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 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 southern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The society was founded in 1969, has about 600 members and around 12

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s as well as numerous historical wagons.

Groups

The society is divided into four groups:

Narrow Gauge Group

This group runs its own vehicles on the 5.7 kilometre long narrow gauge Amstetten–Laichingen railway from Amstetten to Oppingen, the so-called ''Albbähnle''. Motive power is provided by locomotive 99 7203 and, from time to time, the diesel locomotive D8.

Branch Line Group

Historical branch line steam trains run on the society's own line from Amstetten to

Gerstetten Gerstetten is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It consists of the following villages: * Gerstetten (population: 7,534) * Dettingen (population: 2,042, incorporation 1972) * Gussenstadt (po ...

(Amstetten–Gerstetten branch line). Since mid-2006 they have been joined by the museum railbus, number T06. Occasionally goods trains are also worked. Steam locomotive 75 1118 hauls the historic steam trains. The Group (''UEF Lokalbahn Amstetten-Gerstetten e. V.'') owns other

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s and

railbuses A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed d ...

and historic branch line passenger coaches.

Ettlingen Group

The Albtal Transport Company (''Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft'') runs a historic fast stopping train (''

Eilzug An Eilzug (pl: ''Eilzüge'', cs, spěšný vlak, sk, zrýchlený vlak, English: ''Regional fast train'') is a type of passenger train in German-speaking countries which roughly equates to a British 'fast-stopping train' or 'semi-fast train'. The t ...

'') hauled by a DRG Class 58 (ex Baden G 12) steam engine on the

Alb Valley Railway The Alb Valley Railway (german: Albtalbahn) is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albt ...

between Ettlingen and

Bad Herrenalb Bad Herrenalb is a municipality in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 15 km east of Baden-Baden, and 22 km southwest of Pforzheim. The town is connected to the city of K ...

and the

Rhine Valley Railway ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

and

Murg Valley Railway The Murg Valley Railway (german: Murgtalbahn) is a 58 kilometre long railway line in the Northern Black Forest in Germany, that links Rastatt and Freudenstadt. It was opened in stages from 1868 to 1928 being built outwards from both Rastatt and Fr ...

between

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

and

Baiersbronn Baiersbronn is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality and a village in the district of Freudenstadt (district), Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest on the Murg (Northern Black Forest), Mu ...

. This historic engine was built in 1921 by the

Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe The Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe ('Karlsruhe Engineering Works') was a locomotive and railway wagon manufacturer in the early days of the German railways. It was based at Karlsruhe in what is now the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwes ...

. Other steam locomotives also stationed with the Ettlingen Group, but not in working order, are a DRG Class 44, DRG Class 50 and

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 worki ...

). The fast-stopping coaches were mainly built in the 1930s and modernised in the 1950s. The

luggage vans 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 passenge ...

homed at Ettlingen, which are usually used for the free transportation of bicycles, were used to carry the mortal remains of

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

from

Hechingen Hechingen ( Swabian: ''Hächenga'') is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border. Geography The town lies at the foot of the ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Historical Steam Express Train Group

This group maintains the most famous steam locomotives in the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde - 01 1066 and 01 509 - as well as historic, express train, 1st and 2nd class coaches. The vehicles were built between 1928 and 1954. The historic steam express - reinforced by express train coaches from the

Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde The Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde (Passau Railway Society) or PEF is a German railway society with the aim of preserving historic railway vehicles in working order in order to operate them. The society was founded in 1978 in Passau. In 2007 it had ab ...

- travels the length and breadth of Europe visiting, for example,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

); albeit remaining mostly in

south Germany Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria a ...

. The express train steam locomotives and a working heating wagon are stationed at

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 ...

, the coaches in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. The non-operational express train engine, number 01 1081, is being refurbished as a museum exhibit in the

Augsburg Railway Park The Augsburg Railway Park (''Bahnpark Augsburg'') is a railway museum in Augsburg on part of the former Augsburg locomotive shed owned by the Deutsche Bahn. Following reconstruction work, the park officially reopened on 13 April 2009. In the futu ...

. The services operated by the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde are regularly reported in the railway press and in TV programmes such as ''Eisenbahn-Romantik'' ('Railway Nostalgia').

Railway Operations

All railway operations are carried out by volunteer members, from coach attendants to qualified engine drivers. This does not just involve running railway trips, but also the preparation and clearing up afterwards as well as restoration and repair wherever possible and permitted.

Literature

* Sauter: ''Die Schnellzuglokomotiven der Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde''

External links

Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde (German)

Steam trains on the Albtalbahn (German)

Steam trains on the Murgtalbahn (German)

Steam express trains (German)
{{Coord missing, Baden-Württemberg Railway museums in Germany Heritage railways in Germany History of rail transport in Baden-Württemberg Museums in Baden-Württemberg