The ZSSKC 771 072-6 seen between Lietavská Lúčka and Porúbka Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 07:50:46 Tags: Háromudvar-Túrirtovány Porúbka Litvailló Lietavská Lúčka 272 Dongó (ZSSK Cargo) 771 072 Szlovákia dízelmozdony tolatómozdony tolatós tehervonat napos nyílt vonal mellékvonal hegyek legjobb

The railway connecting Žilina to Rajec via Rajecké Teplice, a town famous for its thermal baths was opened in 1898 as a local railway operated by the KsOd - Košice-Oderberger Railway and has an increasingly important role in the public transport of the valley to the South from Žilina. Even though not many people arrive for a wellness holiday by train many of them take the train to the city for a dinner or a sightseeing and the railcars are also a good way of avoiding the morning traffic jams and therefore are used by some commuters. It is no surprise the Ministry of Transport is looking for bidders to operate the line in a public initiative but the cause received - rightfully - bad publicity for offering close to zero time for public companies to prepare giving an unfair advantage to the current operator, the state-owned ZSSK.

I have visited the line before as part of a major roundtrip of Slovakia and have caught the local freight train on the line , but only in rainy, dark weather so I was glad our long trip could start with such a wonderful shot of a freshly-painted locomotive. Our ultimate destination on the trip is even more interesting, a site of pilgrimage among railfans, the Wolsztyn Steam Locomotive Experience. In the upcoming travelogue we are going to follow this trip's route from 2019 with a few follow-up images from an earlier trip in 2018. During that trip we focused on Polish narrow-gauge railways (preferably with steam) that I am going to publish in another article later on.

The ZSSKC 771 072-6 seen between Zbyňov and Kláče Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 08:21:19 Tags: Kláče Zbyňov 272 Dongó (ZSSK Cargo) 771 072 Szlovákia dízelmozdony tolatómozdony tolatós tehervonat gépmenet napos nyílt vonal mellékvonal táj

After leaving the cars at Konská pri Rajci (which used to be called Rajecké Teplice station until the construction of the zastávka/depot at the entrance to the resort) the locomotive continued its journey alone to Rajec station. It caused no problem to me as it looked nice with the hilly background.

The ZSSKC 752 043-0 seen hauling the local freight train between Raková and Cadca zastávka Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 11:14:43 Tags: Trencsénrákó Raková Csáca megálló Cadca zastávka 467 752 (ZSSK Cargo) 752 043 Szlovákia dízelmozdony tehervonat tolatós tehervonat nyílt vonal Bardotka ŽSSKC határon túl ragadt vasútvonal

They say I was lucky to get a blue Bardotka on the local freight on the Makov branch line, as the standard motive power is a red (class 751 ) Bardotka or a class 740/742 Kocúr , and I would have preferred the latter as it has been ages before when I last had a decent line shot of a freight train hauled by a class.

The PKP Ol49 59 seen between Belęcin Wielkopolski and Tuchorza Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 17:33:31 Tags: Belecin Wielkopolski Tuchorza 1025 Ol49 Ol49 59 Lengyelország gözmozdony

We have finally arrived in Wolsztyn and caught the afternoon steam train from the yard of a friendly Polish family. This is a real steam paradise and quite authentic, which has always been a problem for me as I seldom saw steam trains in Hungary going with a fitting set of cars (this jubilee train had been one notable exception). As my perspective changed and I started visiting destinations further away the number of nice steam trains I have photographed has increased and hopefully will continue to increase - after all, this is the original train as a concept. Wolsztyn is a place every train buff should visit, but Poland's other steam depot at Chabówka is also interesting, even though it's pure museum duty, not daily, timetabled live steam like at Wolsztyn.

The Koleje Wielkopolskie EN57 1413 rb seen between Opalenica and Porażyn Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 18:52:25 Tags: Porazyn Opalenica 1027 EU07 Lengyelország motorvonat Kibel

The Greater Poland Voivodenship Railway operates around Poznan. The trainset is a refurbished EN57 Kibel , similar to the Gomulka in Slovenia and Croatia and based on the EW51 series built in 1936 in Polish factories and English Electric. It is not associated with the Berlin S-Bahn trains obtained from the Lublin workshop that fell into Polish hands after WW2 neither with the trainsets built as reparations for the Gdansk/Danzig S-Bahn.

