Traditionally, on the Saturday closest to the International Museum Day, we took part along with other cultural facilities in Skierniewice in the Night of Museums. It is worth noting that for us it is the eight edition of this event and the Engine Shed was the first in Skierniewice to open its doors to visitors at this special night. From the beginning we always called it a Railway Night of Museums. This year it took place on 20^th May. Each year we try to prepare a different arrangement of the exhibition and its illumination. This year’s centre point was the oldest part of the roundhouse sheltered under completely rebuild roof and skylight.

During the Railway Night of Museums we were visited by 784 guests, many of which took advantage of the special, free of charge return trips provided by Łódź Agglomeration Commuter Railway. Thank you very much for visit and feel invited to the upcoming events.

To improve the experiences of our guests, we tighten our cooperation with Łódź Agglomeration Railway (ŁKA). To encourage the citizens of Łódź Voivodeship to visit the Skierniewice Engine Shed, ŁKA has prepared a special offer. Passengers going to Skierniewice with ŁKA train can use their one-way ticket as a return ticket free of charge. The only condition is to receive a special stamp in the Engine Shed. The offer is valid on following days:

• 20^th May – Railway Night of Museums
• 3^rd June – Children’s Day in Engine Shed
• 1^st July – Open Day
• 5^th August – Open Day
• 2^nd September – Open Day
• 16^th and 17^th September – Skierniewice’s Festival of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables
• 7^th October – Open Day
• 26^th November – Railwayman Day

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On the upcoming Night of Museums, ŁKA encourages all interested to travel to Skierniewice with train ŁKA Sprinter “Syrena” (departing at 17:08 from Łódź Fabryczna station). Return with ŁKA Sprinter train departing at 22:00 from Skierniewice. With the special offer in force, the total cost of the travel is 16PLN, 10,08PLN with pupil’s discount and 7,84PLN with student’s discount.

13^th tourist season in Engine Shed was launched on Saturday, 6^th May. Despite the unpleasant weather, we were visited by 330 guests. This year, many of the exhibitions have been presented in new arrangement. First, the rolling stock exhibition has been moved, so that all renovated vehicles are now sheltered under the fully rebuilt part of the roof and skylight of the roundhouse. Additionally, we equipped this part of the building with benches, so the tired visitors could take some rest here. Also the workshop and signalling exhibition was rearranged and supplied with new exhibits.

Due to the 30^th anniversary of establishing the PARE and 13th season of opening the Shed to the public as a museum facility, Skierniewice’s Radio Communication Club of League of Country’s Defence (LOK, call-sign SP7KMX) has established a radio station with the occasional call-sign HF30PSMK. The station will be broadcasting during each Open Day in the Shed and will be available to all interested in its activity.

On behalf of PARE and LOK Radio Communictaion Club we encourage all radio amateurs across the Europe and the World to join in.

On 28^th April, for a second time in Shed’s history, we were hosting the event during which President of City Skierniewice is awarding artists and people active in field of conservation and popularisation of cultural values. This year, among the laureates was our colleague and the citizen of Skierniewice, PARE’s vice-president Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska – awarded for her exceptional activity in revitalization of Skierniewice Engine Shed. During her speech, she underlined that this is the award of all the people, who actively participated for the last 25 years in preservation of the Shed.

Other Skierniewice’s citizen’s awarded with the Steam Engine of Culture were Anna Pokora, Włodzimierz Stefanowicz (known to us from his performances during Evenings in Engine Shed), Małgorzata Lipska-Szpunar and Andrzej Krysiak. The event was also an opportunity to celebrate the 111^th anniversary of establishing the Public Library in Skierniewice and to honourably mention Krystyna and Jerzy Pietrzak, owners of company Fambud, for their support to cultural activity in Skiernieiwce.

We also made use of the opportunity to express our gratitude to the city council for their help and support in taking over the last part of the engine shed – the old office building. On behalf of PARE, the former president of PARE, Paweł Mierosławski, and current vice-president, Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska, passed the words of gratitude to the President of City Skierniewice, Mr. Krzysztof Jażdżyk.

The event was concluded with something for body and for spirit. The City Council, organizer of the event, provided a catering for the participants, and Leski – artists and musician from neighbouring Żyrardów – provided the musical performance for all the guests.

The Steam Engines of Culture gala is slowly becoming a constant part of our event calendar. We hope to host this event also in coming years.

We observed the latest results of allocations of funds for historical objects with a bit of anxiety. Our last-minute application was appreciated by the Council of Łódź Voivodeship, which assigned us with the amount of 26 250 PLN for the task Revitalization and adaptation to museum of Skierniewice Engine Shed – emergency repairs of the historical pump house from 1880 (2^nd phase). We are really glad to receive the funding as this is one of the oldest parts of the Shed, additionally in a bad need of a quick repair due to its deteriorating state. The total cost of the task is 42 thousand PLN, which will be fully devoted to the rebuild of completely devastated roof of this building. Additionally, this part of the Shed will stop repelling when observed from the side of the park and Łupia river.

