in 1971 a group of narrow gauge railway enthusiasts purchased a small 0-4-0 750mm gauged steam locomotive from a scrap merchant with the aim of running it on the zillertal railway in austria. however when nearing completion of the locomotives restoration in mühlheim an der ruhr the situation at the zillertal railway changed, eliminating the need for this locomotive. thus a fellow enthusiast from gütersloh allowed the locomotives owners to construct a railway on the grounds of his inn to be able to run the locomotive. because of the comparatively small size of the piece of land the locomotive was regauged to 600mm to allow tighter curves to be used on the railway. it so comes that in 1972 the "dampf-kleinbahn mühlenstroth e.v." a registered charitable association was founded to own and run the new railway. operations commenced on june the 10th 1973 having constructed the entire railway including three coaches from scratch. the railway has run every year since, while the rolling stock collection has grown considerably.