Boy, how I miss Question Time. The witty repartee, the razor-sharp cut and thrust of debate. George the Poet. The £22 billion black hole. Foodbanks, the statutory tranny, and the obese woman with the purple hair making whooping noises while clapping like a seal.
Our hard-working £110,000-a-year representatives in the House of Liars and Thieves are taking a well-earned five-week-long Easter holiday. Spare a thought for the poor souls left behind in a deserted QT spin room. Regular readers will be aware I have used variations of the following analogy before: it’s like being in the circus, but with no elephants bottoms left to wash. I stand alone on the straw with my bucket and glove, waiting for the weeks to pass.
Not to worry. I shall retreat to my happy place, my safe place — spending all my time exploring obscure but interesting bits of steel wheel and steel rail on Google. I know, I know, I’m a sad case, but don’t mock. Stranger people than I haunt this world, and it’s a harmless pursuit — except on Christmas Day or our wedding anniversary.
You’ve all seen the mighty arch at St Pancras and its quintuple-barrelled half-sibling that is Milano Centrale. You’ve all seen the Settle-Carlisle railway and New York’s Grand Central Terminus. The Puffin is a well-travelled and knowledgeable bird; you will know of bullet trains and of Swiss Expresses travelling from glacier to glacier.
But a second tier exists, a Championship if you like, of such things that are bigly interesting but little known. The gentleman adventurer can revisit them for the entertainment of the reader and furthermore can fall across others for the first time with the help of this remarkable thing called the internet. Want to join me on the ride? Of course you do.
Back in the day, taking photos was verboten, or rather ‘e ndaluar’ when calling upon our first destination. I don’t feel like going back, so Google Earth it is.
The bad news is that the railway line from the Albanian capital of Tirana appears to have disappeared, to be replaced by a bare trackbed. We hope an improved permanent way is planned. The rails reappear at Borakë, two-thirds of the way along the 23 miles that connect Tirana to the Adriatic coast at Durrës.
Therefore, at first glance, you might think one of my favourite railway stations in all the world is gone. Not so. Behold, upon closer inspection and near to a tight curve, there it is among a load of gravel. Not visible on Street View, we shall cheat and take a recce via Wikipedia.
Pictured close to its nadir in 1995, what the image of Vorë doesn’t convey — and what words can’t express — is the smell. Judging by other pictures available on the net, it has since had a coat of rendering and a slap of fresh paint, albeit bright green. In this modern day, there are even platforms – but no rails.
Railway station of Vora, Albania, 1995,
Apdency – Public domain
As we reach the outskirts of Durrës, we can view fruit gardens encroaching on the line. Before you feel sorry for the impoverished natives, take a look at the new mansions being built in the background. Keep in mind they’re most likely paid for from benefits and the proceeds of crime sent from the UK.
On a happier note, closer to the centre of Durrës lies a depot for the rebuilding of the line. Sleepers and track are piled high.
This leads us to the terminus station itself, which, believe it or not, is another big improvement from decades ago. However, since the Street View camera called the track has been lifted in anticipation of the improvements.
The gods of Google tempt us elsewhere. Before the curve at Vorë, another line branches from the Durrës route and heads north for the 64-mile run to Shkodër.
After Milot, we reach the Matt River, whose floodplain and channel demand a 790m long viaduct and 60m long bridge. The original crossing was called the Zogu bridge, named after Puffin’s favourite Zog the First, a former king of, president of, and prime minister of, Albania.
Parked up on the curve approaching the Matt sits, not abandoned and vandalised rolling stock, but a service train waiting its turn to cross the waterway. Zooming in, you can spot passengers sitting and standing in what appears to be wreckage.
Closer to Shkodër, we reach Mjedë, notable for its outsized rail-served concrete bunkers visible from the road. What are they? Perhaps for gravity-loading agricultural produce onto freight trains? Perhaps related to the local copper industry?
No matter, what also catches the eye is some road-based transport porn as an elderly couple takes a load of hay on the back of a three-wheel motorised cart. As we reach peak Albania, and as a reminder of what we’re missing when Question Time is on Easter break, they appear to be going to Pukë.
© Always Worth Saying 2025
