Healthy and peaceful Christmas and all the best in the upcoming New Year

The board, members and Volunteers of the Polish Association of Railway Enthusiasts

Due to the autumn cold we had to stop the work by the diesel shunting engine class Ls60-143. After all it is not recommended to do any paint job below certain temperatures. Consequently our crew could focus again on the repairs of the line maintenance vehicle class SR71-04. Our colleagues devoted last weeks of 2019 to inspect and replace missing or broken parts in vehicles propulsion. Finally, the vehicle successfully moved on its own power and took several rides on the Shed’s tracks. As the gear box is still prone to some small malfunctions, we intend to continue the repairs next year.

To make it easier to support us with 1% of the income tax, we started cooperation with the Institute of Public Benefit Organisation Support. Starting from 1st January 2020 it will be possible to fill in your tax reports using the PITax tool prepared by our partner.

With one mouse-click you will be directed to the website aiding the preparation of the yearly tax report. The application is available both as on-line and desktop tool. The application also allow to download the traditional interactive PIT forms, including the most common PIT-37. All reports will have the 1% charity section pre-filed with the data of our organization.

We hope that the above solution will make it easier for you to support our association.

As in previous year, we publish in advance the schedule of the events planned for 2020. It is a particular year when we will be celebrating three different anniversaries:

• 15 years of opening the Shed to the public during the series of open days,
• 100th anniversary of Hungarian help which arrived in Skierniewice to supply with arms the Polish army fighting in Polish-Soviet War of 1920
• 175th anniversary of opening of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway.

Due to this fact we introduce a couple of changes to our schedule:

• During the monthly Open Days, starting on 2nd May the Shed will be open to the public till 6 PM, with last guided tour starting at 2 PM.
• We maintain two lengths of the guided tours. Tours starting at 11 AM, 12 PM, 1 PM are shorter, directed to the families with children. The last tour at 2 PM covers the whole sightseeing route along our collection and exhibitions.
• The Railway Night of Museums is planned on 16th May (may change depending on the schedule of other institutions in Skierniewice) from 6 PM till midnight.
• We reintroduce a special open day for schools in form of the weekly School Thursdays. School groups are welcome after earlier arrangement (phone contact 730 181 323) throughout the whole school year.
• We extend the opening hours during the Festival of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables – the Shed will be open to the public from 11 AM to 7 PM.
• We keep the Photo Days in the schedule on the selected third Saturdays of the month. On two terms (20th June, 17th October) the Shed will be open to the enthusiasts of photography from 11 AM to 5 PM and on 15th August from 5 PM to 9 PM. Participants register at the entrance for the first half our from the beginning of the event.
• On 3rd October we plan a special Open Day, the Birthday of WVR on the 175th anniversary of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway.
• The open day during the Railwaymen Day (28th November) will be shortened to two touring groups at 11 AM and 12 PM.

We reserve the right to alter the schedule of the events.

The year 2020 is the year of 175th anniversary of opening of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway. It is simultaneusle the same anniversary of railway presence in Skierniewice. We decided to prepare for those celebration and the first step was the preparation of the logo for this occasion, designed by our colleague Paweł Adamowicz. Of course this is not all. The detailed schedule of the celebrations will be provided in spring – please follow the information in our events callendar.

On 19th November 2018 the Foundation of Santander Bank Polska anounced the results of the grant competition Here I live, here I change and supported us with a grant of 5000 PLN for the project Volunteers helping in renovation of the historic Engine Shed in Skierniewice. First activities of this project started in spring 2019 when the weather conditions become more favourable. The activities could be divided into two groups – the upkeep of the Shed’s surroundings and securing the facilities against vandalism.

Most of the clean-up jobs was completed during the Volunteers Camps taking place over the summer vacations. The clean-up required removing the residue left after the roof repairs inside the roundhouse in the vicinity of stands № 13 to № 15. Volunteers also continued the clean-up of the cola storage started last year.

Every second weekend we worked on extending the fence dividing the tracks of line leading to Łowicz from the tacks of the Shed. Thanks to the project we managed to build a section of 40 meters of the most vulnerable area close to the turntable. As a result the area is secured against unauthorized access, and prevents both intruders and the visitors of the Shed from crossing the busy station tracks, also it improved the access to the broad-gauge engine class Ty23-273 standing on display in this area.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Foundation of Santander Bank Polska for supporting our activities.

