The Palatinate (Pfalz) became part of the kingdom of Bavaria after the Treaty of Versailles in 1815. The Pfalzbahn (Palatinate railway) opened from Ludwigshafen to Neustadt and Speyer in 1847 when the locomotive depot at Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse was opened. It was subsequently rebuilt to include a 14-road roundhouse, and was closed in 1958.
It was taken over by the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte (German Association for Railway History, DGEG), which was founded in 1967, and also has a museum at Bochum-Dahlhausen, whose focus is on the railways of northern Germany. The museum at Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse concentrates on lines in Bavaria, Baden and Württemburg. Its exhibits include two locomotives from the Palatinate Railway, a T1 of 1892 and a T5 of 1907, together with a replica made in 1925 of the Crampton 4-2-0 locomotive Pfalz of 1853. Other exhibits include the Maffei pacific No 18.505, built in 1924-25, displayed in its Bavarian livery, together with several diesel and electric locomotives, and an Esslingen railcar of 1935.
The museum authorities operate trains on the nearby branch line, the Kuckucksbähnel (Cuckoo railway) from Lambrecht (6 km west of Neustadt) to Elmstein (14 km west) which opened in 1909, and was closed to passengers in 1954 and to freight traffic in 1977.
Railway Museum and Little Cuckoo Museum Railway
Schillerstrasse 3
67434 Neustadt an der Weinstrasse
Germany
+49 (0) 6321 - 30390
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