Bröltalbahn
| Bröltalbahn / Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Passenger train in Allner in 1899
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| Route length: | 87.3 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 785 mm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hennef – Waldbröl (actual Bröltalbahn) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Siegburg – Niederpleis – Rostingen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Beuel – Niederpleis – Hennef – Asbach | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Bröltalbahn was the first narrow-gauge public transport railway in Germany and had a track width of 785 millimeters. It was the core of a railway company , which from 1925 also carried out regular bus services and from 1956 only operated passenger services on the road. The freight traffic , which was ultimately deficient , remained until 1967 , after which the remaining track systems were also dismantled.
This company, called Brölthaler Eisenbahn-Actien-Gesellschaft (BTE), founded on February 3, 1869, traded as Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn-AG (RSE) from June 10, 1921 . The company headquarters was relocated from Hennef (Sieg) to Beuel in 1917 . In 1983 the RSE became part of the Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RSVG). It is not to be confused with the first in 1994 by the Traffic Club Germany founded RSE Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn .
The rail network of the Bröltalbahn in 785 mm gauge was at the time of its greatest expansion a total of 87.3 kilometers long and at the end was mainly used for freight traffic . With the takeover of the Heisterbacher Talbahn in 1901, an island line with a 750 millimeter gauge was also part of the BTE network.
A railway museum for the Bröltalbahn has been located on the historic railway station site in Asbach since 2000 , and its collection now includes various original Bröltalbahn traction vehicles .
history
Before 1860: prehistory
As early as the 1840s, considerations were being made to build a railway from Cologne via Kassel to Berlin , which would run between Cologne and Siegen through the Bröltal and then on to Kassel. A great advocate of this railway line was Emil Langen , the general director of the Troisdorf Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hütte. He saw the advantage of better transportability and thus the more economical development of the iron ore deposits, which were found around 1830 in Ruppichteroth in the Bröltal, for his work. Because the route through the Bröltal was impossible due to the difficult terrain with the state of the art at the time, it was decided in 1857 instead to use the victory route as a connection between Cologne and Siegen. The Bröltal received a road that followed the course of today's federal highway 478 . It was now possible to transport the raw materials to Ruppichteroth.
1860–1863: Hennef – Ruppichteroth horse-drawn tram
Transporting iron ore with horse and ox carts was very difficult. That is why the owners of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hütte wanted to build a horse-drawn railway to transport goods between Hennef (Sieg) and Ruppichteroth . It should use the road along its entire length. The problem, however, was that in some places the road was too narrow for a railroad to be shared, which is why it had to be partially widened. To implement this construction project, the Actien-Commandit-Gesellschaft Friedlieb Gustorff & Co was founded on July 2, 1860 . The partners were Emil Langen , Friedlieb Gustorff , named in the name of the company , the brother of Emil Langen's stepmother, and Gustave Lambinion from Liege . The share capital was 100,000 thalers , divided into shares worth 100 thalers each. On September 12, 1860, a contract was signed with the affected communities of Hennef , Lauthausen , Neunkirchen and Ruppichteroth. With this contract, the company was granted the right to use the Bröltalstrasse for the horse-drawn railway, but without being allowed to impair normal road traffic. In return, the company was obliged to build and maintain a Victory Bridge near Allner . On November 30, 1860, the concession to build the horse-drawn railway through the Bröltal and a branch line of 2.4 kilometers into the Saurenbachtal was granted. In addition to iron ore, lime, wood and coal were also transported. The iron ore was reloaded in Hennef on the standard gauge Cologne-Gießener railway for onward transport to the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hütte in Troisdorf .
1863–1869: Start of the steam locomotive
As the transport capacity increased, plans began to convert the railway to steam operation. Among other things, this was much cheaper because of the savings in personnel costs. The transport costs for steam operation were only 25% of the transport costs for horse operations. Also, steam locomotives were much faster. A trip with a steam locomotive took two and a half hours and with a team of horses nine hours. However, large parts of the population rejected the use of steam locomotives because they viewed it as a fire-breathing monster and did not approve of the fact that these locomotives drove on the road and close to people, animals and houses. Therefore, during the probationary period in 1863, a police commissioner always had to go along and write down when animals shied away from the train or something similar happened. On April 25, 1863, the first steam locomotive ran in the Bröltal.
