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| Pt47-65 pauses for the DMU to Wolsztyn to cross it at Nova Wies Mochy while working the 05:30 Wolsztyn - Leszno. 25.09.2020 |
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| CTL's 182 090 passes Mysłowice in a patch of good light with a coal train. 29.09.2020 |
Introduction:
A very short notice trip to Poland (Flights booked about
24 hours before!)- I’m convinced that the best way to beat the pandemic travel
lottery is to book very last minute checking that your country is still on the
‘good’ list!
Two of my friends had landed themselves a week on the
Wolsztyn experience, and while I could not join for the whole week due to work
commitments a crazy plan had hatched in my head to fly out after work on the
Wednesday for a few days in Poland, including joining them at Wolsztyn for
steam and beers. With them flying home on the Sunday it wouldn’t be much of a
trip, so a few days were tagged on the end for some freight photography in
Silesia, somewhere I had not visited since 2011.
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| EP07 1015 approaches Leszno heading towards Wrocław. 25.09.2020 |
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| PT47-65 prior to departure to Poznan. 26.09.2020 |
Wednesday 23rd September:
Today's plan was simply to get to Poland. Flying with Wizz
from Luton is never ideal, however I numbed the pain by discovering a nice HST
move with 43073 leading the 18:04 St Pancras to Leeds, one of very few chances
to reach the airport with a proper train!
The flight was around 30 minutes late and once in Poland
it was almost Thursday- the only task was to get to my accommodation the Ibis
Budget on the outskirts of Wrocław. Fortunately quick disembarkation and
luggage got me in a taxi and I was in my hotel room only 30 minutes after the
flight arrived.
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| ET22 1162 passes Myslowice with covered steel carriers. 29.09.2020 |
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| DB 189 017 approaches Wrocław Stadion. 24.09.20 |
Thursday 24th September:
Aware that the weather forecast for my week was getting
worse every time I checked it I really needed to make the most of this day, as
it could be my last dry one for the whole trip!
The Covid breakfast offer at the hotel was not appealing
so I headed straight out to find a lineside spot near to Wrocław Stadion
station on the line to Zielina Gora. Unfortunately my first freight, and only
one in the right direction was hauled by DB 189 017- I hadn’t come here to see
modern German electrics! A couple more freights passed in the opposite
direction with more Polish traction, EU07 199 and EU07 180 double heading a
freight for Cargonuit with ET22 903 in pursuit.
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| EU07 199 and EU07 180 at Wrocław Stadion. 24.09.20 |
My next stop was Wroclaw Zerniki on the line towards
Legnica. Again the trains weren’t especially kind with the only freight in the
‘right’ direction being hauled by DB’s plain white Vectron 193 560. In the
other direction was Lotos Skoda 181 071 with an oil train. Fortunately the only
passenger had been going the ‘right’ way, towards Wrocław so that did provide
some compensation.
My next target was to head to the area around Wrocław Brochów depot, first traveling through the beautifully restored Wrocław Głowny. Here there was a surprise in a meeting with one of the new PKP Intercity ‘Griffin’ locos, EU160 024 built by Newag, working a TLK service.
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| EP07 435 passes through Wrocław Zerniki 24.09.2020 |
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| New PKP IC EU160-024 'Griffin' built by Newag stands at Wrocław Głowny with a TLK 24.09.2020 |
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| EP09 008 heads south from Wrocław Brochow. 24.09.2020 |
On arrival at Wroclaw Brochow there was a nice surprise
in M62 1705 sitting in the yard on an engineers train, terribly positioned for
a photo. Of course when a freight did arrive it was another German affair with
DB’s Vectron 193 395.
I had identified a spot south of the station which should
give a good view of IC trains, though didn’t expect any freight to pass here.
En-route I was distracted somewhat by Kris-Max ‘Ludmilla’ 232 583 which was
shunting in the yard. Various interesting older locos could be seen in the
depot- something to explore later.
