On 14 July 2023, Bahnwelt hosted an interdepartmental event for DB Netz AG employees. This takes place annually at a different location with a railway connection. After last year’s visit to the Frankfurt Field Railway Museum, this year the Railway Museum was given the honour of hosting the event.
In addition to refreshments in the locomotive shed, the guests were offered numerous attractions. In keeping with DB Netz AG’s focus on “rail infrastructure, including all facilities required for operation”, the training signal box was of course demonstrated. In addition, the visitors marvelled at the production of vehicle components in the forge workshop and the concept of combined road/rail transport. In addition, the driver’s cabs of the 44 404 and 103 101-2 could be visited and the functioning of a steam locomotive was explained by means of the cut-open locomotive boiler.
Due to a currently ongoing organisational reorganisation of the railway operations of Bahnwelt and work on the infrastructure, the originally planned shuttle train to the Ablaufberg with a visit to the former marshalling yard, on whose site the ICE parking and cleaning facility (ARA) will be built from next year, could not be carried out. However, thanks to a transnational cooperation between the Swiss Post (PTT: Schweizerische Post-, Telefon- und Telegrafenbetriebe; 1928 to 1997) and the IG Bahnbus e.V., Mainz, a rail replacement service was made possible that led from the museum directly to the listed signal box R1 as well as the site of the planned ARA and then on around the entire grounds of Kranichstein marshalling yard. The added value of the rail replacement service was revealed to our guests in that the “round trip” provided a very good overview of the size of the site and the future location of the ICE stabling facility.
We would like to thank DB Netz AG for so willingly accepting the alternative programme, IG Bahnbus e.V. for their quick and uncomplicated cooperation, support and provision of the exemplary refurbished Mercedes-Benz O 307 omnibus, as well as “Postgarage Lausanne” for providing the Willys Overland advance vehicle.
