Fernández-Pacheco Train Collection

ES Colección de trenes Fernández-Pacheco | GL Colección de trens Fernández-Pacheco

The more than 4,000 pieces exhibited at the Fernández Pacheco-Outeiriño collection (COFEPO) tell the history of the railway from its origin with the steam engine, the following steps with diesel and electricity and the present with high speed trains. The evolution of the design and the materials used in the manufacture of the trains, everything can be seen in this unique permanent exhibition in Europe, H0 scale.

The collection was started by Manuel Fernández-Pacheco in 1955 when his father gave him his first toy train. Many years later along with his wife, Carmen Outeiriño, they decided to donate to the Ourense Province Council their magnificent collection with the only condition that is should be permanently exhibited for the public. The exhibition is organized in chronological order to appreciate the evolution of the train along its history. Among the pieces, many of them unlisted gems, we may find historical and mythic trains as, for example, the ones in which the armistices that ended the two world wars were signed. Also the Orient Express, the Barcelona-Mataró (first train that run in Spain), the Rhinegold, the Mistral, the Golden Arrow, Spanish Talgos or the Sud Express Madrid-Paris, the train in which Buster Keaton shot his magnificent film The General.

Among the gems of the collection are trains like the Orient Express, the first Barcelona-Mataró line or the Sud Express Madrid-Paris, in which Buster Keaton filmed The General.

The exhibition is located in the Marcos Valcárcel Cultural Centre, a beautiful building from the early 20th century, and is organized in chronological order allowing us to enjoy and learn from the technological evolution of this means of transport, essential for the city of Ourense. It comes complete with an interesting thematic library.