The people of Chemnitz also have to deal with Chemnitz for once

Wolfgang Vogel & Jochen Schubert

On Monday, the "Eisenbahnfreunde Richard Hartmann e.V." association was awarded the German Prize for Monument Protection for its commitment to the Chemnitz Hilbersdorf marshalling yard, which is probably the only preserved facility for breaking up goods trains without locomotives in Europe.This makes it the first Chemnitz association to receive the highest honour of this kind from the Federal Republic of Germany. For their many years of voluntary work, we have named the "Eisenbahnfreunde Richard Hartmann e.V." (Friends of the Richard Hartmann Railway) as the "Makers of the Week". We spoke to Wolfgang Vogel, Chairman, and Jochen Schubert, Honorary Chairman, about their "life's work", the idea of a Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf railway park and the importance of rail transport for the region.

Mr Schubert, you co-founded the Saxon Railway Museum, from which the Railway Friends emerged. How did you come up with the idea?
Jochen Schubert: Even before reunification, there was a working group that looked after the preservation of steam locomotives that were still in working order, usually still owned by Richard Hartmann. We then founded an association in November 1989. Although we had a collection of locomotives, there were still many that were stored in sheds around the republic. They needed a home. Many companies that had a connection to the railway network and had a locomotive were closed after reunification. Some railway siding managers were so sorry to see the locomotives go that they asked us if we didn't want them. As a result, we have amassed an impressive collection of industrial locomotives. We endeavoured to only include locomotives in the collection that had actually been used here. Exotic locomotives from other places were out of the question for us. Steam, diesel and electric locomotives have come into the museum. We only made an exception when we received something from Richard Hartmann.

The marshalling yard in Hilbersdorf was built between 1896 and 1902 and was the largest marshalling yard within the Reichsbahndirektion Dresden after the Dresden-Friedrichstadt station. The wagons of incoming goods trains were uncoupled from the locomotive on the hump of the downhill station and rolled down six sidings over points to be assembled into new trains. From 1930 onwards, a cable drainage system was used for this purpose.

Was Chemnitz a railway town back then?
Jochen Schubert: The figures prove it: The shunting yard in Hilbersdorf had 900 employees, the railway depot here had 600, the railway depot on Glösaer Straße also had 600, Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk Chemnitz (RAW) with 3,500 employees and in addition all the stations and the railway maintenance depots together make an estimated 8,000 railway workers in Chemnitz.

How did the association "Eisenbahnfreunde Richard Hartmann e. V." come about?
Jochen Schubert: It grew out of the former support association of the Saxon Railway Museum (SEM). After problems with the SEM, we had two options: To disband or to continue.
Wolfgang Vogel: We then made the decision not to disband, but to carry on. We then spent 18 months fighting for content. We wanted to do something. In January 2009, we received a tip-off from old railway workers that signal box 3 in Hilbersdorf was in limbo. We then endeavoured to purchase it, which was fraught with obstacles.
Jochen Schubert: The railway wanted to sell the site, a total of 25 hectares. Of course, that was far too big for us.
Wolfgang Vogel: We weren't able to buy the 25 hectares, but we did manage to acquire an area of 8,000 square metres with this signal box, which you have to look at from a real estate perspective. This is one of the largest horse-drawn signal boxes in Germany, with a span length of 43 metres. The fact that it exists here is unique.
The purchase price at the time was 26,000 euros. As an association, we didn't have a cent in our coffers. Nevertheless, the club members managed to raise the money. So we took over this site on 4 November 2011 as a "primeval forest". Two days later, reconstruction work began, which we prepared with funding. In this context, we would like to thank Mr Stempel (Group Representative of Deutsche Bahn AG for the Free State of Saxony, ed. d. Red), who ultimately ensured that the purchase agreement for the 8,000 square metres was concluded in good time, before the deadline for the use of the subsidies expired.
Thanks to the purchase, we were able to save signal box 3 and, this year, the engine house from decay. This is a great achievement by the association and its members, of course with the help of the state monument preservation organisation, which provided us with excellent support. We have applied for funding every year and have usually received it in order to preserve this monument.

Who actually came up with the name Richard Hartmann?
Jochen Schubert: 2009 was Richard Hartmann's 200th birthday and somehow this name came about during a meeting.

The cable discharge system was decommissioned in 1991 and the station closed in 1997. In addition to the command signal box, the almost 30 members and participants in the Federal Volunteer Service have been restoring the engine house, which was opened at the beginning of October 2014, since October last year.

What have you done on the site?
Wolfgang Vogel: We reconstructed the interior and exterior of the command signal box and rebuilt the tensioning system with the three tensioning towers. Then we started to build the demonstration track. This was completed in 2011 and then in 2012/13 we laid 660 metres of track to the engine house with the help of our federal volunteers. That took a year. In 2012, we said: Take a look at the engine house. Another year or two, then we'll sweep it up with a shovel and broom. And the machines will be lost too. So we started to raise funds. The restoration of the engine house cost around 200,000 euros. We acquired federal funds, funds from the state directorate, the state monument protection organisation, the savings bank and the German Foundation for Monument Protection. In total, funds totalling almost 500,000 euros were raised. Building all this up in four years, with 30 members and the ten federal volunteers since 2011, is the story of this organisation.

