Bayerisch Eisenstein station

Bayerisch Eisenstein Železná Ruda-Alžbětín
Bayerisch Eisenstein / Železná Ruda-Alžbětín station in June 2012
Location	Germany & Czech Republic
Coordinates	49°7′18.4″N 13°12′32.5″E / 49.121778°N 13.209028°E / 49.121778; 13.209028
Elevation	722 m
Platforms	3
History
Opened	20 October 1877

Bayerisch Eisenstein/Železná Ruda-Alžbětín station (German: Bahnhof Bayerisch Eisenstein, Czech: Nádraží Železná Ruda-Alžbětín) is a railway station on the border of southeast Germany and the Czech Republic. It forms the junction between the Bavarian Forest railway from Plattling to Bayerisch Eisenstein, which was started in 1874 by the Bavarian Eastern Railway Company (or Bavarian Ostbahn) and completed by the Royal Bavarian State Railways, and the Pilsen–Markt Eisenstein (today: Plzeň-Železná Ruda) railway built by the Pilsen–Priesen(–Komotau) railway in what was then Bohemia. The national border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs through the middle of the station building.

The basis for this railway junction was the Bavarian-Austrian state treaty of 21 June 1851. On the Bohemian side, the Pilsen–Priesen(–Komotau) railway company built the missing section from Neuern to Eisenstein station and opened it on 20 October 1877. On the German side, after the Bavarian Ostbahn was nationalised on 10 May 1875, the line was completed by the Royal Bavarian State Railways and the last section from Ludwigsthal to Eisenstein was opened to railway traffic on 15 November 1877.

Not until just before the completion of the railway lines, did the two railway administrations agree, on 17 May 1877, details of the very large station building and extensive track system needed for the transfer of goods and passengers. This required the local terrain to be filled with over 250,000 m³ of earth and levelled off. The station building was built with its centre section exactly on the border. On either side was an adjoining wing belonging to the respective railway company. The waiting room was designed in a way that was very representative of the style of that era. In the first class waiting room is the largest surviving planked ceiling of its type - a so-called "Cologne ceiling" (Kölner Decke). The station was completed in 1878. On its southern side, west of the track network, that had 9 tracks to begin with and later 11, is the roundhouse with its turntable. Today it houses the Bavarian Localbahn (=branch line) Museum in which the Bavarian Localbahn Society stables more than 20 vehicles from the Lokalbahn era.