1869–1885: route to Waldbröl
Since the transport volume for iron ore declined towards the end of the 1860s, it was planned to extend the Bröltalbahn to Waldbröl , because the area around Waldbröl was still insufficiently developed, in order to increase the transport volume and counteract the loss. So it was decided on February 3, 1869 to convert the Commandit company into a stock corporation . The new company was called Brölthaler Eisenbahn-Actien-Gesellschaft and was based in Hennef (Sieg) . The Prussian state gave the company a capital of 60,000 thalers. In return, it should set up passenger traffic on the route from Waldbröl to Ruppichteroth. Together with the state bonus and the deposits worth 170,000 thalers, the share capital was 230,000 thalers. Friedlieb Gustorff became a member of the board. On September 6, 1870, the line to Waldbröl was opened. The iron ore transport continued to decline, so that in 1877 the branch line to the iron ore mine in the Saurenbachtal was dismantled. However, more and more other goods were being transported. Passenger traffic was free of charge with self-built passenger cars that were hung behind the freight trains. On July 1, 1871, passenger traffic was also introduced between Hennef and Ruppichteroth. A fare was only introduced on September 16, 1872. Nevertheless, passenger transport continued to rise. Freight traffic, on the other hand, fell.
1885–1914: Expansion of the rail network
| route | opening |
|---|---|
| Hennef-Ruppichteroth | May 27, 1862 |
| Ruppichteroth – Waldbröl | September 6, 1870 |
| Hennef – Beuel | December 1, 1891 |
| Hennef-Bucholz | January 20, 1892 |
| Buchholz – Asbach | August 15, 1892 |
| Niederpleis – Oberpleis | May 7, 1893 |
| Oberpleis – Herresbach | February 21, 1894 |
| Niederpleis – Siegburg | May 1, 1899 |
| Herresbach – Rostingen | October 1, 1902 |
Due to the continuing decline in iron ore transport, the owners of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hütte lost interest in the Bröltalbahn. That is why the Sal. Oppenheim bank and the Disconto-Gesellschaft took over the railway in 1885, mainly because of the profitable basalt transport in the area of the northwestern Westerwald . For this reason, the expansion of the route network began. On December 1, 1891, the line from Hennef to Beuel was opened. The line from Hennef to Buchholz followed on January 20, 1892, and the expansion from Buchholz to Asbach on August 15, 1892 . The Niederpleis - Oberpleis , Oberpleis to Herresbach , Niederpleis to Siegburg and Herresbach to Rostingen routes followed by October 1, 1902 , so that the rail network grew to 87.3 kilometers by that day.
In contrast to the route through the Bröltal, all other routes were given their own track structure and were no longer laid in the street. Eight basalt quarries got their own siding . In Beueler harbor was Basalt then ships loaded. On October 8, 1903, the Heisterbacher Talbahn (HTB), a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 750 millimeters, which ran from Niederdollendorf to Grengelsbitze , was taken over. In the period that followed, transport services for both people and goods rose sharply until the First World War . However, the railway company suffered some losses because it faced competition in freight traffic from the Wiehl Valley Railway from Wiehl to Waldbröl , which was opened by the State Railway on December 15, 1906, and in passenger traffic from the SSB line from Siegburg to Bonn, which opened on September 9, 1911 . Another competing route was the standard gauge Bielstein – Waldbröl small railway .
Asbach station on a postcard from 1901
Siegburg station in 1903 in a drawing
Postcard from Ingersau with the Bröltalbahn from 1905
1914–1921: First World War and subsequent years
During the First World War , the railway transported more war-weight goods and less basalt. In addition, there was a strong increase in passenger traffic , particularly due to the transport of workers from the munitions factories. After the war, the railway suffered difficulties from the French occupation and inflation .
On June 1, 1921, the Bröltaler Eisenbahn AG took over the basalt railway from the terminus Rostingen of the "Pleistal route" Siegburg-Niederpleis-Rostingen to Aegidienberg - Rottbitze with sidings to the basalt quarries there on the Himberg and on the Dachsberg .
On June 10, 1921, the Brölthaler Eisenbahn-Actien-Gesellschaft was renamed Rhein-Sieg Eisenbahn-Aktiengesellschaft (RSE) because, on the one hand, the railway has not only run through the Bröltal for about 30 years and, on the other hand, because it has been mistaken for the Eifeler Brohlal -The railroad was there. On November 23, 1921, the new name was entered in the commercial register.
