Railway Museum of Catalonia

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.

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. 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. 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

Ref	Year	Object	Nickname	Manufacturer	Description	Image
ND	1948	Locomotive 1-1-1 (see below, in Image Gallery, the wheel-arrangement codes)	Mataró	Maquinista Terrestre i Marítima	First train in the Iberian Peninsula to service the first line (Barcelona-Mataró)
MZA 168	1854	Steam locomotive 120/2112	Martorell	Sharp & Stewart Manchester	Oldest original locomotive in Spain. Shown in the Exposició Internacional de Barcelona de 1929
MZA 246	1857	Steam locomotive 030/2013	Mamut	Ritson Wilson i Cail Cockeril	Second oldest original locomotive in Spain. General purpose trains	Steam locomotive Mamut
Andaluces 4	1871	Steam locomotive 020-04	Andaluces	COCKERILL	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	1881	Steam locomotive 030-2110	Perruca	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	1884	Steam locomotive 030-2369	Bicicleta (bicycle)	United Kingdom	For passenger trains	Steam locomotive 030-2369
Alcañiz - La Puebla de Híjar, 4	1885	Steam locomotive 020-210	Teresita/Clot	Belgium	Manoeuvring locomotive
Mollet - Caldes, 6	1887	Steam locomotive 030-0233	Caldes	Maquinaria Terrestre y Marítima	For passenger trains. Used finally for manoeuvring
Andaluces, 6		Steam locomotive 220-2023	Bobadilla	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, 1	1902	Steam locomotive 030-2471	FCA 1	Société Anonyme St. Leonard	For Passenger trains	Steam locomotive 030-2451
Ferrocarril Central de Aragón, 53	1906	Steam locomotive 060-4013	Mallet-Compound	Switzerland	Heavy materils trains
Norte 3101	1909	Steam locomotive 230-2085		Hanomag (Alemanya)	For Passenger trains	Locomotive 230-2085
MZA 1155	1913	Steam locomotive 240-2135	Mastodonte	Germany	General purpose locomotive
Ferrocarril Central de Aragón, 74	1927	Steam 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 1808	1939	Steam locomotive 241F-2108	Linda Tapada	Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima (Barcelona)	General purpose locomotive
5001	1942	Steam locomotive 151F-3101	Santa Fe	Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima	Heavy and powerful locomotive
Renfe		Steam locomotive Renfe 240F-2591		Euskalduna (Bilbao)
Renfe	1953	Locomotores de Vapor 141F-2101/2348	Mikado	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 7206	1928	Electric locomotive 272-006	Cocodrilo		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 7807	1954	Electric locomotive 278-007	Panchorga	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 9165	1935	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)
3T	1950	Locomotive 350-003	Talgo 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 locomotive	Virgen del Carmen		Carrying Talgo trains
RENFE 281 (previously 1000)	1927	Electric locomotive	Ripoll	CAF	This locomotive was built to service the Ripoll-Puigcerdà line	ND

Image Gallery

• 
  Original interlocking frame from "Estació de França", 1929, Barcelona
• 
  Levers in the interlocking frame
• 
  Map of line Valls-Vilanova-Barcelona
• 
  Identification codes used by RENFE in locomotives
• 
  Numbering codes for wheels arrangements
• 
  Vehicles for rail maintenance
• 
  Manual service operation coach (350 kg weight)
• 
  First class coach
• 
  Miniatures
• 
  Display cabinet old items
• 
  Rail gauges
• 
  1848 Annual Report "Camino de Hierro de Barcelona a Mataró"
• 
  3rd class passenger wooden coachrebuilt on 1991 in Vilanova i la Geltrú
• 
  Auditorium
• 
  Baby-sitting area

See also

• List of museums in Catalonia