Ulmtalbahn
| Stockhausen (Lahn) –Beilstein (Dillkr) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route number (DB) : | 3711 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 15.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ulmtalbahn (popularly also " Balkan Express ") was a railway line that ran from Stockhausen (Lahn) to Beilstein (Dillkreis) .
The 15-kilometer branch line was opened in 1922 and overcame an altitude difference of around 250 meters.
Passenger traffic was stopped on May 30, 1976, freight traffic on January 30, 1988. In the early 1990s, the line was dismantled and the tracks were brought to Italy . A bike path has been built on the former route since 2010 .
Route description
After Stockhausen the track of the Ulmtalbahn ran parallel to the tracks of the Lahntalbahn for about a kilometer; This was followed by the only crossing of the Ulmbach and an arched stretch of route without stopping through the town of Biskirchen . Until Allendorf the single-track route led through fields and forests. Ulm ( Lahn-Dill-Kreis ) and Holzhausen are slightly below the line, while Beilstein has a train station in the local area. A total of 19 bridges were built to cross dirt roads or streams. The decisive slope was 1:45. A maximum speed of 40 km / h could be driven, there were crossroads in Allendorf and Holzhausen.
history
The first time a train through the Ulmtal was considered in 1873. The so-called primary railway line from Frankfurt am Main through Taunus, Weiltal, Ulmtal, Westerwald to Düsseldorf was not implemented due to the topographical conditions and the resulting financing problems. The next plan was for the Stockhausen - Driedorf line in 1898, but funding was initially lacking here too. In order to transport the rich raw material deposits in the Ulmtal (ore, basalt, wood and clay), it was finally decided on May 28, 1913 - 40 years after the initial planning - to build a branch line from the Lahn Valley Railway from Stockhausen station to Beilstein. Initially, the option was still open to extend the route beyond Beilstein to Driedorf, where it was to meet the Westerwaldquerbahn , which has now been built there . The Beilstein station was designed as a through station for this purpose. However, these plans were discarded due to the economic crisis of 1928 for reasons of economy , and the Ulmtalbahn remained a branch line. During the First World War , the construction of the route began with French and Russian prisoners of war; after the lost war, the work was continued by German and Italian workers.
First train into the Ulmtal
A narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 600 mm was built into the Ulmtal as early as the 1910s. It ran from today's “OutdoorCenter Lahntal” between Allendorf and Biskirchen to the train station in Stockhausen. From 1915 onwards, the excavated material and mineral resources from some of the pits around Allendorf were brought by train to Stockhausen so that they could be transported from there on the Lahn Valley Railway. In contrast to the later Ulmtalbahn, the route ran directly along the Ulmbach. There was a high probability that there was no passenger or other freight traffic. The transport was carried out with wagons with a capacity of 750 l. With the abandonment of the “Emma” mine in Allendorf in 1922, traffic on the railway was stopped and the line dismantled. Today nothing can be seen of the route.
The Ulmtalbahn
As early as 1915, some preparatory work on the route was in progress; However, these were quickly discontinued because the Ulmtalbahn had no military significance. The first section Stockhausen – Allendorf was finally opened on September 1, 1921, in the following years the railway reached Holzhausen in 1922 and finally Beilstein in 1924. After commissioning, the economy in the Ulmtal also grew steadily. The demand for raw materials from the Ulmtal, especially clay and basalt as well as wood, brought work to the rural population. The goods were transported away with the newly created railway. The railway also brought an upswing for agriculture, because now fruit and arable products were sold in wagons to major cities, especially Frankfurt and the Ruhr area. With the increase in road traffic, the fruit transports by rail from the Ulmtal finally became less and less and were later completely stopped.
In World War II, no major damage has been reported, so after the war, a rapid, complete operating recording was possible. Operations were only idle between March and August 1945.
In 1954, the Beilstein, Holzhausen and Allendorf stations were downgraded to railway agencies, and all the Ulmtalbahn switches, which had previously had to be set by hand, were now set using mechanical switch boxes. From now on, the Ulmtalbahn operated as a "simplified branch line".
In 1955 three of the total of seven level crossings were equipped with flashing lights after a serious accident with the train and a truck near Biskirchen , the driver of which had overlooked an approaching passenger train at an open level crossing, so that there was a collision , whereupon the The locomotive derailed and fell down the embankment. There were several injured.
On January 10, 1957, the Wallendorf stop was opened at kilometer 13.5 between Holzhausen and Beilstein. It consisted of an outside platform and a concrete waiting hall.
With the exception of the connection to the Wohlfeil pit in Allendorf, the connections to the pits were shut down in the 1960s, as trucks were used to transport them to the Ulmtalbahn after the field and cable cars were shut down / shut down. In 1979, when the Wohlfeil pit was connected, the last siding was shut down. Since then, goods have been loaded directly into the stations on the loading lanes.
