Poland - Last Stronghold of Steam in Europe - English • Great Railways

Very cool documentary. Recently I went on a train trip to Wolsztyn from Poznan. The only remaining steam operated route in Europe. Must admit that the train was busy. You can tell it is used mostly as a commuter service to Poznan. I hope that the state company will keep funding the depo. The infrastructure is underfunded. Many of the engines in the roundhouse require urgent repairs. There are many wreckages scattered around Wolsztyn station.

Man, this is my favorite series on youtube. The editing and footage quality of these films, even off of VHS, is unmatched. Coupled with the historical insight, they can't be outdone!

Keep Poland great and safe always.

There was additional reason why Poland used steam engines for so long. Dual purpose - civilian/military. The whole Warsaw Pact was preparing for attack on nato, and most of our polish industry and transportation had to be ready. Factories were ready to switch to military production(thats why we had shitty consumer goods and electronics, factories couldn't been modernised) and all trains were green, majority of cargo wagons were tank lorries with added walls, and locomotives were coal fired because Poland didn't have oil fields. We even had floating railway bridges stored near Odra River ready to be unfolded after nato would bomb normal bridges. And everywhere were No Photo signs. This military effort was the main reason for bankruptcy of communism in Eastern block. PS Thanks for this movie, we almost did't have private cameras before 1990. So except official propaganda we almost don't have any movies documenting our daily life.

More captivating than a Hollywood production . Very nostalgic watching all those footage from decades ago . One hopes those historic buildings and works are preserved .

Byczeń, Śrem, Złoty Stok- moje tereny 👌. Kłodzko Główne, tam często pracuję, ale już nie na parowozach, super film 💪

There's a lot of passionate Steam railway communities here in Poland, still working on keeping these locomotives operational - all with a use of volunteer work. It's a huge piece of history that's worth preserving. I just 2 days ago I listened to radio interview of a railway club helping with the rehabilitation of prisoners, by getting them to working on the revival of one of the XIX century steam locomotives, teaching the prisoners new skills, such as the use of CNC machines, and giving them quality time outside of the confines of the prison cell, where they can socialise with regular people in a safe environment.

My country, Poland is like The Island of Sodor. Preserving the steam locomotives and keeping them safe

Thank you for the documentary. I am watching this documentary in July 23, 2024 and 1990 is mentioned quite a bit. I hope that steam is still going at this time. Thank you again.

the quality is excellent, magnificent!!!

Thank you SO MUCH for uploading this! I was obsessed with the VHS I had of this as a kid, but lost it many years ago - brings back a lot of memories.

very narrative and beautifully captive long shots of steam trains from Poland's past 🙂 THANK YOU

Amazing quality! I can't wait for more videos from Poland if there are more.

Marvelous post, thank you, I've been visiting Poland for the last 16 years, there is a lot more today to see, narrow guage in Bytom is worth it, also Chabówka has a great collection of standard guage and running steam.

Many thanks for showing us these wonderful footages. For a periode of over ten years I had the luck of going on the footplate of steam locos in Wolsztyn. This was organized by the Wolsztyn Experience, but unfortunately the chairman of this company , Howard Jones died last year and footplating has coming to a sad end.

Poland never stop existing as a nation .

Very much appreciate this production , please keep it up as i'm eager for more

18:19 Ah, spoken too soon... Not even 5 years after this was recorded, many branchlines already were getting closed (including the one filmed in the next shot and others mentioned), and this would only accelerate and continue to the early 2000's... Our saying for that is "Siekiera Celińskiego" - Celiński's Axe, which is a direct reference to Beeching's Axe. To this day many of those lines are left either disused or taken apart, and even though progress is being made on restoring them, it's slow, in some instances, glacial, even.

Wow! Great to have found this after many years (I still have the VHS, but nothing to play it on!). Marvellous quality of footage and commentary. An elegy for a time gone by. The Środa to Zaniemyśl line is still very much there (now as a heritage railway), I know links from YouTube comments get removed, so if you google 'sredzka kolej powiatowa' you should find it. Return journey costs 40 PLN (around €10).

Great video, presents tecnical features and history.