(26)Fe - Stories from the steelworks
During my week-long visit, the friends I met pointed me to several cool spots to visit in Silesiam where I'm almost guaranteed to see some traffic. And so, on the second try, I ended up near the steel mill Ferrum located in Katowice Zawodzie.
This steel mill, originally founded by a Berlin-based comapny of machinery production Rhein & Co in 1874, only got its name Ferrum after it merged with the Jakob steelworks (located in direct proximity) in the year 1890. The plant gained a lot of traction 10 years later after introducing a new way of welding steel pipes using syngas, which made them way more durable. This upgrade made the steel plant open to the worldwide market with its flagship product and the pipes were exported all the way to Japan and Peru (source: Wikipedia).
Pipes are still the main product of this plant to this day and a lot of shunting is needed to keep the production going. The network of sidings in this industrial area is not very long (around 3,5km of tracks in total, and even that is a big stretch) however it is almost unbelievably complicated, seriously - check it out on google maps.
Every half an hour or so, SM42-2616, the only locomotive in this factory, has to first go to an isolated part of the plant located in the south, pick up 2 loaded wagons (because no more than that fits on the siding) and travel to the station Katowice Zawodzie thereby changing the direction of travel a whole three times!!!
It then leaves the loaded wagons on one of two tracks designated for dropoff and pickup by other railway operators, and shunts around to get two empty wagons for loadup at the southern part of the plant, once again changing the direction thrice. And all this hustle for just 2 wagons!
Due to the fact that most of the facility is fenced, there are only two viable spots fo photographing the train. I sadly wasn't able to make it to the railway crossing with Porcelanowa street and this is the only shot I got. Here SM42-2616 is seen transporting two empty wagons for loadup with pipes on a very dark, gloomy and extremely cold, yet snowless winter evening. On the right side - an old banner, proudly displaying the name of the steelworks - Ferrum S.A.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus
(26)Fe - Stories from the steelworks
During my week-long visit, the friends I met pointed me to several cool spots to visit in Silesiam where I'm almost guaranteed to see some traffic. And so, on the second try, I ended up near the steel mill Ferrum located in Katowice Zawodzie.
This steel mill, originally founded by a Berlin-based comapny of machinery production Rhein & Co in 1874, only got its name Ferrum after it merged with the Jakob steelworks (located in direct proximity) in the year 1890. The plant gained a lot of traction 10 years later after introducing a new way of welding steel pipes using syngas, which made them way more durable. This upgrade made the steel plant open to the worldwide market with its flagship product and the pipes were exported all the way to Japan and Peru (source: Wikipedia).
Pipes are still the main product of this plant to this day and a lot of shunting is needed to keep the production going. The network of sidings in this industrial area is not very long (around 3,5km of tracks in total, and even that is a big stretch) however it is almost unbelievably complicated, seriously - check it out on google maps.
Every half an hour or so, SM42-2616, the only locomotive in this factory, has to first go to an isolated part of the plant located in the south, pick up 2 loaded wagons (because no more than that fits on the siding) and travel to the station Katowice Zawodzie thereby changing the direction of travel a whole three times!!!
It then leaves the loaded wagons on one of two tracks designated for dropoff and pickup by other railway operators, and shunts around to get two empty wagons for loadup at the southern part of the plant, once again changing the direction thrice. And all this hustle for just 2 wagons!
Due to the fact that most of the facility is fenced, there are only two viable spots fo photographing the train. I sadly wasn't able to make it to the railway crossing with Porcelanowa street and this is the only shot I got. Here SM42-2616 is seen transporting two empty wagons for loadup with pipes on a very dark, gloomy and extremely cold, yet snowless winter evening. On the right side - an old banner, proudly displaying the name of the steelworks - Ferrum S.A.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus