Società Veneta Ferrovie.

On October 2nd we held our last open day at Cabina A signal box.



Next Saturday we held a first photographers oriented event in Primolano. This time the paying public had an unhindered view of the engine moving on the yard and then more and more night shots:


(On the platform)


(turning the engine)


(from the other end of the engine)

(The engine, the platform, the village and the "Scale" (ladders) ancient road and cutting fort ruins in the background)

And finally, on October 9th, our last Open Day. Or the First New Open Day? Who knows...



Nicolò, our signaling wizard, freshly assigned by RFI(Rete Ferroviaria Italiana) to stationmaster duties in Portogruaro/Caorle Station prepares to give the "way clear" signal to one of the many rounds of our railway draisine. The headboard carries a description of the vehicle "1945 4 wheels cart on loan of use from RFI to Società Veneta Ferrovie, preserved in Primolano Locomotive Shed". But something is going to happen. What's thinking Andrea, leaning against the barrier? Are Lucia and Luigi too busy on the gadget shop?

Is this just "couple another coach" for our mighty Luca?

https://youtube.com/shorts/HCQ_oAaN17E?feature=share

How do you feel, Mr. Station Master, reading to give the "All Clear" to the engine?


I know, because you told it on our chat. It was a big emotion to give that signal, it was a big emotion for you and all the volunteers acting as bobbies at each point (yessir, something like 1830 L&M), because there will be a before that moment and an after that moment:

IT WAS THE START SIGNAL FOR THE FIRST PASSENGER TRAIN. LADIES, GENTLEMEN: THE PRIMOLANO MUSEUM RAILWAY IS OPEN!

And that below is not just a picture. It is a document of hour history: "The first passengers on the railway".



A great emotion also for Lucia and Luigi, now performing conductor duties, and for all our passengers because it was their firs taste of "traveling on old trains".

The train runs on a some hundred meter "line" within our yard, plans are to extend the route to get very close to the main building.

Another milestone reached, a long journey ahead. But we have a great team.



Celebration time tonight!

 

Bravi! Notizia fantastica.
Well done, such a leap forward
for Italian railway preservation.

 

Well done and every good wish from the UK

 

Anniversay Notice!

17 yeas ago today, "A" signal box was de-activated and decommissioned. After controlling the yard device one last time, to set them in the position expected by the incoming, "Star Wars grade" computer system, her link with the railway was cut forever.
The next year she would have become out "Club Houuse" starting the restoration and reativation-through-a-simulated-yard that has been shown before in this thread.

Today SVF has just released a video celebrating the anniversary:

SVF proudly presents:
"Il Capostazione"
(The Station Master)​

* *​

Starring Sergio
Directed By Nicolò​

Sergio was indeed Station Master in Padua station in November 2005. Nicolò is the driving force behind the reactivation of the SASIB frame and other devices in the Signal Box, reactivation that turned the signal box from a simple museum to an interactive museum where visitors can "build the route" and then see the simulated train movements. The last switches shown are indeed those of “The Beast”, the device that allows us to show to the attendance the simulation of the trains moving on the yard.

I followed the works to restore and reactivate the signal box, I even did (or tried to do) something. But this video really moved me.

Other News


On Friday 25/11/2022 a successful record attempt was performed in the yard of Primolano Railway Museum.
Mr Alex Camera pulled our FFi van (14.5 metric tons) on a 50 meters distance in 61.55 seconds. Distance, time, rail gradient (level) were certified by Federazione Italiana Cronometristi (https://www.ficr.it/).

You can see a video of the record here https://www.quotidiano.net/cronaca/record-alex-camera-vagone-1.8322381

During trainig session, Mr. Camera uplifts 220kg during "squat" exercises, this allowed me to roughly evaluate, assuming that he pulled full strength for all the 50 meters, a power output of about 1.5 kilowatt.

This exploit will grant to the museum television exposure on the nationally broadcasted Mediaset "Studio Aperto Magazine" news magazine.

 

Today Mr. Camera exploit was shown on Mediaset "Studio Aperto Mag", about 5 minutes that, even if centered on the athlete, gave a good coverage of our museum.

Furthermore, the "Il Capostazione" short movie earned to Sergio an interview on a regional newspaper, "Il Gazzettino" , 3 columns, half page with a screenshot and a picture of Sergio before retirement, we have preserved and will re-activate the panel shown in the picture. We estimate that we are justo to ⅓ of the total restoration work. During his interview, Sergio paid a well earned tribute to Corrado and Nicolò.



