At the end of 1985, the Bavarian Railway Museum moved into the site of the former railway depot in Nördlingen. Little by little, a large part of the dismantled or closed down facilities and tracks were put back into operation. The depot site now contains (almost) everything that is needed for the smooth operation of steam locomotives and diesel locomotives.
The Bavarian Railway Museum is not concerned with sterile halls and highly polished vehicles, but rather with bringing realistic railway operations to life that you can touch, experience and feel.
The railway depot in which the Bavarian Railway Museum is located can look back on a long history. As early as 1849, a workshop for the maintenance of locomotives and carriages was built with the construction of the "Ludwigs-Süd-Nord-Bahn" from Lindau to Hof. Wings 2 and 3 of the roundhouse date from this time, and were later simply extended. The workshop buildings also date from before 1900, as does the floor plan of the railcar hall, which was initially referred to as "assembly". The facilities were continually expanded and adapted to requirements over time until 1937. The last expansion was carried out between 1935 and 1937, when the locomotive sheds were extended and a 20m turntable was installed. The air war in 1944 and 1945 brought a major turning point in history, when large parts of the depot were destroyed. Only sections 2 and 3 of the roundhouse, next to the workshop buildings and the water tower, were spared. The facilities were rebuilt and partially modernized in the years up to 1949.