Types of Trains in 1939
The following types of trains were run in Poland at that time: express, fast, and ordinary. The most interesting and impressive were the diesel express trains, or "Pociagi Motorowe-Ekspresowe - MtE" (some of them operated with the famous Luxtorpeda). The MtE units achieved speeds up to 110 km/h and connected Warsaw with the most important cities, as well as major tourist areas. The 179 km journey from Warszawa Wschodnia (Warsaw East) to Białystok Centralny was covered in 1 hour 56 minutes.
MtE trains ran from Warsaw to Łódź (a distance of 133 km in 1 hour 28 minutes), Kraków, Katowice (through either Częstochowa or Kielce), and Suwałki. They also operated on lines from Kraków to Katowice and the mountain resorts of Zakopane and Krynica. In southeastern Poland, MtE trains ran from Lwów to Zaleszczyki, Boryslaw, Tarnopol, and Kolomyja. In August 1939 a new MtE connected Warsaw with Poznań (due to the war the service lasted only few days).
Warsaw lacked an MtE connection with Lwów (the third largest city in 1939 Poland). This problem was solved by taking the morning express to Kraków where it split at Skarzysko, with one part becoming an express to Przeworsk. There passengers could also change to an international fast train travelling between Berlin and Bucharest.
Fast trains served long distance lines, but they were not quite as fast as the MtE trains. The most interesting fast trains in the summer 1939 were:
- Wilno - Lwów (a journey of 720 km.) It crossed practically the whole Polish Eastern Borderlands, stopping at Lida, Baranowicze, Luniniec, Rowne, and Zdolbunow.
- Lwów - Kraków - Katowice - Poznań - Bydgoszcz - Gdynia - Hel (a journey of almost 1000 km). It traveled non-stop through the territory of the Free City of Danzig.
The last train category in Poland were ordinary trains. They usually served short distance lines, but in some cases covered impressive distances, especially in the Polish Eastern Borderlands.
Read more about this topic: Polish State Railroads In Summer 1939
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