No, this is not a set-up for a "Pollack" joke.

Those of us with enough history or experience will know how steam locos in the 1950s and 1960s were "tarted up" to be given a "Wild West" appearance during the Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone/Bonanza/etc. days.

They're still doing it in Poland, apparently, inspired by "3:10 to Yuma":

www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=396718

There are apparently quite a few "Wild West" buffs in Europe, especially in Germany. Just as railfans go to England and the Isle of Man for vintage railroading, their idea of a dream vacation is to visit places like Tombstone, Arizona. One can consider this Polish tourist attraction a "tribute" to early days in western America.

That is a PKP (Polish National RR) Tkt-48 (2-8-2 tank, designed in 1948) and a fun engine to operate. Still a few operational, but no longer on the main line. Only in museums.

Pink and gold and a goofy cow-catcher, oh, oh, my eyes, my eyes. . .at least she wasn't scrapped. . .shades of Sergio Leone and others with those spaghetti westerns. . .

Yeah, but at least the locomotives in those westerns looked somewhat like they could have been used in the late 1800s; a Tkt-48, on the other hand, does not look even remotely like an American locomotive (except for some of the commuter locomotives NYC, New Haven, and a few other Northeastern roads had), much less one that could have run in the Old West. (And especially not with that God-awful paint job! Blech...) One can only hope that a museum/preservation group rescues the old gal and restores her to a more proper (and dignified!) appearance, if not to full operation; that would be a far better fate than being relegated to the railroad equivalent of a clown or sideshow freak. Oh, the horror of it all...