On Sunday, 15^th July, we were hosts of two different events. In the morning, a group of 94 people reached Skierniewice by the ŁKA train in search of locations from Polish films. It was a part of the project “By train across the Voivodeship of Film” supported by the Łódź Voivodeship and coordinated by the Centre of Initiatives and Development REGIO. Skierniewice is an obvious choice for such initiatives. The Engine Shed alone was a location of several films, but other places in Skierniewice also made it to the silver screen: the railway station, Palace Settlement, market and St Florian Square.

In the afternoon the Engine Shed was a location for an original tea party. Unfortunately, due to the rainy weather, only 30 guests decided to to take advantage of this opportunity to picnic in the shade of steam engines.

To keep the record, we would like to sum up the Open Day, which took place during the last Saturday (7th July). We were visited by 285 guests so this year’s attendance has reached the 3000 people milestone. We would like to thank to all the guests for visiting us and to our partners (ŁKA Railway and Atmosfera pizza-house) for contribution to this event.

Those, who did not managed to visit us on that day there will be still next opportunity in the afternoon of 15^th July. Free admission!

On Sunday, 15^th July, we would like to invite you to a new form of spending time in the Shed – the Afternoon Tea with Steam Engines. On this day, the Shed is open to the public from 3PM to 6PM where one can have a summer picnic in the shade of the mighty steam engines.

We would like to inform, that you have to bring your own food. As this is not a standard Open Day, there will be no catering provided. The ŁKA return for free promotion is not applicable on that day.

We would like to inform that on 2^nd July we have published the reports from the activity of the public benefit organization for 2017. The reports, approved by the PARE’s Audit Commission are available in the database of the Institute of Freedom and on our website (in Polish).

On Friday, 15^th June, our main workshop once again hosted an event devoted to the people of culture from Skierniewice. The name of the gala – Steam Engines of Culture – makes the Shed a perfect location fur such an event. It is its third edition, end we would like to note, that last year our colleague and the vice-president of PARE, Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska, received a prize for her exceptional involvement in the renovation of the Engine Shed. This year we were happy to witness our long-term friends and partners as the prize winners.

Zbyszek Gradowski has many times visited the Shed and documented it on his beautiful photographs. He is also a great admirer of the history of Skierniewice and the long forgotten or dismantled locations in the city like the Władysław Stokacz’s brewery. He is also the president of the Skierniewice Beer Guild which supports the renovation of our beer refrigerator car. Moreover, he is the author of the portal skierniewice24.pl devoted mostly to the history of Skierniewice. Domonika Dawidowicz is the founder and the supervisor of the theatrical group Banana Perwers. Along with her students she has organized many spectacles during the events in the engine shed.

Other prizes went to the people supporting the cultural activities in Skierniewice, The recipients were: Piotr Bigos (manager of the cinema and theatre “Polonez”), Irena Socichowska (vocal teacher) and Monika Kotowska (choreographer and the supervisor of the AT 4-20 dance group). During the gala, Mrs Grażyna Głuszek was praised for her financial support of the cultural events in Skierniewice. The artistic part of the event was performed by the Banana Perwers members – Zuzia Ambroziak and Włodzimierz Stefanowicz.

We would like to once again congratulate Dominika, Zbyszek and other recipients of the prize.

This year’s Children’s Day in the Engine Shed (2^nd June) was full of attractions directed both to the youngest and the adult fans of railways. It was possible thanks to the multiple partners that collaborated with us in the organisation of this event.

The main point of interest on this day was located in the old workshop, which was dominated by a miniature railway. On side of the workshop was occupied by a modular layout in H0e scale by the Independent Railway Model Project. At the distance of several meters a stretch of narrow-gauge line was painstakingly recreated. Pleasant to the eyes was the recreation of Polish rolling stock and the surroundings of a climatic local line.

Opposite side of the workshop, at the stand of PIKO company, the youngest visitors were offered the possibility to learn how to control a G-scale model and have a look on the new offer of Polish rolling stock models in much smaller but more popular scale H0.

