Freight wagon no. 815

Wagon no. 815 is the oldest freight wagon in the DB Museum's vehicle collection. It was built in 1870 by Nuremberg's Klett & Comp., a forerunner of the later M.A.N. Group, for the Austrian private railway company "k.k. privilegierte Aussig-Teplitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft". Its purpose was to transport coal from northern Bohemia to the River Elbe.

The railway line opened in 1858 connected the coalfields around Teplitz (today: Teplice) with the Elbe near Aussig (today: Ústí nad Labem). From there, the coal was transferred to barges and carried by river to Saxony's industrial centres. The railway company gradually extended the line over subsequent decades. By the time of completion in 1900, it ran from Komotau (today: Chomutov) to Reichenberg (today: Liberec). Parts of the line became the busiest in Austria-Hungary. The Aussig-Teplitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft operated a total of 2,500 coal wagons.