FEDECRAIL MEMBERS COME FROM 23 NATIONS Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, , Spain, Ukraine.

WHAT IS FEDECRAIL? FEDECRAIL – the European Federation of Museum and Tourist Railways is an organization under Belgian law. It was founded in April 1994 in Brussels and was authorized by Belgian Royal Decree. FEDECRAIL - is the European parent organisation for all Railways and European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways Museums which are engaged in the maintenance, preservation and Fédération Européenne des Chemins de Fer Touristiques et Historiques operation of historical railways. Europäische Föderation der Museums- und Touristikbahnen FEDECRAIL - every European national parent organisation for Museums and Tourist Railways can become a member of FEDECRAIL. Individual associations can only become members if there is no national organisation. Individual members or non-European associations can join the circle of the "FRIENDS OF FEDECRAIL" as promoters, patrons or sponsors but without the right to vote. FEDECRAIL - is a connecting link between the national parent organisations and the European Union (EU) committees, European parliament, EU commissions, EU executive boards, etc. FEDECRAIL - is the forum for discussions and the exchange of information for the European Museum and Tourist Railways FEDECRAIL – members of the Council, Officers and Technical Representatives come from the European member associations and work exclusively on a honorary basis. FEDECRAIL - publishes a newsletter with important information four times a year FEDECRAIL - organises an annual conference with specific European topics about the Museum and Tourist Railways, such as the preservation and maintenance of European railway heritage, regional regeneration, safety, financing, legislation harmonisation, environmental protection, etc.. Study trips to member railways and museums with the opportunity to see “behind the scenes” are always an element of the conferences. N O U V E L L E S B R E V E S FEDECRAIL Conferences have taken place in:- M I T T E I L U N G E N 1994 BRUXELLES, Belgium 1999 PRAGUE, Czech Republic 1995 STRASBOURG, France 2000 BAD BREISIG, Germany N E W S L E T T E R 1996 BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom 2001 TORINO, Italy 1997 STOCKHOLM, Sweden 2002 RIGA, Latvia 1998 BARCELONA, Spain 2003 LLANDUDNO, U.K. Nombre - Nummer - Number 19 Janvier - Januar - January 2004

26 More than 50 people gathered at the British Embassy in Warsaw for the morning session on 30/10/03, followed by the afternoon session at the National Railway Museum. The keynote speaker was David Morgan who explained the work of FEDECRAIL and the UK HRA as examples of the benefits of umbrella organisations in dealing with national and international issues. John Fuller addressed the conference on the work of FEDECRAIL and NERHT with particular emphasis on the new members of the European family. Andrew Goltz expanded on the UK Heritage Railway scene demonstrating the challenges that had been met and overcome over the last 50 years. Leszek Butowski from the EU explained the grant opportunities for Tourist Railways and Museums. Local speakers spoke on the development of Polish preservation, an interesting project near Warsaw where the Mlawa – Makow Mazowiecki narrow gauge railway is planned to form the central focus of a regional tourism regeneration and the development of relationships between cycleways, greenways and tourist railways.

All who were involved with the conference judged it a great success and after taking a week or so to recover the Polish team are already starting to think about next year’s conference which will probably take place in Krakow, Poland’s original capital and Chabówka, where Mike Pease’s campaign to encourage the Polish heritage rail movement originally started. Precis of a report by Andrew Goltz, Warsaw

The spark that led to the First Polish Tourist Train and Museum Conference – Chabówka Museum and Workshops

