Abandoned Narrow gauge in Poland Pt1 - A look at the Smigiel Railway

Hello everyone,
This episode is part of a two parter taking a look at the abandoned part of the Smigiel in Poland, but before we can look at the bit that is no longer used, Lawrie thought it was be a good idea to show the part that is still operating, and that meant diving deep into the archive, to when he drove there. In 2010.
So enjoy a trip down memory lane, and finding out about this little railway.
A video featuring - (in both present day AND 2010)
Lawrie - Presenter, enjoying being back at Smigiel
James - Cameraman, probably unaware what he was getting himself into back in 2010.
An edit by Lawrie.
Footage of unloader wagons supplied by Bob Gibbens and used with permission.
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[@andersholt4653]

It's heartbreaking to see the result of the backbreaking work of yesteryear being torn up/left to rot away, all because of the lack of mere money. It makes me so sad. Thanks for sharing. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪.

[@northernblue1093]

Mere money? Why not donate if you have so much?

[@Lillstisse661]

​​@@northernblue1093 where did he say he has it in surplus?

[@ct92404]

It's amazing how universal the love of trains is. There are rail buffs all over the world.

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

In Poland the term is "mikol", short for "miłośnik kolei" - railway lover.

[@ct92404]

@@amadeosendiulo2137 Very interesting! Poland looks beautiful from the pictures and videos I've seen. I wish I could visit someday.

[@AtreiusLux]

Best of luck to them in preserving and restoring the line and rolling stock!

[@drewbarker8504]

Those volunteers are really doing a lion’s share to preserve what equipment and facilities they have, making use of what line they have. It’s sad but still nice to see some narrow gauge action in other countries have a fighting chance at preservation.

[@Kuracyjastartodnowa]

7:30 - the passenger part of the station being cut off from the line was caused by PKP taking massive fares for closing the crossing for the trains from/to Śmigiel. It was because both gauges shared the barriers operated from the signal box, so the Śmigiel council decided to shorten the rides to the siding in order to cut the costs. 8:44 - wouldn't call these two persons shocked, Śmigiel railway was the first narrow gauge line in Poland to be revived by local government just half a year after closure by PKP (that happened in 2001, so we're talking ~June 2002). also 0:34 around 3 of these "20 kilometers" are actually not abandoned AFAIK If you ever come to Poland again, visit Piotrków Trybunalski. the city and surrounding lands are a goldmine in terms of abandoned, dismantled or non-realized railway lines (we're talking one narrow gauge railway and one main railway line)

[@cortezzlive6716]

hejka! ciebie się tu nie spodziewałem😂

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

@@cortezzlive6716 Ja też nie, alez z drugiej strony to logiczne, przecież ma całą serię na ten temat na kanale.

[@Pan.maruda]

​@@cortezzlive6716 Ja też

[@jamesshuttleworth6967]

Great you had the video from 2010, wouldn't have thought then it would be such a start contrast to now

[@lmm]

I was just really excited to use it. Who'd have thought where it would have led

[@bentullett6068]

So interesting to watch this. A abandoned UK standard gauge line I would highlight that still has the majority of the track in place would be the one that runs to the northern part of Anglesey in Wales.

[@winterbliss4459]

would that be the one to Amlwch? i heard a while ago it may be reopening one day

[@bentullett6068]

@winterbliss4459 I think it is. What I know is that there is a group who are trying to reopen the line as a heritage railway but there seems to be disputes with the council over the plans. I watched a video on someone who had walked the lines route and there are still tracks left in place along the line.

[@crazyfvck]

I've said it many times before, but there is just something extra special about narrow gauge railways :) It's such a shame that a large portion of this one is unused/abandoned, but it makes me happy that people are maintaining the other section.

[@derekp2674]

Thanks Lawrie and team that was really fascinating to see. I do hope they manage to build a community to preserve and operate this railway. Next week I'm off to the Talyllyn to help their volunteer Outdoor Gang re-sleeper part of that line. I'll be staying in one of the lovely Hendy Farm cottages, which is very close to where we'll be working.

[@screwdriver5181]

In 2008 a group of us from the Foxfield Railway spent a week on this line changing sleepers. We saw the steam loco charging the underpass with the transporter wagons and I was resleepering on that very platform on my 65th birthday. There was some rail which looked like new when we uncovered it and it was stamped “Krupp 1896”.

