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- Story Listed as: True Life For Teens
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Life Experience
- Published: 01/30/2025
To My Dear Student: Long Journey Home
Born 1992, M, from Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland.jpeg)
My Dear Student,
This story happened on the 14th of ,January 2025. It was Tuesday. If you can remember, Natalie, we had regular English classes on that day. At the end of our lesson, you told me about your plans to obtain a driving licence and a new bike.
Usually, I end my classes on Tuesday at 3:25 p.m. However, on the 14th of January, there were obligatory conferences between homeroom teachers and all the parents. As a result, I had to sit until 5 p.m., unfortunately.
Only eight parents from my class came over to discuss irrelevant stuff. I finished talking with them at about 5:20 p.m. I had my bus home in an hour and a half, but I knew there was an earlier train, so I quickly jumped on the tram and rode to Bydgoszcz Railway Station.
The train from Bydgoszcz to Mogilno through Inowrocław was due to depart at 6:02 p.m. Needless to say, I bought a ticket and boarded the train just before it was about to leave.
How lucky! I thought to myself.
The journey to Inowrocław was to take about 50 minutes. There were maybe ten or fewer passengers on the train, apart from me. I sat in the front cart, so I had a good view of the driver’s cabin and the conductor’s seat. In addition, I have to mention that it was a PKP Regio train with new PESA carts similar to the new, blue trams.
***
So, the train made its way through the station called Trzciniec (I had never heard about this town) and the popular Brzoza Bydgoska. At this stage of the journey, everything was completely normal. The train conductor checked the tickets and I was minding my own business, listening to music on my phone.
However, things took a U-turn when the train arrived in Chmielniki Bydgoskie. The moment the train reached the station, everything went completely dark. The lights went off, the monitors stopped working, there was no heating, and the engine was dead silent.
When this happened, the train conductor immediately got up and disappeared in the driver’s cabin. The other passengers didn’t care about this, but I got worried. The train was standing motionlessly at the station in a snowy blizzard for a good 20 minutes, making all sorts of disturbing mechanical sounds. Finally, it did move very slowly, but still, the lights and the heating were not working.
At its snail's pace, the train journeyed through darkness. All I could see outside a window were flashes of electric discharge because the train was harnessing power thanks to external traction hung up above the machine. In this manner, the train reached the stations Nowa Wieś Wielka and Złotniki Kujawskie.
Unfortunately, just after it left Złotniki Kujawskie, it stopped again. 20 minutes passed, 30 minutes passed… The train didn’t move an inch.
Of course, other passengers didn’t care, so I got up, went over to the driver’s cabin and knocked on the door. The train conductor emerged from the cabin. I am not quite sure, but she might have been a couple of years older than me and she was wearing thick glasses.
“Yes, what is it?” she asked me.
“Excuse me, but could you explain what is going on? Is there a possibility that the train can ride again?” I asked as gently as possible, carefully selecting my words.
“Well, unfortunately, we are stuck,” the conductor declared. “You see, because of the snow, the train can’t get enough power to move. In consequence, all the trains between Bydgoszcz and Mogilno have stopped.”
“So there is no way we can move?”
“Uhm, trains can always be pushed by locomotives which run on petrol. But there are only three in the region and I cannot tell you when exactly there will be one to help us.”
“According to what you say, we are stuck here for good, just like that?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s exactly right.”
“Okay, I know we are not at the station, but I want to get off this train now. Is that possible?”
The conductor didn’t like this question at all. The formal smile disappeared from her face completely. She made a step forward and looked outside the window. We were at an automated crossing with a small lamp light luminating an abandoned road. A hundred meters away, across the dark field, I could see Biedronka supermarket in Złotniki Kujawskie. If only I could get off the damn train, I would go there and call my family to pick me up.
“If you want to dismount the train, you have to write a special paper in which you specify you will not charge PKP if something bad happens to you. I need to consult this with the dispatch center,” the conductor said.
***
Sitting in a dark train I wrote on a blank piece of paper as follows: “Me, Ollie Henning, born on the 20th of June, 1992 declare that I wish to get off the Bydgoszcz-Mogilno train number 58285. I know that I am leaving the train outside the station. I will not pursue legal action against PKP in the event of losing my health.”
When I finished, I showed the paper to the conductor. She read it, nodded her head and said she got permission from a male superior, but she is still waiting for a call from her female superior.
Suddenly, her phone rang. I could vividly hear the superior at the other end of the line:
“He wrote you a piece of paper? Hell no! If you let him out, we will go to jail!!!”
“I’m sorry, you can’t leave the train,” the conductor said to me.
“Uh, can I talk with this superior personally?” I asked extending my hand to get her phone.
“I’m afraid that is not possible,” the conductor hid her phone and disappeared in the driver’s cabin.
***
So, there I was, Natalie, trapped in a dark, cold train with no possibility of getting out. As I mentioned, it was a new PESA train, so I couldn’t even open a window and jump out. One hour passed, then the second hour, then the third hour. I was getting worried that I’m going to spend the whole night on that freaking train.
All of a sudden, the train moved slightly. It picked up some speed and after combating a few kilometres, it arrived in Jaksice.
I got out and so did a few other passengers. At the station, there was also an InterCity train that couldn’t move. All the people inside that train looked at me as if I was a cosmonaut who came back from the Moon.
Obviously, I called my family and they collected me from Jaksice in like five minutes. When I arrived home, it was 11:50 p.m. The train was supposed to reach Inowrocław at 6:50 p.m…
As a result, I didn’t come to school on Wednesday because I was too tired. Now you know the whole story. And why didn't you come on Thursday?
