"Chapeau bas!", as they say... : ) When I heard "Poznań, Wolsztyn, Leszno" I thought "wow, that's impressive". But hearing that "Krzycko Wielkie" or "Włoszakowice" - or "pociąg prowadzony trakcją parową" - now, that's a "REAL WOW!" : ) Cheers!
For those wondering - the reason these trains still run is mostly because while Electrification went quite smoothly and fast in Poland, switching non-electrified lines to diesel traction did not. For a long time coal was cheap and diesel fuel was relatively expensive here, and whatever money the communist government had to spent on railways went to electrification and diesliefication of Intercity services, and local services stayed steam-hauled on many lines. Fewer and fewer, but a few places survived untill 90's. After the fall of communism rail transport was extremely underinvested, and quite a few lines were closed unfortunately. It wouldn't be until mid 2000's and us joining EU that situation would improve. While other surviving steam-engine depots were either shut down or converted for diesel operations, Wolsztyn remained so long that it basically stopped being obsolete and started being heritige and tourist attraction. Still there was a period that these trains were not running for a few years, but combination of enthudiast pressure and some donations allowed for the service to be reinstated.
@@burgerpommes2001 yes, although the steam trains may not run in some winter months. Also note that in adition to weekday Wolsztyn-Leszno trains they also run a direct steam train from Wolsztyn to Poznań and back on saturdays
Doesn’t stop PKP cargo from using Soviet M62s that were modernized and not scrapped unlike North American railways who replace their locomotives very frequently
What I like in your videos is that you always try to pronounce local names as well as you can! Really appreciate that effort, because almost no one else bothers ^^
€3.20 for a steamed-locomotive journey? That's a f***ing bargain! 10:03 Great video (Just for the steam locomotive). Riding on a steamed-locomotive, regular service? That's a dream every train enjoyer wants and you made it true
It is even cheaper if you are egible to discounts - student, retired, veteran, railroad worker/workera family, disability and so on. Also monthly ticked for this line should be around 25 euro - price is distance based, last time when I bought one for ~45 kilometers it was something like this, now I am sadly not commuting by train daily - it might be a bit more.
BTW - "parowóz" literally means steam locomotive in polish. Fablok is also funny name. It is shortened form of "fabryka lokomotyw" wchich means just "factory of locomotives/train engines". Sadly this factory it is not longer operating.
@@pozitroncz8679 The more literal translation is steam cart or steam carriage :) (para + wóz). You can also say lokomotywa, same thing. Vehicle is pojazd.
@@davidf2118 Haha, maybe it sometimes results in something like that, idk. Pociąg can be translated as "a puller", something that pulls. So if someone has that animal magnetism, you feel train to them.
Fun fact: Steam engines operated in Poland mostly hasn't any kind of speedometer ;). In Poland we have two main steam engines depot: Wolsztyn (which is the only one serving regular route) and Chabówka (serving seasonal routes to Zakopane and Kasina Wielka) both with steam engines of course. Some narrow railways also have steam engines (eg. GKW - Górnośląskie Koleje Wąskotorowe with route from Bytom to Miasteczko Śląskie)
There is also an old Skierniewice Engine Shed. It is out of operation but it is some kind of museum. Polish Association of Railway Enthusiasts is in the charge of this place. More information at www.psmk.org.pl/en/ Skierniewice city is located in central Poland around 80km (50 miles) from Warsaw.
quite common for steam engines around the world to not have speedometers. Most of them aren't fast enough to reach line speed limits and the whole idea of having speedometers didn't become the norm till well past post-WW2 when the engines were on their way out in most places. Drivers learned to "feel" the proper speed by the sound of the engine and the wheels and looking at things wooshing past, and generally didn't have time to look at the speedometer anyway. Same way Japanese train drivers today learn to not rely on the speedometer but judge the speed by everything they drive past
They need to start advertising these type of things somewhere. I’m polish and I’ve never heard of this service. And my birth town Zdunska Wola is only 2 hours by car from Leszno and I’ve never heard of it
To było bardzo reklamowane z 15 lat temu, a doroczny festiwal był jedną z największych imprez w regionie. Dziś nadal jest bardzo ważnym motywem w promocji PKP (głownie Cargo). Motywy z lokomotywami na zdjęciach są często umieszczane na dworcach w Poznaniu, ale też Wrocławiu i innych miejscach. Leszno też niekiedy się reklamuje tą atrakcją. Co jeszcze się musi zdarzyć? Reklamy na YT czy w telewizji? Jak ktoś chce coś wiedzieć o parowozach w Polsce, dotarcie do tej informacji nie zajmie mu 10 minut...
How could you not hear of Parowozownia Wolsztyn? Every year there is old steam engines festival, always at the so called long weekend 'Majówka' that us on 1-3 May...
I was once traveling from Stęszew to Poznań and boy was i surprised when a steam engine with some WW2 era carriages arrived :D I think it was some special route that operates only on some days - it was christmas at the time. That was an awesome experience and i 100% recommend it
It might be the last public operated steam train on normal gauge tracks. However the HSB (Harzer Schmalspurbahn) operates public steam trains in the German Harz mountains, which are also in scheduled service
So does the Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn. They are public transport operating on a regular schedule, so you can ride them with the 9 Euro Ticket this summer in Germany.
@@RogerRoving although the W Highland steam trains were deliberately put on for tourists, this, and the HSB are lines were steam was never withdrawn and they are normal public service trains which tick the 'granny with shopping bag' criteria.
Back in 1990,A friend of mine and I booked a train for travel in Yorkshire, UK through the national train company British Rail. To our complete surprise, we found a steam train at the designated platform, which turned out to actually be our train. It was an amazing experience.
Sounds like you had booked a charter services rather than a regular passenger train. We do run quite a few on the mainline for enthusiasts. Sadly due to weather at the moment they are currently having to use diesel locomotives to prevent line side fires
@@lukedoherty8062 That's possible, but I'm pretty sure that we booked the tickets from a regular ticket office and we had no inkling that our train would be anything out of the ordinary. Too bad that steam trains cannot be run now. I travelled on many heritage railways in Britain over the years.
Maybe the Scarborough Spa Express when it was run by BR? A scheduled summer ‘extra’ service that you could ride with a normal ticket. Ordinary passengers could use it too most not realising there was a steamer up front until they started moving!
@@winco68 I just looked up the Scarborough Spa Express and it probably wasn't that one. We took our train from Middlesbrough. I think it was what is now called the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
@@diedertspijkerboer Yes in the 90s you would have had to change trains at Grosmont a shared BR/NYMR station. At the time the service you were on was a heritage service entirely on privately owned track between Grosmont and Pickering. Nowadays the service from Pickering runs to Whitby sharing the Network Rail tracks also used by the Northern Rail Middlesbrough to Whitby service.
They used to also operate on Saturdays but between Wolsztyn and Poznan instead. I managed to fit in a trip from Poznan to Wolsztyn and back in October 2020 just before the lockdowns came back. 1007 Poznań Główny to Wolsztyn and 1403 Wolsztyn to Poznań Główny. Trains between Poznan and Wolsztyn are currently replaced by buses for part of the journey. Hopefully the stream will return when the buses are finished and the line re-opens.
