The Nuremberg Transport Museum (') in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, Germany, consists of Deutsche Bahn's DB Museum and the Museum of Communications ('). It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel ('' DB Museum Koblenz'') and Halle (''DB Museum Halle''). The Nuremberg Transport Museum is one of the oldest technical history museums in Europe and is a milestone on the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH).

The DB Museum

History

The forerunner of the present-day DB Museum was opened in 1899 as a royal Bavarian railway museum and it is therefore the oldest railway museum in Germany. Today it is a company museum belonging to the Deutsche Bahn and portrays, amongst other things, the history of the railways. The present building was built in 1925.Deutsche Bahn AG (Hrsg.)
''Deutsche Bahn: Menschen bewegen – Welten verbinden''
(PDF, 9,2 MB), Berlin 2008, ohne ISBN, S. 85 f. On 1 July 1996, the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) took over the museum from the

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

for the symbolic purchase price of one deutschmark. At the same time Dr. Jürgen Franzke, previously head of the Museum of Industrial Culture (''Museums Industriekultur'') in Nuremberg, was appointed as the museum's chief. The DB AG planned at that time to invest 6 million DM up to the museum's centenary year.Meldung ''Deutsche Bahn AG übernimmt das Verkehrsmuseum Nürnberg''. In: '' Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau''. 45, Nr. 1/2, 1996, S. 1.Meldung ''Symbolische Schlüsselübergabe in Nürnberg.''. In: '' Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau''. 45, Nr. 9, 1996, S. 513.

Exhibits

In the displays of historical railway vehicles are the following important exhibits: * Parts of the royal train for the Bavarian king, Ludwig II * The streamlined locomotive, 05 001 * A TEE diesel

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

from the 1950s * An original coal wagon from 1829 (on long-term loan from the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum (NRM) is a museum in York, England, forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historical ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

from the ''South Hetton'' coal mine in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the oldest surviving railway vehicle on the European mainland * The oldest

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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

in Germany still preserved in its original state, the '' Nordgau'' (built in 1853) * The Bavarian S 2/6

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes few or no stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, providing faster service than local trains that stop at many or all of the stations along their ...

locomotive * The red E 19 12 express train locomotive * A fragment of the SVT 877 ''

Flying Hamburger The DRG Class SVT 877 Hamburg Flyer – sometimes also Flying Hamburger or in German ''Fliegender Hamburger'' – was Germany's first fast diesel train, and is credited with establishing the fastest regular railway connection in the world in its ...

'' diesel multiple unit. * A mock-up of part of the traction coach of the ICE 3 Some of the original vehicles are not in the museum itself, but in the wagon shed situated in the open area belonging to the museum on the opposite side of the street. The museum also owns a range of historical vehicles that can be used for special rail services.

Model collection

A further attraction of the museum is its collection of 160, 1:10 scale models occupying 1000 square metres of the museum. These models have been built over the years since the end of the 19th century and are very finely detailed. The first were made in 1882 by apprentices of the Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königlich Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen''). The museum also offers a walk-through tunnel, a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

signals A signal is both the process and the result of Signal transmission, transmission of data over some transmission media, media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processin ...

and

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

that can be operated, models equipped with sound and light and simulators.

Model railway

A model railway covering an area of 80 m² is used to demonstrate prototypical railway operations. During museum opening hours there is a ten-minute demonstration hourly, on the half-hour, with explanations of the key concepts of railway operating. The layout, built between 1960 and 1970, is worked using control panels with a total of some 5000 relays.

Library

In the main building of the DB Museum there is a library with about 40,000 titles on railway subjects. The ''Präsenzbibliothek'' can be visited by appointment free of charge on workdays. Postal loans are not possible.

