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Kalisz Narrow Gauge Railway

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Special train

Lxd2-287 at the head of a Fedecrail study tour special train at Opatowek, 16 April 2011. Photo BTWT.

(Click to enlarge.)

There will be a rare opportunity to ride on the freight only Kalisz Narrow Gauge Railway on 3 December. The train will depart from Zbiersk around 10:00 hrs. The round trip Zbiersk – Opatowek – Zbiersk will cost 50 zloty.

Kalisz Railway SM04-497 standard gauge shunting locomotive. Photo BTWT.

(Click to enlarge.)

At Opatowek tour participants will be able to see standard gauge wagons being unloaded from narrow gauge transporter cars. SKPL locomotives will be painted in the latest SKPL Cargo blue livery. We will publish further details just as soon as we receive them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 November 2011 at 12:07 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Kalisz Narrow Gauge Railway”

  1. Geoff Jenkins Says:
    Saturday, 19 November 2011 at 18:31 | Reply

    Whilst it is interesting to know that there is going to be an opportunity for people to ride on this line I am more concerned about the state of the freight traffic. During the later part of September there was little sign of much happening.

    In recent years there has been a tendency for the railway to work furiously for a few days at a time shifting a large number of standard gauge wagons filled with stone and returning the empties. Once the empty wagons have been returned to Opatowek there will be a quiet period until the next standard gauge train of stone arrives.

    However, between 19 and 21 September nothing was moved and there was no sign of recent activity. At Zelazkow, the usual unloading point for the stone, a temporary fence had been erected between the road and unloading area with signs saying that it was private property. This did not seem like a sign that there would be no freight for a few days but suggested that nothing was expected to happen for a longer period.

    Enquiries at Zbiersk about when some freight traffic might be expected were met with some shrugs and a comment that seemed to suggest there was a break in operations. There didn’t appear to be a great deal of activity at the works. Lxd2 287 was being repainted into a two tone blue livery with lighter blue bonnets and a darker cab. To my mind they need to spend less time painting locos and give greater attention to the state of the track which has deteriorated badly in recent years.

    The Kalisz narrow gauge railway must be the last line in Poland to move standard gauge wagons on transporters. Unfortunately, there are not many reports about what is happening about the freight traffic and when something is mentioned it tends to be about special events. Is there any chance of providing some details about the amount of freight being shifted? (Preferably without too much SKPL spin!)

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