Hello Peter, I love visiting the Eastern European countries, most of the railway infrastructure survives to this day, some of the lines are rarely used, they are the ones I love to see, a reminder of how British branch lines looked around the time of their closure. I've missed travelling as a result of Covid, hopefully I can do more of these trips next year.

That is how I feel, there is a feeling of relaxation about it all. The lines are close to houses, roads and people seem to be able to access the trains with little restrictions. I am 77 and can remember the old days when Railways were everywhere in the Country. Little branch lines, beautiful countryside Stations with hanging baskets etc etc. It's sad looking back and how it's changed for the worse.

@@peterfrazer1943 Life is frantic today, people don't have time to enjoy the simple pleasures. We are fortunate here in the UK to have some wonderful heritage lines that capture a little of that past magic, over the last two of weeks I've visited a couple of them, my local line "the Watercress Line" with its wonderful topiary and flower beds at Ropley and Medstead stations. Kingscote on the "Bluebell Railway" is also worth a mention for its beautiful presentation and flower beds. Not all is lost, there is just a little less attention given to those little things that make wayside stations tranquil places to contemplate and appreciate a few moments rest while we wait for the next train.

Eloquently put and I am in total agreement.

Hi, I glad you enjoyed the ride. On some days I was able to film for over 10 hours from the locomotive cab, something I'd wasn't prepared for, hence the use of every available camera, battery and memory card. This was probably the most extensive tour of Slovakia that there has ever been and I now know how lucky I was to have been a participant 🙂.

Dobrý deň Milan, som rád, že sa vám to páčilo video.

Thank you, it's nice know you enjoy these videos, it's nice to be out of lockdown, although foreign travel isn't as straight forward as it used to be.

Hi Doug, it's nice you are enjoying cab ride videos, there is a good selection of them on KZfaq from around the world. I enjoyed Slovakia, it has a nice feel to it, friendly, beautiful old towns and pretty countryside. I often travel with organised rail-tours, such as this to Slovakia where the company books the whole train for a week or so, arranging to visit branch and secondary lines, many of which no longer see regular passenger trains. Please click on this link to see some of the tours available to book - www.railwaytouring.net/ As part of the rail-tours, particularly those to Eastern and Central Europe passengers are often allowed to travel in the cab with the driver. Although the Railway Touring Company is based in England, participants are from all over the world.

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi, Slovakia still has an extensive rail network, even though many of the branch lines are freight only these days. This tour was one of the most interesting I have participated in, I look forward to sharing more videos from this wonderful adventure. Take care. Tim.

Hi Bob, Slovakian branch lines are as I would image British branch lines were in the 60's. The train was a special tour run by RTC (Railway Touring Company), I just checked the timetable to see if there is a regular train, as far as I can tell passenger services ceased in 2003.

That's nice to know, I'm pleased you enjoyed the ride.

Hi Chuck, the branch line railways in Slovakia have not suffered the same fate as branch lines through much of the world, they are still used, mainly for freight with some passenger services.

Hello Tim! Sure, its very good fact and it say about reasonable local railwey 'politic' in Slovakia. Have a nice day, and take care. Chuck

Goodmorning, Tim! Hmm, its morning portion of joy -- see please "Details, Details": kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b95pgtqols_FlH0.html Its rare case when in the Details hidden not satan, but Love!.. :-)

@@Timsvideochannel1 Ops! Yesterday’s video, as I see it today, was deleted by the author and today he gave a new version of the same kind -- see here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iZlledmlx86Yink.html /Probably, the devil’s "copyirasting" on the music used there has be worked./

My last resort Herocam, has saved the day on a few occasions now. I had cards and batteries to cope with 10 hours a day, I never dream't I'd have access to the cab for 13 plus hours a day.

@@Timsvideochannel1 Glad you did! Thanks again for taking us to places we couldn't ever hope to get to!

Hi, its a pleasure to share my video adventures, just wish I could get down to Somerset more often to see the WSR, you are lucky to have such a wonderful railway on your doorstep.

All those spots were once living creatures.

I wondered why the station had two names. Wikipedia gives interesting information about the populations of towns and cities.