1921–1931: Introduction of the omnibus
| RSE bus routes before 1939 | opening |
|---|---|
| Bonn – Hennef – Waldbröl | February 1, 1925 |
| Siegburg – Hennef | February 1, 1925 |
| Oberpleis – Niederdollendorf | February 1, 1925 |
| Hennef-Asbach | February 11, 1925 |
| Siegburg – Oberpleis | March 18, 1925 |
| Oberpleis – Koenigswinter | May 15, 1929 |
| Hennef – Oberpleis | December 6, 1936 |
| Pützchen – Stieldorf | January 15, 1937 |
| Sankt Augustin – Troisdorf | July 15, 1937 |
| Asbach-Flammersfeld | May 1, 1938 |
| Asbach – Neustadt | May 1, 1938 |
Because experiences with the relatively new motor vehicle had been good at the front during the war , the RSE began to introduce omnibus operations on February 1, 1925 . Regular buses ran from Bonn via Hennef (Sieg) to Waldbröl , from Siegburg to Hennef, from Oberpleis to Niederdollendorf , from Hennef to Asbach and from Siegburg to Oberpleis. Bus operations were introduced very early on because they wanted to prevent the competition from penetrating. From 1929 to 1938 six more bus routes were opened (see table). Excursion trips were also offered and the RSE became one of the largest coach operators in the region.
1931–1939: Great Depression and competition from road traffic
The RSE was also affected by the general global economic crisis. In 1931, a quarter fewer passengers were transported than in 1932. In that year, freight traffic also had its lowest level since the route was completely expanded in 1900. After that, however, the volume of goods traffic rose again until 1938, when the highest transport performance was achieved between the two world wars . There were two reasons for this: firstly, basalt was needed to drain the Zuidersee in the Netherlands , which was transported by the Bröltalbahn from the quarries to the Rhine , and secondly, the new Reichsautobahn was built from Cologne to Frankfurt am Main (today's Bundesautobahn 3 ) through the surrounding area and the Bröltalbahn supplied the construction sites with material. However, despite the success, one recognized the impending competition from the street. That is why the first truck with a trailer was procured in 1937 , but it had to be returned to the Wehrmacht in 1939 . Rail passenger transport continued to decline and in 1937, for the first time, more people were transported by regular bus than by rail.
In order to make rail transport more attractive in addition to bus transport, the first railcar was acquired on October 7, 1934, after the permissible speed, after an improvement in the superstructure and an increase in the profile from 1,885 millimeters to 2,300 millimeters, to 30 km / h for Passenger trains, 20 km / h for freight trains and 35 km / h for railcars had been increased. It was four-axle and had an output of 95 hp. In the next few years, experience with this vehicle was good, so that four more railcars were purchased in 1938 and 1939. They were stationed in Hennef, Oberpleis and Asbach.
1939–1951: Second World War and the post-war period
In the Second World War , which began in 1939, freight traffic continued to decline because the Deutsche Reichsbahn had a shortage of wagons, as well as for other reasons related to the war. Passenger traffic, on the other hand, increased rapidly. In 1944, the railway carried 570% more passengers than in 1938. The number of bus services increased in a similar way . However, this was not an advantage for the Bröltalbahn because the money was also worth less. Financing the network was therefore difficult. However, the railway ran almost the entire Second World War without any significant operational restrictions . Even after the war, the train continued to operate, although there were bottlenecks in the fuel. A particularly large number of passengers were returnees who drove back to Bonn from Waldbröl . In addition, the change in passenger transport from the Bröltalbahn to the regular bus continued.
1951–1971: Rail traffic ceased
Because the regular bus service was much more economical to operate and since more people were now using the regular bus than the Bröltalbahn, one began in 1951 to gradually discontinue passenger transport by rail. The last passenger train of the Bröltalbahn ran on August 1, 1956 between Hennef and Asbach and the last freight train on May 17, 1967 on the remaining route between the Eudenberg quarry and Beuel . The supervisory authority only approved the closure of the remaining route if trucks were to be used to replace rail freight transport . The RSE was released from this obligation on December 1, 1971. The remaining three diesel locomotives (V11, V12, V13) were sold to the Zillertalbahn , the freight wagons were scrapped. The tracks were dismantled in a short time after the line was closed, the operating facilities and buildings were sold and some of them were still used for bus operations.
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1971–1983: Takeover by RSVG
When there were no rail connections to the basalt quarries and the RSE became a pure bus service , the main shareholder, Basalt AG from Linz am Rhein , lost interest in the RSE. The Rhein-Sieg district, on the other hand, which also already had an extensive bus network, was very interested in the RSE politically. That is why the Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RSVG), which was only founded on January 1, 1973 and belongs to the district , into which the transport companies of the Rhein-Sieg district and the Siegburg transport company of the city of Siegburg had gone, bought RSE on January 1, 1973 on. The unused RSE premises became the property of Basalt AG . This made the RSVG the only public bus company in the Rhein-Sieg district on the right bank of the Rhine, alongside the Federal Railroad and the Federal Post Office . From September 29, 1974, the RSE and RSVG were housed in a transport community with a common timetable and tariff. On January 1, 1977, RSE was completely taken over by RSVG and on September 30, 1983, RSE was deleted from the commercial register. So it no longer existed.
