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Actually, if you read the linked article more closely, it points out that Polish authorities are sick and tired of naïve inquiries from Westerners who have been gulled into believing that such an incident ever took place.
The legend probably arose in part from a film called The Train, made in 1965. American railroad buffs like myself enjoyed in part because it did present a fairly realistic portrayal of rail operations in Europe -- unlike Von Ryan's Express, which was released about the same time, but had a number of technical inconsistencies.
There's no doubt that Nazi occupiers plundered a great deal of artwork from Occupied Europe -- but not by the trainload; it was stolen here and there in individual acts of depravity and carried away by various individual methods. And when works of art are moved by rail (common up until the Fifties, but not today), passenger (express or baggage) cars, rather than freight, would be chosen for reasons which ought to be obvious.
Finally, even if we were to assume that a large rail shipment of high value could be completely overlooked in the chaos in Eastern Europe during the last days of the war, rolling stock sitting idle on a siding or spur would have gained attention within a short time.
Art and art theft aren't an area in which I have a lot of exposure, but I'm given to understand that the works involved often find their way back into the public domain when the instigator dies or grows senescent, or that individual or relatives undergo an attack of conscience. Hopefully, someone else among the regulars here can offer something more.
The local authorities have confirmed there indeed is a hidden train within the Wałbrzych city limits. They know the location and have confirmed it's there, they know nothing of the content though it's speculated at this point it's a military train carrying weapons, not treasure. At the moment they have contacted central authorities and the military about it and "steps are being taken", which could mean anything really. There is a fear the train is booby-trapped, which isn't irrational, though I wonder how well can these mines and bombs work after all these years ?
Anyway, Poland's been full of various urban legends regarding what the Germans left behind after ww2, some had some truth in them, some not so much. Several years ago a road collapsed in the center of Szczecin, an old German city that really has a lot of tunnels beneath it, historians agreed it must be an entrance to a known but up till then hidden underground hospital, several stories deep... but before anyone with any sense for history could do anything about it, concrete was poured into the hole sealing it of....
So I guess what I'm saying: I really hope they don't mess it up somehow I'd love to see that train in a museum one day.
Yac.
It seems that it is a train carrying cannons, but it's possible the armored cars carry valuables as well. I think the ministry's proceeding with caution, and that's appropriate under the circumstances.
Critical thinking would suggest that the train ( if it exists ) would be in a sealed off tunnel. A train sitting on the surface, since the end of WW2, would have been so obvious as to be silly.
According to this article , they have scanned the ground and found the train. There was a eyewitness statement at the end of the article from a german solider that helped load the train said the train is loaded with explosives. I can only imagine the end of the war, this train is racing towards germany after poland was lost in the battle of warsaw and it somehow either stalls, gets shot by enemy aircraft and abandoned in the mountain before the red army approached.
This is very exciting. This train sounds like it exists.
The train is supposedly in a tunnel. Tunnels are the single most expensive form of heavy construction; so if one exists, it is highly unlikely that it was dug with private funds. And if it is a holdover from the Polish State Railway System (almost all railroads outside the United States and Canada are publicly built and owned), then a map should be on file somewhere.
There was a post related to this story at another site, which included an interior photo of a tunnel; but a closer look reveals that the tunnel is far to small to accommodate the full-size rail equipment used for intercity traffic; probably from an industrial site where narrow-gauge systems were common in the days before smaller and more-mobile materials-handling systems evolved.
The world (and especially, Europeans confined in a stagnant system with much less class-mobility) loves conspiracy theories, but they usually melt down once we look a little deeper.
I'm sure many of you heard about it already: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Riese Notice how close it is to the area this train is supposedly hidden, and it's not the only underground complex in the area they built.
The rumors about vast underground bunkers, factories, storehouses even railway lines left by the Germans have been circulating in Poland since the end of the war. I don't think anyone can deny the Germans had vast experience in this field, and they had a seemingly endless source of slave labor. They had the means and the will to dig.
Is there really a sealed off tunnel with a train ? I've been interested in these underground complexes for the last 20 or so years and this is the first time any authorities made a comment, and it's rather optimistic, so I hope there is.
Another thing that gets me excited here is that it's an armored train! Poland had over a 100 of them before the war and as far as I know, not one can be seen in museums, all were destroyed. There are single armored carts, but that's not really as exciting as a whole 100 meter train.
Unfortunately knowing how well the Polish authorities work.. I fear that assuming the train is really there, they will wait years before they actually trying to get it out and when they do, they'll collapse the tunnel.
The train is supposedly in a tunnel. Tunnels are the single most expensive form of heavy construction; so if one exists, it is highly unlikely that it was dug with private funds. And if it is a holdover from the Polish State Railway System (almost all railroads outside the United States and Canada are publicly built and owned), then a map should be on file somewhere.
There was a post related to this story at another site, which included an interior photo of a tunnel; but a closer look reveals that the tunnel is far to small to accommodate the full-size rail equipment used for intercity traffic; probably from an industrial site where narrow-gauge systems were common in the days before smaller and more-mobile materials-handling systems evolved.
The world (and especially, Europeans confined in a stagnant system with much less class-mobility) loves conspiracy theories, but they usually melt down once we look a little deeper.
The Nazis built thousands of underground facility's, it's pretty cheap to do when you use slave labor that you don't mind working to death.
Bill
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I'd love to see that train in a museum one day.
