“Gagarin” is the colloquial name for a heavy six-axle diesel locomotive manufactured in Ukraine from 1965 to 1988. The manufacturer's designation is M62; the locomotives operated by PKP are designated ST44. Many of the more than 1,200 locomotives purchased by Poland are still in service. Of course, these are no longer the same locomotives. The original two-stroke diesel engines (which consumed about 4.5 kg of oil per hour) have been replaced with modern four-stroke engines.
This photo from 2015 shows a train pulling away. The dark smoke clearly indicates a two-stroke engine; it wasn’t until 2019 that this locomotive was retrofitted with a four-stroke engine. Its designation was also changed to ST44-1275.
This locomotive is not designated ST44 but M62-005 because it was never operated under the Polish State Railways livery. Private carriers use the factory designation M62. It underwent what is known as “Polonization”—that is, adaptation to Polish requirements—in 2007. I have detailed descriptions for all the photos; I took the previous ones along the Siedlce-Łuków route, but I don’t remember exactly where I took them!!!
And here we have Olsztyn and the M62M-012, formerly ST44-1060. The information I was able to obtain about this locomotive may be incorrect, since only artificial intelligence provides any details, but it doesn’t cite any sources, so the information hasn’t been verified. In 2009, the Soviet 14D40 two-stroke engine, rated at 2,000 KM, was replaced with an American EMD 16-645E3B two-stroke engine rated at over 3,000 KM
Siedlce and M62y-375A. Another strange designation, which I’ll explain right away. M62 locomotives were also produced as two-unit sets—the 2M62. This one was manufactured as a two-unit set in 1992. In October 2010, it underwent a major overhaul in Daugavpils (DLRZ), and in November 2012, it was finally adapted for operation on the Polish rail network; the single 2M62U-0375 was split into two locomotives, the M62Y-375B and the 375A, which is captured in the photograph.
At this point, all signs indicate that she has left Poland. She was spotted in Hungary in 2023 and in Serbia in 2024.
I mainly used the information found in “Ilostan of Traction Vehicles.” Translated using DeepL
