Bleialf train station

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Old Bleialf train station

The Bleialf train station is a former train station in Bleialf in the Schneifel in the Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm in Rhineland-Palatinate . The station is not far from the Belgian border and was a border station with Belgium between the two world wars . Passenger traffic in Bleialf was stopped in 1965, freight traffic in 1987 and the line dismantled. Today there is a restaurant in the station building.

location

The station is located at Bahnhofstrasse 52 in Bleialf, a local community that is part of the Prüm Association . The station is located about one kilometer southwest of the town center, around it the district of Bahnhof Bleialf arose. It is located at kilometer 43.2 (counted from Gerolstein) of the Westeifelbahn .

The Eifel-Ardennes cycle path runs directly on the railway line at the old train station. The Bleialfer Tunnel is approx. 200 meters away.

history

The station was used for rail traffic on the St. Vith – Bleialf – Prüm line . Rail traffic began at Bleialf station on October 1, 1886, when the line between Prüm and Bleialf went into operation. On October 1, 1888, the route to St. Vith was extended.

In 1914, just before the First World War, the station was served by four pairs of passenger trains every day. As a result of the Versailles Treaty, the area around St. Vith was annexed to Belgium. Bleialf became a border station and a customs office was set up in the station. In 1925, a train station was built in Ihr between Bleialf and the border . Customs clearance remained at Bleialf station.

In 1940 the area around St. Vith was incorporated into the German Empire. Towards the end of the Second World War, the line was badly damaged. As a result, operations between Pronsfeld and St. Vith were closed on September 10, 1944. The station building at Bleialf station had been damaged by artillery fire and a signal box was completely destroyed.

The line from Pronsfeld to Bleialf did not go back into operation until 1949. From St. Vith, which had come back to Belgium, the line had already been reopened for freight traffic on October 8, 1945, and in March 1945 the US Army had repaired it for military purposes. Wood from the Schneifel was transported from the Bleialf train station to Belgium as reparations . Cross-border passenger traffic was no longer resumed and the line was dismantled on Belgian territory in the early 1950s. At the border a new breakpoint has been set up. Since there was no possibility of relocating locomotives there or in your station, the trains had to move back from your to Bleialf in order to bring the locomotive to the other end of the train. Railcars were mainly used in passenger transport.

The last operating railroader at Bleialf station was withdrawn on December 1, 1961. All traffic between Bleialf and yours ended on December 31, 1965, the line was subsequently dismantled, and passenger traffic between Bleialf and Prüm was also discontinued.

Already in 1971 the cessation of freight traffic to Bleialf was approved, in fact the freight traffic was only stopped in May 1987 and the route was dismantled a few months later. The old station building and two neighboring houses were sold to private owners.

building

After the station building had been privately owned for some time, it subsequently stood empty for several years. The building was extensively restored and rebuilt. The old structures have been preserved after the renovation. The Weltenbummler restaurant is located in the basement and two apartments are on the upper floor. In the database of cultural assets in the Trier region, the building is included in the category of architectural and art monuments / technical buildings and industrial facilities / railway traffic as a structure from the era of historicism and art nouveau , in the district's list of monuments (as of March 2018) but not listed.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Railway history. Pronsfeld parish, accessed on March 16, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Michael Heinzel: To the railway line from St. Vith via Lommersweiler and Bleialf to Pronsfeld. In: The train is coming ... History and Museum Association “Between Venn and Schneifel”, accessed on March 16, 2018 (quoted from the monthly ZVS 2011/03; 04 and 05).
  3. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Druckermüller: The last train to Bleialf - memory of the closure of the railway line from Prüm to Pronsfeld - Bleialf - yours on December 31, 1965. In: input current. January 1, 2010, accessed March 16, 2018 .
  4. ^ Entry on the former Bleialf train station in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  5. ^ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm. Mainz 2018, p. 20 f. (PDF; 4.4 MB).

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 56.9 ″  N , 6 ° 16 ′ 12.4 ″  E