25 The weather for the trip was less than ideal with an unseasonal blizzard and Editor - Rédacteur - Redakteur early snowfall. The group returned to the town for an enjoyable buffet lunch John Fuller, 261 Lower Higham Road, Chalk, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 2NP, laid on by the mayor. It had been hoped to go on to visit Commandau and the UK upper section of the line and inspect the unique Krauss 4-6-0T 763.247 built Telephone + Facsimile: +44 (0)1474 362208 ; Mobile: +44 (0)7785 250571 in 1916 in Munich, but unfortunately arrangements could not be finalised. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Later in the afternoon a small group went privately by car to visit Commandau, Editorial Board where there is 90% unemployment following the sawmill closure and the town John Fuller (English) - details above is in dire need of regeneration for tourist purposes. Bruno Rebbelmund (German) - Westerwaldstraße 7 - D-46145 Oberhausen Telephone: +49-208-6351569 Facsimile: +49-208-667443 The event concluded with a celebratory dinner at the Bradul Hotel and the Email: [email protected] next day saw the group disperse with a number returning to Bucharest. Olivier Jaubert (French) – Tel : +33 1 46 91 09 69 Mobile : +33 6 73 87 66 64 Grateful thanks are due to Serban Lacriteanu and Daniel Secorescu of the Email : [email protected] Association for organising a most enjoyable visit and I am looking forward to a return perhaps in more summer-type weather! FEDECRAIL Contacts: Richard Tapper – UK (New Europe Railway Heritage Trust) Our website can be found at www.fedecrail.org Council Members and Officers can be contacted by email in the format »name »@fedecrail.org (as shown for the editor at the top of this page) Postal Contact should be to the FEDECRAIL Secretary :- POLAND’S FIRST EVER NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR Livius Kooy, De Akker 25, 7481 GA Haaksbergen, The Netherlands. TOURIST RAILWAYS AND MUSEUMS Telephone (and Facsimile by request only) : +31 53 5727357 Email : [email protected] The Director of the National Railway Museum, preserved railway and railway Contact details for the Conference Organiser and Treasurer are included in museum operators, directors from PKP - Poland’s state railway company, booking forms and renewal forms, as necessary. representatives from local and central government, officials from the British Embassy and the British-Polish Chamber of Trade, as well as railway-minded Council Members businessmen, came together in Warsaw on Thursday 30/10/03 to attend the David MORGAN (UK) President, Heimo ECHENSPERGER (D) Vice first ever national conference devoted to Poland’s developing railway President, Jacques DAFFIS (F) Vice President, Guido ROSSI (I), Sten preservation movement. ERSON-WESTER (S), Livius KOOY (NL) Secretary, Rik DEGRUYTER (B) Treasurer. The conference was the initiative of New Europe Railway Heritage Trust (NERHT) Secretary and Spa Valley Railway volunteer, Mike Pease, who has Officers been involved in Polish preservation since 1998 when he became involved in Peter OVENSTONE (UK) Conference Organiser. the Psykowice loco depot project . He visited the open air railway museum at John FULLER (UK), Editor, Bruno REBBELMUND (D), Olivier JAUBERT(F) Chabowka near Krakow earlier in 2003 to learn that PKP had just issued its closure notice together with several other of the regional museums. The FEDECRAIL Newsletter is published by and is the copyright © of the Chabowka is unique in that it is the only one of Poland’s regional railway European Federation of Tourist Railways and Museums. We thank museums authorised to carry out heavy overhauls on steam locomotives. photographers for permission to publish their work without fee. Mike began a vigorous lobbying campaign writing letters to the key decision The views expressed within the FEDECRAIL Newsletter are not necessarily makers responsible for Poland’s railway heritage which won a stay of those of the FEDECRAIL Council or Officers. All contributions are of a execution for Chabowka. However, he realised that there was still a threat to voluntary nature. Translations are by the School of Language and European the long-term future of Polish Railway Museums as a result of changes being Studies, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. made by PKP in preparation for its privatisation. Banking Mike alerted NERHT to the problems he had uncovered and they agreed to Fortis Bank (Belgium), Warandeberg 3, B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium (Account support a conference to bring together all of the Polish Tourist Railways and No.001-2046897-79) Museums to try to tackle the short and long term issues. With the help of a Correspondence to FEDECRAIL Treasurer, Stationsplein, B-9990 Maldegem. local Polish support team and Andrew Goltz formerly of the Swanage Railway (UK), the conference programme was put together in less than three months. Next Edition : Items to the Editor by 29 February 2004 please.

24 1 Front Cover : Fedecrail Conference delegates at Abergynolwyn, Talyllyn about half way up the line, due to a weak underline bridge making the Railway with our special train. 31st March 2003 (Photo : J. Crane) locomotive overweight. Here it was replaced by a small Gemeinder built industrial for the rest of the journey past the Bradul Hotel to INDEX the foot of the inclined plane, so it could be viewed. The plane itself is in need of restoration following forest fires and flood damage from earlier years. Editorial 2

Kjell Palén – Vice President (Retired) 4

FEDECRAIL Conference 2004, Leiden, Netherlands 4

A Look Back to the 2003 Conference 5 The reopening trains. President’s Report 11 (Photos: Serban Lacriteanu) First World Steam and Tourist Railway Conference, 12

News from Sweden 14

Bahnbetriebswerk wird erhalten 15

Ist die Eisenbahn noch zeitgemäss? 16

A methodical approach to assessing the significance of railway artefacts 17

The reopening of the Covasna-Commandau Forestry Railway 22

Poland’s first ever national conference for Tourist Railways & Museums 24

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the first new format FEDECRAIL Newsletter under our new Editorial Team. One of the most difficult things to produce is a multi-language publication and I must thank Bruno Rebbelmund for his efforts and perseverance over the years.

