The ''Kosovo Train for Life'' carried

aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, in September 1999 in connection with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Kosovo Force The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO-led international NATO peacekeeping, peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Its operations are gradually reducing until Kosovo Security Force, Kosovo's Security Force, established in 2 ...

(KFOR) peacekeeping efforts after the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

History

The train was hauled by

British Rail Class 20 The British Rail Class 20, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, is a class of diesel-electric locomotive. In total, 228 locomotives in the class were built by English Electric between 1957 and 1968, the large number being in part bec ...

diesel locomotives 20903, 20901 and 20902 belonging to

Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain. As of 2022, it is one of seven publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom, the others being NI Railways (the passenger rail operator in Northern Ireland), LNER, ...

. The route covered and the train arrived at

Fushë Kosovë railway station Kosovo Polje railway station (Fushë Kosova railway station) is a railway station, station in the town of Kosovo Polje, Kosovo. It is the largest railway station in Kosovo and headquarters of Kosovo Railways. The station is situated in Pristina D ...

Kosovo Polje Fushë Kosova ( sq-definite, Fushë Kosovë), or Kosovo Polje ( sr-Cyrl, Косово Поље, "Kosovo Field"), is a town and municipality located in the District of Pristina in central Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Fushë Ko ...

, near Pristina, on 27 September 1999 following delays —it had originally been intended to arrive on 25 September. The trip had been organised by "Train of Events", a team of UK ex-

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

personnel, including Neil Howard and John Morris. Drivers were provided by

79 Railway Squadron The modern-day 79 Railway Squadron was part of the 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps, of the British Army. They were responsible for maintaining and providing the British Army with its railway transportation requirements. Ori ...

. Loading took place at the

Midland Railway – Butterley The Midland Railway – Butterley is a heritage railway at Butterley, near Ripley in Derbyshire. History Overview The ''Midland Railway – Butterley'' lies on the Ambergate to Pye Bridge line of the old Midland Railway, a line once con ...

near Derby, with a "wave-off" organised at

Kensington Olympia railway station Kensington (Olympia) is a combined rail and tube station in Kensington, on the edge of Central London. Services are provided by London Overground, who manage the station, along with Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. O ...

. The route continued via the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

, Lille in France, Namur and Liège in Belgium. At Aachen in Germany additional rolling stock was attached with the train proceeding via Hamburg and

Berlin-Lichtenberg station Berlin-Lichtenberg is a railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located on the Eastern Railway, Wriezen Railway and Berlin Frankfurter Allee–Berlin-Rummelsburg railway lines in the Lichtenberg district. The station is also part of the Berli ...

, to

Dresden Hauptbahnhof Dresden Hauptbahnhof ("main station", abbreviated Dresden Hbf) is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the ''Böhmischen Bahnhof'' ("Bohemian station") of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway ('' ...

. From Děčín the locomotives pulled the train under their own power. The locomotives were subsequently deployed for rail transportation in Kosovo moving trains within Kosovo and to and from

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

in Macedonia. The German

couchette car A couchette car is a railway carriage conveying non or semi-private sleeping accommodation. Overview The car is divided into a number of compartments (typically 8 to 10) accessed from the side corridor of the car, which in daytime are configu ...

51 80 59-40 046-6 that had joined the train in Aachen also stayed in Kosovo. The three Class 20 locomotives were scheduled to stay for three months. After six months in Kosovo the three locomotives left Kosovo and returned to the United Kingdom by sea. The German couchette remains, without bogies, in Miradi yard. In May 2000

Lima (models) Lima S.p.A. (Lima Models) is an Italian brand and former manufacturing company of model railways. The company was headquartered in Vicenza for almost 50 years, from the early 1950s until the company ceased trading in 2004. Lima was a popular, affo ...

released a limited run of 750 model

OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard-gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to 1 foot, ...

locomotives of 20901 in DRS livery with ''Kosovo Train for Life'' etched headboard plates.

Notes

References

* * * * {{reflist, 2 Rail transport in Kosovo Named freight trains Military railway equipment 1999 in rail transport