Società Veneta Ferrovie.

I could have mentioned already that we often use the nickname Piovarolo for Primolano, and Piovarolo cames from this movie and is a name that suggest that the place is very rainy. Indeed there is a reason why Primolano is so green



and is because of the abundant rainfalls. But there's a place where this fluorishing vegetation is not welcomed at all since it spells damage, and that place is our railyard. Sadly we are not enought to battle Mother Nature alone and so we call professional to remove unwanted plants:



(the author of this picture is Sentinella, he is one of the few members that live nearby)



(again a picture by Sentinel, this time cleaning the "military loading platform" of the station)



(here the loader clears the part of the yard that faces the village)


(this wood could cook something goood in the future, who knows)

 

More works today in Primolano. The last seats have been installed in one of the Corbellini coach saloon, that is finally complete. Furthermore works continued on the water crane. This time the swivelling part has been disassembled (not an easy job) and restored, and that keeps one step closer to install it

All the seats are available now ! This is the first picture of the second saloon complete of al the seats.


Gentle means required!


Kindness is the way


Piece ready for overhauling


Big Luke uses all his strenght to clean the piece with a metal brush.

 

More picture for the work in the Corbellini coach

 

What did happen since the last post? Well, first of all, I met a new SVF member, Patrizio (according to hist Italia documents) but feel free to call him Patrick since he's from Glasgow. He has a fine youtube channel with several videos, and this post will have some link to his videos. First of all..



... yes, we'll celebrate Rail 200 in September! I think it's appropriate with our society goals.

Then, at the beginnin of May whe had a "Cabina A" Open Day. "Cabina A" is evolving: the restoration of the ground floor is restored and already in use also during the open days.



Furthermore, Nicolò directed the works than connected some of our preserved signals, exposed in the signal box itself, to the signal levers, so that visitors that operate one of these levers have not only the feedback on the synoptic display, but also from the change of the aspect of a real signal.



And finally the a video from Patrizio giving you an impression of what it is like to visit "Cabina A":



We now can have a full set of "orders from the station master to the signal box" (they appear in the left side of the panel above), for each Station Master order, a light is turnr on and a shord warning signal is played. At this time it is a computer program that replicates the Station Master switchboard, but we already have the real one, it needs to be restored. Our "signaling gang" (Nicolò, Filippo, Angelo and others) is focused now on the signal box and on some other precious item (surprise, stay tuned).



We had our yearly meeting in Primolano, a day when Primolano Depot is our playground and also the members not actively involved in works have a chance to fully enjoy the train with our relatives. The water crane is not up but a surprise awaited all the members:



The first of the switch signals has been installed. The signal turns to show how the point is set, in this case it is in reverse. If you zoom in the picture and go to read the markings on the weight, they say "Ansaldo S.A." amd "1940 XVIII", Italy was going to enter WW II or just entered it.

Further signals will be installed as soon as we source the standing rods and the L cranks. Rumors are that we could go "shopping" following Blake Edwads teaching in the "Operation Pettycoat" teachings... But in a less legally endangering way...

But since "Safety First" are not two empty words we increased the visibility of the stop brackets at the end of the shed tracks.



The member party gave chance to take pictures of the 880 on a track she (IMHO) should have nevev visited before, for shure it was a new location for pictture of our engine.



OK, and now some links to Patrizio's youtube channel.

First, a trip within our beloved 2 axles coach during the members day, where you can meet some of the members:




And this is Patrizio meeting 880.001 for the first time:




And finally Patrizio interviewing some random chap (yep, it's me) about our turntable. I apologize for my English (I should do it more often).



And finally an exceptional pictyure, the last active E636 engine passing in Padua:

 

Another video from a visitor

 

(Please note, this post should have been posted on Augurs 2nd, 2025, but got delayed)

Hello! Long forced pause for me, my pc required hardware mantainance, mantainance worth a DCC sound fitted continental H0 steam engine, but it was worth doing.

So back with the news from the Boot in the Sea. Summer here, hot until recently, so hot that during July Open Door in Primolano we did not start out 880.001 due fire safety concerns. So sogliola hauled the short run on our rails, but the trip was short buy passengers where nevertheless enthusiasts.

First of all, a mandatory memorial:



45 years ago today, at 10:25AM (the hour displayed by the clock) in Bologna Central station, a bomb placed by neo-fascist terrorist in a way to maximize explosion effects killed 85 person and injiuried or mutilated 200 other persons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_massacre). That day bus 4030, running on route 37, acted as makeshift emergency room and casualties evaquation vehicle:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Strage_di_bologna_soccorsi_15.jpg.

That bus is preserved with the headboard still showing the 37 route number. And if you are wondering, our L914 Sogliola wears the very same livery of that honourable bus.

Bach to train preservation!

Here is (another?) cab ride on our 1945 pedal draisine from our member Patrick (featuring Marco cleaning some weed):



Then a picture from the end of the day, whith all shunting performed, depicts our day hero engine, L914, and the newly installed water crane, awaitng the final paintwork (© Giovanni Andretta/SVF, 2025):



Which colour our water crane will be? Most probably cast-iron gray, but some elter members (including that random fat blocke with LSWR green museum T-shirt) would be happy to have it painted according to the Venice Compartment tradition:



The white and blue come from the traditional colours of mooring piles in Venice.

And this is another picture for our member Giovanni, showing both engine 880.001 inactive and the Sogliola L914 awaiting to pull the Primolano Shed Limited



Being inactive, the 880.001 cab was open to visitors, and for many of them it was the first time on a steam locomotive cab (picture above © Giovanni Andretta/SVF, 2025).

What follows is a video from Luca "Sentinella", from the Saturday before the open day. Our Sogliola in an ununsual perspective!



And another picture of the water crane, with her only customer for now:

 

Nice to see progress and to have met you at Verona quite a while ago!
All looking very nice, we also get weeds over our way as well!

 

My fault not mentioning our meeting! It was a real and pleasing surprise!