Cranes and trains

The cold snap continues, it's 7pm and -4°C outside right now; it's not been perfectly cloudless but now then then the sun blasts through. Sunset is just before five. And yes, spring still seems a long way off... 

In recent years, more and more cranes that breed in Poland in summer decide to winter here too. According to OTOP, (the Polish equivalent of the RSPB), some 10% of Poland's crane population has not flown off to the south of France, Spain or North Africa. 

As dusk falls, the cranes congregate in large aerial formations and fly around. 

Below: this evening, I counted about 170 individuals flying east between Nowe Grobice and Sułkowice.

Below: three days earlier, I captured these two huge formations (about 320 individuals in total) heading west over Chynów.
 

Crashing change of gear from cranes to trains. At around quarter to five, Chynów station is as busy as it gets. In the distance on the 'down' track, we can see approaching lights of the local train to Radom. On the 'up' track, going the wrong way as it were, is the InterCity Żeromski service from Olsztyn to Kraków, hurtling through. Note the right-hand headlight lit red to indicate that it's on the wrong track. On the passing platform on the right stands the local train to Warsaw. This one waits here for nine minutes to allow the Żeromski to pass; that window is just in case the express is running late. But today, all three trains were on time.

Below: quarter of an hour after sunset, and a laden freight train double-headed by two Polish-built Pesa Gama locomotives pulls out of the passing line at Chynów station, having waited for a couple of passenger trains to come and go.

Below: another shot of the southern end of the 'down' platform, Chynów, this time taken with my 10-20mm super-wide lens, as the sun dipped into the narrow slot between the cloud shelf and the horizon.

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This time 11 years ago:
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This time 12 years ago:
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This time 15 years ago:
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The time 17 years ago:
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