The Hof–Bad Steben railway runs from
Hof through the
to the Bavarian state spa town
Bad Steben
Bad Steben is a market town in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the mo ...
in southern
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The line was opened in two stages between 1887 and 1898.
Opening and history
The Hof–Bad Steben railway was built by the
Royal Bavarian State Railways, the legal basis for its construction being the Bavarian ''
Lokalbahn
A ''Lokalbahn'' or ''Localbahn'' ("local line", plural: -en) is a secondary railway line worked by local trains serving rural areas, typically in Austria and the south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. ''Lokalbahnen'' appeared at t ...
'' (literally: 'local line') law of 21 April 1884. The line was the fourth railway in Bavaria to be built under the new law. In the years that followed, three more branch lines were opened that all branched off the Hof–Bad Steben railway. Another, fourth, line to
Geroldsgrün
Geroldsgrün is a municipality in the Hof district of Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Boroughs
* Dürrenwaid
* Dürrenwaiderhammer
* Langenbachtal
* Langenau
* Langenbach
* Lotharheil
* Mühlleiten
* Geroldsgrün
* Geroldsreuth
* Großenreuth
...
was considered in 1920, but never built. In 1994 goods services ceased on the route, but passenger trains continue to operate to the present day.
On 1 March 2008 there was an accident during
Hurricane Emma
Cyclone Emma was an extratropical cyclone that passed through several mainly Central European countries, on Saturday March 1, 2008, killing at least twelve people in Austria, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Wind speeds reached up to in ...
. On the journey from Bad Steben to Hof the engine driver ran into a tree that had fallen across the track near the Oberklingensporn halt. As a result, the
DB Class 628
The DB Class 628 is a twin-car, diesel multiple unit operated by the Deutsche Bahn for local passenger rail services.
Design
''(The following description is primarily related to the Class 628.4, and is largely valid for the other variants as w ...
railbus derailed. No-one was injured and the damage was minimal because the railbus was only travelling at low speed. Since June 2011, the railway is now operated by
Agilis
agilis Eisenbahngesellschaft (railway company) and agilis Verkehrsgesellschaft (transportation company) operate railway passenger services in Bavaria. The companies do not capitalise their names. They are subsidiaries of BeNEX GmbH and the Hamb ...
, because the former operator, the
Deutsche Bahn
The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.
describes itself as the se ...
lost the bid for the Diesellines of upper Franconia.
Route Description and stations
The branch line to Bad Steben leaves the
main line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
from Nuremberg to Dresden at
Hof Hauptbahnhof
Hof Hauptbahnhof (German for ''Hof main station''; sometimes translated as "Hof Central Station" or described as "Hof central station" in English) is the main railway station in Hof in southern Germany and is situated at the intersection of the ...
, the main station in the city of
Hof. Immediately next to the historic '
Signal Box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
8' it climbs steeply uphill to the station of Hof-Neuhof in the city district of the same name. This station is operated remotely from the signal box at the
Hauptbahnhof
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
and is equipped with
colour light signals
A railway signal is a visual display device that conveys instructions or provides warning of instructions regarding the driver’s authority to proceed. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly. Typically, a signal mi ...
. Many of the former sidings to factories and warehouses can still be made out.
After Hof-Neuhof the route continues to climb and passes the old halt in the Hof district of Vogelherd, where it runs uphill to
Köditz, a small village outside the gates of the city of Hof. This station is also controlled by the signal box at Hof Hauptbahnhof. Beyond Köditz the line continues to run uphill reaching Stegenwaldhaus, where the route reaches it highest point. There was a former station here, with crossing loops, signals and sidings for the local stone industry. The line now runs downhill into the Selbitz valley, past Rothenbürg halt and the old siding to the Jahreiß stone works before reaching the town of
Selbitz.
Selbitz is a crossing station for trains on the line which, since 9 December 2007, have operated an hourly service (actually alternating every 53 or 67 minutes). It is about halfway between Hof and
Bad Steben
Bad Steben is a market town in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the mo ...
and is equipped with
semaphore signals
Railway semaphore signal is one of the earliest forms of fixed railway signals. This semaphore system involves signals that display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore ...
and a signal box. The branch line from the upper Selbitz valley, from
Schauenstein,
Helmbrechts
Helmbrechts () is a town in the district of Hof, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the Southern edge of the Frankenwald, 20 km southwest of Hof.
History
The first documented mention of Helmbrechts dates back to 1232. Township was gra ...
and
Münchberg, used to form a junction here; an old stone bridge and the large station yard serve as lingering reminders. On leaving the town in the direction of
Naila, the route crosses the old
B 173 at a level crossing, but the construction of the new B 173 ring road at the end of the 20th century reduced the importance of this crossing.
