The Neusorg–Fichtelberg railway was a German branch line northern

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. It linked the town of

Fichtelberg The Fichtelberg () is a mountain with two main peaks in the middle of the Ore Mountains in the east German state of Saxony, near the Czech border. At above sea level, the Fichtelberg is the highest mountain in Saxony, the second highest in the ...

in the Upper Franconian county of

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

with

Neusorg Neusorg is a municipality in the district of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria, Germany. The town itself is the seat of Neusorg municipal federation. Geography Neusorg has nine Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or community, ...

station in the Upper Palatine county of

Tirschenreuth Tirschenreuth ( Northern Bavarian: ''Dirschnrad'', ''Diascharad'') is the capital city of the district of Tirschenreuth. It is located in the northeast of Bavaria, very close to the Czech-Bavarian border. Geography Tirschenreuth is located in the ...

on the main line from Nuremberg to Cheb. This

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

, single-track ''

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 ...

'' ('local line') was 14.7 km long and was opened on 20 December 1890 by the

Royal Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German ...

. The line ran in a northwesterly direction along the valley of the Fichtelnaab river up into the

Fichtel Mountains The Fichtel MountainsRandlesome, C. et al. (2011). ''Business Cultures in Europe'', 2nd ed., Routledge, Abingdon and New York, p. 52. . (german: Fichtelgebirge, cs, Smrčiny), form a small horseshoe-shaped mountain range in northeastern Bavaria ...

. Passing through

Ebnath Ebnath is a municipality in the district of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria, 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 ...

and

Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

it reached its terminus, the climatic health resort of

at a height of 720 m above sea level, where, for centuries, there had been a mining industry. The town was the highest terminal station of all branch lines in the Fichtel Mountains. During the early decades no more than three pairs of trains ran daily on workdays fuhren, in 1939 there were four and in 1957 even as many as eight. On Sundays the number of trains rose from three to six over the course of the years. As the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) increasingly withdrew itself from the area, services reduced from 1975 to just one train, which left in the morning during the week from Fichtelberg to Kirchenlaibach and returned from

Schirnding Schirnding is a municipality in the district of Wunsiedel in Bavaria in Germany. Schirnding station is a border station on the Nuremberg–Cheb railway. Musicologist Reinhard Schulz Reinhard Schulz (7 March 1950 – 24 July 2009) was a Germa ...

in the evening. The rest of the time a DB bus was laid on. On 30 May 1976 passenger services on the railway stopped completely. Goods traffic continued until 30 September 1984, and an industrial siding on the other side of Brand was worked until the end of the year.

Sources

* Gerald Hoch, Andreas Kuhfahl: ''Nebenbahnen in der Oberpfalz.'' Neustadt bei Coburg 2000 * Wolfgang Bleiweis, Ekkehard Martin, Stefan Winkler: ''Fränkische Nebenbahnen einst und jetzt – Oberfranken.'' Egglham und München 1986 {{DEFAULTSORT:Neusorg-Fichtelberg railway Branch lines in Bavaria Fichtel Mountains

See also

Sources