Schauplatz Eisenbahn

Description

On the site of the former Rangierbahnhof Chemnitz‑Hilbersdorf is the Schauplatz Eisenbahn, which was opened in 2020 as a joint exhibition site of the Sächsisches Eisenbahnmuseum and the Technikmuseum Seilablaufanlage. Covering roughly 260,000 m², historic rail vehicles and installations are displayed; this makes the Schauplatz Eisenbahn one of the major railway museums in Germany.

The marshalling yard reached its spatial limits by the late 1920s. Instead of expanding the area, the capacity problem was solved technically: following the example of a Dresden hump yard, a cable‑hump system was installed in Hilbersdorf. Wagon groups were lowered onto cable trolleys down a gradient of 1:180 so that the next train could already be prepared in parallel. This technology significantly increased throughput; at peak times up to 3,600 wagons were handled per day. After 1990, economic decline in the region and the shift of freight traffic to road led to a steep drop in performance. Due to maintenance deficiencies the cable‑hump system was taken out of service in 1992 and marshalling operations ceased in 1996; subsequently technical installations were dismantled and the site was neglected.

Already in the early 1990s the Sächsisches Eisenbahnmuseum moved into the former locomotive depot and began securing vehicles and buildings. The care and monument‑appropriate restoration of important structures, including the engine house and signal box 2, were recognised. Since 2020 several exhibitions have presented the history of railways in Saxony and central Germany as well as their social and technical significance.

The visitor centre is housed in the historic goods shed dating from 1916; it also gives access to the museum’s own library. The introductory exhibition covers 180 years of railway history in Saxony, Saxon pioneering achievements, the history of the Sächsische Maschinenfabrik (formerly Richard Hartmann) and the particularities of Saxon narrow‑gauge railways; the programme is complemented by a video documentation of the shunting operations in Hilbersdorf.

Central technical and exhibition sites are the cable‑hump system with Befehlsstellwerk 3 (commissioned in 1930) and signal box 2 with the winding engine hall. Original lever frames, indicators and three tension towers, each carrying 10.5‑ton weights, illustrate the operation of the system. Typical work processes such as manually recording wagons, the “Langmachen” of couplings, braking with scotches and the recuperation of kinetic energy are part of the presentation. Other holdings include the locomotive depot with two roundhouses, a signal garden with around 50 signals and a 1,000 m long field railway with a 600 mm gauge.