22. February 2025
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Museums & Exhibitions

German Rail Museum (DB Museum) Nuremberg

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

DB Museum Nürnberg

7 EUR
DB Museum Nürnberg
4.5

Rating

 4.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Huge exhibition
  • Very well done and structured museum
  • Museum for Communication included in admission

Especially when I visit large places for Flyctory.com, which give me a lot of memories – and pictures – I sometimes need quite a long time to transfer them into a proper review. Even though I made my notes or even (partially) wrote my review, I just don’t make it to edit the pictures or complete other steps towards the finalization of the post. This also applies to the German Rail Museum (DB Museum) in Nuremberg. There are almost two years between the publication of the posting and my visit. Hope you nonetheless enjoy it.

 

DB Museum Nuremberg – Location & Admission

The DB (DB stands for Deutsche Bahn, German Rail) Museum in Nuremberg is in fact the headquarter of an overall of three museums in Germany, the other one being in Koblenz and Halle (Saale). The museum already opened in 1899 a Verkehrsmuseum (Traffic Museum) and was taken over by German Rail in 2007. It is located just a few hundred meters away from Nuremberg Main Station. This is also the main public transport hub for the museum. However, the underground and bus station Opernhaus is closer to the DB Museum. You may also try to get a parking lot in one of the garages around in case you arrive by car.

The museum is closed on Mondays. The opening times from Tuesday to Friday are 9:00 to 17:00 hrs and 10:00 to 18:00 hrs on the weekend. Adult admission to the museum is 7 Euro. The admission includes the Museum for Communication, which I will handle separately. There are numerous discounts, including if you have a frequent traveler status at German Rail or one of their rail network cards (Bahn Card).

 

DB Museum Nuremberg – Museum Visit

The key permanent exhibition of the German Rail Museum Nuremberg reflects the history of rail transportation in Germany. The museum starts in the early 19th century. The first German rail line was in fact the a connection from Nuremberg to nearby Fürth. The museum is rather balanced between passenger and freight train history. A very detailed part of the museum is also featuring the role of trains in World War I and II. There are also some very interesting models of prototypes and experimental trains of that era.

 

Post-WW II Era

A very interesting part of the German Rail Museum Nuremberg is the comparison how rail travel developed in West and East after World War II. For that reason, you can take two different routes through this part of the exhibition. Like in most parts of the museum, there are at least also basic explanations in English as well. This part of the building also hosts the very popular model train landscape, which was just too crowded during my visit. A lot of model trains illustrate the history of German rail systems at that time, the exhibition Bahnhofszeiten (“Train station times”) also shows how the train station developed.

Of course, the museum also features the history of rail after the German Reunion and the merger of the two state-driven rail companies. A very posh area thereby features “modern” rail travel, including the high-speed rail tracks and the nowadays most important part of the Deutsche Bahn fleet, the ICE (Intercity Express high-speed train). Before I left this part of the museum, I also had a look at some rather historic trains and engines.

 

DB Museum Nuremberg – Train Shed Area

Just across the road, your museum ticket also allows you to visit the train shed and the outdoor exhibition space. The shed also features an ICE mock-up as well as a former Nazi train. The museum had to remove the swastikas from the train as the place had become some sort of pilgrimage place to Nazis, unfortunately. The shed directly leads to some outdoor exhibits on the outer rail tracks around Nuremberg Main Train Station, which are also worth a visit.

 

DB Museum Nuremberg – Services

The lobby area of the museum is featuring a rather large souvenir store, which is also featuring some model train stuff and funny items like the train-formed cookie cutter. During my visit, the outdoor area of the museum also featured a small snack place.

 

DB Museum Nuremberg – My View

The DB Museum Nuremberg is massive. There are so many exhibits – if you are a rail enthusiast, you might more or less stay a whole day in this place. The exhibition is very well organized and gives a nice balance of good and bad memories. Thus, the museum is also not feeling like a marketing museum for the current German Rail company.

 

Flyctory.com about Nuremberg

Here are all my postings related to Nuremberg (or Nürnberg) in Germany:

 

German Technical Museums

Here are all Technical Museum postings about places related to Germany:

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