And an "Errata Corrige" is required there, the movie director was Mr. Matteo Contarin, a professional movie maker from Padua. Nicolò was the consultant for the items to be shown in the movie. And the driving force of the restoration of the signal box. The article has been cut because I don't know if sharing a full article is considered "fair use" by the copyright holder.

Back to Primolano. The place is wearing its Christmas outfit, as you may see from the picture below. There was no much activity in the yard, except some shunting. All the work done was on preparing the 880.001 for the winter. So, enjoy these winter pictures of Primolano!






And remember! Santa sees you! So don't be naughty or...

 

A long time since my last post, but we are still here, alive and kicking. We had our annual member's meeting, had our table in Verona Model Expo, where we were able to publicize our activities.

Some news: we have our YouTube channel where we publish mostly short reels taken from the Cabina A or from the model group. And most of all, SVF modeling branch will be in charge of the model railway part of the "Museo del Giocattolo" toys museum (https://museovenetogiocattolo.oiconlus.it/). This museum is placed within the "Santa Chiara" residence for not self-sufficient persons, mostly elder persons and the presence of young people visiting the museum or using sports infrastructures within the residence allows elder person to have an healthy contact with young children. SVF will place there permanently a working layout and members will volunteer to operate it for the fun of the visitors who will have a chance to drive one of the available model trains.

We can now announce the opening of the Primolano museum, just three open days, it is a little thing but all but one the volunteers in the open days have a more than sixty miles shift to reach Primolano. Anyway, should you be in Italy on those days, why not do a trip in Rivendell (as I labeled the location in my car GPS)? So these are the dates:

• June 18th, from 10 AM to 5 PM, the 880.001 will be inactive;
• September 17th, from 10 AM to 5 PM, this time the 880.001 will be steaming;
• October 22nd, from 10 AM to 5 PM, this time the 880.001 will be steaming;

We already started to tidy things up, mow the grass and the next projects, and the first task completed was the check of the Walshaerts leverage geometry, check passed without issues. Then Andrea "Ephestus" and "Big" Luca took care of FBS 209.002 radiator.





And here you can see and listen to the motor after the cure (from our new YouTube channel) .

SVF will provide full training to the volunteers about shunting and its rules, driving a shunter and firing a steam engine. Teaching documents have been already sent to the volunteers to be studied before the training sessions.

And now let's back to Padua to talk about Cabina A. There wil be 10 open days for the Cabina A. The news here is that we will have access to the whole building so we'll able to create more exhibition space. The open days will be as follows:

• May 14th, from 10 AM to 5 PM; May 14th is the AMODO (Associazione Mobilità Dolce - Smooth Moving Association) whose goal is to advocate the use of regional trains for tourism and not only for commuting.
• June 11th June, from 10 AM to 5 PM;
• July 9th, from 10 AM to 5 PM;
• September 3rd, from 10 AM to 5 PM;
• October 8th, from 10 AM to 5 PM; a cake or treats could be available .
• November 12th, from 10 AM to 5 PM;

We could have some more sections of the synoptic display reactivated to offer a full simulation of the signal box operations.



In the meanwhile, please enjoy Nicolò with this vintage version of the Station Master jacket and hat (we are still sourcing appropriate trousers). A uniform he's fully entitled to wear, being one of the station master serving in Portogruaro-Caorle railway station.

 

Very brief post, and sorry, no pictures to avoid copyright infringement.

Maybe you already know that April 25th is a National Holiday in Italy, we celebrate the insurrection that on April 25th, 1945 repelled the Nazi armed forces and ultimately toppled the Fascist regime. Yesterday evening the Italian national broadcasting service aired a "fiction" depicting the life o Tina Anselmi as partisan, deputy and first woman minister in Italian Republic. Her career was ceased a few years after she led a parliament inquiry on the P2 masonic lodge, a "state within the state" that heavily influenced the Italian politcs. It was a huge scandal and her final relation was very brave.

In this fiction there's a brief scene, about 10 seconds starting from about at minute 50:30, where Mrs. Anselmi is traveling home from Rome by train. The coach where this scene was took in our two axle coach . In the ending titles, in the thanks section, the Museo Ferroviario di Primolano (Primolano Railway Museum) and Società Veneta Ferrovie are in the ninth place in the thanks section (at about 1:38:07).

