Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The project of the Musée Français du Chemin de Fer was born in 1961, when SNCF decided to regroup 37 preserved railway equipment in Chalon-sur-Saône. In 1965, AFAC published a catalogue offering a railway museum, which is of interest to the Industrial Society of Mulhouse (SIM) and industrialist Jean-Mathis Horrenberger. SIM is studying the creation of a museum in Mulhouse, a city offering suitable terrain. In 1968, the Ministry of Transport validated the project, and SNCF, in agreement with the State, accepted the SIM proposal in 1969.

The Association du Musée Français du Chemin de Fer (AMFCF) was founded on 14 October 1969 to develop this project. The museum temporarily opened on June 12, 1971 in the former North Mulhouse steam depot, before an official inauguration on July 3. In 1974, the municipality launched the construction of a dedicated building on the Dornach site, which opened in 1976 with 52 exhibits. The museum extended in 1982-1983 with a second section, bringing the number of routes to twelve.

In the 1990s, the museum began a major modernization, including a new exhibition space funded by the state and communities. In 2004, he closed for work and reopened in 2005 as Cité du Train, managed by Culturespaces. The historic hall was redesigned in 2011 to offer a permanent chronological exhibition, Les Quais de l'Histoire. In 2013, the space expanded with the Railway Panorama, a place dedicated to outdoor animations and exhibitions. Today, the City of Train is Europe's largest railway museum.

The museum has marked history with iconic events, such as the Train Capitale exhibition on the Champs Elysées in 2003, attracting more than 5 million visitors. In 2018, he became Cité du Train - Heritage SNCF, celebrating in 2021 its 50 years with a digital retrospective. Its collections, representing 150 years of railway history, include locomotives, cars, cars, posters and old toys, as well as evocations of tracks and signs.

External links