In order to spread the load and to try and help a timely future production schedule, your Council have agreed to establish an Editorial Board, with myself as Editor responsible for English language news and articles, Bruno Rebbelmund for German ones and Olivier Jaubert the French language items. We are also remitted to recruit national representatives in order to ensure a wider coverage of articles and news items of interest from as many of our member countries as possible.

In order to achieve this improvement for our readers we need more volunteers who are prepared to spend an hour or so four times each year in giving us an input of news and items from your own country. As most of you are already active volunteers or employees of Tourist Railways and Museums, you already probably hear what is going on. Can I ask you to contact myself, Bruno, or Olivier if you 2 23 • The National Railway Museum for giving me the opportunity to can help us please? Even if you just hear about one item that you think would become involved in this valuable work. have an interest for other members, please contact us. Our contact details are shown at the end of this newsletter. (Editor’s Note: This paper is published in view of its importance not just to UK Railway Heritage, but for every country in that it provides an empirical base to A crucial part of the work of FEDECRAIL is to make early representations firstly identify what we still have and secondly to try and prioritise how we about proposed legislation for the EU and also member countries that could conserve it before it crumbles away to dust and rust! Richard’s paper has affect our railways and museums. For example, strong and early input been refined and updated for publication by the UK Heritage Railway regarding proposals that all hot surfaces should have strong contrasting Association since this conference text was presented and copies (English only colours saved our locomotives from becoming close relations to Joseph’s I am afraid) are available on application to the editor. The information on Amazing Multi-coloured Dream Coat (Hopefully the musical reached all the carriages is available via www.vintagecarriagestrust.org or on a fully corners of our member countries – If you do not know what I am talking about, searchable CD-ROM available from the UK Vintage Carriages Trust. ask an old relative!). Early input relies on early knowledge and it is you as members who are likely to hear about proposals for legislation that have not While Richard has now taken a well earned retirement from the UK National been thought through properly in regard to our railway interests. Railway Museum, we are very pleased that he has continued his work and interests in the railway heritage field). It is not possible to expect our political and governmental representatives to know every aspect of every business that new laws could affect. The road lobby is very strong in challenging proposed new laws in every country and THE REOPENING OF THE COVASNA-COMMANDAU some of our national railway industries do their best within the straight jacket that can be their relationship with their government masters. However, the FORESTRY RAILWAY AND INCLINED PLANE implications of legislation for our 100km/h plus operations of national railways can be completely different from those of our own interests as Tourist Railway Recently I joined a group from the Siclau Association to visit this railway and and Museum operators. In many cases, we are the only truly independent its inclined plane. The latter is one of the largest still remaining in Europe and experts for our multi-million Euro (Pound….) business. has been listed by UNESCO as a world heritage monument. Timber traffic on the railway and the use of the plane for movement of timber essentially What I am getting round to saying is please do not sit back and complain ceased in 1999 with the closure of the sawmill at Commandau and the about proposals for laws that do not make sense to you. If they affect our remaining timber movement was handled by truck. railways, museums or operations, please tell us quickly. It is a lot easier to say to the law makers in advance – “Just a moment, if you write this it will result The Siclau Association was formed as a non-profit association with the in…….” than it is to read a new law passed by the EU or national parliament support the local authorities in the area to preserve the railway and the plane and start to make representations in retrospect for alterations, exemptions or and redevelop it for tourist purposes in the Carpathian region, not dissimilar to derogations. what is happening in nearby Ukraine. Just to take an example for our heritage engineers. The public at large have Having been met at Bucharest Airport by Romanian colleagues from the been thoroughly educated in the dangers relating to the use of asbestos Association, a lengthy 4 hour drive by minibus followed to Covasna, with a materials to the extent where complete prohibition was almost inevitable. This brief stop at Brasov to collect a Hungarian colleague from the station, where ignored that varying risks related to the different forms of asbestos. However, there was time to inspect plinthed SNCFR (Romanian State Railways) 2-10-0 what was ignored was the lack of equally suitable alternative materials for the 150.114 based on the German DRG Class 50 locomotive design. making of safe joints and gaskets for steam pressure vessels, whether on locomotives or heating installations. No proper impartial risk assessment to Overnight accommodation for 2 nights for some of the group was at the compare the health hazard of working with asbestos based material with the delightfully situated and very reasonably priced Hotel Bradul, with its own risk of injury from catastrophic failure of alternative less suitable materials was station alongside the railway as it climbs into the forest. Other group carried out. The result was a hard-learn lesson that allowed continued members stayed at hotels in Covasna town itself something of a resort for the controlled use of the asbestos based materials while further research took purposes of a spa in the town. place. FEDECRAIL is working hard to ensure that legislation in the EU and our member countries does not result in increased risk for our members. Next day saw the group of about 50 including colleagues from Hungary, Serbia, Sweden and the UK descend on the CFR(standard gauge) station Please do not assume that we hear things, tell us! where narrow gauge (760mm) CFF (Forestry Railways)interchanged with the John Fuller, Editor mainline. Here waiting to take the train up the line was CFF 0-8-0T 764-405R built by Reghin (Romania) in the 1980s. Regrettably it was only able to go 22 3 Kjell Palén Vice President (retired) It fell to me to draw together the conclusions from this work that would seek to inform possible grant giving bodies like the Heritage Lottery Fund in the UK, Known for his meticulous attention to about which of the extant vehicles in the country should receive priority detail and for relentless pursuit of funding. conference speakers for their notes, we were sorry to lose Kjell on his I started to perform this operation by asking all the coach examiners to retirement last year. His unstinting nominate and put into order of preference their top twenty choice of vehicles. support for Fedecrail over the years It soon became clear that this system was deeply flawed and brought out the was a great strength for the Council biggest prejudices in us all! and Officers and he was always happy to give advice to those of us more It resulted in outraged pleas for vehicles which had been missed from the inexperienced. We hope that his retirement will be a long and happy one and aggregated top twenty choices. There was also an uneasy debate about my that we will have the pleasure of his company at many more conferences. Keep taking the pictures Kjell! attempt to exclude all vehicles that were not "at risk" but yet were clearly deserving of funding. The logical argument to my intention to only consider "at risk" vehicles, was for responsible owners who had vehicles under cover to FEDECRAIL CONFERENCE : “ NETHERLANDS 2004” put them outside to gain eligibility! Clearly this was nonsense! Thursday 25/03/04 (evening) to Tuesday 30/03/04 At this stage we hit on the plan to use the scoring system previously Our 2004 conference marks the 10th anniversary of the foundation of discussed to evaluate individual carriages against the criteria provided. Fedecrail and will be based at the historic university town of Leiden, north- east of Den Haag and approximately 15 minutes by rail from Schiphol Airport. That way the various cases can be individually assessed on their merit and Conference themes will be the concept of “mobile cultural heritage” with those that have intimate knowledge of their particular favourite vehicle can additional presentations on current railway safety issues and insurance for make their own case for others to score later. heritage railways. This is the stage we have now reached and we believe this will provide the The programme will follow the pattern of our 2003 conference with a “practical grant giving bodies a good sound steer from practitioners on the ground and it experience day” at Stoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik on Friday 26/03/04. The will at last answer that question about what of significance is out there in the traditional conference business sessions and the General Assembly will be world of railway preservation in the UK. held at the National Narrow-Gauge Railway Museum, near Leiden on Saturday 27/03/04. A full programme of visits to several operating heritage There is no reason why this scheme should be confined to Railway Vehicles railways, tramways and museums in all parts of the Netherlands has been of course. arranged for the three days from Sunday 28/03/04 to Tuesday 30/03/04. Richard Gibbon, BSc Eng. C Eng. F I Mech E. Head of Engineering Collections at the National Railway Museum in York, UK. The main conference hotel will be the *** Het Haagsche Schouw Hotel in the western suburbs of Leiden with special reduced rates for participants. Limited In presenting this paper I should like to thank the following; budget accommodation is also available, a few kilometres away at Wassenaar • Michael and Jackie Cope of Vintage Carriages Trust for their and at the coastal resort of Katwijk, most convenient for delegates with their unstinting support and tireless work in creating the database and own transport. coordinating the whole project. • John Robinson of Transport Trust for starting the ball rolling with the Target price for the full 5 day programme will be in the range Eu 500 to Eu survey of railway wagons ten years ago. 550 per person (the final price is dependent on the amount of sponsorship for • All the volunteer surveyors who have trudged the length and breadth the event). As usual, individual day prices will also be available for delegates of the country looking at carriages and wagons in muddy fields. wishing to participate for less than the full conference period. It is hoped that • The Carnegie Trust for providing the grant which has enabled the we will be able to forward full details and booking forms to Fedecrail members whole project to get off the ground by providing the necessary IT , and Friends with this Newsletter and that past participants will also receive and has paid out of pocket and travelling expenses for the surveyors details early in February 2004. • The HRA for providing the umbrella organisation to take the project forward to apply to other than just Railway Carriages and inviting me Peter Ovenstone, Conference Organiser to present this paper • The Artefacts sub-committee of the Railway Heritage Committee for allowing us to plagiarise their scoring system to such good effect. 4 21 g) that they represent an important stage in development h) that they have been involved in some significant event, or have associations with an important person or organisation i) that they are of local, regional, national or international importance He was laughing TOTAL SCORE before he heard who was organising the All should meet criterion i) and one or more of criteria a) to h).For each 2004 Conference! – criterion, a point of 0, 1, 2, 6, or 10 is allocated – with 10 indicating that the Good luck Jaap and item scores extremely highly on the criterion concerned. Items should not be Team. considered further for designation unless either: - at least one score of ‘10’ has been allocated or: the total of the scores equals at least ‘20’.