As we still need to collect the remaining starting capital for renovation works, we would like to remind all those, who have not yet settled their tax reports, to support us with their 1% of income tax.

20^th April 2017 was a historical day for our Association. On this Thursday, after 4 PM, President of City Skierniewice, Mr Krzysztof Jażdżyk has signed the notarial deed of the last part of Engine Shed area. In this way, 25 years of efforts have resulted in success.

Everything started in 1992, when we requested to the Central Railway District if our small (at that time) collection can be moved to Skierniewice. In response, a day before Christmas Eve, during the meeting with headmaster of the District, Mr Janusz Luks, we were offered the possibility to take over the whole Shed as it was going to be defunct. The offer was so surprising, that we needed two weeks to think over the proposition – eventually we agreed to it. In retrospective, the decision brought us a lot of new challenges, but there is nothing to regret. Skierniewice Shed exists till today and still serves to the public, however now in totally new form.

Of course, our consent was not enough to own the facility. After ten years of fighting with bureaucracy, with great help of many organizations (just to mention the Ministry of Transportation, Łódź Voivode, board of State Railways) and effort of local authorities lead by a late President of Skierniewice Ryszard Bogusz – we became an owner of the main part of the shed in November 2002. At that time we were donated with 95% of the area. Unfortunately, due to unexpected changes in 1990’s in city’s surveying partition, a matter of the remaining 5% of the land with the old office house was still open. Solution was to be awaited for the next couple of years. The ownership of this built-up area was transferred to voivodeship authorities, who finally decided to donate the area to PARE. After last formalities, we become the true owners of the whole area of the Shed.

Of course the new building and its surroundings is not only a costly present. For us, this is a new challenge and commitment for the local community, and area for new stage of repair works. The office building was left unused, but protected against vandals, since 1991. At that time the last part of the Shed’s offices was moved to a temporary location. The building itself was left locked and unused, waiting for the new owners. The passing years left a trace on it. For example the building is in a bad need of a roof works (fixing of roof tiles has to be conducted even this year). Next is the fixing of deteriorated plumbing and electricity and adaptation of the rooms.

Nevertheless, now we are free to carry out all works needed. We would like to express our gratitude to the City Council of Skierniewice, the authorities of Łódź Voivodeship and all those, who contributed to the successful final of this case.

Trips to the railway museums abroad are slowly starting to become a common part of our activity calendar. Initially, we visited the foreign historical railway facilities in small groups, 3 people at most. Starting from November 2016 we increased the size of travelling party. It is not only a great way to socialize outside of the Engine Shed, but mainly a great opportunity to show our volunteers how museum facilities like our shed are organized abroad, and to make observations which may improve the organization of facility in Skierniewice. For the youngest volunteers this is also a form of gratitude for their efforts. From 22^nd to 23^rd April we once again visited our southern neighbours – Czech Republic.

Our first point of interest was Železniční Muzeum Zlonice, celebrating this year the 20^th anniversary of its existence. A couple of years ago it was placed in small steam engine shed at the siding of Zlonice station. Lately, it has been moved to the old buildings of former grange Lisovice, less than one kilometre from the station.

Another stage of our trip was a historical signal box in Děčín, preserved with most of its original equipment. It was a paradise for the fans of railway signalling and traffic systems, and a good inspiration on how we can organize an exhibition in our Shed. It’s a shame that there is no such facility in Poland.

The last stage was a courtesy visit to our colleagues representing four different organizations taking care of Turnov depo.

To our astonishment it appears that our collections have many common parts.

May you feel the hope of new beginnings, love and happiness during this joyful Easter holiday.

Members, volunteers and Board of Polish Association of Railway Enthusiasts

The preparation to continue the work on the track № 59 – a main communication route in the Shed – started in the late winter period. We focused on recovering the ballast from between the ties. The work was organized in such a manner that the periods of the track being out of order were as short as possible. Yet unfavourable weather or flu season caused some delays to the initial plan.

Between February and March 2017, we signed the agreement with City of Skierniewice to receive the fund of 14 500 PLN to repair the most dilapidated parts of the tracks. After removing the ballast, we could unscrew the rails and move them aside to recover the remains of old wooden ties. This way we made a free room for a backhoe loader to dig the new track trench, spread a fresh layer of ballast and lie down the heavy concrete ties and rails.

Finally we were able to resupply the ballast between the ties. We intend to continue the works after purchasing more ties for this purpose.

Track works in Skierniewice Engine Shed are supported by