Traditionally, we would like to announce in advance a new event calendar for oncoming season 2018. We would like to highlight the following:

• We keep the longer hours of Open Days – starting from 5^th May 2018 the Shed is open to the public from 11 AM to 3 PM and the last guided tour starts at 2 PM.
• We introduce two different lengths of guided tours. At 11 AM, 12 AM and 1 PM the tour will follow the shorter sightseeing route, addressed especially to the families with young children. The last group at 2 PM will have the possibility to visit the full length of the sightseeing route – the option recommended to visitors above the 12 years of age.
• The exact date of the Railway Night of Museums will be announced at the later term as we need to adhere to the arrangements of other institutions open to the public during this event. At the moment we can ensure you, that the opening hours will be from 8 PM till midnight.
• There will be no longer a special open day for schools. At the moment visits by the school groups can be arranged at any suitable term after earlier phone contact (+48 730 181 323).
• Open days for photography enthusiasts keep their formula and will take place on selected third Saturday of the month. On 16^th June and 21^st October the event will last from 12 AM to 3 PM and on 18^th August – from 6 PM to 9 PM. Participants registration and admission will be possible only for 30 minutes before the starting hour.
• During the Railwaymen Day there will be only one guided tour at 11 AM.

We reserve the right to change the published schedule at the later term.

Another exhibit has regained its old glory. This time, however, it is not a railway car or steam engine, but a piece of signalling equipment.

A new future was awaiting the old block instrument compound with key interlocking (built in 1950 by Państwowa Wytwórnia Sygnałów i Urządzeń Kolejowych, Kraków), in the past part of the equipment in signal box at the station Gawrony. The years of use and later storage, probably outdoors, left its mark on the device, before it found the shelter under the Shed’s roof. It was the obvious first choice when deciding which exhibit from the signalling display we should renovate this year. Thankfully, the years of neglect left the interior of the instrument intact – with a little effort and thorough clean-up the device appeared to be still in a working order. The renovation of the external paint job and wooden parts was a totally different story which required the assistance of the Volunteers Camp’s participants. After several weekends of fight with rust and flaking old paint, the device was again pleasant to look at. The work was crowned the last Saturday with placing the refurbished block marking plates back on their place.

Not so long ago we were surprised with an additional funding received from the Łódź Voivodeship Conservationist Office. The amount of 22 thousand PLN can be received only under condition of having the own capital equal the half of this amount i.e. 11.000 PLN. In the perspective of empty cash box, couple of our members and supporters managed to collect the missing amount. However, we wouldn’t like to leave them with empty pockets and treat this as a loan which should be soon returned. Therefore, we would like to cover at least the part of this expense by resorting to crowdfunding via zrzutka.pl portal.

We would like to encourage you to help us on https://zrzutka.pl/2jc7m5#. We will be grateful even for the smallest donations.

For the last 8 years our members are participating in the All Saints Day collection organized by the Committee of Old Powązki Cemetary Restoration. As each year you could have meet us dressed in historical railway uniforms in the vicinity of the grave of Stanisław Wysocki (1805-1868), the builder of the Warsaw-Vienna Railroad. On 29^th October and 1^st November our colleagues Paweł Mierosławski, Marek Moczulski and Andrzej Paszke were joined by Maria Balicka, Kamil Migdał and Paweł Rybak from Warsaw’s Commuter Railway.

Traditionally, we organized on 2^nd November the 10^th walk on the All Saints Day. Due to the 30^th anniversary of PARE we wlaked along the route of the graves of famous people related to the Warsaw-Vienna Railroad but also other railwaymen related to Skierniewice and our Shed.

On Thursday, 26^th October, we were invited to the Łódź Culture Centre, to take part in a special event. For our efforts to safe and renovate the Skierniewice Shed we were awarded the Culture Award of the Łódź Voivodeship’s Assembly. We are happy that our efforts from the last 25 years are appreciated.

We would like to express our gratitude to the assembly and all its councillors.

The commission led by Sławomir Sidor, the vice-president of PARE and consitsting of Józef Kaźmierczak (PARE honorary member), Alicja Przybyszewska (art teacher) and Beata Więckowska (entry level teacher) have chosen the winning works out of the 85 entries in the following age categories:

Group I – Kindergarten

1^st place – Hania Grochowska (3,5), Podbiel, Celestynów commune,
2^nd place – Dominik Sydz (4), Kindergarten № 87 in Białystok,
3^rd place – Ewelina Hasińska (5), Culture Centre in Radzyń.

Honourable mention:
Wojtek Grochowski (5, Podbiel, Celestynów commune) and Wiktor Hetmańczyk (6, Primary School № 4 in Wieliczka).

Group II – primary school, classes 1-3
1^st place – Zofia Zacharska (8), Culture Centre in Radzyń,
2^nd place – Julia Serwicka (8), Culture Centre in Radzyń,
3^rd place – Martyna Pietrzykowska (8), Culture Centre in Radzyń.

Honourable mention:
Julia Kuśmierczyk (8, Primary School № 4 in Skierniewice), Iwona Mroczka (7, Special Educational Centre in Przemyśl) and Kamil Sprutta (9, Culture Centre in Radzyń).

