A close-up shot of Bulgarian State Railways' locomotive 43-516-4. Locomotives in Bulgaria may not be the most modern by some margin, but regular repainting and a range of colour schemes for the different classes in BDZ means that most of them are looking very good. This Skoda is an excellent example to testify to that. Worth noting are the edges of the wheels painted in white and the clear fresh livery of the locomotive. Its home depot is in the city of Stara Zagora and here it heads a long freight train. Pantograph lowered, the locomotive waits patiently in the station of Yambol for a few cars to be taken out of the train and in a few minutes it will continue on its journey towards Burgas, bravely threading its way through the snow and the cold winter air. This truly is a locomotive to wear the BDZ logo with pride. 5 January 2004

Photo by Miroslav Georgiev (Miroslav_SG@all.bg)