Railway line Abzw Plattenthal – Königswalde

Abzw Plattenthal – Königswalde
Route number :	6621; sä. WKw (ex WP)
Course book range :	-
Route length:	7.875 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	17  ‰
Minimum radius :	173 m
Legend from Chemnitz 0.000 Abzw Plattenthal 421 m to Vejprty 0.95 Bridge Pöhlbach (12 m) 1.33 Werkgraben bridge 1.934 Plattenthal Ldst 443 m 2.02 Plattenthal Hp 1938-1945 443 m 2.207 Bridge Pöhlbach (16 m) 2,496 Passage work ditch ~ 4.1 EÜ Annaberger Strasse (11 m) 4.31 Geyersdorf - Mildenau 470 m 5.419 passage 7.3 Brook bridge 7.77 Königswalde (Erzgeb) untit Bf 515 m 7.875 (End of route)

The Abzw Plattenthal – Königswalde railway line (also known as the Plattental Railway ) was a branch line in Saxony designed as an industrial line . It branched off the Annaberg-Buchholz and Bf-Flöha railway line at kilometer 9.674 and ran in the Pöhlbachtal via Plattenthal to Königswalde .

history

Plattenthalbahn with wagon between the thermal baths Wiesenbad and Plattenthal (2016)

The first projects for a railway line along the Pöhlbach dated back to 1861, when possible routes for a railway line crossing the Ore Mountains were examined for the first time. The Zschopautalbahn , built in 1866, was then ultimately built further west along the Sehmatal to connect Annaberg directly. The planned construction of a narrow-gauge railway to Königswalde was also not implemented.

It was not until 1911 that the legitimate demands for a rail connection were granted. On December 15, 1912, it was decided to build a standard-gauge industrial railway to the Plattenthal loading point. Construction work on the line began on May 29, 1913 and was finished after a year. On May 1, 1914, the new railway for freight traffic was opened.

It was planned to continue the railway to Königswalde until 1917, but construction work could not begin due to the First World War . As an emergency work, work to extend the line began on June 1, 1919. On November 15, 1923, the section up to Geyersdorf-Mildenau station was put into operation. At this point in time the subgrade had already been made as far as Königswalde.

The missing tracks were not laid until the spring of 1928. The now completed line was opened on May 15, 1928. In the years 1938 to 1945, passenger trains (1 pair of trains on weekdays, 1 3rd class car) also ran on the route, which was designed as an industrial line, to a modest extent. These were not recorded in the timetable and were mainly used to transport workers to and from the trains in Wiesenbad, where there was a connection to Annaberg and Zschopau.

After the Second World War, there was a revival in freight traffic for a few years in connection with the construction of the dam in Cranzahl . The clay required to seal the dam was extracted from the pit of the Wiesenbad brickworks. During the construction phase, 28 truckloads were driven off every day.

Overall, however, the traffic performance on the route remained at a low level. For this reason, the upper part of the line, which was only inaugurated in 1928, was dismantled in 1951 to extract construction materials for the Berlin outer ring . On June 14, 1971, freight traffic to Geyersdorf-Mildenau also ended, only the connecting railways in Plattenthal continued to be served until 1990.

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  Railway bridge north of Plattenthal (2016)

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  formerly Plattenthalbahn in Plattenthal (2016)

Route description

course

The “Plattenthalbahn” branched off the Annaberg-Buchholz and Bf-Flöha railway at km 9.674 and ran south in the Pöhlbach valley via Plattenthal and Geyersdorf to the northern end of Königswalde .

At kilometer 1.00 a light railway from the brickyard crossed Wiesenbad. There were connections to companies at kilometers 1.12 (Holzschleiferei Paradiesmühle), 1.392 (VEB Dampfziegelei Wiesenbad), 1.935 (lower Brandt & Süreth paper mill and VEB Spezialpapierfabrik precipitation), 2.235 (upper Brandt & Süreth paper mill and Platina Dammbaustoffe Brandt GmbH) and 4 , 16 (BHG Geyersdorf). In total, one road, the Werkgraben and the Pöhlbach were passed on nine bridges.

