The Polish Coal-Mainline - the beginnings
As promised under my last photograph, I thereby start the small series describing the Polish coal mainline.
First things first - what do we see on the picture?
ST44-1265 together with ST44-1256 are heading a heavy aggregate train to Gdańsk Osowa in some very unfavorable lighting conditions. The train is entering Kościerzyna after a short stop at the entry signal, providing a cool smoke show.
So now about the railway line. The Coal-Mainline of Poland is one of the greatest infrastructural undertakings of interwar period Poland. Not often do we get to see railway projects mentioned in our school history books, yet this one made it, which just goes to show how important it was.
There were a couple of reasons for building it, but there is one most important one.
Poland was a nation very rich in coal and it was one of the main exports (15 million tonnes a year) before the second world war. All thanks to the very developed region of Silesia, parts of which were aquired from the 3 occupiers of Poland throughout the 19th century. As one of the biggest coal mining regions in central Europe, it had a lot of significance and the coal had to be transported out to customers. This was often done with the help of cargo ships, which could sail across oceans and transport gigantic amounts of freight. Tthe largest harbour locally was Gdańsk, which got the status of Free City of Danzig. The semi-free government of the semi-free city state however put a lot of barriers on Polish exports and so the country had to find another way - construct a new, better and bigger harbour.
The location for it was chosen in Gdynia, a small fishing village 15 kilometers north of Danzig. Before the start of WW2, it had grown into a city of 130 thousand people with a big and prosperous harbour, which was to become the terminus of the numerous coal trains from the South. Here another problem emerged - all major railway routes leading to it, were passing through Danzig! There was only one way to solve this problem - bypassing the city via Kociewie and the very hilly (rolling hills formed by a glacier) historical region of Kashubia.
And so, the construction of the railway line started in 1928 on the South, with the first part of it connecting Herby Nowe and Inowrocław. There it connected to the already built railway line Inowrocław - Bydgoszcz, and from Bydgoszcz once again it went on through uncharted territory of the Tuchola woodlands - via Wierzchucin and Kościerzyna all the way to Gdynia.
At the end of 1930 the entire Northern and Southern sections of the line had been finished, but there were problems with the construction works and funding for the middle section. Consequently, normal traffic on the entire line from Silesia to Gdynia hadn't been started until 1937. The total length of the line reached just under 500km.
Before the start of WW2 countless pairs of freight trains from Silesia to Gdynia ran through what mostly was "no man's land". Because of that, running local passenger trains wasn't really viable, and so freight was prioritised, allowing for more throughput.
More posts about the line to come :)
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus
The Polish Coal-Mainline - the beginnings
As promised under my last photograph, I thereby start the small series describing the Polish coal mainline.
First things first - what do we see on the picture?
ST44-1265 together with ST44-1256 are heading a heavy aggregate train to Gdańsk Osowa in some very unfavorable lighting conditions. The train is entering Kościerzyna after a short stop at the entry signal, providing a cool smoke show.
So now about the railway line. The Coal-Mainline of Poland is one of the greatest infrastructural undertakings of interwar period Poland. Not often do we get to see railway projects mentioned in our school history books, yet this one made it, which just goes to show how important it was.
There were a couple of reasons for building it, but there is one most important one.
Poland was a nation very rich in coal and it was one of the main exports (15 million tonnes a year) before the second world war. All thanks to the very developed region of Silesia, parts of which were aquired from the 3 occupiers of Poland throughout the 19th century. As one of the biggest coal mining regions in central Europe, it had a lot of significance and the coal had to be transported out to customers. This was often done with the help of cargo ships, which could sail across oceans and transport gigantic amounts of freight. Tthe largest harbour locally was Gdańsk, which got the status of Free City of Danzig. The semi-free government of the semi-free city state however put a lot of barriers on Polish exports and so the country had to find another way - construct a new, better and bigger harbour.
The location for it was chosen in Gdynia, a small fishing village 15 kilometers north of Danzig. Before the start of WW2, it had grown into a city of 130 thousand people with a big and prosperous harbour, which was to become the terminus of the numerous coal trains from the South. Here another problem emerged - all major railway routes leading to it, were passing through Danzig! There was only one way to solve this problem - bypassing the city via Kociewie and the very hilly (rolling hills formed by a glacier) historical region of Kashubia.
And so, the construction of the railway line started in 1928 on the South, with the first part of it connecting Herby Nowe and Inowrocław. There it connected to the already built railway line Inowrocław - Bydgoszcz, and from Bydgoszcz once again it went on through uncharted territory of the Tuchola woodlands - via Wierzchucin and Kościerzyna all the way to Gdynia.
At the end of 1930 the entire Northern and Southern sections of the line had been finished, but there were problems with the construction works and funding for the middle section. Consequently, normal traffic on the entire line from Silesia to Gdynia hadn't been started until 1937. The total length of the line reached just under 500km.
Before the start of WW2 countless pairs of freight trains from Silesia to Gdynia ran through what mostly was "no man's land". Because of that, running local passenger trains wasn't really viable, and so freight was prioritised, allowing for more throughput.
More posts about the line to come :)
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus