Issue No. 1 Summer 2006 INAUGURAL MEETING - LONDON 22Nd February 2006
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Issue No. 1 Summer 2006 INAUGURAL MEETING - LONDON 22nd February 2006 The meeting took place at the Model Railway Club and was attended by about 20 prospective members from all around the UK. A general discussion took place and introductions, suggestions and proposals were made. At this meeting a small committee was voted on and tasked with setting up the Society on a formal basis. The Committee members are: Chairman David Stevenson Secretary and Membership Secretary Charles Philips Journal Editor Michael Guerra Treasurer Tony Bowles (volunteered after meeting) Publicity & Exhibitions Myles Muncey Some of the names may be known to you, some not. No doubt in the first magazine we will write some short pieces about ourselves. The meeting was followed by a fascinating slide show given by Lawrie Marshall, the well-known author and photographer. Later Myles Muncey gave a short talk on modelling Iberian Railways. THE BASICS The remit of the Society is to stimulate interest in and disseminate information about railways on the Iberian Peninsular and the Balearic Islands. It was felt at this time that extending this remit to Spanish and Portugese speaking areas of the world would be too ambitious. It is proposed that a Society Journal be published four times a year and that this would be the main conduit between members. Local meetings and branches were also to be established wherever possible to encourage membership from the widest possible area. A fledgling library could be made available to members as time went on. Consideration would be given to organising trips from the UK, both formal and informal, as a way of enabling members to meet in a very convivial atmosphere and whilst indulging their passion for rail travel! MEMBERSHIP Membership was to be open to all and would entitle the member to receipt of the magazine, use of the Societies’ facilities and attendance and voting rights at an Annual General Meeting. MEMBERSHIP RATES FOR ONE YEAR – APRIL 2006-MARCH 2007 UK £12.00 EUROPE £14.00 REST OF WORLD £16.00 Payment CHEQUE (Payable to: Iberian Railway Society) - Send to: Charles Phillips 52 Brookmans Road Stock, Ingatestone Essex CM4 9DB Those joining during the year pay the Annual Rate and will receive all copies of the journal for that year. Membership of the IRS is subject to the rules and constitution of the IRS. Membership records are held on a computer database in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. 2 Title Page The Society 2 Introduction to Iberian Railways 4 Editor’s Page 5 News 6 Photography & Permits 8 Railway Holiday in Spain 1992 9 Zafra-Huelva Passenger Services 1936 19 London to Lisbon 1997 20 The RENFE Class 269 21 Media Reviews 27 The Magazine—An Overview 30 Diary 31 Contributions for publication should be, if possible, by email or computer disk (to avoid time spent transcribing text). Photos should be of good quality, sharp, well composed or of significant historical interest. Prints, slides, digital photos or good scans can be accommodated. All prints and slides should be sent by recorded delivery, they will be scanned as quickly as possible and returned by recorded delivery. Articles can be of any length, though generally of between 500 to 800 words for a book review, and up to 4,000 words for a main article. Maps should be of a good clear line, and legible at quarter page size. Submissions should be to: Michael Guerra, 6 Nash Close, Welham Green Hatfield, HERTS AL9 7NN Email (pref): [email protected] Front Cover: RENFE Class 316 just off a coal train at Bobadilla 05/92 3 he railways of Spain and Portugal were born of their unique culture and geography, their rather variable T economics, their relative isolation (on the periphery of Europe), and of the parochial mindset of the many proud provincial leaders all vying for attention during the later stages of the European Industrial Revolution. Iberian railways have had a fascinating history, through good times and bad, and have played an important part in the development of Spain as a whole industrial nation with foreign markets, yet still kept back with its determination to resist invasion by stubbornly (and later forlornly) keeping to its mainline track gauge of six Castilian feet. And yet it has managed to develop, through diligence and innovation, and has become one of the most reliable systems in Europe. At the Asturian Railway Museum in Gijon there is rolling stock of seven different gauges, built in countries as diverse as Spain, France, Belgium, England, Scotland, Germany, and the United States. And across the Spanish system are some of the largest and smallest steam traction ever seen in Europe. But the reasons why we enjoy