RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS’ CLUB ”PANČEVO” – Pančevo

RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS’ CLUB ”PANČEVO” – Pančevo

Members of the Pančevo Railway Enthusiasts’ Club recently celebrated a significant milestone: thirty years of existence and successful activity. In early 1990, a group of Pančevo railway workers, train enthusiasts, and model makers, led by Josip Veber, decided to establish a club with the primary goal of promoting railways in various ways.

The club’s first project was assisting with the restoration of wagons and locomotives in the narrow-gauge section of the Railway Museum in Požega, which also opened in April 1990. Soon after, the club began a close collaboration with the Railway Transport Company “Belgrade” and the Traffic Institute “CIP,” who helped the club promote its activities. Two years after its founding, the railway granted the club a room in the passenger waiting area of the old Pančevo railway station on the Tamiš River. After renovation, it became a meeting place for members and a space for exhibiting railway photographs, artifacts, models, and miniature railways.

In 1994, the club began an intensive collaboration with the Advertising and Propaganda Service of the Belgrade Railway Transport Company. That year, a special train operated from Belgrade to Niš to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Serbian railways, during which the club organized a photo exhibition. In the autumn of the same year, a large exhibition was held at the Pančevo National Museum, celebrating 100 years of the Pančevo railway.

Also in 1994, club members launched a campaign to install a railway memorial on the plateau of the old Pančevo station. Josip Veber’s initiative received support from the city of Pančevo and the relevant cultural institutions. In autumn 1997, a complex and unique transport of a steam locomotive and wagons was organized from Pančevo Main Station through the city center to the Tamiš Riverbank.

Thanks to the Railway Museum, which approved the placement of the locomotive, and the company “ZGOP” from Novi Sad, which provided a wagon to the club, Pančevo became the only city in Serbia to feature such a memorial. In collaboration with the Belgrade Railway Museum, the Museum of Science and Technology, the Pančevo Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, and Dr. Tadej Brate, a graduate industrial archaeologist from the Ljubljana Institute for the Protection of Technical Monuments, these railway museum artifacts were officially protected as monuments of technical culture—the first of their kind in Serbia. Three years later, another historic passenger wagon was added to the composition, completing the ensemble.

In the summer of 2002, the “Green Train” gallery was opened within the railway composition on the Tamiš, exhibiting miniature railway models, railway photographs, and various artifacts. The gallery was officially inaugurated by celebrated film director Emir Kusturica, who attended with part of the crew from the film Life is a Miracle, in which Josip Veber created the railway models and played a prominent cameo role.

Club members also contributed significantly to the creation of the museum-tourist complex “Šargan Eight” at Mokra Gora. Today, four miniature railway models by Josip Veber adorn the interiors of these tourist facilities.

In autumn 2004, the club organized the celebration of the “150th Anniversary of Railways in Vojvodina.” The Pančevo club was the initiator and main organizer of the event, marked by the operation of a special train along the oldest railway route in the region, composed of wagons from the “Blue Train” and the “Romantika” train. The train carried high-ranking state officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and railway authorities from the former Yugoslav countries and neighboring states.

In summer 2007, the club leased another wagon from the composition at the Tamiš station to a private entrepreneur, who opened the well-known café “Voz” in it. This café continues the tradition of gathering railway enthusiasts and musical artists.

Today, the club has around thirty active members and about a hundred supporters. Some members hold honorary membership, including individuals living abroad. Several have traveled to Pančevo solely to visit the Tamiš composition and meet club members. School excursions from across Serbia and student groups from other European countries frequently visit.

Fifteen years ago, the club donated an official wagon to the “Pinki” Secondary School of Traffic in Novi Sad. The wagon now serves as a classroom for practical lessons and is unique in Serbia.

The club continues to operate thanks to support from Serbian railway companies, the City of Pančevo, and the municipal Tourist Organization. Technical and professional support is provided by the Museum of Science and Technology, the Belgrade Railway Museum, and local institutions including the Pančevo Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, the National Museum, the Cultural Centre, and the City Library. In the near future, in collaboration with the relevant authorities, work is planned to renovate the steam locomotive and wagons on the Tamiš, restore part of the station façade, and install “Pančevo” signage on the old station building.

The exhibition space holds the status of a gallery for railway museum artifacts.

PERMANENTLY CLOSED.

Trg Mučenika 1, Tamiš riverbank, Pančevo.
+381(0)13 342 545
[email protected]

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