ModellbahnfreundeAmmerndorf
Where the Bibertbahn lives on in miniature …
Efforts to build a railway through the Bibert valley (the Bibertgrund) go back to the 1870s.
For decades, the local municipalities, other interest groups and railway enthusiasts – above all Pastor Friedrich Gruber of Großhabersdorf, known as the “railway pastor” – tried to push the project forward through requests, petitions and the support of two members of the Bavarian state parliament.
A committee of citizens from the Bibert valley discusses extending the Fürth – Cadolzburg line to Großhabersdorf.
The plan to extend the line into the Bibert valley is submitted to the Lokalbahn Actien Gesellschaft (LAG) in Munich. The proposal is rejected.
The committee applies once more to the Royal State Ministry, this time for a local railway from Zirndorf via Ammerndorf to Rügland. This application is rejected as well.
Several further attempts follow, all without success.
Following submissions by Pastor Gruber, the plans are presented in Munich once again.
Only the Bavarian act of 26 June 1908 finally settles the matter: construction and operation of the local railway from Stein to Unternbibert-Rügland are assigned to the Bavarian State Railways.
Ground is broken.
The section to Großhabersdorf is divided into five construction lots and completed.
After a load test of the bridge over the Rednitz – near Fürth-Süd halt – with two heavy steam locomotives and loaded goods wagons, freight services begin.
The inaugural train opens the 26.55 km line from Stein to Dietenhofen.
Scheduled services begin.
The First World War, which broke out on 28 July 1914 with Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war on Serbia, cannot prevent the completion of the 6.23 km line from Dietenhofen to Andorf (named Unternbibert-Rügland). The railway now has a total length of 32.78 km.
How the line was operated at the time:
The new Fürth-Süd halt at km 4.2 comes into use.
Under a new timetable arrangement, the local trains of the Bibert valley run through to Nuremberg Central Station.
A memorial plaque for the “railway pastor” Friedrich Gruber is unveiled in Ammerndorf during a ceremony.
The unstaffed Leonrod halt opens right next to the castle ruins.
The Großhabersdorf agency becomes an independent local railway station. The track layout is extended to five tracks in total, the southernmost of which receives a Culemeyer loading point. From here, road trailers known as “Tausendfüßler” (centipedes) supply the training airfield “U-Bach” (Unterschlauersbach) with fuel and ammunition during the war. During this period the number of train pairs is doubled from three to six a day.
After the end of the war, the demolished Rednitz bridge near Fürth-Süd, the Bibert bridge near Weinzierlein and the flood bridge near Herpersdorf have to be rebuilt.
Services between Nuremberg Central Station and Unternbibert-Rügland resume.
Three train pairs are running again; by the 50th anniversary on 22 May 1964 this has doubled once more to six. During this period the familiar coaches with open platforms (Länderbahn coaches and “Donnerbüchsen”) are replaced by three- and four-axle rebuilt coaches (Umbauwagen) with rubber gangway seals.
Because of increasing road traffic, the line is equipped with ten flashing-light level crossing signals.
Track renewals become necessary from Ammerndorf to Dietenhofen (1958) and from Dietenhofen to Unternbibert-Rügland (1959).
A film is shot for the 125th anniversary of German railways; on this occasion the “Adler” visits Ammerndorf.
Further track renewals are carried out from Leichendorf to Ammerndorf (1961) and from Stein to Leichendorf (1962).
80 % of trains are already diesel-hauled, only 20 % still steam.
The Großhabersdorf – Unternbibert-Rügland section is closed because of insufficient traffic.
The last train on this section is a steam special run by the Nuremberg railway enthusiasts (Nürnberger Eisenbahnfreunde).
The “Adler” visits the Bibert valley once more, this time as a guest in Großhabersdorf.
The station building at Zirndorf-Altenberg is demolished.
The agency in Ammerndorf closes. The station becomes an unstaffed halt.
An agreement between the Free State of Bavaria and Deutsche Bundesbahn seals the closure of the remaining 18.51 km line from Nuremberg-Stein to Großhabersdorf.
The last passenger trains run in the Bibert valley. Freight traffic from Stein to Leichendorf continues, however. Under the “Operating instructions for service and dismantling runs on the closed branch line Leichendorf – Großhabersdorf”, all further movements may only be made as shunting movements at a maximum speed of 20 km/h.
Until the end of October 1986 a few goods wagons are still taken to Großhabersdorf, until finally, on 3 November, locomotive 333 001 comes to the terminus for the last time to collect wagons. Immediately afterwards the train signalling line is removed and the flashing-light crossings are dismantled.
Removal of all tracks in Großhabersdorf begins.
The loading track in Ammerndorf is dismantled. From km 18.4 onwards, a US-4 track-lifting machine from the Hanau track depot is used for the remaining work.
Leichendorf is reached in the morning. All that remains of the Bibertbahn is the 6.97 km section from Stein to Leichendorf, kept for wagonload freight.
Frankenzucker AG stops loading sugar beet in Leichendorf.
Freight traffic to Leichendorf ends; the line remains open as far as the barracks site at Fürth-Süd.
The signals between Fürth-Süd and Leichendorf are removed.
Großhabersdorf station, reduced to ruins by arson in the meantime, has to make way for the bypass road.
Fürth district buys the remaining 4.2 km line from Fürth-Süd to Leichendorf for 144,000 Deutschmarks.
The Farnbachweg footbridge in Gebersdorf is demolished and replaced by a level cycle path. As a result, about 20 m of the track is buried.
The track is removed along a stretch of about 600 m between Zirndorf-Altenberg and Leichendorf, and between Nuremberg-Gebersdorf and Fürth-Süd. Since then, only disconnected fragments of track remain on the former route.
The Modellbahnfreunde Ammerndorf have made it their task and their commitment to preserve this piece of Middle Franconian railway history, and to recreate and maintain at least parts of the former almost 33 km line between Stein and Unternbibert-Rügland in H0 scale (1:87), as true to the original as possible in its 1960s condition.
Modellbahnfreunde Ammerndorf e. V.
Max Kraft and Dr. Claus-Jürgen Prenzel
All sources are in German.