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“Šarganska osmica“ (Šargan Eight) represents a special engineering marvel, as a mountain railway line construction work of overcoming the height difference in a small area and short distance. It is a narrow-gauge heritage railway line in Serbia, running from the village of Mokra Gora to Šargan Vitasi station, over the mountain pass Šargan. Construction of the route began during World War I and the plan was to connect Serbia with Austro-Hungary, which occupied both Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time. Šargan was located 9km away from the pre-war border. The Austrians enlisted numerous Russian and Italian prisoners of war in order to speed up the construction. Plans were drafted in 1916 and the original, Austrian route was different from the later finished one. The originally projected route went through the upstream depression, gorges and cliffs, or roughly where the Užice - Višegrad road goes today. It was to swirl along the Kamešina (Kamišna) river almost to the top of Šargan. Digging was extremely hard. Despite so many water sources, the slopes of the Šargan were impassable mountain cuts and infested with snakes. The local population called the mountain rocks “Kremen“ (flint) as it sparks when hit by the pickaxe. In 1916, after an explosion during the digging of the “Budim“ tunnel, the ceiling collapsed killing the entire shift of workers. Between 150 and 200 Italian and Russian prisoners were killed. After this, the Austrians quit further works on the construction of the railway. They placed a small memorial to mark the disaster. Today, there is the locality on the route and is called “Deveti Kilometar“ (9 kilometer), because 9km of track were built before the disaster. The works were halted and officially continued on 1 March 1921. This is when the “eight“ was designed and built, as an attractive and practical example of the major altitude changes on short distance. A descent of 240m was surmounted with the line curves in the shape of number 8, where the popular name originated. The line is 15,44km long and due to the curvature, on some sections the train passes twice through the same points. The line 8-shape is best visible from the Krst station, though it appears as two separated railways tracks, on two levels. The construction of the railway line was to be finished in April 1924. Additional number of bridges, tunnels and supporting walls had to be built. In total, there are 20 tunnels and one large bridge. The track left Mokra Gora at the elevation of 571m, peaking at the Šargan tunnel at 811m. The entire area is abundant in water, which gave name to the village Mokra Gora (“Wet Mountain“). There are 365 known water springs along the route. The water is literally dripping down the tunnel walls. This line connected Belgrade to the Adriatic Sea, and the coastal towns of Dubrovnik and Zelenika. The former East Bosnian railway with a gauge of 760mm was an important part of the former narrow-gauge main line from Sarajevo to Belgrade and closed on 28 February 1974. In the mid-1990s, the Homeland Society of Mokra Gora, founded a board to promote the reconstruction of the railway. Established in May 1994, the society organized public actions in 1997 and 1998, when the railway route was cleaned, including the tunnels. Missing tracks were laid and first, trial ride on the entire route was conducted in October 2002 and the line became fully operational on 1 September 2003. The cars have been renovated and kept the authentic 1930s style. Until 2022, a narrow-gauge steam locomotive and several Romanian small diesel locomotives were used. Since then, only diesels have remained in use. The train, popularly named “Nostalgia“, runs on the route Mokra Gora - Šargan Vitasi. There are 5 stops and stations, each with a scenic viewpoint. Interesting historical stories say that the Jatare station was the only station where not one ticket has ever been sold. The Golubići station was actually one of the sets for Emir Kusturica's film “Life Is a Miracle“. The sets developed into Drvengrad after the filming was finished, and Golubići became a tourist attraction. The area along the route of the Šargan Eight developed into the touristic complex and was placed under the preliminary protection as the nature park. This scenic area includes Mokra Gora and Kremna basin, southeast slopes of the Tara, northwest slopes of the Zlatibor and the Šargan pass, which divides these two mountains. At the beginning of the video, the route is shown on the map, as it overcomes the mountain pass Šargan. The train runs through the Kamišna river gorge, and then climbs to the longest tunnel “Šargan“ (1667m long). The locomotive turnaround at Šargan Vitasi station and shunting operations at Mokra Gora station, until the locomotive was left in the depot, are shown as well. This video is an effort to the preservation of specifically Šargan Eight railway line as one of the railway wonders of the World. Date of recording: August 2023.
