Wenecja - RailwaY Museum

In 1972 a Museum of the Narrow-Gauge Railway was founded in Wenecja (Polish for: Venice), right next to the ruins of the "Devil's Castle" there, by a group of Pałuki Regiondevotees based in the town of Żnin. During the tourist season the Museum began running a special passenger rail link from Żnin to Gąsawa via Wenecja and Biskupin (>>). Racing through the picturesque fields and by the lakes at the breath-taking speed of up to 20 km per hour, its trains carry from ninety to one hundred thousand Polish and foreign tourists every year.

The railway station in Wenecja has a stylish, late 19th century waiting room. It is the train engines, however, that are the Museum's key attraction. Especially interesting is the oldest, an Orenstein-Koppel engine from 1899, as well as a tiny engine made by the Charles company of Belgium in 1935, one of ten such produced. There is also a complete train pulled by a Tx26-422 locomotive built in Poland's first Locomotive Factory in Chrzanów in 1926. The train's passenger carriage contains an exhibition of railway uniforms, railway lamps, objects used by station staff and ticket inspectors, and of the interiors of passenger and mail carriages. The cargo carriage displays railway tools and items related to narrow gauge train technology. There is also an interesting late nineteenth century carriage for the transport of mail and dogs.

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