Following the activity schedule, Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, hosted the annual exhibition of railway models and a meeting of the FISAIC Technical Commission for Railway Heritage & Model Railways from 17 to 19 May 2024.
In a symbolic linking of both railway heritage and models, the event took place in the Museum of Transport, bringing together railway employees from Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, and Spain.
As part of the museum night, a group of FISAIC historians and modellers organised an international exhibition of an interoperable junior modular railway network. The exhibition took place with the support of the International Federation for Railway Culture and Leisure (FISAIC). Moreover, the ceremonial opening was attended by representatives of the Railways of the Slovak Republic (ŽSR).
The modellers presented (to hundreds of visitors within 3 days) the 1:87 scale (H0) interoperable network, consisting of 58 single-track junior modules with a total length of almost 40m. As the modules were interoperable, the model trains of various European railway operators were able to travel across Europe through a varied model landscape.
The junior module was invented and introduced by the French Artistic And Intellectual Union Of French Railway Workers (UAICF) 21 years ago to initiate young people into the world of train modelling. These FISAIC activities initially began with BSW (DE), ČD (CZ) and UAICF (FR) and have gradually expanded over time, with other countries such as Hungary, Latvia, and Spain having joined with their own modules. The junior modules show FISAIC’s full support of and work with young people and their engagement in railway communities, it has already been commonly used for 16 years to enhance cooperation.
https://www.uaicfmodelisme.fr/projets/module-junior/
The technical committee meeting was then held, with the first official discussion taking place about cooperation between FISAIC and MOROP in order to promote the junior modules. MOROP is the European Association of Model Railroaders and Railroad Friends Europe, and currently consists of 19 national organisations with more than 30,000 members across 16 European countries. MOROP’s main aim is to develop and renew the Norms of European Model Railways (NEM). Both FISAIC and MOROP will continue their discussion with the aim of establishing a Junior Module standard.
https://www.morop.org/index.php/en/
The highlight of the accompanying events was a visit to the Railway Museum of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava which houses many steam locomotives.
Finally, ŽSR organised a sightseeing tour of the old town including Bratislava Castle.
A big thank you to everyone who worked to create this wonderful event, particularly to those who hosted the exhibition and the national organisations that participated.
FISAIC is an international federation for railway art and culture. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UIC on 1 December 2016. FISAIC aims to promote and support cultural activities for railway personnel of all nationalities in their leisure time, establish relationships between the creative railway personnel of national associations and unions in order to organise cultural events, and contribute to the development of cultural understanding and activities. FISAIC was founded in Strasbourg in 1952.
fisaic.org
Roman Štěrba, President of the Technical commission Railway Heritage and Models
