Yahoo Finance A trainspotter's dream: 49-room railway station in northern Bavaria put up for sale
For 152 years trains have passed through the main railway station in Fürth, northern Bavaria.
But the splendid building has outlived its usefulness and has been put up for auction by Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned railway company.
Bids are invited for the building which was erected in 1863, two years before the arrival of the first train.
With 49 rooms and 549 square metres of living space, the building is vast.
Potential purchasers have been told that the building does require a lot of renovation work, the Local reported.
But it is a piece of history, with an attractive symmetrical facade and an attractive courtyard - although that will remain a carpark for commuters.
Germany is hardly alone in trying to find new uses for old railway stations. In Britain, many have been turned over to community groups.
Some of the stations lost as a result of the Beeching Axe in the 1960s have been converted into picturesque tea-rooms.
Some of the uses have been particularly imaginative. In 2010 a men's urinal at Worcester's Foregate Street station was converted into an art gallery.
As for Fürth, the owner will face the slight inconvenience of commuters in the town of 120,000 passing through the ground floor to get to the platforms.
But, of course, the rail connections are excellent.
