In reply to helbent4 (msg # 219):

Hey man it's all 'Wyszystko jedno'('the same'...literally 'everything one') to me. We call it 'Białorus', which is Polish for 'a cheap place to buy cigarettes and women'. PKP is the state railroad. They get a large amount of EU cash for selling their proverbial souls like the rest of the EU countries now saddled with massive debt slavery.

As a result, you find fancy trains made in Austria that cost millions of dollars sharing the same tracks as Polish trains that cost dozens of dollars. :) Guess which ones use the coal? :)

J

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 220):

Javier Ukrainian trains have the courtesy of breaking down in Ukraine, so we don't see them here. It's easier for their repairmen to get to them, so they are designed in the factory to bust only a few km from their local train yard. :)

EU border extends to Poland's eastern border, so the only rail traffic we see is either the really fancy stuff or the really run down stuff. I always assumed the crappy stuff was ours, but maybe it's Ukrainian. I'll have to take some pictures and let you know.

J

In reply to Darek Sochacki (msg # 217):

:)  Well put.

Nice to meet you.

--Hawk

Jozef,

I think that is not a problem of design but rather one of maintenance. After the reunification in Germany, Deutsche Bahn was more than happy to incorparate several models produced in the Soviet Union in Lugansk, Ukraine from the 1970s onwards, and then imported into the GDR or East Germany. The Deutsche Bahn (DBAG) inherited them and continue to make use of them - mainly as heavy freight locomotives taking over many of the workings of the DB Class V 160 family due to their higher power. They were assigned to DB Cargo (now Railion) for freight services and can be seen all through Germany mainly used on heavy coal trains into the Netherlands. Not only freight, some Intercity services (such as the Berlin-Warsaw express) are still provided by DB Fernverkehr using boogie modified Ludmillas:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewblack/228486452/


PKP's current plans to develop high speed rail in Poland rivals in lunacy with the rest of Europe, the tender for a feasibility study was awarded to a consortium led by Spanish company Ingenieria IDOM. Spain has the second largest high speed fleet in the world (after China) and although it works wonders for big cities fast and expensive shuttle is leaving outside the scope smaller centres of population.

Those Polish made engines cheaper to operate that you mention are not only EP series designed and built in Poland but also ukrainian M62 derivatives. The first 4 locomotives, produced by the Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Factory, were delivered to Poland in September 1965. Deliveries continued until 1988, with 1,191 locomotives delivered in total (1,114 for PKP, 68 for LHS and 9 for industry). Probably won't break down as much as their Ukrainian counterparts due to better servicing as in the German example.

In 1997 ABB DaimlerBenz Transportation (ADtranz) acquired a majority share in Pafawaga (Polish locomotive manufacturer based in Wrocław. The Adtranz group (after 1999 named DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems) was bought by Bombardier Transportation in 2001. The Wroclaw plant was merger with another Bombardier owned plant based in Lodz to form Bombardier Transportation Polska Sp. z o.o. The plant manufacturers the bodyshells of Bombardier locomotives as well as other sub-components for the Bombardier Transportation group. So basically the future of Polish locomotive production is in Canadian hands!

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 224):

Jozef,

I think that is not a problem of design but rather one of maintenance.

>>>Javier I could NOT agree more. When you have a job no matter what, work is bare minimum and it shows.

So basically the future of Polish locomotive production is in Canadian hands!

>>>It's true! There are Bombardier stencils and placards all over the utility boxes at most crossings. Maybe something to do with electrics of the crossing and not the train itself? I don't know. You clearly are the 'train guy' so I will trust your experience/knowledge. :)

>>>It does bear mentioning that the local train bridge at Fronołów was NOT bombed by the Luftwaffe in '39. So...the bridge was made some time BEFORE then. With the push towards cars and away from the PKP by the banks it doesn't seem as if the train infastructure will get better any time soon.

J
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Tue 03 July 2012.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 220):

Javier:

Forgot to address the coal question. I would guess Sląsk in the south is where the coal comes from. It is sold at almost all hardware stores. Every time I make the 3km walk into town to buy groceries I always linger at the fence...just a few meters from the huge pile of tons of coal...and drool :)

Josef,

Bombardier currently operates in Wroclaw, Katovice, Lodz and Warsaw employing around 1,400 people in the construction, upgrade and maintenance of engines and rolling stock not only for local but also export market (50 complete locomotives were exported to Italy). Bombardier also provides the electrical and signal equipment associated as well as level crossings and computer based interlocking systems. Here is the main product of the family; the TRAXX locomotive:



The company also extends its reach to trams and metro cars. Bombardier's tram expertise comes from its takeover of German tram manufacturers over the last couple of decades. Some parts used in the modernization of the metro in London are made in Wroclaw, for instance. The presence in the streets of Polish cities is remarkable as the country boasts the second biggest tramway network of Europe!

Here is the tram in Krakow:


Other units operate in Gdansk, Lodz and Krakow.

Poland has one of the largest railways in Europe as a legacy of a Communist past that stressed the presence of this type of transportation after the end of WW2. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the incorporation of the country into the European Union structures demanded the interoperability and integration with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and safety levels (CENELEC). This demands modern technology and ISO compliance, etc and therefore the needs to partner the local industry with a solid international partner like Bombardier.

