Steam Engine No. 7 @museum.de

Tucked away behind these brick walls is a unique piece of engineering history – a contemporary witness to the years and decades when there was a huge, fully operational ironworks in Thale. Steam Engine Number 7, commissioned in 1912, powered three roll stands simultaneously and ran almost without interruption until the Blooming Mill was shut down in September 1990. The only repair it ever needed was the replacement of the flywheel in the early 1970s. Given its height of almost 7 metres or 23 feet, a substantial piece of kit.

During the high season from April to the end of October, the Thale Hüttenmuseum offers two public guided tours a week. Attending one gives you a chance to marvel at this well-preserved machine on its original site and in action. Additional tours for eight or more people can be specially booked at the museum. And believe me – they’re well worth it!

The Hüttenmuseum is right behind the elongated building on the side of the car park closest to the town. But before you head over there, do take a moment to look at the impressive mural on the annexe of the building that houses the steam engine.

It’s by local artist Willi Neubert, who has portrayed the history and development of the ironworks on 336 enamelled panels. On the left, the upper third is in the style of an old photograph. It shows the small sheet metal works that started it all, back in 1686. You can see steel ingots, a roll stand, belching smokestacks, an open enamelling furnace with a one-armed robot... and of course products made at the ironworks, such as pot lids or tanks for chemicals.

And there’s even the Bode Valley, which has attracted tourists to Thale since the very early days.

Willi Neubert created his enamel mural in 1986, to mark the 300th anniversary of the smelting industry in Thale. It originally hung on the wall of the trainees’ hostel, and there was a good view of it from the railway. When the hostel was demolished in 2001, the mural was rescued and has now found its place on the annexe of the steam engine building.