The PKP InterCity EU44 001 seen between Porażyn and Opalenica Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 19:01:20 Tags: Porazyn Opalenica 1027 PKP Taurus Lengyelország villanymozdony

After the steamer we still had a little bit of sunlight available so we went to the main line to catch the previous private freight train and then the Berlin to Warszawa Express in the golden hour.

The PKP Cargo ET22 1045 seen between Opalenica and Porażyn Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:15 19:11:33 Tags: Porazyn Opalenica 1027 ET22 Lengyelország wedgie villanymozdony

The ET22 six-axle freight locomotives were based on the successful EU07 universal locomotive's design but with improved structure. 1183 units were produced for Poland and 20 to Morocco making it the largest numbered standard-gauge electric locomotive built in Europe (and potentially, the world). Usually they don't appear in Slovakia and the Czech Republic as the Co' Co' axle formula doesn't suite the curvy railways much, but they do pull trains as far as Ostrava. In Slovakia, the High Tatras region, usually the two-section ET41 locomotives are used by PKP Cargo.

The PKP Ol49 59 seen at Wolsztyn Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 06:07:13 Tags: Wolsztyn 1025 Ol49 Ol49 59 Lengyelország gözmozdony

The railway junction Wolsztyn, situated between beautiful lakes would not be interesting alone for this one feature. On the lines starting from here (to Leszno, Poznan and Zbaszynek) the landscape is pretty similar and the town itself is less prominent than the ones at the other ends of the lines. The line from Leipzig to Posen (present-day Poznan) was important in Prussia though and therefore the station where the branches South and North forked became an important place for the railway. The steamer on the left-hand side track is on its way to Zbaszyn, where it is going to turn on the Warszawa-Berlin main line to get to the next town of Zbaszynek. The other track used to lead to Sulechów (and Leipzig), but the section beyond the first station (Powodowo) was dismantled in 2015, after the closure for freight traffic in 2005 and passenger traffic in 1994. The Poznan direction was renovated between 2007-2013. The platform is not very old, special trains can use it to reach Wolsztyn Skansen . It is situated inside the line of the entrance signals of Wolsztyn station.

The PKP Ol49-59 seen at Tuchorza Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 07:46:23 Tags: Tuchorza 1025 Ol49 Ol49 59 Lengyelország gözmozdony alakjelzö

We wanted to take photos of the steam locomotive on a small station (instead of my typical habit of taking photos mostly on the open line ) as the short train works better in this rural environment than at a Prussian heritage huge main line station. The Wolsztyn-Zbaszynek line provided good opportunities. The steam engines normally work to Leszno on weekdays, but because of a track closure both to Leszno and Poznan the locomotives were sent to the North instead. The good thing was that this way they did three turns instead of the normal two on the longer lines.

The PKP EP07 1012 seen hauling a flat price TLK75110 fast train between Łęgowo Sulechowskie and Babimost Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 09:29:15 Tags: Legowo Sulechowskie Babimost 1028 EU07 Lengyelország villanymozdony

This fast train is heading to Gdynia on the Baltic Sea from Zielona Gora, and this little branch line is the fastest way to do that. Zielona Gora lies on the Wroclaw-Szczeczin main line (in Prussian times: Breslau-Stettin) and this line means a shortcut to the Berlin-Warszaw railway. To help you orient yourself, I am adding a small map:

Railway network around Wolsztyn, Poland (click the map to see entire Northern Countries map of benbe.hu)

The horizontal line on the top is the Berlin-Warszawa line, the Zbaszyn-Wolsztyn line is the one on which we had photographed the steam train earlier, this electrified branch line is on the left-hand side of the cutout, the normal route of the steamers to Leszno is below Wolsztyn (which is almost in the middle) and the Saturday path to Poznan can be seen almost horizontally to the left from Wolsztyn. Not shown on the map are the draisine line (standard gauge) from Grodzisk Wielkopolski to Koscian on the Poznan-Leszno line and the mostly impassable narrow-gauge line from Stare Bojanowo to Wielichowo (tourist trains occasionally run as far as Smigiel).