RSE Museum Asbach
In Asbach (end of the line from Hennef (Sieg) ) there has been a railway museum on the historic station area since 2000 . Its story began in the local engine shed. After the cessation of operations in Asbach in 1959, the locomotive shed was initially still used as a bus depot by the RSE and was later acquired by the local community of Asbach . The community initially housed their building yard here . While looking for a further use of the locomotive shed, the community met Wolfgang Clössner, who was looking for a suitable shelter for the RSE steam locomotive 53, which he now owned .
The focus of the exhibition is the reconditioned, rollable steam locomotive 53, the last remaining steam locomotive of the Bröltalbahn / RSE and at the same time one of the most modern narrow-gauge steam locomotives in Germany. For many years there has been an operational diesel locomotive of the type Ns3f (not an RSE original) as well as a trolley from the Zillertal Railway and two open freight cars from a Polish sugar factory. The cars are identical to the respective RSE vehicles and have been restored to their condition. In addition, the museum houses a wide variety of RSE exhibits, from lifting jacks and train bus stops to original signals. A steam-powered garden railway transports visitors across the museum grounds.
In the summer of 2013, Wolfgang Clössner also managed to buy back the original RSE V 13 diesel locomotive as a rollable exhibit from the Zillertal Railway. On the Zillertal Railway, it was superficially restored to the condition of the RSE; A team from the museum is currently working on a voluntary basis to bring it back into operation in historical form.
With the help of volunteers and the building yard of the community of Asbach , an approximately 100-meter-long piece of track including a level crossing was gradually rebuilt on the former Asbach train station for maneuvering and presenting the vehicles. The historic reception building has meanwhile been acquired and renovated by the municipality of Asbach. The museum's new exhibition rooms have been located on the ground floor since August 2013, while the upper floor is private living space.
On November 26, 2016, the former T 2 diesel multiple unit of the Rhein-Sieg Eisenbahn AG returned to its old home. Built in 1938 by the Wismar wagon factory , it is the oldest surviving vehicle on the old Bröltalbahn / RSE. The vehicle survived the Second World War by being temporarily placed in the Bennau quarry (near Asbach) in a green camouflage paint . It operated on the narrow-gauge network of the RSE until the end of the 1950s (e.g. in the Pützchens-Markt-Verkehr) before it was sold to the Jagsttalbahn in Baden-Württemberg . It ran here until 1988, but has since been converted into a sidecar . Until 2016, it was uncertain what would happen to the vehicle. Now the municipality of Asbach was able to purchase the vehicle. It should be made rollable and optically in the RSE color scheme of the time.
The museum opens on the 2nd Sunday of the month from April to October and admission is free.
Relics
After the cessation of operations, only a few original RSE vehicles remained, which were sold to other narrow-gauge railways or private individuals (see vehicle table). Almost all the monuments of the Bröltalbahn in the places along the former route are therefore third-party vehicles that were never used on the Bröltalbahn.
- In Niederpleis from 1987 to 2002 the original RSE V 5 diesel locomotive from the Eudenberg quarry stood in the area of the former train station with a wooden dump car as a monument. Attempts by the RSE-Museum Asbach to acquire this original RSE diesel locomotive from the municipality and to transfer it to the museum in Asbach were rejected by the city of Sankt Augustin without any explanation. Instead, the locomotive remained in Niederpleis and was increasingly the victim of willful destruction and vandalism . The city reacted to these conditions by adding the locomotive and car to its list of monuments in 2002 and having both restored. In 2004 the vehicles were set up again in the Niederpleiser Mühle area (around 130 meters from the former Niederpleis - Oberpleis line). They are now protected from the weather and vandalism by a roof and wire mesh fences (which unfortunately obstruct the view).
- The holdings of the Rheinisches Industriebahnmuseum Cologne have included the 7729 "Basaltine" built by O&K in 1914 since 1990. The narrow-gauge steam locomotive, also 785 millimeters, was once used on the RSE connecting line Rostingen - Rottbitze (Himberg), so it carried RSE freight wagons. However, it was procured by Basalt-AG Linz. A later deployment took place in the Kalenborn narrow-gauge network, above Linz on the Rhine. A stopover for her was a set-up on the children's playground on Rigalschen Wiese in Bonn Bad Godesberg, before she came to the RIM in Cologne after an optical refurbishment in Hangelar (right next to the former RSE route). The external drum brake should be mentioned as a special feature.
