Friday, 28 November 2008

From the archives

Rooting around the hard disk of my laptop, I found something I'd suspected had been deleted long ago - photos of the rampa in action, taken on 9 September 2006 on my old Nokia 6300 with its rather poor 1.3 megapixel camera. Above: An SM48 diesel loco first pulls the train from the sidings in the direction of Mysiadło, then reverses up the ramp, pushing a rake of 12 aggregate wagons ahead of it.

Above: The train standing on the ramp. Here, the wagons are emptied, the aggregate falls in heaps on the ground some 12 metres below. Below: The loco on the ramp - picture taken by holding the mobile phone camera onto 20x magnification binoculars with elastic bands for some extreme telephoto effects (extremely bad optics too!). Still, the ironwork is clearly visible.

Below: We were lucky to catch the train, having disgorged its load, making its way back down the ramp. It heads the empty rake of wagons towards the buffers by Mysiadło, stops, then reverses to the sidings near W-wa Jeziorki station. Here, it runs around the train to take it back onto the main line.

Below: The last photo I'd ever get to take of the rampa na kruszywa in action. It would be used (rarely) into the spring of 2007, then traffic would cease for ever. Now the rampa and the sidings are gone.


Right: The points leading from the sidings where wagons would wait to be taken up the ramp. All gone. There'll be a road here soon.

Note the purple hue present in the central area of the photos taken with this first-generation mobile phone camera, replaced last October with a 5 mp Nokia N95 (much, much better).

This time last year:
Red sky at night - what does it mean in Poland?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, rampa is gone. It was always called "przesypownia" among those who live on Buszycka. I remember that my uncle, visiting my grandma in Jeziorki, often travelled back home in a truck carrying gravel from "przesypownia" to Chomiczówka.
"Przesypownia" was built in late seventies, if I remember well, to provide gravel and sand for construction of Ursynów. But soon it was clear that other apartment block construction sites were serviced from the "rampa".

All the best,

mike roman said...

hi michael,

ive enjoyed reading your blog. not long ago i cycled through the 'land of the little lakes' notably Baletowa and around. i think i was coming from the reservation at Raszynski. i found the area to be, sadly, a bit of a rat run.. lots of cars firing through destroyed any romantic notions of lakes and all. maybe i need to give it another go. i do recall a peaceful moment in Lady before an SUV almost derailed me.
ive enjoyed exploring warsaw myself since i got here two years ago. i live up the road in stary mokotow.
all the best
mike roman

ps ive just noticed your remarks below about the tailback. sadly, this is the promise of progress warsaw has to look forward to. i'm just glad ive got my bike.

Anonymous said...

Neighbour, I am not sure, if you are right. My grandfathers have settled right here in the mid 60.s It was in 64/65, as a director of my grandmother have found this land, and completed of his staff, and then accomplished of this area for a new settlement. And they alltogether begun a media setting, building of homes and alike. The point is, that as I was born in late 60.s, then as far as I can remeber the rampa has been right here. I have even ridden on a sledge downhill that mound of the rampa. Many years I spent holidays both summer and winter. And as I can only know, and as I asked my grandfather about that, the rampa was constructed at the egde of 50.s and 60.s. Even now, I called my uncle (a son of my grandfathers) and asked him, if he remebers something about the rampa, and particularly when it has been established. He told me, that this might be ca. 50.s oraz 60.s. Certainly it has provided a building stuff onto many of building areas not only onto Ursynów, and even I has being at the late of 80.s
alla the best,
Marcin

Anonymous said...

Little correction:
"even I has being at the late of 80.s
alla the best," should be "even it has being such in the late of 80.s.
All the best."