European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways Fédération Européenne des Chemins de Fer Touristiques et Historiques Europäische Föderation der Museums- und Touristikbahnen

N E W S L E T T E R N O U V E L L E S B R E V E S M I T T E I L U N G E N

Nr. 18 II/03

Editor - Rédacteur - Redakteur Bruno Rebbelmund - Westerwaldstraße 7 - D-46145 Oberhausen Tel.: +49-208-6351569 // Fax: +49-208-667443 E-Mail: [email protected] No. 18-II/03 2 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

Dear Madam / Sir, Dear friends of FEDECRAIL,

This summer nearly all of Europe experienced a heat, which CONTENTS Page was similar to the heat on the driver’s platform of a steam- locomotive or ever hotter than that. Many of the planned trips were cancelled, as our passengers were spending their time in Editorial 2 swimming pools and not on trains. Another reason was the mangers responsible for the trains considered the danger fire MBE for our President 3 due to flying sparks from the steam trains too high. In the meantime the climate has returned to normal and we EU Culture 2000 Project-RailNet 3 can hope that the turnover figures will increase for the reminder of the season. European Union Co-Funding 4

The extent how much the governments do appreciate our Members of FEDECRAIL 8 voluntary work is demonstrated by the example of our President David Morgan. The Queen awarded him an MBE The RIGA Charter 9 (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his contributions to Heritage Trains. Warmest congratulations FEDECRAIL Conference 2003 10 on behalf of all our readers. Late News 13 Due to changes amongst the active participants within FEDECRAIL and the progress made by IT technology I will Re-opening of the Covasna – transfer after 5 years my duties as editor of the FEDECRAIL Comandǎu Forestry Railway 13 Newsletter to John Fuller/UK. Hereby I would like to thank everybody who have supported Carpathian Tramway Forum Conference 14 me with the production of the respective editions through the last year, especially Emmanuelle and Eva from Aston Railway Preservation in Hungary 15 University’s School of Languages for their translations. Heritage Rolling Stock at Risk 16 But I won’t disappear completely from the FEDECRAIL Newsletter but will carry on supporting John Fuller with Air Quality during trips of the steam train 17 contributions from the German speaking regions. FEDECRAIL Addresses 21

Enjoy reading the newsletter What is FEDECRAIL 22

Yours Bruno Rebbelmund

FEDECRAIL Website www.fedecrail.org FEDECRAIL E-Mail Addressee: [email protected]

FEDECRAIL Newsletter is published by and is copyright of the European Federation of Museum and Tourist Railways. The views expressed within the FEDECRAIL Newsletter are not necessary those of the Editors or of FEDECRAIL council. FEDECRAIL newsletters are published in English, French and German. Contributions to the FEDECRAIL Newsletter are of a voluntary nature. Translations by School of Language and European Studies, Aston University, Birmingham/UK

Time of publication 26.09.2003, after it translation. Any item for publication for Newsletter no.19 must be with the editor by 15th November 2003

For all payment: Fedecrail, Stationsplein, B-9990 Maldegem Bank account: Fortis Bank (Belgium) no. 001 - 2046897 - 79. Bank address: Fortis Bank, Warandeberg 3, B-1000 Bruxelles No. 18-II/03 3 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

DAVID MORGAN TD, MBE John Fuller / UK

One of the problems with an international organisation such as FEDECRAIL is that official recognition of special services to a country or community takes different forms in different countries. Therefore, an honour in Britain may leave our members in Italy wondering what on earth all the fuss is about!

Having said that, it is clear to our members in every country just by talking to UK members (and looking at the smile on David’s face), that the extra letters now added after our President’s name are really special!

Every year Her Majesty the Queen celebrates her birthday in various ways, one of which is by bestowing honours on individuals for special services of one sort or another. These honours of various ranks and titles go back deep into the history of Britain and are a tangible recognition (without financial benefit of course!) that the recipient “has made a difference” to the nation, or a community.

In David’s case, the award of being made a “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (or MBE) is not just for services at a national level, but also specifically “for services to the preservation of transport in the UK and Europe”. It therefore gives recognition of his leading role in FEDECRAIL as well as the UK Heritage Railway Association and the UK Transport Trust. Alongside railway heritage, he is also Chairman of Heritage Afloat (the maritime equivalent of the HRA) and a member of the European Maritime Heritage. This list ignores the official positions that he holds on the Boards of a number of UK Heritage Railways.

As an indication of how far David’s influence is felt, I was recently with him at a conference in Ukraine where, completely out of the blue, the State Secretary for Tourism presented him with the Ukrainian Order for Services to Tourism in recognition of regeneration work in the Trans-Carpathian Region.

I am sure that I am joined by all FEDECRAIL members in offering congratulations to David on the recognition of his immense efforts on behalf of our movement. They do say that behind every great man, there is an even greater woman and we must also express our grateful thanks to Heather for letting us “borrow” David so often to play trains and boats and……. Get MBEs!

EU CULTURE 2000 PROJECT - RailNet David Morgan / UK

FEDECRAIL is very pleased to be involved in this newly announced project that has brought EU funding of 897,000 euros for our members out of a total project cost of £1,495,000. The project is being managed by the Planning Department of the University of Thessaly based in Volos, Greece, four of whose senior staff are taking a close personal interest. A special tribute is due to the enthusiasm and work of Manos Vougioukas of the University of Thessaly and also of the Pelion Railway, without whom it is certain that this project would not have been approved so quickly. It is clear, however, that the support of FEDECRAIL was also a major factor that influenced the EU in giving approval and opening the European purse strings to the extent of nearly 900,000 Euros of real money for our members! Your FEDECRAIL subscriptions do bring real benefits and we anticipate that this will be the first step in a regular flow of beneficial projects to support our members in their work to preserve Europe’s industrial heritage.

The partners in this first project are:- 1. MTVS, Butry/Valmondois near Paris, France 2. Pelion Railway, Volos, Greece 3. Gulbene-Aluksne Railway, Latvia 4. MBS, Haaksbergen, Netherlands 5. CTM, Castellar de N’Hug, Barcelona, Spain 6. Midland Railway Centre, Butterley, near Derby, UK

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All six partners are undertaking the restoration of a steam locomotive as part of their project but have included other initiatives (such as the erection of a historic footbridge at the Midland Railway Centre) in their application. All are committed to documenting the restoration and to participating in various publicity activities.

FEDECRAIL’s involvement is as a “sub-contractor” primarily in relation to publicity, dissemination of information and the provision of the “launch pad” for the project’s conclusions which will be presented our our 2006 conference, which is to be held in Volos, Greece.

We look forward to our active participation with the partners of the project and will be keeping you all informed through the Newsletter as this exciting project develops and further opportunities for funding applications appear.

European Union Co-Funding Opportunities for Actions Involving Heritage Railways Manos Vougioukas / Greece

1. INTRODUCTION There are several sources of funding directly from European Union (EU) institutions, funds and programmes that can benefit Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Local Government Authorities, Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Universities, Research and Training Centres. At the same time, heritage railways in most cases are in need of extra funding in order to support their initiatives of further restoration work, development, promotion, marketing, etc, in some cases to supplement other available funding from national sources. This paper will explore ways and opportunities for obtaining financial support directly from EU sources.

2. EUROPEAN UNION CO-FUNDING INSTRUMENTS It is more accurate to use the term EU co-funding, as in almost all cases a proportion of the cost of the action is actually funded by the EU with the rest coming from own contribution of the beneficiaries or from other sources (e.g. national government). The proportion of EU funding can vary from 35% to 75% (in some exceptional cases even higher) of the costs of the action. The vast majority of funding comes through the European Commission (EC), the Structural Funds it operates and other programmes run by its Directorates-General (DGs).

The sources of EC co-funding are several, each with its own actions, budget, rules, priorities, timescales, expected deliverables and terminology. The following is a good but not exhaustive list of sources from the European Commission:

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Cohesion Fund (and ISPA for the Accession Countries) Research and Technological Development (RTD) Framework Programmes “Grants” from specific programmes (e.g. from Culture, Energy, Environment, Enterprise DGs) Other specific instruments.

Apart from the EC, the European Investment Bank (the development bank of the EU) provides loans on favourable terms for infrastructure projects.