 

Fresh from SVF Facebook page, some pictures!



Sarah Felberbaum, playing Mrs. Tina Anselmi, in the first class section of our 1936 two axle coach.
The title of the fiction is "Tina Anselmi, una vita per la democrazia" (Tina Anselmi, a life for democracy)", it was directed by Luciano Manuzzi and is a joint production Rai Fiction - Bibi Film. The Picture is © Rai Fiction.

And now some "making the movie" pictures from SVF members:











Another screenshot



© Rai Fiction.



Preparing the scene

The filming was done last September.

 

Sorry for the pictures lost in the previous post. My apologies, I will replace it when I will find them.

OK, a picture from more than 15 years ago. No fencing, yet to restore shed and rails (sleepers were rot). It was my very first ride on railway vehicle as a driver, and believe me, it was really a deep emotion!



I admit I did not feel such an emotion during my enabling course to drive our shunting and railway inspection engines. Yep, we had shunting and vehicle driving sessions in Primolano, here are some pictures:



This is a training session with our Fiat T500 rail inspection draisine, it han the engine of an original Fiat 500 car and the dashboard is almost the same. The ends are the same as the front of the Fiat 850 minivan. And yes, there is only one set of driving commands, when you reverse, you have to use the mirror,



Badoni Type IV instruction: picture of the engine during the explanation of the pre-ignition checklist.



Riccardo (professional train driver) explains to the trainees the controls of the Badoni ABL 4712 "Cubo" (cube, from its shape), gauges and its hydrodynamic gear.

It was fun, actually is what I was volunteering in railway preservation since the beginning. I had my chance to drive these engines and frankly, I don't care if I will not drive them any more because "on the footplate" there are persons who spend more time in the workshops, they earned their "footplate time".

And finally a picture taken at the end of the training session.



And now let's show why I said that I don't care if I don't drive them again.

First of all, another good news. An agreement was signed between RFI and SVF and now the whole building of the A Signal Box is on free loan to SVF. And when SVF gets a building in its custody, we try to restore its look.
In this case a single hero, Corrado, challenge the heat wave to repaint parts of the signal box. Enjoy the time lapse:



And this is the hero at the end of the task:



Then another team dug an underground channel for power wires




This channel will have several uses, last but not least, convey safely the electric power to the shop pavillon we use during open days.

 

A long time has passed since my last post, sorry! I had some problems that dsecreased my will to write on forums.

It's over hopefully. So what's SVF up to?

"Railway department"

We did not fall asleep . Despite being the part where working is harder, since each volunteer has an average of 60 kilometers to reach Primolano (120 round trip). But we are going on. We had a limited number of open days last year, this year someone more, next one on October 27th.

What can I show you? Well, if you even wondered what does one of our Open Day look like, please watch this video (the author forbids display outside Youtube).

The author is a SVF member and thus was free to go where the best scene could have been filmed, and some places are not left freely accessible to visitors due safety concerns. Therefore non members wishing to do the same type of filming in "restricted" areas must receive proper authorization first.



this picture, already posted on SVF Facebook page, shows our cleaners training session. Having enough cleaners in the association is fundamental since one Open Day requires some days before firing and then cleaning the engine. The picture above has been taken just after cleaning the smoke box. BTW, the eldest trainee is Marco, our president. A great person!
(Please note: you may find several people called Marco or Luca in the eastern Veneto. That's because two of the Gospel authors, St. Mark and St. Luke, lie in east Veneto, namely San Marco church in Venice (St. Mark) and Santa Giustina in Padua (St. Luke). )

I just found this old picture. The site was the former museum in Porta Vescovo station in Verona, we are dismantling a pre WWI, Austrian pattern switch. This switch is awaiting use, the plan is to use it when we'll complete the yard railtrack. On the left there are the sleepers of that where under the double point (we call it "English pattern") that is currently just outside our locomotive shed. The double point is also a pre WWI



Austrian pattern one, and is the only one in use in Italy today, under a special permission since our locomotive depot in Primolano is a museum site.
Have you ever wondered what looks like a turntable seen from below? This one is our turntable, in a picture that was taken during the restoration works. The rotating bridge was lifted with hydraulic pistons and then supported with spacers to allow the restoration.



