CIFVM La Poveda, Spain, 2015

Thomas Kautzor reports on a December 2015 visit.

See also from the same visit:

• Alcazar de San Juan Railway and Steam Relics

• Hoyo de Manzanares and Madrid Railway Relics

• Castilla y Leon

Thomas revisited on 12th March 2017 and found OK 11198 "Aliva" back in action while Henschel "Aganda" was waiting its new boiler - read his report (18th April 2017, it includes a couple of other preserved items..

The short metre gauge museum line, CIFVM La Poveda (http://www.vapormadrid.com/) which features a long steel viaduct across the Rio Jarama, owes its survival to the fact that Metro line 9 was built on a differing alignment on this section when it was built on sections of the former FC de Tajuña.

The little 0-6-0T “Arganda” (Henschel 20605/1925, 60 hp) is so small that it would probably look better at home on 600mm gauge track. It used to be a building contractor’s locomotive, owned by Constructoria International SA in Musel. It only managed to pull the first train out before being declared a failure due to leaking tubes and the red OK diesel had to come to the rescue. By the time we got back to La Poveda James had arrived from the airport. The OK, which normally hauls the shuttle trains between the station and the HO scale model display next to the shed had to fill in for “Arganda” and in turn grey Diema DFL90/1.5 No. 3244/1972 (90 hp, ex Portland Valderibas) had to fill in for the OK, even though it could only move at walking pace.

The station at La Poveda, which now contains a small museum, used to serve the large Azucarera de Madrid sugar factory, built in 1898 after Spain lost control over Cuba. The factory had its own 600mm gauge network, with two lines linking it to RENFE stations. Many of the steam locomotives once in use here are preserved throughout Spain. A small industrial area, which includes the CIFVM shed/workshops and model railway layout, has replaced the sugar factory, of which only parts of the perimeter wall along the metre gauge line are left today. Due to this heritage, a short 600mm demonstration line has been laid within the confines of the station, included a loop, a (currently missing) turntable and a (currently empty) one-track loco shed. There was however no functioning 600mm equipment on site at the time of our visit.

On a guided tour of the four-track workshops we were shown the following equipment:

San Miguel Copper Mines 040T “SAN MIGUEL” (600mm Spur, St. Leonard 892/1891), privately owned and this 600mm gauge diesel loco is a Gmeinder built under license in Spain. The two other 600mm gauge diesels owned by CIFVM (1951 Diema and 1971 OK) and 10 skips were not found on site.

FGV electric railcar 15 (1930) : although it takes a lot of valuable space in the workshops, it will probably never operate at La Poveda and Hullera Vasco Leonasa (HVL) 0-6-0T 3 (Tubize 1026/ANF 168/1896, ex Deux-Sèvres?);

Peñarroya-Puertollano (PFA) coche salón/saloon coach X.2 (1947);

Peñarroya-Puertollano (PFA) coche pagador/pay coach X.2 and unrestored FC de Tajuña passenger coach (Carde y Escoriaza);

Much-rebuilt FC Tajuña Wismar railcar, later used as a works railcar. CIFVM would like to rebuild it to its original condition, but is still looking for the original drawings. ex-FC Tajuña fire tank car F 6 (Euskalduna 1946). CIFVM owns two of these tank cars, built after WW2 for transporting liquid cement. They were never put into use.

Real Cia. Asturiana de Minas Torrelavega 0-6-0T 4 “Aliva” (OK 11198/1926), currently under restoration and with a new boiler which has already been certified, is due to replace “Arganda” as the operating loco before the end of 2016, FGC Naval-diesel 821 ex-Clot de Moro, FC Tajuña coche salón/saloon coach AS1 (Carde y Escoriaza 1901);

This 750mm gauge Diema(?) diesel is on display outside the workshops. It doesn’t have an engine any more. FC Tajuña AC-201 (Carde y Escoriaza 1916). The two four-wheel coaches C1 und C2 also in use in the train are newly-built replicas.