The other EU institutions, European Parliament (EP), Council of Ministers, Committee of the Regions (CoR), do not generally have funding mechanisms of this kind on their own. Almost all the funds and programmes that they approve are channelled through the EC budget.

It should be noted that some of the major funding from the EC is earmarked and administered by the Members States at national government level. Such major funding includes the Community Support Frameworks (CSF) which although approved by the EC and the EP their spend is allocated by national governments. Heritage railways have benefited from such support through national government spending No. 18-II/03 5 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

which involves EU support. Such funding does not involve any direct links of the beneficiary and the EU institutions and therefore are excluded from this paper.

3. CONCEPTS AND PROCEDURES To benefit from EU co-funding for a project, there are some general concepts and procedures that should be followed such as:

Networks of organisations from several countries (ranging from 2 to 5 or more) are usually required Co-operation at all levels is a must Exchange of experiences and good practices is very helpful The project must involve or lead to common methods of working for all participants Dissemination of results to wider public or particular community at large (depending on the action) is very important Workshops, Seminars and Conferences are almost always required Deliverables must be concrete and well-specified Added-value at trans-European and Pan-European levels is sought.

The majority of potential funding for heritage railways comes from the big funding instruments such ERDF and the RTD Framework programmes. The majority of ERDF spending is allocated through the CSF or similar actions, but there is always an inter-regional co-operation part (Article 10 of ERDF) with substantial funding of interest to heritage railways under tourism, regional development, culture, environment and employment themes. The inter-regional co-operation programmes have been Recite (Regions and Cities of Europe) and Recite II, ECOS-Ouverture (for external co-operation with Central and Eastern European Countries) and MEDA (for co-operation with Mediterranean countries). The current inter-regional co-operation programme is INTERREG IIIC. Tourism and culture are included as eligible topics in INTERREG IIIC.

RTD projects tend to be more scientific and technological and usually addressed to Universities and research institutes. However, there may be more emphasis on tourism and sustainable development, or transport and tourism, in the 6th Framework programme just starting (first call of proposals ends in April 2003) in which some innovative actions involving heritage railways can be proposed.

The process of award of a contract by the EC starts with a call for proposals that is published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Communities and all documents are usually available on the Internet. The proposals are evaluated by an independent group of experts and if there is a recommendation for funding, the EC responsible DG opens negotiations with the selected consortium co- ordinator. During this stage the EC may request some clarifications on or changes to the work programme and budget. When agreement is reached a contract is signed and the project starts. The process from call of proposals to the project start can take between 9 months minimum and as long as 18 months; usually it takes about a year.

4. MANAGEMENT AND CO-ORDINATION The project management and co-ordination requirements of a EU co-funded project are usually very demanding and should not be underestimated. As this kind of EU co-funded project may involve several organisations in several countries operating in different languages, legal frameworks and cultural environments, it is obvious that there is a need for professional project management approach and continuous monitoring.

Under Project Management we mean:

Administration (day-to-day) Technical Co-ordination, and Financial Management.

Administrative practices should be sound and effective in order to process and document the large volume of inter-partnership communications and exchanges of drafts, materials, products, outputs and deliverables related to the project. In addition there is a need for efficient communication with the Commission services and possibly other EU institutions that may be involved. The partners will need to have regular progress meetings (typically 3 times per year) and these should be well organised with a proper Agenda set by the project manager in consultation with the main partners, properly chaired and minuted with on-going monitoring and assessment of progress achieved.

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Technical Co-ordination is also important in order to monitor the proper implementation of the agreed work programme (which is usually an annex to the contract with the Commission). Given that different teams will be working in parallel in several locations at the same time and in different languages, it is important to monitor and follow-up regularly the technical progress, assess the results and where appropriate take remedial action. It is important to ensure that intermediate and final deadlines are met and that no time is wasted through lack of co-ordination.

Financial Management is of the utmost importance, as the Commission services and the Court of Auditors have the right to audit all the expenditure for several years following the end of the project. The rules of the particular programme have to be followed by all partners and the co-ordinator should keep copies of all supporting documentation. In most cases there is a need for external audits being performed prior to some intermediate and the final payments being released by the Commission.

Setting-up a Management Board and a Steering Committee to oversee it, the former comprising managers and the latter Presidents/Chief Executives or elected councillors if a local government project, is a good way to ensure good project management and co-ordination.

A good practice, sometimes a necessity, is the signing of a Consortium or Partnership Agreement by all participants. This Agreement governs all internal management and co-ordination issues and responsibilities of the consortium members that are not the subject of the main contract with the Commission. In cases where the contract is signed only by the co-ordinator (and not by all main partners), the consortium agreement serves also a vehicle of sharing risks and responsibilities between the project partners.

5. DISSEMINATION, QUALITY CONTROL AND EVALUATION Apart for project management and co-ordination there are usually three other tasks that have to be addressed:

Dissemination Quality control Evaluation.

Dissemination of the project findings, results and outputs is very important and is increasingly a main requirement by the EC. The aim of dissemination is that the project results receive maximum exposure so that other organisations can benefit from them. Dissemination channels include continuously updated websites, leaflets and brochures, dedicated dissemination events such as seminars, workshops and conferences as well as participation in established conferences and exhibitions and articles in existing publications.

Quality control concerns the standard of the deliverables (reports, multi-media, on-the-ground actions, infrastructure, etc) that are defined and foreseen as outputs of the project. This task can be carried out by experts assigned by the project co-ordinator on behalf of the consortium, so that the final product is of the highest quality possible. For written reports, this usually involves peer review and comments/recommendations for improvement (particularly as the inputs come from several countries and working languages).

Evaluation involves ex-ante, intermediate and final ex-post stages, as well as continuous monitoring of the progress and results achieved by experts, usually “external” to the day-to-day work of the project. The aim of the evaluation is to provide an external viewpoint on the progress and results achieved and to recommend remedial measures for better management, co-ordination and quality of the outputs.

6. SOME EXAMPLES AND POTENTIAL PROJECTS There are some examples of actions involving our Pelion Heritage Railway in EU co-funded projects, such as:

The SMART project (Strategic Management Actions Related to Tourism) was co-funded by the Action Programme on Tourism between 1995 and 1997 led by the University of Thessaly in Greece and involving tourism research centres in Italy and Spain. SMART had a wider aim to improve the management of tourism utilising nature and culture in order to promote sustainable local development through pilot actions. One of these actions involved the planning and implementation of excursions using alternative forms of transport to the private car (this was a requirement of the programme). For this, SMART developed itineraries involving the steam little train of Pelion (between Ano Lithonia and Milies) No. 18-II/03 7 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

and tested these by organising excursions for particular groups. The results were positive so that these organised excursions were taken up by tour operators and were included in tourist packages, which were offered commercially.

The ECOSERT project in the Recite II inter-regional co-operation programme involved planning for sustainable tourism with environmental management and several local actions, led by the Prefecture of Magnesia with partners in the UK, Italy and Spain (1998-2002). One of these actions was the preparation of an Exploitation Plan for the Volos-Milies Heritage Railway in Mount Pelion (for the total length of the 28 km line out of which 15 km are currently in operation). The exploitation plan team reviewed international experience of heritage railways, recorded the present status of the line and rolling stock, carried out market research with visitors and tour operators, proposed new schedules and tourist products, defined the pricing policy and the marketing-promotion strategy, proposed the reservation system and the uses for the station buildings, and identified the further work required for the next 5 years. It also carried out a technical and economic feasibility study for the new operating company and examined the legal issues involved in reaching a concession agreement with the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE), the owner of the railway. As part of the plan, the new operating company was set up in 2002 as a public-private partnership, including local government authorities of the area and private sector organisations. A Preservation Society has also been established as a non-profit company to support the operating company with specialised railway expertise, organising voluntary work, international relations and cultural activities.

