The eurovapor is a European society of railway fans dedicated to the preservation of

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

and historic railway vehicles.

History

''eurovapor'' stands for the ''Europäische Vereinigung zur betriebsfähigen Erhaltung von Dampflokomotiven und historischem Eisenbahnmaterial which means 'European Society for Preservation of Working Steam Locomotives and Historic Railway Stock'. It was founded on 17 November 1962 at the Hotel Victoria in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. The headquarters of the society is in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Its aim is not merely to preserve steam locomotives and historic wagons as museum exhibits, but to restore the vehicles and to operate them as a living witness to a bygone technological era. ''eurovapor'' is mainly active in Switzerland and southern Germany. Its members are organised into sections and they voluntarily maintain and operate 15 steam engines and their associated wagons. In May 1968 the first steam locomotive, the Class T 3, No.30, was taken over from the ''Southwest German Transport Company'' (''SWEG'') together with three wagons. They were restored to operational condition by 1970 since when they have been working, primarily on the

Kander Valley Railway The Kander Valley Railway (, Alemannic: ''Chanderli'') is a private heritage railway through the Kander valley in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a st ...

. By 1973 ''eurovapor'' could already offer steam services on 5 routes: as well as the ''Kander Valley Railway'', there were also the '' Solothurn-Zollikofen-Bern railway'' (SZB), the '' Vereinigte Bern-Worb Bahnen'' (VBW), the '' Waldenburgerbahn'' (WB) and the line from

Metzingen Metzingen () is a Swabian city with about 22,000 inhabitants, in Reutlingen county, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, south of Stuttgart. The city of Metzingen is known internationally for its outlets of all kinds of famous companies, centered arou ...

Bad Urach Bad Urach () is a town in the district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 14 km east of Reutlingen, at the foot of the Swabian Jura (or Swabian Alps), and is known for its spa and therapeutic bath. Neighbouring comm ...

. From 1974 to July 1980 ''eurovapor'' has also looked after steam trains on the ''

Bregenzerwald Railway The Bregenz Forest Railway (, known colloquially as the ''Wälderbahn'' or ''Wälderbähnle''), is an Austrian narrow gauge railway with a track gauge of , the so-called Bosnian gauge. It runs through the state of Vorarlberg and from 1902 to 1983 ...

'' in

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

. By the end of the 1970s, ''eurovapor'' had procured, with the assistance of the ''Genossenschaft der Dampflokfreunde'' (''GdF'') larger locomotives as well, like the DB Class 23, no. 23 058, DRG Class 41, no. 41 073, and

DRG Class 50 The DRB Class 50Wartime locomotives classes are prefixed DRB (Deutsche Reichsbahn) to distinguish them from those introduced by the DRG (prefixed DRG), which became defunct in 1937, and those introduced later by the East German Deutsche Reichsbah ...

, no. 50 2988. Together with the town of

Blumberg Blumberg () is a municipality situated in the Schwarzwald-Baar region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. south of Donaueschingen, it lies between the southern edge of the ''Schwarzwald'', the Black Forest, the border with Switzerland's Canton of Sc ...

the museum railway of Wutach Valley Railway was opened in 1977.

Vehicle collection

The vehicle fleet since 1987 has comprised 15 steam locomotives, a diesel

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

, a railway crane and 60 wagons.

Sections

In the meantime the sections have partly been made largely independent, in order to divide responsibilities better and to make it easier to be able to achieve charitable status in each country. These sections are however still linked to ''eurovapor''. They exist in Wutachtal (''WTB e.V.''), im Kandertal (''Kandertalbahn e.V.'') und im Emmental (''Verein Historische Eisenbahn Emmental'').

Film

* SWR: ''Eisenbahn-Romantik – 35 Jahre Eurovapor'' (No. 271) {{coord, 47, 22, N, 8, 33, E, region:CH-ZH, display=title Railway museums Heritage railways Rail transport preservation in Switzerland Heritage railways in Switzerland