“Loco’s For Hire”
EU06-10, possibly the last active example with PKP Cargo, approaches Czechowice
Dziedzice on Sunday 19th May with train KS90716. This was a double substitution
as Koleje Śląskie are currently hiring in loco’s and stock to cover for unavailable
EMU’s but the EU06 was deputising for the more usual Cargo EU07.
Hot on the heals of our trip to Germany was a weekend in Poland for me. After missing out on the substitute loco hauled services in Berlin at the beginning of the year, I was keen to spend a couple of days around Katowice while the latest franchise cock up was ongoing. It seems to be a regular occurrence nowadays for a private operator to bid on a franchise without having the means to run the full service – not very good for passengers but interesting times for enthusiasts. I was also hoping to visit the two brewpubs and a couple of good beer bars in Katowice although June and I had been to Spiz before so that was bottom of my list.
I applied for my PKP coupons as a “just in case” but I planned to use the KS Dobowy Bilet (24 hour ticket) to get around, a bargain at just over £5.00 a day!
All opinions and comments in this report are my own unless otherwise stated and I make no apologies for any typos or grammatical mistakes! As usual, new loco’s are marked in bold, late running is highlighted red and unscheduled stops are shown in italics. A review of the hotel, beers and railways follows at the end of the report.
Saturday 18/05/2013
As I wasn’t finishing work until 03:15 I’d hunted round for an afternoon flight to Poland, eventually settling for an evening flight to Katowice, putting me where I wanted to be but a bit later than originally hoped. It did however give me the chance for six hours sleep and a brunch before June dropped me at the station. With no connection via Newport I headed via Birmingham New Street, making the minus one onto a Euston service thanks to a dash between platforms. This gave me the chance of a bonus quick pint at the Euston Tap (SunnyRepublic “Huna Red” 4.2%) before catching the tube to Seven Sisters to pick up a diverted Stansted Express.
After the usual performance getting through security at Stansted (why am I always the only person in the queue who’s ready with liquids, belt, laptop etc?!?) I made theusual visits to Boots and Duty Free and then relaxed with a pint of Hobgoblin in the Windmill (Wetherspoons) before making my way to the gate.The flight departed on time but it wasn’t the most enjoyable I’ve been on courtesy of a Polish bloke next to me who spent most of the journey chatting to friends sat behind him. This was combined with plenty of noise from the plethora of children on the flight which made it feel more like a Polish Créche!
We landed on time to the usual fanfare but I’d played safe and booked a seat on the minibus into town. When I’d booked the flights the last airport bus was scheduled to depart thirty minuters before the Ryanair flight touched down which I’d found a bit strange although this was subsequently altered to fifteen minutes after the flight. I wasn’t confident of it waiting if we were delayed, unlike the minibus which was supposedly guaranteed. In the end I made the bus comfortably although the minibus was probably a much better ride for almost the same price. After being dropped at the rear of the station I walked via the subway to the new station frontage and made my way to the hotel via numerous roadworks to check in and crash out.
My first stop was before I’d even left the country! A quick pint in the unusual Euston Tap
BRDMU11:40Hereford - Birmingham New Street13:1111:40Hereford - Birmingham New Street
BREMU13:10Birmingham New Street - Euston14:3412:45Wolverhampton - Euston
BREMU14:16Seven Sisters - StanstedAirport15:5315:05Liverpool Street – StanstedAirport
RyanairEI-EBP18:15Stansted - Lotniczy Katowice Pryzowice21:25FR816818:15Stansted - Lotniczy Katowice Pryzowice
Sunday 19/05/2013
After abreakfast I walked back to the station, this time viewing all the building work that was going on including some major work on the tram lines. I viewed the first three TRAXX hauled services arrive before buying my day ticket and bagging a compo on the Zwardoń train. I baled at Pszczyna to pick up the first of the two Cargo EU07 diagrams but managed to get a few decent photos while there, including one of the heavily rebuilt Sergei’s. The next leg of the plan took me to Czechowice-Dziedzice where I had time for a quick wander round the loco shed. While fotting the long line of stored ET22’s and ET41’s next to the station I spotted my train in the distance and got ready for a fot but it didn’t look quite right. As it drew closer I realised why – it was an EU07, it was an EU06! This was a big shock and very unexpected as I wasn’t even sure that any were even in traffic so after legging it down the long platform and joining for the run back to Pszczyna, I relaxed in the bar outside the station with a celebratory Debowe Mocny.I had time to kill before covering the third hauled turnon the Wodzisław Śląski line so I flitted up and down on the TRAXX hauled services, getting gmy first ticket check of the day and grabbing a few fots in the sun in the process (including an ST45 at Tychy) before heading back towards Katowice. Time keeping had been pretty good all day so sods law dictated that the one time a train would be late would be when I had a tight connection! This meant I missed one of the TRAXX turns but I was fairly confident that it would still be out the following day and I still had a couple of ET22’s to go for.
