Polish EMUs go walkabout

Slowak Railways Bo-Bo diesel 742 398-1 hauls Przewozy Regionalne EMUs EN 57-694 and EN 71-004. Photo Palio.

(Click on the photo to see more photographs by Palio of the EMUs journey back to Poland.)

On 8 June we reported how a raging River Poprad had destroyed three spans of a girder bridge between Nowy Sacz and Stary Sacz cutting off the winter holiday resort of Krynica from the main railway network. Earlier hopes that the river crossing might be rapidly restored by the Polish Army have come to naught and it appears that PKP will be ferrying passengers between Nowy Sacz and Krynica by bus for some time yet. With no immediate prospect for the restart of railway service, Przewozy Regionalne decided to retrieve two of its electric multiple units which had become stranded at Powroznik and Muszyna on the other side of the destroyed bridge. On 25 August 2010, with the help of Slowak Railways the units were hauled back to Poland across non-electrified lines in Slowakia. The route taken was: Powroznik – Muszyna PKP – Plaveč ŽSR – Poprad-Tatry – Žilina – Čadca – Skalité – Zwardoń – Chabowka. The whole journey was comprehensively illustrated in a photo report on http://www.railpage.net by Palio. This is well worth seeing and can easily be accessed by clicking the image at the head of this article.

Cycle track to Tymbark?

Viaduct near Tymbark. Photo Pasieczkin

(Click on the photo to see the photo in its original context on the Krakowskie Stowarzyszenie Sportowe website.)

The news that PKP Cargo has suspended its steam specials from Chabowka for the 2009 season does not augur well for for the future of the Chabowka – Nowy Sacz line. If you follow the link you can see the pictures of some Cracow cyclists who have already tested out the line as a possible cycle track.

The Chabowka railway museum is due to be transferred from PKP Cargo to the custody ofthe Malopolska state governor’s office. Meanwhile there is a tug of war between the Chabowka management and the Wielkopolska division of PKP Cargo who would love to have the working Chabowka engines at Wolsztyn. There are even rumours that Fundacja Era Parowozow would be willing to sell some of the Chabowka engines.

Maybe the Chabowka team will be able to ward off these threats? Only time will tell.

Poland’s secret steam railway

Hot work in the cab of Ty2-953
photo Michael Dembinski, W-wa Jeziorki blog

We really should have written about the Chabowka-Nowy Sacz line before, as PKP Cargo have been using it this summer to run ‘regular’ steam trains. Usually hauled by a Ty2, the trains run from Chabowka to Dobra-Kolo-Limanowej and back. Two trains ran in June, two in July and five are running in August. Chabowka publish an English language timetable giving details of all of this year’s regular steam workings. Fortunately, our memory was jogged by reading about a journey on the line on W-wa Jeziorki blog.

The place we stayed, an agroturystyka in a large village/small town called Dobra (between Nowy Sacz and Wadowice) was run by really lovely people, great cooking, flexibility at meal times and – at 50 zlotys (around 11 quid) for bed, breakfast, lunch and supper (40 zlotys for children) – a snip. Eddie noted that there was a railway station in Dobra, and given that the weather on Saturday morning was dismal, we thought it would be a good idea to stroll down there to take a look.

The walk through the village (small town really) was long; we got lost, had to ask the way, neared the station (up the hill) and as we neared it… the sound of a steam whistle! Eddie and I simultaneously broke into a jog (I’m delighted to say that this 50 year-old burdened with camera bag can still out-run his 12 year-old son up a steep hill). The whistling continued. Would we catch the train? We made it up to the station – and there it was – a 2-10-0 Kriegslok steam locomotive, manoeuvring around a rake of five two-axle coaches.

To our delight, it transpired that we were in good time for a steam train excursion from Dobra to Chabowka railway museum. A quick glance at the timetable showed that we were up for a three-hour steam-hauled trip with an hour’s museum visit all for the equivalent of ten quid! The line is spectacular (by Polish standards) for its mountain scenery. It was here that scenes from Schindler’s List were shot – both engine and coaches are 100% authentic for the period.