The railway line continues uphill to
Naila, where a stub line once branched off to
Schwarzenbach am Wald. The narrow cutting for this stub can still be seen from the station approach from the direction of Selbitz. Until 1972 Naila was the seat of the local ''Landkreis'' (rural
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
). Naila station itself was the location for the maintenance offices (''Bahnmeisterei'') for the route and its associated branch lines. From Naila, the line follows the Selbitz valley to Marxgrün, which marked the end of the first stage of construction when the railway was built. After Naila station the route passes the pond in Froschgrün Park where, on Sundays during the summer, there is often an interesting encounter between the ‘big’ railway and the ‘little’ Froschgrün park railway, a public
garden railway
A garden railroad or garden railway is a model railway system set up outdoors in a garden. While G is the most popular scale for garden railroads, 16 mm scale has a dedicated and growing following especially in the UK. Model locomotives in ...
that runs around the pond.
The railway reaches the halt at Oberklingensporn in the Selbitz valley by the ''LIBA Maschinenfabrik'' factory and passes a sewage farm on the left. Right next to the bridge over the Selbitz is the state highway from Naila to Bad Steben which is crossed at a level crossing. The station of Marxgrün is next. In 1887, the first section of the route to be constructed ended here in Marxgrün, today part of the town of Naila. On the large site of the station yard, there is just a halt and a waiting shelter today. The station building and its adjoining signal box was sold and is now used as for holiday homes. The two railwayman's houses are rented and all the tracks have been lifted apart from the line itself. Opposite the station building is still the picturesque, two-road locomotive shed with its attached workshop and water feed (''Wasserspeicher''). The shed fell into rack and ruin for years. From 1901 the
''Höllentalbahn'' to
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
branched off from the line to Bad Steben at Marxgrün.
The ''Höllentalbahn'' continues to follow the course of the Selbitz valley, whilst the line to Bad Steben runs steeply uphill in order to cross over into the Stebenbach valley. Shortly before the halt at Höllental the railway reaches the Stebenbach and follows it along the car-free valley to its terminal station in the Bavarian state spa town of
Bad Steben
Bad Steben is a market town in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the mo ...
.
Timetable numbers
''see also
List of scheduled railway routes in Germany
NB: The scheduled routes given here are based primarily on the timetable of the Deutsche Bahn dated 9 December 2007.In addition the list of routes (see external links) reflects those of the German Regional Railway (''Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn'') ...
''
Motive power
The following motive power and trains were used on the line:
* Steam locomotives (Class
186,
64,
700,
86,
913-18,
984-5,
988)
* Diesel locomotives (Class
211,
217
Year 217 (Roman numerals, CCXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Praesens and Extricatus (or, less frequently, yea ...
,
218,
220)
* Minor locomotives (Class
332)
* Railbuses (Class
798/998)
* Multiples (Class
614/914,
628,
612
__NOTOC__
Year 612 (Roman numerals, DCXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 612 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini ...
)
Today the line is worked by
Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1, because the new operator Agilis ordered 38 such trains, only for the diesellines of upper franconia. As part of
DB Regio Oberfranken's "Porcelain and Spa Train" (''Porzellan- and Bäderzug'') campaign in the early 2000s, Class 614 railcars worked the line. These three-unit trains have since been returned from Hof to
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
.
Rail services
Trains take 44 minutes today to work the 27 kilometre long line. This requires an average speed of just under 37 km/h. The highest permitted speed on the railway is 60 km/h. The route is operated by
DB Regio Oberfranken.
Future
The route was declared to be part of the Upper Franconian Diesel Network run by the Bavarian Railway Company (''Bayerische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') on 8 February 2008, which is due to be launched on 12 June 2011 with new stock and improved services.
From 2010 the route will be served by ''BeNEX''. DB Regio failed to win the contract from the Bavarian Railway Company. The towns and communities hope that by increasing the number of stops en route and by building higher platforms, that more passengers will use the line and that it will become more accessible for disabled people.
Gallery
File:Nailaer Straße 2, Stadtjugendring Hof 20210812 HOF03299.jpg, Last station building in Hof-Neuhof
File:Koeditz-Bahnhof.jpg, Köditz station
File:Stegenwaldhaus-Bahnhof.jpg, Stegenwaldhaus station
File:Naila-Bahnhof.jpg, Naila station building - now a sports club
File:Marxgruen-bf.jpg, Marxgrün's station building - now holiday homes
File:Marxgruen-ausfahrt-hoellental.jpg, Exit from Marxgrün
References
*
*
*
*
*
External links
1944 timetableRoute map from OpenStreetMap
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hof-Bad Steben railway
Branch lines in Bavaria
Railway lines opened in 1887
Buildings and structures in Hof (district)