I was hoping that I might have had the odd freight to fot usring my wait at Katowice Piotrowice but no such luck although I was more than happy to see ET22-015 roll in with my next move ass this was a loco that I’d had to turn down a couple of years ago in Poznan. As I now had a two hour gap before the next ET22, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the hotel to use the facilites and post the gen. As I’d failed to bring a hat with me I realised that my head was getting a bit warm so I downed three glasses of water to keep me hydrated. Back at the station I was pleased to see antoher required ET22 although it didn’t arrive into Katowice until the time it should have departed. By the time it was run round and ready to go we were about twenty minutes late but I had a reasonable plus so it wasn’t a problem. I was hoping that EIC6106 would be a bit late too but it rolled through Chorzów Batoryon time so as expected I just missed the SM42 portion shunt back at Katowice (one to go for on Monday evening!)
As Bierhalle appeared to close at 21:00 on Sundays I decided to leave it until the Monday evening and instead head for a couple of local beer bars that I’d found on the internet while searching for brewpubs. First off was a visit to xxxxxxxxxxx, about a ten minute walk from the station. A few people were sat outside but it was quiet inside so I sat near the bar to suss out the beer gen. They had two Czech and two Polish beers on tap as well as a big selection of bottled beers, mainly Polish with a few Russian or Ukraine beers thrownin for variety (see gen at end). The two barstaff were both friendly and spoke a bit of English so we chatted about where I’d come from and how I’d found their bar. The beers were slipping down well so I ordered a cheese toastie to go with them and while discussing the “best” bottled beer from a local brewery I was a bit withered when the barman presented me with a free bottle to take away!
After a very enjoyable couple of hours I decided to make a move as I still wanted to check out the second bar on the way back to the hotel. Xxxxxxxxxx had about ten beers on tap although the chalkboard menu differed from the pumps so my first two choices weren’t on! I was starting to flag a bit as well as getting bored sat on my own so I just had the one before calling it a night.
Lotos Kolej 5.170.012-6 departs from Pszczyna with train KS99015. Leased from Railpool for freight workings, this is one
of several TRAXX electrics that has found short term passenger use with Koleje Śląskie, covering for non available EMU’s.
Railpool5 170 01209:20Katowice - Pszczyna10:009901509:20Katowice - Zwardoń
PKPEU07-33710:39Pszczyna - Czechowice Dziedzice10:529071409:01Wodzisław Śląski - Czechowice Dziedzice
PKPEU06-1011:15Czechowice Dziedzice - Pszczyna11:289071611:15Czechowice Dziedzice - Wodzisław Śląski
Railpool5 170 01512:12Pszczyna - Czechowice Dziedzice12:229901911:31Katowice - Rajcza
ATLD186.13212:41Czechowice Dziedzice - Tychy13:109902010:42Zwardoń - Katowice
Railpool186.27513:51Tychy - Goczałkowice Zdrój14:159902313:31Katowice - Zwardoń
RBSAF186.24714:30Goczałkowice Zdrój - Pszczyna14:369072014:24Czechowice Dziedzice - Wodzisław Śląski
Railpool5 170 01215:00Pszczyna - KatowiceLigota15:269902212:40Zwardoń - Katowice
Railpool5 170 01315:41Katowice Ligota - Katowice Piotrowice15:439902715:31Katowice - Zwardoń
PKPET22-01516:30Katowice Piotrowice - Katowice16:434482615:33Rybnik - Katowice
PKPET22-70718:45Katowice - Chorzów Batory18:544441518:45Katowice - Kłobuck
Railpool186.27619:33Chorzów Batory - Katowice19:434064219:00Gliwice - Katowice
Monday 20/05/2013
I had a lazy start to the day and had planned to fot a few trains around Katowice but a required pair of EU07’s changed my mind! As a bonus there was also a loco hauled move back from Myslowice which put me back into Katowice in time for my planned move. The plan today was a bit messy as I was covering the remaining turns from Sunday and some of the moves didn’t gel together very well. After starting with a required TRAXX to Katowice Piotrowice, I was a bit peeved that the sun disappeared just before I had anything to fot – a rebuilt Sergei on a heavy coal train and the TRAXX on my next move. To make matters worse the driver opened his side window as my train arrived, shouted at me and then threw something at me – cheers! As I started to run down the platform towards the back coach I realised that he’d thrown a peice of neatly folded paper which was a bit strange so I picked it up and jumped on the train.
