We are in Poland, near the Russian border and on a canal linking the town with the Baltic Sea. The population is about 127,000 which sets it close to these UK communities.
Although direct comparisons are not always possible, a good guide is to say the Elblag is the same size as Exeter. Both have an extensive public transport network as here with the current Stagecoach map of the Devon County Town.
Most of Exeter lies on the east of the River Exe; likewise Elblag is predominantly on the east of the canal.
There is a full town network map for the Polish location ...
... but its diagrammatic style makes comparison difficult.
Which is why fbb will concentrate on the trams - nice and simple ...
Also, to understand the energy drain and pain for the brain, take a look at this map.
It shows the same network, but line 4 is coloured BLUE and not GREEN, whilst, you guessed it, line 5 is coloured GREEN and not BLUE!
But before we get too involved, a bit of history will help set the scene. There are numerous videos on-line, but one, at a modest four minutes, gives us the level of background which doesn't over clutter us with detail that non Polish speakers cannot fully understand. The video commentary is, thankfully, in English!
The most notable feature here is that Elblag kept its trams post WW2 whereas many similar sized smaller urban communities decided that the cost of a rebuilt after wartime destruction was too great - and the networks were abandoned.
So what tramway does a town the size of Exeter get for its money. We can extract five routes from the simple line diagram above (the upper version!) ; and for each we have a 'broad brush' frequency.
Line 1 - Mon to Fri every 20 to 40, Sat & Sun 45 to 60
Line 2 - Mon to Fri every 40, Sat & Sun 30 to 45
Line 3 - DAILY every 30
Line 4 - DAILY every 20
Now, at first glance, these do not look like a modern, slick, frequent public transport system - the best on offer is line 4's every 20 minutes. But that is where Elblag's system is a little bit different.
Look at a line diagram of the network and zoom in to the Ogolina terminus in the north east.
The routes then split ...
... offering an approx 15 minute service on each leg.
... offering an approx 15 minute service on each leg.
At their southern ends we have Saperow ...
... with a combined frequency of every 15 Monday to Friday. The third major destination, a terminus of the line which serves the railway station is at Druska ...
... which could be as frequent as every 10 minutes at peak.
The baby of the system is Line 5 which only runs on Monday to Friday and therefore enhances the service to Ogalina and Saperow. Most services are thus less frequent on Saturdays and Sundays.
You may have spotted that line 2 is the only tram to Marymonka ...
... in the North East, and it only gets a 40 minute service! Now that is NOT a typical urban tram!
fbb reckons that is enough for one day! It was quite an effort for the old man's elderly grey cells. But tomorrow we will.look at these routes in reality.
fbb reckons that is enough for one day! It was quite an effort for the old man's elderly grey cells. But tomorrow we will.look at these routes in reality.
There seems to be an awful lot of places called "Petla"!
There's a good dollop of single track to explore.
Another Arrival
It came from a private seller who wrapped in in felt and shoved it in a small box (above picture left). The small box was then wrapped in even more felt (lower centre) before being stuffed in a cardboard envelope (top). The whole lot was bound together by about five miles of parcel tape.
And what was buried with?
But hasn't fbb already got a green one?
An explanation will follow in due course; in the meantime fbb is impressed with the high level of protection provided for the posted parcel.
Thanks. he felt there was true customer care from the seller.
Next Elblag blog : Weds 8th October
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