Tunisia - Part 1
Tunisia 2025
Day 1 - 24/01/25
The day started at 0100 in Hull with an overnight drive to Manchester Airport. The forecast suggested the strongest storm in years hitting the west so was the trip already a non starter before it had begun? Thankfully by 0600 we were in the air and on our way to Enfidha, Tunisia. Touching down ahead of schedule everything was going smoothly till it was time to get the hire car. Someone should have been waiting. They weren't. A few WhatsApp messages later we were told it would be about an hour as the car was being brought from Sousse. The first plan of getting a photo near the airport was out the window so instead a journey to El Jem to see the largest Roman colosseum in North Africa. Certainly a good way to kill some time before the possible train.
After the "tourism" was out of the way it was back to trying to catch a train so we headed 15 minutes south of El Jem to the lineside and waited. Funnily enough at this point I wasn't aware of a live tracker which showed how late passenger trains were. If I had have been the sight of lights in the distance wouldn't have been a shock.
Unexpected but very welcome! After a bit of digging it turned out to be a rather delayed service heading for Metlaoui, running nearly 3 hours late! It was also the train I'd planned to see near the airport but thought I'd missed so it was the first helping of good luck of the trip! We then headed a little further south for a slight change in location as there was still a train to be seen. Whilst waiting we saw the first Shepherd so I went over for a "chat". By chat I recited my best "Assalamu alaikum" and shook hands as well as taking a few photos. As we were to find out throughout the trip Tunisians are very friendly people.
Another hour had passed watching the sheep, old Peugeot pickups and Tunisian life go by and the sun was starting to get lower. Finally the horn of a train in the distance put worries to rest that it was also going to be 3 hours late. Thankfully only 30 late!
With two trains in the bag, both hauled by 040-GT's it was a good start to the holiday! These locos are the more frequent choice on hauled passenger trains in Tunisia and were built by EMD in 1999. To me they look a bit older than 26 however that's never a bad thing from a photography point of view. We headed down to the outskirts of Sfax to our Airbnb for some much needed rest in a lovely but very different countryside setting.
Day 2 - 25/01/25
A fairly early start was needed for day 2 of the trip as the only guaranteed train of the day was due to pass around 9am. We had to drive about 90 minutes to Mezzouna, find a location and hope that the passenger train wasn't too late. We'd been warned the night before that there were a lot of checkpoints on the road to Gafsa so I was curious to see if they'd hinder our progress. Thankfully the drive East was without hassle and as soon as we got to the railway line we saw lights in the distance. It wasn't a passenger train so maybe we'd got lucky from the off? Yes and no was the answer to that. An 060-DS was slowly heading towards Mezzouna station but clouds were also forming, sadly blocking out the sun that had shone all the way from Sfax.
As the location had been somewhat rushed given the limited warning of the train's arrival we got back in the car and hoped to give chase. Initially getting ahead of the train we soon ran out of "good" road and it overtook us. Not to worry, we'd already seen a freight so we found a spot by the line and waited for the passenger train. By this point it won't surprise you to hear that it showed up 50 minutes late.
After seeing the passenger train it was time to head towards Gafsa throughout the day, hopefully seeing a train along the way to photograph. Along the way I stopped off at a couple of stations to have a look for signs of impending freights or info from workers. Both provided fruitless even if workers seemed to want to help. It seemed no one knew when a train would past (a common outcome throughout the trip when asking for about freight). One station worker suggested speaking to the police due to potential problems taking photos. It just so happened we had parked near one later in the day so I went in for a chat, and long story short the well armed police were fine with it and wished me luck after checking documents.
Skip to nearly 4pm, 7 hours after the last freight passed I'd just about given up and started to drive to Gafsa when a streak of orange was spotted in the distance. A quick U-turn and we were giving chase to a suitable location. With it being cloudy the sun wasn't a worry and I parked up and waited for the slow moving freight to pass a couple of minutes later.
The train came to a stop in Zannouch station presumably to wait for an oncoming train, but as nothing had shown up by 5pm we headed to Gafsa in search of the next Airbnb. This one it turned out wasn't as good as the last due to lack of water pressure (caused by the city) as well as having to use a gas bottle to heat the small trickle of water. What was good however was the very reasonably priced burger enjoyed in a rather fancy but quiet looking restaurant. Maybe the prices were high by local comparison, however for me it was better value than a McDonalds small meal!
After the very filling meal it wouldn't be very Richard like to go back to the Airbnb. Instead a "quick" look at the station to see what was going on and see if I could work anything out for the next couple of days. Within a minute of being on the station I was sat talking via translate to a station worker who was trying to help but due to the language barrier and most likely the lack of understanding of the hobby wasn't proving to be very useful. From what I could work out however they said trains travel on both lines to Sfax and Gabes. I thought I'd try the depot next and I was glad I did. I found 060-DP-131 sat on shed which made a nice change from the orange DS's. I was then ushered into a warm room by someone who I guess was security. Instead of being told to wait there for the police to arrive the rather friendly chap wanted to help and seemed to be enjoying using some English phrases. We talked about various things, I explained what my plans were and he said "yes trains run". The thought was there at least. We exchanged Facebook details, I politely explained due to changing locations in the country I wouldn't be able to stay at his house, however the offer was very kind given I was a total stranger 5 minutes prior. It just goes to show how kind Tunisians are.
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