This past fall while we lived in Lezhë, Albania, and I taught at the Lezha Academic Center, I was able to capture several instances of Albanian trains and tracks.

On August 22 teachers and staff from LAC took a six-hour trip into the south of Albania to the city Permet. We met the train shown below just outside of Vorë, the hub for all trains in Albania. Vorë is essentially in the eastern part of the Tirana metropolitan area. 

Catching an Albania Train Heading East from Tirana (22-Aug-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Getting Closer to an Albania Train (22-Aug-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

The Engine Is Here... (22-Aug-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

...and Now We Are Past It (22-Aug-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

After having spent another weekend (September 4-5) in Podgorica, Montenegro, we returned to Lezhë along the Adriatic Sea. Where the mountains touched the sea, trains had to go through tunnels. 

Train Tunnel adjacent to the Road in Montenegro (5-Sep-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

On yet another weekends trip, this time to Korçë during the first weekend of October, I photographed another train just east of Tirana. 

A Graffiti-Painted Passenger Car and Locomotive (3-Oct-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

On that trip I found this combination of tracks and tunnel alongside of a more meandering road to be most interesting to see.  

Gn (3-Oct-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

An hour so more later, we came upon this very elevated train bridge--the Bushtrica Bridge--located near Librazhd, Elbasan District. At 48 meters (~160 ft) it is the highest and at 255 meters (~840 ft) the longest bridge in Albania. The bridge was completed in 1973. The book, 40 Vjet Shqiperi Socialiste (40 Years of Socialist Albania), published in 1984, labels the photo of the bridge having been completed with the caption, "Bridge on Bushtrica, built by our youth."   

One View of the Very Tall Bushtrica Bridge (3-Oct-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

A View from the Other Side of the Very Tall Bushtrica Bridge (3-Oct-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

As we got closer to Lake Ohrid (shared by Macedonia and Albania) we saw again a site that is often there--people using the railroad bed as a kind of sidewalk to get them to and from their homes. 

Waling on the Railroad Bed as a Road or Sidewalk (3-Oct-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Here are two more web sites that I have found useful in giving some info about the railroads in Albania.

• World of Railways (Albania) -- 64 photos

• T669 Locomotive -- info, diagrams and more (in Albanian)

• HSH Official Site -- tariffs on freight and passengers, etc.

I look forward to finding out more information about the current status of railroads in Albania. Maybe in the next few months after we return to Lezhë on March 1, we can even ride a train to Shkodër.