Superalbs: Why do you still run a steam engine passenger service? Poland: Why not? Superalbs: ...understandable, have a great day And getting off at the modern Wolsztyn station really makes you feel like you just exited a time machine. And I agree, it is indeed fantastic to see a steam engine thriving in regular passenger service. The charm of the Polish countryside is the perfect match for it. What an experience
If anyone plans to visit the Wolsztyn line, word of advice - on the weekends the trains used to go to Poznan, however due to renovation works between Grodzisk and Drzymałowo the line is closed and will remain so until at least November 2022. So the Saturday steam services between Wolsztyn and Poznan are suspended until then.
Superalbs Travels: It's PKP Class Ol49-69- Me: *NICE* Superalbs Travels: Just look at this beautiful machine Me: I agree, that 69 is indeed beautiful Fun fact, while the majority of those class Ol49s were made for PKP, four of them were actually sent to us in 1952. Back when Poland and us were good friends. We still have embassies in each other's capitals, though
Dude! Full respect to you that you took the effort to learn the pronounciation of our town names and company names. Not many foreign youtubers do that, so I bow to you for doing so ;)
I visited Wolsztyn twice in the early 2000s, both times enjoying the ambience of steam and on the first visit firing and driving between Wolsztyn and Poznan as part of the Wolzstyn Experience available then. The local engine crews were very welcoming and Wolsztyn is a lovely town. Glad to see the steam is still going, even though its been touch and go recently.
@@stef6567 Sadly the Wolzstyn Experience closes on 31 Aug 2023. I heard no steam loco has been available since Jan 2023 hence the closure due to lack of incoming funding.
I say this last year in north Poland after big hurricane we don't have 3 days electrecity on that area and trains where stuck with ppl inside ,so they get from Bialogard 2 steam working locomotives and they carry thru all trains that where stuck and working on lines thru near by cities for 3 days.
First of all - I'm genuinely impressed by your pronunciation of the city names. And some additional information about Wolsztyn is that, (I think) every year around may holidays (1-3th may in Poland) they held kind of a train festival, with steam engines at it's heart. Was there twice, and some locomotives came from Czech Republic and Germany.
I wish we had something like this in the United States!! We have plenty of tourists railroads that use steam power with maine excursions but a regular steam service like this one I don't think exsist in the states. Thanks for the video and I hope you find more trains like this one!!
@@danieljohnson665 ya that's what happened, and now we are paying for it. Yes we are more mobile but now we don't have as much passenger service as we use to or as good of quality. My friend even told me that Henry Ford and President Eisenhower set America's America's transportation network back 50 years. I'm not saying that making cars and hiways is a bad thing but Purposefully sabotage in the competition by buying trolley systems and closing them and insatateing laws that purposely hurt the railroads is not good. We need both modes of transportation and if we did our roads would be less clogged, more Industries could open and operate and we could have less pollution. I would love to see auto trains where you drive to the loco train station and drive onto a train, ride it to where you want to go and then drive off and go to your final destination, to me that would be quicker and easier for long distance travel on the ground.
@@jacobramsey7624 There real issue was that the railroads went bankrupt before the government knew what was happening, and by the time they realized, it was too late (note that National City Lines could only buy the streetcar companies because they were already going broke anyway). There is now quite a bit of interest in establishing new services based on the private services and the like, but there is a lot of undoing them. Anyway, the sharp decline in legally eligible persons who hold driver's licenses and per capita miles driven indicate that there is a need for something to change.
Finally, someone checked it out! It's on my Polish railfan bucket list, one other point (Tarnów-Krynica line) I did recently (mountains, 3 tunnels, uphill climb after Grybów with stunning views and used as a test route for trains, Piwniczna-Muszyna part running along Poprad river which is the border with Slovakia; I rode on an Impuls EMU which was very comfortable (Dolina Popradu train)but if someone wants older trains you have TLK intercity trains and EN57/EN71 too). Huge props for showing the route and the pronunciation; our country has other interesting routes, aside from one mentioned above Lower Silesia has great mountain routes: Jelenia Góra- Szklarska Poręba, Wałbrzych- Kłodzko, Kłodzko- Kudowa, and railway to Hel peninsula is also cool
Parowozownia can be translated as "Steam-carriage-depot" or "Steam-carriage-yard", in this case, referring to steam-powered trains rather than road vehicles.
As a kid, I went to visit my grandmother who lived in Eisenach, East Germany in the early 1970s. I don't remember crossing the inner-German border - but as we arrived in Eisenach shortly after, the train was towed by a steam engine spewing out smoke upwards and steam sideways. Since many buildings had a brownish colour from the coal burned everywhere, I remember these moments like a sepia shaded black-and-white movie.
I live close to Leszno and Wolsztyn in Wschowa which you stop on when going from Leszno to Głogów. Every year there is parada parowozów (steam locomotive parade) when steam locomotive from Poland, Germany, Czechia and even sometimes the UK come. Sadly for the last two years it has been canceled and now there is a big problem with money to keep up running the steam trains. Last year there were 3 steam locomotives running, now there is just 1. In Wolsztyn there is also the fastest polish built steam locomotive the pm36 which is sadly not running since 2012.
In the 1960s I used to travel from Warsaw to Rzeszow overnight (sleeper car) and it was always pulled by a steam engine. I remember lying in my bed late at night gazing dreamily at the window: pitch black except random moving street lamps and such casting moving shadows inside the compartment, the darkness punctuated by horizontal bright orange lines of sparks (from the engine). Unforgettable moments.
Why Poland still run steam (coal) locomotives? It's two reasons. One it's a technical artefact and tourist attraction - especially for children. Two - it's demanded by a polish "defence/crisis law", a dozen steam locomotives need to be operational, ready to run. Steam locos doesn't need an electric energy or gas/diesel. It just need a coal and water - both is in Poland. This steam locos are adjusted to pull a cargo wagon. One of the biggest locomotive at Wolsztyn Museum is a "Pm-36" type called "Piękna Helena" (The Beautyfull Helen). This model is quite powerfull to pull very heavy trainset (1300 kilo Watts/1700 HP power, 13 tons of drag force, 130 kph speed).
PM36 is non operational. O)wnership is disputed meaning it will not be restored for the foreseeable future. Operational locos are two 2-6-2 OL49s and a PT47 2-8-2
This is not the last Steam Train in Europe, there are others. Croatia has some Mining Operations with Steam Trains going on, there are regular scheduled Trains up the Harz Mountains, Bad Doberan has a Steam Train going right through the Streets of Downtown, and so on.
He did say regular mainline passenger service. The Molli in Bad Doberan is a tram, Harz is narrow gauge, mining is freight plus there are historic cog trains too.
Fun fact, this is NOT the real Ol49-69. It's actually *Ol49-99* who took the number of Ol49-69, after preservation. The real 69, built in 1953 as Fablok Works No. 3180 is in Leszno, at the abandoned railway yard, with a bunch of other locos, like Wolsztyn's Ol49-7.
@@SuperalbsTravels If i remember correctly, it was a case of Ol49-69 going to be restored, too much work was needed, not much money to do so, and there was another Ol49, that being 99, that was in a much better state, so they just renumbered 99 into 69. Renumbering locos in Poland happens, the numbers are based off the amount of the locos built. If a class of TKh[a small, 6 wheeled tank engine] has, say, 27 engines built, the engines are numbered 1 to 27.
I'm amazed at how clean and well-kept the station infrastructure is. In contrast, UK railways are dirty, litter-strewn and nasty. But then we have left the EU and all the examples of just how good things might have been!
This engine used to run a holiday service on the Gdynia - Kościerzyna route a few years back. I remember riding it and I remeber it passing just next to my house each sunday.
