The October Open Day was the opportunity to break another records. And all that due to the two motorized groups which decided to visit us simultaneously o the same day. Therefore, we would like to report with pride that the number of guests had surpassed the magic border of 6134 people. On Saturday, 1st October, the gate of the Shed was crossed by 409 tourists. Thanks to that, this year’s visitors count reached already 6238 people. And that’s still not the end of the touristic season.

This impressive result is connected with another record number – never before were we visited by such a great number of motorcycles. Thanks to the rally organized to celebrate the end of motorcycling season by the Sochaczew Motorcyclist Association 196 bikes arrived in the Shed. At the same time we were visited by the participants of 37th Warsaw’s Rally of Vintage Cars in the count of 27 teams. It’s worth noting that this is yet another such event which arrived in our facility from the neighboring Żyrardów. The individual visitors also did not forgot about us on that day.

We would like to invite you to the Open Day in Engine Shed, which will take place on 1^st 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).

Free admission.

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.

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, 17^th and 18^th 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:

• 39^th Skierniewice’s Holiday of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables (Saturday, Sunday),
• 24^th European Days of Heritage (Saturday, Sunday),
• 15^th Days of Public Transport (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.

Free admission.

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 16^th 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,
• the interactive exhibition of railway signaling.

It is possible to order a meal (paid), served by the Atmosfera pizza house.

After couple of years of break, we hosted again the performance of the well known theatrical group from Skierniewice – Banana Perwers. They returned to the stage in the Shed in style! On Friday evening, 26th September, the performance of Dominika Dawidowicz and her talented students: Zuzu Ambroziak, Zuzia Dzięgielewska and Estera Esti Kukier, gathered more than 140 fans of songs by Anna Jantar, Agnieszka Osiecka, Krystyna Prońko, Maryla Rodowicz or Old Gentlemen Cabaret. Piano accompaniment was provided by Włodzimierz Stefanowicz.