Catalonia Railway Museum

The Vilanova i la Geltrú Railway Museum, with its roundhouse bays and turntable, as seen from above.

The Catalonia Railway Museum (Catalan: Museu del Ferrocarril de Catalunya) in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Catalonia, Spain) has a large collection of historic railway locomotives and other rolling stock in the former station roundhouse and on its surrounding outdoor grounds. It is located close to the railway station in Vilanova i la Geltrú, 40 km south of Barcelona.[1]

History

Original bond for the company "Companyia del Ferrocarrils de Tarragona Barcelona i França", similar to the one kept in the Museum

The Museum opened in 1990 and is located in what was built as an engine shed at the end of XIX century. About 900 workers did the maintenance and repair jobs for locomotives until 1967, when these activities ceased.

In the main building, attached to the museum, visitor can find a library, a collection of railway items such as caps, miniatures, machinery, etc. Also, there is an auditorium where every day a film about the history of the railway in Catalonia is shown. The reception, where the visitors can buy the entrance ticket, is the original ticket office frm a railway station in the village of La Granada, which is about 15 miles north of Vilanova and has around 2000 inhabitants.

In 1972, the MOROP, European association that federates national associations of railroad and model railroad enthusiasts, held their nineteenth congress invited by the Associació d'Amics del Ferrocarril de Barcelona.[2] The amount of antique locomotives in that exhibition where kept stored in these facilities. In 1981, which was the centenary of the railway commercial line between Barcelona and Vilanova, was the original idea to create a Railway Museum in this facilities. Initially, the RENFE (National Spanish Railway Public Company) and the autonomous government of Catalonia, la Generalitat de Catalunya, developed the project and later, the town council of Vilanova joined the project.

Finally the Museum opened in August the 5th, 1990. Later, in 1993 RENFE assigned the management of the operations for the Museum to an institution held in Madrid in charge of this museum and the Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid, the Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles.[3] In 2010 the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya stablished an academic master's degree on Railway systems and Electrical Traction in their facilities in Vilanova.

The items collected in this Museum are of a quality and interest highly considered internationally. The collection has more than sixty vehicles from all periods of history, diverse countries of origin and different technologies. 28 notable steam locomotives from late XIX century and a copy of the first steam locomotive used in the Iberian Peninsula (1848), which is in a demo real short trip each month's first Sundays, back and forth along the museum's roundhouse. Also, visitors find diesel and electric locomotives, coaches, a Bogie type Harlan, a signal bridge, and an original interlocking lever frame table used in the Barcelona central railway station.

The Museum's Library has more than 6.100 volumes in its catalogue of which several are originals dated along the 1950 decade. The total record of items is avobe 5.000, of which 400 are video recordings and 10.000 photografic pictures Visitors can find works about trains and vehicles, rail traffic documentation, history and legislation, statistics, infrastructure and more railway related items.