Group II – primary school, classes 4-7

1^st place – Marianna Łata (13), Culture Centre in Radzyń,
2^nd place – Karolina Kumołka (10), Culture Centre in Radzyń,
3^rd place – Katarzyna Włodarczyk (11), Primary School in Niedamirów, Lubawka commune.

Honourable mention:
Olaf Królikowski (10, Primary School № 10 in Siedlce), Jędzrej Maćkowiak (11, Culture Centre in Radzyń), Dawid Skiba (10, Culture Centre in Radzyń), Amelia Starzec (12, Primary School № 4 in Skierniewice) and Olga Szwarczyńska (12, Culture Centre in Radzyń).

Group III – middle schools, gymnasium
1^st place – Kinga Dudko (14), Zagruszany, Zabłudów commune,
2^nd place – Wiktoria Gorwa (14), Culture Centre in Radzyń,
3^rd place – Sara Jamrożek (14), Culture Centre in Radzyń.

Honourable mention:
Zuzanna Fajfer (14, Culture Centre in Radzyń) and Maksymilian Paszek (15, Culture Centre in Radzyń).

Group III – middle schools, secondary schools
1^st place – Aleksandra Łoś (17), Culture Centre in Radzyń,
2^nd place (not awarded),
3^rd place – Aleksandra Serwicka (16), Culture Centre in Radzyń.

Honourable mention (not awarded).

The activity of our association is not limited only to the Engine Shed. On 23^rd October three of our members took part in the 6^th Conference on Railway History in Rybnik “Coal, politics, steel, people. Railway in the life of Silesia”. It was organized by the Museum in Rybnik in cooperation with the faculty of Business, Finance and Administration of the Economic University in Katowice.

During the conference, Judyta Kurowska-Ciechańska presented the co-authored by dr Ariel Ciechański paper “Selected aspects of beer transportation by rail in Silesia”. Paweł Mierosławski presented the paper “Aspects of preservation of historical railway telecommunication objects”. The last paper, “Development and decline of industrial railways in Silesia” was presented by dr Ariel Ciechański, our colleague and a representative of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of Polish Academy of Science.

Photo by D. Keller

On 9th October 1987 Polish Association of Railway Enthusiasts (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Kolei) was officially registered in Warsaw’s city hall, becoming the second organisation of its kind in Poland at that time. It happened 30 years ago! Additionally, in December it will be 25 years since we started the initiative to save the Skierniewice Shed. Therefore, we decided to properly celebrate this anniversary and meet with our fans and supporters. On 7^th October 2017 the Shed was open to the public longer than on usual Open Day with many extra attractions awaiting our guests. Despite the rainy weather, 546 visitors took a sightseeing around the Shed and participated in the anniversary events.

Unfortunately, due to the cyclone Xaver ravaging the central Europe earlier that week, we had to cancel couple of attractions. The Park Railway from Pecna, which was supposed to be a highlight of that day, could not reach us. Also, the unpredictable rainfall made the outdoor sightseeing less pleasant. Fortunately, that was the last of the unpleasant surprises.

Traditionally, the basis of the Open Day was the guided tour inside the roundhouse, where major part of our rolling stock collection is gathered. Every hour a new group enjoyed the longer sightseeing route under now fully repaired roof. Of course, there was also possibility to drop off from the main group proceed to other attractions – an option especially addressed to families with young children.

Precisely at noon a main anniversary event started. It was the opportunity to receive the congratulations from the official guests visiting us on that day:

• Andrzej Melon, the headmaster of the City Council of Skierniewice,
• Janusz Malinowski, the president of the board of Łódź Agglomeration Railway (ŁKA),
• Witold Stępień, the marshal of Łódź Voivodeship,
• Dorota Rutkowska, the parliamentary representative,
• prof. dr hab. Jakub Lewicki, the conservationist of Mazovian Voivodeship,
• Stanisław Pytliński, deputy director of Łódź Voivodeship’s Landscape Parks,
• Beata Ozga-Flejszer, councillor of Łódź Voivodeship regional assembly.

A special anniversary cake was prepared for all our guests. The long cake in a form of a train weighted over 17,5 kg – enough for everybody.

As always, our interactive exhibition of railway signalling and traffic safety devices was open to the visitors. Courtesy of the model shop Loko-model the exhibition was also hosting a railway display where young guests could learn the art of digital control of railway models. As one can see from the photos, there were enough attractions for the fans of a large and small railways.

The anniversary was also the final of the art competition for children entitled “Skierniewice Engine Shed in children’s eyes”. Laureates, most of whom come from the Radzyń’s Culture Centre, were prized with diplomas and gifts. The best works are displayed now in the corridor of the workshop building and can be viewed by the visitors during each Open Day. Our congratulations to the prizewinners.

Specially for the occasion of the anniversary, Andrzej Paszke has prepared a display documenting the 30 years of PARE activity.

Among the special attraction on that day was the patrol car of the Railway Guards and Unimog emergency truck from PKP PLK.

Courtesy of the Łódź Agglomeration Railway (ŁKA), the guests of Engine Shed could return to their departure home for free, based on their one-way ticket to Skierniewice with a special stamp obtained in the Shed.

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