This story happened on the 14th of ,January 2025. It was Tuesday. If you can remember, Natalie, we had regular English classes on that day. At the end of our lesson, you told me about your plans to obtain a driving licence and a new bike.
Usually, I end my classes on Tuesday at 3:25 p.m. However, on the 14th of January, there were obligatory conferences between homeroom teachers and all the parents. As a result, I had to sit until 5 p.m., unfortunately.
Only eight parents from my class came over to discuss irrelevant stuff. I finished talking with them at about 5:20 p.m. I had my bus home in an hour and a half, but I knew there was an earlier train, so I quickly jumped on the tram and rode to Bydgoszcz Railway Station.
The train from Bydgoszcz to Mogilno through Inowrocław was due to depart at 6:02 p.m. Needless to say, I bought a ticket and boarded the train just before it was about to leave.
How lucky! I thought to myself.
The journey to Inowrocław was to take about 50 minutes. There were maybe ten or fewer passengers on the train, apart from me. I sat in the front cart, so I had a good view of the driver’s cabin and the conductor’s seat. In addition, I have to mention that it was a PKP Regio train with new PESA carts similar to the new, blue trams.
***
So, the train made its way through the station called Trzciniec (I had never heard about this town) and the popular Brzoza Bydgoska. At this stage of the journey, everything was completely normal. The train conductor checked the tickets and I was minding my own business, listening to music on my phone.
However, things took a U-turn when the train arrived in Chmielniki Bydgoskie. The moment the train reached the station, everything went completely dark. The lights went off, the monitors stopped working, there was no heating, and the engine was dead silent.
When this happened, the train conductor immediately got up and disappeared in the driver’s cabin. The other passengers didn’t care about this, but I got worried. The train was standing motionlessly at the station in a snowy blizzard for a good 20 minutes, making all sorts of disturbing mechanical sounds. Finally, it did move very slowly, but still, the lights and the heating were not working.
At its snail's pace, the train journeyed through darkness. All I could see outside a window were flashes of electric discharge because the train was harnessing power thanks to external traction hung up above the machine. In this manner, the train reached the stations Nowa Wieś Wielka and Złotniki Kujawskie.
Unfortunately, just after it left Złotniki Kujawskie, it stopped again. 20 minutes passed, 30 minutes passed… The train didn’t move an inch.
Of course, other passengers didn’t care, so I got up, went over to the driver’s cabin and knocked on the door. The train conductor emerged from the cabin. I am not quite sure, but she might have been a couple of years older than me and she was wearing thick glasses.
“Yes, what is it?” she asked me.
“Excuse me, but could you explain what is going on? Is there a possibility that the train can ride again?” I asked as gently as possible, carefully selecting my words.
“Well, unfortunately, we are stuck,” the conductor declared. “You see, because of the snow, the train can’t get enough power to move. In consequence, all the trains between Bydgoszcz and Mogilno have stopped.”
“So there is no way we can move?”
“Uhm, trains can always be pushed by locomotives which run on petrol. But there are only three in the region and I cannot tell you when exactly there will be one to help us.”
“According to what you say, we are stuck here for good, just like that?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s exactly right.”
“Okay, I know we are not at the station, but I want to get off this train now. Is that possible?”
The conductor didn’t like this question at all. The formal smile disappeared from her face completely. She made a step forward and looked outside the window. We were at an automated crossing with a small lamp light luminating an abandoned road. A hundred meters away, across the dark field, I could see Biedronka supermarket in Złotniki Kujawskie. If only I could get off the damn train, I would go there and call my family to pick me up.
“If you want to dismount the train, you have to write a special paper in which you specify you will not charge PKP if something bad happens to you. I need to consult this with the dispatch center,” the conductor said.
***
Sitting in a dark train I wrote on a blank piece of paper as follows: “Me, Ollie Henning, born on the 20th of June, 1992 declare that I wish to get off the Bydgoszcz-Mogilno train number 58285. I know that I am leaving the train outside the station. I will not pursue legal action against PKP in the event of losing my health.”
When I finished, I showed the paper to the conductor. She read it, nodded her head and said she got permission from a male superior, but she is still waiting for a call from her female superior.
Suddenly, her phone rang. I could vividly hear the superior at the other end of the line:
“He wrote you a piece of paper? Hell no! If you let him out, we will go to jail!!!”
“I’m sorry, you can’t leave the train,” the conductor said to me.
“Uh, can I talk with this superior personally?” I asked extending my hand to get her phone.
“I’m afraid that is not possible,” the conductor hid her phone and disappeared in the driver’s cabin.
***
So, there I was, Natalie, trapped in a dark, cold train with no possibility of getting out. As I mentioned, it was a new PESA train, so I couldn’t even open a window and jump out. One hour passed, then the second hour, then the third hour. I was getting worried that I’m going to spend the whole night on that freaking train.
All of a sudden, the train moved slightly. It picked up some speed and after combating a few kilometres, it arrived in Jaksice.
I got out and so did a few other passengers. At the station, there was also an InterCity train that couldn’t move. All the people inside that train looked at me as if I was a cosmonaut who came back from the Moon.
Obviously, I called my family and they collected me from Jaksice in like five minutes. When I arrived home, it was 11:50 p.m. The train was supposed to reach Inowrocław at 6:50 p.m…
As a result, I didn’t come to school on Wednesday because I was too tired. Now you know the whole story. And why didn't you come on Thursday?
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