[@lmm]

Oh yes, I knew a group of you went out to do some work on it! Must have been hell of an experience

[@gavinwhitelaw86]

@@lmmspent a week there driving steam and it is so sad to see it the way iy is all because of the local Mayors desire to build a supermarket on the site of the station (as I understood it).

[@mateusz_paulus]

Great video from Poland. It's a pity that only section of track is operable but I'm happy that you can still see and ride trains on that line. They will probably run a trains in march before Easter like last year.

[@Mr_wally]

I’m not going to be surprised if the next video is I took a steam engine home

[@HatchlingKifa]

As a native Polish speaker I am now forever calling this rail system a "Smeagol railway" 😂 In all seriousness though: thanks for covering it!

[@lmm]

Sorry for my pronunciation!

[@androidemulator6952]

There just something so intriguing about old rusty rail lines . :)

[@lmm]

Isn't there just!

[@egykisvasutas4770]

Very good video! I love Polish narrow gauge railways, so I was sad to see this amazing line abandoned

[@devarakondakondayyasastry3722]

Nice video - Nice memories😄😄

[@vanlampham2557]

1:21 Laurie in his natural habitat, in a bush on the bottom right

[@rottenroads1982]

I believe this is a good project for Railfans in Poland to start funding.

[@shaunontheinternet1452]

I'm sorry, Golem's railway?

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

The actual pronounciation would be closer to "shmee gyell", I think.

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

I love when you do a video about something railway related in my region

[@lmm]

More to come!

[@szymex2222]

I didn't know someone abroad recorded here :D. Cool video and i'm waiting for more from Poland :)!

[@lmm]

Part 2 coming soon!

[@szymex2222]

@@lmm Yay :D. From this same railway or other. Btw other can be Bieszczadzka Kolej Leśna because it is very nice mountain railway :).

[@trainmadpaul]

I went here with a group of others and helped relay some track in 2008. It was definitely an experience!

[@KarlthefirstofAustria]

Well, it surely is nice to see more railways from your own country on a foreign channel! I've never been to the Śmigiel Railway (at least yet) but by the videos, I see It's quite great despite all the bushes and trees and abandoned sections and what not, I should visit it one day. On a different note but also related to narrow gauge railways in Poland, if you ever had the chance I suggest you visit the narrow gauge railway in Żnin (ŻKW), It's really great but it only has normal services in Summer because of the tourist season but sometimes there also night servies all over the year, there are also services with steam engines which I also reccomend a lot.

[@zenontrainstrucks9433]

Great video! It is so sad how history is just trash and forgotten. But it is great that they are trying to restore it!

[@morganoflahertymachineryofirel]

Brilliant stuff. You should come to tralee co Kerry Ireland to look at some of the tralee dingle light railway. They restored 3 miles of track in the 90s it ran for about 10 y years before being abandoned again. Now it is just sitting there with the local council owners of it and no Internet in it

[@user-ig6dm7cq1g]

It is awesome ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@CrippleX89]

A railway at a town called Smigiel sounds rather... precious

[@lmm]

Hehehe

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

Yeah, I also thought about that especially as I'm Polish and I couldn't guess what the name could be xDDD I'd say it's closer too something like shmee gyell.

[@Pan.maruda]

6:45 this is the most popular locomotive in Poland

[@szymex2222]

Sm42 also.

[@michaelmiller641]

Fascinating, but, at the same time, saddening

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

You've just described the Polish railways in general.

[@bosz112]

Maybe it will cheer you up little bit to hear that Major's ex-deputy who's fault was that situation (dispute with SKPL and their withdrawal) is now serving prison time for corruption 😂 Unfortunately new major isn't any better for the railway, and few years ago she let the final stretch of the track to be disassembled and replaced with a cycle path.

[@lmm]

That is good to hear!

[@georgemiller7717]

You can see me driving!! 😂 god Lawrie, was it really that long ago?

[@SpencerShirey1998]

Cool.

[@humbucker0076]

Have you ever been to the Brohltal? They still operate commercial freight an narrow gauge and sometimes also still push around standard gauge wagons on dollies.

[@lmm]

I have not! But I'll have to

[@dzemu1770]

Can you make a video about Krośniewice ? Krośniewicka Kolej Wąskotorowa is abandoned by PKP but there are people trying to save it.

[@Kuracyjastartodnowa]

risky

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

@@Kuracyjastartodnowa Huh? Czemu?