It took a while to get my IC shots but I was rewarded
with EP09 008 and EU07 317 heading south after a little wait.
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| New ET26 003 'Dragon' loco form Newag stands outside the depot at Wrocław Brochow. 24.09.2020 |
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| Not moving, but at least well lit- ST44 1220 on Wrocław Brochow. 24.09.2020 |
Now it was time to tackle the depot- clearly lugging my hold luggage around was not going to be an option so I found a ‘subtle’ location to hide this for an hour or so by the lineside- sometimes needs must! I then donned my HV jacket, much more common in Poland than they once were, and simply wandered into the depot. Inside was a treasure-trove of locos, both serviceable and not.
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| SU46 041 awaiting the cutters torch. 24.09.2020 |
Highlights included ST44 1220 (a class I have still not seen moving a train for PKP), ET41 141 in green nicely positioned, brand new EU26 003 (a new Newag ‘Dragon’) and the star being ET42 029 in heritage green – a class I had not previously photographed and which was high on my priority list for this trip.
The depot also contained examples of ET21, ET22, SM31, SM42,
ST43, SU45, SU46. My final port of call in the depot were some pictures of fire
damaged SU46 041 which was sitting ready to be scrapped.
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| Retro-liveried ET42 029 stands on the depot at Wrocław Brochaw. 24.09.2020 |
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| Another heritage surprise is EP08 001 in the former express orange livery seen shunting at Wrocław Głowny. 24.09.2020 |
I retrieved my bag and headed back to the station quite
content. I would have another pleasant surprise at Wrocław Głowny as heritage
orange liveried EP08 001 was shunting at the station, ahead of joining my own
train to Leszno behind EP07 312. It wasn’t far out of Wrocław before the sun
mostly disappeared. Despite some hauled stock on the other side of the station
my train on to Wolsztyn was, of course, a nasty 2 car DMU, but I was at least
met on arrival in Wolsztyn with an ice cream before being taken to my
accommodation courtesy of the Wolsztyn experience.
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| EP07 2001 working from Poznan to Jelenia Gora at Leszno. 25.09.20 |
Friday 25th September:
With only four round trips behind steam available in
during my short stay in Wolsztyn I was obviously going to have to be up early
for the 05:30 Wolsztyn – Leszno behind Pt47 65, a change from the Ol49’s which
I had seen in steam on my previous trips. Getting up early certainly paid off
as the morning light turned out to be good and there were a couple of
opportunities for photo stops when the train was booked to pass DMU’s.
At Leszno I was caught by surprise by PolRegio’s (the new
name for Przewozy Regionale) EP07 2001, working R76901 05:40 Poznan – Jelenia
Gora, one of only a handful of workings for these trains. Also catching my
attention was ST43 208 which was sitting outside the roundhouse at Leszno,
clearly having been very recently moved despite this class now having
effectively been withdrawn.
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| 'Withdrawn' ST43 208 outside the roundhouse at Leszno. 24.09.2020 |
Back at Wolsztyn there was time for a quick change of
attire before it was my turn on the footplate for the afternoon run to and from
Leszno. Firebox food consumed back at the shed there was time for some
photography and a scrub up before dinner at the usual Wolsztyn restaurant the
Powozownia.
Saturday 26th September:
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| PT47-65 powers out of Wolsztyn with the afternoon run to Poznan on 26th September 2020. |
It was another early start as I was footplating again in
the morning. This being a Saturday the steam turn is the 06:12 Wolsztyn –
Poznan. Very little to report other than the steam as there wasn’t time to do
much else in Poznan before the return after cleaning the loco and finding a
bite to eat.
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| Highlighted by the lights of the brand new, but not yet opened platform 1 at Wolsztyn, PT47-65 awaits departure with the 05:30 Wolsztyn - Leszno. 25.09.2020 |
After watching the afternoon departure from Wolsztyn it
was time to finally explore the town and the lake – something that I don’t
think I found any time to actually do on my previous visit! Before dinner there
was just time to pop down to the station to see the final steam arrival and
hitch a quick ride down to the shed. This didn’t put me in the best position to
buy my ticket for the following day from the ticket office and after walking
back I discovered the lady didn’t want to sell me one anyway!
