TV NEWS.PL's video: Steam train runs again to passengers delight in Polish mountains

An old-fashioned train began travelling along a scenic route in Poland's mountainous south on Saturday (April 14) to the delight of carriages of passengers. The train, a labour of love by railway enthusiasts, features a locomotive from the 1940s and carriages dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. Four-year-old Kamil is wide-eyed as he says aloud what he sees from the train's window through the forest - lamps, cars, green lights and a lake. For tourist Michal Szczesny from Krakow, the train "shows (us) the world that has passed away and which is part of our history and identity." The train's driver, Maciej Panasiewicz, who normally works in a railway museum in nearby Chabowka, underscores just how resource-intensive travelling by train used to be. He says the train burns through as much coal in one day of travelling as would be used to heat two average houses for a whole winter. Organising train travel by steam locomotive, even on an exceptional occasion, is difficult, says Hubert Maslanka from Association Beskidzka Rail. As well as needing tonnes of coal as fuel, steam trains also require huge amounts of water to fill their boilers. Much of the historic infrastructure that served steam trains has disappeared as they have been replaced by electric or diesel engines. TRAIN DRIVER, MACIEJ PANASIEWICZ, SAYING: "Today we will use almost as much coal as would be used to heat two houses for the whole winter. An average house uses 3, 4 tonnes over one winter season, we will use that much to run the train for in nine hours. This gives you the scale of how much coal is used." TRAIN PASSENGER, KAMIL, SAYING (IN RESPONSE TO WHAT HE LIKES SEEING FROM TRAIN WINDOW): "(I like to see) lamps, cars and green lights and a lake." TRAIN PASSENGER FROM KRAKOW, MICHAL SZCZESNY, SAYING: "It is very educational for us adults and for children, it shows the world that has gone but which is part of our history and our identity." MEMBER OF ASSOCIATION OF RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS IN NOWY SACZ, KAMIL FILIPOWSKI, SAYING: "The rolling stock is in full working condition, it has been meticulously restored. These are steam wagons, they are unique, individual pieces not only in Poland but throughout Europe and the world." COORDINATOR OF ASSOCIATION BESKIDZKA RAIL, HUBERT MASLANKA, SAYING: "On a route like the one from Chabowka to Zywiec, this steam locomotive uses about 20 cubic metres of water, so the biggest problem is that infrastructure that would provide this no longer exists."