[@Kuracyjastartodnowa]

@@amadeosendiulo2137 nie spodziewasz się łódzkiego pogotowia

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

@@Kuracyjastartodnowa Slogan kolejowy Łódzkiego; Jedna KW nam wystarczy.

[@nikodemherman1631]

Come to kolejka parkowa maltanka in Poznań you will love it (only in summer tho)

[@lmm]

I've been to Maltanka a few times, it's great!

[@courtneyhirsh2271]

Was there in june of '08.steam stil alive.drove a steam engine under the authority of the PKP

[@bernhardneu1092]

Schöne Aufnahme 👍🏻. Frage bei 6:09 was ist das für eine spurweite ? Und für was war es mal? Bernd Frankenland

[@fisherstudios6525]

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING!!

[@web_error]

smiegel :DDDD lotr reference

[@Jurda_cz]

I have a question how much milimeters is the wide of the tracks?

[@SeaKing61]

Is part 2 the Gollum railway?

[@RobertJackson-vc9rk]

You said there's no way to extract the rail but there is actually a way to extract it but it requires equipment, just dig it up

[@lmm]

There is no assess for equipment

[@AustNRail]

What is the Guage?

[@empe3332]

750mm. It was 1000mm up to 50s but changed to a more common 750. The narrow gauge railway in Poland is usually 600, 750 and 785mm.

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

@@empe3332 1000mm gauge railways are most common, or were, in West Pomerania. Even our 600mm gauge locos are massive lol

[@scitor]

It's funny to hear 100k because a hundret thousand zloty would have been the equivalent of ~20 euros :D thats how high inflation was in poland for most my life...

[@lmm]

Yes, it's not a huge amount of money

[@simek25]

​I go to Poland on the somer holidays and I love to be in Poland 🎉❤😊

[@szymex2222]

100zł is 20 euros 100k is 23000 euros so you were wrong.

[@scitor]

@@szymex2222 Oh, I was talking PLZ not PLN 😉 ..and yes there was no euro back then, replace with DEM as it was the same rate roughly 1/4

[@szymex2222]

@@scitor Oh ok lol :).

[@bk-video-pleszew]

Super ten 🎥📸 o tych🚆wąskotorowych

[@blockvfive1196]

thats so ridiculous, the polish government taxes a narrow gauge railroad, and thus, people can't go around town to BUY things? doesn't infrastructure alone benefit economies?

[@Kuracyjastartodnowa]

actually our law limits narrow-gauge railways to 30 kph. no matter if its 750mm or 1000mm (on the latter, MBxd2 could reach 60 kph), 30 kph or you're done

[@blockvfive1196]

@@Kuracyjastartodnowa that has even less logic, what were the lawmakers thinking?

[@Kuracyjastartodnowa]

@@blockvfive1196 dunno. Apparently if you want to ride faster, like between 30 and 40 kph, the total load moved by trains on the line in one year has to be more than 50 gigagrams. Ergo, 50,000 tonnes. For context, net mass of Lxd2 with two FAUR carriages is 70 tonnes, which theoretically means there should be at least two such trains daily throughout the whole year in order to drive at speeds between 30 and 40 kph. Vmax above 40 kph required total load per year above 100 gigagrams (4 trains like above per day). Of course, there's still the need to buy proper signalling and other stuff, Polish narrow gauge railways till the end in PKP structures (2001) relied on telephone orders. But yeah, the majority of society STILL THINKS the narrow gauge railways are old and unnecessary and should be only treated as tourist attraction.

[@blockvfive1196]

@@Kuracyjastartodnowa haha theyre speeding like some of the non limit signals in the NYC subway from what i can remember it had the similar math where, if theres x train cars why does it say we have more? funny stuff as for narrow gauge, thats too bad but bring them to Switzerland and they will see the usefulness

[@Kuracyjastartodnowa]

@@blockvfive1196 why, if the easier solution is to change the law?

[@user-nc5zw6rm9b]

Im from polish and when you say "dzień dobry " i at first don't recognize you / im not very good at english/

[@lmm]

I'm not very good Polish!

[@cptfrecell]

I refuse to believe 2010 was 14 years ago...

[@lmm]

I am trying not to think about it

[@AtlyswithaY-tv3iz]

That’s not narrow gauge. That’s Narrow Narrow Gauge

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

Nah, that's slightly-less-narrow gauge, most of our NG locos are fucking giant lol, yes even the 2ft gauge ones-

[@eggs_trains]

Second