Traditionally, in the last days of the old year, we would like to summarize it in couple of words, not forgetting about thanking to our Volunteers and Sponsors, without whom the results of our activity would be much more modest.

The most import part of our activity was renovation of the historical buildings of the Engine Shed. Year 2016 broke all records in this category. For the tasks related to renovation of the main roundhouse we spend a total of 253 087,06 PLN. The most expensive operation was general overhaul of the roof spanning the area above stands 14 to 23 – it took 139 317,41 PLN. 90 000 PLN was granted by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Conservationist of Łódź Voivodeship granted another 25 000 PLN for this purpose. The remaining amount was sponsored by Bank Spółdzielczy from Skierniewice (3500 PLN) or was coming from your support, from 1% of income tax (20 814,41 PLN). There is still small portion of roof to be repaired above stands 12 and 13, which we hope to accomplish in 2017.

The biggest challenge was starting the reconstruction of the skylight above roundhouse. Despite we gained much experience in planning and carrying out roof repairs, the skylight made us learn everything from scratch. After several weeks of careful planning and fixing the agreements, out long-time contractor, construction company “Marbudex”, started the reconstruction. The first stage of rebuild, spanning stands 1-3, was worth 113 769,65 PLN. Again, 100 000 PLN was granted by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the remaining amount was nearly fully sponsored by Freightliner PL.

A grant of 6500 PLN from City Council of Skierniewice was fully devoted to track works in Engine Shed. The money were spend to buy and transport pre-stressed concrete sleepers. The ballast was obtained for free. Yet, the track relying work had to be carried out with the effort of our own members and volunteers. Thanks to the warm autumn all heavy work like digging new track cess, positioning the sleepers and lying new ballast was completed before the first snow.

During 2016 we realized two projects to popularize volunteering in Engine Shed. Thanks to the support of National Heritage Board (10 000PLN), as a part of programme Volunteering for Heritage, we organized four parts of Volunteers Camp during which the participants helped in the upkeep of surroundings of the Shed and by the renovation of class Ol49-4 steam engine. As a part of the project we completed the equipment of the educational sightseeing route, which allows our guests to sightsee the outside of the shed on their own. A similar project, directed more towards the technical education, was a part of Active Youth Foundation supported by Bank BZ WBK (2 200PLN).

To sum up, from grants and sponsors we received over 250 000 PLN for renovation works. This means that the initial capital coming from 1% from income tax (from 2016 we received from Tax Office over 28 000 PLN) was multiplied nearly tenfold!

The rolling stock renovation was focused mostly around the renovation of passenger steam engine class Ol49-4. We continued the external paint job and completed the build of boiler cowling. Thanks to the completed roof works, we were able to move the engine inside the roundhouse, on stand 3 where class Ol49 is better protected against elements and can be easily accessed for further repairs, also from below. This work was completed partially from funds collected from 1% of income tax and partially as activities during the Volunteer Camp. The beer refrigerator car was also taken care of as the wooden construction of the walls has been nearly completed.

We intensified the works on our future railway telecommunication exhibition which will be located on the ground floor of administration building. The exhibition will be placed in three adjacent rooms, one of which already hosted partially reconstructed KATS railway exchange and remaining two were the former office of Rolling Stock Repairs Department. After completing the major renovation of the interiors, in 2016 we build a new framework for Siemens Einheitbasa racks and mounted the racks. This way we liquidated the old exhibition (the room can we renovated now) and freed lot of storage space. The future exhibition will be a unique Siemens railway exchange coupled with Strowger exchange of type FT-200 with equipment for manual connection, maintenance, commutation and teletransmission. The works are advanced in 60%.

We also broke in 2016 several records in terms of guests attendance. Not only did we surpassed our record so far – 6134 visitors, but we also exceeded the most optimistic estimation of 6500 guests. We finished 2016 with a guest count finishing at 6684 tourists. This remarkable result was possibly mostly due to large interest in engine shed among organized groups and special events addressed mostly to the fans of vintage cars.

On behalf of members of PARE, volunteers and the railway vehicles saved from rust we would like to express our gratitude to all sponsors in 2016:

Right before the end of this year we received a sad news about the death of our young volunteer. Paulina Sasin, coming from Białystok, has frequently visited us to help in various activities in Engine Shed. A long distance from her home was not any obstacle in this case. In her home town she was well known from her high spirit and engagement in social affairs. She brought this unique energy with her to our Shed. One could always see her smiling, no matter what kind of work she was doing at the moment – whether this was renovation works by the rolling stock or artistic initiatives.

