News as at 25th February 2010
Modern Technology Fails – Steam Ploughs ON
The Wielkopolska area has had its worst winter since the Wolsztyn Experience has been operating there, with snowfalls accumulating to over 2 foot in this normally dry but cold part of Poland.
The new railcars have been unable to cope; firstly the freezing temperatures jamming the doors, the electronics suffering from ingested snow and the lightweight 4 wheeled units being unable to cope with more than 6 ins of snow above the rail level. The larger articulated units have even been lifted off the rails by the sheer volume of snow.
On many days the only trains running to time at Poznan were the steam services from Wolsztyn, even main line electrics were suffering primarily because accountants had decided it was not necessary to run track and overhead wire cleaning trains at night.
Not helping the situation is the sectorising of Polish railways where one company’s diesels could not be used to assist another’s even when alongside. All this has produced damming reports on Polish TV that the effects of privatisation and modernisation have not been thought through.
Specific incidents include the 11 hours delay to the 1713 Poznan steam to Wolsztyn on Saturday 26th January when the line was blocked by the raised front bogie of a railcar unit which was stuck firmly in a snow drift, blocking the single line track. It took all night to manually dig it out whereupon the steam arrived at Wolsztyn at 0615 on the Sunday morning, was immediately serviced, turned and took out the 0511 2 hours late. The steam service was back on time by the Sunday evening run.
Two weeks earlier the 1712 had also been delayed for 41/2 hours by the complete heating failure of the computerised point system at Poznan. With the old points drivers were able to assist their movement manually which has been forbidden with the new Siemens system in case it upsets the complicated electronic technology.
On the night of 12/13th February further heavy snowfalls resulted in regional railways moving the steam hauled service to the 0428 first train of the day to ensure arrival and to clear the line for later trains.
Pt47-65 & Ol49/7 have done the bulk of the work through this period of severe weather and when not delayed by technology problems and modern traction have successfully maintained the schedules ploughing through snow drifts up to 4 foot.
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Pt47-65 departs from Granowo Nowotomyskie with a daily timetabled service for Poznan. The Pt has collected snow all over it's front from hitting the 4ft drifts in the cuttings 30.01.2010 Zbigniew Graczyk |
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Pt47-65 preparing to leave Grodzisk Wlkp. with the timetabled Poznan - Wolsztyn working on Friday 05.06.2010 Marek Ciesielski |
On Feb 6th the Wolsztyn Experience with TPWP (friends of Wolsztyn steam shed) ran a special to Lagof for Railtrail from the UK and for Polish enthusiasts. The line which is only used in summer for opencast coal trains had to be cleared by snowplough and the cost of this was covered by Railtrail and the Wolsztyn Experience. The Ol provided run pasts for the group at various locations; unfortunately a Polish lady enthusiast broke her leg when she slipped climbing down an embankment.
On Feb 7th a narrow gauge special was run at Gniezno for Railtrail; using the Wolsztyn Experience PX48 0-8-0 the track was cleared by a diesel propelled snowplough the day before and rails on road crossings were manually cleared of compacted ice, the cost again being covered by WE & Railtrail. The clearance was as far as Niechanowo some 10 Km. On the day runpasts were with and without the snow plough.
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Ol49-7 returning from Sieniawa Lubuska with the TPWP/WE/Railtrail charter crosses the magnificent Lagow viaduct. 06.02.2010 Marek Ciesielski |
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Px48-1919 - with snowplough leading heads a photo charter for Railtrail on the Gniezno narrow gauge line in a winter wonderland . 07.02.2010 Marek Ciesielski |
Loco News
The tubes for the Pm have now been fitted, the super heater header is being repaired. The wheels are to be returned from turning and the loco will be re-assembled. It is hoped to repaint in the original green and is on schedule for the Parade.Work will then start on Ol49-69. Ol49-59 & 7 have both had to have their wheels / axles sent to Poznan for turning, the extreme cold having stopped lurication to the bearings, meanwhile the PT is handling all services.
Scheduled Steam Services In Wolsztyn - Secure for 2010
Towards the end of November 2009 a statement from one Polish Councillor caused consternation amongst the enthusiast world; his view was that Wolsztyn Depot should become a museum with occasional steam specials and that the funding for the steam service would be better spent on promoting tourism in Wielkopolska.
Enthusiasts worldwide replied to Polish Regional Government, Polish National Government and to the Polish Tourist board reiterating that if that happened they would no longer be visiting Poland and that it was the fact the Wolsztyn has the last daily steam commuter service in the world that was the attraction.
