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Saxon Narrow-Gauge Railroad Museum Rittersgrün

Sächsisches Schmalspurbahn-Museum

ABOVE: Vintage railroad cars and the former station at the Saxon Narrow-Gauge Railroad Museum in Rittersgrün, Germany. INSET BELOW: The museum's official sign, and homemade mushroom soup in the Museumskeller.

By Durant Imboden

From 1889 until 1971, the small town of Rittersgrün was the terminus of the Pöhlwassertalbahn, a narrow-gauge railway that offered scheduled service between Grünstädtel and Oberrittersgrün near Saxony's border with the Czech Republic.

The railroad no longer exists, but the Oberrittersgrün station, sheds, and marshalling yards are now the Saxon Narrow-Gauge Railroad Museum, which has a collection of 750-mm (29½-inch) steam locomotives, diesel engines, and rolling stock.

Although the museum is popular with railfans, it also targets families, with a small model railroad, station exhibits, and occasional special events for visitors of all ages.

For more information about the Saxon Narrow-Gauge Railroad Museum in Rittersgrün, visit www.ssmo.de.

How to get there:

The Saxon Narrow-Gauge Rairoad Museum is near Oberwiesenthal, an end station on the Fichtelbergbahn Steam Railroad and the site of the Fichtelberg Schwebahn aerial cable car.  (Public bus no. 414 connects Rittersgrün with the Oberwiesenthal station.)

The Ore Mountains Model Railway Park and the Wolkeinsteiner Zughotel train hotel and restaurant are within easy driving distance.

For maps that show how to reach the Sächsisches Schmalspurbahn-Museum, download the museum flyer (PDF) from www.ssmo.de.

More photos:

Narrow-gauge trains are restored and maintained in the Lokschuppen, a traditional Saxon-style locomotive shed that was built in 1920 and expanded (with the addition on the left) in 1928-1929.

The Kaiserliche Post or Royal Mail car (carriage No. 1700) was built in 1892 and used by the German postal service until 1931. It was donated to the museum in 1982. In 1997, the car traveled with a commemorative postal train that celebrated 100 years of narrow-gauge railroading between Cranzahl and Kurort Oberwiesenthal.

Visitors to the museum can drop postcards or letters into a mail slot on the Kaiserliche Post car; thanks to a special arrangement with the Rittersgrün post office, the mail will be cancelled with an imprint that reads, "In Bahnpostwagen Nr. 1700 aufgegeben."

If you drive to or from Rittersgrün, watch out for stray cows: This herd of young cattle was blocking a country road near the village.

About the author:

Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation.

After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (now including Germany for Visitors) in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post.

For more information, see About Europe for Visitors, press clippings, and reader testimonials.

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