The Neustadt (Aisch)–Demantsforth-Uehlfeld railway (also known locally as the Aischtalbahn, not to be confused with the Aisch''grund''bahn) is a branch line 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 ...

that links the market town of

Uehlfeld Uehlfeld is a municipality in the district of Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim in the administrative region of Middle Franconia in northern Bavaria in Germany. Geography Uehlfeld is located in the valley of the Aisch. The neighbouring municipaliti ...

in the Bavarian province of

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however, ...

with

Neustadt an der Aisch Neustadt an der Aisch (officially: ''Neustadt a.d.Aisch'') is a small town of around 13,000 inhabitants in the northern part of Bavaria (Germany), within the Franconian administrative region Middle Franconia. "Neustadt an der Aisch" (mapping), ...

on the Nuremberg–Würzburg main line.

History

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 ...

began operations on this single-tracked, standard gauge ''

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 ...

'' through the Aischgrund on 12 July 1904. Leaving Neustadt (Aisch) station the line runs in a northeasterly direction first to the minor station at Neustadt (Aisch) Stadt (km 1.5) and then the along the river as far as the Uehlfeld district of Demantsforth, where the terminus was built, about two kilometres from the centre of Uehlfeld. An extension of the railway down the valley to

Höchstadt an der Aisch Höchstadt an der Aisch, commonly known as Höchstadt (), is a town in the Erlangen-Höchstadt district, in Bavaria, Germany. Geography Höchstadt is situated on the river Aisch, 18 km northwest of Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: '' ...

, which would have proved a through connexion to Forchheim, did not come to fruition. The number of train pairs rose from 3 in 1904 to 4 in 1914; this level of service was also provided in 1939 again. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

an even better service was provided on the line: in 1950 there were six pairs of trains during the week, as many as seven on Saturdays and four on Sundays. As the Deutsche Bundesbahn steadily drew down its services on branch lines, rail traffic on the line was reduced to working days only during the 1970s and, on 30 May 1976, passenger services were withdrawn and replaced by railway-operated buses. Goods traffic continued until 23 September 1993 and the line was officially closed at the end of 1993.

References

Sources

* Wolfgang Bleiweis, Ekkehard Martin: ''Fränkische Nebenbahnen einst and jetzt – Mittel- and Unterfranken.'' Egglham 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Neustadt (Aisch)-Demantsfurth-Uehlfeld railway Branch lines in Bavaria

History

See also

References

Sources