Hof Central Station - The "Old Station"

The "Old Station"

Today, sections of the original Hof station have survived. The station was opened in 1848 as part of the Ludwig South-North Railway and Saxon-Bavarian Railway. It was situated near Hof city centre and was thus laid out as a terminal station. In the face of rising demand for a border station between Bavaria and Saxony, the old station rapidly proved inadequate. In 1880 it was replaced by the new Hauptbahnhof and closed.

The old station building stood on the site of the present-day town post office on Dr.-Konrad-Adenauer-Platz (lately Postplatz, formerly Bahnhofsplatz). The post office at first used the station building of the old station. At the start of the 20th century the station building was replaced by a new post office block, that still exists today. Directly behind the post office – on Hallplatz – is another large section of the original Einsteighalle (boarding hall) of the old station. Over the course of time the hall was slightly shortened. It serves today as a storage hall for vehicles of the volunteer fire service in Hof, the Freiwillige Feuerwehr Hof. In the yard of the former station on the edge of Hof's city centre there are still one or two former goods sheds. On the site of the first station the name of the restaurant, Alter Bahnhof opposite the post office recalls the existence of the old station as do plaques on the post office building and the Einsteighalle.