Steam's Polish Indian Summer

A Wolsztyn Experience – 1000 miles of main line steam in four days. Poland continues to make it happen but for how long? Rodney Towers gives an update in words and pictures on this acclaimed British-led venture which is keeping alive the last ‘real’ steam operation in Europe.

- Rodney Towers

Wolsztyn, Wroclaw, Czestochowa, Lodz, Poznan – unfamiliar names and even more unfamiliar pronunciations. Some of these towns and cities are in Silesia, much of which was part of Germany until 1945, and others are very much part of the central heartland of Poland.

Poland is unique in that some steam train services are still in operation and while the number of steam-hauled service trains has greatly diminished during the last 20 years, you can still go online and book tickets on certain services that will be headed by a steam locomotive.

Wolsztyn, with the last operational ‘roundhouse’ engine, shed in Europe, has become the only surviving hub for mainline steam train services. Wolsztyn’s distinction arises from its unique asset, the engine shed and having that pool of skills and expertise in steam train operation and maintenance living locally.

‘Real’ mainline steam services have now become limited to two trains per day, from Wolsztyn to Leszno on Mondays to Fridays and on Saturdays two trains from Wolsztyn to Poznan. Distances each way are 30 miles Wolsztyn-Leszno and 50 miles WolsztynPoznan. However, during the time of my visit both the Leszno and Poznan lines were closed and for a two-week period they were operating a three trains per day service from Wolsztyn to Zbaszynek, a station on the Warsaw-Berlin mainline.

While on any visit to Wolsztyn you can see numerous steam locomotives around the engine shed area, only three locomotives remain in operational condition.

They are PKP class 2-6-2 Nos.OI49-59 and OI49-69, both mixed traffic locomotives built at Fablok, Chrzanow between 1951-54 to perform similar roles to the ‘Black Fives’ on Britain’s railways. The third locomotive is the larger PKP Mikado 2-8-2 No. Pt47-65, designed to haul heavy 600-ton trains at 60mph, and built at Fablok, Chrzanow, between 1948-51.

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