Down the tracks from Chynów to Krężel

More explorations of the environs of my działka (still in remont - waiting an age for the windows and doors); this time I'm heading south. On leaving Chynów, I walk towards the next station along the Warsaw-Radom line, which is Krężel.

Below: a northbound coal train about to pass through Chynów station. It is hauled by an ET41 (a pair of EU07s semi-permanently coupled to each other with the inner cabs removed). This is ET41-001A and ET41-001B; the first built, now over 40 years old, refurbished two years ago.

Below: the magical foreshortening of the lens zoomed out to 300mm; you can see a Warsaw-bound passenger train standing at Kręzel, 3km to the south. Four minutes later, it will be at Chynów. The walk between the two stations will take me around 45 minutes.

Below: this track leads from Chynów station to the forest, beyond which lies Kręzel. It reminds me of the track between W-wa Dawidy and W-wa Jeziorki, except that there's no forest in Jeziorki!

Below: the path through the forest does not run parallel to the rails, but veers off to the west before joining ul. Spokojna (lit. 'peaceful street'), a dirt road that cuts across the tracks at right angles.

Below: the next crossing to the south is likewise unasphalted, an overgrown farm track not far from Krężel station.

Below: I arrive at the platform from the north end. As can be seen, the station is in a poor state of repair, but all is about to change next month, when the line will be modernised, all the way from Czachówek Południowy (where the current round of modernisation ended) down to Warka. To the left you can see new rails left between the old ones, waiting to be exchanged.

Below: Kręzel is in exactly the same condition as W-wa Dawidy, W-wa Jeziorki and Nowa Iwiczna stations were prior to modernisation; an island platform that forces 'down' trains to slow down significantly to swing round it, if they're not stopping here. Note the state of the platform. All this will change, as it has up the line nearer to Warsaw.

Below: Kręzel (like Sułkowice, between Chynów and Czachówek Południowy) has a covered waiting area to the east of the 'down' line. This building is unlikely to survive the modernisation. All will change; no doubt work will take around 18 months-two years considering at how long work on the W-wa Okęcie to Czachówek Południowy took. Next few weeks will be a last chance to see the line as it was.

Below: since last autumn (if not even earlier) the freight yard at Chynów station has been used as a depot for track ballast, awaiting the start of the modernisation work. This is scheduled to begin with the new railway timetable which goes live on 10 September. There will be fewer trains coming up this way, with single-track working.

Off topic but relevant to the area; the bumper apple harvest. Below: fruit trees, Jakubowizna, groaning with apples. From the orchard next door to my działka, I can hear the occasional sound of ripe apples falling though the foliage and bumping on the ground. Several large boughs have cracked, broken by the weight of fruit on them.

Below: the same spot, 29 November last year. Hard to believe that such an abundance of fruit can grow in just nine months.

Below: 15 tonnes of apples waiting to be taken away for processing. Prices as low as 40gr/kg. This is the punkt skupu (collection/purchase point) in the village of Widok, just south of Jakubowizna.

Summer - and it has been long and glorious this year - feels like it is waning; the sun sets before 8pm, the heatwaves are passing.

This time two years ago:
Herons grey and white

This time six years ago:
A return to Dobra

This time eight years ago:
Kebab factory discovered under Dworzec Centralny

This time nine years ago:
The tail-end of communism - photos you would not believe today!

This time 11 years ago:
By bike to Czachówek again