European Railroad Discussion > Poland: final workings of classic diesel class SU45

Yesterday my wife and I decided to drive from Berlin (Germany) to Gorzow in Poland (used to be German until 1945).  She wanted to do some shopping in the nice shopping center there and I wanted to do only one photo of the last regular working of the classic SU45 locos with the long distance train "Gorzowiak" together with my local friend form Gorzow, Pawel Winnicki. The trip proved to be a real adventure: while Pawel decided to do a dangerous climb to the top of a tree for a rare angle I wanted to do the view with the river in the background. But the field for this photo was totally overgrown by a highly toxic plant (inherited from the Russians and therefor nicknamed Stalin's revenge). You need very good out door clothing if you want to walk in this field and just recently a woman died because if this plant which causes many problems and is often in the Polish media with warnings.Well, both of us managed to get our shots:-) After a nice dinner all together the next challenge came: on of the most severe thunder storms I've ever seen forced us to drive for hours extremely slow and carefully back to Berlin. Quite an adventure for 1 desired photo ... So the summary of my Polish friend about rail photography in Poland was actually true: Railway photography in Poland is a dangerous hobby :-)
Christoph

---

Wow, what a view Christoph! Thank you for the story too, what ever we have to tolerate to get decent train pictures ;)

Looks like Poland still has numerous interesting looking old trains of all kinds, not just the modern box like vehicles. OK, I like some of the new Newag etc, designs too...

The old trains are getting very rare now in Poland as the EU finances so many new trains. And the new trains are of course better for the passengers. There are less than 10 daily passenger train hauled by a diesel locomotive nowadays in Poland.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/15 15:06 by Chris-from-Germany.

Just as an addition: the poisonous plant is called: Giant Hogweed

Thanks for sharing. Kind of sad that the diesel workings are so low for passenger trains already, had always wanted to make a trip to Poland for shooting trains. Guess I will have to settle for diesels on freight workings, someday if I manage trip to there from the U.S. Why the comment from your friend, is railfanning in Poland actually dangerous?

Well, he meant this with a twinkle as he almost fell off the high tree from where he took the photo while I was shooting the train from in between the toxic plants.  These are currently a real problem in some areas in Poland. Other than that Poland is a very enjoyable country with interesting railroads. The only difficulty in Poland for rail photography is is low density of trains and that freight trains do not run on any schedule (which is in many other European countries the case). 

Here you can find more information about this plant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_sosnowskyi

Christoph

Chris, are there to your knowledge any SU45 running anywhere in the neighboring countries? Or maybe any PKP ST45s left?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/15 01:56 by McKey.

This plant has unfortunately spread to Nordic countries and Baltic states too. It spreads fast and far and is very hard to kill with traditional means (cut+uproot+burn). Glyfosate however will kill it instantly, just touch the plant with it and it will die: http://www.monsanto.com/products/pages/quikpro-herbicide.aspx 
Interestingly, I found pages from monsanto importers specializing on how to get rid of giant hogweed so this must be a real problem.

Believe it or not, this harmful and toxic plant is said to have been planted for animal fodder during the Soviet days in Estonia... 

Something to think about of the subject: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408578/Walker-Keith-Copper-stepped-poisonous-giant-hogweed-Whitley-Bay.html

Chris-from-Germany Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just as an addition: the poisonous plant is
> called: Giant Hogweed

Hogweed is an amazing plant.  Grown as an ornamental in some areas (I saw over a  dozen of them in Glasgow back yards while on my UK trip last year), it is indeed highly toxic, especially if you break the stems and come into contact with the sap.  The resulting rash is photo-reactive, so the affected skin has to be kept out of sunlight in order to heal.

Maybe the Scots don't get enough sunshine to think it's a problem?

It's considered an invasive plant species here in NY, subject to immediate eradication when found.

And "giant" is not an exaggeration, the plant reaches 6-8 feet high routinely.

SU45 were only used in Poland. 191 were rebuilt from the original SP45 (P for passenger and U for Universal). The last one was rebuilt in 1998. Some SP45 were also built for the Lebanon but they are scrap in the meantime.

Thanks Cristoph! And now I know the so often encountered difference between P and U units when I add pictures to 4rail.net Polish gallery. I suppose M is for freight then? And what about T (like in ST44 / M62)?

http://www.4rail.net/reference_poland_main.php

Two examples: M and U



 

---

---

Thanks much for the additional information. Freight trains with no schedules are not an issue, just something to deal with. Since I live in the U.S., no schedule for freight operations is typical. On previous trips to Germany, I didn't even try to find out the schedules, just went to the tracks and waited, guess I'm just used to doing it that way over here....

Polish classification for modern locomotives of PKP:
First letter
E: Electric (in Polish called Elektryczny )
S: Diesel (in Polish called Spalinowe)

Second letter:

T: Freight (in Polish called Toworowy)
P: Passenger
M: switcher (in Polish called Manewr)
U: Universal (electric heating)

Private operators might use different classification systems. E.g. M62 is only used by private operators and just shows that the locomotive was built in the former Sowjet Union.

When taking freight train photos: good frequencies only on the electrified lines. On diesel lines you can wait sometimes for days until the next freight train runs. Almost like the short lines in the USA.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/15 05:29 by Chris-from-Germany.

Thank you for classification info Chris!