Pleszew is a town located about 90 km southeast of Poznań. The 3km narrow gauge line from Pleszew Miasto (town) station to Pleszew Wąsk (narrow gauge) station (adjacent to Pleszew main line station in the village of Kowalew), is the surviving fragment of the 750mm gauge Krotoszyn District Railway, which ran from Krotoszyn to Broniszewice, via Pleszew (50km). This line (formally named the Krotoszynska Kolej Dojazdowa) dates back to 1900.
The Pleszew Miasto - Broniszewice section only opened after the WWII and closed in 1972, while the Krotoszyn - Pleszew Wask section closed in about 1987. Following closure of the rest of the narrow gauge line, the Pleszew section was retained by Polish State Railways (PKP) to provide connections to mainline trains and ran as such until PKP abandoned the last of its narrow gauge lines in 2001. Trains used to always be two Romanian coaches hauled by a Lyd1 diesel, but one or more Romanian rail-cars were introduced in about 2000.
The line was closed until 17 September 2006 when SKPL took over and began running a regular narrow gauge passenger train service. This lasted until 7 December 2012 when, after a gradual decline in services, the last pair of regular trains was withdrawn. SKPL remained as operator of the line and ran occasional special trains. SKPL also run freight trains along the route on the standard gauge tracks of this dual gauge line. On 4 May 2015, regular passenger services resumed, running daily.
About the stamps
The stamps are part of the series Flowers and Fruits, about which I wrote here.
References
Pleszew Narrow Gauge Railway - Narrow Rail
Pleszew - cleeve.com
Sender: Miroslaw Zarnowski (direct swap)
Sent from Pleszew (Greater Poland / Poland), on 09.07.2017
Design and photos: Miroslaw Zarnowski
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