Three monographs on the Renfe period
On May 7, 1926, the first bibliographic railway gathering or "Ferro-Tertulia" was held at the Gaudí bookstore on three monographs that all shared the history of Renfe. The bookstore’s current owner, Conchita, welcomed the attendees and expressed her hope that the bookstore—after half a century of supplying railway books to three generations of readers—might now, through these gatherings, provide a new incentive for reading.
The first of the commissioned monographs, *RENFE: A History of the Spanish Public Railroad, 1941–2004*, is a comprehensive history of the public company, based on an updated version of the doctoral dissertation by its author, Miguel Muñoz Rubio. In his brief remarks, Muñoz noted that the book retains the structure of the original work, although this new edition incorporates much of the research he has conducted over the past thirty years. However, he emphasized that it deals exclusively with the period during which Renfe existed as such—that is, from 1941, the year of its creation, to 2005, the year it was split into the current Renfe entities.
Operadora and Adif, with the main new development found in the chapter analyzing the railway policies implemented since 1978. Muñoz highlighted how the public railway system has had to adapt to a situation shaped by the loss of its dominant role and the imposition of market forces.
The second monograph, Cerro Negro 1950–2025: 75 Years of History of the Madrid Diesel Locomotive Workshop and Depot, is a book by Juan Carlos Casas Rodríguez that, unlike the previous one, focuses on a very specific topic. Indeed, as the author noted, it provides a detailed account of the construction and events that have taken place at the Madrid-Cerro Negro diesel locomotive workshop and depot up to its 75th anniversary in 2025. Spanning twenty chapters, the book features the TAFs, the TERs, “the camels,” and Renfe’s most modern diesel railcars—the 594, 598, and 599 series trains. All of this is supported by numerous testimonies collected by the author from railroad workers who have worked at this workshop and depot in the Entrevías neighborhood. With sixteen pages of photographs sourced from the Historical Railway Archive (FFE) and the author’s own collection, the book covers everything from the original 1950 design to the modifications made to its configuration in the 21st century. Around 500 railway workers were employed at Cerro Negro, and a strong labor union movement took root there a decade before Franco’s death.
And finally, Juan José Ramos presented his monograph The Zafra-Villanueva del Fresno Railroad (1932–2025) , emphasizing that this line was planned from the outset with an international focus, as proposed by the commission tasked with its design in June 1927, which selected a border crossing point near Mourâo for a line connecting Zafra with Évora via Villanueva del Fresno. The main purpose of this connection was to link Seville with Lisbon without having to go all the way to Badajoz, thereby shortening the route between the two cities by about 100 km. For various reasons, this modest line remained a branch line connecting the industrious city of Zafra with the important and historic town of Jerez de los Caballeros. The book analyzes the reasons for its construction, which included major mining operations and the steel and cement industries. The line runs through one of the largest areas of adehes in Extremadura, a region of great scenic beauty whose ecosystem has remained largely unchanged.
A discussion then ensued in which, without any script, numerous current issues were addressed. Undoubtedly, one of the topics that drew the most interest concerned the current situation facing Spain’s public rail system, which Muñoz characterized with the aphorism “from blue days to black days.” Issues related to energy use, commercialization, the market’s dominance over social needs, and the loss of a culture—perhaps one on the verge of extinction—lie behind this situation. As is typical of a roundtable discussion, no definitive conclusions were reached—only a very open-ended exploration of the facts—though all attendees did express their hope that the railroad will remain an essential mode of transportation and that it will regain, as soon as possible, the prestige it enjoyed not so long ago.