Ungerhausen – Ottobeuren railway line

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Ungerhausen – Ottobeuren
Section of the Ungerhausen – Ottobeuren railway line
Route number : 5412
Course book range : 405e (1963)
Route length: 10.717 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope : 16.67  ‰
Minimum radius : 240 m
Legend
Route - straight ahead
 from Memmingen
Station without passenger traffic
 0.000 Ungerhausen ⊙ 615  m
   
 to Buchloe
   
 to Memmingerberg Air Base
   
 2.090 Westerheim ⊙ 608.2  m
   
 Warehouse
   
 6.820 Hawangen ⊙ 627.3  m
   
 Schinderbächlein ⊙
   
 Western Guenz ⊙
   
 10.717 Ottobeuren ⊙ 653.6  m

The Ungerhausen – Ottobeuren (also Günztalbahn ) line was a branch line in Bavaria . It connected Ungerhausen , where it branched off from the Buchloe – Memmingen railway line, with Ottobeuren .

Prehistory and construction

After several unsuccessful efforts to establish a railway connection, Ottobeuren asked in a petition on June 2, 1891 for the planning of a branch line between Ungerhausen and Ottobeuren. The construction of the railway was approved by law on June 17, 1896, and after the usual disputes about the exact route, construction finally began on May 15, 1899, after the final decision on February 10, 1899. At the end of July 1900 the construction of the line was finished. On October 15th, a railway opening party was celebrated on the occasion of the technical inspection, and another party was held a few days later.

route

The railway branched off in Ungerhausen from the main line Buchloe – Memmingen and then ran parallel to it towards the east until shortly before Westerheim. Only then did the lines separate.

After a swivel to the south, into the Günztal, the stop Westerheim was reached, which was a little west of the eponymous place. There was initially a typical Bavarian agency building, which was replaced by a simple shelter before passenger traffic ceased. On a side track that was once connected on both sides, there was a loading route, from which another dead-end track connected the warehouse of the local loan office. A sawmill operated a short taxiway at the edge of the facility.

Following the valley further, the route came to the Hawangen stop east of the village. An agency building was also erected there, which lasted until the end of passenger traffic. In Hawangen, too, there was a siding, which was connected in both directions and on which there was a warehouse for the Raiffeisen checkout.

In the last section of the route to Ottobeuren, the only two bridges were built, first the smaller crossing of the Schinderbächle and shortly before the terminus, the larger bridge over the Günz. In Ottobeuren itself there was a larger reception building with a platform track. A freight hall, loading docks and a locomotive shed had been set up on several side tracks. In addition, BayWa had its own warehouse in the station area, and a sawmill was also connected by a short taxiway.

business

On October 22, 1900, the public passenger and freight train service began with six pairs of trains per day, a very tight schedule for the time. Later, however, there were only four to five pairs of trains running every day, they mostly drove continuously from and to Memmingen.

The first assigned locomotives were two D VIs , but since 1902 at the latest it was mainly D VIIs that were in service. Until the end of the Second World War, D IX and GtL 4/4 also ran on the route. The latter dominated train traffic as the 98.8 series from 1945 to 1953. They were followed this year by the 98.18 series , supported by the 98.10 series locomotives .

In the mid-1950s, the 70.0 series ran for a short time on the route, which was followed by the 98.17 series from 1955 to 1957 . The class 64 and Uerdinger rail buses of the type VT 95 took their place .

In the 1960s there were ten pairs of trains on weekdays, all trains were only second class, most of them operated as railcars. The GmP , which was in use until the end of the sixties, was hauled by a V 100 , supported by class 50 steam locomotives from the Lindau depot around 1968 . On December 17, 1962, a train with the V 100 1151 locomotive crashed in Ottobeuren without serious injuries despite the wrecked passenger car, a blunderbuss .

Shutdown and special trips

Although the offer was expanded to 14 train pairs in 1967, passenger traffic was initially discontinued on October 1, 1972 . After that there were a few IC special trains from Munich to the concerts in the Ottobeurer basilica , pilgrim special trains and special society trips organized by Ottobeurer citizens . A VT 601 unit made it to Ottobeuren at least once , otherwise the class 218 was used as the locomotive with a locomotive at each end of the train - the station was too short to move the locomotives.

The cooperative warehouses in Westerheim and Hawangen, a building materials trade in Ottobeuren and occasional timber shipments kept the freight traffic going, for which class 211 and 260 locomotives were used. In addition, a railway association was committed to maintaining the route and carried out transfers in an inspection vehicle .

In July 1974 the 86 346 pulled a special steam train from Krumbach to Ottobeuren. On April 30, 1990, a complete three-part VT 798 set caused a sensation, the 75 1118 in 1995 and, most recently, the 64 289 in 1996.

Relics and reuse

After freight traffic was also discontinued on June 1, 1996, it was completely closed on October 1, and the line was subsequently dismantled. At the end of July 2009 work began on converting the route into an 8.5 km long cycle path, which was inaugurated on November 14 of the same year.

There is not much left of the former railway facilities along the route, only the private warehouses in Westerheim and Hawangen are still standing. In Ottobeuren, the former railway site has been further built over. The remise was already superfluous at the end of steam operation and was demolished long before it was closed. The station building, on the other hand, has been converted into a private residence, and the railway association has set up shop in the freight hall.

literature

  • Siegfried Baum: Ungerhausen – Ottobeuren . In: Wolf-Dietger Machel (ed.): Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany . Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Collection Service, 1994, ISSN  0949-2143 (later: GeraNova Zeitschriften-Verlag, Munich).
  • Siegfried Baum: Swabian Railway . The traffic history of the local railways in Central Swabia. Verlag Wolfgang Zimmer, Eppstein im Taunus 1969.
  • Reinhold Breubeck: The railway in Central Swabia between Iller and Wertach . Memmingen railway junction. Druck und Verlag Hans Obermayer GmbH, Buchloe 1999, ISBN 3-927781-18-5 .

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