Regular passenger services were withdrawn in 1960 - due to the sparse population of the region it had always played a secondary role.

The Elmstein Valley, densely covered in woods and hence sparsely populated, suffered in earlier times from a poor road infrastructure, especially away from the direct route between Neustadt and Kaiserslautern.

For centuries, cut or split logs were transported by timber rafting down the river, i.e. propelled by the current, and were sold in the almost treeless Anterior Palatinate.

As early as March 1874 entrepreneurs from the villages of Frankeneck and Neidenfels complained that transporting goods to Lambrecht station by road would be very expensive.

For this reason, they launched a petition to the Palatine Railways, which aimed at the establishment of a halt and loading point, exclusively for goods traffic, between the stations of Weidenthal and Lambrecht.

[4] On 28 May 1888, 67 entrepreneurs sent a request to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior - at that time the Palatinate belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria - with the aim of building a tramline from Neustadt via Lambrecht and Frankeneck to Elmstein.

The Bavarian government considered it pointless to create a transport link parallel to the Ludwig Railway between Neustadt and Lambrecht.

During this time, the establishment of a branch line from Lambrecht to Elmstein was also discussed, for which the MP, Andreas Deinhard, used his influence in the Chamber of Representatives.

Those affected saw the solution to the problem as a railway link that would act as a replacement for the transportation of wood using timber rafts.

At the same time the committee engaged the relevant communities with a memorandum entitled "The Necessity of an Elmstein-Neustadt Valley Railway" (Die Nothwendigkeit einer Elmstein=Neustadter=Thalbahn).

[8] The committee continued to campaign for a full branch line by the construction of an extension of the industrial siding to Elmstein.

[7] This railway was intended predominantly to be used for the transportation of timber, which formed the bulk of the goods traffic, and not so much for passenger services.

Nevertheless, it was recognized that, because 130 workers worked away from their homes in Elstein and its outlying villages of Appenthal and Iggelbach, there was some potential for passenger traffic as well.

Because the line affected various parishes whose villages were some way from the direct route - for example, Hambach, Kirrweiler and Lachen – determining the course of the trackbed proved very difficult.

[3][9] After a lengthy campaign for a railway through the Elmstein Valley the Landtag of Bavaria finally gave permission on 10 Aug 1904 for the construction of a branch line.

The latter was done mainly by hand, but was also helped by the construction of a Feldbahn, a light field railway worked by a small steam locomotive.

The Jungfern service was just a few metres from the end of the line when, owing to a wrongly set turnout, the train accelerated at full steam into the locomotive shed and killed a spectator.

On top of the rapid increase in car traffic of that time, DB itself contributed to the competition by introducing a bus service running parallel to the railway.

[18] Because the revival of the line initially appeared unrealistic, plans were made to convert the trackbed into a cycleway or track for post coaches.

On 14 February 1984 railway fans founded the "Little Cuckoo Line Operating Company" (Kuckucksbähnel-Betriebs-GmbH) or KKB, which was initially owned by the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße, the collective municipality of Lambrecht, three clubs from the region and several private individuals.

It passes the old Lambrecht Goods Station and the village of Frankeneck and then follows the Speyerbach stream, crossing it five times as it snakes back and forth repeatedly.

[32] The trains of the Cuckoo Railway generally start at platform 5 of the central station in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.

Because the Neustadt engine shed was, at this time, being gradually wound down, the line was increasingly becoming the responsibility of its counterpart in Ludwigshafen.

From 1973 until the cessation of goods services to Elmstein, Köf III engine, number 333 170-9, was utilized for the remaining sporadic requirements.

During Bavarian State Railway times it was classified as Type 2 station, which meant that it handled "passenger, luggage and express goods".

On the opening of the remaining section of the branch line in 1909 it also became a halt for passenger trains and was renamed Sattelmühle-Esthal because of its importance for the settlement of Esthal, around four kilometres away.

During the Bavarian State Railways era it was also categorized as a Type 2 station, which meant that it handled passengers, luggage and express goods.

The western track acts as a crossing or passing loop, but was originally purely a loading siding open accessible only in the direction of Lambrecht.

[50] The present halt was built by the heritage railway 130 metres further west, not far from the forester's lodge, Forsthaus Breitenstein.

[50] During the Bavarian State Railway era it was classed as a Type 1 station, which meant that it handled passenger and also luggage services.