From 13^th to 15^th March we participated in the 21^st fairs – Touristic Sites “Where Cultures Meet”. This time we were invited by the City Council of Skierniewice to join their representatives on a common stand. The invitation was not accidental. The promotion of the Town upon Łupia river took into account the 170^th anniversary of the arrival of the first Warsaw-Vienna Railroad’s train to Skierniewice. What is worth noting, this first train was a sightseeing trip for Railroad officials.

We were happy to have Mr. Witold Stępień – the Marshall of Łódź Voivodeship, Mrs. Jolanta Chełmińska – the Voivode of Łódź Voivodeship and Senator Ryszard Bonisławski – the outstanding expert on Łódź cultural heritage as our guests. It was a good opportunity to present our latest achievements and talk about Association’s plans for the nearest future.

Of course, we were also visited by countless guests of the fairs, whom we encouraged to visit our engine shed during the upcoming Open Days. The youngest visitors were really intrigued with the railway exhibits on our stand.

The last, but the most interesting point of our participation in the fairs was the improvised by the organizers railway uniform fashion show. Our colleagues dressed in historical uniforms from 1960-1970 period took part in it together with our friends form Rogów-Rawa-Biała Narrow Gauge Railway. The contemporary uniforms, derived from the old ones we’ve shown, were presented by the employees of Przewozy Regionalne. It is only a pity, that the representatives of the youngest railway operator in Łódź Voivodship – Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna – could not take part in this event.

Those, who could not participate in the fairs, can watch a short video from this event:

We would like to thank to all the guests, who visited during those three days the stand of PARE and Skierniewice’s City Council. We would like to express our gratitude to the Skierniewice’s authorities for their invitation to participate together in the fairs. We do hope that we’ve managed to encourage our guests to visit the town upon Łupia river and to drop in the Shed at Łwoicka Street 1. See you on the next fairs next year.

To all those eager to visit the Shed, we remind that Open Days start on 2^nd May.

Under such motto the city council will encourage the citizens of the town upon Łupia river to donate their 1% of income tax to the public organizations based in Skierniewice. On this occasion a special event in which all of Skierniewice’s organizations will take part is planned on 7^th March, from 11AM to 2PM on the Market Square. Of course, we will be there too. After all, the major part of the PARE’s activities take place in this city. We will be represented by our colleagues dressed in historical railway uniforms. They will not only encourage the event participants to support our association but also to visit the Engine Shed.

On the occasion of the International Tour Guide Day, which took place on 21^st February, 25 different walks around Warsaw’s historical places were organized by the Council of City Guides PTTK, Varsaviana foundation, KORT TPW branch and Guides Warsaw association. One of the tours was devoted to the Warsaw-Vienna Railroad.

Marek Moczulski, graduate of former Railway School in Warsaw, lighted candles under the memorial stone.

Participants of the tour met at Jerozolimskie Avenue by the Warszawa Śródmieście station. In this place, 170 years ago a terminal station of the railway (Dworzec Wiedeński) was build. First train to Grodzisk departed from here on 14^th June 1845. Another point of the walk was the St. Barbara chapel and the church of St. Peter and Paul by Nowogrodzka Street 51. In 1865, the chapel was renewed by the Railroad employees and became their parish church. Participants of the walk visited the place, where in 1873, the board of Warsaw-Vienna railroad created the training workshop – the ancestor of now defunct Railroad School in Warsaw. The workshop was located till 1953 by Chmielewska Street 88. A memorial stone sponsored by the graduates of the school in 1998 marks the original location of the facility.

A former workshops of the Railroad were also visited. Their erection began in 1852. Part of the complex was a building at Chmielna Street 73, demolished in 2013. The tenement by Pańska Street 100 had more luck – it survived two wars, rebuild of the city, changing governments and building of the nearby underground line.

The walk concluded at… “Siberia”. It’s the nickname of the large area of warehouses, sidings and utility buildings of the former Warsaw-Vienna Railroad goods station, originating back in 1875. The buildings by the Kolejowa Street 8/10 accommodates now countless clubs, car dealers and wholesales. Probably thanks to that, the old walls survived till today being one of the last remnants of the great Railroad.

The tour was guided by our colleagues Andrzej Paszke, Zbigniew Tucholski and Marek Moczulski.

Warsaw’s PTTK Council of City Guides would like to invite you on 21^st February 2015 to the walk along traces of Warsaw-Vienna railroad. The walk will be guided by our colleagues: Marek Moczulski, Andrzej Paszke and Zbigniew Tucholski. Start at 11 o’clock by the entrance to the platform 2 of Warszawa Śródmiescie station (from Marszałkowska Street).

The January in Skierniewice’s Shed was mostly spent on preparations to movie shots. Before we heard the first “Camera! Action!” we had to put aside our typical duties – after all preparing a movie location is a prestigious (and profitable) task. Therefore our shunting engines underwent the extra check-up and the box cars thoroughly lubricated. After all it’s not the first time they take part in a film. Eventually we only had to wait for the “Wołyń” film crew… and for winter.

At last, the first teams of the Wojciech Smarzowski’s crew appeared in the Shed. Their task – make part of the shed resemble a 1940’ station somewhere in Volhynia. After a week of work, the location was ready to shot the key scenes of the main characters deportation to Siberia. The biggest concern was the snowless weather which forced the film crew to create its own snow by means of snow cannons and special deliveries from the local ice rink.

The shots were taken on 7^th and 8^th February, during the day (scenes of deportees boarding the train) and at night (scene of buying out the main character form the transport). Several Polish and Ukrainian actors took part in the scenes as well as nearly 150 extras – mostly to play the roles of deported Poles.

A part of this group had a “less glorious” role of the NKVD and Red Army’s soldiers.

Extras were mostly the residents of Skierniewice, yet there were a couple of people who traveled a longer distance to experience how it really is to play in a movie.

Most of the days were spent on scenes rehearsal and shooting some of the daylight scenes…

But most of the scenes were filmed after dark. The movie shooting ended on Monday morning at 4 o’clock.

The movie is produced by Dom Produkcyjny Film It, the screenplay, written by Wojciech Smarzowski, is based on short stories by Stanisław Srokowski. Cinematography is done by Piotr Sobociński Jr. The movie will be a screen debut of Michalina Łabacz. The premiere is planned on the second half of 2016.

Despite the fact that diesel shunting engine class Ls60-143 came to the Shed several years ago, for a long time it was exploited in a state of slight disrepair. Our biggest concern was the faulty electric installation, limited to a starter circuit. Defunct alternator meant that each run had to be followed by a lengthy battery recharging.

During the autumn 2014 our youngest volunteers began refitting the missing parts of the Ls60’s installation. The engine received back the head- and backlights and, the most important, battery recharging circuit. The repairs were finished on time, before the shots to the movie “Wołyń” where little Ls60 had plenty of work to do. As the engine is now in full working order, there is still something to be done with its external aesthetics. Yet, class Ls60 has to wait for its turn in the renovation schedule.

… with this catchphrase we are once again beginning the collection of 1% of income tax donated by our Fans and Supporters.

Thanks to your generous support, we managed to receive a further subsidies worth total 140 thousand PLN. The money were mainly devoted to general repairs of Shed’s buildings. Thanks to the 30k PLN received from 1% tax donations the roundhouse of the shed gained 900 square meters of brand new roof. Last year’s repairs brought us closer to the final goal of complete revitalization of Shed, yet there is still plenty to be done. To own an engine shed is a great satisfaction, but also a great responsibility because it is our duty to keep the Shed in shape.

This is why we continue to ask to remember about us when it comes for you to decide to whom donate your 1% of income tax. We are still far from refurbishing each and every exhibit in our shed but at least we are close to providing the retired vehicles a proper and warm storage place and organize our workspace for even broader renovation works. Our plans for the nearest future are concentrated on steam engine class Ol49-4 and beer refrigerator car.