Paula’s funeral will take place on 1^st January 2017 at 13:00 in Karakule.

We would like to pass our sympathy to Paula’s family and her colleagues form various non-government organisations in Białystok, including WOŚP Białystok.

Farewell, Paula…

Merry Christmas spent together with the beloved ones and all the best in coming year 2017

Board, Members and Volunteers of PARE

Definitely, the major railway event of Sunday, 11^th December 2016, was the opening of the new Łódź Fabryczna station. However, there were also other noteworthy events, especially important for us, members of PARE. This time it was a come-back of train “Wysocki”, after a year of suspension. It is actually a fifth time, that train with this name appears on Polish railway routes. The new train will take the shuttle route from Warsaw East to Racibórz. It’s only a pity that the train will not bear the full name – Stanisław Wysocki – due to the naming standards limiting names only to surname.

The history of “Stanisław Wysocki” trains reaches back to 30^th May 1999. Pare members put forward a proposal to celebrate in this unconventional way the memory of the famous Polish engineer. The history of all trains bearing this name till 2013 was described in detail in a chapter of “Stanisław Wysocki – pioneer of Polish railways” booklet. The issue of the book was presented to the crew of train TLK “Wysocki” on 11^th December 2016.

The five-coach train from Racibórz was greeted on Warsaw Central Station by our collegues Marek and Grzegorz Moczulski. The returning set (8 coaches) was in return greeted by other PARE members at Warsaw East, Skierniewice station (here the City Council joined in and presented to the crew various gadgets related to Skierniewice) and Koluszki (local railwaymen handed to the crew flowers). In Częstochowa, the collection of memorabilia after the inauguration run of the train was supplemented with book “170 yeasr of Warsaw-Vienna Railroad in Częstochowa region”.

At the invitation of Łódź Agglomeration Railway we took part on 11^th December in the opening day of the new Łódź Fabryczna station. Contrary to our expectation, the event finalizing this gigantic project was rather casual, without official fete. It took as a while to reach the ŁKA Passenger Information Centre – due to our historical uniforms, many people could not resist the opportunity to take a photo with a railwayman in unique uniform.

The project started on 8^th March 2011, when City Council of Łódź, PKP SA, PKP PLK SA and Minister of Infrastructure signed the agreement regarding the cooperation of the city and railway companies in rebuilding the station Łódź Fabryczna and its surroundings. Costs of the project were estimated to 2 billion PLN, where PKP PLK S.A. was to cover 73% of the costs, City of Łódź – 24% and PKP S.A. – 3%. On 24^th May 2011 a consortium of contractors was appointed by PKP PLK S.A.: Torpol, Astaldi, PUT INTERCOR and Roads and Bridges Building Company from Mińsk Mazowiecki. Agreement with contractors was signed on 18^th August 2011 and on 15^th October the last train left the old station. Łódź Fabryczna disappeared from timetables for a couple of years. Initially, it was estimated that new station will be ready before 28^th February 2015.

In June 2012 demolition of the old station was completed, on 13^th September excavation works began. In May 2014 pouring of the new station foundations started 16 meters below the surface. 3 months later assembly of the glass roof began and proceeded till May 2015. At that point it was announced that works will be delayed till the end of 2016. By the end of 2015 all track laying works were completed in the tunnel approach to the station and the first train arrived at the building site. From 29^th November 2016 railway operators were allowed for test runs and route recognition. The new station was approved for operation on 9^th December 2016 and 2 days later it was opened for passengers. Still, finish works will be continued till the end of 2017.

Despite some parts of the new station are not yet fully operational, the station can be already considered a huge success of all people engaged in this project. It is also a major step forward for Łódź, which at last have a proper modern transportation junction with a pleasant architecture. We only hope that soon the new Łódź Fabryczna station will become a terminal station for numerous railway connections with other Polish cities, just like during the good old days.

It’s only a pity that nothing was left after the old station, that, despite its neglected state, was a listed building. It is a matter of discussion if there were conditions to save the old building. Yet, it is worth noting that new station has freed itself from the urban constraints squeezing the railway infrastructure in the dense city centre area. Additionally, the example of Łódź once again proved that a success of a major railway project is always the matter of good cooperation between railway companies and local governments. Definitely new Łódź Fabryczna station will become a prominent symbol of the city, similarly to Warsaw Central Station.