You can go and drive them in Poland if you want. There’s a company called the Wolzstyn Experience that arranges for you to drive the local scheduled steam trains from Wolzstyn to Poznan (about 55 miles) as well as some commuter services in Wroclaw. I did it for a week a couple of years back. No experience required. No health & safety briefings, beyond “watch out for the trains”. Sound advice.
On the Poznan service you travel at up to about 55 – 60 mph - much more fun than most heritage lines where your speed is restricted to 25 or thereabouts. It’s easy enough to make the train go. Stopping, at the right spot in the stations, was the most challenging bit. Typically you enter the station at about 35 – 40 mph, and slow down fairly quickly. If you brake too fiercely, the wheels lock and skid and that’s very bad indeed. You get shouted at loudly in Polish. On the other hand if you don’t brake enough, you end up at the far end of the station (or worse) and all the passengers have to run the length of the platform to get on.
Unlike heritage lines where every locomotive is loving cared for and all the controls are in tip top condition, the Polish locomotives often have makeshift repairs with mysterious bits of wire holding things in place. Steam leaks out everywhere. Some of the controls are inclined to jam, and on more than one occasion I had to hit the reverser (effectively the gear controls) with a hammer to free it up. All part of the fun. I strongly recommend it.
