Maczki 2024-12-06

Sosnowiec Maczki Railway Station.

Geographic coordinates: 50.262N 19.269E. Elevation 266 m (872.70 ft). Address: Sosnowiec Maczki Skwerowa Street.

Maczki is currently a small district of Sosnowiec (since 1975), surrounded by forests, which developed as a result of the construction of the Granica railway station. In 2014, the population of the district was 1,721. The district is located on the right bank of the Biała Przemsza River. The Maczki district is located in the eastern part of the city of Sosnowiec. No national or even provincial road runs through the district. Additionally, the current railway lines are used only for freight traffic. If you want to come to Maczki, you have to drive on rarely used county roads.

The first name of the settlement, Macki, comes from the Mack family who settled here in the 18th century. It is possible that the name comes from the name Maciek. After 1918, the previous name of the settlement ceased to apply. Temporarily, the residents use the name Uroczysko. Since 1925, the name Maczki has been in force.

Timber for construction was obtained in the surrounding forests, and charcoal, needed in the first steel mills, was also burned. Maczki are referred to as the “green lungs of Sosnowiec”. At the beginning of the 19th century, a forester’s lodge was built at what is now Spacerowa Street 4. Currently, the Maczki Forest District covers an area of ​​approximately 1,000 hectares and is subordinate to the Siewierz Forest District. Currently, the Maczki district is home to: Municipal Kindergarten No. 36, Primary School No. 37 named after Henryk Sienkiewicz and a branch of the Complex of General Education Schools No. 11 in Sosnowiec. The Roman Catholic parish church, under the patronage of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, was built at the end of the 19th century. The temple was built according to the design of engineer Arthur Goebel in 1892. The church was built on the initiative of the settlement’s inhabitants, despite initial tsarist prohibitions. The rectory was built in the period 1897-1900. The Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1857. In Stare Maczki there is a cemetery, established in 1907. In the park there is a monument to Tadeusz Kościuszko, which was initially placed in the square next to the church. At the train station there is a monument to the January Uprising.

The Biała Przemsza is a river that begins in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (precisely the Olkusz Upland, next to Wolbrom), at an altitude of 376 m above sea level, is 63.9 km long, flows through the Lesser Poland and Silesian Voivodeships. The Biała Przemsza and Czarna Przemsza join and form the Przemsza River. The river creates branches, meanders, marshes and ponds. The flows and water levels are very constant. The Biała Przemsza River is important because during the partition of the Republic of Poland it was a border river, between the Moscow and Austro-Hungarian partitions. It was nearby that was the Corner of the Three Emperors, a place where in the period 1846-1915, the borders of three European powers converged: Prussia (later Germania), Austria (later Austria-Hungary) and the Muscovites. The corner, or as the Poles called it, the outhouse, was formed by three rivers: Czarna Przemsza, Biała Przemsza and Przemsza.

Maczki, under the name Granica, was the largest railway station in the 19th century, in the partitioned Republic of Poland and even in the Muscovite empire. The district is intersected by railway tracks, some of which are being liquidated and new ones are being built, as needed. It is also the area where the sand railway operated. The former Maczki Bór Sand Mine was located nearby.

The Granica station was the last station on the Warsaw-Vienna Railway (since 1848), as well as a branch of the Ivangorod-Dąbrowa Railway (since 1887). The entire Granica station was located in the Moscow Partition, because that was the position of the Muscovites. It was the last station before entering the Austrian Partition, and further also towards the Germans, to the Mysłowice station. The first train arrived at the Granica station on April 1, 1848. The journey from Warsaw to the Granica station took 10 hours. The ceremonial opening of the Warsaw-Granica route took place on October 13, 1848, with the participation of the Russian governor. Already in 1849, the station served over 380,000 passengers. They were mainly manufacturers, traders, bankers, their families and soldiers (in uniform).

The station at Granica station was built on a grand scale, because as usual, the Muscovites had to have everything under their control. The railway station in Maczki was built in the neo-Renaissance style, according to the design of Teofil Schuller, a student of Henryk Marconi. Construction lasted from 1839 to 1848. The station building always had apartments ready to receive the Tsar’s family. On the first floor of the station building there were private rooms for the Tsar himself, his family and guests. The interiors of these chambers were equipped with rich furniture, marble fireplaces, and the walls were decorated with polychrome. The island-type station was built on the plan of an elongated rectangle and is composed of three parts: the outer ground-floor parts and the middle two-story part. Later, another northern wing was added. The ground-floor parts of the southern and central parts had rich architectural decoration of the walls and ceilings, among which profiled cornices, stuccos, pilasters and cast-iron columns stood out. The building was built of red brick and has a partial basement. Cast iron columns also supported the roofing of the platforms along the station, on the eastern and western sides. The building contained ticket and luggage offices, waiting rooms-restaurants (separate for each class), a post office, a telegraph office, service rooms, and a currency exchange office.

Remember that the Warsaw-Vienna Railway line was built as a standard gauge railway of 1435 mm. Although later the Muscovites ordered it to be reshaped to 1520 mm. However, during the Great World War, the Prussians reshaped the tracks to a standard gauge and this is still the case today.

The customs office was also under the complete control of the Muscovites. Remember that the Granica railway station was the largest railway station in the Moscow Empire for 50 years. The customs office, i.e. the building where customs duties were imposed and collected, in accordance with the agreements between the occupiers. The customs chamber was built in 1848. Since 1918, the building has changed its purpose, because there was no longer a state border here. In 2013, the building was demolished.

The railway bridge over the Biała Przemsza was closely connected to the railway station and was built in 1848. The Muscovites had full control over the bridge. Initially, the bridge had one track. Because there were frequent head-on collisions of trains on the bridge, due to misunderstandings, in the reborn Poland in 1926, devices were installed automatically to prevent train collisions.

