cité du train

This enormous museum is a train enthusiast's dream. Having been absolutely fascinated by trains when I was a kid, I spent hours in the huge complex absorbing absolutely as much information as possible. The two main halls are a little different - one being grouped mainly by theme, whereas the other is chronological. Both were great, but I think I preferred the chronological hall, which goes all the way from the first steam engines up until the ultra-modern, world-record holding TGV. Hearing all about these certainly made me appreciate my ride home (on the TGV Lyria) a lot more!I had the opportunity to use the audioguide in both English and French, as I put down my English one when I was taking a rest and one of the stealthy museum gnomes whisked it away while I wasn't looking. The French version is slightly better - a bit more background is provided - but the English is perfectly good, if not already a bit lengthy in parts.As a few people have mentioned, the main hall is glacial inside during the winter - keep your coat and gloves with you. They did put out portable heaters in there, which helped quite a bit when huddled next to. I brought my own lunch and so I didn't try the museum café.All in all, it was a great visit. I'm sure it would be less interesting for non-enthusiasts, but I loved it.

This huge museum displays a large collection of trains and engines. It is very interesting even if you are not a train fanatic. All the exhibits are very well presented and well maintained. A 1-2 hour visit is highly recommended, especially with children. However, 2 warnings - it is very cold in the main hall (take a coat) and the cafeteria on spot gives bad name for French cooking. I had a vegetable soup which wasn't warm and an apple cake which was probably prepared few months ago. Otherwise we had a great visit,

Chère madame,Nous sommes sincèrement désolés de lire votre déception lors de votre venue.Toutefois, nous tenons a vous préciser que nous sommes les premières victimes du sinistre survenu au musée et nous ayant contraint a une fermeture partielle de nos salles d'exposition afin d'assurer la sécurité de nos visiteurs.Pour compléter votre commentaire, vous avez, néanmoins pu constater que les 2/3 du musée étaient visitables. Nous avions spécialement exposé une partie de notre collection en extérieur afin de permettre a nos visiteurs de ne pas être trop privés d'une découverte.De plus, cette fermeture était annoncée sur notre site internet ainsi qu'a l'entrée du musée.Enfin, un tarif d'entrée réduit de plus de 50% était appliqué pendant cette période.J'espère que malgré votre déception compréhensible, vous conserverez un agréable souvenir de votre séjour et de votre visite.bien cordialement,la direction

It was interesting. Lots of trains and train stuff. Not being big into trains I found it to be interesting. The audio guide is all of the map in the first part. It comes off and on, on its own and doesn't really flow. They have one segment about breastfeeding. Very odd. The other part the audio guide works fine, just a bit long winded. The other part is freezing cold. I wish I had known, I would have worn my winter coat, hat and gloves. You could see your breath.

Upon arriving we were given audio guides as all exhibits are in French, both English and German audio guides are available. In the first hall the audio guide automatically selects the track required at that point in the tour, syncing up with the correct point in any TV footage around, so sometimes you enter halfway through a track and I couldn't make it go back to the beginning. There are arrows along the floor throughout that guided you through the entire attraction, including through some of the trains or up alongside to look through the windows. The trains are spaced out and lit beautifully and in great condition - making my photographs a joy to take. The first hall has a series of different types of early trains whilst the second hall is designed to show the progression trains have taken from the 1800s on to the modern day land speed record. In the second hall, you have to enter in the audio tracks as you progress round, there is a minute or so track for each train however I found myself skipping several due to the sheer number of trains available. This was mainly as when I was visiting temperatures were around freezing, and the second hall is not heated at all (though there are heaters spotted around), so I didn't want to stop at every single train. It was very interesting to see the development of the train industry, each train seemed to represent some sort of change, including some train cross sections to show the intricate mechanics inside the engines. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the museum and whilst I found myself rushing towards the end due to the cold I found myself learning plenty about the industry.

Unexpectedly, it's not a dull museum for technicians with a pile of uncertain pieces of iron.It contains a lot of real locomotives and cars. They are preserved in a perfect condition, copper is shining, windows are clean. Moreover, you can touch nearly everything. And I was impressed by a fantastic manner of exhibition. One locomotive is cut to show the process of functioning, the other is laid on a side, you can see another one from below еtс. Good fantasy.And special thanks for manekins, they've been created very funny.After damage of the roof in September, everything's been fixed, the exhibitions are open completely. It deserves your visit. It was innteresting even for my wife (much more than automuseum near).

As other recent reviewers have noted part of the museum is closed due to roof damage. It was claimed that over half of the museum was still open but viewing the shuttered section from outside it seemed to me that it may have been the other way round, more than half was closed. At any rate the entry was only 5 euro and I did enjoy my visit. The section that is open does have a good overall selection of French railway equipment. There are some interesting videos to watch and I liked looking into the carriages that displayed the differences between bare bones 3rd class endurance to over the top luxury. There is a reasonably priced restaurant for meals and snacks. When we were there it was in the charge of one very overworked young lady trying to do everything except cook. I don't know if this the normal staffing level but she really could have used some help. She was literally running the entire time and I felt sorry for her. My only complaints, other than not being able to see the entire museum, was that my audio guide was troublesome and the very annoying blue lights used to highlight some of the displays. I suppose someone thought this contributed to the atmosphere but I think some other type of subdued lighting would have been better. The main reason I hated the blue lights was their effect on photos. The best way to get there from central Mulhouse is on the tram which has a stop about a quarter mile from the museum with frequent trains.

