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.