Locomotives

RefYearObjectNicknameManufacturerDescriptionImage
ND1948Locomotive 1-1-1 (see below, in Image Gallery, the wheel-arrangement codes)MataróMaquinista Terrestre i MarítimaFirst train in the Iberian Peninsula to service the first line (Barcelona-Mataró)
MZA 1681854Steam locomotive 120/2112MartorellSharp & Stewart ManchesterOldest original locomotive in Spain. Shown in the Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929
MZA 2461857Steam locomotive 030/2013MamutRitson Wilson i Cail Cockeril Second oldest original locomotive in Spain. General purpose trains
Steam locomotive Mamut
Andaluces 4 1871 Steam locomotive 020-04AndalucesCOCKERILL Small type locomotive usen in urban areas and servicing factories
MZA 571 1879 Steam locomotive 040-2019 Vilanova Sharp & Steward (Regne Unit) In Vilanova i la Geltrú since 1949
Locomotive 040-2019 "Vilanova"
Norte 1653 1881Steam locomotive 030-2110Perruca Andre Koechlin & Cie Servicing the North East lines of Spain
Oeste 9 1881 Steam locomotive 220-2005 Hartmann For Passenger trains
Locomotive Hartmann 220-2005 "Oest 9"
Oeste 77 1884 Steam locomotive 120-2131 Maschinenfabrik Esslingen AG For Passenger trains
Locomotive 120-2131 "Oeste 77"
Alcantarilla- Lorca,4 1884Steam locomotive 030-2369 Bicicleta (bicycle) United Kingdom For passenger trains
Steam locomotive 030-2369
Alcañiz - La Puebla de Híjar, 41885 Steam locomotive 020-210 Teresita/Clot Belgium Manoeuvring locomotive
Mollet - Caldes, 6 1887 Steam locomotive 030-0233CaldesMaquinaria Terrestre y Marítima For passenger trains. Used finally for manoeuvring
Andaluces, 6 Steam locomotive 220-2023Bobadilla Beyer, Peacock and Company For passenger trains
MZA 651 1901 Steam locomotive 230-4001 Compound Henschel i Maffei (Alemanya) Fast trains locomotive
Locomotive MZA 651
Ferrocarril Central de Aragón, 11902Steam locomotive 030-2471 FCA 1 Société Anonyme St. Leonard For Passenger trains
Steam locomotive 030-2451
Ferrocarril Central de Aragón, 53 1906 Steam locomotive 060-4013Mallet-Compound Switzerland Heavy materils trains
Norte 31011909 Steam locomotive 230-2085 Hanomag (Alemanya) For Passenger trains
Locomotive 230-2085
MZA 1155 1913 Steam locomotive 240-2135Mastodonte Germany General purpose locomotive
Ferrocarril Central de Aragón, 741927Steam locomotive 240-2074 Mastodonte Tubize (Bèlgica) General purpose locomotive. 115 km/h maximum speed
Steam locomotive 240-2074
FCA 101 Steam locomotive 462F-0401 Beyer-Garratt Euskalduna, Bilbao This locomotive is temporarily transferred to a depot near the town of Lleida
MZA 18081939 Steam locomotive 241F-2108Linda Tapada Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima (Barcelona) General purpose locomotive
5001 1942 Steam locomotive 151F-3101Santa FeMaquinista Terrestre y Marítima Heavy and powerful locomotive
Renfe Steam locomotive Renfe 240F-2591 Euskalduna (Bilbao)
Renfe1953 Locomotores de Vapor 141F-2101/2348Mikado North British Locomotive Company A Mikado locomotive in this Museum was the last steam locomotive servicing in Spain Espanya
Norte i Renfe 7001 1928 Electric locomotive 270-001 Chata Electric Locomotive
Electric locomotive 270-001
Norte i Renfe 72061928Electric locomotive 272-006Cocodrilo Electric Locomotive
Estado i Renfe 1004 1929 Electric locomotive 280-004 CAF SECHERON (Guipúscoa) Pulling trains along Pirenean close bent lines
Estado & Renfe 1004
Renfe 78071954Electric locomotive 278-007Panchorga USA Electric Locomotive initially for travellers, ending as goods transportation
Renfe 7652 Electric locomotive Alstom 276-052 Carrying 4 coaches type 6000
Norte i Renfe 91651935 Automotor 590-165 EUA Light autonomous for short distances.
Ou (Catalan for "Egg") 1940 Dresina de via i obres Transport for service personnel (12 seats)
3T1950 Locomotive 350-003Talgo II Talgo trains Carrying Talgo trains
1801 1958 Diesel locomotive 318-001 Marilyn American Locomotives Co. (ALCO) Servicing Galicia (North-West) lines
Talgo 1983 Diesel locomotive Talgo 354-001 Virgen de Covadonga Krauss Maffei (Alemanya) Carrying Talgo trains
2005 T 1964 Cabin of the Talgo III locomotiveVirgen del Carmen Carrying Talgo trains
RENFE 281 (previously 1000)1927Electric locomotive RipollCAF This locomotive was built to service the Ripoll-Puigcerdà line ND

Image Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ "A museum showing off 160 years of railway history". Museu del Ferrocarril de Catalunya. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Associació d'Amics del Ferrocarril de Barcelona
  3. ↑ Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles

Coordinates: 41°13′13″N 1°43′50″E / 41.22028°N 1.73056°E / 41.22028; 1.73056

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