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| SU4210 004 under the shed at Wrocław Głowny. 27.09.2020 |
Sunday 27th September:
Today was supposedly going to be the worst weather of the
trip, which was fine as essentially it was to be a transit day. Being a Sunday
there weren’t very many options to get out of Wolsztyn, and no steam either. I
opted for the 09:31 to Leszno where I had an hour and a half fester before
picking up EP07 1029 and retracing my steps back towards Wroclaw. The pause
did give me time to explore the town of Leszno, something I’ve also not done
before – the place is certainly pleasant but, again being a Sunday, mostly
closed. Large parts of the Leszno – Wrocław line are currently under
re-construction with single line working in place. The construction trains are
being handled by a selection of Green TEM2 locomotives which can be seen
shunting around their ballast wagons in the station from time to time.
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| EU07 540 calls at the new station at Gliwice 27.09.2020 |
At Wroclaw an extra coach was added to the train by
SM4210 004. I also elected to try out the buffet car and had some rather
pleasant breaded camembert for lunch.
Although I had booked through to my final destination;
Katowice, since the light was not actually as bad as I had expected I left the
train at Gliwice in the hope of seeing some freight- I had barely passed any on
the train but having been here before (when it looked totally different) I knew
it was a spot with potential. Five freights were seen in my two hours (all bar
one in the first)- all with Polish traction this time. As I continued on to
Katowice behind EP07 387 the sun came tantalisingly close to coming out and as
I arrived into another station rebuilt since my previous visit there was a
lovely sunset.
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| Kolprem EU07's 153 and 070 power a coal train through Gliwice. 27.09.2020 |
I checked into my accommodation close to the station and
quickly decided that I was exhausted from the last few days early starts it was
to be a take away pizza in my room and an early night.
Monday 28th September:
A very grey start to the day as I pondered my move to Mysłowice
for some freight photography. I ended up purposely missing the train and
deciding to take the tram, the only complication being working out where to get
a ticket. I found a 90 minute ticket for 5zl from a convenience store and made
my way via routes 20 and 14.
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| A pair of Konstal 105 trams lead by 508 shortly after departing from the station at Mysłowice. While there isn't much to indicate it here, Silesian tramways are rapidly modernising. 28.09.2020 |
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| The only double unit of the session- ZSSK's 131 020 works a coal train through Mysłowice. 28.09.2020 |
The Sliesian tramways are worth a trip in their own right
for anyone who takes an interest in such things. The network is one of the
largest interurban tramways in the world covering 111 route miles and linking
many cities in the area. While many parts of the tramway have been modernised,
particularly around Katowice itself, and much of the fleet is now new or
modernised stock it is still easily possible to find sections of ancient
decaying infrastructure worked by the typical, if outgoing, Konstal 105’s.
Indeed I bumped into a British tram spotter while riding the route 14 towards Mysłowice.