Actually this isn't the last steam train in regular service in Europe. In Germany the regional railway operator HSB (Harzer Schmalspurbahnen ≈ Harz Region narrow gauge railways) runs a daily service of steam trains all year round. On peak days, their services require 10 steam locomotives to run simultaneously, so this route really has regularly scheduled steam trains. Although I have to admit that the so called Brockenbahn - the Brocken mountain railway - is mainly aimed towards tourists, it is totally possible to use it as a normal regional railway connection between the villages and towns in the Harz Region and people actually use it that way. This goes so far that you can even use the 9-euro-regional railway ticket to ride the HSB's trains. In my opinion it's a really interesting service and you might want to take a look at it. Greetings from Germany ; )
If I've ever been on a steam driven train on regular service, it was before 1954. I may have been, though, because my mother and grandfather would sometimes travel with me by train. It was probably around 1953-55 that my parents and grandfather wanted me to look at the steam locomotive crossing the road in front of us where we were stopped at a crossing. It's a fairly dim memory, but I mainly remember one of them saying, "They're almost all diesel now." This was in the U.S., maybe western North Dakota or further west. If my wife and I ever get to Poland again, I wouldn't mind riding that one that you showed us.
The Wolsztyn steam locomotive depot still has a ride in the steam locomotive cabin in the price list = 75 euro on this line and back again, but I am not sure if it is available this season.
I've been watching your videos for a good while and to be honest I'm delighted you enjoyed the experience of my town's heritage. Didn't expect it but it brings me joy, thank you.
"Have you ever been on a steam train in the mainline service? Leave a comment below, I'm interested to hear your experiences" - well, since you asked... Yes, I have. As a kid - back then steam operated mainline trains were still kinda-sorta regular things. Needless to say, for a kid I was back then the sight and sound (and smell!) of a steam loco was fascinating, if not outright mesmerizing. Couple of years ago I attended that "Wolsztyn Steam Parade" thingy (or whatever it is called), and... Well, it's like rereading a fairy tales from your childhood -nice, but... I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now The child is grown The dream is gone Thanks for the video anyway : )
Great video. I live in UK now but my childhood was full of steam trains in Leszno, surrounding towns and villages. You brought a lots of memories… thank you very much. As a 4 years old I could spend days sitting on the platforms and watching trains, that’s what my mum said. Lot’s of memories…
I once saw it going through Warsaw couple of years ago, i don't know why and where it was going, but I'd miss the view if i didn't hear an "odd sounding train horn" that made me look out my window
I've been on this route too! While the trains in the afternoon are pretty empty, the train at 6 a.m. is VERY crowded! Not with train fans but just with students. I also made an video about it a few years ago: th-cam.com/video/If2jmLh6yZo/w-d-xo.html Back then, everyone thought that 2020 would be the last year with regular steamtrains in Wolsztyn but its great to see that they're still going strong!
Great video, it's about time I experience these steamers in Poland properly. I've been recently experiencing the classic EMUs which are being withdrawn gradually at the moment from PKP. But this loco is something else!
In Switzerland we also have some regular steam train operating but on narrow gauge The Briez Rothorn Bahn is a rack railway which is only operated with steam engines For standard gauge and mainline operation we have many associations witch run regularly on the railway network
You have to ride one of the german narrow gauge railways! I can recommend the "Rasender Roland" on Rügen and the "Harzer Schmalspurbahn" throughout the harz mountain area. The "Harzer Schmalspurbahn" has a bigger network and climbs all the way up the Brocken, the highest mountain of the Harz
@@SternenruferinPatchouli1 In the description it is narrowed down to "Europe's last mainline steam service", but the the text in the thumbnail is outright wrong
Such a charming video with very pleasant commentary. When I was a kid early 19060s this kind of loco. was taking us from Warsaw to Hel (Polish sea village). Never forget ambers flowing from chimney at night time.
"Last steam train in Europe" is incorrect. Bosnia - still in Europe! - has a small fleet of ww2 vintage Kriegslok steam trains which also operate for-profit freight rail operations. so there's there's at least two steam train lines left in Europe. no wait, there's three, if you include the narrow-gauge Vasser Valley forestry line in Romania which also has steam engines in regular operation.
You are remarkably good at prononcing those Polish names Also this whole video is extremally funny to me because I come from that region and all those places mentioned are like the most random towns I can imagine. I was even passing through Leszno on one of the routes mentioned just yesterday. I knew that the steam trains in Wolsztyn were unique and worth seeing but I didn't think they're the only place like that in whole Europe. After all, it's just some very old trains
There are steam trains for tourists in many places on otherwise disused railways. But not on the main line as a regularly scheduled service, that's pretty unique.
The price you paid is a bargain. Here in the USA, the only steam is for tourists. And you pay for the pleasure big time. I do hope that they preserve those abandoned steamers. It sounds like you are very fluent in Polish.
Trains are payed by regional governer, like a normal public service. Its railcars, and steam on this line. Steam train is more comfortable, then motor car.
3-5 euros sounds like a regular price for any train service in this region, meaning that this particular line must be sponsored by some other source to keep it running. Keeping a workshop up to maintain just one locomotive is not cheap. But, if it's simply a part of the museum operations, then it makes sense.
From 1963 to 1966 I had about ten trips each of 1200 km from Lisbon to Irun on the French border and back on a train called Sud Express. It was pulled by a steam lok which spewed smelly, sandlike ash into the air and the open windows of the carriages. I was even allowed once to cross the Portuguese border in the lok at night facing the glowing open furnace. The train occasionally stopped to tank water for the lok from a trunk like horizontal pipe. The noise of the engine under the starry sky in the empty Spanish semidesert was great.
When I was young there were ONLY steam trains. Then the first diesels came and took over the principal trains very quickly. Yet it was another ten years before any were suitable for the light lines. It means that I still have the memories of the sounds and the smells of those engines and associate them with trips into the countryside.
Excellent video and pronunciation - well done. I was lucky enough to work in Poland in the 90s and rode the Poznan and the Leszno services frequently to Wolsztyn. I have a really large library of photos from this time and have added many others in my frequent visits back. GFR
Love this video! Nothing wrong with the performance of steam locomotives, they just take a constant amount of maintenance, repair & re-building. Love the cute sound of that steam whistle, reminds me of a startled cat!
Great video! I was there in December 2006, firing and driving the steam loco's through the efforts of the Wolsztyn Experience, Absolutely stunning weeklong once in a lifetime experience. At that time the Wolsztyn-Leszno turns were timed to take students to Leszno: Morning train there and afternoon train back with a multi hour layover in Leszno. The Poznan turns were a very early commuter run into Poznan. Very businesslike, relatively fast service, with about 20 stops requiring brisk acceleration. Nothing at all like the slow museum line operations we are used to. Yes, this is real steam railroading, don't miss it!
What a great video, next time when I will go to Poznań with my family for sure I will go to Leszno and go by steam train to parowozownia Wolsztyn. So much thanks for your video. Regards.
Thanks for the beautiful & very informative sharing. Very recently, last sept 2022 was my first time visited eastern europe trip, including to poland, didnt have the chance on train, only bus trip.
@@SuperalbsTravels Yes the Pendolinos are still running and will be for a long time I would say. Please come quick so that you can travel on SŽ class/series 813-0xx, because they are going to scrap. Some of them are already gone. They mainly run on lines Celje-Imeno, Celje-Podčetrtek, Celje-Đurmanec(Croatia) and Maribor-Prevalje line.
