When the 21st century dawned, it had been around a decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Poland. That period had not been kind to the rural railways of the Polish State Railways (Polskie Koleje Państwowe, or PKP) and many of the once vast number of narrow gauge lines that formed part of the state system had fallen into disuse or were hanging on by a thread. Most of these surviving lines were shown on the PKP timetable map as single disconnected routes but, by the year 2000, a few much reduced networks still had passenger services shown. The surviving 750mm gauge lines based on Krośniewice in central Poland formed one such network, but they were only a tiny rump of a much larger system of PKP and industrial lines which stretched from Gniezno in the north-west, to Koło in the south-west, to Ostrowy and Ozorków in the south-east and Nieszawa and Koneck in the north-east. Between these extremities lay a network of over 300km of mostly overgrown PKP tracks with operations based on the four centres of Gniezno, Sompolno, Krośniewice and Dobre Kujawskie, along with some 750mm gauge industrial lines based on the sugar beet processing mills at Dobre, Kruszwica and Tuczno.
When a German gentleman by the name of Michael Kremmer advertised a six-day railtour of much of the remaining PKP operated system in World Steam magazine, involving traverses of the full route from Gniezno to Krośniewice including the nominally closed central section between Anastazewo and Stawoszewek, your two authors (who before the trip did not know each other) independently placed bookings.
The origins of the network had been the need to transport harvested beet to the various modern sugar mills which were developed across the area from around 1880. In the years before the first world war, a maze of connected and independent lines of at least four gauges sprang up across the region, which straddled the partition between the Prussian and Russian segments of the former and future Polish states. In the early part of World War 1, the field railways played a part in hostilities and more lines were added as the front moved east, including significant sections of the latterly surviving network. Around that time, a long process of standardisation of the gauges began, which ultimately saw the whole remaining network converted to 750mm gauge by the second half of the 20th Century.
By the year 2000, virtually all of the network was freight only, much of it with only intermittent traffic, and some sections had effectively closed although they seemed to be nominally still available. At the time, Monday to Friday passenger services remained only on the three short stubs from Krośniewice to Ostrowy (9 km), Krzewie (5 km) and Wielka Wieś (13 km), and these were in the hands of railcars. The plan of the German and Polish co-organisers was to cover virtually all of the remaining operational PKP track of this vast, and mostly decaying, network with one of the Gniezno based Px48 0-8-0 steam locos. The railtour was to be a rare treat for fans of decaying European narrow gauge from another era.
The lines having had a major role as sugar beet carriers, a number of station yards were filled with open narrow-gauge wagons. Many lines were roadside, either immediately alongside the road or behind the trees which lined many of the roads in the area, and ran through the centres of numerous small villages. There were frequent unguarded road crossings, often completely “blind” in towns, requiring maximum use of the loco's whistle. Other sections were across fields, with obscure sharp right-angle bends for no apparent reason – perhaps land ownership when the lines were built. Whilst not highly scenic, the lines had great charm, with frequent ponds, horses and carts, storks on pole-top nests etc., and whenever we stopped rurally, the air was filled with the sound of skylarks. The lines followed the contours and there were some steep sections in low hills, notably Sompolno to Boniewo via Przystronie, Boniewo to Cetty and Boniewo to Osięciny. With seven vehicles and grass covered tracks, this made for some very interesting bank climbing and, with much of the train unbraked, some very cautious descents, especially into towns with unguarded level crossings.
The tour covered 600 km and was worked by Px48 1754 throughout. A very keen Gniezno driver drove Gniezno to Sompolno and back, and a Sompolno loco inspector drove for the 4 days from and back to Sompolno. A Gniezno fireman fired throughout, but the Gniezno driver, who stayed with the tour, helped him at times. A different train guard was rostered for each sector of the tour. It seemed that, at times, there was a degree of friction between the German and Polish organisers, usually over timekeeping and choice of photostops, when they would switch to speaking in English, but they would later make it up over beer and vodka.
On most days there were about 60 participants, the majority Germans and Poles, with two Dutch, an Austrian, two Swiss and five English. One could join or leave anywhere and very few did the whole six days. Many of the Poles were very young, some with their girlfriends, some skinheads, and not all of them obvious railfans. There was also a Pole who chased the train for at least the first three days by bicycle and a gentleman in a blue Mercedes who paced the train quite a lot of the time when it ran roadside.
Saturday 15th April 2000
An hour before departure time, the train was already formed in Gniezno narrow gauge station, which was completely separate from the main line one and on the opposite side of the road bridge.unidentifiable Px48. The Lxd2 diesel had only taken over from steam on the normal freight services to Witkowo and Powidz in the previous 12 months. Formation for today was a green brake van, one green coach, one bogie open wagon and a second green van. Although only about 30 people had apparently booked on the train, distinctly more turned up and Gniezno station seats were loaded into the brake-vans and open wagon to provide more accommodation. Fortunately the sky was blue and the temperature was climbing towards the twenties. Departure was 12 late at 09.42.