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| In the familiar colours of Wisconsin Central RailPolska's 201Eo-001 (ET22) passes Mysłowice. 28.09.2020 |
There is a nice tram stop outside the station where
routes 14 and 26 both terminate, and unfortunately while photographing the
trams here I missed my first freight, a coal train hauled by a CTL TEM-2, even
more unfortunately this had probably been the most interesting train to pass all
morning. Mysłowice had potential to be very good, but in the gloom of a Monday
morning slightly disappointed. Freight seen was as follows:
-OBB 1294 004 – Southbound Cargowagon / Intermodal
-RailPolska 201Eo-001 (ET22) – Southbound LE
-STK S200 529 (ChME3) – Southbound LE
-ZSSK 131 020 – Southbound Coal
-Lotos 6Dg-166 top and tail 6Dg 147 - southbound Coal
-OBB 1294 004 – Northbound LE
-PKP Cargo ET22 1124 – Southbound mixed
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| The driver of a Konstal 105 on Silisian route 14 manually changes the points, another reminder of the investment still required on this massive inter-urban system. 29.09.2020 |
-PKP Cargo ET22 829 – Southbound Intermodal
-PKP Cargo SM42 080 – Southbound LE
-CTL TEM-2 227 – Northbound LE
-CTL 185 085 – Southbound LE
-Cargonit E6ACT-003 (Newag Dragon) – Northbound Tanks
-ECCO Rail SM42 2446 – Southbound LE
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| ST48 050, heavily built from an ST48 on a coal train in dismal conditions at Tarnowskie Gory. 28.09.2020 |
The afternoon plan was to move on to Tarnowskie Góry where I had identified a lineside position- unfortunately the weather didn’t improve, but at least my EN57 was particularly loud!
Once in position there was a bit of a wait for some
trains but several southbound services did appear in increasingly poor weather
conditions:
-LOTOS 181049 + 181058 Soutbhound tanks
-PKP Cargo ST48 040 Soutbhound Coal
- PKP Cargo ET22 999 Southbound LE
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| Modern traction against old infrastructure at Bytom. 28.09.2020 |
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| Classic Konstal action on the modernised main street of Katowice with a route 7 service. |
The spot certainly had potential but with the weather
getting progressively wetter and my bag already taking shelter beneath my
umbrella I called time on the location early and headed back to Bytom. This is
a station which has absolutely not been modernised (at platform level at least)
with a large dingy overall roof. A couple of stabled freights were photographed
here before I made my way back to Katowice by tram, after a lengthy delay
finding a shop which could sell me a ticket. Route 7 was far less run down that
the lines around Mysłowice but I did at least manage a Konstal 105 for part of
the journey.
I made it out for dinner tonight and also managed a few
night photos of the trams outside the main station before bed.
Tuesday 29th September:
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| SM42 552 shunts several double-unit ET41's (139 and 074) on depot at Czechowice-Dziedzice. 29.09.2020 |
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| Konstal 105 340 emerges from the trees at Mysłowice. 29.09.2020 |
This was the one day I was actually hoping for some
decent weather, so to wake up for thick drizzle was somewhat of a
disappointment! I had hastily made a plan the previous night of my moves today
and drawn straws between Czestochowa and Czechowice-Dziedzice- the latter
having won and affording my first ride with a Griffin with EU160 022 on a TLK
towards Zilina, Slovakia. This should have been a freight hotspot but I
realised fairly quickly that this was not going to be the case- the line
towards Ostrava was blocked for engineering works (quite major engineering
works- there was no track!), and it appeared the line towards Oswicem may well
have been closed too. There was time to watch a bit of shunting within the
depot and photograph the familiar looking 66166 in the yard before making a
quick exit on the next train back to Katowice.
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| A lucky catch- Heritage liveried EP07 174 approaches Katowice with a TLK. 29.09.2020 |
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| While I still mourn the passing of Green ET22's and their former passenger work these machines are still amongst my favorites in Poland. ET22 896 waits the road at Mysłowice. 29.09.2020 |
Without a huge amount of time left there wasn’t a huge choice of alternative locations for what was left of the afternoon, so feeling it still had some potential I headed back to Mysłowice. A lucky bonus was catching EU07 174 in heritage green outside Katowice Głowny while being hauled myself by EU07 302.
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| A classic look to TEM2-116 at Mysłowice. 29.09.20 |
At Mysłowice the activity was better than the previous morning with highlights including Komprem M62M 018 (which looked great but sounded like a class 66!), and TEM2 – 116 (which certainly did not sound like a 66!). The light got a lot better too and a few interludes were taken to photograph the trams outside and go for a short hop on route 26 towards Sosnowiec- an interesting journey again on old infrastructure with Konstal 105 trams.
