Freight trains in Poland

[Paulge666]

I am taking my first trip to Poland next month and want to photograph some freight trains. I am going to Gdansk first which might be busy. But I am there on a Saturday and wondered if there are many freight trains running on a Saturday? Also do you need to go to Pruszcz Gdansk to see them or do some come through the main station?
I am then going to Poznan and I see there are freight lines avoiding the station. Would Staroleka be the best & busiest station to see freight trains?

Thanks for any help anyone can give
Paul

 

[Bigchris]

Paul,
I can't answer your questions I'm afraid as I've asked something very similar recently for a potential visit to Poland. For Gdansk area I think anywhere from where the dock branch joins the mainline south of the city, so as you say, Pruszcz Gdansk, or anywhere down as far as Tczew should get more freight. I can't comment on freight numbers but reports I've seen on other forums suggest Saturday could be fairly comparable to weekedays. I'm not so sure that Poznan is so busy, but I'd also assumed Staroleka would be the best spot (the last report I saw for the main station was 2 freights in 3 hours).
I'd be very interested to hear how you get on as they're both on my hit list. I'm also looking at dropping by the loco depots at Gdynia, Tczew and Bydgoszcz, and obviously the depot and stored locos in the huge yard at Poznan.
Good luck

 

[Paulge666]

Paul,
I can't answer your questions I'm afraid as I've asked something very similar recently for a potential visit to Poland. For Gdansk area I think anywhere from where the dock branch joins the mainline south of the city, so as you say, Pruszcz Gdansk, or anywhere down as far as Tczew should get more freight. I can't comment on freight numbers but reports I've seen on other forums suggest Saturday could be fairly comparable to weekedays. I'm not so sure that Poznan is so busy, but I'd also assumed Staroleka would be the best spot (the last report I saw for the main station was 2 freights in 3 hours).
I'd be very interested to hear how you get on as they're both on my hit list. I'm also looking at dropping by the loco depots at Gdynia, Tczew and Bydgoszcz, and obviously the depot and stored locos in the huge yard at Poznan.
Good luck

Thanks for the info. I am going on 20th March so I will let you know

Paul

 

[Nick_C]

I don't remember seeing any freight going through Poznań Główny itself when I was there last year - I'd expect that most would take the avoiding line via the Franowo yard - you might be better off getting the tram to Franowo or the bus to Cinema City and going for a walk. For Gdańsk, You might be more in luck, as quite a lot of freight comes in through Gdynia, and that would have to go through Gdańsk Główny in order to head south. As Bigchris says, the main freight yards in Gdańsk are the other side of the river, so you'd need to go down to Pruszcz to see that (and I know freight goes through there, as there's a container train visible on Google Maps!)

If you're in Poznań on a Saturday, this is almost certainly the last season for the scheduled steam services to Wolsztyn - assuming the timetable is the same as last year, it's 10:23 and 17:06 off Poznań Główny, 06:28 and 14:02 off Wolsztyn. Note that Poznań station is a bit strange, with effectively two stations in one - platforms 1-3 are under the shopping centre and main ticket office, 4-6 are the other side of the old station building. Also, if you've not been to Poland before, they have two platform numbers - 'Peron' (platform) and 'Tor' (track), so an island platform will have two tracks - check the screens to see which side your train is going from!

 

[notlob.divad]

Paul, Freight trains to the port of Gdynia pass through Gdańsk Głowny station as do trains to Nowy Port. Trains to the port and works located East of the Motława turn off North of Pruszcz Gdański.

So depending on how long you are there for, you should see a few through Gdańsk Głowny, but you would certainly see more at Pruszcz.

Freight runs pretty much 24/7 here, so much is going in and out of the ports that there is barely an hour of the week where nothing goes through.