Ranna–Auerbach railway

The railway line Ranna -Auerbach was an eight-kilometer branch line, the Auerbach in der Oberpfalz about Ranna joined to the railway line Nuremberg - Cheb. It replaced the built in 1882 by the Maxhiitte from Sulzbach -Rosenberg cable car, which so far the natural resources that have been promoted in the area around Auerbach, transported to the station.

History

Early planning

However, it has not been implemented - such plans to connect Auerbach to the railway, there were already 1860 when the AG Bayerische Ostbahnen a railway line from Amberg to Bayreuth was planning that should be done in a variant of Auerbach. 1867 a new attempt was made in the Auerbach should be connected to the planned Pegnitz Valley Railway, but this was due to the hand greatly elongated route also discarded. Various other plans envisaged, among other things, a route from Michel Field to Auerbach and continue to Sulzbach -Rosenberg ( Auerbach "railway committee" on November 29, 1892) or by Kirchenthumbach ( terminus of the line Pressath - Kirchenthumbach ) about Auerbach to Michel box or Ranna (1896 ) before, but also were never carried out.

The construction

On September 9, 1899 finally met with the shareholders of Maximilianshütte and Queen Marie hut the two prospects for the construction in Ranna and laid with its commitment of 6,000 or 3,000 Mark the financial foundation for the route. The building permit by Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria on June 30, 1900 so that was begun immediately with the construction and the local train on December 16, 1903 was officially opened.

Closure

The decline of the railway line was heralded with the task of passenger traffic on 31 January 1970. While even an average of four train pair sailed the route during the Second World War in 1944, frequented in summer 1967 schedule only a single passenger pair at inconvenient times (in the morning from 5:03 Auerbach clock to Neuhaus, in the evening at 18:40 clock from Ranna to Auerbach ).

After the Maxhiitte the mined iron ore is now taken away on its own trucks, the last freight train ran on 21 March 1982. Degradation of the tracks took place from the spring of 1984, last still visible remnants of the route are now also disused railway station of Ranna and the pillars of the subsequent Pegnitz bridge.

Route description

The track chain after Ranna station to the right of the Pegnitz Valley Railway from, crossed the Pegnitz by a bridge and reached after a distance of 2 kilometers from the breakpoint Rauhenstein. After that, the route meandered through the Duke Forest, reaching 2.3 km the breakpoint Hohe Tanne, who was abandoned on 28 May 1962. From there the route went on over the breakpoint Welluck, which has not been operated since October 7, 1922, under the federal highway 85 through to the terminus Auerbach.

The route thus overcame a length of 8.1 km on a height difference of 43.82 m and a maximum gradient of 12.5 ‰.

By 1962, steam locomotives came on the track used, initially the Bavarian series D VII, VIII D, D XI and the Bavarian GtL 4/4 and after the war, the series 64 and 98.10. From 1962 until its closure sailed and diesel locomotives of the series 100 V the route. Were used for the carriage of various countries wagon train types, used for the carriage of goods and esp. the removal of the iron ore appropriate freight wagons.

The loaded ore trains from Auerbach to Maxhiitte on the railway line Nuremberg - Schwandorf were (right Pegnitz ) driven by the Series 44 on the stretch Auerbach Hersbruck with the tender first, there stretched the locomotive around and drove the train through the connecting train to Grassington and there to Sulzbach -Rosenberg for Maxhiitte.