We would like to invite you on 5^th July to yet another Open Day in Skierniewice Engine Shed. Except the collection of the historical rolling stock, our visitors can see the old workshop and smithy with genuine equipment, the exhibition of photos by Marek Zienkowicz and the exhibition of railway safety devices. Guided sightseeing groups start at every full hour (11.00, 12.00, 13.00 and 14.00). For hungry or thirsty guests awaits catering stand from Atmosfera pizza house.

Free admission!

Media Coverage

On Saturday, 21^st June, on 8:00 pm we would like to invite our fans to the first in 2014 Evening in Engine Shed.

This time, our member Andrzej Paszke will present the slideshow “Tramways of Lisbon” regarding the legendary tramcars, so popular with tourists and respected by the residents of Portugal’s capital city

Free admission.

On Saturday, 7^th June, according to our every year’s tradition, we organized a special a special edition of the Open Day on the occasion of the International Children’s Day. Contrary to the ordinary Open Days, our visitors could freely move around the Engine Shed, so that the youngest guests would not get bored with the lengthy speeches of the guides or strict sightseeing route. Therefore one could freely choose among many attractions and exhibitions available on that day.

Thanks to the sunny weather we were visited by 546 people. Except the regular exhibitions, one could visit the stands of our partners. PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe promoted its safe railway crossing campaign „Stop and Live”, where everybody could learn about the important rules of using level crossings. The Landscape Park of Bolimów encouraged to visit its picturesque forests and its many hiking or cycling routes.

Thanks to the efforts of the volunteers technical tracks of the Shed were available for recreational short trips, either with a handcar or inside a historical train consisting of the passenger coach of 4^th class from 1889. Inside, a railwayman in historic uniform punched the Edmondson-type tickets with a vintage conductor’s pincers.

Children could also see the contemporary vehicles from PKP PLK track maintenance services – motor carts WMB10-223 and WM15-260 as well as the emergency vehicle “Unimog”. One could also visit the exhibition of the railway safety devices and signal box equipment, located in the old warehouse.

Children could also visit the artistic corner, were they could try to draw a steam engine or have their face colorfully decorated.

Hungry guests could help themselves by the catering stand of Atmosfera pizza house.

We would like to say a kind “thank You” to all our guests and partners.

Partners

Media coverage

And so it began – another stage of the repairs of the roundhouse’s roof.

This year, thanks to the received subsidies we plan to recreate the roof above the outer six revision stands, beginning from the stand № 1. The reverse order of the works (when comparing with the previous year) is the result of the need to quickly secure the outer walls from further deterioration from weathering.

The repairs are conducted by the building company „Marbudex” from Skierniewice, which filled the  most favorable offer. We expect the repairs to be completed in the next couple of weeks, but the exact deadline is strictly dependent on the weather conditions.

Repairs are subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (50 000 PLN) and the Łódź Conservationists Office (35 000 PLN). Own assets of PARE in height of 25 940,94 PLN comes from the 1% of the income tax, for which we would like to thank to all benefactors.

The repairs of points № 128 are slowly but steadily coming to an end. We are looking forward to the successful finish, while this set of points is the main access route from station to the Shed.

A couple of words about the points. It is a normalised switch with a 1:9 slant. The construction of this type of switches was designed by the German railways (DRG) during 1920’s and 1930’s, right after the introduction of the heavy type of rail (49 kg per meter – later known as S49). After war the S49 rails become standard type of railway track surface, making the lighter type C obsolete. The decision resulted both from the state of the post-war railway infrastructure and the fact that the rail was as wide as the pre-war Polish type S42. Of course, the points in our Shed are not as old, most of them was built during 1970’s. The repairs were needed as the slippers were incorrectly laid on a very thin and dirty ballast. There was hardly any drainage and many parts were simply recycled from main line tracks.

Current repairs were a complete overhaul of the switch. Each section of the points was disassembled for removal of old ties and ballast. We had to deepen the track trench to make the new layer of ballast thicker and ensure that new ties have no contact with bare ground. After ballast sifting, it appeared that we have to order several cubic meters extra to fill in the shortage.

During the last weekend, the last section of the switch was completed. The heaviest parts – the frog and guard rails – were laid on their place with our railway crane (manufactured by Maschinenfabrik Wyhlen in 1938). All parts were joined together and secured with new screws.

During the repairs we discovered that the join track between points № 128 and previously overhauled double slip in track № 57 should be completely replaced. There was hardly any ballast under the track and the ties were completely rotten. Thankfully, we still have some extra ties left from the repairs of the turntable – enough to complete the works. We still have to level the points and check the geometry of the new track layout, but we may say the works are nearly completed.