And this is the restored central support:



"Signaling Department"

Works continue in our "Cabina A" signal box, just west of Padua Station. It may seem that it's easier for an association whose members are mostly from Padua, but the leading force behind the reactivation is a chap that joined us even before ending high school. He now works as Station Master in Portogruaro station. The reactivation has progressed and we can now allow our visitors to operate the levers for complex manouvers that cross all the station lines. Furthermore the conditions of the signals is reported correctly on the sinoptic panel but also by full working signals kept visible only within the signal box or they could interfere with the real signaling outside.

The following short clip depicts the first simulated manouver of an engine leaving the locomotive depot (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ekh6DjWfgomp4uA86) and going to platform 7 (https://maps.app.goo.gl/dagukUWWnT5c2E8d8):



The Padua Branco of the Order of the Engineers paid a visit to our Cabina A signal box after an interesting congress with lectures on the past and the future of railway signaling in Italy.

"Railway Modelling Department"

Our modelling department, as well as providing antidotes to railway withdrawal, provides means to show vehicles and places that are lost or changed. We have almost completed a diorama showing the tracks of Primolano Locomotive Shed as built, and is used often to introduce the Cabina A visitors to our other activities. This allow us to contact new possible volunteers that starts with model train and end up training as cleaners as the young Filippo, a fresh bachelor in aerospace engineering whose thesis dealt with Franco-Crosti locomotives thermodinamics. Or Englishmen living in Padua, like Richard from Swindon.



We will soon start again to invite visitors to the "Museo Veneto del Giocattolo", hosted in a huge healt-care residence for elders; I think I already told you that we are now officially the curators of the model railway section where we let children play with most of the available layout - of course not with the century old Märklin one - you can see it in the background in the picture above. Often the children come to pay a visit to their granparent and then together theu come to play with the available layouts. One of the layouts, an old school lot-of-rails-and-lot-of-buttons, really loved by the children, is start showing its age and our Corrado built thie switchbox below



so that the children can still use the layout while the original switches are sestored.

 

Sorry for posting a link to facebook, but I think it is better do not argue with the chap. Do you agree?

The coach is our Corbellini pattern from 1952.

 

What does that weigh, about 30 tonnes? His greatest problem will be stopping it!

 

Close - 33.5 tonnes, about the same as a Mk1 on B4 bogies.

https://www.societavenetaferrovie.it/carrozza-38-416-bz-corbellini/

 

Add to the listed weight of the rolling stock that of a person manning the coach hand brake .

But you are damn right. Maybe you recall the short movie "a sole saves your life". It was filmed when our turntable was not restored yet, so you were able to pull o push a wagon on it but not to step on it. In the movie we push our FF wagon and shunted it from the turntable spur to the shed entrance (the links lead to pins in Google Map) passing over the turntable. The "problem" was that we had to shunt away the Fb van that was between the FF and the turntable. We launched it almost shure that our push would have moved it just over the switch... WE WERE DEAD WRONG! Federico (the person near Marco in the cleaners training picture a few posts ago) had to dash, reach the Fb, climb into the brakeman hut and use the brake to stop it.

BTW the person who pulled the Corbellini coach did an official record pulling the FF van for 50 meters in 11 seconds:



If you hear, when the wagon reaches the stop bracket, there's the noise of the hand bracket of the van being operated. BTW, a rough estimation, based on the distance, the time and the weight he lifts in squat drills when training, says that he's capable of a 1.5 kW (2hp) power output.

 

Good to see an update. I had a chat with 'young' Marco at Novegro. He keeps telling me to visit and I will get there!
Keep going with all of the good work.

 

Young Marco the editor of the most famous "magazine of naked engines" (my wife humorous definition)? Please, come!



The event is confirmed, notwithstanding Jupiter Pluvius!

By the way, a little more step forward in restoring our rolling stock:



Young "Sentinel" (nickname originating from he living in Arsiè, above Primolano and often "watching" the place - his real name is Luca -Luke- but I told you, too many men here are named Luca) with the restored steps on the FF van. FF vans were modified freight vans used in local trains for parcels transport to bolster luggate vans, therefore were equipped with gangways and steps to speed up boarding and leaving the van. (And yes, it's the van used in the pulling record).

