Originally conceived in 1878 as a temporary field railway to supply an occupying army, the railway was quickly adapted to civilian use in what was de facto Austria-Hungary’s only colony. A true network never developed due to political rivalries between Vienna and Budapest and then after 1918 within Yugoslavia itself. The interwar years were marked by stagnation and it was only after 1945 that the process of modernising Bosnia’s railways finally got underway. This inevitably entailed the regauging and closure of the narrow gauge, with the final public railway disappearing in 1978, almost exactly 100 years after the first was opened.

This book, the product of over ten years of research, is the first in any language to deal comprehensively with the complex but fascinating history of the narrow gauge railways of Bosnia-Hercegovina. It is profusely illustrated with over 550 photographs, drawings and maps.