I’m Slovak. So there’s a law in our country saying that if a municipality has more than 20% of speakers of another language, all official signs have to be bilingual, as well as the bureaus must have bilingual workers. You know, to make life easier for them 😊

Cheers, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi, sorry I didn't include a map with this video. Please open Google Earth and copy and paste, or type 'Moldava nad Bodvou' into the search bar, you will be able to zoom in and follow the the railway line to Medzev. The nearest large town is Kosice.

Olá, estou contente que você aprecie estes vídeos, tiradas na Eslováquia, Europa Central. A locomotiva faz parte da coleção do Museu Nacional, onde ela é muito bem cuidada. A maioria dos meninos sonho de dirigir um trem, o motorista deste trem foi uma das pessoas mais felizes que eu já conheci. Ele era muito gentil, permitindo que eu montasse com ele. Saudações. Tim. Google Translate - Hello, I am pleased you enjoy these videos, taken in Slovakia, Central Europe. The locomotive is part of the National Museum collection where she is very well looked after. Most young boys dream of driving a train, the driver of this train was one of the happiest people I've ever met. He was very kind allowing me to ride with him. Greetings. Tim.

@@Timsvideochannel1 boa noite amigo Tim,,obrigado pôr responder, meu amigo sou fanático por trens, acho que puxei meu falecido pai, ele era maquinista da extinta efs sorocabana,,olha nos do Brasil temos historias lindas sobre ferrovias, espero tenho esperança de conhecer essas maravilhas de suas rede ferroviária, que tem muitas histórias, iguais a do Brasil, Foi uma alegria que recebi essa mensagem atraves do KZfaq que nos alegra obrigado amigo que tenha um feliz domingo abraço amigo

​@@janioandrade2523jla Olá, é sempre bom ouvir de espectadores. Eu não sei muito sobre os caminhos de ferro do Brasil, eu olhei na Internet, eu encontrei este vídeo-kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r9CYmJynlpOrXaM.html Este homem postou alguns vídeos interessantes. O Brasil é um país fascinante, espero visitar algum dia. Saudações da Inglaterra. Google Translate - Hello, it is always nice to hear from viewers. I do not know much about the railways of Brazil, I looked on the internet, I found this video - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r9CYmJynlpOrXaM.html This man has posted some interesting videos. Brazil is a fascinating country, I hope to visit some day. Greetings from England.

@@Timsvideochannel1 bom dia amigo Tim, obrigado será sempre bem vindo ao nosso pais Brasil, ingraterra também e magnífica. Com seus palacios suas terra lindas quê bênção de deus, parabéns, obrigado meu amigo abraço bom domingo amigo janio

There have been a few close calls, fortunately it is only suicidal bugs that have met an early end when I have been filming.

I'm not sure what the exact problem was, they had a big bunch of keys for unlocking the switches, maybe they were having trouble finding the right key.

In this case the railway didn't run between the football pitch and the stands, they probably stop when there is a game on, cheaper than buying a ticket. The monastery looked impressive, it would have been nice to have a look around the place.

Ahoj, děkuji vám za váš popis stanic. Většina měst a vesnic obsluhovaných pobočkovými železnicemi, které jsme navštívili na této cestě po Slovensku, byla hezká a dobře postarána, některé stanice potřebovaly rekonstrukci, ale důležité je, že železnice byly stále na místě. Bydlím v Anglii, kde většina poboček linky byly uzavřeny v roce 1960. Je lepší mít železnici se stanicemi, které potřebují renovaci, než vůbec žádnou železnici. Miloval jsem návštěvu Slovenska, je to krásná a přátelská země. Hi, thank you for your description of the stations. Most of the towns and villages served by the branch line railways we visited on this tour of Slovakia were pretty and well looked after, some of the stations were in need of renovation, but the important thing is that the railways were still in place. I live in England where most of the branch lines were closed in the 1960's. It is better to have a railway with stations in need of renovation, than no railway at all. I loved visiting Slovakia, it is a beautiful and friendly country.

Slovakian railways do try to keep lines open, but sometimes the economics, even with a bit a subsidy and innovation just can be made to stack up. On the bright side, freight operations keep the tracks in place, as long as the tracks are in place, there is always hope.

Thank you I'm pleased you enjoyed it. The key used to unlock the double slip appeared to be the problem.

Hi, I spent two weeks touring Slovakia on a railway holiday visiting as much of the railway system as possible in that time. Slovakia is a beautiful country and the High Tatras were a very pleasant surprise, not many people outside of Slovakia are aware of this wonderful winter resort with ski lifts and runs to rival the best in Europe at a very reasonable price.

