Railway film festival at Krosniewice

STOP PRESS – TRAINS CANCELLED

Krosniewice’s restored MBxd1-204 railcar, built in 1967. Photo Krosniewicka Kolej Waskotorowa.

(Click to see the original photo on Facebook)

The railway film festival to be held in Krosniewice from 24 to 26 May promises trains to Krzewie using restored Polish railcar MBxd1-204, pictured above. These will be the first public trains on the railway for several years. This is the first event following the setting up of the new Krosniewicka Kolej Waskotorowa (Krosniewice narrow gauge railway) Facebook page on 25 April 2013.

Krosniewice – Krzewie timetable for 25 and 26 May 2013

(Click to see the original on Facebook)

The timetable shows five return trains between Krosniewice and Krzewie, four of them connecting with Koleje Wielkopolskie’s local trains between Poznan and Kutno. The fifth train is an out and back ‘special’ including photo stops. Krzewie Wask is the narrow gauge platform on the south side of Krzewie station, reached by the same subway used to access the standard gauge platforms. Although the film festival is advertised as starting on Friday 24 May, the trains will only run on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May.

Film Festival poster

(Click to see the original poster on Facebook)

The poster lists the other attractions of the film festival weekend, including the screening of Polish Film Chronicle material made by PKP between 1950 and 1960, the opportunity for visitors to bring and screen their own films, manual draisine rides, and snack and drinks stalls.

It is wonderful to see the return of railway activity at Krosniewice, and especially encouraging to see the list of organisations supporting or sponsoring the event, namely Krosniewice town council, the Lodz marshal’s office, PKP SA, the Lodz Society for the Protection of Monuments, the arts and cultural group NEO, and the Krosniewice narrow gauge railway volunteer group SKKW.

It is now just over 5 years since the regular scheduled railbuses to Wielka Wies, Dabrowice and Ostrowy, and the profitable freight traffic, ceased on 31 March 2008 when the mayor of Krosniewice terminated SKPL’s operating licence.  Since then, there has been little real activity on what was once one of the biggest and most active of PKP’s narrow gauge networks. Instead there has been much political wrangling behind the scenes. Elsewhere, the demand from tourists to travel on Poland’s remaining narrow gauge railways is growing strongly, so fingers crossed that this event will be the start of a new dawn for Krosniewice, and that the railway will continue to receive the support it needs from local politicians.

UPDATE

An update on the Krosniewice Kolej Waskotorowa Facebook page says that the planned Krosniewice-Krzewie trains using MBxd1-204 have had to be cancelled for technical reasons.

The film festival is going ahead, and there will be the possibility of platelayers trolley rides using either a Wmc diesel trolley or a manual trolley within the station area. Film festival attendees wishing to arrive at Krzewie should telephone 696 197 757 or 784 121 830 for replacement road transport. The event organisers sincerely apologise.

More:

• Krosniewice Kolej Waskotorowa – The Krosniewice narrow gauge railway’s new Facebook page
• Festiwal Filmow Kolejowych w Krosniewicach – The film festival event page on Facebook
• S.O.S. KKW – The campaign to save the Krosniewice narrow gauge railway on Facebook