The Reichsbahnausbesserungwerk Gotha, short ‘RAW Gotha’, was a large locomotive workshop. The buildings were originally constructed in 1903 to be used as a carousel factory. Later after World War One the property was bought by a railway company as maintenance grounds for the numerous wagons they operated. Due to increasing demand for their services the buildings had to be extended several times and at some point the corporation employed over 700 workers. The plant wasn’t severely damaged by the bombing raids on Gotha in World War Two, so service could swiftly continue in the newly formed GDR. In the beginning only for reparation purposes, later serving use for the railway service of the GDR. None of the 400 employees remained after the fall of the Iron Curtain, when the plant was successively closed down till 1998 by the Deutsche Bahn. Today the grounds sit abandoned and slowly decay, giving only a slight glimpse on a city that was once a vibrant railway hub. The newer pictures in the gallery are from June 2020 when we revisited this place.
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