Association of Railway Friends
The Association of Railway Friends (VEF) is the oldest active association of railway friends in Austria . It is based in Vienna .
purpose
The VEF aims to support the Friends of the Railroad in their endeavors and to make documents about the railroad accessible to them. He would like to support this with lectures on railway technology, excursions, purchase of photographs and drawings.
history
In 1950 the Association of Railway Friends was founded in Vienna. Branch offices were set up in Graz and Innsbruck . The Graz branch has developed well over the years and for years had a railcar acquired from the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen StLB as an association home. It has now moved to Glacisstraße 43 and is continuously engaging in numerous activities. There were not enough interested parties for Innsbruck, so that this branch had to close in 1978. Since 2016 there has been another attempt to establish a regional branch in Innsbruck.
After the founding, a lively association activity developed in the form of a wide variety of events. The newsletter at the time was the magazine “ Eisenbahn ”, which belonged to one of the founding members, Alois Ployer.
The foundation stone for today's historical vehicle collection was laid as early as 1955, namely with the railcar 4924.05 (ex LWP Cmg 1607), which could be acquired by the Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB , and the former Hofsalonwagen 200 of the Wiener Lokalbahnen (WLB), which thanks A donation from the paper merchant Alois Ployer to the VEF could be bought by the WLB. From 1956, these two cars were used as the association center, set up in Eichenstrasse next to the WLB Remise in Vienna. In 1960 the two railcars were transferred to the Hütteldorf-Hacking ÖBB train station (today Wien Hütteldorf train station ), where the association evenings continued to take place.
The first special trip took place on October 6, 1962 (another 225 trips followed by February 2007) and the first school trip was organized on January 26, 1964 (another 206 school trips followed). Both types of event enriched the activities of the VEF and they were used by the members with the consent.
A period of fruitful work began, during which work was also carried out on expanding the vehicle collection. Since the two railcars came into a hall and one of them was later made operational again, the association evenings in the two railcars were closed. The weekly meetings were initially relocated to the congress center until, in 1980 , a possibility was found again at a train station, namely the Westbahnhof , to hold the association evenings there. As a result of the renovation of the station, which also affected the restaurant, the VEF moved to the Südbahnhof in 1995 , where the VEF also had the opportunity to organize slide and film evenings in the Rosenkavalier restaurant . Due to the demolition of the Südbahnhof, the slide and film evenings have been taking place in the Hagenthaler restaurant in Vienna 6 since September 2009. Now the VEF meetings in Vienna take place in the Falkensteiner restaurant in Vienna 3, in Graz in the association bar on Glacisstraße and in Innsbruck in the Café Inntal instead of.
As a result of the change of ownership and editorial scheduling problems with the magazine "Eisenbahn", this was no longer practicable as a newsletter and so the VEF published its own newsletter in 1974, which was called "Verkehrsreport", but from 1975 onwards was more appropriately referred to as "Die Schiene". The newsletter has meanwhile also become the newsletter of more and more railroad enthusiasts' associations. Since May 2007 “Die Schiene” has been produced in color. The magazine has been available in all major Wiener Linien information points since April 2008 and DIE SCHIENE has also been available in many train station graphics and bookshops since May 2011.
The first high point in efforts to preserve and recondition historical rail vehicles was in 1977 the reopening of the former association center, the former court saloon car of the WLB, No. 200. The VEF was also active in the area of mainline railways and trams. The Schwechat Railway Museum was set up in the Groß Schwechat station . The trams for daily use were housed in Ottakring station, then in Rudolfsheim station and then in Speising station. Currently (as of 2018) the VEF's vehicles are at home in Erdberg station. The vehicles that are not required for operation have been exhibited in the Vienna Tram Museum since 1986.
In the years from 1980 onwards, the participation of the VEF with its historic rail vehicles at anniversary or other events (such as the open day) at both the ÖBB and the WVB (Wiener Linien) (e.g. feeder trains on the open day) increased ).
The tram vehicles and railway vehicles can be rented for special trips, provided they are approved. Association membership is not required. In September 2010 the VEF celebrated its 60th anniversary with a festival program in the Vienna Tram Museum and in the Schwechat Railway Museum.