Our Engagement

The "Historisches Straßenbahndepot St. Peter" has the most important streetcars from 1881 up until today on display. In close cooperation with "VAG Nürnberg", the local transit company, we, the "Freunde der Nürnberg-Fürther Straßenbahn" restore and take care of numerous historic streetcars which are operated on charters and special occasions as well as to keep the local transit history alive.

Operating under own power by special permission, car #144 'Zeppelinwagen' was part of the parade celebrating 125 years of streetcar in 2006.
The blue car following #144 is car #13 from Krakow, on display in Nuremberg from 1992 to 2007.
(Picture: A. Neuer)

With more than 400 members, our society documents the history of local transit through a wide range of activities. Ranging from archiving documents and pictures, restoring cars, publishing books and magazines, creating and maintaining the exhibits at the "Historisches Straßenbahndepot St. Peter" to proving the conductors on board, all this requires countless hours of volunteer work by our dedicated members.

A long-standing friendship with Nuremberg’s sister city of Krakow has developed over the years. Starting with the restoration and return of car #144, which was handed off to Krakow in 1941, the first steps in a then new partnership between the two cities were taken in 1984.

A 'Zeppelin' in Krakow. In the background the 'Planty', park around the historic city center of Krakow.
(Picture: Collection Hilkenbach)

Since 2009 several of Nuremberg’s historic streetcars have been restored in close cooperation with MPK Krakow. This long-term partnership started in 2009 with the reconstruction of car 336 from 1906, followed by car 1023 from 1913 and the just recently completed car 1581 from 1959.

The "Zeppelinwagen" #144 was and is a special car, connecting both cities in a unique way. Presently part of the historic collection at "Historisches Straßenbahndeopt St. Peter" in non-operating condition, this type of car is completely missing in Krakow.

Initially just an idea, the first concrete steps were taken in 2017 towards creating two operating cars, one for each city. Parts of the non-operating car #144 will be split up evenly helping to reconstruct two operating cars, closing a gap in the historic collections of both cities and also creating another unique link in the partnership between Krakow and Nuremberg.