How to Museumsbahn

So, you are interested in trains, consider helping at a heritage line but have no idea where to start and what to do? This is your page

Most heritage lines in Germany are organized as “Verein”, which means you can join them for a yearly membership fee and depending on the club rules you have some benefits like free rides or you might have some membership duties like working a specific time for the club.

Usually you can do a lot of things at a heritage line:

Running trains need a lot of persons. Usually you will have luggage van helpers, conductors, guards, firepersons, engineers. For most of these jobs you will need trainings and certifications, which can be obtained at the railway, most have an education program to allow you to become certified for the roles.

Old trains need a lot of work to be kept running. Most railways have a workshop and need hands for woodwork, metalwork, electrics, pneumatics (brakes), needlework (seats, baggage nets, …), painting, maintaining diesel/steam/petrol/whatever engines, … So there are lot of areas where you can help out. Most workshops also allow you to learn things, if you haven't used a band saw or a blow torch for welding, you can learn it there.