Following contacts with FEDECRAIL members, we have taken the initiative to set-up a project in the EU Culture 2000 programme under the theme of Industrial Heritage (a so called Multi-Annual Co-operation Agreement). The emphasis of the EC in the call for proposals for 2003 was on cultural heritage in the sector of industrial heritage with strong European significance. Heritage railways of course are of the highest European significance regarding industrial heritage. Together with partners from UK, Spain, France, Netherlands and Latvia, we prepared the SteamRail.Net (Industrial Heritage of Steam Railways – Co-operation Network) proposal, which was evaluated by independent experts with a recommendation for funding. We have been invited to explain the proposal in Brussels during February 2003 and we are currently awaiting the approval by the European Parliament for the project to start in June 2003. SteamRail.Net will last for 3 years and involves the restoration of steam locomotives (most of which are declared as “monuments”) of various gauges, documentation of the restoration processes, exchange of information and experiences (mainly through FEDECRAIL channels), co-production and staging of touring exhibitions using new technologies concerning the restoration processes and results, production of multi- media and audio-visual products in several languages and promoting the links of the participating railways with the culture, history and environment of their wider areas. As part of SteamRail.Net we hope to host the 2006 FEDECRAIL conference in Greece and to make important contributions on the intermediate results of the project in the 2004 and 2005 conferences. The touring exhibitions will be staged in all participating countries as part of established tourism and railway sector exhibitions, as well as at events involving schools and youth.

Under the INTERREG IIIC programme that just started (first call for proposals was closed in January 2003), there is potential for a proposal led by local government authorities on sustainable tourism development involving historic modes of transport, including heritage railways and other disused or converted facilities such as canals, boat building and repair yards, footpaths. Heritage railways may be part of local partnerships working together with the respective local authorities.

Under the RTD 6th Framework, there may be actions involving transport, tourism and sustainable development in which research and demonstration actions involving heritage railways can also play a part in co-operation with Universities and Research Institutes.

Finally, the European Parliament recommended in 2002 the establishment of a specific Community-wide framework programme for tourism with a specific budget and emphasis on the projected measures, especially those related to training or intended to promote innovation. This programme is seen as a means of enabling Europe as a whole to remain the world’s top tourist destination. If such specific programme on tourism is adopted, museum and tourist railways could be active participants towards strengthening European tourism potential.

7. CONCLUSIONS We have presented some instruments, concepts and ideas of EU co-funding opportunities for actions that involve development of heritage railways and their wider areas. This is not an exhaustive review, as EU programmes and priorities range widely and may also change over time. Some guidelines and No. 18-II/03 8 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

conclusions can be drawn, that if taken into consideration may lead to securing EU co-funding for actions involving European heritage railways, with:

Work with Local and Regional Government Authorities Work with Universities, Research and Training Institutes Work with Travel and Tourist Industry Associations, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Business Associations Interpret the Calls for Proposals in the widest sense possible so that to include heritage railways and also in relation to your own plans Take advantage of Calls for Proposals that may have a heritage railway interest, as they are announced (a priority theme of this year that suits heritage railways may not re-appear again next year) Do not underestimate the importance and extent of sound project management, administration and co-ordination Use existing or secured funding as matching funds by including actions that are already in the pipeline Emphasise the European added-value of common working methods Include effective dissemination activities and channels (making best use of existing communication channels and developing new ones) Emphasise the common European heritage of steam railways Stress the multiplier effect Include partners from Accession Countries (soon to become new EU member states) Seek advice from and inform your national representatives in the relevant programmes on your proposal Start the proposal early and use established links with relevant organisations in other countries to speed up the proposal preparation Observe deadlines in the submission of proposals and deliverables Use professional advisers throughout – to win the project and to run it Involve FEDECRAIL, as well as national associations, as actors and key users of the project results.

Even in cases where a heritage railway company cannot benefit directly from EU co-funding, actions involving heritage railways can be co-funded through EU programmes where the actual beneficiary is another organisation (e.g. Local Authority, University/Research Institute, Tourism Development Agency, Chamber of Commerce).

We hope that, the above can contribute towards heritage railways benefiting from EU co-funding programmes in the future, but we strongly believe that the experiences shared by working together at trans-European and pan-European levels in such programmes, as well as the teamwork achievements, are worth far more than the funding itself.

Manos Vougioukas, Transport Planner and Analyst; Consultant in Transport, Tourism, Development and Management; Member of the Board of the new operating company of Volos-Milies Pelion Railway in Greece; Directed the preparation of the Exploitation Plan of the Pelion Heritage Railway as part of the EU ECOSERT Project in the Recite II Programme on planning for Sustainable Tourism; Founder of the Pelion Railway Preservation Society.

Members of FEDECRAIL

FEDECRAIL members came from the following 22 nations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Czech Republic.

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THE RIGA CHARTER European Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Heritage Railways in Operation

PREAMBLE

The VENICE CHARTER was created in 1964 as a statement of principles for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites. It opens with the preamble:

“Imbued with a message from the past, the historic monuments of generations of people remain to the present day as living witnesses of their age-old traditions. People are becoming more and more conscious of the unity of human values and regard ancient monuments as a common heritage. The common responsibility to safeguard them for future generations is recognized. It is our duty to hand them on in the full richness of their authenticity. It is essential that the principles guiding the preservation and restoration of ancient buildings should be agreed and be laid down on an international basis, with each country being responsible for applying the plan within the framework of its own culture and traditions.

By defining these basic principles for the first time, the ATHENS CHARTER of 1931 contributed towards the development of an extensive international movement which has assumed concrete form in national documents, in the work of ICOM and UNESCO and in the establishment by the latter of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property”

Both Charters focus on monuments and built heritage. Transport heritage is not covered.

DEFINITIONS

ARTICLE 1. The concept of operating heritage railways embraces all forms of traditional railway equipment. It was a significant development in the history civilisation and its preservation helps to transfer and preserve traditional skills. Both the artefacts and methods of operation have acquired cultural significance with the passing of time.

ARTICLE 2. The preservation, restoration and operation of traditional railway equipment must have recourse to all the sciences, techniques and facilities, that can contribute to the study and safeguarding of the railway heritage.

AIM

ARTICLE 3. The intention in preserving and restoring traditional trains in operation is to safeguard them whether as “works of art”, as historical evidence or for perpetuating traditional skills.

PRESERVATION

ARTICLE 4. It is essential for the continued survival of traditional railways, locomotives, rolling stock and signalling in operation that they be maintained on a permanent basis.

ARTICLE 5. Making use of traditional trains for some socially useful purpose always facilitates their preservation. Such use is therefore desirable but it must not significantly change their exterior appearance. Modifications demanded by a change of function should be kept within these limits. ARTICLE 6. Traditional railways are inseparable from their history and the local communities they served.

RESTORATION

ARTICLE 7. The process of restoration is a highly specialised operation. Its aim is to preserve and reveal the aesthetic, functional, and historic value of traditional trains and equipment and is based on respect for original material and authentic documents. The restoration in any case must be preceded and accompanied by a historical study of the equipment.

ARTICLE 8. The restoration of traditional trains and equipment will best be accomplished by means of traditional materials and techniques. Where traditional materials or techniques prove inadequate, the No. 18-II/03 10 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

conservation of traditional trains in operation can be achieved by the use of modern materials for conservation, the efficacy of which has been shown by scientific data and proved by experience.

ARTICLE 9. The restoration of a traditional trains and equipment does not require that it shall be restored to the original year of construction. Some trains acquire their historical value later in their working life. Restoration to any period should be executed only after thorough consideration of historical records and available technical documentation covering the chosen period.

ARTICLE 10. Obligatory safety equipment must integrate harmoniously with the whole machine, but at the same time must be distinguishable from the original so that restoration does not falsify the artistic or historic evidence.

ARTICLE 11. Additions cannot be allowed except in so far as they do not detract from the interesting parts of the trains or equipment, its traditional setting and the balance of its composition. Furthermore, any modern modifications should be reversible and any original parts should be retained and secured with a view to its possible reunion with the other original parts in the future.

ARTICLE 12. In all works of restoration there should always be precise documentation in the form of analytical and critical reports, illustrated with drawings and/or photographs and other appropriate media. Every stage of the work of dismantling, treatment, reassembly and addition of new parts, as well as technical and structural features identified during the course of the work, should be included.

This draft version of the RIGA CHARTER was discussed by delegates at the Llandudno Conference in 2003 and is being reviewed by a working party with the intention of a final version being adopted at the 2004 FEDECRAIL Conference.

FEDECRAIL WALES 2003 CONFERENCE LLANDUDNO / Wales Friday 28.03.03 – Tuesday 01.04.2003 John Fuller / UK

To mark the 50th Anniversary of the start of railway preservation in the UK, it had been decided to hold the 2003 Conference in Llandudno in North Wales, so as to be ideally placed to visit the birthplace of railway preservation.

