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Digitized Railway Photographs Archived

PRESERVING EUROPE’S RAIL LEGACY — ONE IMAGE AT A TIME

What began as one man’s private archive has evolved into one of Europe’s most trusted railway image repositories.

Aurora Bildarchiv is home to over 150,000 meticulously digitized photographs — from steam locomotives and wartime field trains to postcards, blueprints, and station-side life — all catalogued with bilingual metadata.

Founded by Rolf Wesemann, creator of Eisenbahn Kurier, Aurora continues a lifelong mission: to preserve the stories, sounds, and spirit of Europe’s railways.

EUROPE’S RAIL LEGACY • PRESERVED AND SHARED • AURORA BILDARCHIV

Who We Built This For

Collectors trust us for access to unpublished works.

Historians rely on our metadata precision.

Designers and institutions license our scans for books, museums, and exhibitions.

We serve railway enthusiasts, model builders, researchers, and those who see history not as gone — but as something worth holding onto.

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HOW AURORA CAME TO LIFE

Origins

The Spark of Preservation

Rolf Wesemann begins digitizing his private railway photo archive — an effort to preserve rare pre-war and post-war train imagery before it’s lost to time. The foundation of Aurora quietly takes root.

Forming the Archive

Pollock Sacramento blackfish

Thousands of prints, schematics, and slides are scanned and catalogued. With growing momentum, Aurora transitions from a personal legacy into a structured archive — carefully tagged, image by image.

Becoming Public

Opening the Doors to the World

Aurora goes online. Researchers, historians, and collectors gain access for the first time. Scans are licensed for books, museums, and exhibitions, cementing Aurora’s value beyond nostalgia.

Systematizing the Collection

Metadata Meets Memory

With bilingual metadata, precision tagging, and curator-led curation, Aurora becomes more than an archive — it becomes a searchable railway memory engine trusted by institutions across Europe.

Community & Expansion

A Living Archive Emerges

Collector memberships are introduced. Reprints of never-before-seen material launch. Aurora expands into curated exhibitions and deeper institutional partnerships — keeping rare history alive and circulating.

Ongoing Legacy

Looking Forward, Preserving Forever

Aurora continues acquiring private collections, restoring fragile formats, and preparing longform digital exhibitions. With each scan, the archive grows — building a future that honors the past.