Tito's Blue Train

Tito's Blue Train (Serbian: Plavi voz) is a luxury train, once used by Josip Broz Tito, while president of the former Yugoslavia. It is now operated as a tourist attraction on the 476-kilometre (296 mi) Belgrade–Bar railway, between Belgrade, capital of Serbia, and Bar, a coastal town in Montenegro.[1][2]

The train on 28 May 1976, at the opening of the final section of the Belgrade–Bar railway with two Krauss-Maffei engines.
Lounge

Tito's era

Among those who travelled on the train as Tito's guests were Haile Selassie, François Mitterrand, Yasser Arafat, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sukarno and, in October 1972, Queen Elizabeth II.[2]

Locomotives
Locomotives 666.003 and 666.004

The first dedicated locomotives for the Blue Train were three repainted JŽ class 11 4-8-0, one of them is now preserved in Belgrade. They were replaced by three Krauss-Maffei ML 2200 C'C' purchased from West Germany.[3] These engines were based on DB Class V 200.[4]

In 1978, four Electro-Motive Diesel, EMD JT22CW-2 locomotives, designated as ŽS series 666, were acquired by Yugoslav Railways for use with the train, hence their all-blue livery.[5] Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the locomotives have been used to haul freight and passenger trains. All four are no longer operational and stored awaiting overhaul. They were named after World War II battles:

References
  1. "Tito's Blue Train". Explore Montenegro. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  2. Williams, Michael (13 July 2013). "The return of Tito's train: From Serbia to Montenegro - a track to the past". The Independent. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  3. "Opet "bruji" Sutjeska". www.novosti.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  4. V 200. EJ Sonderausgabe (in German). January 2005. p. 76. ISBN 3-89610-136-6.
  5. "Picture Gallery - Directory: /pix/rs/diesel/666". Railfan Europe. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
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