It was decided to try to improve the conference by including a much greater element of “hands-on” experience and by reducing the amount of time spent in the conference hall.

As usual, in order to be able to attract working managers and members from railways across Europe, the dates were chosen at the end of March so as not to conflict with most operating seasons.

About 90 delegates gathered in the lounge of the Royal Hotel on the evening of Thursday 27th March to register, meet old friends and make new ones and especially to hear what had been planned for us for the next few days.

Our first experience was to be a “Hands On” day on the Festiniog Railway and the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog). We were disappointed to learn that due to a strike, we would not be able to experience a ride up the Conwy Valley line to Blaenau Ffestiniog on one of the new Virgin Voyageur Diesel Units. It was to be a road coach journey instead. However, we arrived on time at Blaenau to find an impeccable Festiniog Railway train with Alco 2-6-2T Mountaineer at the head, waiting for us in the platform. With difficulty, the camera wielding delegates were persuaded on to the train and we were soon away for a steam hauled run down the valley. We had been carefully split into three main groups, distinguished in traditional railway fashion as “Red”, “Yellow” and “Green”. After coffee on the train, we soon stopped at Minffordd where the Red party were decamped, followed shortly by a stop at Boston Lodge to drop the Yellow party and finally to Porthmadog where the final Green party left the train.

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The Festiniog Railway had carefully worked out an ingenious plan whereby the three main parties would split into three or four smaller groups, each of which would have a different activity at the one site, moving on after half an hour to sample another activity and then each 90 minutes each main party would be conveyed by road coach to their next destination! It was a marvel of logistics and despite delegates from 14 countries, it worked!

At Minffordd, activities were split into “self drive” activities on the slate shunt with Lilla and Linda, two of the FR’s Hunslets, demonstrations of the FR’s signalling system and talks on Civil Engineering, Safety and Volunteer Staff by three of the railway’s officers. I did feel sorry for them in competition with the “Self drive” activities as the weather was good!

The Boston Lodge visits were split into the Locomotive Works, Carriage Works and the Telephone Exchange.

At Porthmadog life was even more hectic with shuttles to and from the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) at the other end of town where delegates had a ride on the line, saw the start of the track works towards joining with the Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarvon) which had started that week and were able to visit the works and Museum. All this while at Porthmadog station, presentations on the problems of operating the FR and also the commercial variety of visitors were ably undertaken by further officers of the railway.

To add to the interest, a partners’ programme including a visit to Portmeirion was run in parallel to all the other shuttles!

To say it was a marvellously organised day would be an understatement and our grateful thanks are due to Clare Britton and her army of helpers and planners. Coaches appeared at the appropriate moments, packed lunches appeared from odd corners when they were needed and finally everyone was safely gathered in the Spooner’s Bar at Porthmadog Station for refreshment and a final talk with the new General Manager Paul Lewin (although whether the Partners ever learnt how long their stay was likely to be after we suddenly discovered that the coach driver bringing the last group in from Minffordd had forgotten to start his trip by collecting them from Portmeirion!)

The culmination of the day was a storming non-stop run over the whole line to Blaenau Ffestiniog behind the newest Fairlie “David Lloyd George”. Such a run is a very rare treat because it can only be done outside the normal service train times. This was confirmed by the number of FR volunteers and staff, including their senior officers, who joined us for the run. A run of about 50 minutes was achieved.

As the strike on “big brother” railway was still on, we re-joined our road coaches for the run back to Llandudno for an evening dinner at the Royal Hotel.

Saturday was to be for the formal conference sessions which were held in the excellent Council Chamber of Conwy County Borough Council at Bodlondeb in the town of Conwy. A short coach ride brought us across the Conwy Estuary to the walled Castle town, which the Partners were lucky enough to tour while we were in session.

Our morning commenced with welcome speeches which were followed by Brian Simpson, MEP with an update on Europe and then David Morgan on problems regarding insurance.

After coffee, we turned our thoughts to the obtaining of funds from the EU with an interesting presentation by Manos Vougioukas from Greece who has successfully masterminded the Steam Rail application for support covering a number of our member countries. Turning to a more technical theme, in the unfortunate absence of Shaun McMahon who was recovering from an accident, Chris Parrott talked us through the Livio Dante Porta system for Boiler Water Treatment.

Lunch was followed by a paper from Richard Gibbon of the UK National Railway Museum outlining the UK Railway Heritage Committee and giving us an interesting insight into a marking system that is used to determine the value of preserving a specific artefact. Following Richard, the theme of preservation of our industrial heritage was continued with a joint presentation by David Morgan and Heimo Echensperger promoting the drafting of a European Charter for rail heritage to mirror that existing both for buildings and for ships. The afternoon was completed by the formal business of the FEDECRAIL General Assembly during which there was a presentation by our Ukrainian Delegates on the work they are doing in conjunction with NERHT to secure two of their last operating narrow gauge railways. No. 18-II/03 12 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

After a return to Llandudno for a quick change and freshen up, we all met at the Lower Terminus of the Great Orme Tramway for a trip up on the newly restored cable tram and a visit to the halfway winding house. Once again we were blessed with a wonderful sunny evening during our all too brief stop at the summit. A choice of either an energetic downhill walk, or a minibus shuttle brought us all to the venue of our evening meal, the Ski-slope restaurant where we were to sample a Gluhwein and Fondue Evening. The popularity of the conference created some interesting logistical challenges before everyone was squeezed in somehow!

The return to the town was scheduled, as on other evenings, to enable a suitable period for sampling the traditional British (or Welsh) real ale and the pub at the Tramway Terminus was drunk dry of “Tram Driver” Bitter on at least two evenings of the conference!

A late evening on Saturday was followed by an early start on Sunday as we boarded our coaches once again. This time we were heading for the heart of Snowdonia to the Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarvon), but first to meet our guides at Beddgelert, who were to show us the works under way to extend this incredible line from its present railhead at Rhydd Ddu on to the foot of Snowdon and Beddgelert before descending through the spectacular Pass of Aberglaslyn and meeting the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) that we had seen on Friday. After touring the works, we drove on to Caernarvon to the terminal nestling under the walls of the Castle on the old standard gauge track bed to join our train hauled by one of the magnificent South African Garrets that form the basic motive power for this line. Riding along in the comfortable, newly built coaches, drinking tea and viewing the marvellous scenery, we could only express disappointment that we had arrived a few weeks before the next stage was due to open.

However, the present terminus at Rhydd Ddu has the big advantage of being beside an excellent Hotel that served us lunch before we re-joined the coaches for the next part of our day, the Snowdon Mountain Railway at Llanberis. Here we were able to tour the works and locomotive sheds before taking a ride on either steam or diesel trains to Clogwyn. Unfortunately, we were too early in the season to reach the Summit, as repairs to the ravages of winter had not been completed. The weather was again beautiful and sunny. Indeed, I have never in over 40 years of visiting Snowdonia known such a sustained period of fine weather! We were able to see the summit of Snowdon itself on three days!

After coming back down the mountain, we were able to visit the works and sheds of the Llanberis Lake Railway. Unfortunately, as it was in the middle of an extension to reach a new terminus opposite the Snowdon Mountain Railway station, we were unable to ride the length of the line, but the derelict slate workings proved of interest as well as the locomotives.

An evening dinner in the Royal Victoria Hotel at Llanberis was followed by a late evening return to Llandudno after a hectic day.

While some delegates had to leave us, there were still enough for two coaches to make the long journey south on Monday 31st March to the birthplace of Railway Preservation at Tywyn, where the Talyllyn Railway made us very welcome. After refreshment and a quick visit to their Museum that was about to close for a major redevelopment, we joined the train for a short run to Pendre Works, where we were shown round. Rejoining the train we made our way to Nant Gwernol after pausing for a photograph at Quarry Siding where we passed the down train. On our return to Abergynolwyn a lavish buffet awaited us which was very welcome. In the mean time, our coaches had repositioned from Tywyn to pick us up for the trip to the newest Welsh railway, the Corris Railway. Here the short ride from Corris to Maespoeth has only opened this year and it was very interesting to see the work that had been undertaken to restore their facilities in order to get their operating permission. Their one coach (at that time) was a replica of one of the original coaches of the line, which we had just travelled in on the Talyllyn Railway by whom it had been bought when the Corris Railway closed. It was good to hear though that co-operation was taking place between the oldest and the newest lines and that a Corris Locomotive and the coach were to visit the new Corris Railway later in the year.

