Who we are / our goals
In 2009, railway enthusiast Wim Pater made a personal dream come true and bought a small meter-gauge steam locomotive from a locomotive dealer in England. Soon some goods wagons and wagon bodies of former light railways in Pomerania followed. Most of these seemed to be "hopeless cases" and nobody believed to see them running again. Today, the collection includes more than 100 meter gauge vehicles, with 4 locomotives and almost 40 passenger and goods wagons already being restored. 35 vehicles are under supervision of MME or TBR GmbH (Selfkantbahn) as keeper by means of the German General Railway Act. In order to safeguard the preservation of the vehicles in the long term, we are setting up a nonprofit foundation that will provide the financial basis for the long-term preservation.
Our mission
Most German narrow gauge heritage railways are nonprofit organizations that rely on volunteer work and finance their external costs through donations and fares. With the preservation of the vehicles collected in recent decades and the maintenance of track and infrastructure, the organizations have reached their working, organizational and financial limits.
Kleinbaan Service does not intend to set up a new heritage railway line, but cooperates with existing heritage railways and museums to support following targets:
- Rescue metre gauge vehicles of German light railways from scrap and decay and store them protected from weather and vandalism under roof.
- Restore vehicles with the highest possible standard to a authentically & operationally state ("mint condition") and - if possible and sensible - restore them to the original appearance on delivery.
- Provide restored vehicles in the sense of a pool to meter gauge heritage railways. In particular, enable heritage events and authentic special trains that the narrow gauge associations cannot afford on their own.
- Ensure the long-term preservation of the restored railway vehicles by setting-up a foundation .
- In the long run, erect a museum building on a suitable location where the vehicles are accessible to the public outside of their use on heritage railways .
- Promote cooperation between the heritage railways and support the organizations in projects that exceed their own resources.
Kleinbaan Service is a member of the VDMT e. V.
Business visits
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