Koleje Małe i Duże 1-2/2021(37)

In comparison with the usual problems associated with the functioning of the technical heritage institution "Wolsztyn Steam Engine Depot", we would like to present a very different, American approach to the matter, showing how the historic Big Boy steam locomotive was brought back from the dead. We bring you up to date with the historical circumstances, the activities of the Union Pacific railway company and the factors which led to the construction of the legendary Big Boy steam locomotive. In particular, the process of bringing the UP 4014 steam locomotive to operational condition is being described, which is unheard of in the Polish mentality – taking a stuffed and mounted locomotive from a plinth back to the tracks, transporting it across half of the continent and carefully rebuilding all its parts.

Between 1901 and 1929, the Kolomna Machine Factory built around 500 small, 0-6-0 steam locomotives for the Russia's military field railways. These steam locomotives were also used in agriculture, factories and on large construction sites. In inter-war Poland, around 70 steam locomotives with the designation C9 were operated on the PKP. After the Second World War, the PKP operated 14 steam locomotives, which were assigned the designation Py1. The first part of this report describes the construction and production of these locomotives. The next part will describe the history of these locomotives and their service in Poland. Bogdan Pokropiński

106 Saxon XIV HT (BR 75⁵ DRG) steam locomotives were produced for the Saxon Railways. During WWI some of these locomotives were brought by the Germans to work near Łódź, Warszawa and Radom. After the war eleven of these locomotives stayed in newly formed Poland, where they remained in service through the interwar period. The four locomotives that remained after WWII were beyond economical repair and therefore were scrapped. Ryszard Stankiewicz

The railway line 251 was closed in the most absurd way. Even though it survived the two world wars it didn’t survive the capitalist reality of the 1990s on PKP. In 2000 a ruthless administrative decision suspended passenger train operation, depriving a large number of passengers of their preferred means of transportation. The disused railway line was falling into disrepair, after only 10 years there is hardly anything left that reminds about its’ existence. Rafał Bajko

Years 2019 and 2020 have brought an unusually large number of PKP rolling stock models. For years, the company PIKO has had the biggest share in this market, offering the richest offer of Polish-looking locomotives and wagons, including absolutely unique ones, produced only for us, because they were built in Poland and operated only on Polish railways. Presented are newly developed forms of locomotives and wagons, as well as a list of new PIKO and ROCO models sorted by catalogue numbers. I also present my evaluation of the absolute novelty by PIKO - the BR78 steam locomotive, which is to appear in a Polish version as OKo1. Andrzej Wilk