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The Club - General information

The Club Ferroviari de Terrassa (Terrassa Railway Club) started its activities on the last weeks of 1981 when a group of enthusiasts to the railway and railway models joined together as a result of the chats maintained in a shop of Terrassa specialized in modelism.

The Club statutes were passed by the Civil Government of Barcelona with date of 7th January 1982. The negotiations to achieve a head office made us go to the Cultural Centre of the Caixa de Terrassa. This was the place where our head office became set. Later we had the opportunity to purchase in good conditions an ownership site, where we have around a hundred and fifty squared metres of surface. It is placed on the Venècia passage, very close to the Vallparadís Railway. This site was purchased at the end of 1999; at the end of 2000, as it was totally arranged, we made the transfer from the old site in the Cultural Centre and finally on September the 29th of the year 2001 we made the official inauguration.

In this head office is where the Club nowadays do a part of its activities. There's a place with model trains of different kinds; a specialized library with a video section, a committee room and a versatile room.

The library also contains a great amount of railway related books, as well as many old and new magazines which are specialized in trains. The library stock comes from purchasings but also from members and sympathizers givings.

There's a big model railway in H0 scale (1:87) which combines the two more common technologic systems. There's also a board specialized in N scale.

The most important public activities made by the Club are the exhibitions done at the Cultural Centre: "El tren i el seu món" (The train and its world) in 1982; "Els altres trens" (The other trains) in 1985 and in 1991 at the Sala Muncunill of Terrassa's town council with the title "Els trens ahir... avui... demà..." (The trains yesterday... today... tomorrow...).

The Club, in collaboration with the National Science and Technic Museum of Catalonia, has set the reconstruction of the model railway which is part of the giving that Mr.Joaquim Gili made to the Museum. A part of its restoration, in agreement with the museum, the Club is the organization who has to mantain the model railway and make it work. This model railway has a surface of about 50 square metres and it's completely decorated.

The Club Ferroviari de Terrassa is a founder member of the Federació Catalana d'Amics del Ferrocarril and member of the manging committe for the creation of the "Federació de Vaporistes-Modelistes".

Another side to which the Club has done a lot of efforts has been the Vallparadís Railway (Ferrocarril de Vallparadís). In closer collaboration with Terrassa's town council, we have set an openair railway, in a big scale, of what is normally known as garden trains. It is a journey of 340 metres of length for a gauge of 5 and 7 1/4 inches. It is placed in Vallparadís Park, in the green lung of the centre of the city of Terrassa. In addition from the station where there are different tracks, there are nine switching points, a turntable, locomotives depot and a workshoop.

Since in 1995 the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya inagurated a stage of the Vallparadís park works and the railway was opened (despite the conditions were awful), we have carried more of one hundred thousand people. In addition, with the collaboration of the Patronat Municipal d'Ensenyament, we have a service to the schools to make possible that, in school time, they can visit the railway.

This railway is in service all Sundays, since eleven o'clock in the morning to half past one in the afternoon. Despite the short working time, the Vallparadís Railway has become a great incentive to visit the park during the different stages of construction of it and today it is still an important point of interest for the big number of citiziens which visit the park.

The line was officially inaugurated on June 29th in 1996 by the mayor of Terrassa, Manel Royes. During the inauguration it was organized an international steamers meeting, where in addition to the enthusiasts coming from our country came people from Italy and the United Kingdom. It was an important fact not only for the Club but also for the city of Terrassa. Since then, each year during the Festa Major it is repeated an international meeting in Vallparadís. During these working years the railway has been completed: we have built new passenger cars - one of them is prepared to carry disabled people which have to move with a wheel-chair - we have purchased new locomotives and in 1999 we inaugurated the new depot.

Following the guidance which are made by the Federació Catalana d'Amics del Ferrocarril, our Club has taken part of the Via 0 day. The money which is collected is given to a local organization dedicated to solidarity.