Explore one of the most extensive photographic archives of German and Austrian railway heritage — steam, diesel, electric, wartime transport, and everything in between.
Email us
support@eisenbahn-bildarchiv.com
Digitally hosted from
Berlin, Germany
Find by BR Number
Use our quick BR search to jump straight to a locomotive series: BR 01, BR 52, BR 95*
Digital Downloads
High-res scans for personal use or licensing.
Printed Reproductions
Order premium archival prints delivered to you.
Collector Editions & Memberships
Access exclusive items, discounts, and early drops.
99000
+
digitized railway photographs
/ about us /
More Than Just Trains. This Is a Living Museum.
From roaring steam giants of the 1930s to silent trams of pre-war Vienna, Aurora is home to thousands of original railway images you won’t find anywhere else. These are not just snapshots. They’re historical records, carefully preserved with era tags, metadata, and factory origin.
Our collection spans:
- Every BR series locomotive ever built in Germany (01 to 99)
- Wartime military logistics and field trains
- Factory prints from Henschel, Krupp, Borsig and more
- Rare one-off prototypes, test runs, and unique liveries
- Streetcars, trams, and vintage station-side vehicles
Many pieces in the archive are singular originals. Digitized from fragile negatives, lost prints, or documents never published before.
Once nearly forgotten, now meticulously preserved.
/ who we are /
OUR STORY
Aurora was founded with one goal: To rescue Europe’s railway heritage and make it accessible to future generations.
Our archive holds over 150,000 rare images, sourced from iconic photographers and long-lost personal collections.
Each photograph is scanned, restored, and enriched with custom metadata so it can live on, and be explored like never before.
Since 2024
German Living train Museum.
125,000+
High-resolution scans catalogued
High-resolution scans of rare trains, trams, wartime rail, and industrial transport.
9
Main historical categories & regions
From steam locomotives to narrow gauge trams
1920–1970s
Photographic eras preserved
Photos spanning from the 1920s to the 1970s, covering industrial, wartime, and post-war rail eras.
30+ Countries
Documented through lenses of history
Railway moments from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, and more.
/ expertise /
What Makes This Archive Different
100
K
Artefacts Digitally Preserved…and Counting
Each image is scanned in ultra-high resolution, tagged by region, type, and decade.
Ready for collectors, curators, and future licensing.
- Museum-grade, lossless digitization
- Precision metadata for fast research & discovery
- Built for institutional partnerships & academic citation
20
%
Trusted, Bilingual, Verified Metadata
Every image is reviewed by our team or expert collectors before it’s published.
- Cross-checked German-English annotations
- Contextual notes, era tags, and factory codes
- Pulled from original negatives, film, and private estates
500
+
Rare Editions for Collectors & Institutions
Limited-run prints, once unpublished, now available for the first time.
- First access to unreleased imagery
- Premium reprints from original negatives
- Offered exclusively to members, museums, and archives
Special things which we do
for the best clients around the world
/ blog /
See latest articles of us
Why Metadata Matters: The Invisible Backbone of Railway Archives
A photograph, by itself, is never the full story. You might see a locomotiv...
How Railways Shaped Europe: A Visual Timeline from the Archive
From political borders to everyday life, Europe as we know it today was for...
