In the woodlands by the national park by Piotrek & Jarek Via Flickr: For quite some time I was interested in peat railways. They are abundant in many countries around Poland, but for some reason, almost all of the ones from my home country died out. There are a few remaining exceptions and the longest operating railroad as of now seems to be the one in Krakulice. The village of Krakulice is located in Northern Poland, just under 10km from the Baltic sea and on the very outskirts of the Słowiński National Park. The park is known for its wandering sand dunes and a large peatland, which is now in part being axploited for peat by the company Agaris Poland. The company uses a 600mm railroad for transport with a fleet of 4-6 locomotives, the oldest of which are the class WLs40 locos 12990 and 13000 from the year 1958. They ride on even older rails, from the steelworks Union (1900) and Krupp (1909). Today I haven't had much stuff to do and decided to pop by and finally have a visit on a "real" narrow gauge railroad. After some waiting time, the WLs40-13000 exited the peatland and I chased the train on foot throughout its 3,5km long journey. The border of the aformentioned national park lies just meters away to the right of the locomotive. Photo by Piotrek/Toprus
