Published in: Helsingin Sanomat, 1st of December, 2003

- THE VALUE OF THE LOCOMOTIVES IN HAAPAMÄKI NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED

- "GREEN" PEOPLE WANT TO CLEAN THE ENVIRONMENT FROM SCRAP LOCOMOTIVES

- The environment committee of Keuruu demands that the area around the railroad tracks that leads to Haapamäki, are cleaned at once. Along the railroad tracks, lies huge amount of coaches, locomotives and other railway equipment. The committee wants a clear answer from the owners of these equipment, that what is the future for these now mostly scrap equipments. For the first timer, the sight is unbelievable. Dark locomotives and decayed coaches and few totally destroyed buses lies along the railroad bank.

- The area around Haapamäki railway station is valuable in a historical sense and near the station, there's a working and the most important tourist attraction in the area, the steam locomotive park of Haapamäki. The city is unique with it's old houses that once provided homes for 400 railway workers. The seven hectares that is full of railroad tracks, contains repaired museum locomotives. The steam locomotive park is interesting despite the fact that it contains many similar engines: there's probably more than ten of the old "Ukko-Pekka's". Behind the museum area fence, opens up the graveyard for old locomotives. It continues towards Jyväskylä, along the working railroad tracks and to the old blind tracks. This is what sticks out to the eyes of the environment committee of Keuruu. According to the latest inventory, there's 234 different railroad equipment lying in the woods. Old locomotives, coaches and freight cars. 

- The locomotive park got in the late eighties, some 70 locomotives, when the parliament decided to disband some of the emergency depots. This is how the museum got started, but now there's only 42 left and the rest of them have been scrapped. The plans are great and the people in Haapamäki are too eager to take anything they can get, says the director of the Railway museum. The area also contains some locomotives and coaches, that belong to the Railway museum. Some of the locomotives, that are kept under the open sky, are so badly damaged now, that there is no point of trying to repair them. There's also some equipment, that are only ones left, but the director of the Railway museum doesn't appreciate them too highly, they only have a curiosity value. But on the other hand, the basic equipment should be preserved and that's what Haapamäki contains. 

- According to the director, the whole locomotive equipment from the past 144 years is almost completely preserved, but on the other hand, there's some black holes when it comes to the coaches. The Haapamäki area contains some rare freight cars. There's now a committee starting up, that should decide that what we will keep here and what needs to go. It's almost impossible to keep everything, just for the purpose if we should happen to need them someday, says the director of the Keuruu tourist industry. 

- Behind the museum fence, starts a long line of locomotives. The pipes are carefully covered, some windows are smashed and some are boarded. The best preserved locomotives are found near of the museum and the railway station, but when you walk towards Jyväskylä, you will find a lot of totally devastated locomotives. The person who made an inventory of the equipment in the area, warns about too hastily scrapping everything, as nobody cannot judge the value of an locomotive, based how well the paint still sticks to it. Most of the equipment that waits to be put into a museum, might look really awful, but in fact is in a decent condition for the task. 

- Why should we scrap every double or triple locomotives, when we can be sure that there wont be more of these coming? We all remember the "Ukko-Pekka" now, but how many will remember it after twenty years? The director of the Railway museum does agree to these points and says that every locomotive is a piece of history and needs to be examined carefully before any decision.

BACKGROUND

- Renovating the old railway equipment lies mostly on the amateur shoulders. The museum locomotive society of Haapamäki that's ten years old, is the largest in this country. It contains over 140 members. Mostly people participate to the work party during summer and holidays, but during other occasions, you can see light twinkling from the halls all through the night. About a quarter of the members, comes from Haapamäki. The society owns a lot of old railroad equipment and they renovate old locomotives, when someone orders them to do so. Now they are repairing a locomotive, that will return to the tourist center of Jyväskylä. Smaller renovating parties can be also found from Porvoo, Lahti and Oulu.

- Renovating locomotives with work parties, takes a lot of time and the director of the Railroad museum thanks for the volunteers for their valuable job. They surely can take into consideration of every small order that's put into the papers, says the director. The society has so much talent, that when the orders will change during the year 2004, they still could get the safety certificate, that is required for operating these trains. The enthusiasm to renovate these old trains has been slowly vanishing. Everything depends on, that how good conditions there are to do this job. There's a decent locomotive hall in Haapamäki, but small arguments are eating away the effort. The equipments that are stored under the sky, demands a constant repairing and servicing. According to the director, the best solution would be, if the renovated equipment could be put on display in some hall.

INFORMATION CORNER

- The most valuable railway equipment can be found from Hyvinkää, that contains a railway museum that's supported by the government.

- The steam locomotive park of Haapamäki displays, like it's name implies, steam locomotives and is open during the summer. 

- The museum railway society of Porvoo operates a steam locomotive and a "Lättähattu" during the summer between Helsinki and Porvoo.

- During the summer, one can get familiar with the diesel locomotives, in Toijala. The museum is opened only during the summer and during the winter one must arrange a tour before getting in.

- In Kovjoki station, in Uusikaarleby, there's a steam locomotive, that operates in a short railroad track during the summer. 

- One can also travel the narrow tracked museum tracks in Jokioinen and travel all the way to Humppila. The collection here includes postal and passenger coaches.

- There's only one private company that operates steam locomotives. The Höyryraide Ay Steamrail, can be ordered to special occasions.