Within a short period of time, the Railway Museum Darmstadt-Kranichstein lost two long-time committed members who were also known beyond Darmstadt’s borders.
We mourn the death of Armin Schmidt, who passed away on 13.06.2022. His nickname “S-Bahn Schmidt” was given to him by the staff because of his love and knowledge of the Berlin S-Bahn, which was also expressed in his publications. And finally, he saved a historic Berlin S-Bahn railcar from being scrapped and brought it into the museum’s vehicle collection. Here it stands as a technical exhibit of the early development of DC railcars for metropolitan traffic with the power supply through a side conductor rail. It is testimony to the history of Berlin’s urban transport, which also took a special development for the people in the divided and yet reunited city.
Armin Schmidt also campaigned for the reconstruction of the part of the Kranichstein roundhouse that had already been demolished in DB times. Unfortunately, he can now no longer witness the progress of this work.
We will remember him with gratitude for his many years of service and our sympathy goes out to his family and relatives.
Just one day later, on 14.06.2022, we lost Erich Horvay. As the former operational manager of the central heavy-duty group of DB and DB-AG in Darmstadt, he had worked intensively after his retirement to preserve and build up a collection of heavy-duty railway vehicles and Culemeyer road rollers in the Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum. Thanks to his efforts, not only several different road rollers and other heavy-duty road vehicles and corresponding tractors were added to the museum’s collection, but also an 18-axle Uaai 672 carrying wagon with suspended transformer and a Uaai 571 low-loader wagon with 10 axles. On special occasions, operations of this heavy-duty group are regularly demonstrated in the museum.
Erich Horvay was known in the professional world as an expert in heavy-duty transport. He was involved in the development of new special vehicles such as the self-propelled “Heuler” and other constructions. His name can be found in numerous publications. Last but not least, he also advised model companies with his detailed knowledge in the realisation of the large prototypes in small model scale. Most recently, the 18-axle model was realised with his support.
We will always remember Erich Horvay with gratitude and continue his work in his spirit. Our sympathy also goes to his family and relatives.
The sponsoring association of the Railway Museum and the Bahnwelt Darmstadt Kranichstein Foundation
