Poznan Diesels- How long can they survive?

Not so long ago Poland was awash with diesel hauled passenger trains travelling to all manor of small destinations, on single track routes, where a diesel locomotive would haul anything upwards of a single coach.

Sadly those days are gone- the break up of some of Poland's railways together with line closures and an influx of new DMU's have resulted in scores of former passenger locos being laid up. There is still however a small amount of diesel haulage still available for the enthusiast in some parts of the country.

In Poznan there is now only one daily diagram (Mon-Fri) that brings diesel haulage to the city- a 5:53 Leszno-Poznan Gl and 15:34 return. The train is booked for an SU45, though in reality it could also produce an SP32 or SP42.

On Fridays and Sundays there is also an evening return trip from Poznan Gl to Gorzow departing Poznan at 16:27 and returning from Gorzow at 19:36. Again this turn is booked for an SU45 but other classes of loco can turn up as above.

Of course it is also worth mentioning the two steam trips each day from Woltszyn to Poznan and return- which can produce diesel locos in the event of the steam locomotive being unavailable.

Pictured above is Przewozy Regionalne SU45 079 awaiting the afternoon departure from Poznan to Leszno. The train is formed of a set of 4 articulated double deck vehicles- now quite a rarity. Running under the wires for the duration of it's trip the future for workings such as this must be fairly bleak.

Pictured below is SP32 202 ready to work the Friday Gorzow trip. Both photographs were taken on 2nd March 2012. Two days earlier a third loco hauled turn to Krzyz had reverted to EMU operation.