In Russia there are at least two lines with regular steam engine hauling as a tourist attraction. First is Bologoye - Ostashkov to the Seliger lake that is usually hauled by diesel locomotive but on Saturdays it's equipped with a steam engine. Another one is Ruskeala Express it runs daily (always a steam engine) between Sortavala and Mountain park Ruskeala in Karelia (Karjala) near Finland.
Parowozownia Wolsztyn (Wolsztyn Steam Locomotive depot in English) is one of the few steam locomotive depots who has one of finest yet original (not for the interior unfortunately it seems) carriages... Wolsztyn Steam Locomotive Depot is in possession of quite a few locomotives, a Ok1-359 locomotive, along with Ok22-31, Pt47-65, Ol49-59 and the Ol49-69 (former Ol49-99) shown in the video... Suprisingly only the Ol49-69 is in service as of 2022... Since Ok1-359 along with the locomotives mentioned earlier are what we call "Eksponat nieczynny" (Static Exhibit in english). However, Ol49-59 is currently under a P5 level main repair in ZUT Wągrowiec. So i'm sure it will return to the Operational state one day or another... Also, you may ask what happened with those 1st 3 locomotives... Well, during the Steam Locomotive Depot's financial crisis of 2014, they had no money to maintain those locomotives + the Pt47-65's boiler certificate of technical performance expired apparently in 2021... as what i have heard from my friend, who also is the Steam locomotive enthusiast.
*Awesome video.* I love steam locomotives. I was fortunate enough to watch the Union Pacific 3985 (4-6-6-4) locomotive run through my town here about 10 years ago. It also stopped and performed a run by for us. What a sight to see when some wheel slip happened on the 500 ton locomotive that was also the world's most powerful and world's largest operating steam locomotive running on the planet at the time. I also got to see the Canadian Pacific No. 2816 Empress 4-6-4 steam locomotive go through my town too. It also stopped and put on a bit of a show for us. Such a beautiful locomotive. Then Milwaukee Road 261 came through my town and stopped too. It's a 4-8-4 locomotive. What a sight! I also saw the Nikel Plate 765 come through my area. It was a 2-8-4 Berkshire steam locomotive. Gorgeous! I also saw the Soo Line 1003 come through my area once too. It is a 2-6-2 Mikado locomotive that was built by the American locomotive company. And finally I saw the Titan of the Iron Horse! The biggest steam locomotive on the planet! The Big Boy! What a sight! I never thought I would see it run in my lifetime due to the sheer logistics of running her. But yet she was restored and is now traveling all over the western US. The Big Boy dwarfs any steam locomotive you have ever seen. (Although the US built Allegheny and Yellowstone steam locomotives are technically just as big but are currently not operating) At 132 ft long and tipping the scales at 604 tons, the Big Boy is a giant among giants. I got to see her run at speed and got up close to her for a bunch of photographs. What a sight! 😃
Have you ever? Yes, many times, but I lived in the Seventies when I was young. Germany still had lots of steam, even on fast trains. And then GDR, and even today, some operations in the ex Commnist states like Saxonia, are still up and running. I visited Wolsztyn years ago, where there were scheduled services and the special trains our group chartered. We overnighted inside the engine terminal in our chartered couchette sleeper, and the roundhouse crew was extremely accommodating. They invited us for sausage grilling with free Polish beer.
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spot on pronunciation of polish town names, respect
Thank you very much! :)
"Chapeau bas!", as they say... : )
When I heard "Poznań, Wolsztyn, Leszno" I thought "wow, that's impressive". But hearing that "Krzycko Wielkie" or "Włoszakowice" - or "pociąg prowadzony trakcją parową" - now, that's a "REAL WOW!" : )
Cheers!
@@MrKotBonifacy Zgadzam się, really impressive
The pronunciation preparation had to be a nightmare :D well done dud!
I would agree!
For those wondering - the reason these trains still run is mostly because while Electrification went quite smoothly and fast in Poland, switching non-electrified lines to diesel traction did not. For a long time coal was cheap and diesel fuel was relatively expensive here, and whatever money the communist government had to spent on railways went to electrification and diesliefication of Intercity services, and local services stayed steam-hauled on many lines. Fewer and fewer, but a few places survived untill 90's. After the fall of communism rail transport was extremely underinvested, and quite a few lines were closed unfortunately. It wouldn't be until mid 2000's and us joining EU that situation would improve. While other surviving steam-engine depots were either shut down or converted for diesel operations, Wolsztyn remained so long that it basically stopped being obsolete and started being heritige and tourist attraction.
Still there was a period that these trains were not running for a few years, but combination of enthudiast pressure and some donations allowed for the service to be reinstated.
so this will stay for the forseable future?
@@burgerpommes2001 yes, although the steam trains may not run in some winter months. Also note that in adition to weekday Wolsztyn-Leszno trains they also run a direct steam train from Wolsztyn to Poznań and back on saturdays
Why was he engine going backwards?
@@chrisaustin9949 because with electrification and diesliefication turntables were removed from 90% of the stations.
Doesn’t stop PKP cargo from using Soviet M62s that were modernized and not scrapped unlike North American railways who replace their locomotives very frequently
What I like in your videos is that you always try to pronounce local names as well as you can! Really appreciate that effort, because almost no one else bothers ^^
I can only pronounce Jebac PiS properly
@@budapestkeletistationvoices well, i dont think i can pronounce anything correctly in Hungarian
Some try and fail miserably. Not too difficult to go online for help but it helps if you are a linguist as then you now the basics.
Thank you, glad you appreciate the effort. 🥰
He truly makes his best effort👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I’m amazed at how well the Superlabs Travels guy is pronouncing Polish words. Impressive!!!
Thank you!! :)
€3.20 for a steamed-locomotive journey? That's a f***ing bargain!
10:03 Great video (Just for the steam locomotive).
Riding on a steamed-locomotive, regular service? That's a dream every train enjoyer wants and you made it true
Regular osobowy train!
Wolsztyn!
Sure is a bargain! :)
And thanks. :)
It is even cheaper if you are egible to discounts - student, retired, veteran, railroad worker/workera family, disability and so on. Also monthly ticked for this line should be around 25 euro - price is distance based, last time when I bought one for ~45 kilometers it was something like this, now I am sadly not commuting by train daily - it might be a bit more.
BTW - "parowóz" literally means steam locomotive in polish.
Fablok is also funny name. It is shortened form of "fabryka lokomotyw" wchich means just "factory of locomotives/train engines". Sadly this factory it is not longer operating.
Doesn't it means rather a "steam vehicle"?
@@pozitroncz8679 no - it is used only in context of steam powered train engines.
@@pozitroncz8679 a steamboat is parostatek
@@pozitroncz8679 The more literal translation is steam cart or steam carriage :) (para + wóz). You can also say lokomotywa, same thing. Vehicle is pojazd.
@@davidf2118 Haha, maybe it sometimes results in something like that, idk.
Pociąg can be translated as "a puller", something that pulls. So if someone has that animal magnetism, you feel train to them.
Fun fact: Steam engines operated in Poland mostly hasn't any kind of speedometer ;).
In Poland we have two main steam engines depot: Wolsztyn (which is the only one serving regular route) and Chabówka (serving seasonal routes to Zakopane and Kasina Wielka) both with steam engines of course. Some narrow railways also have steam engines (eg. GKW - Górnośląskie Koleje Wąskotorowe with route from Bytom to Miasteczko Śląskie)
Wow, I didn't know that! 😅
There is also an old Skierniewice Engine Shed. It is out of operation but it is some kind of museum. Polish Association of Railway Enthusiasts is in the charge of this place. More information at www.psmk.org.pl/en/
Skierniewice city is located in central Poland around 80km (50 miles) from Warsaw.