I would be very surprised if this exercise does not confirm our gut feelings that Rocket is a priceless icon, the Belgian engine is a shade wobbly and the Mark I carriage is not worth saving.

The Railway Heritage Committee scheme described above would have remained as a really useful but limited assessment tool had it not been for a second and more recent initiative concerning railway carriages and wagons already in preservation, in which the scheme has also proved to be very valuable.

Ten years ago the president of the Heritage Railway Association, Dame Margaret Weston at a watershed conference called "Operating or Wrecking?" challenged the membership to get out into the field and come up with the answer to the question "What of significance still survives in railway vehicle preservation?"

The National Railway Museum, Heritage Railway Association, Vintage Carriages Trust and the Transport Trust formed a group called the Railway Carriage Register Group, secured funding from the Carnegie Trust and set up a nationwide survey with a team of approximately 15 volunteer assessors who sought out every vehicle and assessed its condition and significance against agreed descriptors. Bavarian Pacifics have To date some 3000 vehicles (85% of the total), have been visited and bigger ones! surveyed. The data has been placed on a Microsoft Access Data-base which is available as a fully interactive and searchable CD Rom which will be available for demonstration at the end of this talk. The data gathering exercise (Photos: has been hugely successful and is immensely valuable as a learning Nigel Hunt) resource.

It is sometimes tempting to believe that the database becomes an end in itself. This however is not the case and we sometimes have to pinch ourselves to remind us that the creation of this huge body of work has not saved a single valuable vehicle from the ravages of time and weather. What REALLY matters is what we do with the gathered information. 20 5 Each of the criteria gives us links into the importance of the object.

BUT WE DID WORK – HONESTLY! Early trials of the system did not have the numeric weighting showed below the criteria, and although outstanding and important items were clearly defined there was a large body of material in the middle ground with little or no numeric separation. The scheme fitted the classic "normal distribution" curve with which I am sure we are all familiar.

A refinement was thus introduced which limited the scores to a crude "logarithmic" type scale which encouraged better separation of the final totals, and fitted our intentions very well.

In the event of an item scoring a total which comes less than 25, the item is discounted and will not be put forward for designation.

We have found that scoring is best done as a group activity. There are usually extreme values put forward through possible personal bias that are effectively diluted by the weight of the majority verdicts.

I think it would be fun to try and score a few objects "live" that we all know about that we must pretend have just come out of service and are available for disposal. We are the committee that have to decide the fate of these items. I propose that we try and score them as a group.

• Stephenson's Rocket • The Mckintosh Belgian loco that recently got cut up for scrap. • A 1950's Mark I Touring Second Open carriage that contains asbestos insulation

RAILWAY HERITAGE COMMITTEE ARTEFACTS SCORE SHEET OBJECT ……………………………………………………………………..

CRITERIA SCORE COMMENT a) that they are unique, as made or built/the last remaining one of a group or class/extremely rare b) that they are representative of a group or class that merits preservation (Photos: c) that they are illustrative of a type of activity John that merits preservation Crane) d) that they represent an important technical or operational aspect of the railway e) that they represent an important aspect of the social impact of the railways f) that they form part of an established series or part of an assemblage that is being collected by a recognised institution

6 19 everyone as it brought some items into the net which should not have been there.

Members of the committee devised and implemented a numerical system of scoring the items against agreed criteria. This process had of course been going on subconsciously prior to the introduction of the scoring system but the new system enabled us (once we were experienced in its use) to set a "cut- off" score which meant that if an item did not achieve at least that figure it would not be considered further.

It is important to understand at this stage that the items that the RHC Artefacts committee was considering, all had to be "within scope" of the RHC's deliberations. That means that the objects must be or must have been in the ownership of British Railways Board and its immediate successors.

Let us consider the criteria that the committee agreed as descriptors. a. That they are unique, as made or built / the last remaining one of a group or class/ extremely rare. b. That they are representative of a group that merits preservation. c. That they are illustrative of a type of activity that merits preservation. ALL THAT WORK MAKES US HUNGRY!! d. That they represent an important technical or operational aspect of the railway. e. That they represent an important aspect of the social impact of the railway. f. That they form part of an established series or part of an assemblage that is being collected by a recognised institution. g. That they represent an important stage in development. h. That they have been involved in some significant event, or have associations with an important person or organisation. i. That they are of local, regional or national importance.

