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The Zittau narrow-gauge railway - "daily into the mountains by steam" Narrow-gauge railway Zittau–Kurort Oybin/Kurort Jonsdorf In order to improve transport options in the Zittau Mountains, construction work began in 1889 for the "Zittau-Oybin-Jonsdorf Railway Company". On November 25, 1890, the inaugural train rolled from Zittau to Jonsdorf and Oybin. In the early days, the private railway used locomotives that were identical to the Saxon IK series. In 1906, the Royal Saxon State Railway took over the line and new 4-axle wagons and type IV K locomotives were used. From 1927, rolling stock was used for freight transport. Due to the high volume of passengers, the Zittau-Vorstadt – Oybin section was expanded to two tracks from 1913. The line was converted back to a single track between 1943 and 1945. From 1938, modern diesel railcars of the VT137 322-325 series ran on the narrow-gauge railway. The last ones were retired in 1964. The VT 137 322 has been preserved and was refurbished in 2007. Freight traffic was gradually abandoned from 1969. Today, only passenger traffic takes place on the line. The GDR wanted to abandon the line because the area was earmarked for brown coal mining. After reunification, the railway was taken over by the SOEG (Saxon-Upper Lusatian Railway Company) and is heading for a secure future. * * * * * * * * Creative Commons Music by Jason Shaw on Audionautix.com https://audionautix.com