Polish ‘Gagarin’ works tour
POLISH railtour operator Turkol offered a rare chance to see a PKP Cargo Class ST44 diesel loco on a passenger train in April. The tour included a round trip from Ełk to Orzysz in northeastern Poland hauled by No. ST44 1271. Nicknamed ‘Gagarins’ by Polish railwaymen after Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space – as they were made in the then Soviet Union – Polish state railways or PKP were one of the biggest users of the Soviet-made M62 design known in Poland as Class ST44. The design was based directly on the M62 design built initially for Hungary and then in huge numbers for Soviet Railways in single, double and even triple unit formats. The PKP ST44 fleet was delivered from Voroshilovgrad diesel locomotive works in what is now Luhansk in Ukraine between 1965 and 1988. In total, 1194 locos were delivered (68 of which were broad gauge for use on the 1520mm gauge LHS line from Silesia to Ukraine). After Poland replaced its communist government and started to adapt its economy, the fuel hungry Class ST44 locos rapidly lost favour and many were stored. Whilst the majority have been withdrawn, they remain in service with several freight operators, mostly rebuilt with new or alternative secondhand engines to improve fuel economy. The tour engine No. ST44 1271 was built as No. ST44 1108 in 1988 and is one of 76 standard gauge PKP Cargo examples rebuilt with Russian made Kolomna 12ChN26/26 engines since 2007. It was modernised with the new engine in early 2021 at the Pesa works in Bydgoszcz.