Kriegslok passes through Jeziorki

Acting upon reliable information that a Ty42 Kriegslok from the railway museum at Chabówka heading to Warsaw would be passing through Jeziorki, I took up position with my camera. I turned up some ten minutes before the allotted time - good. Just as I got myself ready, I heard a train whistle in the distance. Here it comes! A rake of vintage carriage, hauled by an ET22 electric loco more used to pulling coal - and at the end, Ty42-107, a Polish-built version of the once-ubiquitous Ty2 Kriegslok, my favourite steam engine.

Such a thing, such a thing. What a marvel to behold! Without doubt, the most amazing sight on my local railway line I've ever seen. Below: the inter-war carriages up close. Once upon a time, such a sight (minus the overhead power lines) would have been commonplace around here.

This train was moving slowly, around 50 km/h (30mph), heading northward towards W-wa Dawidy and onto the junction at W-wa Zachodnia. What makes this pictures all the rarer from the archival point of view is the lack of the 'up' line; the trackbed currently awaits the lower layers of ballast. I was delighted to have caught it; twice in the past I've been waiting to snap steam engines passing through, both times I missed them. Third time lucky.

This train will be under steam tomorrow, travelling from the Warsaw railway museum (long due for closure) to Sochaczew and back. All tickets sold except for a pool of 20 tickets that will come on sale at the museum from 8am tomorrow.

The fact that the tickets - selling for 50 złotys (a tenner a pop) have sold out is a good sign - it shows a growing interest in railway heritage. Now - all that's needed is a world-class Polish railway museum to go with the Warsaw Uprising museum and Jewish history museum.

Below: bonus photo - from yesterday, a few kilometers west of Konin. Another PKP Cargo ET22, this one hauling a more normal load - oil cisterns.

This time four years ago:
A little way west of Jeziorki

This time five years ago:
The Old Sailor's Tale - part II

This time six years ago:
Prague-Jeziorki-Moscow

This time seven years ago:
The passing of Lt. Cmdr. Tadeusz Lesisz

This time nine years ago:
Summer ends, autumn begins