You have also already received an award for your commitment.
Wolfgang Vogel: We have received an award for our social, voluntary work. But for us, the most important thing is that we have one of the best-preserved railway depots, a unique European ropeway system on this site and a relatively large field railway system for the circumstances. You can look for something comparable in Europe. You won't find it again. Maintaining such a heritage will require a different approach in the future. The two associations, Eisenbahnfreunde Richard Hartmann e.V. and Sächsische Eisenbahnmuseum e.V., will have to manage this site together. That is now 140,000 square metres. But we can only achieve this goal if we join forces in a Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf railway park. Otherwise, each of the two associations will find it very difficult to survive in the coming years.
Jochen Schubert: The problem is that, apart from institutional funding, we don't have a regular flow of money.
Wolfgang Vogel: With institutional funding, we as an association receive 3,000 euros a year for this area and size. That covers half of our electricity requirements and no more. But the city can't subsidise everything, we realise that. We have to find other ways.

You describe your work for the former Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf marshalling yard as your life's work. Where does the passion come from?
Wolfgang Vogel: We were lucky that the Saxon railway king Richard Hartmann lived in Chemnitz. The city was a railway town. We do it for Chemnitz. We want to preserve something here for posterity that was decisive for the economy and in turn was created by the economy.
Chemnitz's economy has developed. We were an industrial city. The railway system developed as a result. And vice versa: without the railway, the economy would not have been competitive. We want to convey this to our visitors again.

How many visitors come to you?
Wolfgang Vogel: This year, with the Heizhausfest, we had 2,500 visitors. Our clientele is not just the Saturday visitors, but many groups sign up. Our experts, such as Mr Schubert, answer all the questions. But of course we as an organisation also want visitors on Saturdays. Many people from Chemnitz don't even know what there is to see out here.
Jochen Schubert: We rent out our premises for birthday, company or Christmas parties. We also organise regulars' tables for train drivers.

Where do the visitors come from?
Wolfgang Vogel: We've already had Austrians and Dutch people here. We are satisfied with the fact that we have not yet done any offensive advertising because we are still in the process of setting up. Our museum is only two thirds complete. Not much more. When we didn't have the engine house yet, we were halfway there. That's why we've always done a bit of muted advertising. But now the phone is ringing more often thanks to radio and television programmes.
On 27 October, the railway enthusiasts receive the German Prize for Monument Protection. This was founded in 1977 by the German National Committee for Monument Protection. It is awarded to individuals and groups of people who dedicate themselves on a voluntary basis to the protection, care and long-term preservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage. The award is presented to the railway enthusiasts for their exemplary care for the preservation, partial reconstruction and communication of the Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf marshalling yard as a technical monument of European importance that is difficult to convert.

What does this honour mean to you?
Jochen Schubert: First of all, I was very surprised that a technical monument was awarded the prize. We feel honoured.
Wolfgang Vogel: We are very proud to receive this award. We were informed about the application and thought: There were 100 applicants and we came 97th. When the letter arrived, which we both opened together in the signal box, we looked at each other in bewilderment. But the prize doesn't belong to us alone. It also belongs to everyone who believed in us. That's a lot of people who supported us. Ultimately, it's also a little pride for Chemnitz - the first club in the city to receive this award. So I'm also happy for my city.

How much time do you put into your voluntary work?
(Both laugh)
Jochen Schubert: I could say, give my wife a call. She'll tell you about it.
Wolfgang Vogel: We both call each other on Sunday evening, start on Monday and say goodbye on Sunday lunchtime. With interruptions, of course. But you could say that it's a full-time job for us.

As railway enthusiasts, do you look at the development of rail transport in the city with a smile and a tear in your eye: keyword Chemnitz model and ICE connection?
Wolfgang Vogel: There are things that are good: for example, the Chemnitz model with the section of line to Stollberg is a very good thing.
What we, as railwaymen, will never understand is that rail quality transport is being transferred to the road. In Chemnitz and the region, there is no longer any rail freight transport at all. Hence our exhibition. We remind people of rail freight transport. The fact that we have no ICE connection is sad for Chemnitz. We are cut off from the railway and little is happening.
Jochen Schubert: The whole of south-west Saxony is completely cut off from freight transport. Only the power station and VW still move goods by rail in the region. Everything else is gone.

Our standard questions: What is special about Chemnitz for you?
Wolfgang Vogel: I am always fascinated by the city's industry, from its history to the present day. Preserving the industrial city and culture is what I stand for and that is what Chemnitz is for me.
Jochen Schubert: You just have to take a look at all the industrial things. I was asked if I could help rebuild the large steam engine in the industrial museum. Something like that really excites me. And you can only do that in Chemnitz.
Wolfgang Vogel: And then you also have to say that Chemnitz has developed positively.
Jochen Schubert : It's an old term, but it's still used from time to time - soot chams. But it's not true at all. We have a lot of green. For me, Chemnitz comes right after Dresden.

Our second standard question: Do you have to encourage the people of Chemnitz?
Wolfgang Vogel: The people of Chemnitz also have to deal with Chemnitz. When you take a closer look at the city, you realise things that are not always on the agenda and therefore not always in the spotlight. But you shouldn't just wallow in nostalgia. Chemnitz has developed positively since reunification. I come from the industrial sector and have witnessed how the reunification was realised.
Jochen Schubert: Things have become possible that we would never have dreamed of in the past.
Wolfgang Vogel: It's mostly those who do very little as volunteers who complain. We have a lot of people who say there's nothing going on. I can't say that there's nothing going on. I always have something going on. We have a lot of members who are still working. You need two or three retired people at the front of a club like this. They have experience and pass it on. Clubs don't work without these people.