A LONG, long time ago, there were no cars piling up in warehouses, clogging up city arteries, or putting on their peacock feathers on a Saturday night. A century ago, Cypriots had one of two choices when it came to traveling long distance: either climb on the old donkey, or take the train.
For the first half of the twentieth century a Government Railway ran from Famagusta, through Nicosia, Morphou and ending, for a time, at Evrychou. There was also extensive use of steam, diesel and electric trains at mines dotted around the island.
The Cyprus Government Railway for some loose change would take you from one city to the next while the mining corporations used freight trains to carry ore from the Troodos Mountains to Famagusta port or the capital.
Many of these trains have been left to rust around the island while two train stations remain standing. One of them is used as a land registry building by the authorities in occupied Famagusta while the other is set to become a railway museum in Evrychou.
But the memory of life on the rail is rapidly fading with the older generation.
London-based Reeltime Pictures is in the process of filming a television documentary, titled The Lost Trains Of Cyprus, about the rail network that used to exist in Cyprus.
Producer Keith Barnfather and Director Anastasia Stylianou are regular visitors to Cyprus as they have family here. They have made it their mission to collect and document those memories of a bygone era as a reminder of Cyprus’ heritage and safe keep for the future.
“Until we took a trip to Famagusta a few months ago we had no idea railways ever existed here,” said Barnfather.
“We came across a locomotive outside a building in the town and were so enthralled we decided to follow it up. That led us eventually to Mike Radford who has written a book on the subject and we have teamed up to make the documentary,” added Stylianou.
The company has been filming exhaustively at old mine workings and train stations across the island and hopes to finish the project shortly after Christmas.
But they are now appealing for help from the British, Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on the island.
“We desperately need to hear from people who worked and traveled on the Cyprus Government Railway or worked for the mining companies that used trains,” explained Barnfather.
“We very much want to bring the story of the railways to life with personal memories and are appealing for anyone who can help us to get in touch.”
“Even if you have stories your father or mother told you we are interested to hear about them. This is a part of the history of Cyprus I feel must be preserved and it is a very personal project for me,” said Stylianou.
There are people in their 80s and 90s that actually remember this. If we don’t get them interviewed now, it will be lost forever,” noted Barnfather.
The pair have already found one 87-year old Turkish Cypriot from Famagusta who recollected some wonderful stories of the mining railways.
In their work, they also discovered a Government Railway train that is still sitting at Famagusta station. It is the last one of its kind, called Locomotive Number One. “There is the elephants’ graveyard of trains near Morphou, which has over 10 trains just sitting there. A US-owned Cyprus Mining Corporation ran operations there between the 1930s and 1974. It’s amazing,” added Barnfather.
A diesel train currently sits on a bridge in Kalavasos village. “There are really quite a lot of trains lying about if you know where to look,” he said.
“A lot of people in Cyprus worked and travelled on those railways. We would like to keep that heritage alive for the future and would love to speak to anyone with memories of that time, especially a conductor or ticket collector,” said Barnfather.
If you feel you can help Reeltime, you can reach them by e-mail at:
[email protected] or by phone in London on: 0044 208 659 1717 or via their Cyprus production assistant, Athina Andreou (after 7pm please) on: 22-330627.
