News

22.10.2025: End of season

Dear friends of the Wittenberge Historic Locomotive Shed, Autumn has unmistakably arrived and once again we have (almost) completed another season. Most recently, we held our Autumn Steam 2025 event at the beginning of October. Unfortunately, we were only able to welcome significantly fewer visitors than usual this time. There were obviously several reasons for this: Firstly, the weather was terrible. Continuous rain and wind made things difficult for us. Secondly, we were not accessible by train. This had a significant impact, as many guests from the metropolitan areas of Hamburg and Berlin usually travel to us by local and long-distance transport. But at least we were delighted to welcome a good 700 visitors. Thank you for visiting us despite the adverse conditions!
If you're thinking that you should stop by again this year, you still have this coming Saturday. That's when our museum will be open to visitors for the last time this year, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission at 4 p.m.).
What else is new? Something very remarkable, absolutely delightful for us and certainly quite unexpected for the railway enthusiast scene. Our diesel locomotive 118 748 has passed its general inspection in the last few days and, following extensive work on the chassis, engines, brakes and electrical and radio equipment, is now fully operational again throughout Germany. So if you see it outside its home town of Wittenberge on special assignments in the near future, please don't be surprised, but delighted. We would also love to see pictures of her in action ( info@dampflok-wittenberge.de). We will be happy to include selected pictures in our next newsletter, crediting the photographer if desired.


Fortunately, our T174 excavator is also making progress. Now that all work on its interior and bodywork has been completed, it is currently being painted in the typical green colour that some of you may remember from the GDR era. Now the new or reconditioned windows and lamps have to be installed. Finally, it will be labelled and will then hopefully be available to us again for a long time for work in the museum.



Our colleagues who look after our historical bell collection have also been busy again. They have now been able to set up another system after it had been derusted and repainted. Great work!



Dear readers, we know from various letters that many of you enjoy following what is happening here. We will therefore continue to keep you informed about new developments in and around the museum in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned and stay with us! Thank you, and we hope to welcome you back to Wittenberge next season. The museum will be open regularly on Saturdays again from Easter Saturday, 11 April 2026. The first event next year will already take place in mid-April 2026. We will inform you in good time.
vehicle: 118 748-3

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16.09.2025: News of our museum

Today, we are particularly pleased to report that we have received a public grant for the repair of our steam locomotive 50 3570 from the Brandenburg state gambling tax. Don't be misled by the name: the upcoming boiler repair of the locomotive is, of course, not a game of chance. However, the funds now made available come from the portion of lottery stakes that are not distributed as part of the lottery, but are used by the state for charitable purposes. Minister Keller from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Climate Protection personally delivered the good news and also presented us with a symbolic cheque for the grant amount. We are very grateful for this, as the funds secure our future as a living museum.
The following picture shows the beaming faces at the handover of the funding: Minister Daniel Keller, Doris Müller (first chair of our association), Dennis Kathke (second chair of our association), Dr Oliver Hermann (mayor of the city of Wittenberge).

There are also other very encouraging developments to report. Last Saturday evening, our diesel locomotive 114 774 took its first steps on the museum grounds after completion of work on its engine. The short test runs on our workshop tracks were satisfactory, so that we can now consider test and adjustment runs outside the museum grounds.

As we all know, you can never have enough spare parts for operational locomotives, so we are delighted to welcome two heavyweight new additions in the form of two diesel engines. They fit into our diesel locomotives 114 774 and 118 754 and will initially be stored on the museum grounds in the hope that we won't need them any time soon. But as the saying goes, better to have them than need them.

The expansion of our bell collection also continues. The active members were able to add another exhibit.


You can see the new additions soon. On Saturday, 20 September, "Railway Day" will be celebrated nationwide, with many railway companies and museums presenting their work. We will also be available for you on this day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
From 5 p.m., there will be a concert in the locomotive shed, featuring classical music in the form of works by Handel, Haydn and Mozart. For the first time, the special backdrop of the locomotive shed will also be used for a programme contribution by the ballet group of the district music school. Admission to the concert costs 14 Euro, or 9 Euro for concessions (school pupils, students, benefit recipients). Further information can also be found at www.klanglandschaft-prignitz.de.
Our Herbstdampf event will take place on the first weekend in October. On 4 and 5 October, we will once again make the hearts of railway fans of all ages beat faster when our historic vehicles are back in action.

vehicles: 50 3570-4, 114 774-3

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03.09.2025: Preview of upcoming events

We are pleased to announce several events taking place in September. Open Monument Day will be held on Sunday, 14 September 2025, with the theme: "Valuable: priceless or irreplaceable" In Brandenburg, as throughout Germany, historic buildings and sites will be open to the public. We are happy to join this initiative and will open our museum on an unscheduled basis this Sunday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. What makes this day special is that the usual admission fee will be waived and you can visit our museum free of charge. We would of course appreciate donations, as running the museum on this day also costs money.
A list of all other monuments open in the area can be found on the website of the German Foundation for Monument Protection https://www.tag-des-offenen-denkmals.de/programm . There is a search function in place. If you enter "Landkreis" as the location and "Prignitz" in the field for the town under the heading "Programm", you will also find a number of other interesting places that you can easily combine with a visit to our museum.
On Saturday, 20 September, Germany will also celebrate the "Railway Day", when many railway companies and museums will showcase their work. We will also be available for you on this day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. From 5 p.m., there will be a concert in the locomotive shed, serving up classical music in the form of works by Handel, Haydn and Mozart. For the first time, the unique backdrop of the locomotive shed will also be used for a performance by the ballet group of the district music school.
Concerts like this have been held for a few years now as part of the Klanglandschaft Prignitz event series and already have their own fan base, because classical music combined with our unique atmosphere has a very special appeal. Admission to the concert costs 14 Euro, or 9 Euro for concessions (school pupils, students, benefit recipients). You can find more information at www.klanglandschaft-prignitz.de .
And while we're on the subject of dates: our Autumn Steam event will take place on the first weekend in October. On 4 and 5 October, we will once again make the hearts of railway fans of all ages beat faster when our historic vehicles are back in action. More information will be available here soon.

