Depot F

Depot F is a protected locomotive depot in Zurich’s Aussersihl district, beside the central railway yard. Swiss Federal Railways built the complex in 1898 and 1899.

Its main hall extends roughly 180 metres and contains seven tracks beneath eight gabled roofs. Red brick and yellow plaster define the exterior. Granite frames and cornices contrast with cast iron columns, lightweight trusses, corrugated roofing, and ridge skylights inside. A transfer table occupies the extended fourth gable. This moving platform shifted passenger and freight locomotives between tracks without a conventional turntable.

Two side wings contain workshops and offices. The narrow south wing has two storeys and twenty-four window bays, while the west extension has large windows. Two swing cranes and a water crane reveal the depot’s practical railway purpose. The water crane supplies museum locomotives with water.

Vital Kirchen designed Depot F for the Swiss Northeastern Railway before its takeover by SBB. Its transfer-table layout answered the needs of expanding steam traffic around Zurich after 1890. The depot stored and maintained locomotives for more than a century. Alterations include a 1905 extension, a western enlargement from 1954, and signal boxes added in 1962 and 1982. The complex underwent renovation in 2017 and 2018. Depot F preserves railway construction, equipment, and working arrangements within Zurich’s connected rail landscape. Tracks, viaducts, service tunnels, and the nearby main station place the building within the city’s transport history.