When I was very young, which was long, long time ago, there were two three-stall enginehouses and the turntable right next to the main street. There was also a pedestrian overpass bridging the four westbound mainline tracks - a wonderful watching spot for a 8-year boy so much in love with trains that he would stand on this bridge and watch the trains leaving and arriving beneath his feet, and the activities in the locomotive depot for hours, until his mother would finally come, almost in the twilight, and very much in anger she would grab his hand, firmly, almost painfully, and drag him home.
Then, in early 60s, the big plans were made for the new passenger station with the four platforms and with electricity replacing the steam. The turntable and one of the two enginehouses gave place for the relocated mainlines which crossed now excavated main street. Also gone was the my favorite watching spot as the overpass was no more needed, and gone with it was the biggest thrill of my childhood.
The saying goes that history repeats, and it appears that the construction holdup this year is just such history repeated, as in 1965 there was also an economy crisis in then Yugoslavia and the new Ljubljana passenger depot has never materialized. We were left with the three ugly concrete roofed platforms, quite a walk distant from the old passenger building. For the next 45 years nothing changed...
This goes for the remaining locomotive depot structures too, at least for the majority of them. Until the end of the steam era in 1978 the steam locomotives were still serviced there, except for turning them around. For this they had to take a short, 700 yards long ride to the nearby Siska roundhouse, which was on of the two main steam locomotives workshops in Slovenia (the other one being in Maribor). However, with the arrival of the "Kennedies" - EMD G16 C-C diesels and with the progressing electrification less and less steam locomotives called at the depot. Where once I could watch 20 or 30 locomotives being serviced and waiting ready for the call, now there were three or four still steaming and few more stored cold - what a sad sight this was for me.
In 1978, with the steam engines gone, there was no need for the coaling station, and the coal lift and the coal bins soon followed its customers. Only the steel water tower and two watering columns remained to remind us to some other times.
Now, with the last evidence of these times gone, I though it would be appropriate to dig from my film archives the photos I have of this place when the smoke was still hanging over it and the wonderful scent of the burning coal and the hot oil was still spreading around. There isn't much of them anyway as first, having the young family living on one meager salary I couldn't afford much films, and second, at that time in the old Yugoslavia the railroads were considered to be military objects and as such forbidden to photograph without the permit (which was impossible to obtain for the photography without any serious purpose). Thus each trip there could end with the interrogation at the station police department, and in the worst case, with confiscation of the film - a scenario very much familiar to many present-day US railfans...
Thus I've spent yesterday scanning and removing dust spots and scratches from my 35 and 38 years old shots and now you can see how it was when the steam was still around - once upon a time...
