Little Engine Shed
1895
Who can you most often meet in a heating plant with tools in hand?
Well, us!
Our Hall of Fame. Meet the people without whom the Engine Shed would still be overgrown with thorns. Here you will find portraits of our regular crew, as well as experts who have lent us a helping hand with specialized work that our strength was (yet) insufficient for. Each of them has imprinted a piece of their skill and heart into these walls.
Little Engine Shed
1895
Repair of the Collapsing Wall:
Our first major repair, and one where we unfortunately cannot manage without professional contractors and experts. The eastern gable is in critical condition and is slowly collapsing. Due to the nature of the surrounding terrain, it cannot be secured by simple shoring; therefore, as part of the emergency stabilization, it must be dismantled and rebuilt.
The entire corner of the engine shed must be dismantled and shored up to allow for the replacement or repair of the structural timbers. It is essential to restore the foundation plinth and reseat the repaired timber frame onto the leveled base. The building is a protected heritage site; we have already obtained the necessary approval from the National Heritage Institute and submitted a grant application under the Ministry of Culture's emergency program. We are currently awaiting the final decision.
In the image on the left, you can see the state of the foundation beam after someone left a vinyl banner draped over it for several years. We no longer know what was printed on it, but water trapped directly behind the plastic caused condensation, and over time, the timber rotted away. I hope the person responsible sees this.
The complete repair of the building's corner—which, in simple terms, involves dismantling both sides, repairing or replacing the structural load-bearing timbers, removing and rebuilding the masonry infills, and leveling both the foundation and the warped window frame—has been quoted by a professional contractor at $12,500 (297,000 CZK) excluding VAT.
This repair is at the very limit of our resources. We are currently awaiting a decision on a state grant, but it will never cover everything. Your donations are vital to us. If we receive the grant, your support will help cover the remaining costs and taxes. If not, your help is the only way to save this corner from collapsing. Any surplus funds will be immediately invested into repairing the water tower roof.
Support us with any amount here: https://revolut.me/jerryvein
Sleeping Beauty:
The title alone reveals that we didn't just have to clear the path to our beauty—we had to fight our way through. In the battle, we cleared not only countless rosehips, acacias, hawthorns, and aspens, but also ash trees, cherries, pears, and apples. Even several walnut trees and literally dozens of different thickets had to go.
Unfortunately, several walnut trees, a spruce, and an aspen were literally battering the tower's roof with their branches and resting heavily on the roof of the residential annex. Due to the dangerous lean of the main trunks and visible longitudinal cracks, it was clear that their time had come. We began working to liberate the engine shed as early as late spring 2025, long before it was certain that I would be able to purchase it. A huge thanks goes to the Railway Administration (Správa železnic) for arranging all the necessary felling permits.
Getting to the engine shed was nearly impossible; the path was literally "paved" with waste from truck drivers who used the area as a public toilet while parked at the station. We are still dealing with this legacy today. However, we are making more progress in fighting the fact that others mistook the shed for a trash can, a drug den, or a shooting gallery where the goal was to smash every window pane. What hurts the most is the loss of the original rolled glass, which was over a century old.
Today, the situation is already much better. Although there is still plenty to clear and clean, this is how our engine shed looked by Christmas 2025. At that time, the trees that were damaging the roofs were still standing, but they were taken care of in the second round by our chainsaw master, Karel. You can find more photos from the early days in our GALLERY.
High-Risk Tree Felling:
This is a beautiful example of how mutual help works. While commercial companies were quoting prices between $500 and $650 per tree, our "Chainsaw King" Karel appeared. As a fellow historic property enthusiast, he handled everything as a thank-you for the help we had previously given him. It’s proof that good people still exist—though I was honestly worried he might "cease to exist" right there on our roof during the job. One thing is certain: we'll definitely be seeing much more of Karel in the future.
To a layman like me, Karel's skill was nothing short of a mystery. He would notch the branches so precisely that they would gently lean against the roof, allowing him to cut them into sections and toss them down. I am certain that if I were the one up there on the tower roof with a chainsaw, my body would go into a "total survival" mode. It would likely purge all bodily fluids and solids instantly, doing everything in its power to convince any nearby predator that this particular prey is definitely not edible. For Karel, however, all it took was a ladder and a saw.
The courage of our chainsaw master knew no bounds. Even at the moment when a massive aspen, balancing on a mere fraction of its trunk, used its immense weight to crush the hydraulic jack intended to guide its fall, he remained unfazed. He simply walked over to me with a calm pace, made a few comments about how well things were going, and then—just as an aside—mentioned something like: "You wouldn't happen to have another jack, would you? This one didn't quite make it."
That day, I set my personal speed record on the "Workshop-to-Engine-Shed" race.
In the image below, you can see the aspen still standing. At that moment, we were conducting an inspection of the walnut tree. This particular operation was the one we feared the most. We are all the more grateful to Karel for his bravery and expertise, and we look forward to our continued collaboration.
