Scenic part of Railway line Beograd Bar above the Morača river canyon, Mala Rijeka river canyon and Kruševački potok canyon...
Two locomotives train traction (front and banker locomotive) through tunnels and bridges at most steepest part of the line. The railway line follows the canyons and steeply climbs the slopes of nearby high mountains. Maximum track incline is 25‰. That section abounds in tunnels, bridges mountain cuts, steep rocky slopes and very high cliffs. That makes it very special and unique in this region.

Freight trains heavier than 700t require additional locomotive traction. This is done by adding one locomotive to the end of the train. That banker locomotive pushes the train on the steep sections of the track. As this section of the railway is full of steep construction gradients and curves with very small radius, the train resistance is very high (up to 30daN/t).

Montenegrin Railways used Electroputere LE 5100 locomotives. These are powerful sixaxle electric locomotives with maximum power of 5MW. Two of these were used to pull and push the freight train shown in the video. Locomotive cab and part of the engine driver devices are also shown.

This banker locomotive cabride was recorded between Podgorica and Kolašin. It begins with the freight train entering the Morača river canyon. It continues with a steep climb along the edges of the canyon to Bioče station. From there, the railway line makes a large serpentine winding through the Mala Rijeka canyon. It crosses an extremely high and large steel bridge. The Mala Rijeka Bridge is 500m long and 200m high at its highest point. This makes it one of the highest railway bridges in the world and the highest railway bridge in Europe. Then the line returns to the edges of the Morača river canyon. It climbs steeply through Bratonožići and continues its steep cut way to Lutovo station. After leaving Lutovo, it crosses a bridge over a very steep and high cliff and literally enters in the rocks. From the Morača river canyon, the railway line goes into the narrow canyon of Kruševacki Potok. The video ends with train entering the 5km long Trebešica tunnel.

During locomotive cabride the traction current indicators are shown in the video. Engine driver controls the locomotive motors traction currents while driving. The value of the traction force depends on the traction currents. The traction force that this locomotive achieves is over 300kN. As the current values are very high (1000A on each axis motor and 400A between the pantograph and catenary) bright flashes occasional appear in the wet tunnels. Of course, there is also the very powerful locomotive engines sounds as the train accelerates.

Pushed train in the video is a freight train with a coal load from the Port of Bar to the north. Its mass was 739t + two attached locomotives. These are the old 461 series locomotives. The video was taken from the end of the train (from banker locomotive) and occasionally the front of the train could be seen in the curves. Particularly interesting are the parts where the front of the train slowly enters and disappears in the tunnels. The low sun and the special colors of the sky above the high mountains, which are continuously make up the background, contributed to the scenery of the video.

Date of recording:
January 2023.