Young Sentinel took a picture of our Sogliola from an ununsual place (no, no drone used):

 

Waiting for the report of our last Open Day, what is Andrea (aka Efestus), doing?



And here's the team:



Yep, working on the valve of the water crane we are going to install nearby the shed building. These picture come from SVF Facebook page.

About our last 2024 Open Day (next one in 2025). Juppiter Pluvius agreed for a cease-fire and we had a nice number of visitors. Personally I was very happy because I spent most of the time as steward on our train rather than at the gadget table. It was really fun, the most fun part was when passengers left the train after a round trip about a mile long (or less): they were happy, they were amused. It really gafe the feeling that SVF as a whole had done and was doing something good, something worth working on.

Even an undaunted elder lady rode our train, her age closing 102. No matter how difficult are the steps of the Corbellini coaches, one almost exactly below the other (see below) with the upper step shaped to leave some clearance to the lower one, that lady did not guve up the chanche to have a ride on the "train of her youth".


And here a couple of aerial views taken one week before our last open day, pictures provided by Andrea "Ephestus":





So green the grass, so abundant the rain in the past days!

 

Where is Primolano? Use Google Maps to find it. The museum is geo-located in Google Maps, just ask for "Primolano railway museum" and Google Maps will show it as "Museo Ferroviario di Primolano" (https://maps.app.goo.gl/vm8dwWZpqunVt6Fy6) and several visitors added their pictures. Enjoy!

And yes, our "A" signal box is geo-located, but I fera you can find it olny as "Cabina A" (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q5Sed5VtSTvPc3Mw7). Visitors added pictures here, too.

 

This is to share with you a video from one of our visitors in the last open day: .
(and yes, the voice describing the toilette is mine )

What are we doing? Winter activities, Santa is coming and we pave the way making children play in "Museo Veneto del Giocattolo" where, following an agreement, we manage the railway modelling room. Here are a couple of picture from the event:





Each child received his certificate of graduation as first class driver:



"According to the excellent ability, prudence and expertise shown in driving trains, today, December 1st 2024 we appoint [name] as official first grade driver..."

And if someone has seen some strange wizard's coat of arms...



yes, it was there. Waiting for the Hogwarts Express to pass... to create a double pun, since the model in the picture is sold as just the hall of the castle

 

Hello there, I am here with some news from SVF.

Earlier this year, at the end of January, we were present at the first anniversary of the management by Fondazione FS of the Duegi Editrice publisher, one of the two Italian publishers of railway magazines. It seems that there could be good news for our project of staging a train on the Valsugana line. But that belongs to a not so near future, or at least not to a fully planned one.

What has been planned are our activities:

Sunday April 13th, Cabina A Open Day, Padua, from 9 AM to 5 PM

Sunday May 4th, Cabina A Open Day, Padua, from 9 AM to 5 PM

Sunday May 18th, Locomotive Depot Open Day, Primolano, from 10 AM to 5 PM, engine active.

Sunday June 22th, Cabina A Open Day, Padua, from 9 AM to 5 PM

Sunday July 22th, Cabina A Summer Night, Padua, from 4 pM to 11 PM

Sunday July 20th, Locomotive Depot Open Day, Primolano, from 10 AM to 5 PM, engine inactive (due heat).

Sunday September 14th, Locomotive Depot Open Day, Primolano, from 10 AM to 5 PM, engine active.

Sunday September 21th, Cabina A Open Day, Padua, from 9 AM to 5 PM

Sunday October 5th, Locomotive Depot Open Day, Primolano, from 10 AM to 5 PM, engine active.

Sunday October 19th, Cabina A Open Day, Padua, from 9 AM to 5 PM.

So, work has started to cleanup the Locomotive Shed:

Last Sunday our volunteer started tyding up the site, restoring the steps of the express parcels wagon ...


(Young "Sentinel" cleaning the iron mounting. "Sentinel" is a 'local' volunteer that lives close to the shed in a town above Primolano, and living nearby kept an eye open on the shed, earning this nickname in the WhatSapp chats)


(Veteran Giovanni and Sentinel mounting the restored step. Giovanni worked in Officine di Cittadella, so he is actually the very first member that took care of 880.001, even before SVF was founded.)

... and fixing the reverser screw, that required some attention ...


(Andrea, our "Efesto")

... and washing the rolling stock.

(Luca washes the venerable DE424 and Federico cleans the van that got the step fixed)