- In the RSVG depot in Hennef (Sieg) , which was built in 1981, a steam locomotive , standing on a section of track, reminds of the time of the Bröltalbahn. This steam locomotive comes from Basalt AG Linz / Rhein. This is a Luttermöller narrow gauge locomotive produced by Jung in 1939 with the serial number 8301/1939, type 185 PS, Dn2t, track width 785 millimeters.
- In Hangelar , a light rail diesel locomotive (sister machine to the V 6 of the RSE Museum Asbach) from the new federal states with two Polish beet wagons was erected as a memorial.
- In Ruppichteroth at the bus station in Brölstrasse, at the former Buchholz train station, at the Hennef (Sieg) -Ost motorway exit , at a roundabout in front of Asbach and in Bonn-Beuel near the Rhine, short sections of track were partially fitted with buffer stops and with information boards ("historical rail systems") re-erected as a memorial.
- Directly in front of the Hennef (Sieg) train station is an approximately 30-meter-long section of grooved track in the pavement, also with an information board.
- In some places along the former routes there are still buildings of the Bröltalbahn, some of which are being used again or are in ruins. The reception building in Beuel is now used as a restaurant at Bahnhofchen , the reception building in Niederpleis as a kindergarten. Other reception buildings that have been preserved are located in Dahlhausen, Pützchen, Hangelar, Oberpleis, Quirrenbach and Rostingen - mostly, however, heavily rebuilt (e.g. to a residential building) and therefore difficult to recognize.
- 1.5 kilometers of the route from Bonn-Beueler Rheinuferstraße to the intersection of Siegburger Straße / Gartenstraße / Pützchens Chaussee are now called "Bröltalbahnweg", a cycle path that crosses the right-hand Rhine route with a typical barrel-vaulted tunnel, which is still reminiscent of the earlier Usage as a railway line remembered. Near the Rheinuferstraße there are still a few meters of track in memory of the Bröltalbahn. There is a fence near the junction on Gartenstrasse, consisting of original yellow painted RSE rails.
- After the renovation of the Sankt Augustin Zentrum / Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg stop of the Siegburger Bahn, a graffiti of the Bröltalbahn was sprayed onto the newly built bridge in 2017, showing a locomotive and several former stops.
Today's Siegburg train station. Nothing is left of the former RSE.
Monument in Hangelar
The restored station building in Beuel is now used as a restaurant.
Memorial plaque in Ruppichteroth
Remaining grooved track in front of the DB station in Hennef with a memorial plaque
Narrow gauge track in a roundabout in Hennef
V 12 of the Rhein-Sieg Railway, now in service as D 12 on the Austrian Zillertal Railway.
Former Oberpleis station and engine shed of the Rhein-Sieg Railway.
RSE V 13 at the former Bennau Tal station
Information board at the location of the former RSE train station in Birlinghoven
Bröltalbahnweg tunnel portal from the direction of Hennef (Westerwald)
Bröltalbahnweg tunnel portal from the direction of Beuel (Rhine)
Former embankment of the RSE siding to the Pleistalwerke
Former Niederpleis train station, now used as a day-care center
The Jung-Luttermöller locomotive in today's RSVG depot in Hennef
Participation certificate for 50 RM from the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn-AG from June 1926
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Track body
The track width of the Bröltalbahn and the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn was 785 millimeters in the entire rail network except for the Heisterbacher Talbahn , this corresponded to 2 1/2 Rheinischen feet . The Heisterbacher Talbahn had a track width of 750 millimeters. The maximum perimeter of the vehicle was 3,400 millimeters in height and 2,300 millimeters in width. The slightly larger clearance profile, on the other hand, was 3,500 millimeters in height and 2,700 millimeters in width. The superstructure was mostly free, only the entire trunk line of the Bröltalbahn from Hennef to Waldbröl lay in the street.
The Siegbrücke between Siegburg and Mülldorf deserves a special mention . It was primarily a road bridge for the provincial administration, but could also be used by the railway. However, it was too narrow to accommodate rail vehicles and road vehicles at the same time. Therefore it was equipped with barriers and a guard who regulated the traffic. In addition, in 1911 the new standard gauge Siegburg railway from Bonn to Siegburg was also moved over this bridge, which is why a four-rail track existed there. That's why it also received a signaling system. This condition remained until the RSE was discontinued in 1955.