As I’d dated my PKP coupons I decided on a short hop to Katowice Ligota to fot a T448 and a 183 (more like Czecho than Poland!) before heading out to Tychy to pick up a TLK back to Katowice. On the way to Tychy I remembered the piece of paper and opened it up to find a couple of sentences in Polish and an e-mail address – maybe the driver wasn’t angry with me after all, maybe he was asking for a copy of the fot?!? The TLK was already in the paltform at Tychy so I asked the guard if it was okay to travel to Katowice (assumed I’d need a res in theory) and he said okay so I boarded and found an empty compo. Five minutes later his assistant gripped and seemed upset that I didn’t have a reservation but in the end walked off without asking for any money.
The TLK put me back in Katowice in time to view a few lunchtime workings including a 186.126 which had appeared out of nowhere and another required ET22 which rather annoyingly had come off diagram, buggering up a nice afternoon move that I’d planned. I didn’t want to turn in down but I was struggling to work out a move until I realised that there was a rail replacement bus back from Chorzów Batory that would get me back for the required TRAXX on the Zwardoń service. After this I suffered my first EMU of the trip (and second grip) to get me back into position for the bonus 186.126 follwoed by another quick spin on an TLK but the weather was starting to turn nasty. Just after I arrived at Pszczyna, I heard a distant thunderclap and the temperature had droppedso I decided to head back to Katowice.
With a bit of time to spare I decided to risk a trip to Sosnowiec on the EC although when I checked I discovered that the EP09 was dud – good job I didn’t get gripped! A steam loco (Ty51-133) greeted me at Sosnowiec and I just had time to get round to it, fot it and get back to the platform before before my ride back to Katowice appeared with a brace of EP09’s, making up for the dud on the way out. Once again I wasn’t gripped (the crew probably weren’t expecting anyone to get on) so I baled at Katowice and took an EMU forward to Chorzów Batory to bring in another ET22 diagram.
The storms had finally caught up with me and while waiting for the SM42 portion shunt the heavens opened. I was glad that I’d fotted SM42-514 the previous evening as I’d have got drenched and when I baled I had all of thirty seconds to leg it across for my final move of the day. The plan was to do the final required TRAXX out to Katowice Załęże and walk to Bierhalle but the walk was put on hold for ten minutes until the thunderstorm passed. It was quite easy to find Bierhalle as it’s located in the large “SilesiaCityCenter” retail park that’s been built on the site of an old mine (which is no where near the city centre!). The hardest part was negotiating the main road as it’s a big dual carriageway that can only be crossed at certain points but the road from the station took me underneath which made life easy. The brewpub was pretty quiet so I was served almost straight away and as I’d been to the sister pub in Warszawa I knew the score and ordered a Weissbier and a meal. I rounded the night off with a second beer before hopping on a tram to take me back to the Jerzy Zietek Rondo (large roundabout), just down the road from the hotel.
A brace of loco’s hired in by Koleje Śląskie make a parallel approach to Katowice on Monday
morning with trainsKS90034 (Lotos Kolej 186.276) and KS44422 (PKP Cargo ET22-707).
