My first visit to Slovakia and encounter with the ZSSK - Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko - the Slovakian State Railways. Unlike my trip to Hungary in March this visit was characterised by indifferent weather with both heavy rain and sunny periods. The reason for going over this weekend was the appearance of 498.104, a 4-8-2 built by Skoda in the mid 1950s and operated by the Albatros Klub of Bratislava ( http://www.albatrosklub.sk). The weekend saw a rail festival in Slovakia's second city Košice, where 498.104 and other historic equipment were appearing. I spent Friday tracking 498.104 on its leisurely way east. It ran very late at times and the conditions from late afternoon deteriorated so that my last picture was taken in half darkness and pouring rain. On Saturday, after seeing 498.104 off from Poprad, I drove to Ruskov, SE of Košice, where the 5' gauge iron ore railway from Ukraine crests the low hills between Slovakia's eastern border and the valley of the Hornád , hoping to see either a loaded or empty ore train. I waited almost four hours before catching one of both, which I took to be very fortunate. These are long and heavy trains which require three double locomotives to get up the hills, very impressive.