Railway Bridge in Bytów

Six brick arches on granite piers span the Boruja valley as if the builders had set out to give Bytów its own Roman aqueduct. The railway bridge of about 1884 is over 73 metres long and 16 metres high, and for years people said that no train had ever crossed it. Today it is a restored footbridge and one of the town's favourite places for a walk.

History: the bridge that "missed" the line

The bridge was built in the late 19th century as part of a railway intended to run from Bytów towards Miastko. A long-repeated story claimed that tracks were never laid because the line supposedly "missed" the crossing. Documents from the national heritage documentation centre, found by officials when the town took over the bridge, tell a different story: it carried trains for about 30 years, to the old station on what is now ul. Stary Dworzec. When Bytów became a railway junction in the early 20th century and the line to Miastko was built in 1909, a new station went up and the tracks were moved onto an embankment about 150 metres to the south.

Later cars used the bridge, then only pedestrians. The town took over the neglected structure from the railway, began restoration in 2017 and reopened it on 30 April 2019, with new lighting. In 2021 the town received a distinction in the national "Well-Kept Monument" competition for the work.

What to see

• The arches – six red-brick spans resting on grey and pink granite piers that widen towards the base. The end arches are noticeably lower than the rest.
• The medallions – between the arches sit round red sandstone discs about 2 metres across, framed with oak leaves and topped with a crown. They show the arms of the German Empire, Prussia, Pomerania (a griffin), Bytów (twice) and a winged wheel, the symbol of the railway.
• The view from below – from under the bridge you can see the Boruja, only about 4 metres wide here, flowing beneath the highest, 16-metre arch.

Did you know?

A local legend explains the moved tracks differently: during construction, while shafts for the piers were being dug in soft, peaty ground, water and mud burst into one of them and swept away an Italian labourer. His workmates could not recover the body before the shaft was filled with stone and cement – and so, the story goes, no trains were ever to run over the bridge. What is certain is that the foundations go deep, as the piers had to stand on sandy subsoil beneath the peat. In the 1920s the bridge appeared on a 2-mark emergency banknote issued by Bytów.

Tripto tip

The bridge is in the south of town, on ul. Stary Dworzec, about a kilometre from the castle. The best view of the whole structure is from the valley floor by the river; the area around the bridge was landscaped as a recreation spot after restoration. Come back in the evening to see it lit up. Allow 30–45 minutes to cross the bridge and walk down to the Boruja.