Steam's Up at Elk

On May 17-18, 1996, the PKP celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first electrication in Poland with special events based out of the northeastern Poland town of Elk. The "Steam and Electric Days" focused, surprisingly, on steam locomotives, with special trips being run on some of the narrow and standard guage lines radiating from Elk. The following photos were taken that weekend.

	A Px48 and an Lxd-2 stand at the Elk narrow gauge station on the first morning of the festival. The two featured narrow-gauge steamers both sported fresh paint jobs. (May 17, 1996) (64K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The first train of the weekend was a special for invited guests pulled by a rare Class Kp4 0-8-0 (#3760). Here the train performs a run-by over the bridge at Sypitki. (May 17, 1996) (64K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The empty train continued to Romanowo, where the engine ran around the train for the return trip, after dropping the passengers by a lake for a short break. (May 17, 1996) (64K, posted August 22, 1996)
	A dance and cookout was featured upon return of the passengers to Sypitki. Here the PKP maintains a small holiday camp for its workers, featuring former maintenance cars turned into vacation cottages. (May 17, 1996) (64K, posted August 22, 1996)
	We took a regularly-scheduled train back to Elk. The "regular train" turned out to be this combination of Romanian coaches pulled by a class Lyd-1 mechanical diesel! (May 17, 1996) (72K, posted August 22, 1996)
	Back at Elk, we found two Wittfield battery powered cars working back and forth on a short stretch of track. Built by the German railways before the war, and serving in Poland after, these cars were recently rescued and restored to operating condition. (May 18, 1996) (64K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The interiors of the cars have been restored to their original, rather spartan, state. (May 18, 1996) (40K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The roundhouse at Elk saw regular steam operations until about 1990. Today it still houses at least one operable, and several dead steams. Here Ol49 #93 prepares to back onto the turntable. (May 18, 1996) (32K, posted August 22, 1996)
	On Saturday, a standard-gauge steam trip was run with the Ol49 from Elk to Stare Juchy and return. The passengers had a picnic at Stare Juchy, while the empty train continued to Wydminy to run around. Here it departs from Wydminy. (May 18, 1996) (56K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The special races by our small group of photographers during a run-by. There were six people in our small group (the only passengers on the train), and run-by's were made whereever we requested one! (May 18, 1996) (40K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The train paused at Stare Juchy for a while, and we left to get ice cream. (May 18, 1996) (40K, posted August 22, 1996)
	The signal system at Stare Juchy is a typical German-style installation. Here the conductor of the train is signing for some orders while the station master sits at his desk. (May 18, 1996) (48K, posted August 22, 1996)
	Continuing towards Elk, one further run-by was held, just south of Stare Juchy. (May 18, 1996) (56K, posted August 22, 1996)
	At the end of the trip, our Ol49 backed into the Elk Lokomotywownia for servicing for watering and coaling before being put away for the day. (May 18, 1996) (48K, posted August 22, 1996)