More attractions were awaiting outside. Visitors were excited with the possibility to look at from outside and inside (and even take a short trip in) the modern emergency, road-rail vehicle from PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A., This large vehicle was accompanied by a smaller, but still proudly representing its duty, van of Railway Guards. In the meantime, PKP Cargo S.A. set up a stand where the youngest guests of the Engine Shed could participate in competitions and games regarding railways.

Of course, we did not forget about the traditional forms of sightseeing. A portion of the roundhouse was opened for visitors, where the could see the most precious vehicles from our collection, e.g. the battery motor unit Wittfeld and a renewed steam engine class Ol49-4. As always, the biggest attraction was the exhibition of railway signalling and traffic control, where the visitors could learn about the different devices ensuring a safe movement of trains and have a glimpse on the mysterious signals that each train driver must know.

As the time spend in the Shed might make some visitors exhausted and hungry. Atmosfera Pizza-house responded to their needs on the gastronomical stand. At the end of the day, those travelling by the ŁKA trains could travel back for free after receiving a special stamp on their train ticket.

We area happy to report that the amount of the attractions really boosted the attendance of visitors. On that day, precisely 590 guests visited us. We would like to express our gratitude to the partners that contributed to this result.

Partners

On the 173^rd anniversary of opening of the first stretch of Warsaw – Vienna Railroad we would like to invite you to the annual Walk on the Old Powązki Cemetery on 14^th June. We meet by the St. Onorata gate at 2PM. Our colleague, Marek Moczulski will start the meeting by the grave of Stanisław Wysocki (the main constructor of the WVR) and then guide the walk along the route of the graves of famous people related with railways.

Free admission.

The 9th Railway Night of Museums is already the past. Despite the force majeure made the preparations much more difficult, the event took place on 19th May as planned. We were visited by a decent number of 576 guests, taking into account a major competition of other facilities prepared for this event in Skierniewice. This edition of the Night of Museums was also a good opportunity to make some observations and plans for improvements and new attractions for the next year.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Łódź Metropolitan Railway (ŁKA) which prepared a special offer for the guests of the Shed allowing the to return for free to their departure point. We would also like to thank to Atmosfera Pizza house which provided the catering during the event.

To all those who visited us we would like to say “See you in a year”. For those who were not able to join us this year, we publish a couple of photos from the event.

On the invitation of the colleagues from the Independent Railway Modelling Project, on 12th and 13th May we took part in the 1st Meeting of Railway Modellers in Żyrardów. It was a great opportunity to promote the Shed in the city which is and actual neighbour of Skierniewice. Visitors could not only learn more about the history of our Shed but also obtain promotional materials of our colleagues from the Association of Upper Silesia Narrow Gauge Railways which takes care of the Bytom – Tarnowskie Góry Railway.

We would like to express our gratitude to the hosts of the event and see you soon in Skierniewice.

We reached the semi-finals of the repairs of the track № 12 leading to one of the stands of the roundhouse. The works are supported by the City Council of Skierniewice. So far we managed to resurface the track bed, remove the old ballast, which requires sieving and cleaning and prepare a fresh layer of ballast. At the beginning of May we laid new ties (actually recovered from other railway but in good shape). Next we put the rails on their target positions.

This job would took us much longer if not for the help of Mr Jan Markowicz, the owner of a backhoe loader which is irreplaceable in this kind of work. Except the dismantling and repair of track № 12 we managed to collect more regenerated reinforced ties which arrived in the shed during the long weekend. We will need them during the oncoming repairs of other parts of our track layout.

We still need to fasten the rails, level the track and stabilize it with the ballast. Part of those activities will be completed in the upcoming weeks but the ballasting will wait till autumn. In the meantime we will start repairs by the neighbouring track № 13. This one may pose some challenges as we will need to fasten a lighter rails of type “8” to concrete ties devoted for heavier rails.

Below is a time-lapse taken during one of the repair days. Enjoy!