Prototype Information

Murnau is the mid-point of KBS 960, the mainline between München and Mittenwald on the Germany/Austria border. It is also the beginning of the branchline KBS 963, which ends in Oberammergau.

KBS 960 is the line running from München to Mittenwald, and on to Innsbruck, Austria. Even though this line heads into the Alps, there are no tunnels on this line to the German/Austrian border. There are, however, many steep grades, including the 2.5% Hechendorf Ramp. The section of KBS 960 that I will be concentrating on will be the area between Murnau and Eschenlohe, with staging yards representing München to the north, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the south.

The reason for concentrating on this area is because of three major elements I wish to model. Murnau is the beginning of KBS 963, the Murnau/Oberammergau line. The Hechendorf Ramp represents the longest double-tracked section of the line from München to Mittenwald, and at a 2.5% grade, represents some operational challenges. Eschenlohe is the location of the Hartsteinwerk Werdenfels rock quarry, which is the main basis for freight traffic on KBS 960.

Murnau Bahnhof is quite large considering the size of the town. The station sports four passenger tracks, three freight tracks, and numerous spurs for holding freight cars. The station also has a weigh station on one of the spurs. The station has numerous buildings. The main building includes a restaurant in addition to the usual ticket and information counters. The station also has a Guterschuppen and neighboring warehouses. The original station building from the old Lokalbahn still stands in close proximity to the DBAG station buildings. An old Lokschuppen was torn down in 1992, but was used up until the late 80s.

KBS 963: Murnau - Oberammergau Branchline

KBS 963 is the line running from Murnau to Oberammergau. It is one of the lines with the slowest speeds allowed, moving only 5 or 10 mile per hour in some sections. Lightweight track and light maintenance contribute to this low speed. Steep grades, including stiff 3% grade just before Bad Kohlgrub on the way to Oberammergau, also contribute to the speed restrictions.

The Murnau Ort haltepunkt is nothing more than a platform long enough for two cars, and a waiting shed with enough room for about eight people. It is only 0.4 km from Murnau's main station, but is very convenient for passengers coming from Murnau's downtown area. The interesting thing about Murnau Ort is that it is situated right next to the bridge where the branchline crosses above the double-tracked section of the mainline. At the same location, a road crosses the mainline at grade, and proceeds under the bridge on which the branchline travels. This area has been described by many people as, "a location that just begs to be modeled", because of its compact elements.

The Jägerhaus Haltepunkt, like Murnau Ort, is nothing special. In fact, it has even fewer distinguishing features. A small platform and a waiting shed next to a grade crossing, Jägerhaus represents a typical Bavarian Haltepunkt.

Bad Kohlgrub Bahnhof is the mid-point for KBS 963. It has two tracks, plus a spur. The two through tracks can only hold three or four passenger coaches plus a locomotive. The holding spur is about the same length. Since the mid-90s, the two trains that run on this line must pass each other at Bad Kohlgrub because it is the only station left with a passing track.

Timeframe, Schedules, and Train Compositions

If I had to nail down an exact date to model, I would have to say June 1, 1994. I have visited Germany three times - in January 1987, in June 1994, and in June 2001. Those are evenly spaced trips every seven years, with 1994 being in the middle. I will use 1994 as the basis for the layout, but will limit my operation and collection of rolling stock between 1987 and 2001. This provides me with a fairly wide range of operations without having to completely change out rolling stock. Some significant moments in the railway history of the area are the reasons for such a wide timeframe.

If I were to add any other years, it would be back to 1979, so that I could include normal running of the BR 169's on KBS 963. However, since the E69s/169s that are available in N scale run so poorly, I'm reducing my frustration by NOT including these years!

Murnau serves as the mid-point station on KBS 960. As such, northbound and southbound trains arrive and depart from the station at relatively the same time each hour. Additionally, the trains to and from Oberammergau via KBS 963 also coincide with arrivals and departures of the trains on the mainline. This makes for a very busy station!

Trains arriving from München use Track 3. Trains arriving from Garmisch-Partenkirchen use Track 1. Trains arriving/departing from/to Oberammergau operate in a less straightforward manner.

Operational interest is increased due to how the trains to/from Oberammergau are handled. Trains arriving from Oberammergau use Track 1a to disembark passengers. Once this task has been completed, the train is then moved to Track 2 in the main part of the station. The reasons for such maneuvering are not completely clear. However, after discussing this with several people, we have come up with a theory. Track 1a does not cross the mainline, and as such, it does not interfere with trains arriving and departing on the main. Having the train from Oberammergau arrive at Track 1a also avoids delays for the passengers of the branchline train trying to make connections to trains on the mainline. OK, so why move the train to Track 2 for boarding? Again, an educated guess would be that it is more convenient for passengers coming from the directions of München or Garmisch-Partenkirchen to board the Oberammergau train on Track 2.

Between 1987 and 2001, freight service has changed dramatically. From 1987 to the mid-90s, freight service was fairly robust. Ballast from Eschenlohe was the primary reason for the service, but there were many other needs as well. Murnau itself received goods via flatcar and boxcar, as well as oil in tankcars and coal in hoppers. Daily freight trains from München to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and destinations south were run on every day but Saturday and Sunday. About once per week a special unit train from Eschenlohe's Hartsteinwerk Werdenfels was required to handle the heavy production of ballast from the plant.

In addition to the through freight trains, Murnau itself was busy with shunting work. Trains would drop off empties in Murnau for the local industries. Empty hoppers were held in Murnau for Hartsteinwerk Werdenfels, and empty boxcars were held there for the Holzindustrie Unterammergau on KBS 963. Additionally, other empty cars were brought to Murnau by the local freight trains on KBS 963. Hoppers full of ballast were brought up from Eschenlohe in small numbers to avoid the burden of pulling a full train of loaded hoppers up the Hechendorf Ramp. Flatcars and boxcars full of wood products were brought into the Murnau Bahnhof to and from Hozindustrie Unterammergau. Also, as mentioned above, other full cars were dropped off for Murnau itself by the through freights.

From the late 90s to today, freight service is scarce to say the least. With Hartsteinwerk Werdenfels closing down, and freight service completely absent on KBS 963, there is little need for regularly scheduled freight trains on KBS 960. On average, there is a single, short freight train that travels the line, Monday through Friday. In 2001, I personally witnessed a BR 139 running to Murnau with a single boxcar. It swapped this boxcar with one sitting at the Guterschuppen at the Murnau Bahnhof, and then returned north with the empty. Sidings that were once filled with ballast hoppers were now empty. One passing siding contained a long string of flatcars with sectional track, but I'm guessing that this was a special circumstance.

As mentioned in the Timeframe section, freight service on this line ended in 1994. Freight traveling over the line had been reduced considerably since the late 80's. During the late 80's and early 90's, freights were typically run three times per week.

Flatcars full of logs and empty boxcars would be bound of the Holzindustrie Unterammergau. Cars full of oil and coal could be found on the line bound for any of the station with a goods siding. Flatcars and boxcars could be seen with the occasional special loads. Ballast hoppers and other maintenance of way equipment could also be seen occasionally on this line.

Between 1987 and 2001, there have been several "special" operations that I would like to occasionally reproduce on my layout. Here are just a few of these special situations.

There is a wide variety of trains that move through Murnau. Passenger trains include RegionalBahn (RB), Regional Express (RE), InterCity (IC), and InterCityExpress (ICE). Freight, over time, has included both unit and mixed manifest trains. Below is a list of typical compositions for these types of trains, as they move through Murnau.