• The scores are on a scale of 0 to 10, and each item can score 0, 1, 2, 6 or 10.

• Every item must have at least one 10 to get through.

• Every item must score above 25 in total to get through to be considered.

• Every item must have some score in category "i" (Photos: John Crane)

18 7 Many reforms have happened to the railways in past history. We, the heritage and tourist railways, can provide our share in preserving the heritage of the railways. Only by this support can we prevent it being said in the future that:-

Festiniog “The railways are a relic of the past two Centuries. We must venture into new Railway things.“ Special Train Bruno Rebbelmund, Germany at

Blaenau Ffestiniog 28/03/03 A METHODICAL APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RAILWAY ARTEFACTS (Paper presented at the FEDECRAIL 2004 Conference, Llandudno)

The Railway Heritage Committee was established in 1993 as a government appointed body to oversee the selection and preservation of significant and deserving railway items once the life of that item on Britain's railway was over. Welsh Highland This came about because the privatisation of Britain's railways effectively Railway terminated the National Railway Museum's power (which we had enjoyed (Porthmadog) since the passing of the1968 Transport Act) to select or "claim" artefacts and Special Train records that they believed would be worthy additions to our collections. 28/03/03 In order to make sure that such items did not get destroyed in the new network, two separate subcommittees, answering to the main Railway Heritage Committee (RHC), were set up. The Records subcommittee dealt with records and two-dimensional items and the Artefacts Sub -committee dealt with "moveable three dimensional items". We defined an artefact as something that could with reasonable determination, could be moved. (So for example, a wooden signalbox is an artefact whereas a viaduct is not!)

Artefacts are brought to the attention of the committee by members of that committee, railway workers or members of the public. They are investigated Welsh Highland and discussed. When it is felt that an item is worth saving then the main Railway committee can "designate" the artefact. Once this has been done then the (Caernarfon) item is given a special status which theoretically protects it from destruction. Special Train The owners are notified of its special significance and are prevented from 28/03/03 disposing of the item without the blessing of the committee. At this stage the committee can "direct" the item to a suitable home in preservation where the committee feel the item has the best chance of surviving and being (Photos: John accessible. The new owners may have to recompense the old owners for the Crane) loss of the scrap value of the item, but usually this is not an issue.

That system might appear to be a perfect solution to the problem of saving artefacts from the living railway. However the committee found themselves struggling with widely variable assessments of the significance of various items that it was called upon to deal with. There was an alarming tendency to recommend "designation if in doubt" which was clearly unsatisfactory for

8 17 The Bw Krefeld will become a servicing point for modern and historic trains and engines. BEHIND THE SCENES – A FEDECRAIL SPECIAL!

In addition there will be regular historic events for interested visitors. Boston Lodge

Carriage For those interested there are two pictures of the Bw Krefeld Hbf available. Works One of 1963 and one of 2003. They can be downloaded under Festiniog www.bwkrefeld.de/station_3. Further information can be obtained under +49 Railway (0)171 625 1018. 28/03/03 Bruno Rebbelmund / D

ARE THE RAILWAYS STILL MODERN? A PIECE FOR THOUGHT! The stage coach was replaced by the railway. Nowdays motor vehicles demand their rights and priority. The motorisation in the last years and decades has moved traffic away from many railways, most of which have therefore been closed. Pendre Works Therefore I ask the provocative question: Is the railway still modern? Talyllyn Railway Differing opinions vary between different parts of the society. 31/03/03

There are the nostalgic people, who would like to have only steam and moderate speeds, there are the young and dynamic people, where it cannot go fast enough, then there are the accountants who believe it is all uneconomic, and there are the comfortable people, who don’t care about any of these Perhaps we are aspects, as long as they don’t have to change trains to get to their destination, early for the then there are the technicians, who use the railway for their inventions, train?! there are grumblers, who don’t like anything on railways, Waunfawr and lastly those who would prefer to live without railways. Welsh Highland Railway Where are the commonalities among these? Also we as railway enthusiasts (Caernarfon) have our own preferences. The older ones enjoy steam and and special trains 30/03/03 using steam. The younger ones, who haven’t seen much steam because they were born too late, prefer fast and shiny trains. Snowdon Mountain Snowdon The publishers still enjoy an ever growing numberRail of puwablicy ations about steam Mountain engines throughout the world. The fascination is still Works ther e and you can feel it Railway if you show a steam engine to your grand children30/03/0. 3 Works 30/03/03 But what about the national economy? It will move even more towards the roads in the(Photos: coming years because the (Photos: railways will become less and less flexible followFR,Ting theR,WHR downsizin g strategy in FR,TR,WHR line with market acceptance. Also new and creativeJohn private Crane, rail way companies John Crane, will fight over the state controlled access to the SMRrailw aMargarys. et SMR Margaret Crane Crane

16 9 On these homepages are links to all member Societies. Some of them have OLD TRACTION AND NEW! information in English.

