"WE ARE WORKING IN OBTAINING THE RAILWAY INHERITANCE RECOVERY"
SARA SANTAMARIA ARRIBAS
When did the idea of create the Railway Museum crop up?
About the Railway Museum started to talk about it some years later of finishing the trains services of passsangers and the mineral transport with vapour engines at the first years of the eighties for the Miner, Iron and Steel of Ponferrada. The last engines, which had circulate since those dates, were forgotten with others that didn't circulate since very much years, at Ponferrada station and has started with that the wear during ten years of abandonment. With the change of the MSP offcies to Villablino and the abandonment of the near buildings with the station have detrected a unceasing wear caused by the rains, the robberies, the ices,... before all the people, except for those people who, from their love to the railway, reported the abandonment of the engines and vaggons. During the nineties years has strarted to drop up the idea of a Museum by different administrations and all of that closed on May 26th, 1999 date when the museum opened its doors with the presence of Jesus Merino Delgado, vice-president of the Castilla and Leon Meeting.
What kind of helps did you receive?
The Castilla and Leon Meeting has contribuited with the most part of the money. The warehouse construction to cover the rails and the platform where nowadays park the vapour engines, in the restoration of Ponferrada old station and in the restoration of seven engines. In the other side, Ponferrada town council has designed the museum proyect, has compited a part of the pieces showed in the museum and has given all the nedessary things for the good function of its installations.In your case, what is your relation with the raliway? How did you arrive to become the museum manager?
My relation with the railway is like enthusiastic. In Ponferrada town council, I'm the Bierzo Museum manager, a history museum about the zone and when started the works of Ponferrada Museum, the town council entrusted myself the museum proyect, so I started to read according to the musem proyect, the MSP and the Ponferrada-Villablino train and I visited anothers railway museums and I met their excellent managers: Gijon, Azpeitia, Madrid. Vila Nova, etc.I have to say that there is an excited world and I'm an enthusiastic more, whose look carries a lot of work to get the restoration of those important inheritance.
How is the museum distributed?
The Museum has two different parts: the warehouse and the station. In the warehouse, there is the material distributed in two different sections, like is the exhibition zone, where are the engines and the restored vaggons, and into the workshop there are things for restoring next years. The old station has two floors. The second floor is dedicated to the officies, archive, libraries, etc.,and the first floor is dedicated to exhibitions and an objects slection about MSP enterprise and, above all, the miner railway Ponferrada-Villablino since its construction to its last days.
How did you combine the miner history in Leon with the railway history in the material distribution?
We explain the MSP hgistory, with production, transport and workers graphics, in relation to the railway which time before carried the mineral from Villablino and Laziana miners to all the world.
Could you talk us about the pieces that you show?
In the station there are pices in relation to the railway and the stations as the different caps, flages, rails. telephones. books, original engines plannes, plates, etc., also a short film about the Ponferrada-Villablino railway engines in working, wiyh a lot of similarities with others railway museums, In the warehouse the are engines numbered like the MSP had numbered those years before: the number 22 (FREUDENSTEIN. Berlin-1903), the numbers 4 and 5 BALDWIN (Philadelphia, USA-1919), the number 14 (MACOSA, Valencia-1950), the number 15 (MACOSA, Valencia-1956), the number 41 "Esteban Terradas" (TOBIZE, Belgium-), and a diesel tractor (exchanged by the engine number 11 of KRAUSS-ENGERTH, Munich-1920, with Azpeitia Museum), a miner vapour engine of mineral from Gaitztarro with two miner vaggons (1000 and 2000 litres) and the ambulance vaggons FA fh1, merchandise F fha 14, vaggon X FIIA, tolve PK 570 and Platform Nf, and on this one there is a driver simulator given by FEVE to the Museum. In restoring, thre are the engine number 31 (MAFFEI, Germany-1013) and the number 51 (KRAUSS, 1914). This is Renfe width. And, at the last one, in the workshop there are the engine number 12 (KRAUSS, Germany-1911), the number 55 (Haine St. Pierre, Belgium-1891) also with renfe width and the merchandise vaggons D fh3, passangers number 1number/2 number and a post vaggon.
We have tried to explain the MSP with production, transport and workers graphics in relation to the railway with it could carried the mineral from Villablino and Laziana miners to all the world.And, future plannes?
We want to obtain money, workers, pieces, and installations to the museum, and to divulge across Spain and foreign countries and, above all, we are wortking in a touristy train between Ponferrada-Villablino with the vapour engine number 31 and we will put in service next year.
What is your conservation politics?
The conservation politics of the Museum,in this case from Ponferrada town council and Castilla Leon Meeting, has been to invest 300 millions of pesetas more in restoring a design of each sequence of engines, in equiping installations for its conservation and in making a future proyect centred in the most important things to the Museum: conservation, investigation, education,and narrow rail divulgation, its history and our Bierzo zone history.
What kind of collaboration does the Museum have with others institutions, town council, Renfe, publics o privates enterprises?
The relations with others museum are very well and we exchange material, publications and, in the future, temporary exhibitions for changing those between the different museums, but the museum is very new and we haven't got time to prepare these actions. In this moment we have been presented to all the associations of the railway friends in Spain and some foreigneers, and their members have come to know us and have sent lettters and magazines where we are congratulated by them. Also, important railway enterprises, Renfe and FEVE, have colaborated with the Museum with: Renfe, the first table of CTC of the line Leon-Ponferrada and FEVE, whose driver simulator is a spectacle for all the children who visit the Museum. Also, we have contacts with privates enterprises to get money for restoring different vaggons like the passangers vaggon 1 number/2 number for circulating as tourist train.
What kind of people does the Museum visit?
The first information, when only a month ago we opened the museum, tells us about 2000 people and the most of them have come from Ponferrada. Also, a lot of visitors have come from the miner valley and from the towns where the train had circulated because of the interest that the Museum had revived in the workers' hearts and their families connected with the miner, the MSP and the railway. Also, we can't forget the visitors who have come because of the Holy Year and the railway enthusiastics from Spain and others countries.
What kind of problems does the Museum have?
There aren't problems, there are challenges and there are similars in all the museums. The necessary money to make correctly their functions and a good management in the activities planning, in the Museum divulgation, in the education for the children and in all the services as the shop, the segurity, etc., are the most important challenges.
I'd like to invite all the railway lovers to know our museum and the zone of Bierzo, a rich country in history, in inheritance, in different foods, in viwes and, above all, a quiet cuntry with hospitable people and each one can take away a beautiful memories.
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