We would like to invite you to the Open Day in Engine Shed, which will take place on 1st October from 11 AM to 3 PM. During the event one can visit the interiors of Skierniewice Shed and admire the collection of historical rolling stock. Our guests are awaited by guides dressed in a historical railway uniform. As in previous years we would like to present to you much longer sightseeing route inside the main roundhouse from 1862-1942 where the major part of our collection is stored.
Other attractions awaiting our visitors are:
steam engines maintenance equipment,
historical railway workshop with vintage machines (still in working order!),
railway smithy,
interactive exhibition of railway signalling and safety devices.
Guided tours start every full hour (11 AM, 12 AM, 1 PM and 2 PM).
The second half of September is always the most demanding from the point of touristic traffic in Engine Shed. Traditionally, we started it with the special Open Days for schools. This years it attracted 296 pupils with their teachers. As each year, we were visited by our young friends under supervision of Mrs Beata Więckowska from Primary School № 4 – the educational facility with great railway traditions and strong relationship with Warsaw-Vienna Railroad.
The 3rd weekend of the month was the most intense due to the coinciding 39th Holiday of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables, 24th European Day of Heritage and 15th Day of Public Transportation. During only two days we were visited by 1513 guests. As usual, the majority of the guests (nearly 900 people) visited us on Sunday which become quite a logistic and organizational challenge due to the limited number of guides and the fact that part of the roundhouse is closed from sightseeing.
The narrow gauge steam engine “Ryś” (“Lynx”, factory number 1541) become the part of PARE collection at the beginning of the association’s existence. Similarly to other narrow gauge exhibits, it was the part of rolling stock of sugar factory in Leśmierz, near Łęczyca. Initially, in exchange for external renovation it was lend to the Board of Commuter Railways (Central Board of State Railways in Warsaw) with intention to use it as cold exhibit in one of the narrow gauge stations. Due to the agreement between State Railways and the Museum of Railways, the engine finally became one of the exhibits of the latter institution. Unfortunately, the uncertain future of the Museum forced us to consider getting the engine back to Skierniewice.
The perfect opportunity occurred in the end of August and beginning of September when City Council of Legionów was looking for a railway attraction, that could add splendor to the opening of new Communication Center in this city. After several consultations it appeared that “Ryś” is a perfect candidate for this purpose. After short formal agreements, a special lorry with loading crane arrived in Museum of Railways on 8th September in the morning. On the same day, the steam engine was placed in front of the new Legionów Station which was to be opened on 11th September.
Before the vehicle arrived in Skierniewice, some preparation works had to be completed. This time we decided that “Ryś” will be an outdoor exhibit. We needed to take out of the storage a section of a collapsible 600 mm gauge track. It was placed next to the entrance to the main workshop.
On Monday, 12th September after 10 AM, the lorry with long-awaited load arrived in Engine Shed. This way, after more than 20 years spend in Warsaw and a short stopover in Legionów, “Ryś” returned to Skierniewice.
From 9th to 11th September the last, third part of the Volunteers Camp took place. The camp is an event sponsored by National Heritage Board as a part of programme Volunteering for Heritage. Contrary to the previous editions of the event, where most works were concerning the renovation of engine class Ol49-4, we decided to focus on general upkeep of the facility. Scorching heat forced us to resign from some more labor-intense activities, like cutting down the wild bushes and instead tend the forgotten green areas in more shaded places.
Thanks to the numerous participants (12 people) we were able to repaint the major part of the fence from the side of the street. Some time was also devoted to the good, old class Ol49. Volunteers cleaned up the more secluded areas of the frame, prepared the air tanks for painting and helped by the installation of steam dome cover. They also helped in tour guiding during the visit of youngtimers from Warsaw’s Automobile Factory (FSO).
We would like to say a big thank you to the participants of all three camps. We would like to note that several volunteers from Łódź took part in all three events, and our guests from Szczecin and Wolsztyn helped in both holiday editions. As a part of this project, yet in a smaller group, we are designing the new didactic sightseeing rout in the Shed. We would like to invite those, who still would like to take part in similar, but a bit more modest event, at the turn of month September and October.
The beginning of September was mostly dominated by more intense sightseeing of Engine Shed. First, this month’s Open Day attracted 161 guests. On next day (Sundat, 4th September), we admitted a couple of organized groups, including tour of railway fans from Czech Republic and United Kingdom, as well as participants of special photo plain-air. The participants of the latter event were mostly steampunk cosplayers, who took the advantage of the vintage and industrial surroundings of the Shed.
Next week, on 10th September, we were visited by the participants of a special rally. Drivers of 22 cars originated in Warsaw’s Automobile Factory (FSO) choose the Engine Shed as a final destination of their trip.
On the coming Saturday and Sunday, 17th and 18th September we would like to invite you to visit the Engine Shed from 12AM to 5PM during the Special Open Days. The open days will join three events:
39th Skierniewice’s Holiday of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables (Saturday, Sunday),
Except the interior of the roundhouse and the collection of historical rolling stock, our guests can visit the old workshop, the railway blacksmith shop, the exhibition of railway signals and the photographic exhibition “Railway in lens”.
The sightseeing of the roundhouse will take place in guided groups, starting on each round hour (12AM, 1PM, 2PM and 3PM). Other exhibitions can be visited individually.
The tired and hungry guests can try the grilled meals provided by the Atmosfera pizza house.
Once again we would like to encourage the teachers and their pupils to visit the Engine Shed during the special Open Day for Schools, which will take pace on 16th September (Friday) from 8AM to 4PM. Due to the limited size of visiting groups, we would like to ask the interested parties to contact us via phone (+48-694-421-829) or email (zwiedzanie@psmk.org.pl). The approximate duration of the museum lesson is 45 minutes.
Admission is free.
The awaiting attractions:
the collection of historical rolling stock,
steam engines maintenance equipment,
the historical workshop,
the original blacksmith shop with complete equipment,
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