Gotteszell–Blaibach railway

Gotteszell–Blaibach
Line length:	39.8 km (24.7 mi)
Track gauge:	1,435 mm (4.708 ft)
Maximum incline:	2.55  %
Maximum speed:	50
from Plattling 0,0 Gotteszell to Bayerisch-Eisenstein 4,9 Ruhmannsfelden Teisnach 5,4 Granitwerke Prünst 7,0 Patersdorf Teisnach Technologiecampus 10,2 Teisnach from the paper factory 12,0 Böbracher Tunnel (64 m) 12,8 Böbrach 15,1 Gumpenried-Asbach 18,2 Nussberg-Schönau 19,9 Gstadt 24,8 Viechtach 27,8 Tresdorf to the quartzite factory 30,9 Fichtental 32,2 Krailing 34,0 Lehen-Höllenstein 36,2 Wimbach-Untergschaidt Regen from Lam 39,8 Blaibach to Cham

The Gotteszell–Blaibach railway is a railway line in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany that runs from Gotteszell in Lower Bavaria to Blaibach in the Upper Palatinate.

Following the construction of the Schwandorf–Furth im Wald railway in 1861 and the Bavarian Forest Railway in 1877 a desire grew to link the valley of the Black Regen between Teisnach and Blaibach with these two lines. The Royal Bavarian State Railways had decided in favour of a branch line (Lokalbahn) from Cham to Kötzting, however.

So the Lokalbahn AG in Munich was tasked to carry out the project work. Their plan envisaged the railway line branching off from the Bavarian Forest Railway at Gotteszell and reaching its terminus after 24.97 kilometres in Viechtach. On 28 April 1889 the concession for the construction of the Gotteszell–Viechtach Lokalbahn.

The line cost the Lokalbahn AG exactly 1,783,148 gold marks to build. On 20 November 1890 the railway was taken into service. In its first full operating year 107,630 passengers and around 25,000 tonnes of goods were transported, resulting in a profit of 27,181 marks. In 1900 the profit even reached 76,278 marks. The Teisnach paper factory played a large part in that.

For years efforts had been made to have an extension built to Blaibach. On 21 October 1904 the Minister of Transport, Heinrich von Frauendorfer, set so many conditions that the attempts were initially dropped.

In 1919 the track of the branch line was replaced. Instead of Bavarian Type V rails with a weight per metre of 21.8 kilograms (48 lb), Bavarian Type IX rails were used with a weight per metre of 34.8 kilograms (77 lb). The rail length was now 15 metres instead of 9. And now there was at last a plan to build a railway line through the Zeller Valley, the proponents for which pressed for an extension to Blaibach. From 1924 to 1925 the extension of the railway was assessed.

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Wikipedia