There were 12 teams in the rally altogether which means that the rally was attended by almost 200 railway employees or persons involved with the railway from Estonia, Latvia and Finland. During the two days hand-driven railway trolleys were run from Tallinn Liiva station through Türi to Pärnu. The route was more than 200 kilometers long, 90 kilometers of which was run on Friday and the remaining part on Saturday.

The teams stopped in Kiisa, Kohila, Rapla, Lelle, Türi, Eidapere and Tootsi. Besides the rally itself there were events for children held in stations and railway safety was also discussed whenever possible.

The idea of such railway trolley rally comes from Finland where a couple of unofficial world championship competitions have been held. In Finland there has been already 15 trolley rallies.

The first trolley rally in Estonia took place on June 15-16, 2002 between Liiva–Lelle–Türi–Lelle–Pärnu and it was won by the team of Edelaraudtee. The distance of the race was a bit more than 200 kilometers. There was 8 teams competing and the hand-driven trolleys were rented from Finland.

In 2003 15 trolleys with modern technical design and attractive appearance were constructed for the rail rally. In the same year they were run between Viljandi–Rapla–Türi–Rapla–Tallinn-Väike. The total distance of the race was 233 kilometers and there were 10 teams competing.

In 2004 the trolley rally was held in Southern Estonia between Piusa–Valga–Tartu stations. The total length of the race was 170 kilometers and the distance was covered by 11 teams.

This year the event was organized by Edelaraudtee AS. The objective of the organizers was to promote railway traffic i.e. invite people to ride trains and to promote good relations between different railway companies. The participation of OLE&Partners team drew people’s attention to railway safety issues and to traffic safety in general.

Majority of the members of OLE&Partners team are not closely related to railway and therefore it was the first time for them to ride a railway trolley. It is still fair to say that this did not affect their competitive spirit. After the first few kilometers everyone felt that the race is not quite easy but after getting into the right rhythm and finding the right style for riding the wheels of the trolley started to run much more easily. Everything is easy with good friends around you and our team was very solid and full of energy. By the morning of the second day of competition we were holding the 2nd place, winning 10 other teams. Unfortunately we were not quite lucky during the second day – we did not do so well as in the first day and finally landed the 9th place. This is still an excellent result considering our inexperience. 

The following partners of OLE joined our team: Tarmo Vaik from Estonian Neighborhood Watch, Urve Sellenberg from the Road Administration, Aivar Sellenberg from Ekspressbüroo, Anu Leps from the Ministry of Justice, Aare Ehandi from Northern Police Prefecture, Merle Paas and Dagi Dorbek from Harju County Rescue Service, Kaidi Kollom from Koolitused.ee web portal, Piret Priimägi from Ziil, Artur Jurin from the Eesti Päevaleht newspaper, Peeter Hillep from Reklaamkingiekspert, Tarmo Hillep from Optimal and a few of their companions.

The spirit of OLE&Partners’ team is ready for the next rally! A bit of training is still needed...