Kreuz on the Ostbahn

"Where, what?"  As the name Ostbahn suggests, this was, and to some extent, still is, the main railway to the east built in the great age of railways in the second half of the 19th century by the state railways of Prussia which operated in the eastern Prussian provinces of Brandenburg, Pomerania, Posen, West Prussia and East Prussia, connecting of course to Berlin. The main route was the 740 km link from Berlin via Königsberg to Eydtkuhnen on the Russian frontier with East Prussia. With branches and  additional lines added later, the "Ostbahn" in March 1880 included a route network with a length of 2,210 kilometers (see map). The reason for the name Kreuz (cross) is fairly obvious from the map.  

As those who read this blog know, everything in Germany east of the Oder and Neisse rivers was made part of Poland or Russia by Stalin in 1945 and today Kreuz is called Krzyz, it has a population of 6,300.  A Polish website dedicated to the Ostbahn with some nice photos is here, and a German Website is here.