www.iberianrailwayssociety.org Issue No. 40 Spring 2016 he inaugural IRS meeting took place at the Model Railway T Club in London on 22nd February 2006, 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 Charles Phillips (post available) Journal Editor Michael Guerra Treasurer & Membership Secretary Tony Bowles (post available) Publicity & Exhibitions (post available) 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 Portuguese speaking areas of the world would be too ambitious. It was proposed that a Society Journal be published four times a year and that this would be the main conduit between members. 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 Web Download Free/Voluntary Contribution 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. IRS SALES Correo on CD. All previous issues up to the preceding year in PDF format. £5.50 inc P&P. DVDS -The Society now sells the Ticket to Ride DVDs Out & About Barcelona. £25 inc P&P Out & About Lisbon. £25 inc P&P TALGO Cabride - Portbou to Girona £20 inc P&P TALGO Cabride - Girona to Barcelona £20 inc P&P TALGO Cabride - Barcelona to Reus £20 inc P&P Algarve Cabride - Lagos to Tunes (with a Class 1800) £20 inc P&P Algarve Cabride - Tunes. Faro to Vila Real (with a Class 1800) £20 inc P&P COASTERS - 4 scenes from FGV, RENFE & FEVE £6.50 inc P&P For all items please send a cheque to: IRS Sales, 3 Aldersey Road, Worcester, WR5 3BG. Overseas members should enquire first about postage costs, send an email to [email protected]. Payment can be made via Paypal for overseas members only. 2 Title Page The Society 2 The Editor’s Page 4 RENFE 75th Anniversary 5 Escaping Watney’s Red Barrel 14 The Ferrocarril de Alicante a Denia 19 Expensive Ticket to Segovia 28 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. Scans of 6”x4” prints should be scanned at 300dpi, 35mm slides should be scanned at 1600dpi, digital photographs should be 1920x1200 minimum. 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 7500 in sidings at Principe Pío Foto Trevor Rowe Archivo Euskotren-Museo Vasco del Ferrocarril 3 should apologise for the late arrival of Correo 40 (and which marks a full 10 years of its existence!), even though I did not promise its arrival! But here we are again I with another edition thanks in large part to the usual suspects as well as new contributor Malcolm; thank you. Regular readers of this column will know that your editor has been developing a high-speed overnight service. Well, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control the investors have decided to enforce a 2 year hiatus. The reasons are many, but the headlines are the terrorist attacks in Paris and Bruxelles, the immigration crisis and the potentially fundamental UK referendum on EU membership. This last issue, if the UK votes to leave EU, would fundamentally skew all the work on borders, security and immigration interfaces that I’ve spent the last 10 years or so bringing to some kind of understanding. To get where we are today has required the juggling of nearly 100 different interfaces across Europe: with the hiatus it will be necessary to rebuild these, many of which will be under new management. We live in frustrating times. And so, I’ve needed to find alternate paid employment. Fortunately for me, one of the main investors wishes to develop a new music venue in East London and has hired me to design and engineer it (I have form in these things). So the main reason for the late delivery of this issue is more due to the pressures of producing many drawings in readiness for planning applications and contractor negotiations. Working 10-14hrs a day, 7 days a week has made it impossible to find time for other things during recent months, like a family life and external interests. This Correo has become a necessary break for me, though only a brief one. Reading through this issue’s contributions has reminded me that railways are ultimately a human story, and our interest should appreciate that. As enthusiasts we need to be aware of the reasons for their existence, and so when we visit them on market day and sit amongst the chatter, the screaming children and (in older times) the tinny distorted noise from transistor radios we should perhaps be grateful that the railway has a purpose. It was my intention to write a piece for this issue on the subject of timetables, unfortunately it wasn’t to be (see above), but in the lead up to that Rarfe sent me a scanned Horario Guia from 1962. For most railway enthusiasts timetables are a practical necessity, and of little use once out of date. For me they are a priceless historical document, allowing one to, for instance, dream of through-coaches from Calais Maritime to San Remo, or discover that in 1962 there was an overnight train between Barcelona and Valencia! Service 703 would depart Barcelona Termino at 23:15 and make 20+ stops (including a reversal at Tortosa at 03:01!) before arriving in Valencia at 08:00. One wonders about the various traction changes, crew changes and early morning patronage. The earlier TAF (B. Termino 15:50 V. Termino 21:30) would do the same trip in only 5h40 (the sleeper is 8h45) and make the same number of stops. Today, the Euromed does the direct (omitting Tortosa etc.) in 3h09. We take all kinds of things for granted (internet, mobile telephones, private cars etc.) and so forget that the humble timetable provides as much insight into the culture of travel as a photograph. So if anyone knows anyone with a 1950’s Cook Continental Timetable that would let me borrow it for a week to scan it, please do not hesitate to let me know! Michael Guerra 4 R.E.N.F.E 75 Aniversario, 1941- 1949 by Juan Delgado Luna (translated by Chris Elliott) his time, we will focus on this event and there is no better way to start than to start at the beginning, marked by difficulties and hardships that the workers and T their families experienced when moving to this great company called RENFE. It's been a few years since my grandfather told me about endless trips leaning out of the window of an old wooden carriage accompanied by priests, farm workers, ladies and demure ladies with their "water wave hairstyles” and "lords in their three cornered hats ". Traditional images of memories of another Spain, very different from today. RENFE, began to take shape in the historical and social context in which the recent civil war and World War II (with Spanish contribution by the Blue Division), did not make life easy in the Spanish society of the early 1940s.Those achievements to cite one example of a good quality rail service such as that provided by rapid Madrid-Irun, Nos 13 and 14 (truncated by the Civil War), along the Imperial line, hauled by a Norte Mountain locomotive 241-4600, their medium speeds would not be exceeded until well into the decade of the 1980s and the new Renfe trains, which did not compare with these prestigious prewar fast services. Unfortunately locomotives, rolling stock and facilities were affected during the three years of civil war, which added to the economic weaknesses that the railways had been suffering previously resulted in a "mortally wounded" railway, there was only one solution to rise from the ashes, we are talking about nationalisation the Law promulgated on the 8th May 1939 was not long in coming. On the 1st February 1941, with the approval of the Head of State Francisco Franco the Railway Act and Road Transport Management, the National Network of Spanish Railways was created. This new company brought together the entire network of Iberian gauge (1674mm), rescued from bankruptcy railway concessions that were granted to the former companies, highlighting NORTE, MZA, OESTE or Andalusians, a total of 12,401 kms, rising to form part of a single network under an autonomous management, with few resources but a lot of will power which were essential to move forward with this great project of a unified network in those turbulent times.