A significant change has been made to daily steam services from Wolsztyn depot in western Poland since my October 2023 visit, with the two weekday workings to and from Leszno replaced in December 2023 by a single afternoon round trip each day to the junction station of Zbaszynek on the Berlin-Warsaw main line.
Gone, for now at least, are services like the 06.03 steam-hauled school train to Leszno, whose two coaches would be rammed by the time it completed its 46km (29-mile) run, and in its place is a 28km (17½-mile) service departing Wolsztyn at 14.14 on Mondays to Fridays and returning two hours later at 16.16.
From Wolsztyn the 52-minute steam-hauled run to Zbaszynek takes you in a north-westerly direction through flat and unspectacular open countryside, pausing at five intermediate stations, most notable of which are the only remaining and signalled passing place (Stefanowo) and the one-time border station of Zbaszyn. Here the route from Leszno and Wolszyn joins the main line and means steam working along the 6kms (4-miles) of main line between there and Zbaszynek.
As steam loco Pt47-65 is not turned at either Wolsztyn or Zbaszynek, the best weekday shots are when it is running chimney-first on the return working from Zbaszynek (15.30), with a final railcar from the junction to Wolsztyn at 17.10 making it possible for those without a car to alight at an intermediate station and, after some hanging around, then return by train to Wolsztyn.
These steam services have no connection at Wolsztyn to or from Leszno on this 75km (47-mile) cross country route so are fairly modestly loaded with local passengers and tourists, but for visitors to Wolsztyn they offer decent connections at Zbaszynek with the regular Berlin-Warsaw expresses that all seem to stop at the junction station.
For anyone travelling from Berlin, Train EC59 departs Berlin Hauptbahnhof (strikes permitting) at 12.52 and reaches Zbaszynek at 15.00, in good time for the steam-hauled service to Wolsztyn at 15.30. Returning to the German capital after travelling on the steam service, there is a 16.02 departure from Zbaszynek (EC44) which reaches Berlin at 18.06.
Travelling from Warsaw there are also reasonably timed connections with the steam service, by leaving the Polish capital at 10.45 (EC46) to reach Zbaszynek at 13.59, just over an hour before the steam arrives at 15.06, and a return service to Warsaw at 15.56 (EC49), which reaches the Polish capital at 19.14.
In addition to the weekday Zbaszynek service, there remains a single Saturday round trip to Poznan, which now leaves Wolsztyn at 12.38 and reaches Poznan’s main station (Poznan Glowny) at 14.45, before returning (tender-first) at 16.00 and arriving back in Wolsztyn at 18.18.
Always keen to get semaphore signals in my shots, my first trip on the steam service (20 February 2024) was as far as Stefanowo, where after seeing the steam service depart there was almost an hour in which to find a good vantage point to capture the return steam working departing for Wolsztyn at 15.51.
Alas, though, there is something amiss with the southbound starter signals at Stefanowo, so on each of the three days I travelled through the station the signaller handed the driver of any Wolsztyn-bound train a piece of paper which must have authorised passing the starter signal at danger.
There has been a partial re-signalling at this remote spot, with all three signals to the north being lights, but there seems no evidence of any re-signalling to the south of Stefanowo, with the two arms of the northbound home signal working perfectly, despite the faulty southbound starters.
For another attempt at capturing steam action, the following day I travelled as far as the junction at Zbaszyn, where I took a walk to the level crossing east of the station, then followed a path running alongside the railway, with no fence or lineside vegetation to spoil the view, but slightly too close to the line to get anything apart from a head on view of the loco storming towards me.
Whether the current scaled-back level of steam service continues is something of a mystery. The limitation to steam operation at Wolsztyn is that the only working loco is Mikado (2-8-2) Pt47-65, but there are hopes for the eventual return to traffic of two other Wolsztyn locos (Ol49-59/69), which could allow for a more ambitious steam service.
As I wrote following my October 2023 visit, Wolsztyn is an easy place to reach from the UK, either travelling via Berlin or Warsaw and connecting with the steam service at Zbaszynek, as detailed above, or taking one of the regular Ryanair or Wizzair flights to Poznan from a number of UK airports.
From the airport there are regular buses (159) that will get you to the main rail station (Poznan Glowny) in about 20 minutes (PLN6.00/£1.15). Then Wolsztyn is an 80-minute, 50-mile trip on a smart Koleje Wielkopolskie (KW) railcar, for a fare of PLN25.60 (£5.10), or PLN19.20 (£3.70) for anyone aged 60 or over.
Wolsztyn remains a delightful place to visit, with its attractive old town and the Robert Koch museum, which I visited in October. There are two large lakes to walk around, a handful of fine restaurants, and a decent hotel (Kaukaska) that is less than ten minutes’ walk from the railway station and where bed and breakfast costs just PLN150 (£30.00) a night.
While the KW website (www.koleje-wielkopolskie.com.pl) is great for finding and printing off PDF line timetables (Rozklad Jazdy) it has no English version, so for buying print-at-home tickets for local journeys I recommend an excellent Polish site http://www.Koleo.pl which can be programmed in English and sells tickets for all the many Polish operators, including KW.
A single on the Wolsztyn-Zbaszynek steam service currently costs a mere PLN12.50 (£2.50) – or PLN9.37 (£1.85) for the over 60s – so at these bargain prices it is rather surprising and disappointing that this highly attractive town and surrounding area does not attract more tourists and rail enthusiasts.
For regular updates on steam activity at Wolsztyn, go to http://www.parowozy.com.pl
RailwayWorld.net 
You must be logged in to post a comment.