[CPProt.net] Fire in German railway museum damages 24 locomotives, carriages

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Fire in German railway museum damages 24 locomotives, carriages 

19:18 2005-10-18
A fire at an engine shed in a southern German rail museum seriously damaged
or destroyed 24 historic locomotives and carriages, the country's national
railroad said Tuesday. 

The fire, which broke out Monday evening and raged for several hours,
brought down the roof of the shed on the outskirts of Nuremberg, Deutsche
Bahn said. The Deutsche Bahn Museum itself, home to much of the railroad's
collection of historic vehicles and located in the city center, was
unaffected. 

The company said the destroyed vehicles included a 70-year-old replica of
Germany's first steam engine. Also affected were one of the last steam
engines built by the former West German railroad, dating back to 1959, and a
Berlin subway car from 1913, the AP reports. 

Museum director Juergen Franzke said the railroad had specialists who could
try to restore some of the vehicles, "but we don't yet know whether we can
do anything with the partly melted steel of the locomotives." 

There was no immediate word on the cause of the blaze.