Passenger Rolling Stock of Bela
Šahlmeti
Like many locomotive engineers, Bela Šahlmeti
(1878-1944) cut his teeth on carriage and wagon work. His passenger coaches, at first quite staid, soon
became typical of the iconoclastic attitude to design that
characterised his later locomotive work. It was not long before
the traditional wooden coachwork, with its panels and beading, gave way
to smooth, almost featureless surfaces, whose lack of decoration was,
initially, hard for people with more time-honoured ideas to accept. In
time, however, passengers were won over by the comfort of the interiors
and the RSR's accountants were delighted with the drastically reduced
cost of cleaning and maintenance. Šahlmeti's rolling stock proved to be very
durable, the last vehicles remaining in service well into the 1960s.
