Bad Kreuznach – Winterburg railway line

Bad Kreuznach – Winterburg
Kleinbahn train on the Holzmarkt in Bad Kreuznach, 1906
Route length:	20.5 km
Gauge :	750 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope :	14  ‰
Top speed:	25 km / h
Dual track :	No
Legend 0.0 Reloading station 0.5 Bad Kreuznach freight yard until 1908: city station 1.1 Bad Kreuznach railway bridge 1.6 Bad Kreuznach town house 2.0 0.0 Bad Kreuznach wood market 0.7 Bad Kreuznach viticulture school formerly: Neumorgen 0.9 Bad Kreuznach small train station 1.5 Bad Kreuznach – Wallhausen railway line 1.9 Lohrer mill Graefenbach 3.4 Rüdesheim (Kreuznach district) 6.4 Weinsheim (Kreuznach district) 9.3 Custom mill ( Waldböckelheim ) 9.9 Sponheim 11.0 Burgsponheim 14.3 Bockenau Bockenau quarry 17.2 0.0 Daubach Bridge 2.5 Clay pits near Allenfeld 18.5 Winterburg

The Bad Kreuznach – Winterburg railway was a narrow-gauge railway from Bad Kreuznach to Winterburg , which was operated from 1896 to 1936.

Technical parameters

Together with the Bad Kreuznach – Wallhausen railway line branching off at the Lohrer Mühle track triangle, the line formed the network of the Kreuznacher Kleinbahnen . The track width was 750 mm, the maximum gradient 12 ‰. In Bad Kreuznach the tracks, similar to those of the Kreuznach tram , with which they crossed, lay in the subgrade. Outside the city, the route led through the valley of the Ellerbach .

history

The building permit was granted by the Koblenz government on May 1 or 10, 1895, and the line opened on August 3, 1896. Freight traffic began on September 7, 1896. On February 4, 1902, a 2.5 km long connecting line from the Daubacher Bridge stop to the clay pits near Allenfeld , which was operated only in freight traffic, was opened with a gradient of 19 ‰. This connection route was abandoned and dismantled as early as 1918 when the yield from the clay pits decreased.

In 1909 and again in 1921 the electrification of the line was considered, but not carried out. The onset of the economic crisis during the period of inflation hit the railways hard, and only two pairs of trains per day traveled the route. Another threat to the existence of the railway was the boom in road traffic. In the summer of 1934, until operations ceased, five pairs of trains were running on the route every day.

July 31, 1936 was the last day of operation of the Kreuznacher Kleinbahnen, which were shut down the following day . The official farewell trip of the Kreuznacher Kleinbahnen took place on this route. From then on, the traffic was ensured by four buses and a truck of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . The line was dismantled immediately afterwards.

business

passenger traffic

The travel time from Bad Kreuznach to Winterburg was about an hour. The trains initially offered 2nd and 3rd  class , some trains also offered 4th class.

Freight transport

Freights had to be reloaded from and onto the standard-gauge state railway in the Bad Kreuznach freight yard. It was possible to transport standard-gauge freight cars on trolleys . The stations Bad Kreuznach, Rüdesheim , Weinsheim , Sponheim , Bockenau and Winterburg had goods handling . Because of the relatively inefficient locomotives used, a pushing locomotive had to be used on heavy trains on the slope in front of Winterburg .

Incidents

In 1906 a loaded freight train got out of control in wet weather on the slope of the branch line from the clay pits near Allenfeld to the Daubacher Brücke stop and could no longer be braked. The train derailed in a bend and the locomotive overturned. The locomotive driver and a brakeman could jump off beforehand, the stoker was killed. On the downhill stretches, there were further incidents with runaway wagons or with an entire runaway train, with mostly only material damage occurring.

literature

• Rudolf Brumm: The Kreiznacher Kleenbahn 1896–1936. A detailed report on the planning, construction and operation of the Kreuznacher Kleinbahnen Bad Kreuznach - Winterburg Bad Kreuznach - Wallhausen district [!]. Bad Kreuznach 1977.
• Railway Atlas Germany . 10th edition. Schweers + Wall, Cologne 2017, ISBN 3-921679-13-3 .
• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways - Volume 1: Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland . EK Verlag, Freiburg 1989, ISBN 3-88255-651-X

Remarks

1. ↑ Wolff gives meter gauge, but Brumm explains explicitly why this was discarded.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See: Brumm: Die Kreiznacher , p. 152.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Brumm: Die Kreiznacher , p. 34.
3. ↑ Brumm: Die Kreiznacher , p. 27.
4. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , p. 25
5. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , S. 59th
6. ↑ ^{a b} Brumm: Die Kreiznacher , p. 61.
7. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher f, p 113th
8. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , S. 117th
9. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , S. 157th
10. ↑ ^{a b} Brumm: Die Kreiznacher , p. 90.
11. ↑ Wolff, p. 54.
12. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , S. 184th
13. ↑ So: Brumm: Die Kreiznacher , p. 60; according to the information on p. 81 f. but there were only 2nd and 3rd class cars.
14. ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Official Journal of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of December 18, 1915, No. 62. Announcement No. 819, p. 399.
15. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , p. 91
16. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , S. 117th
17. ↑ Brumm: The Kreiznacher , S. 143, 145-147.