Lokwelt Freilassing

About the museum

Freilassing has been a railway town since the Munich–Salzburg line opened in 1860. Between 1902 and 1905, a locomotive depot was built here with a roundhouse for 20 tracks, workshops, an administration building, and its own power station; an electric locomotive hall was added from 1922, and the current turntable, 23 meters in diameter, was installed in 1924. In the 1970s and 1980s, more than 1,000 people worked for the railway in Freilassing.

As part of the railway reform, the depot was closed in 1994 and the apprentice workshop in 1998; that same year the buildings were listed as historic monuments. In 2003, the town of Freilassing bought the roundhouse and agreed with the Deutsches Museum to set up a railway museum there. A friends' association founded in 2004 helped restore the roof structure, facades, and turntable. In April 2006, the first historic locomotives rolled in from Munich, and the Lokwelt opened on September 2, 2006. Just a few months later, Storm Kyrill damaged the roof so badly that the museum had to close temporarily.

On 17 of the 20 track bays, visitors can see mainly loans from the Deutsches Museum and the DB Museum Nürnberg; the rest serve as a workshop. The exhibition ranges from steam and rack locomotives through electric and diesel locomotives to track maintenance machines and an early maglev vehicle. There are also two model railway layouts, a garden railway on the outdoor grounds, and the children's museum "Kleine Lokwelt". As a "Kulturdrehscheibe" (cultural hub), the Lokwelt also hosts jazz brunches, theater, lectures, and markets; it celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2026.

Highlights

• Listed roundhouse from 1902–1905 with wooden roof structure
• Turntable from 1924 (23 m) – rides on dry museum days
• Lengthwise-sectioned Maffei express locomotive B IX "1000"
• Electric express locomotive E 16 07 and high-speed locomotive 103 167
• Maglev prototype vehicle from 1971
• Children's museum "Kleine Lokwelt", model railways, and park railway

Permanent exhibitions

• Faszination Bahn auf 17 Gleisen – Steam, rack, electric, and diesel locomotives, historic compartments, a signal box, and track maintenance machines from more than 150 years of railway history, mostly from the Deutsches Museum.
• Kleine Lokwelt – Hands-on area for children ages 6 to 12 with a touch box, listening station, railcars to explore, and railway work clothes to try on.
• Modellbahnen: H0-Anlage und LGB-Westernbahn – An H0-scale layout shows, among other things, a model of the Freilassing locomotive depot, plus a garden railway layout at a scale of 1:22.5.

Founded

2006

Operated by

Stadt Freilassing in Kooperation mit dem Deutschen Museum

Admission & discounts

Free admission for kindergarten groups, members of the association Freunde des historischen Lokschuppens 1905 Freilassing, and members of the Deutsches Museum (including family members) and its friends' association. Preschool program of the museum education team: €30 tour fee.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Step-free entrance, wheelchair-accessible exhibition, and accessible restroom; the Kleine Lokwelt can only be reached via steps, but staff will help.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations
• Kids’ birthday parties

Hands-on area "Kleine Lokwelt" for ages 6 to 12 (touch and sound stations, railway clothing for dressing up). Children's birthday parties from age 6 (about 2 hours), programs for kindergartens and elementary schools, special days such as the Lokwelt Children's Day; turntable rides and a park railway.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Museum shop (open during opening hours). Parking right at the museum; buses via Salzstraße and Westendstraße. Dogs are not allowed in the museum but can wait outside the entrance (drinking water available). Children's birthday parties and family activity days.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events
• Weddings / ceremonies

Up to 199 guests.

Two combinable seminar rooms (up to approx. 100 people in theater seating), a gallery for receptions (approx. 50 people), and track bays I & II in the museum (up to 199 people theater-style, approx. 150 for a seated dinner). Civil wedding ceremonies on two dates a year through the Freilassing registry office.

Plan your visit