Throughout 2019 along the major building projects in the shed we continued two significant repair of the rolling stock. The first one was regarding the flat car from 1912. Originally the car was build by Ringhofferove zavody in Prague as an open car for Košice – Bohumín Railway. Over the years the car was re-purposed several times and significantly altered in its construction. Fro some time we planned to bring the car back to the running condition. The first stage of repair planned for 2019 required sand-blasting and painting with anti-corrosive paint. Next was a thorough inspection of the running parts and small repairs of the chassis. The undercarriage has been painted in the final coat of black paint. Last stage was the preparation of the planks to cover the floor of the car and its sides. The works will be continued in spring.

Another vehicle undergoing repairs is shunting diesel engine class Ls60-143. It is one of the few shunting engines in our collection in a running condition. Despite this fact the external state of the paint job was rapidly deteriorating due to the neglect by previous owner. After partial disassembly of the engine cowl and securing all of the moving parts, the whole bodywork was sandblasted, painted with anti-corrosive primer and covered with the first layer of the target livery. The next stage planned for spring 2020 will be final painting and the necessary repair to the undercarriage.

Next year we also plan to resume the reconstruction of the beer refrigerator car.

Many years ago, our association was engaged in organizing the lectures regarding the history of railways in the Warsaw’s Museum of Technology. We hope to get back to this tradition thanks to the club KEN54 from Ursynów, famous of its railway fan-friendly atmosphere. On the occasion of the Railwaymen Day, our colleague dr Ariel Ciechański prepared two separate lectures. The first one was more related to the history and the latter to the current practices of taking care of railway heritage.

The first lecture took place on 19th November at 7PM. Ariel presented the results of transporting beer by rail and the history of special cars used for this purpose. The lecture How beer travelled by rail was very popular not only among the railway enthusiasts. During the lecture, participants could learn why transporting beer by rail was more profitable, what logistical challenges had to be faced, what type of cars had to be used for this purpose and what developments were required. The author underlined the importance of political influence on the way the beer was distributed. Most of the examples were based on the neighbouring Czechia, where rail transport of beer was the most common.

26th November was the date of the second lecture. This time it was Authenticity versus Modernity in Railway Museums – potential future of railway museum in Warsaw. During the lecture, Ariel presented different approaches to the presentation of railway exhibits. He started with the conventional static outdoor exhibitions on example of the museum in Sybin, Romania, Bulgarian Museum of Transport in Russe and Museum Of Railway Technology at the Main Station in Riga. Another examples were engine sheds adapted for museum like Lužné u Rakovníka in Czechia or Strasshof in Austria. The opposite side of the approach are modern buildings prepared specifically for the purpose of the museum like newly build roundhouse of Lokpark in Ampflwang or modern edifice of museum in Brussels. Last was the example of a perfect compromise between different approaches on the example of Museum of Russian Railways in Sankt Petersburg. A separate topic was devoted to specialistic museums dealing with a very narrow domains eg. railway traffic control on the example of Muzejní expozice sdělovací a zabezpečovací techniky. The lecture was finalized with a heated discussion on what path should the Warsaw’s museum follow.

On behalf of club KEN54 we would like to thank all participants of both events. We would also like to thank Jonasz Przybyszewski (Wolne Tory Photo) for allowing us to use his photos from the events.

Still in November we managed to complete the last track works. The scope of this year’s repair was replacement of ties under track № 14 and № 15 in front of the roundhouse. We already reported the progress of works on track № 14. Since then we finished the fastening and ballasting of both tracks. Next thanks to a selfless help of the FAC Rail all tracks leading to the roundhouse repaired for the last two years were properly tamped and regulated. The last activity was to move the concrete crossing blocks back on their place.

We would would like to express our gratitude to FAC Rail. We are happy that another company from Skierniewice representing the railway maintenance branch is supporting us. We would also like to thank the City of Skierniewice for the financial support of the track works in the amount of 16 800 PLN.