Two places · two sets of documentation

Last railway stations before the border

Nowe Skalmierzyce and Aleksandrów Kujawski are two separate buildings from two partitions, not a pair of stations on a single crossing. Choose a function: you will see where the description mentions it and where it remains undetermined.

V1 = the first version of this page in the Atlas, from which the descriptions come; it is not a primary source. Explanation

FUNCTION TO COMPARE · scroll sideways

Without JavaScript you see the overview state of both diagrams. The full comparison of functions is in the register of mentions.

TWO RECORDS

  • Nowe Skalmierzyce overview
  • Aleksandrów Kujawski overview

Choose a function. You will see which fields of the two diagrams are mentioned in V1 and which remain undetermined. The diagrams have different shapes because they describe different situations, not mirror images of one crossing.

PRUSSIAN SIDE · GREATER POLAND

Nowe Skalmierzyce

built 1905–1906 · Brandenburg Gothic Revival, designed by F. Blunck (per V2)

Prussian tracks · west

BUILDING · ISLAND STATION

Massing and gablestower, glazed brick (per V2)
Customs clearance hallbaggage inspection, duty
Class I–II waiting roomsseparate from III–IV
Class III–IV waiting roomsseparate from I–II
Facilities for rulersset apart, no visit date
Telegraph and postundetermined · not mentioned in V1
Later: workshops and warehousesdate of the change undetermined
Russian tracks · east
A diagram of relationships, not a plan. The side strips follow from the description of the island station (Prussian tracks to the west, Russian to the east). The arrangement of fields within the building does not reflect the layout of rooms. Dashed frame: undetermined.

Island station from 1905–1906: Prussian and Russian tracks beside a single building. Telegraph and post remain undetermined there, because V1 does not mention them.

Basis in V2: NID (zabytek.pl). To be verified, see the sources.

RUSSIAN SIDE · KUYAVIA

Aleksandrów Kujawski

building 1860–1862 · later extended, French Neo-Renaissance (per V2)

LINE: Warsaw–Bydgoszcz Railway · opened 1862

STATION BUILDING · MANY SERVICES IN ONE PLACE

Customs inspection hallin the original station
Waiting room, buffets, guest roomsmentioned in V1
Class division of the waiting roomsundetermined · not mentioned in V1
International telegraph and postmentioned in V1
Tsar’s rooms, south wing4 September 1879: Alexander II and Wilhelm I
Massing: French Neo-Renaissanceextension; year 1879 from V2, to be verified
After the border changes: a diminished roledates and course undetermined
A diagram of relationships, not a plan. The line strip does not indicate the direction or the position of the tracks relative to the building, because V1 does not describe this. The order of fields does not reflect the rooms. Dashed frame: undetermined.

Station on the Warsaw–Bydgoszcz Railway (1862), building from 1860–1862. The class division of the waiting rooms remains undetermined, because V1 does not describe it.

Basis in V2: Wirtualna Izba Historyczna and the town’s website. To be verified, see the sources.

Two separate chronologies

Dates from V2 on a single scale for 1850–1930. An undated event is given no place on the axis.

  • Construction. Aleksandrów Kujawski: 1860–1862. Nowe Skalmierzyce: 1905–1906.
  • 1879, Aleksandrów. On 4 September, the meeting of Tsar Alexander II with Emperor Wilhelm I in the “tsar’s rooms”. The year of the extension is also given as 1879 in V2, to be verified.
  • 1918. The year from which V2 speaks of both buildings losing their former role after the border changes following the First World War.
Off the axis, date undetermined. Adaptation of the interiors in Nowe Skalmierzyce for workshops and warehouses: the V2 text says only “later”, and one of its diagrams adds “after 1918” without any date. That is why this event is not placed on the axis.

From the dates alone: construction in Skalmierzyce began 45 years after construction began in Aleksandrów (1905 − 1860). These dates show that this was not a single project.

Register of mentions

The same content as in the diagrams, without clicking. “Undetermined” means: V1 does not say.

  1. Customs control

    difference: no

    Nowe SkalmierzyceLarge hall where baggage was inspected and duty assessed.

    Aleksandrów KujawskiCustoms inspection hall in the original station.

  2. Waiting rooms and classes

    difference: yes

    Nowe SkalmierzyceSeparate waiting rooms for classes I–II and III–IV.

    Aleksandrów KujawskiWaiting room, buffets, guest rooms. Class division: undetermined.

  3. Telegraph and post

    difference: yes

    Nowe SkalmierzyceUndetermined: not mentioned in V1.

    Aleksandrów KujawskiInternational telegraph and post office.

  4. Representation

    different level of detail

    Nowe SkalmierzyceTower, gables, set-apart facilities for rulers. No specific visit or date.

    Aleksandrów KujawskiFrench Neo-Renaissance, south wing, “tsar’s rooms”, 4 September 1879.

  5. Track layout

    different kinds of information

    Nowe SkalmierzyceIsland station: Prussian tracks from the west, Russian from the east.

    Aleksandrów KujawskiWarsaw–Bydgoszcz Railway, opened 1862. Position of the tracks relative to the building: undetermined.

  6. Fate of the buildings

    both undated

    Nowe SkalmierzyceLater workshops and warehouses. Date undetermined.

    Aleksandrów KujawskiThe importance of the border station declined. Course undetermined.

Explanation and limits

What the diagrams show, what is missing and what was changed relative to V2.

How to read the diagrams

“V1” is the first version of this page in the Atlas, on which V2 was based. A field in a diagram is a mention from that text, not a room from a plan. Skalmierzyce has two network strips on either side of the building, because that is how the island station was described. Aleksandrów has a single line above a stack of services, because that is how the railway station was described. The shapes differ on purpose: this is not a mirror image of one crossing.

Limits of the conclusions

  • The absence of a mention does not prove the absence of a function.
  • We do not transfer the procedures of one station to the other.
  • The page says nothing about present-day access to the interiors or about timetables.
  • To be verified in the sources: authorship by F. Blunck, styles, the year of the extension (1879), adaptation after the First World War.

What is missing

A dated plan of each station, photographs with confirmed rights, and identification of the rooms. V2 embedded a photograph of Nowe Skalmierzyce from Wikimedia Commons. V3 does not fetch images from the web; only a link in the sources remains.

Changes relative to V2

  • Removed the traveller profiles and steps 1–3: they suggested a clearance route that the material does not describe.
  • Removed clicking on diagram fields: it duplicated the list of functions.
  • Instead of sentences in quotation marks attributed to V1 there are paraphrases; V1 was not re-read here.
  • Kept: the choice of function, the differences filter (now “Differences only”), reset and the explicit “undetermined”.

Sources

Links carried over from V2. They were not opened in this session; their content and availability need to be checked.

Atlas catalogue Version V2 Version V1 Back to the comparison

The descriptions concern former functions. Present-day access to the interiors must be checked separately; this page is not a substitute for visitor information. The comparison is not a travel route between the stations.