“Komplex M”: Germany Train Cemetery Full of Ageing Soviet Locomotives

Known to urban explorers as Komplex M., this neglected railway yard, stocked with decrepit locomotives, is understood to have been built in the 1980s as a ferry harbour terminal. But as Morris wrote in our popular round-up of 20 eerie train graveyards and locomotive cemeteries, the site – in Germany – now “represents the end of the line for a generation of trains.” “Seen today, the first thing that strikes you about this train graveyard is how full it is,” wrote Morris. “Crowds of engines line the tracks, their windows kicked out, their sides lost beneath a wall of graffiti and rust. Yet these trains are far from ruins. Inside, they still retain their seats and many of their features.” Many of these defunct machines are likely to be broken up for scrap, while others will no doubt donate their parts to keep other locomotives in service. However, withdrawn railway engines, despite outward appearance, have a habit of being refurbished and sold on to other operators if their condition allows. At least two can be identified by their numbers, 232 633-8 and 232 137-0, making them DBAG Class 232s (part of the DR 130 family), Soviet-era locomotives produced in Ukraine in the 1970s and early ’80s, and imported into the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the engines passed to the Deutsche Bahn (DBAG), which used them to haul heavy freight trains. Known as Ludmilla, more than 700 locomotives in the various DR 130 classes reportedly rolled off the production line at Luhansk between 1970 and 1982. Though many have now been withdrawn from service, superseded by more modern engines, it’s understood that some Class 232 locos remain in use. In addition to withdrawn Class 232s, Komplex M is home to other outdated rail hardware, from coaches and goods trucks to retro interurban train units that appear to be long past their sell by date.