Macedonian Railways Makedonski Železnici class 442 locomotive. These machines were originally produced based on a Swedish license by Rade Končar in Zagreb. This machine and two others used to be old Croatian railways class 1141 machines, but they were bought to Macedonia and rebuilt with modern thyristor technology resulting in this new class 442 comprising only three machines. Outwardly these are very similar with for example the Slovenian class 342 and they all base on the technology of Swedish Asea's Rc locomotives.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The Macedonian Railways MŽ class 441 looks very much the same as the class 442 pictured above. And it is no wonder, since both come from the same factory Rade Končar and are based on the same originally Swedish design. The class 441 machines were built in 1969 to 1988 for the Yugoslav railways and therefore they are now spread out throughout the former Yugoslavian countries. This is a 3800 kW four axle machine with a top speed of 120 km/h. Macedonian railways have 8 of them.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

Another MŽ class 441 locomotive with two former East German DR so called Halberstädter coaches.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The Macedonian Railways MŽ class 461 is a six axle longer version of the 441 pictured above. These machines were built by Electroputere under Swedish license 1972-1980. They also were spread out throughout the former Yugoslavian countries when Yugoslavia broke up. Macedonian railways have three of them. It's a 5100 kW machine with a top speed of 120 km/h and basically the same machine which in Sweden is known as MA or in Norway as El15.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The MŽ class 461 is a long and heavy locomotive. The Swedes constructed this type originally for pulling extremely heavy iron ore trains over the open tundra on the Malmbanan from Kiruna in Sweden to the Norwegian port of Narvik.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The MŽ class 461 is ready to leave.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

A Macedonian Railways MŽ express train pulled by a class 461 locomotive is leaving Skopje station.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The MŽ class 643 is a diesel shunter based on a French design but built under license in what used to be Yugoslavia. This is a four axle machine with a power rating of 680 kW and a top speed of 80 km/h. They were built by Brissonneau et Lotz and Đuro Đaković in Slavonski Brod in 1967. Macedonian railways has three of them.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The MŽ class 642 is a slightly older variant of the 643 shown above. Also these were built by Brissonneau et Lotz and Đuro Đaković under French license from 1960 to 1964. This machine has a power rating of only 606 kW and a top speed of 80 km/h. MŽ has eight of them.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

The MŽ class 412 is a four coach electric multiple unit built by Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca RVR in Riga, Latvia or what then was Soviet Union 1985-86. It is based on RVR's ER2 / ER9 electric multiple units, which used to be commonplace throughout the USSR.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

Another MŽ class 412 EMU but in an older, original painting. The poor train would definitely need a thorough rehaul. There is another similar train partly visible behind this one and that means that our photographer Markku Salo has managed to capture all of them. Macedonian railways only have three of these trains.
Picture from Skopje, Macedonia in 2003 by Markku Salo.

Class 911 catenary wire installation wagon is also from the former communist times. Similar vehicles can be found in all the former Yugoslav countries.
Picture from Skopje station 27.10.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Two rail trucks, the one on the left a TMD25 and on the right a bit newer TMD746. Both belong to MZI, the infrastructure part of Macedonian state railways.
Picture from Skopje station 27.10.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.

An Austrian built Plasser & Theurer Unomatic tamper machine of MZI.
Picture from Skopje station 27.10.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.

This one is a Plasser & Theurer SSP-203 ballast distributing and profiling machine intended for shaping and spreading out ballast gravel when renewing tracks. It has shoulder ploughs, a centre plough and a sweeper unit with a transverse conveyor belt for moving gravel on plain track.
Picture from Skopje station 27.10.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.