[rescue] Things I'd like to find good homes for...

[Maciej W. Rozycki]

On Thu, 3 Sep 2020, Liam Proven wrote:

> > ancient political antagonisms, perhaps...
> 
> Could be. The Austro-Hungarian empire that was remains quite
> well-interconnected, as it is with its German-speaking neighbours.
> Poland was never part of it, across the Ore and Jeseniky mountain
> ranges. Poles are vodka-drinkers: Czechs and Slovaks and Germans are
> beer-drinkers, and in the south and south of them, they are wine
> drinkers.

 None of that matters; in fact before WWI, which is when most of the 
railway development happened in the area in question, the parts of Poland 
Czechia now borders with were a part of either the Austro-Hungarian empire 
or Prussia, and were extremely well interconnected.

 Most of the railway connections going across the newly-established 
border, and there were dozens if you include those between Slovakia and 
Poland as well, were severed though right after WWII, with some actually 
being dismantled right away by the Soviet army (essentially robbed for 
steel and other metals, especially copper from electrified lines; tracks 
of many lines across current Poland were lifted by Soviets who considered 
them war booty, and never rebuilt).

 During Stalinism there was no room for general cross-border travel, even 
within the Soviet bloc, so especially local connections, even where tracks 
survived the war (like the Harrachov-Szklarska Poreba connection, recently 
restored) were left unused and were often gradually dismantled.  A couple 
of more important links remained, in particular where they were used for 
freight.

 And last but not least I don't think the stereotypical choice of drinking 
liquids actually affects railways, and Polish people usually like Czechs 
for various reasons, starting from their great sense of humour presented 
in many movies.

  Maciej