Press release ·
With five narrow-gauge railways running daily, three further steam-operated museum railways and numerous other train experiences, Saxony offers plenty of highlights – and not only for fans of historic vehicles. During the Saxon summer holidays, the more than 180 partners of the STEAM RAILWAY ROUTE Saxony offer a wide range of opportunities for discovery and excursions with the whole family.
In steam every day – enjoy the summer in an open observation car
The four narrow-gauge railways in Saxony that run under steam every day – the Fichtelbergbahn, the Lößnitzgrundbahn, the Weißeritztalbahn and the Zittau Narrow-Gauge Railway – include open observation cars in their regular trains. Enjoying the delightful panoramic views of the countryside from these cars gives you an open-top feeling.
On the three museum railways with regular steam operation – the Preßnitztalbahn and the Museumsbahn Schönheide in the Ore Mountains and the Muskau Forest Railway in Upper Lusatia – open observation cars are also included in the trains on their summer operating days. In them, you can feel the breeze while enjoying a chilled beer.
More information: www.dampfbahn-route.de
Festival highlights of the summer season
This year’s narrow-gauge railway festival on the Weißeritztalbahn offers attractions for the whole family at the end of the first week of the holidays on 15/16 July. It is worth not only staying at the festival at Freital-Hainsberg Station but also visiting the entertaining programmes at the other stations along the 140-year-old line to Kurort Kipsdorf in the eastern Ore Mountains.
In addition to the regular steam trains, several historic trains will also run, so a train ride can be ideally combined with a hike along the picturesque route. And of course, the “Malter in Flammen” festival, held at the same time on the second weekend in July, is easy to reach by narrow-gauge train.
More information: www.weisseritztalbahn.com
In the Zittau Mountains, the 17th “Historik Mobil” festival offers a first-class programme on the first weekend in August. It opens on 4 August from 5.30 pm with a ceremony at Bertsdorf Station. Over the following festival weekend, trains from every era of Saxon railway history will run on the Zittau Narrow-Gauge Railway to an especially extensive special timetable. The legendary Lückendorf hill climb is served by a shuttle bus, and steam trains take you to the vintage vehicle festivals in Kurort Jonsdorf and Kurort Oybin.
More information: www.soeg-zittau.de
Saxony’s park railways invite you to holiday fun
During the Saxon summer holidays, several park railways run an extended service. The Oldtimer-Bahn in Görlitz, for example, runs not only at weekends but also every Wednesday. The trains of the Syratalbahn in Plauen (Vogtland), Germany’s only park railway powered by overhead electric wires, even run their 1.1 km circuit daily from 10 am to 6 pm during the holidays.
In Leipzig, the Parkeisenbahn Auensee also runs from Monday to Sunday during the holiday weeks, from 10 am to 5.45 pm with a lunch break.
On the Chemnitz Park Railway, passengers young and old are welcome on the circuit in Küchwald park from Tuesday to Sunday during the holidays. A steam locomotive will be in service there for the opening on 8/9 July; on the other days, battery or diesel locomotives haul the trains.
The trains of the Dresden garden railway also run through the Großer Garten park from Wednesday to Sunday during the summer holidays.
More information: www.dampfbahn-route.de
Transport experiences for the whole family
When Dresden’s Museum Night takes place on the first weekend of the holidays on 8 July, the railway museum on Zwickauer Straße and the Dresden Transport Museum in the shadow of the Frauenkirche also invite visitors for a night-time visit. The latter regularly offers a well-founded journey through the history of mobility from Tuesday to Sunday, with varied exhibition areas on the different modes of transport. Various experiment stations and activity areas – from the traffic garden and the children’s corner to the helicopter simulator – always make a visit to the Transport Museum an entertaining experience.
When locals and visitors flock to the centre of the state capital for the Dresden city festival from 18 to 20 August, the Sächsische Dampfschiffahrt invites you to the Dampfschiff-Fest on the Terrassenufer at the same time.
www.verkehrsmuseum-dresden.de / www.dampfschiff-fest.de
More attractions on the historic railways
On the Döllnitzbahn, which runs roughly halfway between Dresden and Leipzig, several summer trips with the narrow-gauge steam train depart from Mügeln during the holidays. Getting going under your own steam is the motto where a section of the Chemnitz valley can be explored on rails by muscle power – and on other weekends with quaint diesel-powered vehicles.
In the western Ore Mountains, such small vehicles run on 12/13 August as the “Wernesgrüner Schienenexpress” from Schönheide Süd Station towards Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz.
On the 900 mm gauge Kohlenbahn, which runs south of Leipzig from Meuselwitz in Thuringia to Regis-Breitingen in Saxony, the 23rd Westerntage take place from 18 to 20 August, including the last weekend of the holidays. A cowboy hat or other typical “Wild West” clothing is very welcome there!
For more information on this festival, see www.kohlebahnen.de
Special trips for children starting school
When seven-year-olds are about to enter the next stage of life, numerous railways invite future school starters on “Zuckertüte” school cone trips. On the Weißeritztalbahn, Lößnitzgrundbahn and Fichtelbergbahn, but also on the Museumsbahn Schönheide, the Preßnitztalbahn and the park railways in Görlitz and Chemnitz, special school cone trips mostly take place on 19 August. The organisers will provide information on the exact dates and details of the trips.
Links to the providers – see www.dampfbahn-route.de
Contact – project office
SOEG mbH
Projekt DAMPFBAHN-ROUTE
Am Alten Güterboden 4
01445 Radebeul
Telephone: +49 351 2134440
Fax: +49 351 2134445
Email: info@dampfbahn-route.de
Internet: www.dampfbahn-route.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dbrsachsen