PKPEU07-03009:47Katowice - Mysłowice10:01TLK8320420:05Świnoujście - Kraków Główny
PKPEP07-31209:47Katowice - Mysłowice10:01TLK8320420:05Świnoujście - Kraków Główny
PKPEU07-30610:14Mysłowice - Katowice10:29TL3610208:08Kraków Główny - Wrocław Główny
Railpool5 170 01910:48Katowice - Katowice Piotrowice11:004401310:48Katowice - Wisła Głębce
Railpool186.27411:19Katowice Piotrowice - Katowice Ligota11:229901808:42Zwardoń - Katowice
Railpool5 170 01511:41Katowice Ligota - Tychy11:519901911:31Katowice - Zwardoń
PKPEP07-37211:57Tychy - Katowice12:15TLK4510411:14Bielsko Biała Główna - Olsztyn Główny
PKPET22-56112:30Katowice - Chorzów Batory12:394444112:30Katowice - Tarnowskie Góry
KSBUS12:56Chorzów Batory - Katowice13:134071811:56Gliwice - Katowice
ATLD186.13113:31Katowice - Tychy13:519902313:31Katowice - Zwardoń
KSEMU14:03Tychy - Katowice14:24904613:53Tychy Lodowisko - Sosnowiec Główny
ATLD186.12614:31Katowice - Tychy14:519902514:31Katowice - Zwardoń
PKPEP07-106915:20Tychy - Pszczyna15:39TLK5410406:30Olsztyn Główny - Bielsko Biała Główna
Railpool5 170 01915:51Pszczyna - Katowice16:204401614:01Wisła Głębce - Katowice
PKPEP09-01916:40Katowice - Sosnowiec Główny16:50EC11111:29Praha Hl.n. - Warszawa Wschodnia
PKPEP09-00317:03Sosnowiec Główny - Katowice17:12EC10714:13Warszawa Wschodnia - Břeclav
PKPEP09-03317:03Sosnowiec Główny - Katowice17:12EC10714:13Warszawa Wschodnia - Břeclav
KSEMU17:47Katowice - Chorzów Batory17:564423717:47Katowice - Gliwice
PKPET22-66418:26Chorzów Batory - Katowice18:354463016:37Lubliniec - Katowice
PKPSM42-51419:40Portion shunt at Katowice19:44EIC440618:33Bielsko Biała Główna - Warszawa Wsch.
Railpool5 170 01719:45Katowice - Katowice Załęże19:484901719:45Katowice - Gliwice
Tuesday 21/05/2013
Today was the opposite of Saturday – a transit move from Katowice to Hereford. After breakfast I walked to the station for the final time and headed downstairs to catch the 07:30 airport bus. The forty five minute journey passed without incident and once at the airport I was through security almost straight away. Our plane landed on time and boarding was announced. Two gates were used (one for speedy boarding and one for the rest of the passenegers) although strangely everyone was then put on the same bus. What happened next was slightlywierd though. The disembarking passengers walked from the plane to the terminal and once finished we drew forward the length of the bus and then the doors opened for us to board, with me conveniently located by the door and opposite the steps of the palce – thank you very much! After my shortest bus journey ever I also discovered that some of the bookable seats on the plane hadn’t been reserved so I managed to avoid the Polish Créche this time by claiming an “extra legroom” window seat over the wing.
The plane touched down about twenty early and courtesyof the Iris scanner I made the 11:45 Stansted Express despite jobsworth on the platform making me fill in my free pass thirty seconds before the train was due to leave! Breakfast was wearing off so I decided to stop off at Liverpool Street for a bite to eat at the Hamilton Hall (Wetherspoons), washed down with a pint of Growler Brewery “Mary’s Ruby Mild”. After thatit was the normal journey across London, unexpectedly making the Swansea service which for once made the five minute connection at Newport and as June had just finished work she kindly picked me up from the station.
Actually taken late on the Monday night rather than on Tuesday (I didn’t take any photos on Tuesday!), I’d spent the night
enjoying a meal and couple of relaxed drinks in the Bierhalle brewpub, including this German style Weizen.
RyanairEI-EGD10:15Lotniczy Katowice Pryzowice - Stansted11:45FR826710:15Lotniczy Katowice Pryzowice - Stansted
BREMU11:45StanstedAirport - Liverpool Street12:3311:45StanstedAirport - Liverpool Street
BRHST13:45Paddington - Newport15:3113:45Paddington - Swansea
BRDMU15:36Newport - Hereford16:2515:21Cardiff Central - Holyhead
Summary
By the time you read this all the fun and games around Katowice should be coming to an end although it probably won’t be long before a similar farce occurs somewhere else when a new contract is signed – possibly Southern Bavaria in December….
A lot of money is being spent in Katowice although once out of the city thing are still the same and some of the railway permanent way is getting in a pretty bad state with plenty of speed restrictions. It had been a while sinceI’d spent any time in Poland and although things have changed a great deal since my first visits in the 1990’s, it’s still a country that holds a fair bit of interest, especially as the microbrewery scene is improving all the time.
My next trip is a double wammy, a weekend in Belgium including stewarding on the Mercia Charters railtour followed by three nights in Israel, a new country for me!
©Neil Aitken 23/05/2013
Hotel Gen
Ibooked myhotel through
Hotel Katowice
Korfantego 9
40-951 Katowice
Tel: +48322588281
Fax:
Web:
E-mail:
A large tower block and a bit of an eighties throwback but clean and convenient, located less than ten miutes walk from the main station. A single en suite room (which actually had two single beds) including breakfast cost PLN 330,60 (about £65.00). Reception was open 24/7 and free WiFi was available.