More stories from the steelworks
The retro-pained SM42-2193 pushes a set of loaded flatbed wagons with steel slabs into the pickup point Warszawa Radiowo after a routine radioactivity and weight check near the old station building of Radiowo.
After two posts about the Warsaw steel mill it's time for another one. Once again I'm mostly conveying information included in Bogdan Pokropiński's book 'Koleje Bielańskie', aswell as own observations.
Today it's time for some details about the locomotives working here. Across its history (starting 1954) the steel mill posesssed 14 steam locomotives, which ran here until 1988. 7 of theme were bought second-hand from the PKP, and among them none were younger than 40 years when the production of the plant was launched (the oldest loco comes from 1890). Besides, each one of them was an ex-Prussian locomotive. The types ranged from TKh2/T7, TKh3/T8, TKi3/T9, OKi2/T12 to TKp1/T13. The other 7 locomotives, which were bought directly from their producer - Fablok in Chrzanów - were mostly of the type Ferrum, with one exception being the TKp 5180 of the type Śląsk.
The attempts to introduce diesel locomotives to the steelworks started only 3 years after its opening, when in 1957 a locomotive of the type Ls40 was bought. Because of its small power output (40 horsepower, what a beast!), it could only be used for minor shunting operations. More diesels were brought in on a larger scale at the end of the 1960s and all the way through the 1970s. During that time, the steelworks bought 4 SM30 locomotives, 9 SM42 locomotives, 5 401Da locomotives, one SM03 and another Ls40. Out of all of them, 2 SM42's are still in service outside of the steelworks, as locomotives for leasing from Cargounit. 401Da-380 is still in service, but never leaves the facility and 2 of the 401Da's still exist as donators of spare parts for the working one. So as of now, the Warsaw Steelworks posess 4 working diesels in total - three SM42's and one 401Da. The rest of the rolling stock of the plant was sold out or scrapped inside of the facility during a massive liquidation streak in the early 2010s. All of the still working engines in the enterprise have remote steering installed, allowing the driver to sit outside of the locomotive while shunting to couple wagons or have a better view of the track.
The SM42 locos which were in working condition until 2010 mostly had their own unique liveries, with the "mandatory" grassy green base accompanied by intricate details - headlights in the colours of the Polish flag or different variants of the orange V-stripe at the front. The pictured SM42-2193 was then the first one to receive a retro olive green livery from the 1980s in 2022, with now SM42-2557 following suit and SM42-2392 possibly joining the olive-green gang after the next repair. On one side it's cool that the locomotives have an old look to them, but on the other hand, it's sad that all will now look the same.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus
More stories from the steelworks
The retro-pained SM42-2193 pushes a set of loaded flatbed wagons with steel slabs into the pickup point Warszawa Radiowo after a routine radioactivity and weight check near the old station building of Radiowo.
After two posts about the Warsaw steel mill it's time for another one. Once again I'm mostly conveying information included in Bogdan Pokropiński's book 'Koleje Bielańskie', aswell as own observations.
Today it's time for some details about the locomotives working here. Across its history (starting 1954) the steel mill posesssed 14 steam locomotives, which ran here until 1988. 7 of theme were bought second-hand from the PKP, and among them none were younger than 40 years when the production of the plant was launched (the oldest loco comes from 1890). Besides, each one of them was an ex-Prussian locomotive. The types ranged from TKh2/T7, TKh3/T8, TKi3/T9, OKi2/T12 to TKp1/T13. The other 7 locomotives, which were bought directly from their producer - Fablok in Chrzanów - were mostly of the type Ferrum, with one exception being the TKp 5180 of the type Śląsk.
The attempts to introduce diesel locomotives to the steelworks started only 3 years after its opening, when in 1957 a locomotive of the type Ls40 was bought. Because of its small power output (40 horsepower, what a beast!), it could only be used for minor shunting operations. More diesels were brought in on a larger scale at the end of the 1960s and all the way through the 1970s. During that time, the steelworks bought 4 SM30 locomotives, 9 SM42 locomotives, 5 401Da locomotives, one SM03 and another Ls40. Out of all of them, 2 SM42's are still in service outside of the steelworks, as locomotives for leasing from Cargounit. 401Da-380 is still in service, but never leaves the facility and 2 of the 401Da's still exist as donators of spare parts for the working one. So as of now, the Warsaw Steelworks posess 4 working diesels in total - three SM42's and one 401Da. The rest of the rolling stock of the plant was sold out or scrapped inside of the facility during a massive liquidation streak in the early 2010s. All of the still working engines in the enterprise have remote steering installed, allowing the driver to sit outside of the locomotive while shunting to couple wagons or have a better view of the track.
The SM42 locos which were in working condition until 2010 mostly had their own unique liveries, with the "mandatory" grassy green base accompanied by intricate details - headlights in the colours of the Polish flag or different variants of the orange V-stripe at the front. The pictured SM42-2193 was then the first one to receive a retro olive green livery from the 1980s in 2022, with now SM42-2557 following suit and SM42-2392 possibly joining the olive-green gang after the next repair. On one side it's cool that the locomotives have an old look to them, but on the other hand, it's sad that all will now look the same.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus