The conference “Yesterday, today, tomorrow of Warsaw-Vienna Railroad”, co-organized by PARE and the Association of Transportation Engineers of Poland (SITK RP), took place on 28th April, in Warsaw’s NOT House of Engineers. The president of PARE, Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska, was the member of program council, and our colleagues – Marek Moczulski and Paweł Mierosławski – joined the organization council. The conference was organized under the auspices of Maria Wasiak – the Minister of Infrastructure and Development, Krzysztof Dyla (the President of Departament of Railway Transport) and Jakub Karnowski (CEO of PKP SA).

Conference was divided into two parts. The first one, titled “The yesterday of Warsaw-Vienna Railroad” was presided over by Prof. Adam Wielądek, the honorary president of UIC. Presented papers regarded the history of WVR, most of them were prepared by our colleagues:

• “Beginnings of Warsaw-Vienna Railroad” by Andrzej Paszke;
• “Stanisław Wysocki – the Builder of WVR” by Marek Moczulski;
• “From «Warsaw» to «Hannoverian» – short history of WVR steam engines” by Paweł Mierosławski;
• “Stations of WVR” by Michał Jerczyński.

Other papers were: “Aleksander Wasiutyński’s contribution to the development of reailways” by Aleksander Drzewiecki from UTK and “The figure of Józef Nowkuński” by prof. Adam Wielądek.

After the break, a second part, titled “Today and tomorrow of WVR”, took place. This part was chaired by vice-president of SITK RP, Dorota Przybyła. The main topic of this part was the modernisation of the line Warsaw – Łódź, implementation of ERMTS system, improvement of quality of transportation services by development of lines № 1, 133, 160 and 186 on the route Zawiercie – Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice – Jaworzno Szczakowa, the renovation of the stations along the line № 1 and transportation improvements on line Warszawa – Grodzisk Mazowiecki.

While completing the iconography for the upcoming exhibition regarding the Warsaw-Vienna Railway history, our colleague Paweł Mierosławski has found a very interesting photo.

The picture was taken exactly 100 years ago – on 28^th April 1915 – in front of still undamaged side of the Warsaw-Vienna Railawy wagon works in Skierniewice (part of this site was blown up in 1914 from the east side). In front of the building, the troops from 49^th Reserve Battalion are unloading from the train the requisitioned living stock. A typical sight somewhere behind the front line.

Yet, the typical supply trains were not the only guests at stations in Skierniewice and Łowicz. Transports full of special gas munition arrived soon from Germany (this ordnance was utilized in January and February 1915 at the front line near Bolimów, Humin and Mogiły). Several days after this photo was taken, the 36^th Engineering Regiment reached Skierniewice, togeteher with a payload of 12 thousand cylinders containing 264 tonnes of compressed chlorine. Cylinders were placed on the stabilized sections of the front line, between Tartak Bolimowski and Białynin.

The gas attack took place in the early morning, 31^st May 1915. According to different sources, between 9 and 11 thousand Russian soldiers and unknown number of civilians succumbed to the gas. The choking stench of chlorine was spread for tens of kilometers by a westward wind.

The nearby towns, especially Żyrardów, turned into hell. There was no help for the gas victims.

Subsequent attacks took place on 12^th June and at night, from 6^th to 7^th July 1915. The June’s attack results were so shocking for the Prussian troops, that they attempted to rescue the victims from the opposing army.

Those, who would like to learn more about those attacks that surpassed the use of chemical weapons in the battle of Ypres, can read more in the article by Paweł Rożdżestwieński “The Battle of Rawka and Bzura” (Polish only).

We would like to invite you to the first in this year Open Day in Engine Shed, which will take place on Saturday, 2^nd May from 11AM to 3PM. During the Open Day one can familiarize with the history of Skierniewice’s Engine Shed and its collection. The tours are led by the guide dressed in the historical railway uniform. This year a surprise awaits the visitors – the lengthened sightseeing route inside the biggest building in the engine shed complex – the roundhouse from 1862-1942 where much of the PARE rolling-stock collection is placed. The admission to the larger portion of the roundhouse was possible thanks to the extensive roof repairs sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Łódź Voivodship’s Office and the assets from 1% of income tax.

Except the collection inside the roundhouse, visitors can see other exhibitions:

• steam engines tools and maintenance equipment,
• railway workshop with old machine tools still in working order,
• smithy with original equipment,
• railway traffic safety and signal box equipment.

Visiting groups enter at 11AM, 12AM, 1PM and 2PM.

Free admission!

It’s Spring! Longer and warmer days encourage the volunteers of PARE to visit the engine shed more frequently. During the last weeks, the rebuild of beer refrigerator car have sped up. We’ve also broaden the scope of works required before the admission of the first guests during the coming, 11th touristic season in Engine Shed. Lawns are now free of the autumn leafs. The main workshop has been cleared of the parts of salvaged railway devices and frames. On the walls, we’ve hung vintage boards with safety and efficiency slogans dating back to People’s Republic. We have also cleaned the surroundings of the roundhouse from leftovers from last year’s roof repairs. We also prepared the new, longer sightseeing route inside the roundhouse.