Route network
At the time of greatest expansion from 1902 to 1951, the total length of the route was 87.3 kilometers. The entire rail network was built between the years 1862 and 1902. During this time there was also a 2.4 kilometer branch line into the Saurenbachtal to Schönenberg. This was opened in 1862, but dismantled again in 1877. Of the 87.3 kilometers, 54.49 kilometers were on its own track and 32.81 kilometers on the road. In addition, the Bröltalbahn and Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn owned a 1.28-kilometer cable car between Bennauberg station and the Plagerkopf quarry . In Hennef (Sieg) and Siegburg , standard-gauge freight wagons were loaded onto trolleys on the narrow-gauge railway . In the Beuel Rhine port , the goods were loaded onto ships by rail .
vehicles
Steam locomotives
Because operating with steam locomotives was much cheaper than operating with horses , the BTE procured the first steam locomotive in 1863 and the second in 1865, which were henceforth designated as numbers 1 and 2. They were three-axle tender machines with a cylinder diameter of 280 millimeters, a piston stroke of 340 millimeters and a mass of 12.6 tons. They had an output of 120 hp. They were built by the Karlsruhe machine works . Ten years later the third, two-axle locomotive was bought. However, their mass was only 9.5 tons and had a piston stroke of just 330 millimeters. Later, the existing locomotives were generally too weak for the increasing uphill freight traffic , so that in 1878 a more powerful machine was purchased, but it ran uneasily. The locomotives 1 and 2 that became free were used primarily for passenger transport. The fifth locomotive followed in 1884, which, according to the tender, should pull a 150-ton train at a speed of 15 km / h with curved tracks of 60 meters and a gradient of 1:80. This locomotive, built by Maschinenfabrik Karlsruhe, proved its worth, so that 12 of the 14 locomotives procured between 1891 and 1902 due to the rapid expansion of the route network were built in the same design. However, they were no longer supplied by the Karlsruhe machine works, but rather by Orenstein & Koppel (four pieces) and partly by the Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik from Kirchen (Sieg) (eight pieces). Locomotives 18 and 19, which were not of the same design as the previous ones, were four-axle locomotives of the Mallet design , as were the locomotives that followed in 1907 and 1914.
After the First World War, the Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik built six steam locomotives for the Bröltalbahn. The last was the number 53, delivered in 1944, which weighed 51 tons, was 11,345 millimeters long and 2,260 millimeters wide and could travel at a maximum of 50 km / h. Between 1956 and 1959 three locomotives were converted to oil firing.
| No. | design type | Manufacturer | Construction year | Serial number | at the BTE / RSE in operation until |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cn2t | MFK | 1863 | 194 | before 1907 |
| 2 | Cn2t | MFK | 1865 | k. A. | before 1914 |
| 3 | Bn2t | MFK | 1874 | 877 | before 1918 |
| 4th | Cn2t | MFK | 1878 | 1004 | before 1919 |
| 5 | Cn2t | MFK | 1884 | 1105 | before 1919 |
| 6−13 | Cn2t | Young | 1891-1892 | 110-115, 141, 142 | 1923–1953 (No. 6 1943 to Trusebahn, from 1949 DR 99 4611) |
| 14-17 | Cn2t | OK | 1899 | 418-421 | 1957, 1963 |
| 18th | B'Bn4vt | OK | 1901 | 891 | 1914 to HFB |
| 19th | B'Bn4vt | Young | 1902 | 599 | 1940 to Upper Silesia |
| 1 | B'Bn4vt | OK | 1907 | 2548 | 1920s, 1914-1918 HFB |
| 2 | B'Bn4vt | Young | 1914 | 2173 | circa 1935 |
| 3 | Dh2t | Young | 1918 | 2748 | 1960 |
| 4th | Dh2t | Young | 1919 | 3052 | 1959 |
| 5 | Dh2t | Young | 1919 | 3403 | 1965 |
| 9 | Bn2t | Hohenzollern | 1910 | 2618 | 1952 |
| 31 | 1'D1'h2t | Borsig | 1923 | 11535 | 1961 |
| 32 | 1'D1'h2t | Borsig | 1923 | 11536 | 1959 |
| 51 | 1'D1'h2t | Young | 1923 | 3403 | 1965 |
| 52 | 1'D1'h2t | Young | 1923 | 3404 | 1968 |
| 53 | 1'D1'h2t | Young | 1944 | 10175 | 1968 to DGEG , today RSE-Museum Asbach |
| 102 | C2nt | Hagans | 1893 | 348 | 1926 |
| 103 | C2n2t | Hagans | 1901 | 440 | 1926 |
A 1: 2 scale front model of locomotive No. 5 (2nd occupation) is in Ruppichteroth on Bröltalstraße.
