Kraków 2024-12-16

Polish passenger wagons. 1918-1939.

After the Republic of Poland regained its independence, three factories started producing passenger cars; Hipolit Cegielski Factory in Poznań, Lilpop, Rau, Loewestain Mechanical Factory in Warsaw, Zieleniewski United Machine, Boiler and Wagon Factories in Sanok. All factories produced very modern passenger cars, not only for PKP, but also for export. These cars enjoyed a good reputation abroad.

Car no. 05 701 Bhuxz, a Polish car, was built in 1939 at Lilpop, Rau and Loewenstein Factory in Warsaw. The car is a representative of a very modern series of A-VIII type steel cars. Electric welding was used in the construction of these cars. Cars of this type were characterized by a very comfortable and nice interior finish. The car has a corridor along one of the sides, two entrance vestibules and two toilets. The vestibules have entrance doors on each side of the sides and doors leading through the gangway to the next car in the train. The car has 8 compartments with 8 seats on soft sofas. Due to the narrowing of the body at both ends of the cars, these cars were called “narrowers”, and in slang “pikes”. These narrowings were used to improve the aerodynamics of the cars. The car body is supported on two bogies, which are two-axle.

The Bhuxz series cars were designed to service the most prestigious trains in the period before the Second World War and after the war until the 70s of the 20th century. These cars replaced cars of foreign origin, which were very worn out. These cars were necessary for servicing long-distance trains. The presented car was the last of this series delivered to PKP, before the Germans attacked Poland. T-T data of the Bhuxz series cars: Manufacturer: Lilpop, Rau and Loewenstein Plant in Warsaw. Length with buffers 22.02 m. Distance between torsion pins 14.60 m. Number of seats 64. Maximum speed 80 km/h. Steam heating. Electrical installation.

In 1928, the HCP Plant, which had been producing freight cars since 1922, began building 4-axle passenger cars with a metal body. In the period 1928-1939, the HCP Works built 200 third-class passenger cars for PKP; the Chxz series (70 units) and Chrz (130 units). In the period 1930-1938, additionally 35 tourist cars of the Churz series, 5 mail cars of the Gmx series (in 1928) and 34 trailer and control cars for electric multiple units for the Warsaw railway junction (in 1936). The HCP Works also made, on special order, 10 restaurant cars for Paris. The passenger and tourist cars had 80 seats in each compartment and 9 seats in each corridor. The empty weight of the passenger car was 45,000 kg, and the tourist car weighed 47,350 kg. The body length of both types of wagons was 20.72 m, the spacing between the bogie pins was 14.6 m, and the wheelbase in the bogies was 2.15 m.

Written by Karol Placha Hetman