About Us
The Brazilian Association of Railroad Preservation - ABPF was established in 1977 by the Frenchman Patrick Henri Ferdinand Dollinger, and its mission is to preserve the Brazilian railroad history and historical equipment. Already passionate for steam locomotives and railroads, Patrick arrived in Brazil in 1966 and he started worrying about the abandonment of Brazilian railroad history during the steam to diesel locomotives transition period. He decided to create a preservation entity, in the molds of the existing ones in Europe and in the United States . To contact people with the same interest, he published in February of 1977 a small ad in the “O Estado de São Paulo” newspaper that said the following: "Steam Locomotives: With the aim of founding an association with the purpose of preservating, restoring and operating steam engines and other railroad matters, I look for people interested in this hobby that is very popular in Europe and in the United States . Write to Patrick Dollinger CP 2778, CEP 01000, São Paulo, or telephone 32-0579 night 853-4728 ". Only two people answered the ad: Sérgio José Romano and Juarez Spaletta. Then, these three started contacting people with the same interests. On September 4th of 1977, there was enough people (14 people exactly) to conduct the assembly of foundation of the Brazilian Association of Railroad Preservation (Associação Brasileira de Preservação Ferroviária – ABPF).  Patrick Dollinger at Carlos Gomes Station inspects the the first experimental trip conducted by ABPF on February 22nd of 1981. Photo taken by Carlos Alberto Romito de Carvalho.
The first action taken by the ABPF was to institute a national campaign to stop the demolition of steam locomotives. This initiative convinced the Rede Ferroviária Federal-RFFSA board of directors about the importance of historical preservation and at that time RFFSA yielded 13 abandoned steam engines to ABPF. The second action was to obtain a non-operational branch to place this recently received rolling stock. After a survey of abandoned branches in the State of São Paulo, Patrick chose to the old main line of the Cia. Mogiana, between Anhumas (Campinas-SP) and Jaguariúna-SP stations. Then in 1979, FEPASA - Ferrovias Paulistas S.A. took in consideration the ABPF appeals to preserve this abandoned line and yielded this stretch of 24km of tracks to ABPF. Our associates went through an arduous work of recovery of the stations, tracks, steam locomotives, passanger cars and wagons. Thus, in September of 1984, the ABPF created the first Railroad Dynamic Museum of Brazil, called Viação Férrea Campinas-Jaguariúna – VFCJ, operated by the Campinas-SP chapter. Unfortunately, Patrick Dollinger wasn’t able to see his dream carried through completely. On July 17th of 1986 he passed away due to injuries from an automobile accident. The result of all Patrick’s efforts is the success of the activities of the VFCJ, which receives visitors from Brazil and every part of the world. Several people interested in railroad preservation have been joining ABPF (link para página de associação) to help the preservation of Brazilian railroad heritage. The ABPF headquarter is located in the city of Campinas-SP at Anhumas station. ABPF is composed of a Board of Directors (ABPF Nacional) and the Regionais (chapters) spread around the country. Current version of the ABPF charter The current ABPF board of directors has the following composition: President: Hélio Gazetta Filho Vice-President: Jorge Luiz Sanches Secretary Director: Fábio dos Santos Barbosa Director of Historical Affairs: José Luiz Valle Fróes First Treasurer: Carlos Alberto Rollo Second Treasurer: Germano Purnhagen Statutory audit committee: Ivo Arias, Dieter Heinz Korn, Marlon Ilg; and Luiz Carlos Henkels (substitute). The ABPF historical passenger trains are operated by its local chapters (Regionais). Below we have the list of ABPF chapters.
Regional Campinas-SP The São Paulo chapter operates the Trem dos Imigrantes (Train of the Immigrants) located in the Immigration museum, and the Trem da Vila Inglesa Paranapiacaba (Museum of the Funicular, Village of Paranapiacaba in Santo André-SP). Chapter Director: Carlos Alberto Rollo. More information by telephone 55-11-2695-1151, and the email contato@abpfsp.com.br. Photo Gallery Regional Rio de Janeiro Established in 1989, the Rio de Janeiro chapter is located in the Cabine n. 3 de sinalização (signalling tower number 3) of the Central do Brasil railroad. A museum of railroad signalling is being organized in its building. Chapter Director: David Zaidan Neto. More information by the Email: dzaidan@terra.com.br The Santa Catarina chapter was established on March 20th, 1993, and it operates the Trem da Serra do Mar (Serra do Mar Train) from Rio Negrinho-SC to Rio Natal SC) and the Trem das Termas (Train of the Spas) from Piratuba-SC the Marcelino Ramos-RS. This chapter also maintains two railroad museums, one at Rio Negrinho station and other at Piratuba station. Chapter Director: Ralf Ilg. More information by the telephone 55-47-3644-7000. Photo Gallery The Santa Catarina chapter has a subchapter at the Vale do Itajaí region. It is called NuRVI- Núcleo Regional do Vale do Itajaí, and it is working in partnership with the Tremtur Foundation for the re-implantation of a stretch of the EF Santa Catarina tracks in Rio do Sul-SC. More information at www.abpftremtur.com.br. Photo Gallery This chapter was established in 1997, and it operates the Trem das Águas (Train of Waters at São Lourenço-MG) and the Trem da Mantiqueira (Train of the Mantiqueira mountain range at Passa Quatro-MG). Its locomotive shops are located in Cruzeiro-SP and its passenger cars shops are in São Lourenço-MG. Chapter Director: Jorge Luiz Sanches. Photo Gallery
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