As I said in my previous post, I’m a sort of a railroad nerd, but not very interested in the steam era. What interests me the most is the post war era from the early 1950’s all the way to the 1980’s before my birth.
What really intrigued me in Haapamäki was not the steam locomotive park but the old rail depot area behind it. I had visited the park several times before and seen something interesting behind the fence. This time we asked the park staff with my friend, if we could visit that area. They told me that there should be someone at the depot and surely they wouldn’t mind.
In reality the depot doesn’t belong to the locomotive park, but another rail heritage association. The two do co-operate, however. We found a couple of men at the depot and oh what a beauty they were working with.
This DR12 Diesel locomotive is one of 42 manufactured between 1959 and 1963. The type operated until 1990.
The beauty is in great shape and fully operational as well. It actually pulls passenger cars during summers on heritage tours.
And these buttons are for opening and closing the doors of a DM7 ‘Flat Cap’. They operated between 1954 and 1988 on regional routes and after their retirement most of the regional rail network in Finland was shut down. A total of 212 were built and as many as 21 have been preserved. Several of them operate on heritage trips around Finland. There will be a full picture later.
The cockpit of the ‘Flat Cap’ looks very simple. I couldn’t drive one, though.
The cabin of the ‘Flat Cap’ is pretty simple. Millions of Finns used these benches to travel to their relatives back in the days.
The turntable at the depot. Up right you can see an iconic ‘Flat Cap’.
This was one gem of a find. A fully preserved bar car. I can’t recall any memories from these, but apparently they had still been in operation during my time, as the prices were in euros.
The bar seen in full. This is so 1990’s, that it actually hurts.
And these swinging doors between cars. I can remember the large, green push buttons and covering my ears, when the noise hit them. Back in the 1990’s, Finnish trains were noisy especially when you had to go from car to car. The spaces between them were often filled with snow during winter.
Another look at the bar car from behind the counter. These must have been long journeys for the crew, as some Finns (including me) actually have the habit of drinking onboard trains.
And then something completely different. A very, very old mail car.
And here’s a ‘Flat Cap’ in all its glory. The train actually got its name from its looks. Usually they came in units of two.
This is an old wooden car, which apparently served as the break and party room of the mechanics. They didn’t respect its history very much, as they apparently drank and smoked inside it.
In addition to active and very good conditioned wagons there were also some scrap heaps.
But wait a second, do I see something orange there?