Also in the 1960s - in 1963 - a track renewal took place.
On May 30, 1976, with the change to the summer timetable, scheduled passenger traffic on the entire route ended, although the passenger numbers did not necessarily justify this. Until the end, mainly commuters and schoolchildren to Wetzlar use the trains at peak times in the morning, midday and evening. The trains were always reliable, especially in snowy winters. Until the final shutdown there were occasional special trips with passenger trains. On October 24, 1982, the German Society for Railway History (DGEG) organized the last special trip on the line with battery-powered railcars of the 517 series . This was also the last passenger train to cross the Ulmtalbahn and reach Beilstein station.
Rail transport
The passenger trains ran daily, some trains coming from Beilstein ended in Stockhausen. The trains for shift workers and schoolchildren went through to Wetzlar , and occasionally to Giessen.
First, smaller steam engines plied the series 94 the track with cars of the type Langenschwalbach and Bi ( blunderbuss ), later these were railcars of series 795 and 798 replaced. Until the steam locomotives were withdrawn from passenger transport, Beilstein was a locomotive station and a branch office.
After the passenger traffic was stopped, the traffic from Ulmtal to Wetzlar was taken over by the train bus (Germany) , which still operates today under the line 125 of the RMV / VLDW.
In the last few years of operation, locomotives of the 212 series took over freight transport . Before that, a wide range of steam locomotives could be seen in freight traffic on the line, e.g. B. the series 50 , 55 , 56 , 86 or 95 . Due to the mining of many natural resources and companies that still made use of the railway as a supplier, there was still a brisk freight traffic until the end. There were generous tracks for this in Stockhausen, Allendorf, Holzhausen and Beilstein - at almost every station. There was a loading platform in Ulm.
On December 30, 1987 the last freight train ran with the small locomotive 331 002-6 ( Köf III ) from Biskirchen to Beilstein and back. On February 1, 1988 the entire operation of the Federal Railway Directorate (BD) Frankfurt / M. finally shut down. On June 4, 1990, the dismantling of the line began in Beilstein station, by May 1991 all tracks had been dismantled to Stockhausen station.
The track is still preserved in the former level crossing on Bahnhofstrasse in Allendorf. In the level crossing of Kreisstraße 90 from Holzhausen to Rodenroth, the track was also still there until the roadway was renovated; it was erected as a monument next to the cycle path.
The plan to keep the Ulmtalbahn for tourism and museum traffic in the future was quickly abandoned. The reasons for this were the dilapidated condition of the line (especially between Holzhausen and Beilstein), the lack of funding and plans at the time to run a bypass around Biskirchen over the railway line. However, this has not yet been built.
Todays situation
The route can still be seen today through the distinctive cuts in the terrain and embankments. Some track beds are built on with residential houses or are used for other purposes. The station buildings in Allendorf, Holzhausen and Beilstein were converted for private purposes. In Bissenberg, Ulm and Wallendorf only the old platform edge is reminiscent of the former stop. In the Beilsteiner Bahnhof there was a private museum about the Ulmtalbahn, which however was handed over to the local homeland and history association in 2011. Some display boards have been set up along the route and tell the history of the railway line.
The route for the 21 km long Ulmtal cycle path has been prepared and renovated since 2010 . This is to connect the Hessian long- distance cycle route R7 near Biskirchen with the Hessian long- distance cycle route R8 near Arborn. On October 26, 2010, the first, approx. 2.5 km long construction phase between the outdoor center Lahntal and Allendorf began in Greifenstein's municipality . A railway underpass was demolished for this purpose and replaced by a new bridge. The work was completed by the end of 2010. In January 2012, construction work began on the 1.5 km extension between Allendorf and Ulm, which was officially opened to the public on September 2, 2012. The next section to Holzhausen was completed in mid-2013. In June 2014 the cycle path reached Kreisstraße 90 to Rodenroth (above the Rewe market in Holzhausen). The expansion to Beilstein was completed by the end of 2016. In autumn 2017, the cycle path was continued on dirt roads to Arborn and connected to the R8 long-distance cycle path.
In the area of the city of Leun there has not yet been any work on the cycle path. From the outdoor center Lahn to Biskirchen exist today (May 2017), only a gravel private road and signposted rural roads , which connect to the cycle path R7.
literature
- Jochem Hellmig, Hans Hilpisch, Waldemar Rödling (Eisenbahnfreunde Kirchhain, eds.): The Ulmtalbahn. Kirchhain 1993.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Railway line becomes cycle path: start of construction for the first section in Allendorf. In: Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung . October 27, 2010.
- ↑ www.greifenstein.de - Cycling - Ulmtal cycle path. Retrieved May 24, 2017 .