But why though? It should be dirt cheap to install one.
quite common for steam engines around the world to not have speedometers. Most of them aren't fast enough to reach line speed limits and the whole idea of having speedometers didn't become the norm till well past post-WW2 when the engines were on their way out in most places. Drivers learned to "feel" the proper speed by the sound of the engine and the wheels and looking at things wooshing past, and generally didn't have time to look at the speedometer anyway. Same way Japanese train drivers today learn to not rely on the speedometer but judge the speed by everything they drive past
Goshh ... You forgot: Museum in Jaworzyna Śląska and Stacja Museum in Warsaw - each have a few steam locomotives ready to run.
They need to start advertising these type of things somewhere. I’m polish and I’ve never heard of this service. And my birth town Zdunska Wola is only 2 hours by car from Leszno and I’ve never heard of it
Shame, but hopefully you can try it out now you know! :)
To było bardzo reklamowane z 15 lat temu, a doroczny festiwal był jedną z największych imprez w regionie. Dziś nadal jest bardzo ważnym motywem w promocji PKP (głownie Cargo). Motywy z lokomotywami na zdjęciach są często umieszczane na dworcach w Poznaniu, ale też Wrocławiu i innych miejscach. Leszno też niekiedy się reklamuje tą atrakcją. Co jeszcze się musi zdarzyć? Reklamy na YT czy w telewizji? Jak ktoś chce coś wiedzieć o parowozach w Polsce, dotarcie do tej informacji nie zajmie mu 10 minut...
How could you not hear of Parowozownia Wolsztyn? Every year there is old steam engines festival, always at the so called long weekend 'Majówka' that us on 1-3 May...
I was once traveling from Stęszew to Poznań and boy was i surprised when a steam engine with some WW2 era carriages arrived :D I think it was some special route that operates only on some days - it was christmas at the time. That was an awesome experience and i 100% recommend it
I live in the USA and heard of it and even know people who traveled on this train but I’m interested in steam railroading though. 😀
It might be the last public operated steam train on normal gauge tracks.
However the HSB (Harzer Schmalspurbahn) operates public steam trains in the German Harz mountains, which are also in scheduled service
So does the Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn. They are public transport operating on a regular schedule, so you can ride them with the 9 Euro Ticket this summer in Germany.
Also on the West Highland line in the U.K.
@@RogerRoving although the W Highland steam trains were deliberately put on for tourists, this, and the HSB are lines were steam was never withdrawn and they are normal public service trains which tick the 'granny with shopping bag' criteria.
Hitler's trains are run daily for nearly 80 years th-cam.com/video/bH96yjd6BKU/w-d-xo.html
And in finland Ukko-Pekka 1009
Back in 1990,A friend of mine and I booked a train for travel in Yorkshire, UK through the national train company British Rail. To our complete surprise, we found a steam train at the designated platform, which turned out to actually be our train. It was an amazing experience.
Sounds like you had booked a charter services rather than a regular passenger train. We do run quite a few on the mainline for enthusiasts. Sadly due to weather at the moment they are currently having to use diesel locomotives to prevent line side fires
@@lukedoherty8062 That's possible, but I'm pretty sure that we booked the tickets from a regular ticket office and we had no inkling that our train would be anything out of the ordinary.
Too bad that steam trains cannot be run now. I travelled on many heritage railways in Britain over the years.
Maybe the Scarborough Spa Express when it was run by BR? A scheduled summer ‘extra’ service that you could ride with a normal ticket. Ordinary passengers could use it too most not realising there was a steamer up front until they started moving!
@@winco68 I just looked up the Scarborough Spa Express and it probably wasn't that one. We took our train from Middlesbrough. I think it was what is now called the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
@@diedertspijkerboer Yes in the 90s you would have had to change trains at Grosmont a shared BR/NYMR station. At the time the service you were on was a heritage service entirely on privately owned track between Grosmont and Pickering.
Nowadays the service from Pickering runs to Whitby sharing the Network Rail tracks also used by the Northern Rail Middlesbrough to Whitby service.
A mixture of old and new trains in Poland. Plus I do like how you pronounce station names perfectly. As always keep up the good work 👍
Thank you very much. :)
@@SuperalbsTravels No worries
not quite perfectly, but decently enough
They used to also operate on Saturdays but between Wolsztyn and Poznan instead. I managed to fit in a trip from Poznan to Wolsztyn and back in October 2020 just before the lockdowns came back. 1007 Poznań Główny to Wolsztyn and 1403 Wolsztyn to Poznań Główny. Trains between Poznan and Wolsztyn are currently replaced by buses for part of the journey. Hopefully the stream will return when the buses are finished and the line re-opens.
Yeah, it's just planned maintenance of the tracks. They'll be back soon!
yup, it runs through my village and I've taken it many times on Saturday
I remember when it ran once a week between Wrocław and Poznań, if I'm not mistaken. Over 10 years ago.
@ Possibly. More than 10 years ago they ran regularly during the week on the route Leszno - Wolsztyn - Zbąszynek. I used them to commute to school.
Superalbs: Why do you still run a steam engine passenger service?
Poland: Why not?
Superalbs: ...understandable, have a great day
And getting off at the modern Wolsztyn station really makes you feel like you just exited a time machine. And I agree, it is indeed fantastic to see a steam engine thriving in regular passenger service. The charm of the Polish countryside is the perfect match for it. What an experience
Sup, I have already found you in so many different places on TH-cam that I am beginning to doubt that you are a bot. Greetings lol.
@@М62 Banu lets change the nickname to " U-bot " You are indeed bot - hunter .
Impressed by the pronounciation, well done! Respect!
Thank you! :)
As a Polish person i seriously respect you for being able to pronounce the names if the stations nearly flawlessly. Love your content, bro!
2:05 this is an SM42 in historical painting, it's very rare to find one like this
If anyone plans to visit the Wolsztyn line, word of advice - on the weekends the trains used to go to Poznan, however due to renovation works between Grodzisk and Drzymałowo the line is closed and will remain so until at least November 2022. So the Saturday steam services between Wolsztyn and Poznan are suspended until then.
anything to do there, seems boring trash....
@@lucasrem what do you mean? in poznań?
As a child, I had the opportunity to ride in the cab of this locomotive
Superalbs Travels: It's PKP Class Ol49-69-
Me: *NICE*
Superalbs Travels: Just look at this beautiful machine
Me: I agree, that 69 is indeed beautiful
Fun fact, while the majority of those class Ol49s were made for PKP, four of them were actually sent to us in 1952. Back when Poland and us were good friends. We still have embassies in each other's capitals, though
Hello, Kim San Pang.
How are the Volvo 144s? Gonna pay for them anytime soon? 🙂
Couple of years ago, I was riding in this exact steam engine, I will remember thiat moment forever
You just got yourself a new sub, my friend. The detail, the narration and pronunciation of native names and sentences, just amazing!
Dude! Full respect to you that you took the effort to learn the pronounciation of our town names and company names. Not many foreign youtubers do that, so I bow to you for doing so ;)
I visited Wolsztyn twice in the early 2000s, both times enjoying the ambience of steam and on the first visit firing and driving between Wolsztyn and Poznan as part of the Wolzstyn Experience available then. The local engine crews were very welcoming and Wolsztyn is a lovely town. Glad to see the steam is still going, even though its been touch and go recently.
