It used to climb from Wolkenstein on the standard gauge Annaberg-Buchholz–Flöha railway through the valley of river Preßnitz (Czech: Přísečnice) to Jöhstadt on the border with Bohemia.

It was dismantled in the second half of the 1980s, however the Steinbach - Jöhstadt section was rebuilt as a museum railway after the fall of communism in East Germany.

Passenger services were terminated in 1984; the transportation of freight for the refrigerator factory in Niederschmiedeberg ceased in 1986.

Locomotives and wagons were transferred to other Saxon narrow gauge railways or decommissioned.

After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the club turned into a legal entity and presented a bold plan to rebuild at least part of the former narrow gauge line.