The Old Steel Bridge for Narrow Gauge Railways in Saxony

Published on March 11, 2023

Once upon a time, there was an enormous steel bridge in Saxony, Germany, built in 1904 and used by the Saxon Narrow Gauge Railways. It was the golden age of the railroad, when steam locomotives revolutionized transportation. To overcome mountains and valleys, a 180 meters long steel bridge was built.

The steel bridge was the most prominent structure in the railroad network of Saxony. The railroad bridge was in operation until 1967. Then it was unused for ten years, because the train traffic was also discontinued. Finally, the bridge, called “Greifenbachtal Bridge”, was demolished in 1977.

Few people still remember this spectacular railway bridge. But there are many historical photos and postcards of this bridge, because it was unique. Jochen Klinger and Jens Petermann (Model Railroading Team “De Bimmlbahner”) were so fascinated by the history of this bridge that they decided to rebuilt the bridge in 1/87 scale. The two modelers have constructed a model train diorama, which has a size of 3.50 x 1.25 meters. The bridge was reproduced to scale and has a length of 2.10 meters. The height of the model bridge is 0.4 meters.

While Jochen Klinger designed the bridge and built it out of paper as well as laser-cut cardboard, Jens Petermann took care of the landscaping. The background picture was taken by Norman Timpe, who photographed the Greifenbach Valley at the original location from the air using a drone.

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