Autumnal landscapes with a railway theme

In and around Toruń station on a gorgeously sunny day in mid-October. Below: approaching the station from the east, the railway cuts through wooded parkland. The colours of the trees and sky - and the low-tension power lines atop the catenary gantries puts me in mind of the Penn Railroad, mid-20th century.

Below: a bit further back from the station, before the third track joins the 'up' and 'down' lines, I am passed by the Warsaw-Berlin express, still be diverted via Toruń and Gniezno. Hauled by an EP44 loco in Poland's independence-centenary livery.

Below: the more popular paths leading through the woods that cross the railway line are protected with metal barriers forming chicanes that force cyclists to dismount and pedestrians to slow down. This photo would have been so much more effective had the red paint on the barriers and signs not faded to pale pink.

Below: the nearer you get to any major railway station, the denser the profusion of tracks leading into it. A Polregio modernised EN57 leaving Toruń Główny on its way to Łódź Kaliska

Below: a Polregion PESA Elf approaching Toruń Główny from Włocławek.

Two tracks run into Toruń Główny from the east side of the platforms; one is the line from the south-east (from Włocławek), the other from the north-east (crossing the Vistula to Toruń Miasto station). The tracks converge on either side of this signal box below. The approach road to the station lies immediately behind me. I was here a year ago, and before that two years ago; both times the station was a confused mess of temporary walkways, closed tunnels, scaffolding and diggers, now all is complete, a good and worthy station has emerged.

Below: view of the eastern ends of the southern platforms, Toruń Główny

The last photo was actually the first one I took in the morning as I arrived. Train times to Toruń are very strange; two trains from Warsaw Zachodnia are both scheduled to arrive at the very same minute (09:32). One train takes just under two and half hours, the other takes over three hours. The slower one leaves Warsaw from the east, heads up to Iława, curls around Toruń from the north via Jabłonowo, then continues onward to Bydgoszcz. The quicker one leaves Warsaw from the west, goes through Kutno and Włocławek, then continues beyond Toruń to Gniezno, Poznań and over the border to Berlin.

My train back to Warsaw took the long and circular route; why it must be this way I cannot tell.

This time last year:
A few words about coincidence

This time four years ago:
Hello, pork pie [my week-long pork-pie diet]

This time six years ago:
The meaning of class - in England, in Poland

This time seven years ago: 
First frost 

This time 11 years ago:
First frost 

Thorunium the Gothick

Ah! Toruń! Gothic gem! A city worth seeing (rather like Gdańsk's Gothic Old Town) on an overcast day, rather than when bathed in summer sunshine. The oldest parts of Toruń (Thorunium in Latin) date back 800 years. Partially enclosed by bastions and high walls, the city's ancient buildings are predominantly brick-built, the streets cobbled. Below: Gothic buildings on ul. Podmurna.

Gothic Toruń, like Gdańsk, is about verticals that would make your mediaeval mind boggle. Look at the height and sheer scale of the brickwork of this, the side wall of the 16th C. church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Below: view of the eastern end of the church with its towers. Knowing I'd be snapping some serious architecture, I came equipped with my Nikkor 10-24mm ultra-wide zoom... it came in most handy!

Below: Cathedral Basilica of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, more soaring brickwork; Toruń was a veritable skyscraper city of its day.

Left: the large number of churches requires a stained glass window workshop. Intek-Art, on ul Szewca 8, is open to meet all your stained-glass requirements, sacred or secular. Not only will they turn out saints and angels on request, they also make 3D stained glass; below - a PZL P11c, the Polish air force's principal fighter aircraft of the September 1939 campaign. Intek-Art also had on display an RWD-6 (in which Polish team Żwirko and Wigura beat 23 other crews from across Europe in the 1932 Challenge) and an Ansaldo Balilla from the Bolshevik War of 1920. Not cheap - 1,500 zlotys for the PZL, 4,000 złotys for the Ansaldo.

Below: ul. Bankowa - the street follows the fortified wall; on the other side, a defensive tower - Baszta Gołębnik ('Dovecote Tower'); in the distance, Brama Klasztorna (' Monastery Gate'). The Vistula flows parallel to the wall. Let's take a walk down this street...

Below: further along ul. Bankowa. To the right, a former granary, one of many in Toruń's old town. And what's that in the distance?

An optical defect in my super-wide lens? No - this is Toruń's famous Krzywa Wieża ('Crooked Tower'). It leans 5 degrees off vertical.



Below: back in the centre of town, the Gothic skyline of the Rynek Staromiejski (Old Town Market), with the Town Hall (started in the 13th C.) and the spire of the Church of the Holy Spirit

Right: a doorway on ul. Piekary and ul. Rabiańska, with nine pigeons on the steps. For some, free pets and and disposal point for stale bread, for others a pest and health hazard.

Below: an increasingly common feature in many Polish cities - a humorous brass statue commemorating a famous son. This is Filuś - the dog of cartoon character Profesor Filutek, who appeared in their own strip in Przekrój magazine for over 50 years. Filuś, on the corner of ul. Chełmińska and Szewska is holding his master's bowler hat while his umbrella rests on a street lamp. The cartoon strip was drawn by Zbigniew Lengren, who hailed from Toruń, studying art at the university.

Below: this is the side of Gothic that appeals to me most - pre-industrial architecture that presaged the early modern age - dark and dramatic. Shall we go on? We cross ul. Podmurna and dive down into ul. Ciasna...

Let's take a peek down Ciasna (lit. 'Tight Street'). Dirty, soot-stained brickwork, damp walls, damp basements - an idea of what life was like in the old days.

Below: a Baroque granary on the corner of ul. Piekary and Rabiańska. Note the abandoned Wartburg in the foreground

Below: a 14th C. tenement on ul. Szczytna, now housing a public library. Note the figures in the windows.

Below: through the arch to Hotel 1231, named after the year in which the building housing it was built (originally a water mill). I stayed here, only one night, then took part in a business meeting with Polish exporters. I can only praise this unique hotel - so full of character, excellent service, architecturally fine. And half the price (I paid 305 zlotys for a single room) of the Holiday Inn in Edinburgh where I stayed a week ago - the very antithesis of character.



Track back through the arch, part of the defensive walls of the castle built by the Teutonic Knights in the mid 13th C. It was captured and partially destroyed by the local population in 1450. The tower, situated over the mill-stream (Gdanisko river) was used for centuries for the town's waste-disposal.

Toruń is a beautiful city, with much to see. It is three hours by train from Warsaw (48 złotys single 2nd class by TLK). Certainly worth a visit.

This time last year:
Łódź Widzew or Widź Łódzew

This time three years ago:
A touch of frost in the garden