OSE Carriages converted in Thessaloniki Works

[Pierre B]

This one is a new mystery, for me anyway:

Athens, August 1986. Photo Pierre B

It's a dining car, and based on the handrails, windows, and bogies it could be built in Romania ; just a guess.

[GAZKGK]

These were 4 coaches, built in Thessaloniki Works (''ΚΑΤΑΣΚΕΥΗ ΕΡΓΟΣΤΑΣΙΟΥ ΟΧΗΜΑΤΩΝ, ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ'') on the chassis of four 1926-built Familleureux coaches in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974... A variety of bogies were used .... such as the M.D. (Minden-Deutz) 36 in your photo.

Their body design was based on the PA.FA.WAG. coaches.

[christo]

and I thought I knew it all. Jason, are there any dimensional details available?

christo.

[GAZKGK]

I don't remember if i have any...

[christo]

on the chassis of four 1926-built Familleureux coaches

because their lengths varied in size.

christo.

[Andreas]

I knew also about this conversion. I need to dig into my archive because I know I have a picture of one of them on a train leaving Athens station. The picture is from my friend Helmut Reichelt. I will find it and post it.

[Olympus]

Hello to all

hello Pierre B from Vienna!

I have in my Greek 1:1 collection a brass plate from Thessaloniki Works
is this from a passenger or freight car?

best regards Andy

[christo]

It seems to me to belong to a carriage. It could be an Excursion coach, or one of the goods wagons converted to carry passengers before WWII when there was a shortage in passenger stock and people begun to discover short day trips and holidays.

christo.

[jsimantov]

Hi everyone,

Just a tiny bit of an anecdot: these carriages, labeled ΕΣΤΙΑΜΑΞΑ, were quite common in middle-distance trains in Thessaloniki area during the 60 and 70s. Typically they would be found in consists Thessaloniki-Kozani or Thessaloniki-Drama. I cannot recall having seen them in the southern part of the system.

Now, the interesting part of the story is that while they were officially classified as restaurant cars, at least those I have personally seen had NO bar or kitchen facilities, suggesting that the passengers were expected to have purchased food and drink before boarding the train... and, please bear in mind that the minibar was unknown in the Greek Railway system in those days.

It was, however, commonplace to see pistacchio, peanut, chickpeas or 'passatempo' (pumpkin seed) vendors!!

Joseph