>

The Neuses–Weißenbrunn railway was a spur that branched off to Weißenbrunn

Weißenbrunn

Weißenbrunn is a municipality in the district of Kronach in Bavaria in Germany....

 from the Franconian Forest Railway

Franconian Forest Railway

The Franconian Forest Railway , route no. KBS 840, is an 88 kilometre long, electrified, double-tracked main line from Lichtenfels via Kronach to Saalfeld. It is part of the Munich–Nuremberg–Bam­berg–Jena–Halle/Leipzig–Berlin trunk route...

 at Neuses, a village south of Kronach

Kronach

Kronach is a town in Oberfranken, Bavaria, Germany, located in the Frankenwald area. It is the capital of the district Kronach.Kronach is the birthtown of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Maximilian von Welsch, as well as Johann Kaspar Zeuss and Josef Stangl....

 in the province of Upper Franconia

Upper Franconia

Upper Franconia is a Regierungsbezirk of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia , all now part of the German Federal State of Bayern .With more than 200 independent breweries which brew...

 in southern Germany. The single-tracked, standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

 line was not electrified. It was finally closed in 1995.

After the completion of the Franconian Forest Railway in 1885 the first petition to have a branch to Weißenbrunn built was made in 1899 to the government in Munich. But not until 1907 was a goods line agreed. On 26 June 1908 approval under the Lokalbahn law was given to plan and build a the Sekundärbahn. Problems in acquiring the necessary land meant that the start of construction was delayed until 1914 and, due to the First World War, the line was not opened until 1 August 1916.

Until 1947 a pair of goods trains worked the line on workdays. From May 1947 until May 1954 there were also passenger services following the opening of a new hospital in Weißenbrunn. This comprised three pairs of trains daily and, from 1950 two pairs on Sundays. The journey time was 12 minutes, to Kronach about 30 minutes.

Goods traffic continued to consist of two pairs of trains daily until the 1960s. In the mid-1980s there were still 3 trains per week. On 24 September 1994 the line was provisionally closed; formal closure followed in 1 March 1995.

Source

• Ulrich Rockelmann, Thomas Naumann: Die Frankenwaldbahn. Die Geschichte der Steilrampe über den Frankenwald. EK-Verlag Freiburg, 1997. ISBN 3-88255-581-5