Kirnitzschtal tramway

The last stop, at the Lichtenhain Waterfall, around 1910.

The tramway in 1992

The first plans for the line were introduced in 1893. These were for a tramway from Bad Schandau to Rainwiese (now Mezní Louka in the Czech Republic). The decision on the form of propulsion to use was controversial, with both steam locomotives or electric traction proposed. However steam propulsion proved uneconomic, and electrification was selected. This required the construction of an additional power plant.[6][7]

The line opened from Bad Schandau as far as the Lichtenhain Waterfall on Saturday, May 28, 1898. The first service was delayed by 45 minutes when the car derailed on its maiden trip. At first, the line was operated only as a tourist service, from May to October. In the opening year 80,000 passengers rode the line. The remainder of the line to Rainweise was never built for economic reasons.[6][7]

The initial vehicle fleet comprised six enclosed motorcars and six trailers, which were built by Busch in Bautzen. During the night of July 26, 1927, fire destroyed the depot and the entire fleet. Service was restored on August 12 and continued until October 31 using cars borrowed from the Lößnitz Tramway. In 1928, a new fleet of five motorcars and six trailers built by MAN were put into service and the Lößnitz Tramway cars were returned to Radebeul. However a maintenance car from the Lößnitz Tramway remained on the Kirnitzschtal tramway until 1954, over 20 years after the other borrowed cars had been scrapped. It was transferred to the Lockwitztal tramway, where it remained in regular transport service until 1968.[6][7][8]

On June 23, 1969, the line was truncated by approximately 350 metres (1,150 ft) at the Bad Schandau end, because of increasing traffic congestion in the town. The former terminus at the Hotel Lindenhof, and the intermediate stop at Forellenbrücke were abandoned, and replaced by a new terminus at Stadtpark. A month later, on July 21, one of the line's motor cars overturned and all of the passengers suffered injuries.[6][7]

The line took over five motor cars from the Lockwitztal tramway in 1977, after the closure of that line. These vehicles were built between 1938 and 1944 for the tramway of Erfurt, and are thus called Erfurter. In 1984, four trailers built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik in the 1960s were acquired, and these were joined by two similar motor cars in 1992, two motor cars and two trailers in 1995 and a final motor car in 2007. These vehicles came from various East German cities, and are collectively known as Gothawagen.[7][8]

The Kirnitzschtal tramway was reconstructed from 1985 to 1990. The very serious flooding of the Elbe in 2002 caused service to be suspended since the line's Bad Schandau terminus, along with the rest of the town, was under 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) of flood water. Reconstruction of the Kirnitzschtal road, together with extensive track replacement, again caused suspension in 2003.[6][7][9]

On August 7, 2010, heavy flooding in the Kirnitz Valley caused damage to both the line and its vehicles. The depot was flooded as high as the tram floors, causing damage to the cars motors, gears and axles. The line did not operate again until Easter 2011, and when it reopened it was curtailed to Beuthenfall by the need to rebuild a retaining wall on the approach to the Lichtenhain Waterfall terminus. This last section did not reopen until December 2012.[10]

The depot of the Kirnitzschtal Tramway.

Car 2 at the Forsthaus stop, close to the village of Mittelndorf.

The line is 7.9 kilometres (4.9 mi) long, of metre gauge, electrified at 600 volts DC on the overhead line system, and uses four wheeled motor coaches and trailers. It has seven stopping points in addition to the two termini. The single track line has two passing loops, one at the depot and the other between the Forsthaus and Nasser Grund stops. Loops also exist at both termini, to enable the motorcars to run around their trailers.[2][3][4][11]

The line is unusual in that it is mostly "gutter running", a type of track layout once common on rural tramways in Germany. In the case of the Kirnitzschtal Tramway, the track is laid in the southern, eastbound, lane of the S165 Kirnitzschtalstrasse road. Thus westbound trams heading towards Bad Schandau travel against the normal flow of road traffic, requiring heightened attention from both tram and road vehicle drivers. Although some of the line's tramcars are double ended, only the doors on the south side are used, as all the stops are on the south side of the road.[8]

Currently the line operates throughout the year. In the winter months it operates every 70 minutes, whilst in the summer months it operates every half hour. The winter timetable is typically operated by a single Gothawagen motor car operating on its own, whilst the summer timetable requires three such motor cars, each pulling one or two matching trailers. Additional public trips are operated on selected days using the line's older rolling stock, which is also available for private charter.[8][12][13]

A recent innovation is the installation of solar cells on the roof for the depot, which contribute approximately 20% of the necessary electricity for the system operation.[3][14]

Although OVPS is a member of the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO), that organisation's common fare structure does not apply to the Kirnitzschtal Tramway, reflecting its predominantly tourist nature. The line is paralleled throughout by OVPS bus route 241, which runs from Pirna to Hinterhermsdorf every two hours and accepts VVO fares.[3][12][15]

During 2008, motor car 5 and trailer 12 were used in the filming of The Reader, based on Bernhard Schlink's novel of the same name. Filming took place both on the Görlitz tramway and on the Kirnitzschtal line. During filming on the Kirnitzschtal line, the actress Kate Winslet acted as the conductress of the tram set.[9]

• Media related to Kirnitzschtalbahn at Wikimedia Commons
• Official web site of the OVPS (in German)
• Web site about the tramway (in English)
• Track plan of the tramway