Ol49-80 at Elk. Photo Roman Miotke.
Robert Dylewski reports that, following the appeals of numerous railway enthusiasts, officials in the Historic Monuments Office in Olsztyn have started the process of listing Ol49-80 as a historic monument. (See: BTWT, 24 July 2012 – Ol49-80 – will be cut up in 7 days…) With the listing process started it would now be illegal for the locomotive to be cut up by its scrapyard owners.)
While the future of Ol49-80 is still far from secure, an important victory has been achieved. Congratulations are due to Robert who initiated a massive campaign to save the loco and also to Piotr Lewandowski of Fundacja Thesaurus in Poznan who provided legal support.
Robert is acquiring quite a reputation in Polish railway enthusiast circles for his campaigns to rescue steam locos on ‘death row’ it was he who initiated the successful campaign to save Ty2-5860 after DB Schenker had sold it to a scrapyard! (See BTWT, 6 September 2011 – All’s well that ends well.)
Behind The Water Tower 
Saturday, 18 August 2012 at 22:46 |
Should there be a fund so that the locomotive is bought from the scrap man ?
Sunday, 19 August 2012 at 21:40 |
This begs the question “what next?”
The engine is still owned by the scrap merchant, who purchased it at auction in May. Legally, he is not allowed to scrap it, and, if he does, and convicted, could face imprisonment.
So, the engine is in limbo, owned by someone who cannot dispose of it by the means they proposed, and who ultimately needs to realise the capital he has sunk into the purchase. Sources have revealed, the merchant purchased the loco assuming that there was copper in the traction motors the loco contained (and paid a price to suit.) And there lies the conundrum. Polish societies cannot afford to purchase this Barry wreck, yet the owner will need to dispose of it to recover the money.
Ol49-80 is not the only item to be placed in this limbo. A tender from a Tp4 loco was added to the list under similar circumstances.
For the timebeing it is likely, that the loco will remain where it is, in Elk, gradually disappearing piece by piece, and rusting away, merely delaying its likely disappearance.
Monday, 20 August 2012 at 06:04 |
Polish societies could afford to purchase the engine, it is time that they moved on from the ‘we are poor, only the state or rich people from the West can do something blah blah’ attitude and got down to some serious fund raising.
That’s if they really want to save this engine.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012 at 09:07 |
150,000 zloty really is big amount of money for Polish railway societies. It is equivalent to a year’s budget for maintenance of buildings or tracks for the more active organizations like PSMK (railway museum at Skierniewice) or Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Koszalińskiej Wąskotorówki.
Being poor is a fact of life for the less active societies, in Poland we have less opportunities and more difficulties in obtaining funds for our activities. Rail is a less popular hobby than UK or Germany. In addition many Polish rail enthusiasts are very young and can’t afford to spend their money, for example for the rescue steam locos. On the other hand, because of the very poor image of rail transport in Poland, many sponsors aren’t interested in helping rail fans.
Monday, 20 August 2012 at 19:37 |
The inspection of Ol49-80 by the “konserwator” will take place on August 27. All remaining locos at Elk will be reviewed at that time, along with the turntable, and various other equipment.