Due to new construction work, Sunday opening days and group/guided tours are currently not possible. We ask for your understanding.
The permanent exhibition “From the horse-drawn streetcar to modern times” offers a comprehensive overview of the development of Frankfurt’s local transport system and brings history back to life with original exhibits lovingly restored in the workshops of the former Stadtwerke Frankfurt am Main (today: Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main). The diverse collection of vehicles is complemented by documents, historical network maps, numerous pictures of Frankfurt vehicle types and a collection of tickets that were ever valid in Frankfurt am Main.
The exhibition is rounded off by cutaway models of traction motors and various telephone systems, historical service uniforms, signal pictures and a model railway layout depicting Frankfurt in the 1960s. A panoramic signal board, which dates back to the early days of the light rail era and was housed in the former control centre under the Hauptwache until 1984, provides information about the track position of the so-called A line (today: lines U1, U2, U3 and U8) and the associated signaling. Indicator lights showed the employees where the trains were currently located. Visitors to the museum can see this in practice on the model.
Two historic carriage sheds of the former Frankfurt Waldbahn-Gesellschaft (1889-1929), an outdoor area integrated into the exhibition and the listed Schwanheim station building form the external framework and provide a second home for the more than two dozen historic rail vehicles and buses. Highlights include the first horse-drawn carriage from 1872, one of the first electric railcars from 1884, a steam locomotive from 1900 and the light rail prototype from 1964, as well as a glimpse into the future.
