The ballast mountain has become a local attraction, if only temporary, it will disappear when the work on the railway line's done. Nothing much new to report, hardly any activity today. A good vantage point, six metres up, to observe trains. Below: a Siemens Vectron engine hauls a full load of coal along the electrified main line past W-wa Jeziorki...
...and through W-wa Dawidy on its way to the Okęcie sidings, from where a diesel loco will haul the train back down the non-electrified line running parallel to the main line to Nowa Iwiczna, from where it swings off towards Konstancin-Jeziorna sidings and Siekierki power station. Below: note the Warsaw skyline, Warsaw Spire (just) visible on the extreme left of the phone and the Palace of Culture to the right. It's only a 25-minute walk from the Spire to the Palace, but the foreshortening effect of a 300mm lens makes them look equidistant from my vantage point. It would take three hours to walk from here to the city centre.
I was sufficiently intrigued by the power of the foreshortening effect to take the photo, below, and to annotate it accordingly, using the ruler tool in Google Earth. The lens, my Nikkor 55-300mm zoom, is set to 150mm (equivalent to 230mm in full-frame/35mm). Photo taken on 5 June 2016.
Below: the new 'down' platform at W-wa Jeziorki slowly taking shape - about a quarter of its length is now paved. I can see this work taking a long time to complete. Once this platform's ready and the 'down' line is complete, the whole process will have to be repeated for the 'up' line and 'up' platform.
Below: a town-bound train at W-wa Dawidy, where no fewer than six cyclists got ofp. The level crossing is totally sealed off. No vehicle (except perhaps scooters or light motorcycles) can make it over. Beneath the red-and-white barriers is an temporary earthwork bridge connecting the old and new platforms; this is the only way from one side of Baletowa to the other. For all other traffic - it's an 8.5km detour. Am I right in suspecting that a bus loop is being prepared by W-wa Dawidy station? And that a new bus route will run down ul. Baletowa once the new junction at Puławska is ready?
Ul. Karczunkowska, the famously unpavemented thoroughfare, is getting fenced in. Below: A new concrete fence appears on the eastern corner with ul. Pozytywki, facing the PWPW printing works. Aesthetically questionable, it will no doubt make walking past cars inconsiderately parked across the road from PWPW more difficult on dark and wet winter nights.
Another fence, below, on the stretch past the eastern corner of ul. Trombity. A new building, probably commercial or industrial, will be built here, so fencing - uglier even than concrete - has been erected. But at least it is temporary.
Below: I mentioned the golf course a few weeks ago - the land beyond Biedronka and scrapyard was fenced off, now it looks like a driving range will shortly open. Still much tidying up needed, but at least this nieużytek is now being put to good use.
Finally - some heartwarming news. The female swan nesting in the wetlands has raised a fine clutch of cygnets! I took a number of snaps, and looking carefully at the enlargements, it looks like at least four cygnets are visible. As I moved into position to take this shot, I startled a pair of grey herons who were wading between me and the swans. As the took off and flew low over the nest, the mother swan gave them a loud warning not to fly too close!
This time last year:
Three days - three Polish cities
This time four years ago:
Part two of short story The Devil Is In Doubt
This time five years ago:
"A helpful, friendly people"
This time six years ago:
A familiar shape in the skies
This time seven years ago:
Feel like going home
This time eight years ago:
Mr Hare comes to call
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