The Augsburg Railway Park (''Bahnpark Augsburg'') 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 ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

on part of the former

locomotive shed 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 she ...

owned by the

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 ...

. Following reconstruction work, the park officially reopened on 13 April 2009. In the future, 29 historic

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

s from the EU member countries and also

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

will be exhibited in the roundhouse and on the

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 ...

, the so-called Europa Roundhouse (''Rundhaus Europa''), which are protected historical buildings. In addition to the roundhouse there are also three historical steam locomotive halls with a

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the ...

atmosphere and a historical smithy.

Museum project and events

The ''Augsburg Railway Park'' offers the national railways of all EU states the opportunity to exhibit a historic locomotive (a so-called 'ambassador' locomotive) in the "Europa Roundhouse". The culture of the country of origin of an exhibition is always the focus. The historical locomotives will be accessible to visitors to the site or will be displayed on the turntable. From time to time there will also be national weeks (e. g. Austria week), sometimes with additional special exhibitions related to the region being celebrated. As part of some events there will be jazz concerts in the large steam engine hall and presentations in the smithy. In addition there are restaurants permanently on site. Regular jazz concerts (''Jazz in the Railway Park'') take place on the first Sunday in the month from May to September. In addition to the ambassador locomotives there are many other museum locomotives in the collection, which it has not always been easy to view before. The whole collection is being continually expanded. During

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek '' parousia''. ...

, special steam engine services are organised, that offer journeys through the winter landscape.

The site

In 1906 the

Royal Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German ...

built two roundhouses with turntables south of the

Augsburg Hauptbahnhof Augsburg Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, situated in southern Germany. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station and has 12 platform tracks. The station has one of the oldest still exi ...

(Augsburg Central Station). On the area surrounding the Railway Park are further buildings (workshops, washdown areas, wheelset repair workshops and accommodation for the locomotive crews) belonging to the former repair shop together with trackage and a

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the area was largely spared from bomb damage, even on the devastating night of bombing from 25 to 26 February 1944 on

, during which the main station and station yard were badly damaged or destroyed. After the war the

Deutsche Bahn AG 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 ...

used the site until about 1990. Since 1996 the roundhouse has been placed under historical building protection. The owner of the site is the Aurelis Real Estate GmbH & Co.KG.

Workshops

In the

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the ...

of the ''Augsburg Railway Park'', railway vehicles are refurbished and restored to museum standards. A historical post van was restored in these workshops for the Deutsches Museum's Transport Centre, a branch of the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

on the Teresienhöhe/Schwarntalerhöhe. The maintenance and preservation of the operational and protected

DRG Class 41 The German Class 41 steam locomotives were standard goods train engines ('' Einheitslokomotiven'') operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) and built from 1937 to 1941. History In the search for a new, fast, goods train locomotive, the Deuts ...

steam locomotive, no. 41 018, belonging to the Munich Steam Locomotive Company (''Dampflok-Gesellschaft München'') was also carried out by these workshops.

Vehicles in the Europa Roundhouse

* Railbus ET 91 01 The ''Glass Train'' (''Gläserne Zug'') (

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 betwee ...

) *

Electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

CC 6503 ''"Aquitaine"'' (

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 ...

) * Electric locomotive BB 3600 ''The Ducal Crocodile'' (''Das großherzogliche Krokodil'') (

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

), the

SNCF BB 12000 The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

is the French version of this engine class * Electric locomotive Ae 4/7 ''The Gotthard Loco'' (''Gotthard-Lok“'') (

) *

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 loco ...

06-013 ''Mountain Express'' (''Gebirgs-Schnellzug-Dampflok'') (

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

) * Steam locomotive 93.1410 ''The Dampfbier Loco of the Ustersbach Private Brewery'' (

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 ...

) * Forest railway steam locomotive 764.449 Cozia-2 (

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 ...

), a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

engine on its own plinth in the museum site * Electric locomotive E 636 147 (

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 ...

) Further ambassador locomotives are planned for Spring 2008.

Museum locomotives

* Steam locomotive

, no. 41 018 (Munich Steam Locomotive Company) * Steam locomotive

, no. 41 364 * Goods train 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 ...

, no. 44 606, ''Jumbo'' (Munich Steam Locomotive Company) *

Express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alon ...

standard locomotive ('' Einheitsdampflok'') DRB Class 01.10, no. 01 1081, (being restored) * Electric locomotive E 16 09 ''Bavaria's Noble Racer'' (''Bayerns Edelrenner'') * Electric locomotive E 18 08 * Electric locomotive E 63 05 and E 63 08 *

Branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

locomotive E 69 02 * Goods train E 91 99 (on loan from the

Nuremberg Transport Museum The Nuremberg Transport Museum (') is based in Nuremberg, Germany, and consists of the Deutsche Bahn's own DB Museum and the Museum of Communications ('). It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel (the '' DB Museum Koblenz'') and Halle ...

