The inaugural moment of the Exhibition of steam locomotives Resita (Triaj area), in 1972, April 29, marked 100 years from the first steam locomotive manufacturing in Resita.
It also was the last moment in the series of events dedicated to the bicentenary of iron industry in Resita (1771-1971).

Steam locomotive manufacturing had become history since 1964, in fact. 92 years along no less than 1461 locomotives were manufactured here.

That was the context of constituting the collection of steam engines in Resita, under eng. Mircea Ioan Popa`s direction, with 16 machines, the one called RESICZA occupying the central position. It is the first steam locomotive manufactured in South-Eastern Europe, in 1872. The Steam Locomotive Museum in Resita – the Greatest Open-air Technical Museum in Europe was the slogan that U.D.R. Foundation used in starting the campaign in 2012, consisting in: engines re-dyeing, the park re-arranging, asphalting of footpaths, and the complete changing of the lighting public system with new architectural elements to better display the pieces by night.

140 years after the first steam locomotive manufacturing in Resita, and 40 years after the Collections setting, the new inaugural moment was prepared through a media campaign: 1–40–140.

The event took place in 2012, September 16, an opportunity for the large number of people there to enjoy the Royal Train coming in Resita.

All at once U.D.R. Foundation made the necessary steps to legally classify each of the engines the Foundation got.

It was a unique operation in Caras-Severin County, and so the 16 mobile goods entered the national heritage (law category Tezaur / Thesaurus) following the Order of the Romanian Ministry of Culture, No. 2218/ April 4, 2014.

New and large procedures of active preserving by dyeing and anti-corrosive protecting were made in 2018. Giving the difficult meteorological conditions, more than six months they worked there for the benefit of U.D.R. Foundation. Resita Reductoare & Regenerable S.A. executed the procedures, including a re-setting of the public and architectural lighting system. NextCity S.A. granted the financial support.

A really local symbol and one of the most emblematical units in the Mountainous Banat, the Resita Steam Locomotive Museum keeps so its attractively position irrespective of hour, day or season.

As an open-air museum placed in a clear marked but not enclosed area, the museum also allows the visitors' free access all along the year.