Damage following the fire of 17 October 2005

On the evening of 17 October 2005 much of the roundhouse of the museum, less its steel frame, was burnt to the ground. Unlike the wagon shed, the locomotive shed was not located in the immediate vicinity of the museum and accessible to the public, but four kilometres away at the Nuremberg West locomotive depot in the suburb of Gostenhof. It was there that the DB Museum had stabled operational locomotives for which room could not be found in the museum. A 1935 working replica of the '' Adler'', a locomotive from the first German railway between Nuremberg and Fürth, was badly damaged by the blaze. Apprentices and experienced specialists rebuilt the engine in the Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works. After two years of reconstruction the ''Adler'' was once again ready for operations in October 2007 and returned to the Nuremberg Transport Museum on 23 November 2007. Federal Government MPs, members of the DB AG management and the Bavarian minister-president, Beckstein, took part in the first journey of the restored ''Adler'' on 26 April 2008. A further, non-operational, 1953 replica is displayed in the museum. Unfortunately the last surviving examples of the goods train locomotive, the DRG Class 45, the electric locomotive and other exhibits, especially locomotives, as well as numerous spare parts, also fell victim to the fire or were at least badly damaged. A total of 24 historical engines and wagons went up in smoke. In the long term, the steam engines should be repairable, as should the E 75. The damaged diesel engines and railbuses, due to their light construction, were irreparable and were scrapped by July 2006. The burnt out and partly collapsed locomotive shed was torn down. Several locos were sold or loaned to railway museums for restoration. For example, number 23 105, the last steam engine bought by the Bundesbahn in 1959, was leased to the South German Railway Museum (''Süddeutsches Eisenbahnmuseum Heilbronn'') in

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

for visual restoration.

DB Museum branch in Koblenz

In the Lützel district of

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

is the DB Museum, Koblenz, a branch of the museum that accommodates a number of vehicles including several Class 103, 110 and 113, E 44 and E 16 electric express locomotives, as well as several coaches belonging to the Joseph Goebbels special train. In addition a restored Prussian T 3, factory number 499 built by the Maschinenfabrik Christian Hagans in 1903 and stored under in accordance with strict heritage protection regulations, can be viewed. For decades it had been used as in a children's play park at Cologne Zoo.erhaltene Lokomotiven aus der Maschinenfabrik Christian Hagans
/ref> At present two of the steam locomotive exhibits damaged in the great fire at Nuremberg are also being restored there.

DB Museum branch in Halle (Saale)

The former locomotive shed in

Halle (Saale) Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East Berlin, East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chem ...

is a branch of the Nuremberg Museum. On display there are several Deutsche Reichsbahn vehicles, in particular the 03 1010 steam locomotive and the E 11 001 and E 18 31 electric locomotives. The vehicles are looked after by the Halle shed.

Museum of Communications

The museum of communications in the Transport Museum came from the royal Bavarian postal museum and was integrated into the Transport Museum in 1902. It displays over 500 years of postal and telecommunication services history in Bavaria from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

to the present. Major aspects covered are the development of postal transportation, post coach travel, telegraphy and telephony. Original vehicles, such as post coaches and motorised vehicles, are displayed, as well as technical equipment from old-fashioned teleprinters to modern news satellites. Due to lack of space, several historical railway postal vehicles are located in the railway park at

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

Charter and tourist trains

The Nuremberg Transport Museum owns several trains, not all stabled in Nuremberg, that are used for tourist and charter services including: *The Rheingold Express with DB Class E 03 locomotives. Based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. *The traditional Zwickau fast-stopping train (''Traditions- Eilzug Zwickau''), based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. *The Blue Gentian (''Blauer Enzian'') TEE express. Stabled in Berlin. *The

express, based in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. *The '' Adler'' old-time replica locomotive with three open passenger wagons, stabled at Nuremberg.

Film

* Episode 347 of

Eisenbahn-Romantik Eisenbahn-Romantik () is a German television programme, broadcast by Südwestrundfunk, SWR. It portrays railway-related reports, whose content covers modern railway systems, Heritage railway, museum railways and their facilities as well as items ...

named ''100 Jahre Verkehrsmuseum Nürnberg'' shows the museum.

References

Literature

* Werner Willhaus: ''100 Jahre Verkehrsmuseum Nürnberg. Eine Legende feiert Geburtstag''. In: ''Eisenbahn-Kurier''. Nr. 322/Jahrgang 33/1999. EK-Verlag GmbH, ISSN 0170-5288, S. 54–58.

External links

Home page of the DB Museum in Nuremberg (in German)English home pageBranch of the DB Museum in KoblenzHome page of the Museum of CommunicationsPicture gallery: Serious fire in a museum locomotive shed (18.10.2005, www.br-online.de)
* {{Authority control Railway museums in Germany Railway museums in Bavaria Transport in Nuremberg Deutsche Bahn Museums in Nuremberg