So did I, I remember driving OL49-69 to Poznan and back.. an amazing week! I wonder if Wolzstyn Experience is still going?
@@stef6567 Sadly the Wolzstyn Experience closes on 31 Aug 2023. I heard no steam loco has been available since Jan 2023 hence the closure due to lack of incoming funding.
Leszno, let's go! My childhood memories are coming back.
I say this last year in north Poland after big hurricane we don't have 3 days electrecity on that area and trains where stuck with ppl inside ,so they get from Bialogard 2 steam working locomotives and they carry thru all trains that where stuck and working on lines thru near by cities for 3 days.
I was in Tatry, there was a slow steam train but I still loved it, before the ride, I ate yummy fries and it didn't cost much, it's still in service!
What a beauty!! Absolutely amazing 🤩 back in time! Love it 😍
Thanks!
First of all - I'm genuinely impressed by your pronunciation of the city names. And some additional information about Wolsztyn is that, (I think) every year around may holidays (1-3th may in Poland) they held kind of a train festival, with steam engines at it's heart. Was there twice, and some locomotives came from Czech Republic and Germany.
I wish we had something like this in the United States!! We have plenty of tourists railroads that use steam power with maine excursions but a regular steam service like this one I don't think exsist in the states. Thanks for the video and I hope you find more trains like this one!!
Thank you! :)
That's because the US ripped their rails up for cars.
@@danieljohnson665 ya that's what happened, and now we are paying for it. Yes we are more mobile but now we don't have as much passenger service as we use to or as good of quality. My friend even told me that Henry Ford and President Eisenhower set America's America's transportation network back 50 years. I'm not saying that making cars and hiways is a bad thing but Purposefully sabotage in the competition by buying trolley systems and closing them and insatateing laws that purposely hurt the railroads is not good. We need both modes of transportation and if we did our roads would be less clogged, more Industries could open and operate and we could have less pollution. I would love to see auto trains where you drive to the loco train station and drive onto a train, ride it to where you want to go and then drive off and go to your final destination, to me that would be quicker and easier for long distance travel on the ground.
@@jacobramsey7624 There real issue was that the railroads went bankrupt before the government knew what was happening, and by the time they realized, it was too late (note that National City Lines could only buy the streetcar companies because they were already going broke anyway). There is now quite a bit of interest in establishing new services based on the private services and the like, but there is a lot of undoing them. Anyway, the sharp decline in legally eligible persons who hold driver's licenses and per capita miles driven indicate that there is a need for something to change.
Finally, someone checked it out! It's on my Polish railfan bucket list, one other point (Tarnów-Krynica line) I did recently (mountains, 3 tunnels, uphill climb after Grybów with stunning views and used as a test route for trains, Piwniczna-Muszyna part running along Poprad river which is the border with Slovakia; I rode on an Impuls EMU which was very comfortable (Dolina Popradu train)but if someone wants older trains you have TLK intercity trains and EN57/EN71 too). Huge props for showing the route and the pronunciation; our country has other interesting routes, aside from one mentioned above Lower Silesia has great mountain routes: Jelenia Góra- Szklarska Poręba, Wałbrzych- Kłodzko, Kłodzko- Kudowa, and railway to Hel peninsula is also cool
Thanks for the tips! Glad you enjoyed it too. :)
im polish and you got the names of towns and railway companies spot on
Parowozownia can be translated as "Steam-carriage-depot" or "Steam-carriage-yard", in this case, referring to steam-powered trains rather than road vehicles.
Amazing journey! Thanks so much for sharing! Liked it very much
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed.
As a kid, I went to visit my grandmother who lived in Eisenach, East Germany in the early 1970s.
I don't remember crossing the inner-German border - but as we arrived in Eisenach shortly after, the train was towed by a steam engine spewing out smoke upwards and steam sideways.
Since many buildings had a brownish colour from the coal burned everywhere, I remember these moments like a sepia shaded black-and-white movie.
I live close to Leszno and Wolsztyn in Wschowa which you stop on when going from Leszno to Głogów. Every year there is parada parowozów (steam locomotive parade) when steam locomotive from Poland, Germany, Czechia and even sometimes the UK come. Sadly for the last two years it has been canceled and now there is a big problem with money to keep up running the steam trains. Last year there were 3 steam locomotives running, now there is just 1. In Wolsztyn there is also the fastest polish built steam locomotive the pm36 which is sadly not running since 2012.
In the 1960s I used to travel from Warsaw to Rzeszow overnight (sleeper car) and it was always pulled by a steam engine. I remember lying in my bed late at night gazing dreamily at the window: pitch black except random moving street lamps and such casting moving shadows inside the compartment, the darkness punctuated by horizontal bright orange lines of sparks (from the engine). Unforgettable moments.
Why Poland still run steam (coal) locomotives? It's two reasons. One it's a technical artefact and tourist attraction - especially for children. Two - it's demanded by a polish "defence/crisis law", a dozen steam locomotives need to be operational, ready to run. Steam locos doesn't need an electric energy or gas/diesel. It just need a coal and water - both is in Poland. This steam locos are adjusted to pull a cargo wagon. One of the biggest locomotive at Wolsztyn Museum is a "Pm-36" type called "Piękna Helena" (The Beautyfull Helen). This model is quite powerfull to pull very heavy trainset (1300 kilo Watts/1700 HP power, 13 tons of drag force, 130 kph speed).
A very sensible law. I wish we had standby reliable locomotives here.
PM36 is non operational. O)wnership is disputed meaning it will not be restored for the foreseeable future. Operational locos are two 2-6-2 OL49s and a PT47 2-8-2
Are you sure about coal ;) ?
I mean, there should be electricity in Poland too, but I understand the idea of having some SHTF locos ready just in case. Makes sense.
@@madrag You'r right... a situation is uncertain 😁
I'm really impressed by your polish accent. You were pretty damn close to having it right most of the time. Much applause.
2:54 In Polish railway slang we call RegioTramps "Żelazko" which means iron because of their appearance
In France we have some railcars which are named "vacuum cleaners" for their look (X72500 class).
Also, don't ask how X73500s are called. Just, don't.
Thanks! I'll take a steam train from my city, leszno to wolsztyn to my cousins!
That sounds great! Enjoy!
Thank you for this video, I am adding this train trip to my "to do" list!
Awesome, I hope you enjoy it!
I sat and rode in a Cuban sugar mill train about 20 years ago, it was very hot and oily, lol.
This is not the last Steam Train in Europe, there are others. Croatia has some Mining Operations with Steam Trains going on, there are regular scheduled Trains up the Harz Mountains, Bad Doberan has a Steam Train going right through the Streets of Downtown, and so on.
He did say regular mainline passenger service. The Molli in Bad Doberan is a tram, Harz is narrow gauge, mining is freight plus there are historic cog trains too.
There is also a regular steam locomotive "Ruskeala Express" in Russia
Mordor doesn’t count
My school is located next to the track in Leszno, so it is really nice to see that locomotive through the window
I was in Poland 2 times and also on steam train :)
Nice document! And you pronounce Polish names quite well! Well done!:) Greetings!
Thank you!
I like how you put your life and soul into the pronunciation😂And you pronounced everything very good👍🏻
Hahaha, thanks, I'm glad it was worth the effort. :)
Fun fact, this is NOT the real Ol49-69. It's actually *Ol49-99* who took the number of Ol49-69, after preservation. The real 69, built in 1953 as Fablok Works No. 3180 is in Leszno, at the abandoned railway yard, with a bunch of other locos, like Wolsztyn's Ol49-7.