The MRO annual meeting took place in Västervik on 25th and 26th October 2003. It was decided to let a group, together with representatives from the JHRF, to investigate how the voluntary railway interest in Sweden should best be organized in the future. One idea is to make one organization out of MRO and JHRF. Another idea is to maintain them separately, but to increase the cooperation between them, and yet a third idea is to start up a broader branch umbrella organization with more members from the railway branch. The group has to present the first part of its work at the spring meeting in 2004, and a decision is scheduled to be made at the next annual meeting in October 2004. Another important problem that was discussed was the insurance question.

JHRF had its annual meeting in Västervik on 23rd November 2003.

There is a very detailed newsletter, published regularly by JärnvägsInfo Förlaget (Anders Svensson). It tells all about the latest news in the Swedish heritage railway world. It is published in Swedish, but by use of computer translating tools it could be read also by non-Swedish speaking persons. The Great Orme Cable Tramway, Llandudno There is a small subscription fee. Please feel free to contact Mr. Anders A historic restoration of Victorian Transport Technology – 29/03/03 Svensson at [email protected] The homepage is: http://members.tripod.com/veterantag/jinf.html/

There is also the heritage link-page http://www.jhrf.se/veterantag/ Sten Erson-Wester, Sweden

KREFELD RAILWAY DEPOT TO BE PRESERVED

Some of the abandoned railway installations at Krefeld are to be sold by Deutsche Bahn AG. In this way a group of private investors with railway interests are hoping to buy the depot near Krefeld main station, which was originally closed in 1999. The area covers a roundhouse with 19 tracks, a 23 m turntable and a shed for railcars. In addition there are also offices, stores and workshops. Part of the buildings are protected monuments, which impose special restrictions for future development.

The area of about 38,000 sqm will be the future home of the „Emscher Park Eisenbahn Gesellschaft“ (EPEG), which owns and runs ex-DB steam locomotive 78 468, built in 1924, diesel locomotive 36 114, built in 1938 as well as a set of historic passenger and freight wagons on sucessful tourist The newest Welsh Narrow Gauge Railway – The Corris Railway trains in Nordrhein-Westfalen. A recreation of one of Wales’s lost railways – 31/03/03 The depot Krefeld Hbf will not become a museum. Instead it will offer services (Photos: John Crane) to professional and voluntarily operated railways for services such as protected parking of vehicles, supplies for steam engines, making up of trains YOU HAVE SEEN IT HERE – NOW JOIN US IN THE NETHERLANDS and maintenance and repair. To this extent the required pits, modern workspace for diesel engines, cranes and workshop with special equipment for historic vehicles are available.

10 15 PRESIDENT'S REPORT

As FEDECRAIL expands both its role and activities, our officers' time becomes increasingly taken up with travelling and attending meetings with members and with taking up the cudgels on their behalf. At the same time, we have to remember the importance of protecting the interests of our members with regard to European legislation. We have recently responded to consultation by the European Commission on its draft directive on the licensing of train drivers. Since this proposal is connected to the EU version of interoperability, our submission makes it clear that we believe that our member railways should be excluded.

During 2004, the European Union will, of course, be expanded which will, no doubt, create fresh problems, particularly for those members operating in the new member states. During recent months, I have visited potential new members in both Ukraine and Poland. Peter Ovenstone has also visited tourist railways in Hungary. I hasten to add that none of this has been done at cost to FEDECRAIL but even so, you may wonder what value such The Grand Hotel excursions have for FEDECRAIL. Giessbach even has its own private funicular Of course, I feel first and foremost a sense of what the French would call railway that links the "Noblesse oblige" insofar as we are fortunate to be reasonably well developed hotel to its stea mer and successful. I therefore have a natural inclination to help those less landing stage o n the fortunate than us. Secondly, I am keen to see that those countries emerging lake from the Soviet shadow should not jettison their interesting railway heritage. Thirdly, I think that it is important to show support for our associated organisation, the New Europe Railway Heritage Trust (NEHRT), who have in (All Brienz photos: Liz Fuller) turn supported us. Fourthly, I see these countries as providing the next generation of recruits to FEDECRAIL membership.