Our journey back to Llandudno was followed by a free evening as for many of the delegates it was to be their last night. The weather seemed to sense this as it turned windy and by Tuesday morning, the rain had returned!

With a party reduced in number to one coach load, we embarked on the last day of our conference by once again climbing the road through the Conwy Valley to Blaenau Ffestiniog. For a small hardy party No. 18-II/03 13 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

who wanted to make the scenic train ride up the Conwy Valley that we had missed on the Friday, an early start sent them ahead of us by train to be collected at Blaenau. Our first visit of the day was to the nearby Llechwedd Slate Caverns for a railway tour with a different – the Deep Mine Tour starting with a funicular descent into the depths of the mine and followed by a guided audio-visual tour of the underground chambers of the Deep Mine. An incredible experience and justly the holder of many awards for its tourist activities. Unfortunately time precluded a second train ride into the mine as we had to press on to our final railway and our first standard gauge one, at Llangollen. Time, weather and slow lorries conspired to make us late arriving at Carrog for our special train, but a spirited run to Llangollen saw us in time for our lunch at the Corn Mill beside the river. Because we had to make connections in Chester, there was only a very limited time for a visit to the Railways’ Workshops and Shed, but a number of delegates braved the weather to see behind the scenes before we joined the coach for the run to our drop-off point at Chester General Station. It was a small group of about 20 survivors who made the last trip back along the coast to Llandudno, where we dropped in for an unscheduled visit to the town museum, which had a preview of a forthcoming transport exhibition alongside its normal artefacts. Thus ended what was a very successful conference with about 100 delegates packed into the Council Chamber for the main proceedings and almost as many participating in the other core programme days.

We are grateful to all the railways, members of the UK Heritage Railway Association who made us welcome and who went out of their way to make our visits interesting, particularly for our foreign delegates. Our particular thanks go to Conwy County Borough Council for their generous sponsorship in the provision of their Council Chamber and interpretation facilities and for the help from the Llandudno Conference Office in the person of George Brookes for all his help in organisation. However, our special thanks are reserved for Clare Britton and her team from the Festiniog Railway for their inspirational organisation of our Friday “Hands On” day that has set an impossible example for future hosts to emulate.

LATE NEWS

EU Locomotive Drivers Licensing Draft Directive: We have received a copy of this draft directive and are at present studying the proposal in order to formulate a response. It should be possible to report back in the next Newsletter.

FEDECRAIL Conference 2004 - Netherlands After some considerable discussions, it has been agreed to hold the conference from Friday 2nd April 2004 to Tuesday 6th April 2004. It is hoped that this will avoid delegates having problems with escaping from duties on their own railways. Please mark these dates in your diary now!

1st World Steam & Tourist Railway Congress 2003 – Brienz, Switzerland This takes place from Sunday 5th October 2003 until Wednesday 8th October 2003 and FEDECRAIL is one of the organisers. In addition to our speakers, experts from Switzerland, Germany and India will make presentations.

Details are available from the Conference Planner, Mr Andrew Thompson (Tel: +41 79 754 57 28; email: [email protected])

The Siclau Association – Re-opening of the Covasna – Comandǎu Forestry Railway Serban Lacriteanu / Romania

The Siclau Association have just announced the inauguration of their rebuilt line on the weekend of 25/26 October 2003 with a special steam train. Fedecrail Members and friends are invited to join them for the ceremonial re-opening. The inaugural programme will be the following: - Friday, 24. October: Arrival in Covasna in the evening. -Saturday, 25. October: Special train with 764.405 from Covasna to the damaged Inclined Plane and Comandau –direction Benedec ~ 2km with 763.247. In the afternoon-evening barbecue, drinks etc. in Covasna. - Sunday, 26. October: Visit to the Inclined Plane to investigate the possibilities for restoration. Depart from Covasna to our homes around 12.00. No. 18-II/03 14 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

Interested railway enthusiasts must contact Serban Lacriteanu before 20 October for the special trains and for accommodation at the Hotel Bradul (23€ one double room). Participants must pay their own fare to and from Romania, but the Siclau Association will provide free transport by bus/minibus from Brasov or Sfantu Gheorge to Covasna and also the transport from Covasna to Comandau. Please make your booking to: Serban Lacriteanu on +40(723)252231 or email [email protected] (English, French, Romanian). He will forward German or Dutch language messages to colleagues who speak those languages.

We also commend you to visit their web site at www.kisvasut.hu/comandau/english/index-uk.html (There are links from this page to German, Romanian and Hungarian Web sites)

CARPATHIAN TRAMWAY FORUM CONFERENCE (VISIT TO WESTERN UKRAINE) Richard Tapper / UK

The visiting group came together at Chop, Western Ukraine (the border town with Slovakia and Hungary), the majority having come on the overnight sleeper train from Vienna (via Slovakia) with others coming across Hungary from Budapest.

The group moved on to Uzhgorod the capital of Transcarpathia Oblast, where a brief visit was made to the Children’s (former Pioneer) Railway with rolling stock comprising of Bo-Bo diesel electric loco TU2-18 and a standard soviet era coach. These were inspected along with the line’s headquarters. The railway was not operating at the time of the visit, but it is still used by UZ (Ukrainian State Railways) to train children as railwaymen. An excellent evening meal was partaken at a restaurant where the proprietor, a friend of the conference organiser, Denys Dobra had restored it in North American style, following a visit to the USA.

His Excellency, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, Robert Brinkley was met at the local airport and taken to his hotel in the town.

The group moved onto Mukachevo, stopping briefly in the delightfully restored main street, (the town’s railway station is on the mainline from Uzhgorod/Chop to Lviv and Kiev) thereafter continuing to Irshava for overnight accommodation.

The following day was spent on pre-conference planning and setting up the exhibition on the development of heritage/tourist railways in the UK and Europe which included a full display about FEDECRAIL and our activities, together with a local folk art display.

In the evening, a reception was held to host the British Ambassador and to meet international delegates, local officials and businessmen participating in the conference.

The next day Saturday, 28th June saw the official opening of the exhibition and conference by Ambassador Robert Brinkley, who was accompanied by the Ukrainian State First Secretary for Tourism who had also travelled the 700km from Kiev to attend the conference.

The first day of the conference (co-chaired by Denys Dobra, NGO-Borzhava Initiative and David Morgan Fedecrail President) saw presentations from these two plus others from the relevant regions in the Ukraine as well as Andris Biedrins a director of the successfully operating narrow gauge Gulbene- Aluksne Railway in Latvia. The proceedings were marked by the presentation to the British Ambassador, our President David Morgan and Denys Dobra the Conference Organiser of the Ukrainian Order for services to Tourism by the State Secretary for Tourism on behalf of the Ukrainian Government.

There were also speakers from the border regions in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary which, along with the corresponding border regions in Ukraine and Romania are part of the Carpathian Foundation, a multi- national organisation which stimulates tourism and regional economic regeneration in the area.

No. 18-II/03 15 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

The afternoon included a short trip from Irshava to Hmel’nik on a section of the Borzhava Valley Railway utilising their one steam locomotive 0-8-0 Gr286, assisted by diesel TU2-034 newly repainted into the old light blue livery of UZ with yellow lining. The coaches for the special train had also been newly repainted in both old and current liveries.

On the return journey, the party stopped off for an excellent meal at a roadside inn.

The conference resumed the following day with presentations from Frank Cooper and John Fuller of FEDECRAIL, the UK HRA and NERHT (New Europe Railway Heritage Trust) who had prepared a joint report on the Irshava Railway and Sergei Dorozhkov, a director of the very successful narrow gauge Perslavl Railway Museum in Russia. Also from Russia in their delegation was Dimitri Sutyagin, a historian, who spoken on the Children’s (Former Pioneer) Railways in the former Soviet Union and ways for their restoration in the post Soviet era. A Ukrainian speaker also commented on the Children’s Railway in Lviv, which is still operational.

The conference concluded and the afternoon started with a visit to Beregovo to inspect the well maintained depot which provides the motive power for the railway, followed by a visit for lunch to a wine lodge. (The town was once part of Hungary and still has a large Hungarian speaking minority with the result that many signs are bilingual).

