Fireless Steam Locomotive @museum.de

You’re probably wondering why there’s a locomotive in the museum garden!

Why not? After all, this fireless steam locomotive is closely linked to the history of industry, as recounted in the Thale Hüttenmuseum’s extensive exhibition.

From the mid-19th century onwards, a huge ironworks with a wide range of plants extended across the area behind today's museum. From Steel and Rolling Mills via Container and Apparatus Construction, the Enamelling Works that made the famous Lion Enamel, all the way to Powder Metallurgy. The fireless steam locomotive operated exclusively on the tracks here on the factory premises.

Fire represented a hazard on the densely built-up factory grounds – so the locomotive had a reservoir that was charged with steam. It was a good way of benefiting from the steam that was being generated anyway. The locomotive could operate for four hours on a single charge.

With its bright green boiler and cab and its red undercarriage, it looks like something from Victorian times. But appearances are deceptive. It was only built in 1984 at the Reichsbahn repair works in Meiningen in southern Thuringia – albeit according to old designs. Until operations were shut down in the early 1990s, two locomotives of this type operated on the site. They were affectionately dubbed "Zicke" and "Kuh" by the workers – which translate as “nanny-goat” and “cow”. Unfortunately, "Zicke" had to be scrapped; but "Kuh" became a museum exhibit:

It was hauled through the narrow gap between the three-storey Main Administration Building and the elongated building of the former electric trolley station, and parked here in 1993. Since then, the locomotive has been luring both engineering and history buffs visitors to the Thale Ironworks Museum.

The museum garden features several other originals from the time of the ironworks. These include a water-hydraulic drawing press, testing machines from the plant’s old scientific labs and workshops where sheet metal testing took place, a mixing machine used in the chemical industry, and ingot moulds.

If that all sounds like Greek to you – don’t worry. Just visit our exhibition and it will all become clear as day. So feel free to come in!