The PKP EU44 007 Taurus3 seen between Chrosnica and Zbaszyn Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 11:00:54 Tags: Zbaszyn Chrosnica 1027 PKP Taurus Lengyelország villanymozdony

The Taurus , which is in use with many other railways as well, is on its way from Warszawa to Berlin.

The PKP Ol49 59 seen between Tuchorza and Belecin Wielkopolski Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 11:50:25 Tags: Belecin Wielkopolski Tuchorza 1025 Ol49 Ol49 59 Lengyelország gözmozdony

The Wolsztyn Experience Society originally helped the PKP Cargo's depot with the amount of money needed to operate steamers instead of diesel engines, but in the years the costs have increased and the Society's participation has declined.

The PKP Ol49 59 seen between Belecin Wielkopolski and Tuchorza Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 13:05:45 Tags: Belecin Wielkopolski Tuchorza 1025 Ol49 Ol49 59 Lengyelország gözmozdony

Bucket lamps, smoke finding a way, the beauty of the Polish landscape, bikers: I just don't know, how the authenticity of the golden age of railways could be depicted. Even if it is an edited image.

The PKP Cargo ST44-1234 seen between Scinawka Srednia and Nowa Ruda Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 17:53:32 Tags: Lengyelország Szergej

We managed to take this photo on the way home but the gallery is not over yet - in its end, you can see the photos from last year's spring visit to the Wolsztyn steam locomotive paradise.

The ČD 705 913-2 seen between Bohušov and Osoblaha Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:17 08:11:55 Tags: Kisvasút 705 913 dízelmozdony kisvasút Csehország ÈD napos falu nyílt vonal

The narrow-gauge railway opened on the 14th of Decembre, 0898, making it one of the first ng railways in Europe.

An unidentified ČD 842 seen between Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem and Frenstát pod Radhoštìm Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:17 15:04:11 Tags: Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem Frenstát pod Radhoštěm 457 CD 842 homlokátjáró

On our way back home we stepped in to our favourite Czech railway to take photos of Okularnyk and Rakev .

The ČD 754 065-1 seen between Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem and Frenstát pod Radhoštìm Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:17 16:04:35 Tags: Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem Frenstát pod Radhoštěm 457 Búvár

We have taken photos on the Ostrava to Valašké Meziřič railway before but at this time it was on the way again. Class 7510-754 diesel locomotives and class 854 railcar rule the route.

Wloszakowice station Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2018:04:30 12:25:48 Tags: Wloszakowice 1025 Poland nemmozdony

Coal trains depart from here towards Leszno but we didn't manage to catch one so far.

The Koleje Wielkopolskie SA108-002 seen at Krzycko Wielkie station Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2018:04:30 14:15:24 Tags: Krzycko Wielkie Wilkowice 1025 SA108 Lengyelország wedgie

Coal trains depart from here towards Leszno but we didn't manage to catch one so far.

The Koleje Wielkopolskie SA108-002 seen at Krzycko Wielkie station Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2018:04:30 14:15:29 Tags: Krzycko Wielkie 1025 SA108 Lengyelország

Coal trains depart from here towards Leszno but we didn't manage to catch one so far.

The Koleje Wielkopolskie SA108-002 seen at Krzycko Wielkie station Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2018:04:30 14:15:41 Tags: Krzycko Wielkie 1025 SA108 Lengyelország

Coal trains depart from here towards Leszno but we didn't manage to catch one so far.

The Koleje Wielkopolskie SA132 003 seen at Grodzisk Wielkopolski Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2018:05:01 07:11:15 Tags: Grodzisk Wielkopolski 1026 SA132 Lengyelország

This photo has been taken on the Wolsztyn-Poznan railway, the third one served by steam locomotives (on Saturdays). Since this photo has been taken on the 1st of May no steam locomotives were in service - something I hope will change when daily steam travel is not going to be a burden anymore and a more tourist-friendly steam timetable is going to be created with better weekend coverage and some nice opportunities for snow shots. If you are interested in other steam locomotives you can find many in this selection:

And if you are interested in further images from Poland you can click one here:

The PKP Ol49-59 seen at Tuchorza loading area Photographed by: Takács Bence Captured at: 2019:07:16 07:47:37 Tags: Tuchorza 1025 Ol49 Ol49 59 Lengyelország gözmozdony

This train is gone.

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