|
My wife and I had the pleasure of spending a month in Poland during the summer of 2000. The railfanning opportunities, without parallel today in the Western World, were the initial attraction. I could have spent the entire month playing trains and not run out of things to do. But I spent only six days at it -- if you don't count the passenger trains we rode to get around. The remainder of the time was well spent enjoying castles, cathedrals, old towns, new towns, primeval forests, river gorges, jazz and folk music festivals -- and great food. Presented here is a series of photo-essays highlighting those six railfan days. |
|
|
Poland, only about half the size of the state of Texas, has over 15,000 miles of railroad operated by PKP, the Polish state railway. Although steam was used into the early 90's, the PKP is a modern railroad system providing frequent electric or diesel hauled passenger and freight service between all major national and international destination. But the PKP is also preserving it's history by operating a variety of narrow and standard gauge skansens (outdoor museums) and retro trains. Here are a few examples of these efforts, plus a unique and interesting non-PKP operation. |
Click on the map above to see where we are going.
Click on pictures below for a photo-essay of each site.
|
At Elk, in the Lake District northeast of Warsaw, the PKP preserves both standard gauge and narrow gauge facilities, making this a great place to start. In the standard gauge yard there is a roundhouse which contains several operable steam locomotives, (although they rarely operate anymore) and other interesting reminders of the steam era. This is a busy engine terminal, so explore it with care.
The narrow gauge side is now mainly a skansen boasting an extensive collection of NG and SG motive power, rolling stock, and memorabilia -- some dating back to the 1880's.
Scheduled passenger service is still operated over the narrow gauge line, and you may purchase one-way and roundtrip tickets to various stations along the route. Well, you would probably just want to buy a roundtrip ticket to the end of the line. The normal consist is a fairly modern diesel railcar, but you can charter a steam locomotive to pull your choice of an open or enclosed passenger car if you so desire. E
|
|
|
|
|
|
At Koscierzyna is one of several regional PKP Skansens located throughout Poland. This one tells the story of standard gauge railroading in Pomerania, or northwestern Poland. Railway traditions here date back to 1885 when the first roundhouse was built. In 1929 it was replaced by this rectangular four-engine house that now anchors the skansen. |
 |
Northeast of Poznan is Znin. Here you can take a one-hour ride to an Iron Age Village on a 600mm gauge railroad built in 1893. Along the way you can visit the only railroad skansen in Europe dedicated to 600 mm gauge railroading, and a castle ruins. |
|
|
A little ways south of Posnan is the town of Sroda , and here is located the last narrow gauge railroad in Europe to operate local service using steam-hauled passenger trains. Some purists would argue that this is a false claim since the service was continued primarily because of it's historic and tourist value. So, let them argue while I ride. The line was originally built as 1000 mm gauge in 1902 and converted to its present 750 mm gauge during the early 1950's. |
|
|
Saving the best 'till last we come to Wolsztyn, southwest of Poznan. Here you will find the last operating standard gauge steam terminal on the PKP, or in all of Europe for that matter. Oh, I know. The purists again will question the correctness of this claim. The steam only runs during tourist season, after all. And there's more than enough diesel power on hand to operate the service. Well, it looks, smells, and sounds like an operating steam terminal -- and that's good enough for me. But if you want to see lots of action, it is best to show up during the tourist season . By the way, you can ride roundtrip Wolsztyn to Posnan 2nd class for about $8.00, or in the cab for about $10. Gee, what to do? But you can't get cab tickets at the depot. |
|
American Gauge Equivalents for the Metrically Challenged: 1435 mm= 4.7' (standard gauge) 1000
mm = 3.3' These are rounded off; if you want it more exact , go to: |
LINKS