At the time of our visit, the roof was being repaired so we could only see a limited selection which in itself took us nearly half a day. We would like to return when it the repairs are complete and this time spend the day there. The menu de jour in the restaurant was excellent and good value.

I have been here twice - the first in Oct 2013 - when it was all open, and the second Oct 2014, while part is closed I believe to due a partial roof collapse.Each time I have brought my young son, a train-crazed child of (now) 4-years old. Audio-guides are freely available in both English and German languages) The first part of the museum takes in historical reconstructions of train uses, for holidays, regal use, military purposes and you're permitted to climb into some of the carriages. There is an large engine on its side toward the bottom of the hall whereby you can have a look under the train so as to see what is underneath.With a focus on the more obviously child-friendly elements there is a ride-one train which circulates the site, including the exhibits in 2nd hall (though not during the current closure of this section) as well as the outside exhibits. Additionally there is a miniature railway outside which runs at the back of the yard. There is also an instructed trip on a maintenance engine along a service track which was very interesting (only available in the French languages as far as I know). The trip takes you about 800m down the track to the 'Museums' tram/ tram train stop. En route the interesting differences between the train, tram and 'tram train' network and coverage are explained and on the return journey the children were allowed to drive the engine.From what I recall of the 2nd hall there are rows of different engines from many different historical periods - though without the 'reenactment' elements of the 1st hall. Still very interesting nevertheless. In the centre of the two halls there is a cafe, serving both restaurant fayre as well and lighter cafe bites.All in all a very enjoyable afternoon out in Mulhouse.FYI - I understand there is also a 'joint-ticket' available to visit Cité du Train and the Cité de l'Automobile - though this is not likely to be good value at the moment as the Cité du Train is operating a much reduced tariff due to the partial closure, of €5 per person (over 7 yrs old).

Having studied the trains of France, here the whole story is told from the earliest locomotives ,through the war years, to the many speed record holders, right through the high speed modern trains. Here one can almost sense the feel of luxury train travel through the years. With restaurant and gift shop a pleasing day. It would have been nice to have the opening hours match what the website says, but the museum is still very well done.

As a few previous reviewers have mentioned, a part of the museum is currently closed due to roof damage. HOWEVER. We chose to visit anyway, and were not disappointed. The entry fee was reduced to 5 euros to make up for the inconvenience, and for what we paid, we enjoyed the visit very much.The collection of trains on display was very impressive, and we liked how the visiting path took us into a few of the trains. Audio guides in English and German were available, but more importantly, FREE OF CHARGE, which is very rare. They worked by picking up sensors at each screen display and automatically starts speaking.We'd advice people to take the time and enjoy the video presentations; they are only a few minutes long each, and really informative. Instead of reading from panels, you're essentially watching this information in videos. What's not to like about it?Don't let the fact that a part of it is shut put you off visiting. Whatever's left open is still very good, and will easily take up 2 to 3 hours.

Otherwise known as the Cite du Train museum, it is a visit suitable whether one is interested in trains or not. Unfortunately during our visit some 50% was closed due to roof damage and was likely to be so for a further 3 -4 months (safety reasons we were told). The remaining open part comprised indoor and outdoor displays, many with audio-visual sights and sounds. A good 2 hours though is necessary to see what is currently available. A must visit venue if ever in Mulhouse.

Monsieur,nous vous remercions d'avoir pris le temps de rédiger un commentaire concernant votre visite.comme vous le précisez, effectivement, une partie du musée est fermée au public. néanmoins, les 2/3 du musée restent visitables.de plus, vous n'aurez pas manqué de remarquer que nous appliquons un tarif réduit afin de compenser cette gène parfaitement indépendante de notre volonté et dont nous sommes les premières victimes. ce tarif (5€) est réduit de plus de 50% du tarif habituel.nous restons toutefois étonnés de votre remarques précisant que la collection est impressionnante et qui semble contradictoire avec votre remarque concernant le fait que vous n'avez pas été impressionné.dans l'attente du plaisir de vous accueillir à nouveau,

Very disappointed to find that one of the main exhibition halls was shut due to roof damage.The hall that is still open is in darkness - takes a while for eyes to become accustomed to this - then becomes very good and atmsospheric.My favourite bit was the human models in the carriages - the faces were so bad that they looked liked they'd been made out of papier-mache by the local Mulhouse infants school. Highly amusing!Great visit - just a shame that half the place was shut.Bonus of this is that allows time to do the excellent motor musuem in the same day - via excellent tram system.

My husband is a train buff and he was so absorbed with the collection that I think he forgot I was with him. Planning to go back next spring and do both museums again.