Modelling a simple brachline
The Leupoldsdorf train station is one of those stations in Franconia (and elsewhere) that were built at a time when it was still believed that the railway would continue to make mobility and the development of the area possible in the future. However, the station remained a temporary structure throughout its life and was finally shut down and demolished in the 1990s.
The former railway network between the cities of Selb, Holenbrunn and Wunsiedel was quite well developed. Starting from the Regensburg - Hof main line, the rail line reached Holenbrunn in 1877. In 1914 the route to Selb town and further to what is now the Czech town of Cheb (Eger) was added. The main reason was probably the porcelain factories in the area, which promised a lot of freight traffic. The route to Eger existed from Oberkotzau as early as 1865. As early as 1877, Wunsiedel was reached from Holenbrunn by a local railway. Holenbrunn thus became a small railway junction. Wunsiedel was the end point of this branch line until 1913. Then the line to Leupoldsdorf was opened (November 8, 1913) and Wunsiedel became a through station. The route to Leupoldsdorf was supposed to one day become part of a connection toBischofsgrün, that was the dream at the time.
Things were supposed to be different...
Apparently the route was extended at the instigation of the owner of the Hammerschloss in Leupoldsdorf. However, this was no longer owned by the castle when it opened. This is what it says on Wikipedia. I can't say to what extent this is true, but dreams of a continuous connection through the Fichtelgebirge existed in many places. There were also such plans between Gefrees and Weißenstadt. Due to the First World War and the subsequent development of the automobile as an essential mode of transport, all of these ideas were shattered.
Track plan sketch of Leupoldsdorf train station. The connection on the left is said to have served a soapstone processing company. However, it is fairly certain that the business on the siding was a stonemasonry business.
Leupoldsdorf is a rather small station. Of course there wasn't much going on here! There was no locomotive shed, only the most essential freight facilities (no head or side ramps, apart from the small ramp on the Gsch). But there are two private sidings. One tied to the loading road track. I think I can remember (an old article from the "Eisenbahn Magazin" from 1981) that there was supposed to be a stonemason's business that was served here now and then by train. Otherwise, logs, among other things, were loaded in Leupoldsdorf. By the way, the beautiful Eg of the station is reproduced in a drawing in H0 scale in Em 6/81
Secondly, in an extension of the track, a soapstone factory (below). I'm not entirely sure about its exact location, number of buildings and extent. This siding was secured by a track barrier and there is also said to have been a moving Sh2 signal there (similar to that in Falkenstein near Regensburg). This was folded up to operate the connection. I don't know how exactly this happened and whether this signal was operated from the Eg or at the location of the signal itself. The level crossing at the train station exit to Wunsiedel was later given a flashing light monitor with the appropriate signals, while the Bü am Eg remained secured only with St. Andrew's crosses. The entrance was secured with a trapezoidal board and a slow speed disc Lf1 (30 km/h).
During the DB's steam locomotive era, the following series ran here: 98.8 (Bavarian GtL 4/4), 64, 86. Later: Vt 75.9 (or Vt 70.9?), Vt 95.9, V60 and of course the V100. The route belonged to the management area of BD Regensburg. In 1975, passenger traffic between Holenbrunn and Leupoldsdorf was stopped, and in the 1980s the beautiful wooden building on the Eg with the goods shed extension was demolished. Freight traffic ended in Leupoldsdorf in 1993. The tracks were later dismantled. Today, at the former location of the reception building in Leupoldsdorf, a small piece of track with a freight wagon is set up as a quasi-monument. You can still explore part of the former route by bike...
I like the station so much 30 years ago that I drew a small track plan, however, I added a few more freight tracks and a locomotive station to the station. Today I would perhaps do it differently, quite apart from the location of the shadow station anyway. Because the small train station also has its attractions and is definitely worth seeing. If you don't have that much space for a branch line terminus (as can be seen on some model railway layouts) or are just looking for a small, rather unobtrusive end point for a larger layout (main line with a branching branch line, for example), I think this is a very suitable terminus station.
More photos from Leupoldsdorf