Hellas-Express

Good morning everyone,

One more goodie from my old pix collection...
Long before the Wickham railcars made their appearance in Greece, service staff railcars (draisines) were supplied by the West German factory 'Tempo', which was also know at that time for producing small-sized lorries (LKW).

They remained in service until the early 70s and were affected to the standard-gauge SEK network; I haven't seen any on the narrow gauge network, but there may have existed.

The railcars were painted in deep red (obviously the shades varied somehow...)

The two pix were shot in October 1965 at the Sfendali station, near Athens. No need to add that the fellow ('Μπόμπιρας" in 60's greek) on the pix is me, back in 1965. Obviously, that was VERY LONG ago...








Best Regards to everyone, and have a good and sunny Sunday!!

Iossif

So Iossif, you didn't always have a beard ! I have to say, that this is the first time I see such draisines, thank you. What did the ΔΜΚ stand for? Diefthinsi Makedonias?

christo.

Thank you Iossif for your pictures.

Are those draisines some kind of conversion of an former van to rail wheels?

Perhaps It will exist some H0 model to adapt it

Regards

BalkanExpress

I don't think they are conversions... most probably the same factory produced also railcars, but, it's true that the position of the engine corresponded to the position it had in the lorries.

I clearly remember the Tempo lorries (trucks for our American minded friends), they were mostly painted deep grey-blue.

Haven't heard of any model of these vehicles...

Iossif

Iossif,

Do you remember if it had an open side (with canvas curtains) on both sides? Did it have driving controls both ends? What was the internal layout?

christo.

There is a close resemblance to TEMPO WIKING, is there any model in HO?

Possibly ΔΜΚ stands for "Diefthinsi Metallikon Kataskevon" ( steel structures department. Now called TMK(tmima MK). It is responsible for inspection and maintainance for metallic bridges etc.
Oh Christo, your mind is always in Macedonia.

maybe a brekina draisine with 3d printing superstructure?

Two great photos from Rolf Stumpf . https://www.flickr.com/photos/146864611@N02/
track inspection vehicle at Thessaloniki Dialogi yard on June 23, 1995

Assuming the pix have not been 'photoshopped', this livery was not what they used to have thirty years before; the original livery was a somewhat pinkish red.
So, they were presumably rebuilt at some point, and this was when the sidewalls were added; the ones I remember had no sidewalls, but just a cloth cover with 'window' holes ("καναβάτσο" or "μουσαμά")

Iossif