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18.08.2025: News about the V100 diesel locomotive

We have already reported several times on the refurbishment of our V100.1 diesel locomotive, which bears the number 114 774-3. After having already taken care of the locomotive's chassis and brakes some time ago, the engine has been the focus of attention in recent weeks. For technology enthusiasts, it is worth mentioning that the engine was manufactured by VEB Kühlautomat Berlin-Johannistal. With its 12 cylinders and turbocharger, it generates an output of just under 1,500 hp. This makes it the most powerful engine variant ever installed in locomotives of this type.
Although our engine had only run for a few dozen operating hours since its last major overhaul a few years ago, leaks had developed in the turbocharger during the long period of inactivity since the locomotive was taken out of service by its last commercial owner. These leaks had to be repaired before we can put the locomotive back into service. To do this, the turbocharger and various other attachments were removed from the engine compartment so that they could be reconditioned.
Once the refurbishment work was complete, our diesel locomotive experts were able to resume assembly work. A few photos of the project are attached to this short report. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Schienenfahrzeugbau Wittenberge for their support. The work will be completed shortly. We are already looking forward to the test run of the engine and locomotive.









Work has also been completed on our G10 freight waggon, which we had dismantled down to its frame in recent years. It has now been reassembled, fitted with a new sliding door and repainted. The crowning glory was the recent addition of the lettering. We will be presenting it in future as a materials car for the Wittenberge railway depot. Such wagons were formerly used for internal transport within large railway depots or repair shops, including in Wittenberge.

We would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to our upcoming events. We will also be opening our museum on Sunday, 14 September 2025, to mark Open Monument Day. On this day, we will be waiving the usual admission fees. Of course, we would still appreciate donations. We will also be participating in "Railway Day" on 20 September 2025. On this day, many railway companies across Germany will be presenting their activities. Our Autumn Steam Days will also take place on the first weekend in October. We look forward to seeing you there!
vehicles: 114 774-3, G 10

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17.07.2025: News from the Museum

Today we start our current newsletter with the area outside our museum. Below we show some pictures of the design of the area around our museum track, which leads from our signal box Wm to the railway station. It is the last remaining track of the former Magdeburg railway station side.
As part of the redesign of the green spaces and in preparation for the State Garden Show, which will be organised in Wittenberge in the summer of 2027, the platform next to this track has been redesigned. In future, it will be integrated into the green space that is being created along the street "Am Bahnhof". We are very pleased about this, as it will also make our guests' journey from the station more pleasant when they arrive by train from early summer 2026.




We are also looking forward to the actual State Garden Show, which will be held in the large green spaces in the centre of Wittenberge. We recommend taking a look at the horticultural show website https://www.laga-wittenberge.de/, which already gives a promising impression of this event. Incidentally, a visit to the show and our museum can be wonderfully combined.
While we were talking about travelling to Wittenberge by train: You may already be aware that Deutsche Bahn will be completely renovating the Hamburg-Berlin line in the coming months. Not only will the tracks on this extremely important line be renewed, but Wittenberge station will also be remodelled. A new platform will be built to increase the capacity of the station for passenger transport.
There will also be additional tracks for freight transport. The tracks of the sidings to the harbour have already been electrified. As part of the future construction work, a new track connection will also be created between the sidings and the main railway towards Berlin.
The connection of the museum and its neighbours to the tracks of Wittenberge station will also be rebuilt, so that we will be separated from the Deutsche Bahn track network in the short term.
And now for the downer: during the work between August 2025 and spring 2026, there will be no passenger train services in Wittenberge according to current plans, not even from Stendal or Perleberg. If you would like to reach us by public transport during this time, travelling will unfortunately be more difficult. However, Deutsche Bahn will be organising replacement bus services so that Wittenberge will generally be accessible without a car during the construction work. You can find more information about the construction work and replacement services on the Deutsche Bahn website: https://hamburg-berlin.deutschebahn.com/home.html.
Now let's move on to the activities in the museum and its vehicles. During the last event, some visitors asked where our diesel locomotive 118 748 was. The answer is that it is still in a contractor's workshop where a general inspection is being carried out. The relevant work is almost complete, the locomotive is back on its own wheels and the engines are running. Remaining work is currently being carried out, such as the installation of a modern radio system. This is a prerequisite for using the locomotive on public tracks.



Some guests also asked about the locomotive boiler, which has recently been stored on a trolley in the museum grounds. Today we want to reveal the secret. It is a boiler like the ones used on our class 50 steam locomotives. The boilers currently fitted to the locomotives will reach their operational limits in the foreseeable future or will require extensive work to keep them running. In the event that one of the existing boilers requires too much investment, we were able to acquire this replacement boiler in good condition. True to the motto "Better to have than to need", it will now be preserved and stored in the museum grounds before a decision is made on its future use.

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