The Wielkopolska Regional Government later announced that the twice-daily scheduled steam services will continue for 2010 whilst cost cutting and increasing revenue was looked into.
The Wolsztyn Experience asks all enthusiasts traveling to Wolsztyn to purchase as many return tickets as possible on the service even if their main aim is lineside photography as this increases the income to Wielkopolska Regional Government.
We also ask those who feel passionate about this service and have ideas that would increase income to send their views to Julian Worth at jkworth AT hotmail.com (substitute @ for AT) who will be collating them with the aim of presenting a report to the Polish Tourist Board.
Special Trains for 2010 - The following have been confirmed
The Valentine Special
Feb 14th Wroclaw to Wolsztyn & return was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions
The Blue’s Express
July 17th Poznan to Zakrzewo for music festival bookings through PKP Intercity
Poznan 1330 Zakrzewo 1900 all timings approx
On route blues bands playing at Poznan Glowny, Chodziez, Pila
Glowna, Krajenka and Zlotow stations.
Then overnight blues concert by a lake.
Return working will leave Zakrzewo at 4.30 and arrive at
Poznan at about 8.00.
Bar coach available as well as a rolling blues
concert in the train's luggage van. More info about the bands will be
available at http://www.bluesexpress.pl/ (please note, this is an
independent site and we have no information other than about the
train). Thoroughly recommended for dedicated Blues Brothers!
The Pirate
The Pirate the annual long distance steam service from Poznan to the Baltic Coast (Kolobrzeg) will run again this year on Saturday May 29th . Pm36-2 is expected to haul the service as it’s long awaited return from works is scheduled for the May Day parade. The train gives riders 534 Km of steam at normal Polish ticket costs. Early start from Poznan and late return, timings will be posted when confirmed,. Tickets through PKP booking office.
Special Events for 2010
Standard Gauge
The May Day Parade has been confirmed for Saturday May 1st,
2 steam train specials from Poznan and Wroclaw will run, Wroclaw is booked through PKP Intercity and Poznan through Regional Railways.
The Hungarians, the Slovaks and the Czecks have accepted an invitation to attend but as yet not confirmed which locos they will bring; the usual German specials will attend subject to no fire ban in Germany
Narrow Gauge
2010 is the 110th anniversary for the Smigiel Line.
Celebrations will take place on September 17-19th
Visiting steam locomotives from Poland and the
Czech Republic.
Vintage bus shuttles. Intensive steam/ diesel service
on Poland's last passenger/ freight operational narrow-gauge railway.
Why not make the event even more attractive if you own / can think of
somebody who owns a low loader and would bring a British loco (for cost
compensation) to take part in the gathering!
Plandampf Polska October 6th – 10th
Based in Wolsztyn, the Plandampf took place with some minor alterations due to cost implications; some 80 persons from various countries attended, the highlight being the last possible steam freight worked with the Prussian 2-8-0 Tr5-65,
The Plandampf brought into the local economy through the Wolsztyn Experience over £23000 for special trains, hotels and booked taxis. In addition there was the expenditure by the particpants in the form of hire cars, restaurant bills, train tickets and souvenir shopping. A photo book has been produced of the event which can be viewed online; click here for a preview. This may be purchased through the Wolsztyn Experience shop please click here.
Two professional DVD's have also been produce. Peter Cook, an American, has produced an HD Blue Ray DVD the first railway production I have seen in this medium and the quality has to be seen to be believed; it will be available direct from him, DVD is $24.95 and the BLU-RAY is $29.95 S&H from the US to the UK is $7
His web site is www.traintapes.com,
Michael Field Video Productions has produced a very comprehensive video using 6 cameramen and this can be obtained from MFVP Tel 01349-861129 or email m.fieldvideo@googlemail.com - as a 2 DVD disc production this is excellent value.
Track bed re-building
The dates of the proposed rebuilding of the track bed from Wolsztyn to Poznan keeps changing firstly proposed July 2010 then put back to 2010 and now looks like 2010 afterall. When firm dates are known and the effect on the steam service is known details will be posted.
Members Guide Book, Changes
As our website has developed with much more information on it, the costly future of our participants guide book is under review. It likely that a new format guide will emerge in the spring of 2010 with information covering a longer period than one year and thus reducing printing costs. Some of the information in it was out of date by the time it was distributed and it would seem prudent to carry regular changing info such as train times only on our website.