Today the tracks are, z. Sometimes heavily overgrown up to kilometer 2.25 in Plattenthal. At km 1.4 there are still six privately owned construction trailer cars. From Plattenthal, the route next to the Pöhlbach has been converted into a cycle path. In Geyersdorf this ends on the road to Mildenau . The upper abutment of the sheet metal girder bridge at the station entrance can still be seen there today. Behind the area of ​​the former Geyersdorf – Mildenau freight station, the cycle path continues on the old route on the eastern slope of the Pöhlbach valley. It extends until shortly before Königswalde und Bf. On the area of ​​which there is now a building materials warehouse. On the Geyersdorf – Königswalde section, the Annaberg Onithology Association has set up a bird nature trail.

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  Plattenthal, track remains (2016)

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  Plattenthal, remains of sleepers of the Plattenthalbahn (2016)

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  Geyersdorf, embankment of the Plattenthalbahn (2016)

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  Geyersdorf, pillar of the former railway bridge (2016)

Operating points

Abzw Plattenthal ⊙

The Plattenthal junction was on the open stretch at kilometer 9.674 of the Annaberg-Buchholz and Bf-Flöha railway line between the stations of the Wiesenbad and Wolkenstein thermal baths . It was located south of the " Himmelmühle " ( sky mill ) belonging to the Wiesenbad thermal baths and east of the confluence of the Pöhlbach in the Zschopau .

With the opening of the first section to the loading point in Plattenthal, the branch went into operation on May 1, 1914. The trains were pulled from the Wiesenbad station to the Plattental junction and then pushed up the Pöhlbachtal as a shunting run. After this section was shut down as the last section of the route on November 25, 1995, the branch switch was expanded in June 2002. The large branch interlocking was demolished in the early 1990s.

Plattenthal Ldst ⊙

Plattenthal, view of the location of the Plattenthal charging point (2016)

The Plattenthal loading point was opened with the first section of the route on May 1, 1914. It was at km 1.934 on the outskirts in the direction of Wiesenbad. Shortly before and behind the station, several companies had sidings. Before the line was expanded in 1923 and since the middle section was closed in 1971, the Plattenthal loading point was the end point of the line. It consisted of two parallel-laid tracks, a car body for the freight agent with built-in free depot and a loading lane. After the opening of the Geyersdorf – Mildenau loading point in 1923, the loading point in Plattental was closed. The main track was extended over track 1 to the Geyersdorf – Mildenau loading point , where it initially ended at a buffer stop.

In 1972, a loading facility was set up at the Plattenthal loading point to reload precast concrete parts onto special low-loaders. These concrete parts were required for the construction of houses in the Annaberg district , i. H. for the construction of prefabricated housing estates. The Plattenthal loading point was in operation until 1995. Today only a few remnants of the track on “Plattenthalstrasse” in the direction of Wiesenbad remind of them.

Plattenthal Hp ⊙

Plattenthal, view of the former Plattenthal stop (2016)

In the years 1938 to 1945, on the route of the Plattenthalbahn, which was designed as an industrial line, passenger trains ran to Königswalde und Bf. For this reason, an unoccupied stop was set up in Plattenthal at km 2.02 in front of the lower paper mill. It was located near the first level crossing in Plattenthal and was only in operation between 1938 and 1945. There are no more remains of the station.

Geyersdorf – Mildenau ⊙

Geyersdorf, former Geyersdorf-Mildenau Gbf (2016)

With the opening of the middle section of the Plattenthalbahn on November 15, 1923, the Geyersdorf – Mildenau loading point was opened. It was located at kilometer 4.31 in the lower district of Geyersdorf between the roads to Mildenau in the east and Königswalde in the south. As the name suggests, the station was used to load goods to and from Geyersdorf and Mildenau. The station only had two car bodies for storing goods. The loading route was initially unpaved, the loading track was a stump of track, which limited the handling of goods. The freight agent had his office in an old car body. In the mid-1930s, the station gradually received three continuous tracks.

The Geyersdorf – Mildenau loading point was the end point of the line before the line was expanded in 1928 and since the upper section was closed in 1951. Between 1938 and 1945 it was also used for passenger transport. In 1951 the second track and the telecommunication system were dismantled.