Weird how they did that! Why did they?
@@SuperalbsTravels If i remember correctly, it was a case of Ol49-69 going to be restored, too much work was needed, not much money to do so, and there was another Ol49, that being 99, that was in a much better state, so they just renumbered 99 into 69. Renumbering locos in Poland happens, the numbers are based off the amount of the locos built. If a class of TKh[a small, 6 wheeled tank engine] has, say, 27 engines built, the engines are numbered 1 to 27.
I'm amazed at how clean and well-kept the station infrastructure is. In contrast, UK railways are dirty, litter-strewn and nasty. But then we have left the EU and all the examples of just how good things might have been!
honestly the stations are pretty clean by Polish standards as well
You have to be kidding, our train service in the UK was in decline before we joined the EU
I dont know if you have been in german trains, they are also a bit outdated and neglected :P
Really enjoyed this video. Great to see a regular main line steam service - and what a handsome and well turned out locomotive!
It's always cool to see steam engines mixed in with more modern stock.
This engine used to run a holiday service on the Gdynia - Kościerzyna route a few years back. I remember riding it and I remeber it passing just next to my house each sunday.
Actually this isn't the last steam train in regular service in Europe.
In Germany the regional railway operator HSB (Harzer Schmalspurbahnen ≈ Harz Region narrow gauge railways) runs a daily service of steam trains all year round. On peak days, their services require 10 steam locomotives to run simultaneously, so this route really has regularly scheduled steam trains.
Although I have to admit that the so called Brockenbahn - the Brocken mountain railway - is mainly aimed towards tourists, it is totally possible to use it as a normal regional railway connection between the villages and towns in the Harz Region and people actually use it that way. This goes so far that you can even use the 9-euro-regional railway ticket to ride the HSB's trains.
In my opinion it's a really interesting service and you might want to take a look at it.
Greetings from Germany ; )
Yeah I knew the title was bs, thanks for an example. Stupid clickbait culture.
in Poland we have a few narrow gauge steam lines operating as well, this one is special because it is normal gauge regular service.
If I've ever been on a steam driven train on regular service, it was before 1954. I may have been, though, because my mother and grandfather would sometimes travel with me by train. It was probably around 1953-55 that my parents and grandfather wanted me to look at the steam locomotive crossing the road in front of us where we were stopped at a crossing. It's a fairly dim memory, but I mainly remember one of them saying, "They're almost all diesel now." This was in the U.S., maybe western North Dakota or further west. If my wife and I ever get to Poland again, I wouldn't mind riding that one that you showed us.
The Wolsztyn steam locomotive depot still has a ride in the steam locomotive cabin in the price list = 75 euro on this line and back again, but I am not sure if it is available this season.
I've been watching your videos for a good while and to be honest I'm delighted you enjoyed the experience of my town's heritage. Didn't expect it but it brings me joy, thank you.
"Have you ever been on a steam train in the mainline service? Leave a comment below, I'm interested to hear your experiences" - well, since you asked...
Yes, I have. As a kid - back then steam operated mainline trains were still kinda-sorta regular things. Needless to say, for a kid I was back then the sight and sound (and smell!) of a steam loco was fascinating, if not outright mesmerizing.
Couple of years ago I attended that "Wolsztyn Steam Parade" thingy (or whatever it is called), and... Well, it's like rereading a fairy tales from your childhood -nice, but...
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
Thanks for the video anyway : )
Sympatyczny wpis . Pozdrawiam .
@@wojtekwesolowski1950 Gracias, muchos gracias : )
Great video. I live in UK now but my childhood was full of steam trains in Leszno, surrounding towns and villages. You brought a lots of memories… thank you very much. As a 4 years old I could spend days sitting on the platforms and watching trains, that’s what my mum said. Lot’s of memories…
I once saw it going through Warsaw couple of years ago, i don't know why and where it was going, but I'd miss the view if i didn't hear an "odd sounding train horn" that made me look out my window
I love steam locomotives!!!,great video,so relaxing,thank You for sharing!!!
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed!
I've been on this route too! While the trains in the afternoon are pretty empty, the train at 6 a.m. is VERY crowded! Not with train fans but just with students.
I also made an video about it a few years ago: th-cam.com/video/If2jmLh6yZo/w-d-xo.html
Back then, everyone thought that 2020 would be the last year with regular steamtrains in Wolsztyn but its great to see that they're still going strong!
I had heard that it was being discontinued, so I was very pleasantly surprised it was still going in 2022!
Good thing to know the steam train service is being used though! Wish we could have one running here in England
Great video, it's about time I experience these steamers in Poland properly.
I've been recently experiencing the classic EMUs which are being withdrawn gradually at the moment from PKP.
But this loco is something else!
In Switzerland we also have some regular steam train operating but on narrow gauge
The Briez Rothorn Bahn is a rack railway which is only operated with steam engines
For standard gauge and mainline operation we have many associations witch run regularly on the railway network
I'm not really a big train fan but I have to admit that these old steam engines have their charme. It's beautiful that they preserve such beauty.
You have to ride one of the german narrow gauge railways! I can recommend the "Rasender Roland" on Rügen and the "Harzer Schmalspurbahn" throughout the harz mountain area. The "Harzer Schmalspurbahn" has a bigger network and climbs all the way up the Brocken, the highest mountain of the Harz
which both are public Steam Trains!
@@SternenruferinPatchouli1 In the description it is narrowed down to "Europe's last mainline steam service", but the the text in the thumbnail is outright wrong
Such a charming video with very pleasant commentary. When I was a kid early 19060s this kind of loco. was taking us from Warsaw to Hel (Polish sea village). Never forget ambers flowing from chimney at night time.
"Last steam train in Europe" is incorrect. Bosnia - still in Europe! - has a small fleet of ww2 vintage Kriegslok steam trains which also operate for-profit freight rail operations. so there's there's at least two steam train lines left in Europe. no wait, there's three, if you include the narrow-gauge Vasser Valley forestry line in Romania which also has steam engines in regular operation.
Finally someone who took their time to look up how to pronounce foreign place names, thanks!
I'm Polish and I live in Poland! I have to have a ride on this!
You should, let me know how it goes!
You are remarkably good at prononcing those Polish names
Also this whole video is extremally funny to me because I come from that region and all those places mentioned are like the most random towns I can imagine. I was even passing through Leszno on one of the routes mentioned just yesterday. I knew that the steam trains in Wolsztyn were unique and worth seeing but I didn't think they're the only place like that in whole Europe. After all, it's just some very old trains
There are steam trains for tourists in many places on otherwise disused railways. But not on the main line as a regularly scheduled service, that's pretty unique.
Well you may heard that the locomotive that was pulling the train was a ol49 and im from poland too
Awesome, thanks!
So, if you open the windows, a few cinders may blow in? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKP_class_Ol49
@@b43xoit I did get a few in my face! 🤣
If you mean standard gage of course. In the Harz region narrow gauge steam engines of the HSB run on a daily schedule
The price you paid is a bargain. Here in the USA, the only steam is for tourists. And you pay for the pleasure big time.
I do hope that they preserve those abandoned steamers.
It sounds like you are very fluent in Polish.
Trains are payed by regional governer, like a normal public service. Its railcars, and steam on this line. Steam train is more comfortable, then motor car.
Agree, it's a lot cheaper than preserved steam trains.