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| A nice surprise was CTL's 'Ludmilla'. 232 584 passing through Mysłowice with a coal train. 29.09.20 |
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| Elderly 3E-100-076 (ET21) catches the sun at Mysłowice. 29.09.2020 |
-PKP Cargo ET22 1023 – Northbound intermodal
-Kolprem M62M 018 – Northbound loaded steel
-TEM2 116 + Orion 6Dm 01 Northbound tanks
-PKP Cargo ET22 562 – Northbound Coal
-PKP Cargo ET22 209 – Southbound loaded scrap
-PKP Cargo ET22 1162 – Southbound steel carriers
-DB Schenker Rail Polska 66173 – Northbound LE
-Akiem 186 354 – Southbound coal
-Kris-Max 232 368 – Northbound single chemical tank
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| A very short load- Kris-Max 232 358 hauls a single chemical tank through Mysłowice. 29.09.20 |
-CTL 182 090 – Southbound Coal
-PKP Cargo ET41 192 – Southbound Coal
-CTL 232 584 – Southbound Coal
-DB Schenker Rail Polska 3E-100-076 (ET21) – Northbound
LE
-PKP Cargo ET41 192 – Northbound Coal
-PKP Cargo ET22 896 – Northbound LE
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| M62M018 hauls a train of steel coils through Mysłowice. The loco has been re-engined and now sounds just like an EMD class 66! 29.09.20 |
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| A friend from back home - 66173 works light engine through Mysłowice. 29.09.2020 |
Finally it was time to board my IC115 from Katowice to
Krakow behind EU07 306. This route bears very little resemblance to the slow
and aging infrastructure I experienced back in 2011 on my first visit, and
while the line speed is an improvement I can’t say the same for the extensive
sound fences which now hem in this route. A final area of work is between
Jaworzno Szczakowa and Trezibinia where there is an extensive section of single
line working, including the station at Trezibinia being totally re-built. The
train is slowed by these works significantly, but that simply provided me time
to enjoy my Czech beer on tap from the buffet before arriving into Krakow.
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| With conditions brightening double unit ET41 160 hauls a coal train through Mysłowice. 29.09.2020 |
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| A final heritage treat - EP09 046 at Krakow Glowny. 29.09.2020 |
There was not time for any more trains, plus the light
had gone so I checked my bag into a locker and spent my last hour wandering
around the delights of Krakow’s old town. I had forgotten quite how beautiful,
and full of tourists, it was- quite unlike Katowice. Finally it was time to
pick up my bag, do a bit of shopping and head to the airport- like so much of
Poland the rail link having been rebuilt since my previous visit.
Conclusions:
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| Konstal 105N's at Mysłowice. The second vehicle being a heavily modernised version of foreground model. Much of route 14 and 26 which converge here maintain their old charm. 29.09.2020 |
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| EU07 317 heads south from Wrocław Brochaw. 29.09.2020 |
Poland somehow always leaves me wanting more and the area
around Silisia does seem to be the busiest with its concentration of coal and
heavy industry. Sadly once again I didn’t see either an ST44 or ET42 in motion
during the trip- so that will be my excuse for my next visit- but I did at
least see examples of both classes on the depot at Wroclaw.
Steam at Wolsztyn is quite a unique spectacle, and while
we can all debate how ‘real’ or not it is, it is now the best example of
regular working steam in Europe with ‘normal’ paying passengers on board.
Clearly the operation isn’t going to continue for ever, but it has survived
Covid for now and the local government has funded running for 2021.
It was great once again to get away during this
‘complicated’ year- indeed the curtains were drawn on quarantine free travel to
Poland just a few days after my trip with restrictions being reintroduced for
Poland 4 days later! A lucky escape there! Who knows where the next trip might
be!?
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| PT47-65 heads into stormy skies as it leaves Wolsztyn for Poznan. 26.09.2020 |