It was then on to Lisichevo to a folk museum where there were is a most interesting Blacksmiths workshop with tilt-hammers powered by working water wheels, along with a forge where hoes were being made (one being presented to the Fedecrail President). There followed an excellent open air banquet before our return to Irshava where the evening was completed by joining the celebrations preceding Ukrainian National Day.

The final full day saw an all day visit to the Forestry Railway at Vyhoda, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, where the line is still used for extraction of timber, but the operators wish to develop it as a tourist railway. This had also been the subject of a report by Frank Cooper and John Fuller. A press conference to promote the tourist development of the railway was held in a hotel in nearby Dolina, after which a specially restored train headed by B-B diesel hydraulic TU4 –1695 made a short trip from Novy Mizun’ to a spectacular set of rapids on the River before returning to an excellent late lunch at the Sanatorium alongside the railway.

Thereafter the group split up with the Russian and most of the Ukrainian group going on to Lviv to visit the Children’s Railway there and also a Peat Railway, while the rest of us returned to Irshava.

The last day included a visit to a restored ‘Greek’ Catholic Church overlooking the valley above Irshava, followed by an excellent coffee morning at our host Denys Dobra’s nearby home. We then travelled to Il’nitsa which is along a short disused branch from Irshava that has potential for early restoration with the support of the local community, where we had lunch with the Mayor, before our afternoon return to Uzhgorod and Chop.

Grateful thanks are due to the organisers Denys Dobra and Natalia Himich of the Borzhava Initiative, Irshava and Andrey Bassarab of the Carpathian Tramway Forum (Vyhoda) and here in the UK Stephen Wiggs (NERHT) for ‘pulling it together’.

Richard Tapper is a member of the NEHRT (New European Heritage Railway Trust) Committee.

RAILWAY PRESERVATION IN HUNGARY Richard Tapper / UK

In conjunction with the visit to Western Ukraine, time was taken to visit heritage railway operations in Hungary, before and after the Ukrainian visit.

Over the years, MAV (Hungarian State Railways) has expended a considerable amount of effort to preserve its railway heritage. In communist times, this was achieved through the MAV History Work Committee, a loosely formed group of senior MAV railwaymen, who had the authority to identify historic No. 18-II/03 16 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

artefacts and items of rolling stock and have them put aside for preservation. This resulted in many steam locomotives being stored and plinthed at many stations and depots around the country. Other relics were kept and exhibited at the Transport Museum at the City Park (Varosliget) Budapest, the museum itself also being extended over the years.

More recently the railway heritage promotion has been taken over by MAV Nosztalgia Kft, a subsidiary company established by MAV which has a marketing office in Budapest’s historic Nyugati (West) station (built by Gustav Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame) where railway books/souvenirs and tickets are sold for special trains with historic rolling stock hauled by steam and historic diesel locomotives. The trains go to Esztergom (a religious city, seat of Roman Catholicism in Hungary equivalent to Canterbury here) and along the Danube Bend to Szob (frontier with Slovakia). Other trains operate in the Lake Balaton area.

However, the need for a National Railway Museum had always been keenly felt and this is being achieved by the establishment over the last 3 years of the Vasuttorteneti (Railway Heritage) Park in the Angyalföld district in N.W. Budapest. The Park is on the site of the disused Eraksi depot (referred to as ‘Budapest Nord’) which comprised of 2 semi-circular roundhouses, with one now remaining and with steam locomotives representing all the main classes displayed around the turntable of the other. Also displayed nearby are numerous historic electric and diesel locomotives carriages, wagons as well as permanent way, engineering and infrastructure equipment. A historic footbridge has been re-erected and a recreated station refreshment room has been built to serve as a coffee house. Other railway infrastructure is in the course of ongoing development and restoration. The overall/ development of the Park owes much to the support from the MAV History-Work Committee and MAV Nosztalgia Kft, who operate an hourly shuttle train to the Park from the Nyugati station using a vintage Ganz diesel railcar, tickets including admission being sold from the station shop.

Narrow gauge railways in Hungary are both extensive and numerous. These fall into 3 fairly distinct categories:

(i). True secondary lines and the Children’s (former Pioneer) Railways operated by MAV with local regular timetabled services. (ii). Lines operated by other organisations including former forestry, agricultural/industrial lines now operating local and tourist services to a regular timetable. (iii) Museum railways run by volunteer/enthusiast organisations using heritage equipment for tourist purposes usually being former forestry/agricultural/industrial railways.

One in each category was visited the first being the regional railway of Nyirgegend operated by MAV and running from Nyiregyhaza serving a nearby local spa some small villages and a small resort on the Tisza river. The second was the former forestry railway of Lillafured starting from the suburbs of Miskolc serving the old established resort of Lillafured and continuing to further small resorts in the forest ending at Gavadna.

The third, the Museum Forestry Railway of Kemence (near Szob) is unusual in that it is 600mm track gauge as against the more usual 760mm gauge. It is run by a volunteer/enthusiast organisation using former industrial equipment and at present runs about 1½ miles carrying tourists to a popular bathing pool/beach at Godovar, but is being extended further into the forest.

Summarising it can be said that the former Hapsburg states of Central Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia offer some of the very best railway heritage/ preservation in the area with extensive use of heritage equipment on the main and secondary lines of their national networks. Narrow gauge railways are well represented along with other forms of heritage transport.

Richard Tapper is a member of the NEHRT (New European Heritage Railway Trust) Committee.

Heritage Rolling Stock at Risk Stephen Wiggs / UK

There was some considerable coverage in the national heritage railway press concerning the deplorable scrapping of 2 historic Belgian steam locomotives, supposedly forming part the Belgian Railways (SNCB) national collection mostly stored at Leuven. Although in poor condition and minus a number of parts as No. 18-II/03 17 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

well as being duplicated in the collection the method of scrapping has nevertheless resulted in a significant loss of large spare parts, the remanufacture of which today’s terms would be extremely costly, as ongoing manufacture has long since ceased. It was the absence of any systematic component recovery, which is the cause for serious concern and the potential for similarities exists in other parts of Europe, particularly in the eastern and southern countries where there are “freelance” scrap merchants who will circulate and cut-up apparently abandoned railway rolling stock at essentially no cost to its legitimate owner and refinance themselves from the proceeds of the scrap sales to steelworks or wherever.

Such activities are not necessarily confined to rolling-stock and have included apparently abandoned/derelict railway infrastructure (such as track, signals, water columns etc) and even “live” 25 KV.ac. catenary where electrocution of the participants is not always a deterrent!

We therefore urge museum curators and preservationists to take especial care of such equipment in their possession and ensure that where disposal is justified it is either offered to alternative parties for its preservation/or is systematically dismantled allowing proper “component recovery” for future reuse in other restorations.

Stephen Wiggs is President of NEHRT (New Europe Railway Heritage Trust)

Air quality in Simpelveld during trips of the steam train. RIVM-report (Dutch environment authority) Translation by Livius J. Kooy / NL

INTRODUCTION The Zuid Limburgse Stoomtrein Maatschappij (ZLSM) operates some vintage trains on the railway between Schin op Geul, Kerkrade and Vetschau in Germany (the “Miljoenenlijn”). Apart from a diesel railbus train, there are trips with a steam train in the spring, summer and autumn. The emissions from this steam train cause complaints with the neighbours about sound, smell and dust and also health complaints. However, up to now it was unclear how much the neighbours were exposed to the emissions of the steam train. Partly caused by this uncertainty there was uneasiness among the people living near the railway track which led to bad feelings between the neighbours and the ZLSM. In order to solve the problem the GGD Oostelijk Zuid Limburg (GGD = Regional Health Authority) had sought means to achieve a better understanding of the composition and concentrations of the steam train emissions and the level of exposure. Extensive literature research carried out by the GGD showed that little was known about the emissions from steam trains. In order to throw at least some light upon the matter, the GGD asked via the VROM-inspectorate Zuid to the RIVM/IEM (VROM = Ministry of Health, Environment etc.; RIVM = Governmental Institution for Health and Environment) to carry out further research on the airborne concentrations of the emitted materials.

STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH As a steam engine has to perform differently under very different conditions the emission pattern was expected to show a great diversity. It is believed that this is one of the reasons why it is understood that there has never been any recent emission research carried out with steam engines. Although attempts have been made to test emission levels during the course of this research this proved again to be technically impossible. The only remaining option for estimating the exposure was to carry out lineside emission tests at one or more locations along the track. It was a condition that one or more locations had to be selected where there was a high level of reported complaints. Some locations deserved particular consideration. These included locations where the locomotive had to stand longer because of the need for shunting (for example, the terminal stations at Schin op Geul and Kerkrade). The locomotive also stopped for a longer time at the station of Simpelveld and its depot where, apart from the movements there are other activities such as lighting up, filling up with coal and water and the removal of ashes from the ash pan. The emission pattern around the Simpelveld station was therefore more or less generic for the total emissions of the locomotive and therefore the station yard was selected as the research location. It was also unlikely through the diversity and intensity of the activities on and around the station yard that the emission concentrations at any other point along the track would be higher. We stress that during the research only the materials in the air have been measured. No soil research has been carried out No. 18-II/03 18 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

because it is not possible to link any soil pollution to the present emissions of the steam train. Neither has there been research into other sources of complaint such as noise.

There was serious mistrust amongst the neighbours regarding the ZLSM. They therefore asked for the research to be carried out secretly. This was difficult as the station yard is hardly visible from the public road, and the work had therefore to be carried out from a private garden.

The station yard is located on a hill to the South-southeast of the village centre of Simpelveld. The Schilterstraat and the Schiffelderstraat are a few metres below the level of the yard while the Vroenderstraat is a few metres higher than the tracks. Preliminary research around the station yard demonstrated that for different weather situations, different research locations would have to be selected. In order to speed up the testing as much as possible, preliminary talks were held with representatives of the local Councils of Simpelveld and Kerkrade, neighbours and GGD.

ANTICIPATED COMPONENTS The combustion of coal releases fine dust and organic components integrated with the material, volatile organic components, SO², NOx and CO. It is impossible to determine in which proportions these materials are being released and the emission also depends very much on the firing conditions. Therefore, all the relevant components were measured during all the processes which normally take place.

TIMETABLE AND COURSE OF EVENTS AROUND THE STEAM TRAIN The steam train has a limited timetable. During the months of July and August there are trips on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. There are two daily return trips Simpelveld – Schin op Geul – Simpelveld – Kerkrade – Simpelveld. Then there is an additional return trip Simpelveld – Schin op Geul – Simpelveld.

In 2002 there were trips following the same timetable pattern in the period from 31st March until 27th October, but then only on Wednesdays and Sundays. From 3rd November until 26th December there are two return trips over the full length of line on Sundays without the additional return working between Simpelveld and Schin op Geul. The timetable does not show any steam train workings in the winter months, but there are also extra trains outside the public timetable and it is unclear how often these trips take place. According to the neighbours it happens more frequently than stated by ZLSM. Generally speaking we may assume that there are about 80 to 100 days with train operation per year.

The train stays at the main stations, under steam, for about 15 to 30 minutes. This time is used for shunting, taking on coal, and is also for allowing the public to take pictures, and video shots. At the other stations the train stops only to let passengers board or alight.

On the day before the operating days the boiler is lit up, as this has to be warmed slowly to prevent damage. This was observed to be done with wood, but it is not known whether this is always used. The burning of wood causes considerable smoke but it must be noted that the lighting is always done inside the shed, which causes less impact on the surroundings, at least when the roller shutter doors are closed. The locomotive shed is also equipped with a filter system, which removes the dust of the smoke through filters. Between 6.00 and 7.00 in the morning the fire is made up. When the boiler is almost at working pressure the locomotive) will be moved into the open air. During half an hour there will be heavy firing, which causes a lot of smoke. For one short period during our research sessions there was an emission for 1 or 2 minutes of an amount of damp smoke with much coarse dust. The emitted black particles fell on everything in the area and are difficult to remove from clothing as well as hard surfaces. After this emission the locomotive runs under its own power to another shed in the station yard where the coaches are stabled after which it leaves with its coaches to the nearby station of Simpelveld. After the first full journey the train returns to remove clinker, take on water and, if needed, coal. The removal of clinker causes coarse dust, but this dust does not appear to get far.

MEASURING STRATEGY In order to get an accurate assessment of the level of exposure of the neighbours it was necessary to carry out measurements on more than one day. As the train does not always run and the weather conditions are not always good enough to carry out a satisfactory test, to avoid the research taking too long a period of time, it was decided to carry out the tests on two separate days. However, it was considered necessary that during these two days, the wind would allow a relevant quantity of emitted gas to reach the sampling and test equipment. In other words, the wind would not have to be too strong and would come from one specific direction with the test equipment placed downwind. As this would be more likely to happen in the summer rather than in the spring and the research was only commissioned in the No. 18-II/03 19 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

late summer of 2001, the decision was taken to plan one test day in 2001 and another one in the following year. In the end the first test was carried out in October 2001 and the second one in August 2002, which caused a longer than expected time to complete the research. On both days there was clear weather, almost cloudless, with a wind increasing in the course of the morning. The selected measuring locations were in both cases almost exactly downwind of the location where the engine was lit in the open air. During the sampling period time-average samples were taken of the content of Volatile Organic Components (VOC), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) as well as fine dust and the total dust level. These samples were analysed in the laboratory. Apart from the total dust level the level of PAH’s in the dust were also defined. Apart from these time-average measurings the concentrations of fine dust, NOx,

SO2 and CO in the air were measured continuously. These tests were carried out in the field so an increased air concentration in any of the levels was immediately visible. This way it was possible to link the activities around the locomotive to an increase of the air concentrations of the aforementioned components. On both days measurements were carried out from the moment that the fire was made up inside the shed (excluding the initial lighting up with wood) until the moment when the train had left Simpelveld for Kerkrade after having made a return trip to Schin op Geul. Because there was, as mentioned before, a great mistrust of the population both towards the ZLSM and the local Council, the measuring on the first test day was carried out from the public road without the ZLSM having been informed. As this involved logistic problems, while the ZLSM spotted the test equipment after a while, the decision was taken after consultation with ZLSM, to carry out the second test with the knowledge of the ZLSM. The advantage of this was that samples could be taken during this second session from a location on the ZLSM grounds. The disadvantage was of course that the ZLSM could take precautions, which could influence the emissions. In this part of the report we shall only highlight the most relevant values.

During both measuring days the gases NO2 and CO were continuously measured downwind. Continuous measuring means in this case that there are readings taken every minute. SO2 was only measured on the second test day because the gas monitor was defective on the first day. Minute concentrations of SO2 were recorded. It was clear that the levels of all these gases varied greatly around the steam train. However this is an effect that is commonly noticed during measurements in the open air. In the fluctuations it was clearly visible that a change of activity of the steam train had an influence on these emissions. But the influence was in many cases of a short duration and as soon as the train had left the concentrations fell back to the background level within a few minutes. The background levels of the various gases were based on the concentrations at the nearest LML measuring stations (LML = National Measuring Network for Air Quality) at Wijnandsrade or Biest-Houtakker. Generally, the measured levels were higher on the 14th August 2002 than on the 24th October 2001. This was also the case with the background level and was probably caused by the weather. On the August day there was a clearly visible inversion layer, which caused the pollution to linger underneath. The highest measured minute peak values were measured. For all gases the hourly average level is defined and the peak values of this are also recorded as well as the maximum hourly values at the reference points. Finally, this table also gives the hourly average permitted values.

The figures show that the maximum permitted levels for NO2, SO2 and CO are not exceeded by the emissions of the steam train. For PM10 there was also no exceeding of the permitted values shown. During activity of the steam train there was clearly an increase of all the levels as compared with the background level. Timed average samples have been taken of the Volatile Organic Components (VOC). This means that samples have been taken over a period and then analysed after which a calculation has been made of the average air concentration during the sampling. The samples have been taken downwind at different locations in order to overcome any spreading caused by wind fluctuations. The results indicated that some emissions of VOC are caused by the locomotive but that the measured concentrations still remain below the permitted values. The observed air concentrations are recorded. In one sample 4-methyl- morpholine was found with application of the GC-MS screening. The chemical combination was found in a rather high level in this one sample (about 200µg/m3). No permitted values of this combination are known, but it is not known as highly toxic. It is likely, however, although not proven, that the combination can be smelt at such a concentration. As there is only one sample in which the combination can be found, this is not taken into further consideration.