Since 1954 what is now the terminus has been run as a freight yard. On June 14, 1971, the Geyersdorf – Mildenau freight yard went out of service with the shutdown of the middle section of the Plattenthalbahn. The sheet metal girder bridge over the road to Mildenau, which was located at the northern entrance to the station, was dismantled in 1977. The lower abutment of the bridge was demolished in 1995. Witnesses of the freight yard are still today. a. the southern abutment of the bridge, a buffer stop made of field stones on the siding of the BHG and a track remnant in the exit towards Königswalde unt Bf. The site in the east of Geyersdorf is used today by a construction company.

Königswalde (Erzgeb) unt Bf ⊙

Königswalde unt Bf (2017)

The Königswalde (Erzgeb) and Bf freight yard was opened on May 15, 1928 as the terminus of the Plattental Railway at km 7.77. Thus, 14 years passed from the opening of the lower section to the inauguration of Königswalde (Erzgeb) and Bf . The station had three parallel tracks, a loading street, and a head and side ramp. The pull-out track led the main track beyond the access road. The freight agent's office was located in the freight shed, which consisted of three disused freight car bodies. It was demolished in 1995.

With the opening of the station at the northern exit of Königswalde in the direction of Geyersdorf, the passenger station in the southwest of Königswalde was given the name Königswalde (Erzgeb) ob Bf . This was located at the junction of the freight railway line Königswalde ob Bf – Annaberg-Buchholz ob Bf and the Weipert – Annaberg-Buchholz railway line and had been in operation since 1872.

Between 1938 and 1945, passenger traffic was also carried out in Königswalde (Erzgeb) under Bf . With the imminent completion of the Cranzahl dam, Königswalde (Erzgeb) und Bf was the first station on the line to be decommissioned just 23 years after it was opened on April 13, 1951. The area around the train station is now used as a building material store by a construction company.

literature

• Erich Preuß , Reiner Preuß : Saxon State Railways . transpress Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-344-70700-0 .
• Siegfried Bergelt: The Zschopautalbahn and its regular-gauge branch lines . 2nd revised edition. Bildverlag Böttger, Witzschdorf 2005, ISBN 3-9806606-9-9 .
• Stephan Häupel: Abzw Plattenthal - Königswalde (Erzgeb) and Bf in the collection of secondary and narrow-gauge railways , GeraNova Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Munich 2001, ISSN  0949-2143

Web links

Commons : Plattenthalbahn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Description of the Plattentalbahn at www.sachsenschiene.de
• The railway line on www.bimmelbahn.de
• The Plattentalbahn on www.bahntrassenradeln.de
• Pictures of the route in the current state
• The railway line on openrailwaymap

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Wiesenbader Historie - Die Plattentalbahn", official gazette of the municipality Thermalbad Wiesenbad, edition 1 from January 1st, 2006 ( Memento of the original from November 4th, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Description of the Plattentalbahn at www.sachsenschiene.de , accessed on January 2, 2013
3. ↑ "Wiesenbader Historie - Die Plattentalbahn", Official Gazette of the municipality of Thermalbad Wiesenbad, issue 11 from November 1, 2005
4. ↑ The Plattenthal loading point at www.sachsenschiene.net
5. ↑ "Wiesenbader Historie - Die Plattentalbahn", official gazette of the municipality Thermalbad Wiesenbad, edition 1 from January 1st, 2006 ( Memento of the original from November 4th, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ "Wiesenbader Historie - Die Plattentalbahn", Official Gazette of the Municipality of Thermalbad Wiesenbad, Issue 2 of February 1, 2006 ( Memento of the original of November 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ "Wiesenbader Historie - Die Plattentalbahn", Official Journal of the Municipality of Thermalbad Wiesenbad, Issue 4 of April 1st, 2006 ( Memento of the original of November 4th, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ^ The Geyersdorf – Mildenau freight yard on www.sachsenschiene.net
9. ↑ "Wiesenbader Historie - Die Plattentalbahn", official gazette of the municipality Thermalbad Wiesenbad, issue 12 of December 1st, 2005 ( Memento of the original of November 4th, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Königswalde unt Bf on www.sachsenschiene.net