MUNICIPAL RAILWAY PARK OF KALAMATA

HISTORY AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PARK

The Municipal Railway Park of Kalamata is a unique style of open-air museum. It was created in 1986 by the actions of the town Mayor at that time, Mr. Stavros Benos. The opening of the park for the public was in September 1986, but the completion of the works was not until 1990. This was attributed to the major earthquake that struck the town of Kalamata in September of '86*. The location for the construction of the park was mostly the area that was covered by the old train station "Kalamata Limin" (Kalamata Harbor) and the open coal storage area of the Peloponnese Railways, which was used during the steam age.

The total surface of the park is 5.4ha and is situated very near the town center. 2.46ha belonged to the Hellenic State Railways (OSE), which included the two-story stone building of the aforementioned station and a watertower. Kalamata Municipality vested 2.8ha and the Agricultural Bank of Hellas 0.14ha, both in adjacent land. The entire rolling stock has been leased by the Hellenic State Railways (OSE) to the Municipality of Kalamata, except the Railcar from the Athens Metropolitan Railway (ISAP).

The park is situated only five minutes on foot from the central square of Kalamata, by just following the main street of the town, Aristomenous Street. The limits of the Park are: In the north it is Makedonias Street, in the south-Kritis Street, in the west-Psaron Street and finally in the east-Aristomenous Street. The Park is not just an open air railway museum but has also other facilities. These facilities include basketball courts, volleyball courts and leisure activities for the children. Furthermore the Park is the home of many association (like ours) which are housed either in railway wagons or in buildings. We must note here that the main building of the Park is the old railway station "Kalamata Limin" (Kalamata Harbor), which houses in the ground floor a cafe and the top floor is the "home" of our Association. The top floor belongs to the Railway Men Club and has been given to us for use.

A VIRTUAL WALK THROUGH THE PARK

We begin our virtual walk through the Park from its main entrance in Makedonias Street (North)**. Looking at the main entrance we see a big fountain with a lot seats around it. On our right we see a short stretch of track, which probably for an exhibit. That exhibit, whatever it was, has been never put on display. Just a few meters to the right of this short stretch of track, there is the old main line that runs from the main station of Kalamata to the harbor piers. Around the fountain the area is paved but when starting walking to the south the path is made up of earth.

By walking a few meters to the south we encounter a metal construct that is completely covered with plants and protects the busts of important personalities of our prefecture.

After this metal construct there is a large open space with a playground, in which the children can play. This area is covered with green.

When passing the playground we come across the first exhibit, which is a railcar from the Athens Metropolitan Railway (ISAP). It is one of the famous "Wooden Trains" that used to run in Athens and was built in 1914 by Baume Marpent. Only one of these trains, a five car composition, is still in operating condition doing nostalgic trips between Piraeus and Kifisia in Athens. It is a very rare exhibit as only a hand full survive in our days.

Continuing our walk southwards we encounter a second playground which is larger that the first one a has activities more suitable to older children. We can also see a building that has been designed to blend with the surrounding environment. This building has two compartments inside that house two association respectively. In front of the building there is also a small pond.

The railway museum actually begins when we pass this point. On our right we can see the basketball and volleyball courts and the old railway line to the harbor. On our left there is a large skating track and a train that is formed up by five 4-axle covered goods wagons of the the series UNRA Z16 and by the steam locomotive Δα 7104. All this rolling stock comes from the Peloponnese Railways. These five wagons were destined to house different activities but this never happened.

At this point of the park if we have a look to the right we will see the steam locomotive Δι 7120. This locomotive is a later addition to the park as it was brought to substitute the other locomotive A7003 in 2002, which was returned its homeland in Mesologi. Here two points must be noted:
a) The A 7003 was never running on the Peloponnese peninsula as it belonged to the North Western Railway Company of Hellas (SVDE). Furthermore the locomotive was in deplorable condition since it came as an exhibit to the Park. Only a few month before it was moved some limited reconditioning was done. Now the locomotive is restored a a static exhibit in central place in Mesologi.
b) Our Association had suggested many times, that in the case of the return of A 7003 to Mesologi (It has been a request by the city council for a long time) a locomotive of the series Εs must replace it. This of course was not granted by the Hellenic State Railways. The justification for our request is that the collection would be more complete if another type of locomotive would be brought to the park, as this type does not yet exist as an exhibit.

Just a few meters down we are suddenly among a plethora of locomotives and wagons. On our left see Δι 7119 coupled with a railway crane, Γ 291, which originates from the North Western Railway Company of Hellas (SVDE). Behind the crane we see two handcars and two small service wagons. On our right we can see one of the railcars that where build by DeDietrich France in 1952. This type of railcar was the trademark of the Peloponnese Railways for many years and was also a very successful one.

Only a few steps away is the core of the Park. The center piece is the refurbished building of the old railway station "Kalamata Limin" (Kalamata Harbor) and it is the meeting point of everybody during summer time due to the fact that a cafeteria runs on the ground floor and the office of our Association on the top floor. The surrounding of the building has been created in such way to represent a station with platforms and the different trains waiting. On the first platform we will notice a big copper inscription, which has been set by the Hellenic State Railways to commemorate the Park. At this point we can see a total of six train composition, two of which were described on the above paragraph. The remaining four compositions have the same locomotive type, four of the series Zs 531-555 along with a mix of passenger and freight wagons. All the passenger wagons originate from the Thessalian Railway Network (ΣΘ).

The first of these composition sits besides the station building and is comprised by locomotive Zs 7540, two 1st class passengers cars and one freight wagon (Eτ 315), all from the Thessalian Railways. The first passenger car is also the main office of our Association but because of the lack of space we do not use it very often.

The other composition is situated adjacent to the above mentioned one. It is comprised by the locomotive Zs 7535 and a passenger car, probably 2nd class.

The other two composition are situated under the footbridge of the Park. This footbridge gives an excellent view of most of the exhibits of the park and the station building.

The first train has the locomotive Zs 7544 as motive power, one 2nd class passenger car and one freight wagon of the same type like Ετ 315 (mentioned above).

The last composition is a quite long one as it has locomotive Zs 7541, 4 passenger cars and one freight car of the series UNRA Z16 freight wagon from the Peloponnese Railways.

If we follow the old line to the harbor, which is adjacent to the last composition, we come across a water tower that was used for the locomotives that were switching in the harbor area.

On the left of the watertower we can see a large pond which has a wooden construct in the middle of it.

This is the point were the Park ends as it meets Kritis Street and the only thing that continues is the old line of the harbor that extends for a few hundred meters.

EPILOGUE

This Park is one of the main attractions and is considered a jewel of the town. Unfortunately the situation that exists now in the Park is more or less chaotic. None of the town councils has ever cared for its maintenance or protection, thus giving us this depressing image. Only in 1998 there was a project for the general maintenance of the Park, which reinstated the exhibits into an extend but was far from helping their protection. We have also to mention that the techniques used for the repairs altered some of the exhibits irreversibly. All the photographs of the exhibits that you see in this page is after that general maintenance.

Within this generally negative situation, in the begging of September 2004 it was announced that finances were secured for rehabilitation of the Park. This outcome is for sure something positive and we as an Association support this, but we also have a degree of doubt if this plan will go on from the town council. You will be informed future developments through the news part of our Web Site.

FOOTNOTES

*The inauguration of the Park was just a few days before the earthquake struck the town. During that time every evening the Park was filled with people taking a walk, as in that evening of the destructive earthquake in September '86. This is also one of the main reasons that we didn't have more casualties.
**The orientation left and right is using as a reference point the North-South axis, which is also the direction of our virtual walk.

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