3-5 euros sounds like a regular price for any train service in this region, meaning that this particular line must be sponsored by some other source to keep it running. Keeping a workshop up to maintain just one locomotive is not cheap. But, if it's simply a part of the museum operations, then it makes sense.
From 1963 to 1966 I had about ten trips each of 1200 km from Lisbon to Irun on the French border and back on a train called Sud Express. It was pulled by a steam lok which spewed smelly, sandlike ash into the air and the open windows of the carriages. I was even allowed once to cross the Portuguese border in the lok at night facing the glowing open furnace. The train occasionally stopped to tank water for the lok from a trunk like horizontal pipe. The noise of the engine under the starry sky in the empty Spanish semidesert was great.
When I was young there were ONLY steam trains. Then the first diesels came and took over the principal trains very quickly. Yet it was another ten years before any were suitable for the light lines. It means that I still have the memories of the sounds and the smells of those engines and associate them with trips into the countryside.
My answer to the quesyion on the end of the video: Yes, On this route.
Also your pronounciations are really good
증기 기관차도 신기한데 경적 소리도 신기하네요. 이런 영상을 볼 때마다 유럽으로 기차 타러 가야겠다는 생각이 드네요~
It's an amazing experience, hopefully you can visit soon. :)
폴란드로 당신을 초대합니다
@@pyroblasted Of course I will also go to Europe. Of course I will also go to Poland~soon~ ^0^,
Excellent video and pronunciation - well done. I was lucky enough to work in Poland in the 90s and rode the Poznan and the Leszno services frequently to Wolsztyn. I have a really large library of photos from this time and have added many others in my frequent visits back. GFR
Also in Latvia they run a steam train on a regular basis with a schedule.
Your pronunciation of the names of Polish cities is amazing.
Great trip. Feels like back to the past. In my country, few of them serving as tourist train
Thanks! It is very unique to have it not as a tourist train, but as a normal service.
Love this video! Nothing wrong with the performance of steam locomotives, they just take a constant amount of maintenance, repair & re-building. Love the cute sound of that steam whistle, reminds me of a startled cat!
Nothing can beat the look, the sound and the whistle of a steam locomotive!
Great video!
I was there in December 2006, firing and driving the steam loco's through the efforts of the Wolsztyn Experience, Absolutely stunning weeklong once in a lifetime experience.
At that time the Wolsztyn-Leszno turns were timed to take students to Leszno: Morning train there and afternoon train back with a multi hour layover in Leszno.
The Poznan turns were a very early commuter run into Poznan. Very businesslike, relatively fast service, with about 20 stops requiring brisk acceleration. Nothing at all like the slow museum line operations we are used to. Yes, this is real steam railroading, don't miss it!
What a great video, next time when I will go to Poznań with my family for sure I will go to Leszno and go by steam train to parowozownia Wolsztyn. So much thanks for your video. Regards.
Your careful pronunciation of Polish region and city names is greatly appreciated
For the people at this railroad are lucky to have this line. Seriously, a regional regular railway connection is a really luxury in this region.
Hi I live in Wolsztyn , we love our historic machine masterclass . She is oily , black heavy and loud
BUT MAN IS SHE A BEAUTY !
mad respect for your VERY proper pronounciation of Polish names and places.
Thanks for the beautiful & very informative sharing. Very recently, last sept 2022 was my first time visited eastern europe trip, including to poland, didnt have the chance on train, only bus trip.
Please come to Slovenia soon. Love your videos.
Thanks! I love Slovenia, so I hope I can visit soon.
Are the Pendolinos still running?
@@SuperalbsTravels Yes the Pendolinos are still running and will be for a long time I would say. Please come quick so that you can travel on SŽ class/series 813-0xx, because they are going to scrap. Some of them are already gone. They mainly run on lines Celje-Imeno, Celje-Podčetrtek, Celje-Đurmanec(Croatia) and Maribor-Prevalje line.
In Russia there are at least two lines with regular steam engine hauling as a tourist attraction. First is Bologoye - Ostashkov to the Seliger lake that is usually hauled by diesel locomotive but on Saturdays it's equipped with a steam engine. Another one is Ruskeala Express it runs daily (always a steam engine) between Sortavala and Mountain park Ruskeala in Karelia (Karjala) near Finland.
This is the last steam locomotive in Europe
Britain: hold my tea
Wow, opening windows on a train hauled by a steam loco, what more could one possibly ask for?! Heaven!
Bardzo ładnie wypowiadasz nazwy polskich miast mordo
Parowozownia Wolsztyn (Wolsztyn Steam Locomotive depot in English) is one of the few steam locomotive depots who has one of finest yet original (not for the interior unfortunately it seems) carriages... Wolsztyn Steam Locomotive Depot is in possession of quite a few locomotives, a Ok1-359 locomotive, along with Ok22-31, Pt47-65, Ol49-59 and the Ol49-69 (former Ol49-99) shown in the video... Suprisingly only the Ol49-69 is in service as of 2022... Since Ok1-359 along with the locomotives mentioned earlier are what we call "Eksponat nieczynny" (Static Exhibit in english). However, Ol49-59 is currently under a P5 level main repair in ZUT Wągrowiec. So i'm sure it will return to the Operational state one day or another...
Also, you may ask what happened with those 1st 3 locomotives... Well, during the Steam Locomotive Depot's financial crisis of 2014, they had no money to maintain those locomotives + the Pt47-65's boiler certificate of technical performance expired apparently in 2021... as what i have heard from my friend, who also is the Steam locomotive enthusiast.
Thankfully our pete is back in service as of fall 2024
You could almost smell it! Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching! :)
Fantastic trip report 👍👍👍 Greetings from Poland
Thank you! 😊
*Awesome video.* I love steam locomotives. I was fortunate enough to watch the Union Pacific 3985 (4-6-6-4) locomotive run through my town here about 10 years ago. It also stopped and performed a run by for us. What a sight to see when some wheel slip happened on the 500 ton locomotive that was also the world's most powerful and world's largest operating steam locomotive running on the planet at the time.
I also got to see the Canadian Pacific No. 2816 Empress 4-6-4 steam locomotive go through my town too. It also stopped and put on a bit of a show for us. Such a beautiful locomotive.
Then Milwaukee Road 261 came through my town and stopped too. It's a 4-8-4 locomotive. What a sight!
I also saw the Nikel Plate 765 come through my area. It was a 2-8-4 Berkshire steam locomotive. Gorgeous!
I also saw the Soo Line 1003 come through my area once too. It is a 2-6-2 Mikado locomotive that was built by the American locomotive company.
And finally I saw the Titan of the Iron Horse! The biggest steam locomotive on the planet! The Big Boy! What a sight! I never thought I would see it run in my lifetime due to the sheer logistics of running her.
But yet she was restored and is now traveling all over the western US. The Big Boy dwarfs any steam locomotive you have ever seen. (Although the US built Allegheny and Yellowstone steam locomotives are technically just as big but are currently not operating)
At 132 ft long and tipping the scales at 604 tons, the Big Boy is a giant among giants. I got to see her run at speed and got up close to her for a bunch of photographs. What a sight! 😃
Have you ever? Yes, many times, but I lived in the Seventies when I was young. Germany still had lots of steam, even on fast trains. And then GDR, and even today, some operations in the ex Commnist states like Saxonia, are still up and running. I visited Wolsztyn years ago, where there were scheduled services and the special trains our group chartered. We overnighted inside the engine terminal in our chartered couchette sleeper, and the roundhouse crew was extremely accommodating. They invited us for sausage grilling with free Polish beer.