@@Timsvideochannel1 That seems quite interesting I remember the Slovak crown before Slovakia joined the euro in 2009 maybe you might remember it Bratislava Hlavna Stanica is such an awful station very run down though Bratislava is nice though in it own right & so are many towns like Kosice Presov did you visit a place called Levoca this quite walled town nice architecture as well not far from Poprad & the High Tatras I agree I think some British people know most parts of Slovakia maybe not the Eastern part.

@@Timsvideochannel1 Have you done the line between Presov & Bardejov I this is supposed to quite scenic let me knowI I also remember when crossing the Polish Slovak Border they used to stamp your passport I remember that on holiday 20 years ago interesting experience I suppose it was the whichever country you coming from except Austria.

@@jeromebano1125 Hi, this is a link to the videos I made showing the railways of Slovakia - kzfaq.info/sun/PLPdTWbkwx85o3tGwep3gCpaq0bhLaNoHn I enjoyed watching trains at Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, there was plenty of variety. I don't think I saw Levoca, maybe it's a good reason to visit again, Poprad and the High Tatras are beautiful. People from the UK always go to Spain or maybe Paris when they visit Europe without taking time to find out more, I've visited some awesome places such as Montenegro, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Italian Riviera to name just a few, a lot of brits are creatures of habit, always visiting the same places , which is a shame because Europe has so much to offer. I'm looking forward to travel restriction being lifted so that I can continue exploring more wonderful places.

@@jeromebano1125 I did cross the border into Poland, but were no passport checks or stamps during my visit.

Hi Neil, time is money, I think the controller issued keys for the switches (Points) that needed to be switched, there seemed to be a problem with this one.

I was having a joke with your sped-up video, but of course you knew that!.....Er, you DID know that, didn't you? LOL

I guessed you were joking, even Slovakian's after a few good beers don't move that fast.

Perhaps if you popped some pep pills(hmmmm.... pop pep pill, that rolls off the tongue nicely, don't it? LOL) into their beer, they might move that quick..... but It's all done with a bit of trick editing!(Perhaps the Benny Hill Show closing them of Yakety-Axe would've been appropriate on the soundtrack! LOL).

Thank you.

Ahoj, milujem slovenské krajiny železnice. Niektoré železnice sme navštívili nevidel vlak niekoľko mesiacov :-) Hi, I love Slovakian country railways. Some of the railways we visited had not seen a train for months.

Birds can be so hard to please, don't they like trains?

If I compare videos from small train stations in Germany today and 25 years ago, I notice the lack of birds today. That's why I noticed the sound of the birds here. Tim, do you have same experience in UK? Anybody here else?

Good afternoon Heinz, I do notice how vocal the birds are in all the former East European countries, there are also a lot of beautiful butterfly's. I am not sure why this is, but I think I might have something to do with pesticides used to keep crops free from unwanted pests. These pesticides do not appear to be as widely used in East European country's, hence more butterfly's and bugs for the birds to feed on. There are plenty of birds in the UK, although more recently it is becoming noticeable that it is the bigger birds such as seagulls, crows and magpies that are doing well at the expense of smaller birds. It has been said this is because more people are feeding the birds, resulting in the bigger ones coming into town gardens, once the preserve of smaller birds like robins, sparrows and wrens. Squirrels are also moving into towns and they are know for taking the eggs from the nests of smaller birds. Small birds need hedgerows to live in, as farms become more mechanized, hedgerows are being removed, life is tough for smaller birds. My cat is not the reason, it is too lazy to chase birds.

@@Timsvideochannel1 Glad to hear your cat isn't responsible, Tim. - Beside mechanized agriculture, too, in Germany mainly Glyphosate ('Round Up') causes disappearing of both insects and herb seeds therefore also of birds. Today even sparrows are candidates to Red List in Germany.

Hello Heinz, my cat is too lazy to chase anything these days. I didn't realize the bird populations had suffered so much in Germany, I hope something is being done to reverse the situation, I know I would really miss the dawn chorus on spring mornings if the same happened here. Tim.

Bem-vindo a bordo para um passeio pelo interior da Eslováquia enquanto viajamos de trem de Moldava nad Bodvou a Medzev. Welcome aboard for a ride through the Slovakian countryside as we travel by train from Moldava nad Bodvou to Medzev.