was seen on display at Izmit Station in September 2010. No. 45160 was repatriated to Great Britain in 1989 by the Churchill 8F Locomotive Company Limited where it is Operational on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
In October 2010, two of the six remaining derelict examples in Turkey (45166 and 45170) were acquired by the 3 members of the Churchill 8F Locomotive Company Limited. The two locomotives travelled by rail from Sivas depot to Izmir where they were loaded onto a ship for transport back to the UK. They arrived at Royal Portbury Dock on Boxing Day 2010 aboard the MV Grande Scandinavia (Grimaldi Group). The transportation of the locomotives across Turkey was the subject of an episode of the documentary television series Monster Moves in 2011.
45170 is currently stored in the Museum of Scottish Railways at the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway awaiting restoration by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society. 45166, meanwhile, was sold to the municipality of Beersheba in Israel in December 2012, and has now been cosmetically restored and put on display at the Be'er Sheva Turkish Railway Station.
TCDD 45171 ClassTCDD (Turkish Republic Railways) 45171 Class is a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotives. The class was formed when 50 USATC S160 Class were bought in 1947.
TCDD also acquired USATC S200 Class 2-8-2s which formed the 46201 Class.
Two, have survived to preservation; 45172 at Çamlık Railway Museum and 45174 at the TCDD Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum in Ankara. Numerous other S160s also exist.
After the war, TCDD acquired 24 more engines, Nos. 46230–53, which were mostly oil-burners. The Turks also obtained ex-USATC S160 Class 2-8-0s which formed the 45171 Class.
Two have been preserved, 46244 at Çamlık Railway Museum and 46224 at the TCDD Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum in Ankara.
TCDD 46201 Class
The Turkish Republic Railways (TCDD) 46201 Class is a class of ex-USATC Lend-Lease S200 Class 2-8-2 steam locomotives.
The USATC S200 Class was an American-designed locomotive which they lent-leased to the British for use in the Middle East. The first 29 locomotives, Nos. 46201–29 were delivered to the Turks in 1943. All were coal-burners. The Allies wanted to ensure that the Turks had efficient railway network should their supply lines extend through Turkey, while keeping neutral Turkey friendly towards them. Nazi Germany meanwhile also supplied DRG BR 52-type Kriegsloks to the Turks in 1943 which formed the 56501 Class.
After the war, TCDD acquired 24 more engines, Nos. 46230–53, which were mostly oil-burners. The Turks also obtained ex-USATC S160 Class 2-8-0s which formed the 45171 Class.
Preservation
Two have been preserved, 46244 at Çamlık Railway Museum and 46224 at the TCDD Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum in Ankara.
TCDD 56301 ClassThe Turkish State Railways (TCDD) 56301 Class is a class of 2-10-0 steam locomotives known as "Skyliners". They were built by Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The 88 locomotives in this class were numbered 56301-88. The first arrived in 1947.
They were the first American-built locomotives ordered by TCDD, though they had acquired ex-USATC S200 Class (TCDD 46201 Class) and ex-USATC S160 Class (TCDD 45171 Class). This class had the largest boiler and firebox of any Turkish locomotive and were the only ones fitted with mechanical stokers.
Two survive; 56375 at the TCDD Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum in Ankara, and 56337 at the Çamlık Railway Museum.
TCDD 56501 Class
The TCDD (Turkish Republic Railways) 56501 Class is a class of 2-10-0 steam locomotives provided by Germany during the Second World War.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, the United Kingdom was unable to supply locomotives ordered by TCDD. Nazi Germany stepped in and offered the Turks DRG BR 52-type Kriegloks. 10 were supplied in 1943, and 43 more were lent to the Turks in 1943/1944, the loan of which was made permanent after Turkey declared war on Germany towards the end of the war in Europe. In response to the initial German move the Allies gave TCDD 20 LMS Stanier Class 8F which formed the 45151 Class and 29 USATC S200 Class which formed the 46201 Class.
They survived into the 1980s.
TCDD 56701 ClassThe TCDD (Turkish Republic Railways) 56701 Class was a class of 2-10-0 steam locomotives.
These had been built [*] between 1944 and 1946 by various French makers (Batignolles-Châtillon, Fives-Lille, SFCM and Schneider et Cie., to the DRG Class 44 Übergangskriegslokomotive (transitional war locomotive) design, both under German occupation and in the immediate period after Allied liberation.
In 1954, SNCF sold 48 engines made redundant by 25 KV electrification to TCDD. These 150X were barely 10 years old and in perfect condition. The 48 engines were picked for their original Knorr compressor and Knorr feed water heating already familiar to shop crews in Turkey. All the engines were fully overhauled by SNCF prior to delivery. Overland shipment occurred between 30 April and 25 July 1955. TCDD fitted them with a snowplough and a third light on the smoke box door. Later on, TCDD made other modification to the engines such as the restoration of the smoke box door central lock and the fitting of safety valves on the cylinders.