Chabowka itself for me was a sorry sight – lots of interesting exhibits resting and rusting, the owners (PKP Cargo) treating the whole thing as a bit of an embarrassment rather than a potential tourist goldmine (as heritage railways are run in the UK). I did not feel disposed to spend twice the price of adult museum admission to buy a film-and-photography ticket, so put my camera away during the hour’s (rainy) visit at Chabowka

Clicking on the photo on the top of this post will take you straight to the original article with all five of Michael Dembinski’s superb photographs accompanied by some well-researched captions. The extract is just a taster. I enjoyed reading this account of his steam trip, but we feel that his last paragraph (too many beers? too late at night?) lacks the accuracy and fair play that I have grown accustomed to on Michael’s blog. So, without any further ado, here is our redress.

Chabowka’s engines are looked after better than most of Poland’s steam engines. The steam centre carries out its own overhauls and boiler repairs, and Grazyna Sysiak, the General Manager, is justifiably proud of the standard of work achieved. Of course, the engines and rolling stock would be much better of under cover, but the lack of covered accommodation is a problem all over Poland, not just in Chabowka. In the meantime, the engines are protected as far as is possible with paint and thick grease. The ‘rusting’ exhibits are not Chabowka’s own, but are National Railway Museum engines, that have been recently towed to Chabowka from the infamous ‘skansen’ at Kreszowice. Until ownership or licensing issues are sorted out there is not much that Chabowka can do with them.

UK heritage railway volunteers will pull a wry smile at Michael’s comment that their lines are “tourist goldmines”. Yes, the biggest UK heritage lines have a £ million annual turnover from ticket sales and the all important ancillaries, but they also have a £ million annual expenditure and, if it wasn’t for a massive input of volunteer labour and donations from the members of their support societies, very few of them would last long. To put things in perspective, there are something like 2 million railway enthusiasts in the UK and around a hundred thousand are members of railway societies. In Poland there are a few thousand railway enthusiasts and only 200 or so are actively involved with any heritage railway.

Last of all, Michael jibes at having ‘to spend twice the price of adult museum admission to buy a film-and-photography ticket’ and decides to put his camera away while he visits the steam centre. I looked up Chabowka’s charges and compared them to those at Didcot, the nearest similar location to London.

Admission charges
Didcot Railway Centre	Chabowka Skansen
Adult non-steam day £5-00	Adult ordinary day 4 PLN (£1-00)
Adult special event £8-50	Adult Parowozjazda FREE!
Child non-steam day £5-00	Child ordinary day 2 PLN (£0-50)
Child special event £7-00	Child Parowozjazda FREE!
Photography non-steam day FREE	Photography ordinary day 10 PLN (£2-50)
Videoing non-steam day FREE	Videoing ordinary day 25 PLN (£6-25)
Videoing & Photography special event FREE	Videoing & Photography Parowozjazda FREE

I have no doubt whatsoever that, even with the extra charges mentioned by Michael, the Chabowka Skansen offers excellent value for money. It does rather seem that Chabowka’s charging policy is aimed at making the steam centre as accessible as possible for Poles, while trying to get Western railway enthusiasts to pay a little bit more through the videoing and photography charges.

Incidentally, although no charges at all are made during the Parowozjazda steam gala, I have over the last two years always left a donation of several hundred zloty in return for the excellent hospitality received at Chabowka by members of UK heritage railways that I have taken to the event.

This year, I am guiding another trip organised under the aegis of the British-Polish Railway and Industrial Heritage Partnership. We meet at Cracow airport on Friday afternoon 5 September, spend two days riding trains and photographing engines at Parowozjazda, visit a couple of narrow gauge railways and the steam centres at Jaworzyna Slask and Pyskowice and say our fond farewells at Cracow airport on the afternoon of Thursday 11 September. There are a couple of places spare, if you would like to join us do contact me at: