Rail Transport

Anhalter Bahnhof was the largest of prewar Berlin’s legendary terminus stations. Its monumental head house was demolished after suffering damage in World War II – all except for a small fragment on Askanischer Platz. Other elements of the structure are now preserved in the Deutsches Technikmuseum, such as the so-called Fürstenportal. This “princely portal” led into the waiting room for “gentlemen of the very highest class and quality.” Today the portal leads into two historic historic engine sheds, or roundhouses, dating to 1874, where the Museum presents 150 years of railroad history over 6,000 square meters of exhibition space. Along with their outdoor turntables, the roundhouses themselves are the largest exhibit, standing as a monument to the complex infrastructure that was necessary to operate the railway system.

Forty original railway vehicles, some of which still exude the smell of soot and oil, make up the heart of the exhibition. In addition, there are many unique, highly detailed models of railroad cars and locomotives on display. These models, built to a scale of 1:5, were made around 1900 by apprentices aiming to qualify as journeymen. The vehicles – both models and originals – are displayed alongside a variety of exhibits illustrating what it was like to work and travel on trains, as well as what place trains had in the popular imagination: train compartments, souvenirs, uniforms, dining car tableware, suitcases, tickets, and toy trains.

The exhibition proceeds chronologically, from the 18^th-century predecessors to the railroad, to an open passenger car from 1843 – one of the oldest of its kind still in existence – down to the locomotives of the West German economic miracle and of East Germany. Visitors can even walk underneath a locomotive! and climb up into the cab and play engineer.. Joining inParticipation is also an option: children can push a replica of a 400-year-old mine shunt and visitorsthey can try out how difficult it is to lift a piece of rail during track construction.

The history of the German railroad system was closely linked to social and political developments. Thus the exhibition highlights the connection specific people had to trains. For example, Wilhelm II’s parlor car provides insight into his derisive nickname Reisekaiser, or “the traveling emperor.” Otto von Bismarck, on the other hand, symbolizes the fierce debate over the unification of the Reichseisenbahn (German Imperial Railway) that took place in the 1870s.