Railyard N.

The city in which this railyard is located was connected to the railroad in 1844, when Christian VIII, the King of Denmark opened a rail line through the northern part of Germany.
A small coach house was all that had been built at this particular station at the time.
At the turn of the century, the city got a big railyard with two turntables, two 22-track enginehouses and a workshop as well as an administrative and a social building.
In World War II, these facilities were almost completely destroyed. In 1945, only one of the enginhouses was rebuilt - although with about 80 steam locomotives there were still as many in service as before and during the war.
At that time, there were around 3.000 railmen employed in the city.
Structural changes during the 1960s made this railroad area lose its relevance for the German railroad. The 22-track enginehouse was partly torn down and reduced to include only 6 tracks and closed down for good in 1988.
After that, the enginehouse was used by the regional "Friends of the Railroad" as a museum until a year-long legal battle over the continuation of the lease lead to the final closure of the area in 2010.
Since then, teenagers, copper thieves and vandals have had their share of the buildings.

Visited: February 2, 2014

Location: Neumünster, Germany

Status: Active /Museum