The South German Railway Museum (''Süddeutsches Eisenbahnmuseum Heilbronn'' or SEH) is a

railway museum A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives ( steam, diesel, and electric), railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment. They may also operate historic e ...

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

in the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

in southwestern Germany.225 It was founded in 1998.

Aims

The museum has the following aims:
1. To preserve the site of the former Heilbronn

locomotive depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

, part of which is under historic building protection.
2. To preserve historical railway vehicles and their associated infrastructure and to display them to the general public.
The members of the board of trustees work for the museum as volunteers.

Site and Description of the Museums

The museum is located in the former

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

locomotive depot at

in the Böckingen district of the town. The depot was opened in 1893 by the

Royal Württemberg State Railways The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Please ...

(''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or K.W.St.E.), and owned in succession by the

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...

and

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, before being taken over in 2000 by the museum's board of trustees. The museum has about 80 exhibits (wagons and locomotives). On the site is a locomotive roundhouse with a working

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, as well as a large wagon shed. Steam and diesel engines can be serviced and looked after.
Members of the museum restore locomotives and wagons from the period 1895 to the 1950s. In addition, the roundhouse opened in 1893 is being refurbished. This is the only remaining roundhouse from the time of the Royal Württemberg State Railways that can still be seen in its original state.

Museum Vehicles

Here is a brief overview of the locomotives and wagons owned by the museum. A detailed description of these exhibits may be found on the museum website.

Steam Locomotives

The steam locomotives which can be seen include the following: *Steam locomotive

Prussian P 8 The Prussian Class P 8 of the Prussian state railways (DRG Class 38.10-40 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn) was a 4-6-0 steam locomotive built from 1906 to 1923 by the Berliner Maschinenbau (previously Schwartzkopff) and twelve other German factories. Th ...

*Steam locomotive DRG Class 01.10 *Steam locomotive

DB Class 23 The steam locomotives of Class 23 were German passenger train locomotives developed in the 1950s for the Deutsche Bundesbahn. They had a 2-6-2 wheel arrangement and were equipped with Class 2'2' T 31 tenders. They were designed to replace the on ...

*Steam locomotive

DRG Class 44 The Class 44 (German: ''Baureihe 44'' or ''BR 44'') was a ten-coupled, heavy goods train steam locomotive built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a standard steam engine class (''Einheitsdampflokomotive''). Its sub-class was G 56.20 and it had tripl ...

*Steam locomotive

DRB Class 50 The DRB Class 50Wartime locomotives classes are prefixed DRB (Deutsche Reichsbahn) to distinguish them from those introduced by the DRG (prefixed DRG), which became defunct in 1937, and those introduced later by the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn ...

*Steam locomotive

DR Class 52.80 The '' Rekolokomotives'' of DR Class 52.80 first appeared in 1960 in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany as extensive rebuilds of the wartime locomotives or '' Kriegslokomotiven'' of the DRB Class 52 built by Nazi Germany. This mo ...

*Steam locomotive

DRG Class 64 The Deutsche Reichsbahn had a standard passenger train tank engine with a wheel arrangement of 1'C1' (UIC classification) or 2-6-2 (Whyte notation) and a low axle load, which was designated in their classification system as the DRG Class 64 (''B ...

"Bubikopf" *Steam locomotive DRG Class 80 *Steam locomotive

DRG Class 86 The DRG Class 86 was a standard (see ''Einheitsdampflokomotive'') goods train tank locomotive with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. It was intended for duties on branch lines and was delivered by almost all the locomotive building firms work ...

*Express locomotive (French) SNCF Class 231 K *Several industrial locomotives. The star of the show is undoubtedly the

steam locomotive, number 38 3199, bought back from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and restored to working condition. In addition, numbers 86 457 and 23 105, which were victims of the great fire at Nuremberg-Gostenhof on 17 October 2005, are housed here. Only the carcasses remain on many of the other valuable steam locomotives, but they are being gradually rebuilt into visual exhibits. As well as the SEH museum's own locomotives, express train steam engines belonging to the

Ulm Railway Friends The Ulm Railway Society (Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde or UEF) is a German society for encouraging the preservation of historically valuable railway stock. It is based in the vicinity of Ulm, a city in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. ...

are also stationed here.

Diesel Locomotives

Amongst the diesel locomotives on display are the DB Class V 200.1 (later Class 221),

DB Class V 60 The DB Class V 60 is a German diesel locomotive operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and later, the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG), which is used particularly for shunting duties, but also for hauling light goods trains. Seventeen locomotives were ...

(later Class 260) and a MaK 800 D, which is similar to the

DB Class V 65 The DB Class V 65 locomotives (from 1968: Class 265) were German, eight-wheeled, rod-coupled diesel locomotives operated by Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) intended for light railway services and medium-heavy shunting duties. The 15 locomotives were del ...

(later Class 265). The robust MaK, side-rod driven locomotive is operational and is used for transportation and industrial railway duties across the length and breadth of Germany.

Electric Locomotives

The SEH also has a

DB Class E 50 The Class E 50 is an electric heavy freight locomotive built for German Federal Railways between 1957 and 1973. It belongs to the '' Einheits-Elektrolokomotiven'' (standardised electric locomotives) program and was built as a heavy freight mover ...

and a DRG Class E 63 locomotive in its care and protection.

Wagons

There is a collection of valuable

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

and

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

passenger coaches A passenger railroad car or passenger car ( United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach ( United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie ( India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry pas ...

, that have still to be refurbished because, before they had been bought by the SEH, they had stood in the open for many years and fell into disrepair as a result. A lot of time and money will be required to restore them. In the wagon shed a historical saloon coach belonging to the last crown prince of Prussia is on display. Image:HNEisenbahnmuseum1.jpg Image:HNEisenbahnmuseum2.jpg Image:HNEisenbahnmuseum3.jpg

Model Railway

An I-gauge

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

layout may also be viewed at the museum.

Opening Times and Annual Events

The museum is open to visitors on weekends and public holidays between March and October. Larger events include the steam days in May and the steam engine festival in September that is also combined with a meeting of I-gauge model railway enthusiasts. At the latter, many working layouts and modules are displayed or presented and there are also I-gauge items for sale.

References

External links

SEH museum website with detailed information about opening times and events, as well as all the locomotives and wagons.

{{authority control Railway museums in Germany History of rail transport in Baden-Württemberg Buildings and structures in Heilbronn Museums in Baden-Württemberg