The Bavarian Localbahn Society (''Bayerischer Localbahnverein e.V.'' or BLV), with its headquarters in

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an ...

, is a society that is concerned with the history of the

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

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 ...

. ''Localbahn'' (sometimes ''Lokalbahn''; literally: 'local line') means '

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

' and is mainly used 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 ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in lieu of the usual term ''Nebenbahn''. The BLV's objectives are the operation of historic trains and the collection of historically valuable railway items from Bavaria.

Operations

The society runs the ''Localbahn Museum'' in

Bayerisch Eisenstein Bayerisch Eisenstein, until 1951 just Eisenstein ( cs, Bavorská Železná Ruda) is a village and a municipality in the Regen district, in Bavaria, Germany. Geography Bayerisch Eisenstein is part of Bayerischer Wald and borders the first German ...

and a locomotive shed in Landshut. It also operates the museum railway Tegernsee-Schaftlach-Holzkirchen

Localbahn Museum

The BLV dedicated its museum to the once common branch lines of the railway - called ''Vicinalbahnen'', ''Sekundärbahnen'' or ''Localbahnen'' - which connected most of Bavaria in the 19th century. Many of them have now fallen prey to the structural changes or have been changed to suburban trains in the vicinity of large cities. The museum is installed in the former engine shed of

on the border to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The round shed with its seven tracks as well as the two-tracked long house contain steam engines,

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and

diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

passenger coaches A passenger railroad car or passenger car ( United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach ( United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie ( India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry pas ...

as well as

goods wagons Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon type ...

from 1890 to 1949. Special exhibitions cover issues such as the construction of railway lines. The open-air area has a working

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. On some weekends the museum offers rides to Bohemia with historical steam trains. The society also owns a restored local steam train and offers rides from Landshut.

History

The Bavarian Localbahn Society emerged from a working group of the German Railway History Company (''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte'' or DGEG), that ran steam train services between 1969 and 1975 on the private Tegernsee Railway (''Tegernsee-Bahn''). Because the operating licence for the locomotive ( TAG 7) ran out and neither DGEG nor the Tegernsee Railway wanted to take on the cost of the general inspection, the Bavarian Localbahn Society was founded. To keep operations going during the period whilst TAG 7 was out of service the steam engine 378.32 was purchased in Austria. In 1978, TAG 7 was once again back in service as well, and the Austrian engine took over historical steam services on the Regen Valley railway until it was sold in 1996. The engine, J. A. Maffei, was also working on the Tegernsee Railway until the 1990s and now stands in the society's own museum. The Bavarian Localbahn Museum was established between 1981 and 1994, in the old locomotive shed built in Bayerisch Eisenstein in 1877. In 1999 the shed and tracks at Tegernsee had to be cleared and the TAG 7 steam train moved to Landshut. Since 2005 the society has once again owned an operational steam engine, a former

Bavarian Pt 2/3 The two-cylinder, superheated Bavarian Pt 2/3 engine was built by Krauss for the Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königlich Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'') between 1909 and 1915. With its characteristic design - a carrying axle placed well to t ...

, number 70 083. On September 11, 2005, the BLV celebrated its 30 years of existence with both a Class 70 and the TAG 7 steam engines operating.BLV information and contact details at Bayerische Oberlandbahn (BOB) site
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Rolling stock

Steam locomotives

*''02 / ANNA'' of the Gotteszell-Viechtach Lokalbahn operated by the Regentalbahn, built by Krauss & Cie, 1890 *''1854'' from the Royal Bavarian State Railways operated by the Regentalbahn, built by Krauss & Cie, 1892. (Was numbered 98 7658 in the DR system.) *''J.A. Maffei'' of the firm of Maffei, built by J.A. Maffei, 1902 *''OSSER'' from the Lam-Kötzting Lokalbahn operated by the Regentalbahn, built by J.A. Maffei, 1922 *''Nr. 4 / Bayerwald'' operated by the Regentalbahn, built by J.A. Maffei, 1927 *''Nr. 5 / Deggendorf'' operated by the Regentalbahn, built by J.A. Maffei, 1927 *''SCHWARZECK'' from the Lam-Kötzting Lokalbahn operated by the Regentalbahn, built by J.A. Maffei, 1928 *''TAG 7'' of the Tegernsee Railway Company, built by

Krauss-Maffei KraussMaffei is a German manufacturer of injection molding machines, machines for plastics extrusion technology, and reaction process machinery. It was acquired by ChemChina in 2016. History Locomotives KraussMaffei was formed in 1931 from a me ...

, 1936 *''70 083'' from the Royal Bavarian State Railways, built by Krauss & Cie, 1913 *

Fireless locomotive A fireless locomotive is a type of locomotive which uses reciprocating engines powered from a reservoir of compressed air or steam, which is filled at intervals from an external source. They offer advantages over conventional steam locomotives of ...

''Spiritus Nr. 2'' of the VEB Spiritus Wittenberg, built by J.A. Maffei, 1915

Diesel locomotives

*''RL 3'' from ''Grün und Bilfinger Co.'', built by

Orenstein & Koppel Orenstein & Koppel (normally abbreviated to "O&K") was a major Germany, German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876 in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel. ...

, 1935 *''WR 200 B14'' (=V20) of the German Army, OHE, built by

Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz KHD Humboldt Wedag is an engineering company that supplies machinery, parts, and services, including process engineering and project management to the global cement industry. The holding company KHD Humboldt Wedag International AG, based in Colo ...

, 1941 *''A6 11517'' (

DRG Köf II German ''Kleinlokomotiven'' (literally: small locomotives) like the DRG Kö II (later: Köf II) were developed as locomotives with a low weight and driving power for light shunting duties. There were two classes, based on engine power. The Cla ...

) from ''Bayerwerk AG'', built by

, 1949 *''MV 3'' from the firm of ''Fritzmeier'', built by Orenstein & Koppel, 1963

Electric locomotives

* LAG 5, 169 005, built by J.A. Maffei / SSW, 1930

Railbuses

*''ET 5'' of the Salzburg Railway and Tramway Company, built by

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

/ ÖSSW, 1908 *''VT 07'' from the Lam-Kötzting Lokalbahn operated by the Regental Line, built by MAN, 1939 *''VT 10.05'' (

Uerdingen railbus The Uerdingen railbus (German: ''Uerdinger Schienenbus'') is the common term for the multiple units which were developed by the German firm of Waggonfabrik Uerdingen for the Deutsche Bundesbahn and private railways after the Second World War. Th ...

) from the Graz-Köflach Railway, built by Waggonfabrik Uerdingen, 1955

Other rolling stock

The society has over 19 passenger coaches from the period 1889 to 1958, 8 goods wagons from the years 1883 to 1920 as well as various inspection trolleys.

Organisation

The BLV has at present around 300 members. The company offices are in

. The Localbahn Museum at

is under the private trusteeship of the society.

References

External links

Homepage of the BLV

{{coord missing, Bavaria Heritage railways in Germany Heritage sites in Bavaria Railway museums in Bavaria