Not only in summer
The SM42 and SU42 locomotives of Chojnice depot are only supposed to be running on the weekends in May, June and September, aswell as full-time in July and August. However the reality is way different and they are also forced to work part-time in other months.
The recent decline in the reliability of railbusses forces the Pomeranian branch of PolRegio (previously Przewozy Regionalne; PR) to use two of their locomotives and one passenger coach each day to replace the broken down railbusses.
In fact, the situation on 21.01.2025 was even harder, because just recently one of the SM42 locomotives had been withdrawn from service, and one of the locomotives had to be dispatched to transport one EN57 and one EN71 unit from Chojnice to Gdynia for overhaul. This required for the retro-painted SM42-523, which was one of the least reliable locomotives in the depot, to be brought back into service after 4-5 months of a standstill.
Luckily the locomotive had no tech problems and could easily handle the ROS 50785 "Szkolniak" service on 21.01, which I photographed as it was starting its journey from Tczew towards Chojnice. Here the double track Ostbahn has to steeply climb up from the eastern part of the station in Tczew, in order to cut the line from Warsaw to Gdańsk.
The perspective makes it look like as if the locomotive was on the Marschbahn, due to the fact, that the lowlands between Tczew and the Baltic sea are almost completely flat, and partially submerged under sea level.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus
Not only in summer
The SM42 and SU42 locomotives of Chojnice depot are only supposed to be running on the weekends in May, June and September, aswell as full-time in July and August. However the reality is way different and they are also forced to work part-time in other months.
The recent decline in the reliability of railbusses forces the Pomeranian branch of PolRegio (previously Przewozy Regionalne; PR) to use two of their locomotives and one passenger coach each day to replace the broken down railbusses.
In fact, the situation on 21.01.2025 was even harder, because just recently one of the SM42 locomotives had been withdrawn from service, and one of the locomotives had to be dispatched to transport one EN57 and one EN71 unit from Chojnice to Gdynia for overhaul. This required for the retro-painted SM42-523, which was one of the least reliable locomotives in the depot, to be brought back into service after 4-5 months of a standstill.
Luckily the locomotive had no tech problems and could easily handle the ROS 50785 "Szkolniak" service on 21.01, which I photographed as it was starting its journey from Tczew towards Chojnice. Here the double track Ostbahn has to steeply climb up from the eastern part of the station in Tczew, in order to cut the line from Warsaw to Gdańsk.
The perspective makes it look like as if the locomotive was on the Marschbahn, due to the fact, that the lowlands between Tczew and the Baltic sea are almost completely flat, and partially submerged under sea level.
Photo by Piotrek/Toprus