Several members of Council also attended the First World Congress of Steam and Tourist Trains, which I chaired. Originally, we had intended to hold this in Argentina. As the conference was hosted by Roger Waller of DLM and the Brienz Rothorn Railway, much of the discussion was concentrated on modern steam and there was much to learn here, even by the operators of traditional NEWS FROM SWEDEN locomotives. More importantly, we also raised issues of wider concern such

as the problems facing the insurance market. The Museum Railway Society “Järnvägssällskapet Åmål-Årjäng” became a new member of the MRO (The Swedish umbrella organization of Museum There clearly was considerable interest in how we are hoping to set up a pilot Railways) on 25/10/03. The Society runs the 25km long standard gauge scheme for the creation of a mutual fund, allowing museum railways in effect railway between Åmål and Svanskog in the summer season. The society has to insure themselves against most predictable risks, apart from the three steam locomotives and other rail vehicles including a rail bus. catastrophe element for which we would reinsure. Homepage: http://www.jaaj.tk/

All those present, who included delegates from all five continents, felt there The MRO (The Swedish umbrella organization of Museum Railways) has a was sufficient common interest to investigate the feasibility of setting up a homepage http://www.museibanorna.se/ worldwide organisation. A working party will be meeting in York in England at

the UK National Railway Museum in May/June, to coincide with the Rail200 The JHRF (The Swedish organization for Historic Railway Societies without celebrations commemorating 200 years since the first operation of Richard their own rail track) has a homepage http://www.jhrf.se/ Trevithick's locomotive.

14 11 While FEDECRAIL will undoubtedly play a leading role in facilitating the Steam specialists from all continents travelled to study the modern steam formation of such an international association if it is decided to proceed, I traction. After a trip with a new oil fired steam locomotive of the BRB, a doubt whether we will get involved directly in such an organisation as a presentation of the theme was held in the Grand Hotel Giessbach on the member, if only on grounds of cost. I will be outlining my views on how it may future of steam transport worldwide and the expectations of economical move forward at our meeting in Leiden (Holland) on 26/27 March 2004, when development of all aspects of the steam locomotive business. Numerous we have many other topics to discuss such as the recommendations of the external influences and specific problems of maintenance of often hundred Safety Working Group and the Cultural Charter. year old material that many steam railways have had since their first existence were discussed. These included environmental elements such as frequent David T. Morgan floods, strong winds, landslips, sandstorms, snow and hot weather, together President with the high costs to maintain the lines and their original infrastructure.

Also there are many State taxes, and safety regulations, the differences of which between countries cannot be ignored. High staff costs as well as legal FIRST WORLD STEAM & TOURIST TRAIN CONGRESS regulations to restrict the working time of Railway personnel are further BRIENZ, SWITZERLAND challenges for many undertakings in the industrial nations. A single set of regulations would be helpful and should be strived for. FEDECRAIL the As mentioned by our President, FEDECRAIL was honoured to be asked to European umbrella organisation has adopted this challenge. chair the First World Steam and Tourist Train Congress. In addition, keynote presentations were made by David Morgan, Heimo Echensperger and John Great amazement was expressed when a presentation was made on the Fuller and most of your Council signed up as delegates to the Conference. Schafberg in Austria where a new oil burning steam locomotive operates as economically as DMU’s. Also further advantages of modern steam traction were reviewed by experts from English tourist railways. The need to make a profit to survive, means that new and economical steam locomotives can make big cost savings over our historical artefacts. So the daily cost of steam locomotives in regular service for the whole of the main season, or for special services is reduced by this new efficiency which enables historically significant old locomotives to be conserved.

Presentations concerning the protection and the maintenance of historic railway material were given, particlurly by the Director of UNESCO from New Delhi Mr Rajesh Agrawal, who described the famous Darjeeling Himalayan railway in India which has been designated as a world cultural heritage site. Diverse European railways would like, in time to attain the same status. In conclusion taking place in spring 2004 is the 200 year jubilee of the first steam locomotive of Richard Trevithick. Rail 200 celebrations in York England will be the base for further discussions about the creation of a worldwide umbrella organisation for steam and tourist railways. Steam old and new at and Brienz 17 October 2003 Brienz. (Photos: Liz Fuller)

The following is the press release issued by the sponsors, the Brienz Rothorn David Morgan with the Bahn and DLM, Switzerland following the very successful conference. Congress Sponsors at Brienz Thanks to the worldwide leading status of Switzerland in the sphere of development and construction of modern steam locomotives, the Bahn and the DLM AG sponsored conference brought together more than 90 representatives from steam and Tourist railways from all over the world to join in the first World Congress last Autumn at Brienz from 5th to 8th October 2003.

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