Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum
Encyclopedia
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
. It is also the largest railway museum in the state of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
.
The former railway depot
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
(Bahnbetriebswerk or BW) includes a locomotive shed, turntable, coal bunkers and other locomotive facilities. There is also an adjoining repair shop (Ausbesserungswerk), where major repairs can be carried out.
The depot is located on the Rhine-Main line
Rhine-Main Railway
The Rhine-Main Railway , is a railway line in southern Germany from Mainz via Darmstadt to Aschaffenburg. It was built by Hessische Ludwigsbahn and opened on 1 August 1858 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany...
from Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
to Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
. It was established in 1898 by the United Prussian and Hessian State Railways
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
and opened as a railway museum on 29 May 1976 when the site was leased from the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
to the board of trustees of the museum railway.
A large collection of locomotives may be viewed in the museum, such as the still-operational DRG 23 042
DRG Class 23
The German Class 23 engines of the Deutsche Reichsbahn were standard steam engines that were conceived as a replacement for the Prussian P 8 by the Schichau Works...
, 01 1056
DRG Class 01.10
The locomotives of DRB Class 01.10 were standard locomotives used for express train services by the Deutsche Reichsbahn...
, 41 024
DRG Class 41
The German Class 41 steam locomotives were standard goods train engines operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn and built from 1937 - 1941.- History :...
and 44 404
DRG Class 44
The Class 44 was a ten-coupled, heavy goods train steam locomotive built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a standard steam engine class . Its sub-class was G 56.20 and it had triple cylinders...
steam engines, steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
4981 "Mainz", (a Prussian G 8
Prussian G 8
The Prussian Class G 8 locomotives were eight-coupled, superheated, freight locomotives operated by the Prussian state railways. There were two variants: the G 8 built from 1902 with a 14 tonne axle load and the "reinforced G 8" built from 1913 with a 17 tonne axle load...
) that was transferred from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the Austrian locomotive 97 210, a rack railway steam engine from the Erzberg railway, the DB locomotive number 103 101-2
DB Class 103
The Baureihe 103 is a class of electric locomotives in Germany, originally operated by Deutsche Bundesbahn. For a long period, they were perceived as flagships of the DB rolling stock.- Development :...
and the DRG E 16 08
DRG Class E 16
The DRG Class E 16 were German electric locomotives in service with the Bavarian Group Administration of the Deutsche Reichsbahn were conceived as motive power for express trains...
electric engine, several DB Class V 36 diesel locomotives, a Wismar Railbus
Wismar railbus
The 'Hanover version' of the Wismar railbus was developed in the early 1930s as a light railbus for economical passenger services on branch lines in Germany.- History :...
and a host of other railway vehicles, including several Culemeyer heavy trailers
Johann Culemeyer
Johann Culemeyer was a German engineer.Culemeyer was born in Hanover in 1883 and, in 1936, he became a director of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and in that capacity was responsible for the construction, procurement and running of road vehicles, railway wagons and heavy transporters.As early as 1931 he...
.
The large vehicle fleet cannot be visited at present. In the meantime, however, there are exhibits to aid technical understanding, such as the sectioned boiler of Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
steam engine number 50 1397
DRB Class 50
Because the Deutsche Bundesbahn had sufficient goods train locomotives, they could quickly phase out the DRB Class 52 engines, so that the ageing boilers on the Class 50s could be replaced by those of the Class 52s. Even the 'bathtub' tender of the Kriegslokomotiven was used by the 50s amongst...
, and the driver's cab of 50 1745; as well as a signalling collection with historical signals and signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
equipment. In addition, the evolution of fare tickets over the years is portrayed, from manually-produced examples from the early years to the present-day computer printouts, as well as their related equipment. The museum also has its own ticket-printing press. An H0-model railway layout depicts Darmstadt station on the Main-Neckar line
Main-Neckar Railway
The Main-Neckar Railway is a main line railway west of the Odenwald in the Upper Rhine Plain of Germany that connects Frankfurt am Main to Heidelberg via Darmstadt, Bensheim and Weinheim...
at the time the route was opened.
Special train services visit the museum several times a year, running between Darmstadt Ost and Bessunger Forst.
Several vehicles, e. g. the 23 042 and the G8 4981 "Mainz" haul specials throughout the whole of Germany. The vehicles are run by the German Museum Railway GmbH (DME) as the operating company. (Deutsche Museums-Eisenbahn) GmbH (DME).
Literature
- Uwe Breitmeier, Rückkehr aus dem Morgenland: die abenteuerliche Reise einer preußischen Dampflok, Transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-6137-1065-X http://www.amazon.de/dp/361371065X
- Uwe Breitmeier, Das Eisenbahnmuseum Darmstadt-Kranichstein, Eigenverlag