At FEDECRAIL’s 2018 General Assembly, held in Edinburgh (Scotland) in April, the first and long-serving President David Morgan has resigned from the Board and two successorsnew faces were elected to the Board: Peter Ovenstone (Scotland) and Jonas Svartlok (Sweden). David Morgen had already resigned as Chairman in 2017 after 23 years at his own request. Since then Jaap Nieweg has headed the European Federation of Museum and Tourist Railways. With a very personal gift from the board and deep thanks, David Morgan was said goodbye as one of the founding fathers of FEDECRAIL.
Peter Ovenstone (Scotland) succeeds Sten Erson-Wester (Sweden), who was unable to stand for re-election for health reasons, as third Vice-President. Peter Ovenstone was already FEDECRAIL Officer by then. He has been involved since inception with the development of the European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways, and his principal role has been as a member of the FEDECRAIL conference organising team. His commitment to the historical heritage was and is multilayered and extensive: Current principle executive HRA roles are as Company Secretary, Chairman of the Heritage Committee and of the Scottish Committee. Within the UK, he served as Chairman of the former statutory Railway Heritage Committee [RHC] and continues to be involved in the statutory protection scheme as a member of the successor body to RHC, the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board.
For many years, he has been actively involved in the work of the Association of British Transport & Engineering Museums and he currently serves as its Vice-Chairman. A more recent European involvement has been with Europa Nostra – the pan European body for all forms of the built and natural heritage: He is now a co-secretary of the Industrial & Engineering Heritage Committee of Europa Nostra.
On the right Jonas Svartlok and Peter Ovbenstone.
His formal professional qualifications are as a Scottish solicitor, albeit he retired from practice many years ago, and he also worked for a few years as a manager of an industrial heritage project in Scotland. He also holds a post-graduate Diploma in Heritage Management from the Ironbridge Institute.
Jonas Svartlok (Sweden) is Secretary of FEDECRAIL’s Heritage Operations Group (HOG). He started working for the Stockholm steam engine company SÅS as a twelve-year-old railway enthusiast and participated, but after the birth of his first child – today there are six of them – he was more or less away more or less from the railway in the age of 23. In 2004, however, he returned with the foundationing of the Landeryd Railway Museum. The following year he became chairman of JHRF, the Swedish umbrella organisation, from which he resigned after ten yearsin 2015. Jonas Svartlok earns his living as a driving instructor for the Swedish railway company Swedtrac and has been a locomotive driver including authorization for steam locomotives on public lines since 2009. He also runs a small company for the sale of steam locomotive accessories and “know-how”.