In the fine dust the concentration of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) was also measured. PAH are a well-known by-product of incomplete combustion. It can be expected that PAH will be formed during the combustion of coal and wood in a steam locomotive. PAH are hardly acutely toxic but a number of these chemical combinations are carcinogenic. The maximum observed air concentrations are recorded. Apart from the measured figures tables also gives the background levels in the Netherlands (these are not measured on the lML measuring stations and can therefore not be related to the background air concentrations on the test days). It appeared that the highest concentrations were measured on the first No. 18-II/03 20 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

day. It is difficult to compare the levels further as the detection limits were different on both days. It must be stressed here that all excesses over permitted values were single measurements and that on the other day the values were at or below the Netherlands’ background level.

Medical interpretation. The continuous measurements of CO, SO2, NOx and PM10 show that activities around the steam train lead to an increase of the air concentration of these chemical combinations. The reason why this difference was so easy to measure can be found in the low background concentrations at Simpelveld. In relation to the levels in other parts of the Netherlands even the peak values at Simpelveld are not high. The measured peaks of SO2, NO2 and CO do not even exceed the medical permitted limits. The measured minute value for SO2 does not exceed the year-average advisory level of the World Health 3 3 Organisation (WHO) (50µg/m ). The hourly value for NO2 which the WHO has derived (100µg/m ) is a factor two times lower than the Dutch norm but this advice level is not exceeded, nor is the 8-hour average advice level for CO of the WHO (10000µg/m3). For PM10 the situation is somewhat more complicated. Although the daily average permitted value of 140µg/m3) is complied with, health is not protected at this level. No value for PM10 can be given by which health is not at risk. This means that every increase is in principle unwanted. On very many locations in the Netherlands these PM10 concentrations are exceeded, mainly by the background levels, which are already high because of the road traffic. The values measured at Simpelveld conform to readings for streets with busy traffic.

The volatile organic components do not appear in high concentrations. It may be true that the background concentrations of the well-known combustion products benzene and toluene are exceeded with a few factors, but this does not lead to the exceeding of the concentrations to which a person can be exposed for a lifetime without health damage, the TCL. It must be admitted here that it is not easy to attribute these excess levels to the train, as there was not a continuous measuring of these combinations. It is however likely that emissions by the train will contribute to the total exposure.

Separately from VOC air concentrations, the PAH concentrations can be definitely attributed to the activities of the train as the sampling has taken place during the activities around the train as well as times when there were no activities around the train. However the measured concentrations are so low that they will not cause any acute effects. The risk of PAH is determined by the carcinogenic qualities. For benzo-a-pyrene, one of the most carcinogenic combinations, which is often used as indicator combination, there is a maximum tolerable risk (MTR) of 1ng/m3 and a neglectable risk level of 0,01 ng/m3. On the first test day, the MTR was therefore exceeded with a factor 2. The sampling was carried out during activities around the steam train and the measured values were therefore most likely the result of peak values which happen no more than a few hours per day and only on days when the steam train is running. Also the peak values were measured at a location, which is closer to the steam train than the neighbouring houses, and the effective exposure of the neighbours will be less. It is clear that the steam train contributes to an increased exposure of PAH for the neighbours, but it is unlikely that this will lead to a lifelong exceeding of the MTR.

CONCLUSIONS. We may conclude that the emissions from the train lead to increased air concentrations. This however neither exceeds the norm for air concentrations nor for health risks. Since we expect that the air concentrations of polluting combinations is nowhere higher than in Simpelveld, it is not likely that anywhere along the railway line health risks will occur as a result of the emissions by the train.

During the research it appeared that there are moments when the train emits large quantities of coarse dust. This emission sometimes coincides with a damp cloud making it difficult to remove the dust from clothing and many types of hard surfaces. It is unlikely that this dust emission will cause health problems with the respiratory system, as the dust is too coarse and cannot be breathed in. However, these emissions can be a great nuisance.

(Editor’s Note: This article is supported by a series of graphs and tables that record actual values during the tests. These have not been translated from the original Dutch, but can be made available on application to the Editor. A nominal fee will be charged to cover the cost of provision of this extra information) No. 18-II/03 21 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

ADRESSES Of FEDECRAIL COUNCIL MEMBERS AND OFFICERS Name Address Tel./Fax/E-Mail COUNCIL David MORGAN (GB) 7 Cheyne Place home +44-20-7352 6077 President London SW3 4HH work +44-20-7404 2646 HRA Chairman GREAT BRITAIN fax +44-20-7404 2890 [email protected]

Heimo ECHENSPERGER (D) Lerchenweg 1b home +49-8171-340584 Vice-president 82538 Geretsried fax +49-89-2443.38343 VDMT Chairman GERMANY [email protected]

Jacques DAFFIS (F) 42, Avenue des États-Unis home +33-5 61 47 19 43 Vice-president F 31200 Toulouse fax +33 5 62 14 11 80 FRANCE [email protected]

Guido ROSSI (I) Via Cavour 3 work +39-011-670 6211 3536 Council member 10123 Torino fax +39-011-670 6239 F.I.F.T.M. President ITALY home +39-035-4427 233 [email protected]

Sten ERSON-WESTER (S) 1) Kronborgsgränd 3, III tr. home 1 +46-8- 75 127 70 Council member 164 46 Kista home 2 +46-8- 76 090 80 Second home address 2) Linjemästarvägen 32 fax h.2 +46-8- 76 010 10 MRO Fedecrail contact 162 71 Vällingby mobile +46-73 93 590 31 SWEDEN work +46-8-78 10743 fax w. +46-8-215207 [email protected]

Livius KOOY (NL) De Akker 25 home +31-53-5727357 Secretary 7481 GA Haaksbergen + fax on request only The NETHERLANDS [email protected] !!!Official FEDECRAIL postal address!!!

Rik DEGRUYTER (B) De Streep 19 home +32-50-35.8989 Treasurer 8340 Damme + (home)fax Febelrail Council BELGIUM mobile +32-475-522 774 work +32-37606930 [email protected]

Officers Conference organiser (GB) Peter Ovenstone Tel./answerphone +44-131-225.1486 33 Palmerston Place Fax +44-131-220.5886 Edinburgh [email protected] EH12 5AU GREAT BRITAIN

Newsletter editor (D) Bruno Rebbelmund tel. +49-208-635.1569, Westerwaldstr. 7 fax +49-208-667.443 46145 Oberhausen [email protected] GERMANY

Co-editor (GB) John Fuller tel. +44-1474-362208 261 Lower Higham Road fax. +44-1474-362208 Chalk, Gravesend [email protected] Kent, DA12 2NP GREAT BRITAIN

Co-editor (F) Olivier Jaubert [email protected] No. 18-II/03 22 FEDECRAIL Newsletter

What is FEDECRAIL?

FEDECRAIL – the Federation of European Museum- and Tourist Railways – is an organisation under Belgian law. It was founded in April 1994 in Brussels and was authorised by royal Belgian decree.

FEDECRAIL – is the European parent organisation for all friends of railways who are engaged in the maintenance, preservation and operation of historical railways.

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 extra- European associations can join the circle of the “FRIENDS OF FEDECRAIL“ as promoters, patrons or sponsors as members without the right to vote.

FEDECRAIL – is a connecting link between the national parent organisations and the European committees (EU 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 – council, managing committee and technical representatives come from all European member associations and work exclusively on a honorary basis.

FEDECRAIL – publishes a bulletin with important information four times a year

FEDECRAIL – organises an annual conference with specific European topics about the Museums- and Tourist Railways such as the preservation and maintenance of the European heritage, incorporation into the regions, labour safety, financing, legislation, harmonisation, environmental protection, etc. Study trips on 3 days to the vicinity of the respective places of conference are always an element of the conference. These have thus far been:

1994 - BRUXELLES/Belgium 1999 - PRAGUE/Czech Republic 1995 - STRASBOURG/France 2000 - BAD BREISIG/Germany 1996 - BIRMINGHAM/United Kingdom 2001 - TORINO/Italy 1997 - STOCKHOLM/Sweden 2002 - RIGA/Latvia 1998 - BARCELONA/Spain 2003 – LLANDUDNO/United Kingdom