The railway museum’s visitor barracks, the central point of contact for museum visitors, is undergoing extensive refurbishment of the exterior façade and roof. After work on the west side of the façade was completed at the end of August, work began on the roof renovation in October. All work was carried out in consultation with the Darmstadt Monument Office, as the entire 3.5-hectare site of the railway museum has been designated as an area monument since 2017 and therefore also includes the buildings located there.
For the repainting of the façade, research was first carried out into previous paint applications. As a result of this investigation, the RAL colour could then be determined.
The same applies to the roof covering, which was executed in the 1950s as part of the new building with fibre cement panels containing asbestos. In this case, the heritage authority recommended re-roofing with fibre cement panels.
The wooden barracks, which originally served as a purely functional building for the railway depot to accommodate railway workers working on site, has only undergone partial renovations to the façade and roof over the last 35 years during its subsequent period of use by the Museumsbahn e. V., meaning that an extensive general renovation was now necessary.
In a first construction phase, the west façade was partially stripped, re-panelled and given a base and top coat of paint. The two gable ends and the eastern long side are not due for renovation until 2025. All of the façade work has been and will continue to be carried out by members of the association working on a voluntary basis.
Over the years, the roof covering had repeatedly exhibited severe leaks, making a thorough renovation necessary.
A considerable amount of capital had to be mobilised by the sponsoring association to finance this measure. With a 30% subsidy from the Hessian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments from funds for the preservation of cultural monuments and two generous individual donations from association members, the contract for the roofing and plumbing work was finally awarded to the master roofer Emig+Strauss from Oberzent (Odw.) in July. The roof work was started at the beginning of October and was able to proceed quickly thanks to favourable weather conditions.
