AA91 - AA100, 100, 1101 GANZ MAVAG DMU with TRAILERS

[jsimantov]

Hi everyone,

This topic has been inactive for a few months now; I'll try to reactivate it following my old man's habit of posting various anecdotes and bits and pieces...

The Ganz Mavag (the 'KatsiBaba' in railwaymen's slang) despite being the ugly ducklings of the network, were actually quite good performers in difficult tasks like the Athens-Alexandroupoli daylight service during the late 70s. They were usually running in double consists, to avoid struggling between Komotini and Alexandroupoli.

When they first appeared in Athens, back in 1977, they were announced as ΄Αυτοκινητάμαξα Πολυτελείας' (sic), before they were demoted to more mundane tasks like the Khalkis and Volos services.

They were never popular with the railwaymen, but interestingly enough, most drivers in their cab were usually among the older and most experienced. In those days, the attitude of the railwaymen towards these DMUs varied greatly following their political ideas: left-wing activists used to declare that the units were very good, but for some obscure reason they were not used properly (single consists instead of double). Right-wing oriented railwaymen used to say that the DMUs were just good for scrap...

Among the true stories, I can quote a number of train guards who have received written blame for '...not having favorably responded to passenger complaints about the orientation of the seats by turning them to the right direction...'. In vain the poor staff tried to respond by indicating that the seats could not be turned...

Another feature of these DMUs was that the hand brake actually operated on one axle only. According to drivers, this made the DMUs particularly dangerous to operate, since in case of an engine failure when the train was running at full speed, it would be practically impossible to immobilize the consist using the hand brake.

I personally remember one case when, between Sfendali and Afidnai, I saw the driver running across the train furiously to the back, where the power unit was located, in order to manually restart the Pielstick engine; the man in the cab was the train guard... As he later told me, "Φτηνά τή γλυτώσαμε, θά σταματάγαμε στήν Αίγινα" (in plain old english, it was a narrow escape, we would have ended at Aegina island).

On the sad side, it was established that when the Drama accident occurred, the driver was in the bar of the DMU, having left the guard in the cab...This version has of course been refused by the Unions, but it was known in those days that it was common practice...

Iossif

[BarbaPanagos]

thanks Iossif, I love such stories one can get through them the ''feeling'' of an era
keep posting


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[christo]

we would have ended at Aegina island

christo.

[BalkanExpress]

Really impresed with those stories, jsimantov, and the 'social' details you gave us. Thank you so much

Regards

BalkanExpress

[jsimantov]

Thanks for your comments guys,

Please, please, please, those of you who live in Greece, try to gather as much memory and anecdote material as you can from retired OSE/SEK staff; this is the living memory of the network, and if it is not assembled and preserved now, it will vanish for ever...

Iossif

[jsimantov]

One more Ganz-Mavag-related anecdote, as a bonus!

Once, in the late 70s, I was shown an internal OSE memo addressed to train guards (interesting detail: the train guards, the "προιστάμενοι", were members of the exploitation division, and this makes the content of this memo quite surrealistic...) in which they were informed that "...in case of brake or other failure, they were expected to take all necessary measures to ensure that the train was properly immobilized..."

As the guard who showed me the memo interpreted it,

"...In other words, if the train is running downhill at 120km/h and a brake failure occurs, I am expected to jump from the train and put a clamp or other device on the wheels in order to immobilize it, otherwise I will be held responsible and face disciplinary sanctions..."

You see now why those DMUs were never very popular with the railwaymen!!

Iossif

[BalkanExpress]

[BarbaPanagos]

thanks Iossif, it seems that you have some most interesting stories to share
what about the administrators move the last posts to a new topic? maybe at the miscellaneous, something like ''memories, anecdotes and other short stories''
this way we'll have them all together


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[christo]

I would prefer memories to be shared according to theme. For general memories there is also this topic viewtopic.php?f=16&t=252

The boss.

[BarbaPanagos]

yor right Boss, I had forgotten this one!
this forum has grown considerably, although I visit it quite often, it seems there are posts that I have missed


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