burgundy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 A friend with no interest in railways mentioned that, somewhere south of Krakow, there is a site with a considerable amount of railway equipment stored. From his description, it sounded as though it could be - one of the less successful preservation sites - the Polish version of Woodhams scrap yard or - a genuine store of surplus equipment. Does this ring any bells with anyone please? I am visiting Krakow shortly and it would be a shame to drive past something of interest and never know that it was there. Best wishes Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Here's a possible... http://www.tripadvis...way.Museum.html http://www.parowozy.pl/steamtrains/ http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=skansen+railway+museum&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=Hee7T9XnJo6z8QOahfCoCg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CEIQ_AUoAQ&biw=1555&bih=890 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted May 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 22, 2012 hi Gordon and Eric, Thanks for the details of this - I too am off to Krakow in the summer and this looks like an interesting place to seek out, though the Trip Advisor travel 'advice' makes getting there sound somewhat challenging! cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I'm a bit out of touch with Poland these days, having last visited this part in 2002. It could be Chabowka, where there is a well-established open-air museum ("Skansen") based around the old depot - south of the station, on opposite side of high-level road bridge - most of the exhibits are in restored condition, however. The collection would be more noticeable to a non-enthusiast travelling by train than by road. There are few other possible sites between the towns, because the road from Krakow to Zakopane goes farly direct, while the railway meanders via Sucha Beskidka (where there is a preserved loco, BTW). I wasn't aware of any locomotives at a Skansen in Krakow, so would be interested to learn of anything actually there (I wouldn't rule out the possibility with closure of some of the other museums and preservation sites). However, I would add Krakow-Plasow and Krakow-Prokociem depots to the list of "possibles". Both are more or less visible from passing roads and rail, and both have had lots of stock (including electric locos at the latter) stored or dumped in the vicinity. (Krakow-Plasow used to have some steam locos, but I believe all have now been removed to other sites). There are a couple of EP02/EP05 electrics preserved outside the offices at Krakow-Prokociem, and Chabowka's EP03-01 is usually based there - negotiate with the staff/security for access (I find showing a photo helps). You may even find some EU06 survivors there too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 If you're travelling to Chabowka, it's pronounced 'Habuvka' in Polish. It might give you some street-cred with the locals! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted May 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 22, 2012 hi Gordon and Eric, Thanks for the details of this - I too am off to Krakow in the summer and this looks like an interesting place to seek out, though the Trip Advisor travel 'advice' makes getting there sound somewhat challenging! cheers, Keith No doubt much 'safer' than it used to be for photography. I was in a group of four arrested while linesiding on the Nowy Sacz - Chabowka line back in 1976 - remarkably the young lady who was with me, and who I'd suggested 'might like to go to Poland for the weekend', subsequently married me - but she never told her mother about that little episode. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguin of doom Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Certain it will be Chabowka. I was there two years ago and hope to go back again. The day I went, there was an open day on. We rode in the cab of a steamer with about ten others. H + S look away now! Very enjoyable. Cheers. Sean. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgundy Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 Thanks to all for the very helpful responses. Judging from the photos, the description given by my friend was somewhat uncharitable. I will see whether I can persuade the other people with whom I am travelling that they really need to take a short break at an "ethnographic museum" . Best wishes Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgundy Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Following up on the advice above, we paid a brief visit to Chabowka earlier this week. It is roughly half way between Krakow and Zakopane and the main road crosses the site on a viaduct so you do not need to make any diversion to find it, beyond following the signposts down to the level of the rail lines. On the day on which we visited, we had the most miserable weather, as is evident in the photos below. The entire population of the site appeared to be one man and a dog so we squelched around on our own and then went on our way. The exhibits run through the complete spectrum. We peered into the workshop, which was pretty gloomy, and there appeared to be at least four locos receiving attention, suggesting that they are runners. Quite a lot of those outside are on short lengths of detached track, suggesting that they are not going anywhere soon and a couple of items behind the shed appeared to be completely derelict or, in one case, burnt out. The collection is a large one, with items going back to before the creation of a Polish Railway system, so the early items are of German or Austrian origin (I don't think I recognised anything Russian). There also seem to be a number of Germanic 2-10-0s as well as original Polish designs. From appearances, I guess that the museum is severely resource limited in what it can maintain/conserve. If anyone is in the area - or passing through - it is well worth a visit, although you may wish to pick rather better weather than we did, which might make it a somewhat more uplifting experience! Below are a selection of photos - I regret that I have not yet made any attempt to identify the subjects, so they are uncaptioned. Thanks again for the advice above. Best wishes Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 A wet day does little to enhance the run-down appearance of the exhibits, but "one man and his dog" suggests you found the museum on a busy day (ok, chances are that there were other staff in the workshop). As to the origin of the exhibits, there are a couple of German and Austrian designs that pre-date the recreation of Poland after WWI (though the nascent PKP inherited a number of types from Russia, few survived long in service); this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKP_classification_system gives a useful introduction to the classification system for PKP standard gauge locomotives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Chabowka loco depot - before it became a railway museum. Pictures taken in 1976 after electrification of Zakopane line (and withdrawal of the OKz32 class), but when Chabowka still retained an allocation of TKt48 for passenger trains to Nowy Sacz, and large numbers of Ty2 for freight services to Nowy Sacz and passenger workings between Nowy Targ and Podczerwone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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