Bahnbetriebswerk

A Bahnbetriebswerk is the equivalent of a locomotive depot (or motive power depot) on the German and Austrian railways. It is an installation that carries out the maintenance, minor repairs, refuelling and cleaning of locomotives and other motive power. In addition it organises the deployment of locomotives and crews. In the Deutsche Bahn, a Bahnbetriebswerk is known today as a Betriebshof; the ÖBB refer to it as a Zugförderungsstelle (Zf). Many other countries simply use the term 'depot'. The smaller facility, the Lokomotivstation (also Einsatzstelle or Lokbahnhof) akin to the British sub-depot or stabling point, is affiliated to a Bahnbetriebswerk.

N.B. The shortened form Betriebswerk is also used and both are commonly abbreviated to Bw or BW. The plural is Bahnbetriebswerke.

On 7 January 1835 the first Bahnbetriebswerk in Germany was opened. It looked after locomotives on the first railway line in Germany, the Bavarian Ludwigsbahn from Nuremberg to Fürth. It was here that the first locomotive in Germany, the Adler, was assembled and maintained. The inventor or father of the Bahnbetriebswerk was John Blenkinsop. He was the first to recognise that smooth railway operations needed well-equipped workshops and suitable personnel and, as a result, was entrusted with the technical direction of the Brunswick State Railway. Soon afterwards the first Bahnbetriebswerk was built. Not only did it carry out the usual functions of such a depot, but also others such as the construction of locomotives. In 1845, John Blenkinsop was clear that it was considerably cheaper to service locomotives at regular intervals than not to repair them until they broke down. He therefore laid the foundations for what subsequently became the routine tasks of a Bahnbetriebswerk, although it was several years before they were divided into Bahnbetriebswerke and Ausbesserungswerke or repair shops. Gradually all the other German railway companies organised their technical support based on the example of the Ludwigsbahn and Brunswick State Railway.

Because the radius of action of the first steam locomotives was only about 80 km, facilities were installed at all larger stations for the maintenance of locomotives; in particular coal and water supplies had to be replenished. Such facilities also appeared at junctions, which explains why there were so many locomotive sheds of that type.

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