Having met up with my father and stepmother at Istanbul airport we took a taxi to the hotel where I had a very refreshing and welcoming sleep. The next morning I was woken up by the calling of the faithful to a nearby mosque and after a typical Turkish breakfast consisting of cold cuts, cheese, and tomatoes, we checked out of the hotel and headed for the ferry to Haydarpasa to drop our luggage off at the station.

Haydarpasa is the gateway to Anatolian Turkey and inside the station numerous trains waited for their next trip, which in some cases were almost twelve hours away. Already in the station was the 22:30 to Ankara, the ‘Ankara Express’ which we would catch that night. Also in the station are the suburban trains to Gebze, operation by Turkish built electric train sets, and trains to Adapazari, pulled by French or Japanese / Turkish built electric locomotives.

We return across the Bosporus and walked to Sirkeci station to see what is in there. Aside from the usual French built electric units that operate to Halkali some seventeen miles away there is also one of the electric locomotives that the TCDD had hired from the State Railway of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the yard was a flurry of activity as a pair of German built yard switchers pushed various cars around to make up the next train, which consisted of coaches from six different countries.

After spending the rest of the day on the European side we crossed the Bosporus in time to catch the ‘Ankara Express’. Up front was the prototype E43000 class electric locomotive which was the only member of the class built complete in Japan, the remaining forty-four having been built under license in Turkey.

Departure from Haydarpasa was punctual and soon we passed numerous stations filled with people waiting for the last trains of the night. I stay awake through Izmit where the mainline ran down the middle of the road, separated from the traffic by a fence, and we caused numerous traffic jams as we crossed the grade crossings at each intersection.

When we reached Ariflye, where the line to Adapazari leaves the mainline, we stopped to switch pantographs. The reason for this is that the line to Ankara was only electrified a few years previously and because of the numerous tunnels the TCDD used a different style of catenary from Arifiye to Sincan, which is in the suburbs of Ankara. Therefore electric locomotives running along the line need pantographs with both large and small contact heads. They have to switch at Arifiye and Sincan as the pantograph with the small head can only be used between those two stations while the pantograph with the large cannot, and vice versa.

After the brief, but obligatory, stop in Arifiye we continued on our way to Ankara.

The view that greeted me in the morning was incredible with the ubiquitous mountains stretching across the horizon. Also visible were the ruins of the famous city of Gordion plus the tumulus of King Midas.

Breakfast was called after Polatli by the dining car attendant who walked down the car ringing a bell but as we were close to Ankara we decide to forego breakfast until we got home. Arrival in Ankara was only a few minutes late and we were soon headed into the suburbs by taxi.

Later that day we drove back to Gordion to visit the tumulus and ruins, making a brief stop at Polatli station to photograph a German built diesel locomotive.