Poland (1995)

Koscierzyna is situated southwest of Gdansk in the middle of the hilly area of Kashubian Switzerland. Under the consequences of two world wars Berent can look back on a quite eventful history: After the WW1 it fell to the new established Poland and changed from an contemplative locomotive station into an important depot because of its location on the new-built Polish railway-line from Upper Silesia to the Baltic Sea. During WW2 a sub-depot of Gdansk, Koscierzyna got back the status of an independent depot after the war, even if the complicated border questions of the intermediate wartime were gone and the planned development of the line over Koscierzyna did not come true.

Up to the end of the steam traction class Ty2/Ty42 dominated here, even partly survived the competition of class ST44 Diesel. The last steam trains operated in May 1991 on the lines to Gdansk, Bytow and Chojnice with mostly just one engine in service and a second as stand-by in the depot. With the end of steam the depot was changed into a museum, but lost most of its former charme - if you know the old Koscierzyna' depot you will have substantial orientation problems. So here are some pictures from "the good old time"…

Ty42-51 in front of the shed.		Ty2-76 under steam in front of the shed too.
Ty2-1098 with several over Ty2's at the depot.		Ty42-103 leaving Lipusz to Chojnice. (photo: Micheal Kremmer)
Ty42-39 in front of the coaling point.		Ty2-238 with several other engines of class Ty2 and Ty42...

Ty2-1098 & Ty42-130 waiting for next services.