The definite end to the tourist season in the shed coincides with the Railwaymen Day. This year during the short Open Day on 23rd November, the Shed was visited by 101 guests. The facility was open for an independent sightseeing, yet there was still a possibility to participate in a guided tour of our collection of rolling stock. The next opportunity to visit us will be in 2020, the year of the 175th anniversary of opening of  the Warsaw-Vienna Railway, when trains reached Skierniewice for the first time. You can already check our schedule in the updated events calendar.

The day is close to the 25th November, the date celebrating the work of railwaymen, but also other people related to railways, including the volunteers taking care of the railway heritage. On this occasion we are always visited by the pupils and teachers from the Elementary School № 4 who took the opportunity to wish us all the best and recite the ‘Locomotive’ by Julian Tuwim. The school was established thanks to the initiative of the workers of Warsaw-Vienna Railway, so we are glad that it remembers of its history.

We also remember of the religious aspects of the 25th November celebrations. The church of St. Jacob the Apostle in Skierniewice was always the heart of the religious life of the railwaymen from this town. Therefore each year we take part in the mass for the railwaymen, members and volunteers of PARE which takes place on Sundey closest to 25th November.

This year the mass took place on 24th November. Representatives of PARE dressed in historic uniforms took part in the mass bearing the original banner founded by the WVR workesrs in 1907.

During the visit of three of PARE members in Czechia, we took the opportunity to visit our colleagues from Chornický železniční klub. We followed their activities since learning that similarly to our association they maintain a large collection of railway signalling and traffic control devices. We were especially impressed by their large scale actions of saving a whole signal box equipment. We were eager to met them closer and the opportunity arose on 2^nd November.

We met in one of their storages and temporary exhibitions in Skalice nad Svitavou. It would be a shame to visit empty-handed so we prepared a small present. We donated to Marek Řihy parts for the lever frame – route lock levers with associated small parts. The ChŽK has in its collection a lever frame of German type Einheit (Standard) which is quite common in Poland but quite rare in Czechia. Our present will allow to replace the missing parts in this exhibit. Even in its current state, we were impressed by the state of the frame and the quality of the renovation. We hope that this short visit will be a beginning of a longer and fruitful cooperation.

The collection for the renovation of the historic graves at the Old Powązki Cemetery has a 45-year old tradition. For 10 years now PARE is also taking part in this event. Representatives of the association can be find in the vicinity of the grave of Stanisław Wysocki (1805-1868), the designer and main engineer of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway and can be easily recognized by their historical uniforms. This year’s collection ended with a record-breaking amount of 280 000 PLN to which our colleagues (Maria Balicka, Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska, Paweł Mierosławski, Marek Moczulski, Andrzej Paszke, Wiesław Sitkiewicz) contributed with the amount of 7503 PLN.

During the All Souls Day, together with the PKP Group’s Foundation we organized a walk along the graves of the famous railwaymen. The walk was guided by Marek Moczulski and Maria Balicka. As this year was established as the year of Stanisław Moniuszko, we also took the opportunity to pay our respects by the grave of the composer and his family.

Owning an engine shed is a big responsibility and a major financial challenge. This is why we are in a constant search for new means of financing of repairs of the buildings and renovations of the exhibits documenting the 175 years-old heritage of railways in Poland.

Therefore, we decided to have a go on a new solution suggested to us by our friends from another railway association and prepared by the FaniMani foundation. Thanks to the cooperation with 1072 online shops including giants like Booking.com, Pyszne.pl and Allegro.pl you can support us during your everyday shopping. All you need to do is go to the website

https://fanimani.pl/psmk/

and select a shop. A part of the price of the bought goods will go to us without any additional costs from your side!

Thank you for your support.

For the last time this year we would like to invite the enthusiast of photography to our Shed. The shed will be open to all those who would like to immortalize the shed in photography without the crowds of tourists in the background are welcome on Saturday, 19^th October from 12PM to 3PM.

The registration of participants starts before the event at the entrance to the Engine Shed. Free admission.

The last Saturday, 5^th October, welcomed us with exceptionally cold weather which become milder later in the afternoon. Therefore, most of the 134 guests arrived at the Shed’s grounds in the later hours of the Open Day.

Our usual attractions – the tour of our collection of rolling stock and the exhibition of railway signalling and traffic control were joined by the exhibition of photographs by Zbyszek Gradowski.

An extraordinary attraction that day was the presentation of uniforms and arms from the World War II prepared by the reconstruction groups Niepodległość 1863 and ‘Ostoya’.

As in previous Open Days, we were supported by Łódź Agglomeration Railways (free return for the guests of the Shed) and Atmosfera pizza house (catering).

This was the last opportunity this year to visit us during the regular Open Day. Still we are still open to the public on the Photo Day (19^th October) and the Railwaymen Day (23^rd November). We would also like to remind that organized groups can visit us outside of the schedule after earlier arrangement.

For a month now the building company ‘Marbudex’ from Skierniewice is working on the replacing of the glass in the skylight above stands 4 and 5 of the roundhouse. The total cost of the repairs is 129 000 PLN, most of which will be covered by the funding from Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (60 000 PLN) and The Marshal’s Office of Łódź Voivodeship (45 000 PLN). We also plan to complete the glazing above stand 6, thanks to the donation of construction glass and financing it from the reminder of the 1% from income tax.

We would like to remind you that you can support us via crowd-funding website:

https://zrzutka.pl/7ek6z5

or with a direct transfer to our bank account:

52 1240 6218 1111 0000 4617 3535

We would also like to inform that donations to our association are tax-deductible.

For years now, the residents of Łódź can take advantage of a special tourist trains allowing them to visit the interesting parts of the region. The trains are organized by the Łódź Voivodeship or the cooperating organizations.

This time the Centre for the Development REGIO with the support of the Marshal Office of Łódź Voivodeship organised a special Train to the tastes of Łódź region to celebrate 100^th anniversary of establishing of the Łódź Voivodeship. The last such train arrived on 22^nd September in Skierniewice. The engine shed was a must-see for the participants of the trip – close to 110 guests visited us that day.

Thank you for you visit and see you next time!

September is always the busiest month of the year when we are open to the public on two different occasions for the total of three days. The first was the regular Open Day on 7^th September when we were visited by 170 guests.

Another opportunity to visit us in September was the weekend of 14^th and 15^th September during the Festival of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables in Skierniewice. This time 822 guests decided to visit us.

Our usual attractions – the tour of our collection of rolling stock and the exhibition of railway signalling and traffic control were joined by the exhibition of photographs by Zbyszek Gradowski.

This year the September open days coincided with the European Days of Heritage. It is worth noting that for years now, the Engine Shed is the only facility in Skierniewice taking part in the celebrations of the Days of Heritage.

As in previous Open Days, we were supported by Łódź Agglomeration Railways (free return for the guests of the Shed) and Atmosfera pizza house (catering).