Jagsttalbahn

The Jagsttalhbahn is 39km long narrow gauge railway in the North of Baden Württemberg. It was used to transport sugar beets and fertiliser. They used rollbocks, crazy contraptions, to move standard gauge carriages on the narrow gauge rails.

It was also used for passengers. I remember taking the steam train on various school trips. The line was closed in the late 80ies and in some parts the rails were removed in the late 90ies to make way for a cycle path.

In the early 2000s the tracks and rolling stock was taken over by the Jagsttalbahn AG and the Jagsttalbahnfreunde who plan to restore the tracks and run it as a museum railway.

I found some excellent photos (part I, part II and Schmalspur-Spektakulum) taken in 1979 and 1984 of the Jagsttalbahn in action. There is also an excellent video of the Jagsttalbahn on youtube in German explaining how standard gauge cars are moved over the narrow gauge tracks.

My photos are more recent and document the current state. I would love to see the trains move again. Having said that, the industrial decay is also very interesting photographically. I plan to go back and take more pictures in future.