Diesel locomotives
From 1922 the RSE started using a benzene-powered locomotive in the Beueler Rheinhafen , which was taken out of service again in 1935.
Since 1951 the Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn has shut down its lines one after the other, but there was still hope that the line from Eudenberg to Beuel could be maintained. Therefore, the RSE acquired from 1957 to 1960 another two shunting - diesel locomotives at Orenstein & Koppel with 75 HP and three-range diesel engines with 145 hp. The shunting locomotives were intended for the Rhine port in Beuel and the Eudenberg quarry, the three mainline diesel locomotives for normal freight traffic . Today's V6 diesel locomotive did not exist on the Bröltalbahn, it is a diesel locomotive of the Bröltalbahnmuseum Asbach (type LKM Ns3h) that has been re-tracked from 860 millimeters gauge .
| No. | design type | Manufacturer | Construction year | Serial number | in operation at RSE until |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V1 | B. | Humboldt | 1922 | k. A. | 1953 |
| V3 | B / MV4A | OK | 1957 | 25771 | 1968 to BAG |
| V4 | B / MV4A | OK | 1965 | 16274 | 1968 to BAG |
| V5 | B. | Schöttler | 1959 | 1659 | 1963 to BAG, since 1987 technical monument in Niederpleis |
| V6 | B dm | Lokomotivbau Karl Marx , Babelsberg | 1957 | 249238 | RSE Museum Asbach, not an original vehicle, re-gauged from 860 mm gauge |
| V11 | B / MV8 | OK | 1959 | 25923 | 1969 to Zillertalbahn , 1973 StLB (VL6), 2019 Local Railway Mixnitz – Sankt Erhard |
| V12 | B / MV8 | OK | 1959 | 25965 | 1969 on Zillertalbahn (D12), converted to radio remote control |
| V13 | B / MV8 | OK | 1960 | 25869 | 1969 to Zillertalbahn (D11), 2013 to RSE-Museum Asbach |
Diesel railcars
_bei_der_Jagsttalbahn_(2012).jpg)
The first 12,598 millimeters long railcar was acquired in 1934, had a six-cylinder Daimler - diesel engine with an output of 95 hp and drove 55 km / h fast. In 1938 and 1939 four more railcars were procured because the RSE planned to handle all passenger traffic with railcars. However, this project was hindered by the Second World War and then completely destroyed by the advent of the omnibuses .
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Before the war the colors of the railcars were tomato red ( RAL 3013) on the sides and on the roof ivory (RAL 1014), during the war on the sides and on the roof leaf green (RAL 6002) and after the war blue on the sides (RAL 5012) and again ivory on the roof (RAL 1014).
| No. | design type | Manufacturer | Construction year | Serial number | in operation at RSE until |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | VT4 | Wismar | 1934 | 20234 | 1939, conversion to TA1 after an accident |
| T2 | VT4 | Wismar | 1938 | 21103 | 1959 to Deutsche Eisenbahn Betriebs Ges., Converted into a railcar trailer as VB403. 2016 to RSE-Museum Asbach. |
| T3 | VT2 | Wismar | 1938 | 21106 | 1955 |
| T4 | VT4 | Wismar | 1938 | 21107 | 1960 to Deutsche Eisenbahn Betriebs Ges., In 1967 scrapped as VT302 after an accident. |
| T5 | VT4 | Wismar | 1939 | 21147 | 1958 to Deutsche Eisenbahn Betriebs Ges., Today stored in the locomotive shed in Bieringen (Jagsttalbahn) as VT300. |
| TA1 | VB4 | Conversion from T1 | 1938 | - | 1968 |
| TA2 | VB4 | Self-made | 1949 | - | 1966 |
| TA3 | VB2 | Self-made | 1946 | - | 1955 |
| TA4 | VB4 | Self-made | 1938 | - | 1959 to Deutsche Eisenbahn Betriebs Ges., Today stored in Bieringen station (Jagsttalbahn) as VB400. |
| TA5 | VB4 | Self-made | 1938 | - | 1959 to Deutsche Eisenbahn Betriebs Ges., Today parked in Bieringen station (Jagsttalbahn) as VB401. |
Passenger cars
Due to a lack of experience with the dimensions of vehicles on such narrow-gauge railways as the Bröltalbahn, the railway supervisory authority planned a permissible wagon width of 1.57 meters, i.e. twice the track width , and a height above the top of the rails of 2.35 meters when passenger traffic was introduced on the Bröltalbahn a. However, it later turned out that these dimensions were unsuitable for the transport of people, so that a width of 1.775 meters and a height of 2.65 meters above the top of the rail were ultimately determined. The first passenger cars were 4.875 meters long and had two entry and exit platforms at the ends, which were connected to the compartment by double-leaf doors . They were also painted green, had 14 seats in the wooden and 12 in the upholstered class and were equipped with a cannon stove for the winter. In 1884, a 5.3 meter long car with steering axles, twelve seats in one and ten in another compartment was used as a test. The length of the following cars was also significantly improved. The highest number was reached by the railway in 1923 with 40 cars.
