Thematic route: The Cultural Heritage Route

Name of the touristic attraction: The Story of the first Railway in the Timok Valley – The Belgian Railway

Thematic route: The cultural heritage route

Description: “At the time when 100 or even more meters of rail track were laid per day, in the Timok valley and the atmosphere was somewhat similar to the familiar scenes from the Wild West, the Statue of Liberty was constructed in the New York harbor, Eiffel Tower in Paris, the biggest railway tunnel in the world, St. Gotthard, through the Alps was constructed and numerous other important monuments were built, monuments which even today represent a <<Wonder of the World>>. If these <<wonders>> were for the world, the railways in Timok valley was <<the wonder>> of Eastern Serbia that would last for 1/4 century”.

With these words Nebojsa A. Jovic, an archival researcher, made his contribution to the celebration of the 120^th anniversary of the Belgian railways, in the prestigious journal “Razvitak”, in 2008. A historic moment of putting into operation of the famous “Belgian railway” is celebrated in Vlaski Dol near Zajecar every year. The train transporting coal from Vrska cuka left the first train station in our vicinity ,towards the Danube wharf in Radujevac.

The 82 kilometers long railway was built with Belgian capital, in the same time when the mine on Vrska cuka was built (between 1886 and 1888). It was in use for 70 years.

Concrete, as a construction material, was used for the first time for constructing the Timok and Serbian railway. In the same period, a telephone line, the first one in Serbia was put into operation for the first time and pneumatic drilling with compressed air was applied for the first time, too.

A total of 2.6 million dinars were invested in the construction of the Serbian technological wonder at a time when the total national income of Serbia was of 22 million dinars. Meanwhile, the Belgians built the most modern coal mine in the Balkans at Vrska cuka.

In Radujevac, where the railroad ended, the coal was turned into briquettes in a big briquette plant, loaded to steamboats and transported along the Danube to Europe. The railway was also used for transportation of passengers in both directions, and copper from Bor, wine and other agricultural products from Rajac and the surrounding Negotin villages were also transported to the Danube wharf. Various industrial goods from Europe arrived to Radujevac and from there further on to Vrska cuka and other settlements along the railway.

The railway was in operation by 1915. Then the Bulgarian occupiers plundered it, took the rails and all means of transport. It was restored immediately after the First World War, but in 1943 it stopped working for good.

Numerous interesting stories refer to “the Belgian railway”, particularly the ones about its builders – about 2 500 of them mostly from Serbia. There were 84 top experts from Italy and Belgium among them, who were taken from the famous railroad Zurich-Milan. Many mixed marriages were solemnized at the time. For instance, there was a certain Eugenio Belt, born in Urizano, near Milan, who married a girl from Zajecar and became a “Timok man” – he was re-christened and took the name of Ilija Petrovic.