Wolfram Bäumer

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Wolfram Bäumer (born September 19, 1959 in Bielefeld ; † December 24, 2017 ) was a German railway engineer and museum railway specialist , who was the sole editor of the magazine Die Museums-Eisenbahn from 1988 to 2015 . In particular, Bäumer devoted himself to the history and museum preservation of small railways .

Life

education and profession

Bäumer, who grew up in Ludwigshafen , initially completed an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic in Bremen before studying mechanical engineering , specializing in traffic engineering and railway engineering , at the University of Stuttgart from 1980 to 1983 . At the same time he worked as a railroad worker for the Württemberg Railway Company . After successfully completing his studies, Bäumer held managerial positions at various railway companies and trained as a railway operations manager and expert for rail vehicles and machine systems. In 2010 he started his own business in this profession.

Activity for museum railways

As a teenager, Bäumer was already active in railway museums, initially in the Viernheim Railway Museum, which was closed in 1989 , and since 1979 mainly with the German Railway Association , which operates the narrow-gauge railway line Bruchhausen-Vilsen - Asendorf as a museum railway. Bäumer played a major role there in making a former Prussian small train accessible to a broad public in operation with historical vehicles.

From 2010 to 2012, Bäumer was chairman of the Association of German Museum and Touristic Railways (VDMT) and for many years head of the VDMT working group for museum railways and 2003/2004 head of the Bochum Railway Museum . Bäumer was also active in the German Museum Association.

From 1988 to 2015 Bäumer was the sole editor of the magazine Die Museums-Eisenbahn , published by the German Railway Association, which he was involved in editing before and which is dedicated to the history of small railways. He also wrote numerous articles for the magazine. He developed the magazine into one of the “most readable magazines in the museum railway scene”, which presented the history of small trains in an “exciting and well-founded manner”. Bäumer succeeded in describing the character of a small train in everyday life.

Bäumer's "holistic view of the railway system in a technical and socio-historical context" is recognized, according to which a small railway not only includes vehicles, but also people, passengers and employees. Bäumer formulated his views clearly and consciously uncompromisingly and thus provoked and aroused criticism. He pointed out the discrepancy between the claim to operate a museum railroad and thus a museum and the reality of museum railways, including his own association, and received only cautious reactions from the scene. The added value of the discourse, which he carried out "with sometimes broadly based fundamental criticism and relentless openness", was not regularly recognized.

Private

Bäumer, who lived in Burhave and Bruchhausen-Vilsen, was married. He died of severe cancer .

Publications (selection)

Books

  • Railways in Pomerania. Bufe-Verlag, Egglham and Munich 1988, ISBN 3-922138-34-9 (together with Siegfried Bufe).
  • Overland at 20 km / h. Photo guide through the Kleinbahn-Museum Bruchhausen-Vilsen. DEV-Kleinbahn-Verlag, Bruchhauses-Vilsen 1992, ISBN 978-3-9802233-9-3 .

Essays

literature

  • Obituary. In: Die Museums-Eisenbahn 1/2018, pp. 46–47.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary. In: Die Museums-Eisenbahn 1/2018, pp. 46–47.
  2. ↑ a b Heimo Echensberger: Wolfram Bäumer passed away, vdmt.de, February 6, 2018 (accessed on May 25, 2018).
  3. ↑ Jörg Müller: Obituary. Wolfram Bäumer. In: Der Preß'-Kurier 160 (February / March 2018) (accessed on May 25, 2018).
  4. ↑ Obituary notice. In: Kreiszeitung Wesermarsch from December 29, 2017 (accessed on May 25, 2018).
personal data
SURNAME Baumer, Wolfram
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German railway engineer and journalist, museum railway specialist
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Bielefeld
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 2017