the Iberian railway systems are probably more complex. From the Celtic verdant north from Galicia to Euskadi, to the empty table land of Castilla, the agricultural basins of Aragon and the Levant and to the dry regions of the Extramadura and Andalucia. From the grey rain-swept Atlantic coasts to the Mediterranean beaches can be found many layers of geology, history and ideology. The great variety of culture, food, music and temperament all adds to the enjoyment of magnificent journeys that can be taken across the diverse landscapes of Iberia. The railways of the Iberian peninsular were built to fulfil some kind of dream; a dream of an Industrial Iberia, aping the economies of Britain, France and Germany. But both Spain and Portugal were poor and rural, and that was holding them back. Their Empires were waning, and in Spain especially there was a bubbling of social unrest that was to tragically explode in the death of the Second Republic. Today, both Spain and Portugal are modern countries, expanding their economies with international trade while their railway systems develop. There are growing pains of course, with Portugal especially feeling the loss of empire. In Spain the death of Franco and the re-birth of democracy were like the releasing of a great spring. A European identity was born, and with that Spaniards were allowed to be outward looking, - wholesale modernisation became the new ideal. But it is being achieved by not forgetting the past. Although Spain in its early history, especially in the south, was a great melting pot of cultures and ideas; since the Reconquest it looked inward, in so creating a more cohesive, national identity. Lost wars, and a demographic that was mainly rural, held it back, meaning that the landscape, and even the towns and cities, are still littered with architecture and artefacts from all periods of human occupation. In no other region in Europe is it possible to see such a depth of culture and history. Every provincial centre has a cathedral (or two); and castles and fortified towns litter the landscape. The cuisine of Spain is enormously varied, encompassing ingredients and techniques from all over the Mediterranean and the New World, yet entirely dependant on fresh local produce. Every town has a centre where people congregate and maintain social cohesion, where rules of deportment, engagement and discourse have remained unchanged for centuries. Yet today’s Iberia can call itself modern. Madrid and Lisbon are gregarious European capitals, and are talked of in the same terms as London and Paris. Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in the world, and with every year foreign tourists expand their horizons as the other Spanish cities wake up to their international status. And this is providing the impetus for the development of the Iberian railway networks. Most of the Iberian systems were built with foreign capital, foreign rolling stock and foreign expertise. Mistakes were made, opportunities lost, and over-optimistic expectations failed to materialise. But all that adds to the history. In recent years there has been a re-evaluation of Iberian railway history. Old museums have been refurbished, and new ones emerged in the competition for the tourist culture Euro. Though not as grand as those of York, Mulhouse, Nürnberg and Luzern, the collections at Vilanova I la Geltru, Madrid Delicias, Gijon and Azpeitia are all worth of serious consideration. Serious railway scholarship is now accepted, and used as a point of local interest and pride. 4 am by profession a design engineer. I am currently working on two packages at St Pancras. I have been a I rolling stock designer for the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways. Although I was not born until 1959, my association with Iberian railways probably began in 1939, when a train saved my father’s life. My father was born in Torrelavega in Cantabria in 1916 into a well-to-do land-owning, but liberal family. He lost the bottom half of his left leg at the age of four when he was run over by one of the only cars in northern Spain. In 1936 he found himself in London outside UCL, just about to start medical studies when he read in an English newspaper that Franco had landed and that the Republican government had had to declare war. He (and his father – who was in London on business), rushed back to Dover, the ferry and via Paris to Irun where he enlisted in the Republican Army. After a difficult war, mostly in the north, he rose to the rank of major by the age of 23 (mostly due to the attrition of officers, but also due to his leadership in various actions). After being evacuated by a British ship following the fall of Gijon, he returned to Spain and found himself being put in charge of the Montjuic hospital in Barcelona.