In 1954, SNCF sold 48 engines made redundant by 25 KV electrification to TCDD. These 150X were barely 10 years old and in perfect condition. The 48 engines were picked for their original Knorr compressor and Knorr feed water heating already familiar to shop crews in Turkey. All the engines were fully overhauled by SNCF prior to delivery. Overland shipment occurred between 30 April and 25 July 1955. TCDD fitted them with a snowplough and a third light on the smoke box door. Later on, TCDD made other modification to the engines such as the restoration of the smoke box door central lock and the fitting of safety valves on the cylinders.
TCDD kept the 56700's in service until the late 70's (1977?). They were used on all kind of duties from long haul passenger to local freight. Most of them were based at and around Adana shed and were frequently seen (and photographed) working up the Taurus bank to Ulukisla. A batch were used at Bilecik for banking duties up the Karakoy ramp. The cover of the April 1970 issue of Trains magazine has five of these locos together with a 5700 congregating around the Bilecik turntable awaiting their next call to duty.
They were kept in TCCD service until the late 1970s.
[*] French manufacturers built almost 700 BR44ük for the Germans during WW2. The BR44ük is the transitional war time design of the BR44: the design was simplified but provisions were made to allow the engines to be restored to their original type after the war. In the BR44ük, the smoke screens, the cab window, the running plate front end, the smoke box door central lock are removed. The German specifications were scrupulously followed but owing to war restrictions, some parts had been replaced by their French equivalent (buffer stock, compressor, injectors, …). Consequently, one engine may be slightly different from the next.
226 engines BR44ük still under construction in 1944 were taken over by the French railway (SNCF) when delivered and incorporated as 150X in SNCF rosters. They were very successfully used for the heavy haul of coal and iron in northern France. Most of the 150X were coupled to a 2'2'T34 tender (SNCF 34X).
TCDD 57001 ClassThe Turkish State Railways (TCDD) 57001 Class is a class of 2-10-2 steam locomotives. They were built by Henschel, Berliner Maschinenbau and Krupp for TCDD. The 27 locomotives in this class were numbered 57001 to 57027. The first arrived in 1933, the last in 1937.
Around 14 locomotives of this series has been preserved.
57001: Çamlık Museum
57007: Ankara Museum
57011: Isparta
57018: Çamlık Museum
57023: Çamlık Museum
57026: Çamlık Museum
USATC S200 Class
The United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) S200 Class is a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotive. They were introduced in 1941 and lent-leased to the United Kingdom for use in the Middle East during World War II.
At least 85 S200s operated in the Middle East, including Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon.[2] One was destroyed by fire at El Arish in Egypt in 1942.[3] 29 of this batch was later supplied to Turkey where they became the TCDD 46201 Class. In 1946 another 24 were transferred to TCDD which added them to the same number series 46201–46253. 51 S200s built in 1942 served on the Trans-Iranian Railway, where they became Iranian class 42.[4]
After the Allied invasion of Italy 31 S200s were transferred and used there. 30 of these entered FS stock as FS Class 747 Nos. 747.001–747.030; the other one caught fire and was destroyed.
Thirty were donated to China by the UNRRA. China Railway designated these as class ㄇㄎ10 （MK10） in 1951, then reclassifying them as class 解放10 (JF10, Jiefang, "Liberation") and numbering them 3711−3740.[5]
Two of the Turkish locomotives survive: 46224 at Ankara and 46244 at the Çamlık Railway Museum.
USATC S200 Class
The United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) S200 Class is a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotive. They were introduced in 1941 and lent-leased to the United Kingdom for use in the Middle East during World War II.
At least 85 S200s operated in the Middle East, including Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon.[2] One was destroyed by fire at El Arish in Egypt in 1942.[3] 29 of this batch was later supplied to Turkey where they became the TCDD 46201 Class. In 1946 another 24 were transferred to TCDD which added them to the same number series 46201–46253. 51 S200s built in 1942 served on the Trans-Iranian Railway, where they became Iranian class 42.[4]
After the Allied invasion of Italy 31 S200s were transferred and used there. 30 of these entered FS stock as FS Class 747 Nos. 747.001–747.030; the other one caught fire and was destroyed.
Thirty were donated to China by the UNRRA. China Railway designated these as class ㄇㄎ10 （MK10） in 1951, then reclassifying them as class 解放10 (JF10, Jiefang, "Liberation") and numbering them 3711−3740.[5]
Two of the Turkish locomotives survive: 46224 at Ankara and 46244 at the Çamlık Railway Museum.