JŽ 73-019 AND THE PINZGAUER LOKALBAHN

The 1878 Berlin Congress permitted Austria-Hungary to occupy and govern former Ottoman Bosnia-Hercegovina. Soon afterwards the Austro-Hungarian military built a 190 km long line from Bosanski Brod to Zenica in order to supply the troops. It was built as a narrow gauge railway, using the 760 mm (2ft 5¹⁵/₁₆in) track material and rolling stock previously used by the contractor, building the then just finished Temesvar – Osova line. Step by step the Bosanski Brod – Zenica line was extended, finally reaching the capital and largest city of Bosnia-Hercegovina, Sarajevo, in 1882. With a length of 268 km the Bosanski Brod to Sarajevo line formed the nucleus of a narrow gauge Railway network, which, at the outbreak of World War I, had a total length of 1.098 km.

Initially small 0-4-0T locomotives, taken over from the contractor, were used. With the system constantly growing, they were soon found unsuitable and larger and more modern locomotives