Out of this partnership, the Polish industry produces the body of the TRAXX series of locomotives not only for Poland but also America and other foreign clients as I mentioned as well as the street cars or trams that operate in the major cities. Part of the 50 million Euros that the European Union will finance the modernisation of the existing rolling stock fleet of Mazovian Railways in Central-Eastern Poland.

Interestingly, as a result of the Canadian partnership, Poland can share similar outlooks in regional trains too. This one from the Koleje Mazowiecki I believe...



...looks very similar to the very own "West Coast Express" that services here Vancouver with the city suburbs that we may encounter through the game:

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 227):

Javier:

My first instinct is that you work with trains, but no one loves what they do that much. So the question is, how long have trains been your passion?

J

In reply to Darek Sochacki (msg # 228):

Post #6000!!!! What do I win? Is it a new car? As long as it isn't a Kia :p

Josef,

my favouite toy as a child was a train, of course. It wasn't anything spectacular but it lasted me many years. I grew up in front of a train station and casually later on I moved to a place one block short of a railway military unit.

But trains are just one of my passions...

Ask the GM to claim your prize. Our Dear Leader is magnanimous and wise.

Javier,

Yeah, when we were in Kuala Lumpur the light rail tracks looked familiar, like the ones at home, but not the rolling stock. Bombardier built both but used a newer design for the cars!

Tony

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 230):

Javier:

Check this out:

http://fronolow.pl/news.php

It's the bridge at the local 'swimming hole'. The bridge's claim to fame was that it was bombed by the Luftwaffe but the bomb(s) didn't detonate, so the bridge is still there. They should have just let the locals maintain it, because I was on it today and it felt like it was about to collapse. :)

J

Wow! That's a great bridge and a great story too, thanks!

I found a nice link with more pictures. Check out the "rail bus":

http://buzyska.pl/okolice/fronolow_eng.phtml

As I suspected that's not too far from the historical city of Brest, made famous by the Brest Litvosk treaty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk

Good to have you on board, Jozef!
This message was last edited by the player at 06:02, Wed 04 July 2012.

“Seven Days to the River Rhine”

Seven Days to the River Rhine was a top secret limited war game exercise developed in 1979 by the Warsaw Pact. It depicted the Soviet bloc's vision of a seven-day atomic war between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces.





The plans predicted that NATO would launch a nuclear attack on the Vistula river valley in a first strike scenario, which would prevent Soviet bloc commanders from sending reinforcements to East Germany to prevent a NATO invasion of that country.

The plan expected as many as two million Polish civilians would die in such a war, which would essentially destroy the country. With options limited, a Soviet counter-strike against West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark would take place in an effort to slow an invasion.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 234):

I love that article you sent me, where that Polish General told off Jaruzelski in that planning session by saying Poland's position during any war was so futile that their best shot at national survival was to build a bunker with 10 women to every man, and they would just repopulate.

Tony

That was General Tadeusz Tuczapski, who served as Warsaw Pact deputy supreme commander and Polish deputy defense minister. He died during the trials against the Generals involved in the Martial Law 1981-1983 that cost a dozen lives and led to the internment of 10,000 people in prison camps.

As you pointed out, it might be worth it read it share it again:


[...]

Q: One of your colleagues, one of the generals, said that it was a game. How was it really?

Gen. Tuczapski: Absolutely a game. There was such an exercise – Carte Blanche in France. They divided France in half, and for three days they conducted nuclear attacks. After three days they came to the conclusion that there was no reason to conduct the war any further, because there was nothing to fight over. Everything was destroyed. But in our case – you know such an American plan, Wisła [Vistula]—which assumed an attack in the event of nuclear war on the eastern border, on the Vistula border and the Oder border. Hence, after getting to know this plan, because it came to us, we were, among other things, on the basis of this analysis, reconstructing fords on the Vistula, the fords on the Oder. We were building, and trans-shipment regions were prepared on the eastern border. It did not look like we
thought, that we would go and we would defeat the Danes and Belgians. And we prepared ourselves for the possibility of getting thrashed.

One time at a training briefing in the General Staff, I was angry and could not hold back since there was money there that was returned to the government. I stood up and told Jaruzelski, “General, more should be given to Civil Defense so that a good, solid bunker could be built, lock up in that bunker a hundred Polish men, some sort of real good fuckers and two hundred women so that we can rebuild the Polish nation. Give some money for that.” Of course, Jaruzelski was
insulted and said, “What are you talking about?”

We viewed things realistically. We knew what was happening, what was threatening. We realized what nuclear war meant for Poland. Well, we would not have existed after all. Neither the Americans, nor the Russians would have regretted it. We could have, I don’t know, prepared something. And really one good bunker should have been prepared so that we could have sometime rebuilt the Polish nation.

Q: You responded that in case of a threat the Russians would have had no qualms.
Gen. Tuczapski: But of course.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 236):

I think Jozek is ready to go, he had some computer problems that are getting sorted out.

