Improvements on the Radom line

What a glorious stretch of bright autumnal weather! From Friday through to Monday, the sky almost entirely cloudless, the sun beating down, 19C high - and glorious orange/red leaves on trees as they prepare to fall.

Time to walk, and walk and walk; make the most of the shortening day. Leave Jeziorki, take the train to Chynów, walk to the działka, afternoon stroll, morning stroll, and another afternoon stroll. Left: Your Own Marching Pace. Provisions for the long weekend. Below: my train from Jeziorki to Chynów, to my surprise, is a brand-new Newag Impuls, which I hope will start to replace the increasingly unreliable EN57s on the Radom line. 

Below: one of the oldest ones, EN57-935, three front windows and ribbed sides, broke down on Wednesday evening at W-wa Dawidy station, causing delays of up to two hours on the Warsaw-Radom line. This particular unit dates back to 1973, when Edward Gierek was first secretary of the Polish United Workers Party. It belongs in a railway heritage centre, not on a busy commuter line. 

On my walk on Wednesday evening, I'd crossed under the tracks between Jeziorki and Dawidy, and could see its lights in the distance. The level crossing barriers were down, but neither train nor traffic moved. Finally, after some 12 minutes, the train crew admitted to the crossing keeper than the train was dead and the barriers could be lifted, releasing a tidal wave of frustrated traffic. Shortly after I took this photo, the conductor informed passengers to alight from this train and cross over to the other platform. The following train was switched to the 'up' line, causing problems for trains heading to Warsaw. The knock-on effects of this breakdown lasted until after half-past eleven at night, according to email alert service Utrudnienia w ruchu pociągów na linii Warszawa – Skarżysko-Kamienna to which I subscribe.

Good to see, then, this afternoon, approaching Chynów station below, that the Impuls train I travelled on yesterday was not a one-off but seems to be a regular fixture. This is the first time I'm seeing Impulses south of Piaseczno. May there be more of them, and fewer breakdown-prone EN57s.

This time last year:
Rural rights of way, revisited

This time two years ago:

Cause of death

This time three years ago:
Opole in the late-October sunshine

This time four years ago:
Work begins in earnest on the Karczunkowska viaduct

This time six years ago:
Sublime autumn day in Jeziorki

This time seven years ago:
CitytoCity, MalltoMall

This time eight years ago:
(Internet) Radio Days

This time nine years ago:
Another office move

This time ten years ago:
Manufacturing a City of Culture

This time 11 years ago:
My thousandth post

This time 12 years ago:
Closure of ul. Poloneza

This time 13 years ago:
Scenes from a suburban petrol station