Bayerische Eisenstein
There is some information concerning Bayerische Eisenstein at the following link. http://germanrail.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2019&highlight=waldbahn The location is very interesting since it is a Boarder Crossing and an Endstation for the German and Czech. The Roundhouse is large for an endstation. Is this typical for Bavaria or is this unusual? For EPOCH I/II how were the locomotives serviced when they returned to the Station. What was the details of this Bahnbetriebswerk? The Ringlokshuppan appears to store 11 locomotives. Was this an overnight storage location for early morning trains or was this a full service depot? Was Eissenstein used to store locomotives for the Zweisel-grafenau branch line? There are a number of buildings between the lokshuppen and the Bahnhof. What were these buildings? How did the boarder crossing operate in EPOCH I? Were there seperate shunt engines, boarder guards and tarrif inspectors? Was there an Army Posted at the location? What Goods were transshipped over the boarder?

Paul, I think the roundhouse is so large because it was not really a true terminal station but a border station as well, although trains did seem to terminate here. Up to 1913 there were 5 pairs of trains a day from Zwiesel and a fast-stopping train from Landshut that had good connections to Munich. From an early (probably Epoch I) plan of the station the following can be deduced: The Bavarian/Bohemian border ran through the middle of the station as today. There were six tracks in front. The roundhouse had 7 roads radiating from the turntable plus 2 at each end of the building. The two at the western end appear to have been reached via a traversing facility. There was a coal ramp to the east of the shed. Further east still, near the station was a wagon shed with 4 roads accessed via a traverser. Immediately west of the station building was a small toilet block amongst the trees. Opposite the station was a large goods shed and customs hall with three sidings. Immediately to the west was a weighbridge. Further west was the loading ramp and a water works building. Just southwest of the goods shed was the pointsmens' 'barracks' or accommodation block. There were several springs that fed a multitude of water cranes. The very large stone buildings near the western approach were workers' accommdation. Behind them were more outbuildings. The only industry visible on the plan was a gasworks behind the roundhouse with road access only. The station is still very imposing today and its border status, the Bavarian railway museum and the displays of its Cold War history still attract a lot of visitors. Even so it is hard to imagine why such a massive station was needed at this sleepy little border village. It seems to have been simply called Eisenstein originally but is now Bayerisch Eisenstein. I can find no operational details of the Bw.

Sudetenland
Hi Have a look for the book "Eisenbahnen im Sudetenland" There, alot of Information about Eisenstein and the connection towards the austrian / chzech railway. Some good Pictures from the Epoche I/II are as well in the book. Greetings Martin

Hi everyone, maybe that's interesting for you: here I've got three pics of Bayerisch Eisenstein I had taken in years 1988, 1992 and 2006 showing the changes of the same perspective. 1988 the DB-track still ended directly at the iron curtain. There was a simply fence and signs with "Landesgrenze". On the czech side there was no rail traffic anymore. In 1992 the czech and german rails have been connected again. On the new platform there was a little costum cabin, but you had to go to the station building for passport control. To see is a railcar of the CD on the way to Pilsen (Plzen). In 2006 the costum house had been abolished and nowadays there aren't any passport controls. It's because of the "Schengen-Abkommen" of the European Union. And here's a Photo of 1988 from the street side of the building with the border fence. Inside the building the border was only marked by a thin iron chain across the concourse, where it was no problem to take a step into the eastern bloc ;-) To the history of the station: the Waldbahn was constructed as a part of the long-distance rail between Prague and Munich and Austria/Italia. The station Bay. Eisenstein was border station, but there was never really border traffic with trains that went the whole line across the border. Passengers had to change the trains at that time on the same way like nowadays. So a bigger depot was necessary. It's very unusual for bavarian endstations of this cathegory to have a turntable and a roundhouse at all. Eisenstein got also large good shelters and much more railtracks than nowadays. But the difficult and precipitous track on the czech side was the reason that the Waldbahn became already after opening only an regional railway without international and long distance traffic. Today the mainline to Prague goes via Furth im Wald. I hope it was comprehendible what I mean, my English is not so good. Greetinx from Munich, Georg

Those pictures would make an excellent basis for a layout.

Thanks georg for those very nice pictures. What is interesting to see is how the Czech side of the station has got very worn since the platforms reopened. SJ Give my regards to munich

The Operation of the Bahnbetriebswerk appears to be quite complete. I have seen references to a coal station, but have no reference to the design of a photo. This appears to be on the track leading to the Roundhouse. After the Coal was an ashpit. This was located adjacent to the eastern wing of the roundhouse. The ashpit is of a design which would be manually shoveled clean. There are water cranes mounted to the eastern wing of the roundhouse. Is this usual to have the water crane at the same location as the ashpit? Would this water be for the boiler or cleaning only? There appears to have been seperate departure tracks from the roundhouse south of the ashpit. The south wing of the round house had 2 doors for service. There does not appear to be a track and swith for this access. There possibly was a gantry crane to lift loko and wagons for wheel repair. The current gleisplan does not agree with the photos of Eposh I. Does a copy of the gleasplan exist in any museum? Other Links: https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/~moegle/bwnebenbahnen/Beisenstein/beisensteinindex.htm http://www.michaelsen-ellerau.de/Modellbahn/Grosses_Vorbild/Museen/Localbahnmuseum/localbahnmuseum.html Paul

Hi Georg, Great photographs.english is fine.wonderful pictures on your website. Welcome to the forum. Grusse, David

Paul, As far as I can tell from the plan, the coaling station was in the form of a fairly long (20m) ramp (Kohlenrampe) with a 2m square platform. It was located on the outside of the two tracks running into the eastern end of the locomotive shed i.e. not near the ashpit. As stated above, there were 2 roads into the (south)western end of the locomotive shed (and 2 parallel sidings at the rear of the shed) that appear to have been accessed by some sort of traversing device, probably a sliding platform rather than a gantry. The same sort of idea seems to have been used for the 4-road coach shed. There is an early station and track plan at the back of the book "Nebenbahnen zwischen Arber und Hallertau" by Siegfried Bufe. This more or less corresponds to the old photo taken from the far side opposite the station building.

“Nebenbahnen zwischen Arber und Hallertau” appears to be out of print and off the book shelfs. I can find no book seller with a copy. Is there any suggestions for an aalternative with similar information or a suggestion for a bookseller with a copy?

Paul, There are several copies in the second hand bookshops on the Internet, albeit quite expensive at the moment (€69-83). Try abebooks, bahnbuch, zvab, antikbuch24, etc.