Abandoned Trains [Kraków, Poland]

I’ll never forget the day when I decided to turn to an unknown road and check out where it leads. Following it I found the railway territory full of old abandoned trains, and the first thought that came to my mind was that it’s the famous Płaszów Locomotive Depot but later it appeared that it was another but not less impressive place.

This site is the territory of the Kraków Prokocim Goods Station and the Kraków Bieżanów Locomotive Depot. It’s over 2 kilometres long railways territory with plenty of previously mentioned not in use trains—the thing that makes this place so impressive. It’s already quite a long time as some of these machines there—seems that for them it’s already the last stop. The trains are mainly situated along the road crossing the territory but there’re also some hiding a few steps off it.

Apart from the rubbish inside the trains are in quite a good conditions, just missing passengers, ticket inspectors as well as the rest of the staff, and everything that is common for the trains in use and makes them ‘alive’. On the other hand all that was replaced with something more usual for abandoned places. Empty bottles inside as well the graffiti on the walls show that now these trains are used by a different type of passengers. Also, as it often happens with abandoned places, the nature overtakes the site is little by little and some of the trains are already surrounded by thick bushes.

It’s also worth to mention the atmosphere of the place. Decaying trains, railways, grey constructions and the emptiness around—all that makes this site look industrial and even a bit post-apocalyptic. This atmosphere is especially noticeable during the gloomy time of the year such as autumn, early spring or winter when there’s still just a litttle or no snow. Sometimes, when it’s getting dark, fog is covering the territory and crows are flying over it, the place becomes similar to a horror movie scenery, which definitely makes you speed up your steps.