🚴‍‍‍ Old railroad line on the White Main

Wonderful, continuously paved, evenly and moderately ascending railway cycle path from Bad Berneck to Bischofsgrün train station.

The route follows the White Main, which still has the character of a real mountain stream. Highly recommended bike path. Also better for racing cyclists than the busy B 303.

The Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg–Bischofsgrün railway was a branch line in Bavaria. It branched off from the Bayreuth–Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg railway near Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg at the Schlömen junction and led to Bischofsgrün. It was one of the seven railway lines that previously served the Fichtelgebirge.
The route began in Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg station (50° 5′ 35.1″ N, 11° 34′ 54.1″ E) and initially used the track of the leased railway towards Bayreuth. At Schlömen it branched off to the south-east; a signal box (with blocking point) was specifically built on the outskirts (50° 4′ 32.5″ N, 11° 34′ 41″ E). The route then roughly followed the course of the White Main. From Bad Berneck to Bischofsgrün it ran parallel to the river with a steep gradient. The height difference between Himmelkron and Bischofsgrün was 266 meters, and the climb from Hülsenhof, at 33‰, far exceeded that of the Schiefen Ebene. The Bischofsgrün terminus (50° 3′ 14.1″ N, 11° 46′ 28.5″ E) was in the Glasermühle district, over a kilometer outside and a good 50 meters below the main town.
The route was built in three sections. On November 28, 1896, the railway reached the spa town and former district office of Berneck, the following year it reached Goldmühl and on October 20, 1898 it finally reached Bischofsgrün train station. A locomotive station was set up there for the maintenance and servicing of the steam locomotives. There were freight sidings to a company in Goldmühl and for gravel transport to a hard stone factory in Hülsenhof.
Passenger traffic on the entire route was stopped on May 26, 1974, and freight traffic between Hülsenhof and Bischofsgrün was stopped on May 31, 1986. The Goldmühl – Hartsteinwerk Hülsenhof connection section has been used as a siding since then.
The railway line was completely dismantled.

I always enjoy riding this railway cycle path