The Bad Orb - Waechtersbach Private Railroad (I - until 1957)

(2002)

Bad Orb is a little town in a recreation area at the northern part of the Spessart mountains. Vast forest areas and meadows dominate the landscape. You can locate Bad Orb between Frankfurt and Fulda somewhere at half-way. Agriculture and Forestry were the main sources of income in the time around 1920. The two pictures show how timber is loaded at the station. My father can be seen on both pictures, he is the 4 th worker from the left and the 7 th from the left, respectively.

    

I was born in Bad Orb in 1949 and spent my childhood in this city. On sundays during summer season special trains operated between Bad Orb and Frankfurt, which brought day tourists from the Rhein-Main area to Bad Orb. On the private line Bad Orb - Waechtersbach they were pulled by a small steam locomotive. Nearly every sunday my mother had to come with me to the station, where the steam locomotive was ready for departure. The departure itself was a spectacular event from my perspective, and I believe that my interest in railroads was founded in these years.

 

The regular schedule was operated with two diesel railbuses, which were not so impressive as the steam engine, but still fascinating. I could handle an "Agfa Box" camera now, and so my first railroad photo was the photo above.