Saxon Rail Museum
Chemnitz - Hilbersdorf

Hot steam and old iron

The town of Chemnitz harbors what is probably the largest, still operational rail factory in Germany. In the rail museum in the Hilbersdorf district of the town, visitors are still amazed at how the mighty steam engines are serviced, black coal crashes into the tender, and the thirst of the engines is quenched by huge water cranes. Taking in the exhibits in the 100-year-old boiler houses of the museum, the visitor’s pulse quickens even more. These are not models in glass cabinets – these are the old steam engines, full-size and in all their glory. Looking and touching this is of course permitted. Every day, in an authentic setting, visitors experience a key part of Saxony’s rail history. The highlight every year in August is the Boiler House Festival with locomotives visiting from all over Germany. A popular and great event for the whole family is a special trip with the museum’s own steam train into the surrounding countryside and farther. In the plant, which has been operational for over 100 years, there are over 40 engines as well as numerous coaches and exhibits of railroad history, including a large light railway and a model railroad.

Sideline attractions

• the Saxon Industrial Museum in Chemnitz

• Chemnitz Opera House

• a visit to the Motorcycle Museum at Augustusburg Castle

• a trip on the Chemnitz park railroad

• the ‘Stone Forest’ in the Tietz Cultural Center

• Chemnitz public baths in the Bauhaus style

• the only collection of stockings in Europe with over 6000 stockings in the Chemnitz Art Collection

• the magnificent Art Nouveau Villa Esche, built by Belgian architect Henry van der Velde in 1903

• the largest ensemble of Art Nouveau architecture in Germany on the Kassberg