The Itz Valley Railway () was a former, 8 kilometre long

branch line A branch line is 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. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

in Bavaria, Germany, running from Creidlitz, in the borough of

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, to Rossach in the municipality of Großheirath. The single-tracked line has a railway gauge of and was not electrified.

History

It took eight years of effort before the communities of the

Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ( ), was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to ...

in the

Itz The Itz () is a river of Thuringia and Bavaria, Germany. The Itz is long and a right tributary of the Main. The Itz begins in Sachsenbrunn (Stelzen), Thuringia and flows southward through Bachfeld and Schalkau. It crosses into Bavaria and ...

valley were given their railway connexion, branching off the Werra Railway near

Creidlitz Creidlitz is a southern suburb of 1705 inhabitants (30 June 2010) of the city of Coburg in the county of Upper Franconia in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Geography It is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) south of Coburg and at the northern edge of ...

, on 4 December 1900. They had to make the land available for the railway at no cost. The line initially belonged to the

Prussian state railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the state of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

and was managed until 1945 by the

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

Reichsbahn division. Attempts to extend the route to Kaltenbrunn in the lower Itz valley as far as the Bavarian line from Breitengüßbach to Dietersdorf, which had been opened in 1913, were never realised although it was only 6.7 kilometres distant. To begin with, it was shelved because it would compete with the 15 kilometre longer main line from Lichtenfels to Bamberg. Later attempts foundered due to a lack of funding and, in the end, the fact that the Lichtenfels–Coburg line was electrified. In the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft's 1934 railway timetable the line was listed as 165e and four pairs of passenger trains were scheduled daily each with a journey time of about 30 minutes for the 13 kilometres between Coburg and Rossach. In the

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

's timetable in 1970 the line was listed as no. 419e; after 1992 it became no. 832. Until 1970 the DB used Class 86 steam engines and Class VT 70 railbuses, later they deployed diesel engines of Classes

280 __NOTOC__ Year 280 ( CCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Gratus (or, less frequently, year 1033 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 280 ...

and

211 Year 211 ( CCXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, in the Roman Empire it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Terentius and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 964 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomin ...

, as well as

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 ...

es. From 1982 weekend services were withdrawn and on 2 June 1984 passenger services ceased entirely. Grossheirath-Laderampe

Goods train predominate in Großheirath due to the loading of clay at the Gottfried brick factory (''Klinkerwerk Gottfried'') where a supported loading ramp and

weighbridge A truck scale (US), weighbridge (non-US) or railroad scale is a large set of Weighing scale, scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire Railroad car#Freight cars, rail or road vehicles and their co ...

was available. In addition, there were sidings in

Niederfüllbach Niederfüllbach is a municipality in the district of Coburg in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

for a

haulage Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk – from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to c ...

firm and a steel merchant. Even as late as 10 June 2001 around 15,000 tonnes of steel were delivered annually to the steel merchant. The two kilometre long section from Großheirath to Rossach was closed on 1 September 1995, In April 2001 authority was given for the closure and cessation of operations on the remaining section and on 31 Juli 2001 for the complete closure of the line. In 2005 the line was lifted; a

cycle path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "C ...

has been established in places on the old line.

Route

The steepest incline on the route is 1:100 and the smallest curve radius is 300 metres. The stations in Siemau-Scherneck, Großheirath and Rossach were built to a standard brick design. Due to its proximity to Creidlitz station the halt at Niederfüllbach was shut again soon after the line opened.

References

Sources

* Wolfgang Bleiweis, Stefan Goldschmidt und Bernd Schmitt: ''Eisenbahn im Coburger Land''. Verlag Eisenbahnfreunde Steinachtalbahn-Coburg, Coburg 1996, * Bernd Schmitt: ''Die Itzgrundbahn. Geschichte der Nebenbahn von Creidlitz nach Rossach''. Eisenbahnfachbuch-Verlag Michael Resch, Neustadt 2001,

External links

1931 network map for the Erfurt division and route photographs
Branch lines in Bavaria Coburg (district)