Swiss Museum of Transport

Verkehrshaus der Schweiz / "Transportation House"

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

smt_inset1 egyptian ail transport has always been part of the Swiss Museum of Transport and will continue to play an important role in the future. With the new, interactive exhibition "Swiss Railway Experience" (opened on June 18, 2025), you will learn exciting facts about various aspects of rail transport in Switzerland. Eight themed areas bring to life the extent to which the railroads shape Switzerland economically, ecologically, culturally and socially. The main partner of the exhibition is SBB.

Swiss Museum of Transport

smt_country egyptian he Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus der Schweiz) in Lucerne, Switzerland, traces its origins to late-19th-century efforts to establish a national railway collection. After exhibits at the 1914 National Exhibition and an SBB railway museum in Zürich (1918), a dedicated “Swiss Museum of Transport” association formed in 1942 and ultimately secured a lakeside site in Lucerne, where the museum opened in July 1959. Over the decades it broadened from rail to all modes of transportation and communications, adding a large planetarium in 1969, an aviation/space hall in 1972, and the on-site Hans Erni Museum in 1979. Later expansions introduced a film theater and other interactive attractions. Today, the museum is widely cited as Switzerland’s most-visited museum and holds national-scale collections across road, rail, air, and water, alongside extensive archives and education programs. The rail transport section was reconstituted in 2025, and includes steam and electric locomotives, trams and rolling stock, and a large HO model railroad layout.

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Click to see the Swiss Museum of Transport plotted on a Google Maps page

Sep 2025 / RWH

collection

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Train Exhibition Hall / Google Maps

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

postcard / collection

Sep 2025 / RWH

collection

postcard / collection

Steam Locomotives

postcard / collection

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Ostermundigen Quarry Railway #1 "Gnom"

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Swiss Museum of Transport

Waldenburg Railway #6 "Waldenburgerli"

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Brünig Railway #1063

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Close Up — The Swiss Elephant

Swiss Federal Railways #2965

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Swiss Federal Railways #2965

builder:Schweizerische Lokomotiv und Maschinenfabrik (SLM)

arrangement:2-10-0 "Decapod"

class:C 5/6

built:1916, 1 of 30 in class

fuel:soft coal / water

notes:

4 cylinder compound, 15 atm boiler

A five-coupled tender freight locomotive, built in 1916, designed for the Gotthard route. No. 2965 entered service on October 4, 1916 and remained in use until June 20, 1964, finishing its career in heavy shunting.

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Steam Locomotive C 5/6 (1E), No. 2965, SBB — nicknamed "Elephant", with tender

The locomotive had a leading axle with lateral movement for curves. It could haul 320 tons on 25‰ grades at 25 km/h, and on level ground pull heavy freight trains at up to 65 km/h.

Between 1913 and 1917, SLM built 30 C 5/6 freight locomotives, all equipped with three-axle tenders holding 18 m³ of water and 8 tons of coal. They had superheated four-cylinder compound engines operating at 15 atm boiler pressure.

Significance: The C 5/6 represented the most powerful Swiss steam locomotive type, intended to reduce the need for banking and double-heading on the Gotthard grades. With it, Swiss steam reached its peak; no larger or more powerful steam locomotives were developed in Switzerland, since after 1920 the SBB clearly committed to electrification.

During the Second World War, some examples operated temporarily in Germany and France, hauling freight into Switzerland. Locomotive No. 2965 was stationed in France from 1944–1946, where its chimney and sand dome were modified to fit the French clearance profile.

Swiss Museum of Transport

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Electric Locomotives

UNCOMMON or UNUSUAL locomotive

Burgdorf–Thun Railway #2

SLM Winterthur De 2/2 (B) three-phase electric (1899)

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon Railway #151

SLM Winterthur Fb 5/7 single-phase electric (1913)

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Rhaetian Railway #207

SLM Winterthur Ge 2/4 electric (1913) meter gauge

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

postcard / collection

Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon Railway #258

SLM Winterthur Ae 4/4 electric (1955)

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

postcard / collection

Close Up — Swiss Crocodile

Rhaetian Railway #402

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Rhaetian Railway #402

builder:SLM Winterthur

model:Ge 6/6 I (series 1)

type:universal electric

built:1921

series:1 of 15 in class Ge 6/6

power:11 kV, 16 Hz single-phase AC

notes:

meter gauge, freight and passenger
nicknamed ‘Rhaetian Crocodile’

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

postcard / collection

Rhaetian Railway #702 "Curia"

SLM Winterthur Ge 6/6 II electric (1958)

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Swiss Federal Railways #11108

SLM Winterthur Re 4/4 II single-phase electric (1967)

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Swiss Federal Railways #14201 “Köfferlilok”

SLM Winterthur 1C-C1 jackshaft electric (1919)

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

postcard / collection

Stadler EC 250 (Giruno) cab simulator

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Pilatus cogs

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

postcard / collection

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

See also our complete Pilatus Railway scrapbook in Preservation

Passenger Trams and Cars

Zurich Tramway Co #27

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Stansstad–Engelberg Railway #1

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Jungfrau Railway #1

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

VMC Tramways Vevey–Montreux–Chillon #4

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Bern Tramway Company #18

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Swiss Federal Railways speisewagen

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lauterbrunnen–Mürren Mountain Railway #11

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Zentralbahn #7

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Sep 2025 / RWH

Lucerne, CHE / Sep 2025 / RWH

Model Railroad

Sep 2025 / RWH

egyptian he Swiss Museum of Transport's Gotthard Railway Model is one of the longest model railroad layouts in Switzerland. It reproduces in HO Scale the legendary railroad line from Wassen to Erstfeld, including the Gotthard Base Tunnel. In 2025, this new rectangular modular layout powered by its rails replaced a previous model railroad display, U-shaped in design and using overhead catenary or third-rail power.