) * Electric locomotive 1141.03 * Köf II 6311 and 6580 (operational, shunting duties in the Railway Park) * Electric locomotive 120 003 (on loan from the Nuremberg Transport Museum) * Electric locomotive E 71 19 (on loan from the Nuremberg Transport Museum) * Railway trolley collection 'Rail midgets' (''Schienenflöhe'') * Historic railway post van from 1926 and other railway postal vehicles (Nuremberg Museum of Communications) may be viewed in the steam engine hall

Railway trolley collection 'rail midgets' (''Schienenflöhe'')

As well as the ambassador and museum locomotives stabled at the ''Augsburg Railway Park'' there is also a small collection of railway trolleys belonging to the ''Bavarian Railway Trolley Friends'' (''Draisinenfreunde Bayern e.V.''). This type of railway vehicle was formerly used by the railway maintenance divisions to inspect and maintain tracks and signal installations. The collection has a total of five vehicles: a touring trolley (''Bereisungsdraisine'') KLV 11, two maintenance trolleys, KLV 12 and 82, a Hungarian trolley, MAV Pft-P401, a rail bicycle and a rail moped. At the events there are often opportunities to ride in the KLV 11, something especially popular with children. The KLV 12, KLV 82 and MAV Pft-P401 trolleys are not currently operational and are being refurbished.

Raupach steam engine

The static

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

was built in 1911 by the engineering works of "Richard Raupach", based on the system by R. Lenke, in

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and is the largest town in Upper Lus ...

. It could generate 75 PS. Once upon a time, more than 1000 examples of this engine were built, that were used in many factories to provide electrical energy. Originally this particular engine was delivered to the Schaaf Brewery in Niedermending near

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its nam ...

, where it was in service in 1932. But in the same year the engine was sold to the distillery in Munich-

Großhadern Großhadern (in the town district Hadern) is a district in the south-west of the Bavarian state capital Munich. Großhadern is primarily a bourgeois residential area. Exceptions are the so-called "village core" with numerous small shops as well as ...

. There it was used to drive various aggregates. Not until the closure of the distillery in 2001 was the steam engine finally taken out of service, having operated for 90 years. Members of the Munich Steam Locomotive Company made contact with the distillery company and succeeded in acquiring the steam engine. On 26 July 2003, it was dismantled and moved by low-loader to the Railway Park. There it was temporarily housed in the northern roundhouse and restored. After the events exhibiting the steam engine in its intermediate location, it was moved at the end of October 2003. After further work, it was operational again on 16 July 2007. This time however it was not driven by steam, but for display purposed worked by an electric motor and illuminated.

150th anniversary of Rudolf Diesel

On the occasion of the 150th birthday of

Rudolf Diesel Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (, ; 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German inventor and mechanical engineer who is famous for having invented the diesel engine, which burns diesel fuel; both are named after him. Early life and educat ...

in 2008 the ''Augsburg Railway Park'' hosted a large locomotive exhibition on Easter Monday on the theme of diesel locomotives. Not only were there diesel engines to be seen, but also historic lorries, buses, fire engines and tractors. The event's strap line was "Vehicles driven by diesel engines on rail or road". For younger visitors there was a children's programme with Easter egg hunts and tractor racing. One visitor was the diesel railbus VT 12.5 "Little Stuttgart Horse" (''Stuttgarter Rößle'') owned by the ''DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee'', with 220 passengers. The Railway Park had a record number of over 5000 visitors that day.

Miscellaneous

At present there is a TEE (Trans-Europ-Express) train rake VT 601 with 9 centre coaches, the so-called ''Blue Star Train'', next to the Railway Park on former DB land. From the middle to end of November 2006 the

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

train was stationed at the ''Augsburg Railway Park'' and could be visited during a two-day event. The chance to visit this historic train resonated with the public. The event was accompanied by a jazz concert and food as well as a special exhibition on the history of the Orient-Express. On 6 December 2006 the museum train began a special trip from Augsburg Main station to

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

. The train was hauled by an electric locomotive, not 41 018 as announced. The Railway Park is a favourite destination of historic trains, such as the 01 1066 belonging to the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde (''Ulm Railway Friends''), which can be serviced and turned for the return journey.

References

External links

Augsburg Railway Park
official site
Istanbul Orient Express

"Blue Star Train"

Munich Steam Locomotive Company

{{authority control Railway museums in Germany Heritage railways in Germany Railway museums in Bavaria