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Witaszycye Clay Pits
Witaszyce
 
Gauge : 600mm gauge
Status : Ceased sometime after 2000
(click on photos to enlarge)

 
Witaszycye Clay Pits  

On the outskirts of Witaszyce, an industrial railway of 600mm was used to bring in clay and sand to a large brickworks situated alongside the standard gauge mainline. A facinating location, as at this time all the stock and locos from the 600mm PKP line were all still present next to the briclworks having just closed a year before.

 

Date: July 1992

Date: July 1992

Date: July 1992

In the works compound there was a sprawling network of tracks. One of the sidings led to a small brick built loco shed. Inside at this time were a further three of the small 4 coupled Poznan built diesel locos.

A further building was used as the repair depot at the back of the works. Here both locos and skips were maintained.

After one of the yard shunters had assembled a train of empty skips from the cable hauled incline, another similar type of locomotive waited to make a return trip to the clay pits.

 

Date: July 1992

Date: July 1992

Date: July 1992

This loco was the only loco in use for main line work, photographed about halfway to the pits.

Just before the location of the above photo, in 1992 a rail crossing was still in place where a second 600mm line crossed the claypit line. This was the abandoned Witaszyce to Zagorow PKP line. It had been out of use for just a year when this picture was taken and the whole line to Zagarow was still intact.

As the railway entered the pits, it divided up, with separate tracks leading to the sand and clay pits. The line descending to the clay pit was operated by a cable hauled incline. There was a run round loop at the bottom on the incline, and the loading area can be seen in the distance.

Date: July 1992

Date: July 1992

Date: July 1992

At the bottom of the incline a loco had just brought in a loaded train, and waits for the skips to be hauled up prior to their trip back to the brickworks. There were at least eight of these locos on the railway, although not all in working order.

Back at the works yard, the shunter was another of the Poznan built locos.

The railway entrance to the yard was protected by a pair of large gates, but trains moved in and out of the yard frequently when skips were moved around, and no-one seemed to pay any attention to people coming in and out.

Date: October 2000

Date: October 2000

Date: October 2000

Just further along from the above gates, the tracks crossed the main road continuing in a straight line to the pits. When returning to the site in October 2000, the tracks in the road were the only evidence left that a railway had existed here.

However, looking into the brickyard, it appeared that some rails were still in use and on investigation it was found that a loco was operating. Clay was being brought in by road and dumped in a stockpile behind the works but the railway was still used to transport it into the brickworks.

The skips were filled by excavator and the loco then moved these 100 meters, to a cable hauled incline which pulled them up into the brickworks. The railway finally closed down shortly after these pictures were taken.

 
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© Steve Thomason 2020
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