The station building consisted of a locomotive shed, a wagon shed, warehouses, a gasworks, and in 1905, a power plant was built. Barracks were also built. Muscovite soldiers guarded not only the railway station, but primarily the railway bridge. They also played the role of customs officers.

The first water tower was built in 1847. At that time, firewood was also installed. The second water tower was built in 1880. The tower still stands today. It is a tower that is rectangular in its base, built of red brick. The upper level of the reservoir is boarded and covered with a gable wooden roof. Next to it is the pumping station building.

A complex of residential blocks for employees of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway was built at the end of the 19th century. A housing estate was built for railway workers, employees of the customs chamber, border guards, Moscow army and gendarmerie. Along with the development of the station, hotels, a post office, an elementary school, a club and a library were built.

When an additional direct connection between the Germanic and Muscovite partitions was built, the importance of the Granica station decreased somewhat. It was the Ząbkowice – Sosnowiec – Katowice railway line, which was launched on August 24, 1859. However, the development of the railway as a means of transporting goods and people was constantly growing. The Granica station was an important route to Vienna, Krakow and Lviv.

In 1863, the railway station in Maczki, as well as the Sosnowiec railway station (currently Sosnowiec Główny), were captured by Polish insurgents, which was an important event during the years of national captivity. Currently, a monument to the January Insurgents stands on Krakowska Street.

In September 1887, the broad-gauge line of the Ivanogródzko-Dąbrowska Railway reached the Granica station. Thanks to this connection, the entire Muscovite state had access to Western Europe, after reloading goods onto standard-gauge wagons. At that time, the Warsaw-Vienna Railway was to be converted to a wide gauge.

In 1918, the Granica station consisted of two groups of tracks. The first group on both sides of the station. The second group was located at a distance to the west, between the housing estate and the filter station. The tracks connected with the tracks of the Maczki Bór sand mine. Currently, only the station plain remains in this place, which is overgrown with self-sown trees.

After the Great World War, the Granica station lost its significance as a border point. All tracks were converted to standard gauge. The customs chamber became unnecessary. In 1925, the PKP decided to change the name to Maczki station.

The customs chamber building was reclassified and in 1919, a Real Gymnasium was opened there, i.e. the first secondary school in Maczki. In 1926, the school was renamed the Private Male Mechanical Gymnasium of the Society of the Craft and Industrial School, which operated until 1939. In the 1960s, a vocational school and technical school with a technical profile returned to the building of the former customs house. It was also a school for workers. The school operated until 1980.

In 1935, a major renovation of the train station and the station was completed. In 1949, the Railway Printing Works were located in the station building. Due to the change in the character of the station, renovations were carried out inside. New water, sewage and electrical installations were installed. A new telephone exchange was built. At the same time, the station was deprived of its internal tsarist decoration. In the 1960s, the Railway Printing Works were closed and their tasks were taken over by other state printing houses. A workers’ hotel was set up in the station building, as well as apartments for the families of railway employees.

In 1952, in the building of the former barracks, the PKP Vocational Training Centre began operating, which trained drivers, traffic controllers and conductors. The centre was closed around 1990. In 2013, the building was demolished.

Despite the passage of almost 180 years, the Maczki station has preserved 19th-century railway and residential architecture. The station was entered into the register of historical monuments twice. On 9 December 1967, under number 807/76 in the register of the Katowice province, and then on 10 November 2022, under number A/1075/22 in the register of the Silesian province.

To date, no development plan for the historic station has been implemented. Among other things, there was an idea to create a college for 250 students. In 2016-2017, renovation work began. The station was covered with a new roof. The roofs around the building were removed. Construction of a tunnel for residents and passengers began. Work has reached the stage of securing the station against weather conditions and vandals. OSB boards were inserted into the window and door openings. The tunnel entrances were bricked up. A footbridge over the tracks for residents was left, leading from one side of the station to the other. The descents to the platforms were blocked. In 2013-2014, the destroyed buildings on Krakowska Street were demolished: the customs house, barracks and railway services. It was in this area that construction of the tunnel began, which was not completed. The horse post office building has also not survived; Krakowska Street by building No. 10.

Sosnowiec Maczki Station is located between Krakowska and Skwerowa Streets. Currently (2024) there are five through tracks running through the station; three on the eastern side of the station and two on the western side of the station. The tracks at the station are tracks at single-edge platforms. All tracks are electrified, with renovated electric traction. On the eastern side of the station, at 14 Skwerowa Street, there is still a fan-shaped locomotive shed building with five stands. There has never been a turntable here.

Currently (2024) it is difficult to talk about platforms at the Sosnowiec Maczki station, because no passenger trains stop here, and even long-distance trains bypass this station. The last long-distance train stopped at the Sosnowiec Maczki station in 2005. It was the express train “Stoczniowiec” No. 43119 on the Gdynia-Kraków route. In 2007, there were only 3 pairs of regional trains on the Jaworzno Szczakowa – Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice route: morning, noon and evening. In 2008, passenger transport was completely suspended. In 2016, an unsuccessful attempt was made to reactivate passenger traffic by launching two “Orlik” trains (R 34220 and R 43221) on the Częstochowa – Kraków Płaszów route.

Railways running through Sosnowiec Maczki station; LK No. 133 Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice – Kraków Główny. LK No. 163 Sosnowiec Kazimierz – Sosnowiec Maczki. LK No. 665 Sosnowiec Maczki – Euroterminal Sławków. LK No. 666 Sosnowiec Maczki SMA – Jaworzno Szczakowa. LK No. 667 Sosnowiec Maczki – Długoszyn.

Written by Karol Placha Hetman