Freight wagons
The first freight wagons , which were intended for transporting ore and therefore had a sloping floor and side flaps for automatic unloading, were built in the railway's own workshop. From the beginning before 1878 there is no confirmed information about the number of freight cars. There is only one treatise from 1875 which says that the railway has 50 freight cars. In 1878, due to the discontinuation of ore transport in 1877, there were only 5 covered and 21 open freight cars. Because of the extension of the route, there were again more freight cars in 1893, namely 27 closed cars (G-cars), including the existing baggage cars, with a length of 4.5 meters, a width of 1.5 meters and a height of 1.8 meters and 231 open cars (O cars), including open box cars, bulk goods cars and flat cars . Until 1926 there were only O-wagons that could carry a maximum of 7.5 tons of load. In 1926, the RSE then procured 44 O-wagons that could transport 10 tons of loads, which were followed a few years later by wagons with 20 tons. In addition to these rail freight cars, there were three mail cars from 1906. Until then, there were only train-owned luggage trolleys with a mail compartment . Since the train stations in Siegburg and Hennef were equipped for roll-head traffic , there were also 20 roll-stands to be able to transport standard-gauge wagons over the narrow-gauge lines, on which it was possible in profile.
These were the routes:
- Hennef-Buisdorf
- Hennef – Mendt
- Siegburg – Rostingen
- Niederpleis – Hangelar
- Hennef – Waldbröl
Some Rollbockwagen were sold to the Austrian Zillertalbahn after the RSE was shut down.
See also
literature
- Adolf Becker: The Bröltalbahn - Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn . Ed .: Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH. 1st edition. Verlag Kersting, Niederkassel-Mondorf 1988, ISBN 3-925250-05-0 .
- Sascha Koch: Railways in Oberberg and the history of the Dieringhausen depot. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2005, ISBN 3-89909-050-0 .
- Manfred Frickhöfer: The Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn (Bröltalbahn) . Print: quickprint grube & speck, Karlsruhe 1979.
- Carsten Gussmann, Wolfgang Clößner: The Heisterbacher Talbahn and industrial railways in the Siebengebirgsraum. Freiburg im Breisgau 2006, ISBN 3-88255-456-8 .
- Wolfgang Clößner, Carsten Gussmann: The Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn - pioneer of the German narrow-gauge railways. LOK-Report Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-935909-20-4 .
- Ulrich Clees: Bröltaler Eisenbahn / Rhein-Sieg Railway - narrow-gauge railway with a pioneering spirit . In: Jörg Sauter (Ed.): Eisenbahn-Kurier . No. 3/2018 . Eisenbahnkurier Verlag , 2018, ISSN 0170-5288 , p. 46-51 .
Web links
- Museum of the Bröltalbahn
- Heisterbacher Talbahn with the "Weilberg model system" in the bridge courtyard museum in Königswinter-Oberdollendorf. Retrieved January 20, 2016 .
- Presentation for Google Earth with information on the Bröltalbahn
- Picture book Ruppichteroth - historical postcards and photos around Ruppichteroth also from the Bröltalbahn
- Measuring table sheets from the Deutsche Fotothek :
- Measuring table sheet 5110: Ruppichteroth, 1928 (Winterscheid <-> Ruppichteroth)
- Measuring table sheet 5209: Siegburg, 1936 (Around Siegburg)
- Measuring table sheet 5310: Asbach, 1935 (Buchholz <-> Asbach)
- Interactive online maps:
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jill Mylonas: Graffiti beautifies train station - spraying on behalf of the city of Sankt Augustin. In: General-Anzeiger Bonn. October 12, 2017, accessed March 16, 2019 .
- ↑ The old Bröltalbahn travels to the Sankt Augustin Zentrum stop. It was sprayed by Octagon Graffiti Art from Siegburg Stadt Sankt Augustin, accessed on March 17, 2019