Regarding space on the Cougar, in theory it can hold several dismounts in the rear but I recall it's very cramped. That space tends to get used for storing ammunition, so supplies would be no problem. You'll likely have at least one or two other soft-skins (UAZ, Humvee, probably?) along, as well.

I didn't make this very clear, but it's been about a week since the raid. In that time the Pattullo bridge was being repaired. The team has 2 relatively idle engineers (Taras and Wayne) who were idle, so they would very much have been involves. So we can say they have been making good use of themselves. The repairs they were part of were being completed today, and you are going to inspect them with an eye to safety for transit.

The larger and undamaged Port Mann bridge has been unavailable as the northern approaches were flooded by the river. Those waters have begun to recede but it will take a few days for it to clear enough for most vehicles to use the larger bridge.

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 237):

Tony:

Could Darek be involved in helping Taras with the bridge? I can see him in an advisory role, as he would feel the need to 'make sure' the bridge was sound enough for 'his' precious cougar. Besides it is a nice segway into whatever Taras has planned for the Cougar.

As far as gear goes, I think he would probably be like most 'armor' crewman of the time, putting personal gear outside the vehicle to allow for ammo and more important equipment inside. Is there space between the anti-RPG screens and the Cougar's outer skin? I would think that would be perfect as it would allow the outer gear to be lashed with cords, ropes, or whatever. Maybe some storage boxes later?

J

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 235):

That was a contingency plan? OOPS! :)

In reply to Darek Sochacki (msg # 238):

Gear can be secured outside on the deck or on the side hull. The turret probably even has a basket in back to store stuff. Hawke was talking about medical supplies, which would probably not take up too much space.

Your character is done, I have to transfer him. He has some basic Construction, which is also general engineering, enough to judge the worthiness of structures. He's a good tank gunner, pretty fair driver and support weapons gunner. (So, he could find himself packing a SAW or GPMG when not in the vehicle.)

The typical pattern would be for Darek to act as vehicle commander (VC), and gunner when necessary. Tremblay can act as vehicle gunner (VG), probably we can bring in Fox as primary vehicle driver (VD). (Fox is an NPC that's been doing other things but can be returned to the team. The usual LAV driver was Rachel Lee, but as she and Kelsey were lovers Lee had to be transferred off the team to avoid fraternisation.)

As for Poland's "contingency plan" for national survival, that has a lot to recommend it! The sealed "love bunker" of the Apocalypse!

Tony

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 240):

Tony:

I see the Bradleys and AAVs in Iraq in pictures and they have the soldiers gear strapped on them. I just assumed that it was the same for the crew of the Cougar. Maybe less, as they are operating closer to 'home'.

We've been doing the 'love bunker' thing for years. I didn't know it was a contingency. I just thought it was SOP. :)

J

The Pegaso BMR is a 6x6 wheeled armoured personnel carrier produced in Spain starting 1979:




In 1996 the fleet was modernised with new engines from Scania. The lighter engine allowed the implementation of extra armor. The experience in Yugoslavia dictated the need for that extra storage. An additional stowage cage was mounted on the right side of the hull roof with a larger stowage cage mounted on the hull roof at the rear, this extends over the rear of the hull:




The sorage of personal gear is compounded when the vehicle has a larger crew. The Marines very own Assault Amphibious Vehicle (formerly known as LVTP-70:



Due to its 3+25 configuration, the placement of backpacks, etc in the exterior of the vehicle was mandatory only to be turned to pieces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. Eight of them were disabled or destroyed when they faced RPG, mortar, tank and artillery fire.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 242):

I think hanging stuff off the vehicles is fine. You don't see that with Cougars that are Peacekeeping, but they're operating from a base of some kind.

Man... I don't think we have hardly any of our network of Cold War bunkers any more. Most were decommissioned in the 90's. The one closest to Ottawa (CFB Carp) is a museum, I imagine in the case of zombie pandemic they could recommission it quickly enough!

The Hells Angels (HAs) tried to buy one of the fallout bunkers on Vancouver Island that were being decommissioned, I shit you not. (Either the government one at CFB Esquimalt or the military one near CFB Comox.) The government ended up bulldozing it or burying it due to the outcry.

Tony

Bunker in Nanaimo:

(Nanaimo is located in Vancouver Island. "Diefenbunker" moniker denotes the historical time when they were built under Prime Minister Diefenbaker serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963):

http://www.nanaimoinformation....3bcf6c4926244d1f4452

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 242):

Javier:

I think the people that design AFVs and IFVs should have to live in one for a week. I think if they did, you would see a lot more 'creature comfort' changes in them, like storage racks and what not. I tell you what: I would rather have my undies singed by an RPG than my backside.

I would bet it is small, but anything in the way of me and a 58mm stream of hot molten steal is a good thing. In the event that my knickers do the trick, I would feel too dumb to accept a 'tough drawers' award, but would have no problem living the rest of my life knowing that my government issued crap died so that I might live.

AS it is now the Cougar has not name on it or artwork. I don't know if this is allowed or not, but I am guessing Darek is still used to the Communist model of 'uniformity, uniformity, uniformity'.

J