Bebitz – Alsleben railway line
| Bebitz-Alsleben (Saale) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Alsleben bridge over the Saale
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| Route number (DB) : | 6852 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book section (DB) : | 284f (1936) 184d (1944) 184b (1948, 1956) |
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| Route length: | 8.5 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 10 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 200 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 40 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Bebitz – Alsleben railway line is now a disused railway line in Saxony-Anhalt . The approximately 8 km long branch line built as a small railway connected Bebitz on the Könnern – Baalberge railway with Alsleben (Saale) . On the route nationalized in 1949, passenger traffic was discontinued in 1966, and it was completely closed in 1995.
history
prehistory
In the 19th century, the area around Alsleben lived mainly from agriculture, fishing, shipbuilding and shipping. With industrialization, numerous other businesses were opened, including a gypsum quarry, a brickworks, a saltworks, a sugar factory and a spirit factory. There were also several open-cast lignite mines and mines. Some of these mines were connected via the Biendorf – Gerlebogk railway line, while the “Wilhelm” mine near Lebendorf built its own railway to the Saale in Mukrena, where the lignite was shipped. The horse-drawn tram with a gauge of 733 mm, which is unusual for Germany, was opened on July 20, 1858. The so-called “Lebendorfer Kohlenbahn” was extended to Trebitz in 1875; before that, in 1871 two steam locomotives had already been procured.
Already in the 1860s, Alsleben had tried to find a rail connection when planning the Halle – Halberstadt railway line, but the route required for this turned out to be too complicated and the Magdeburg-Halberstadt railway company ran the line via Sandersleben . Alsleben was also not taken into account in the planning of the Könnern – Baalberge railway line by the Prussian State Railways . Since the mines in Bebitz now had a direct rail connection, the coal railroad became superfluous. The attempt to continue using the railway facilities for local industry failed.
With the law on small railways and private connection railways , there was again the chance of a railway connection from 1892. Various projects were set up, some of which failed in the planning phase, others due to funding. Finally, in 1897, a line from Belleben –Alsleben– Bernburg was to be built. Due to the location near the Prussian-Anhalt border, this project could not be implemented until January 1900, as Anhalt showed little interest in a railway line. The previously secured financing was no longer tenable. Even the construction of the Belleben – Alsleben section turned out to be impracticable, as the KED Magdeburg did not allow the connection of the line in Belleben.
In 1901, the Berlin company Becker & Co. suggested using the coal railway line, but this project was rejected by the city of Alsleben. Only when further planning went wrong did the city agree to this concept in 1903/04.
Construction and opening
The Kleinbahn-AG Bebitz-Alsleben (KBA) based in Beesenlaublingen was founded on July 11th, 1905, Prussia, the province of Saxony , the Saalkreis , Beesenlaublingen and various local companies contributed the capital of 333,000 marks . Alsleben only wanted to participate in the company when the Beesenlaublingen – Alsleben section was built; the company was initially limited to the Bebitz – Beesenlaublingen section.
Construction work began in autumn 1905, as the line used the old route of the Lebendorfer coal railway, the work was completed quickly. The first coal transports were carried out in November 1905, general freight traffic from December 9, 1905. The 5.5 km long section was officially opened on December 15, 1905.
From 1906 work was carried out on the 2.6 km long continuation to Alsleben. In contrast to the first section, re-routing was necessary here. The biggest problem was the construction of the Saale bridge. As a result, the company's capital was increased to 800,000 marks, it was now divided into:
- Province of Saxony: 224,000 marks
- Prussia: 223,000 marks
- Alsleben: 123,000 marks
- Mansfeld Lake District : 50,000 marks
- Beesenlaublingen: 35,000 marks
- Hall area: 28,000 marks
- several companies: 117,000 marks
On May 13, 1908, the extension to Alsleben was opened. For the time being, the Kleinbahngesellschaft only received a temporary concession for this section, as there was still a legal dispute due to expropriation during the construction of the railway. After this was settled, a permanent concession was awarded on January 17, 1910.
Further development
From then on, the small railway was one of the most lucrative small railways in the province of Saxony. Every year a dividend was paid to the shareholders; in the second year of operation this was already over 9%. Although the Alsleben station was prepared for a possible extension of the line, all attempts to extend it failed.
During and after the First World War, the situation of the small railroad worsened because the transport services declined. Although the railway was still making a profit, on January 1, 1923, management was handed over to the small railway department of the Provincial Association of Saxony . The company also survived the inflation of 1923 relatively well, but for the first time no dividend could be paid out.
An approximately 900 m long siding to a mill in Alsleben was put into operation in 1926. In the same year, a joint venture was formed with Kleinbahn-AG Könnern-Rothenburg . In the second half of the 1920s, the volume of goods traffic continued to rise, but passenger traffic fell. The reason for this was the establishment of bus routes, because the bus was not only faster, but also drove to the center of Alsleben. Therefore, in 1934, a new Alsleben (Saale) Stadtmühle stop near the city was set up on the siding built in 1926 . As transport services rose again, a modest dividend continued to be paid out. Major modernizations were also made. After the renovation of the superstructure, the maximum permissible speed, which was previously 30 km / h, was increased to 40 km / h and the axle mass was increased to 18 t.
The company name was from September 8, 1942 Eisenbahn-AG Bebitz-Alsleben , but it remained a small railway .
Until almost the end of the Second World War, the route was spared from the effects of the war, however, in April 1945, the Alsleben station was bombed. Also in April 1945 the bridge on the Saale was partially blown up by the Wehrmacht.
The damage remained minor, however, and freight traffic was resumed in June 1945 after the bridge had been repaired.
The small railway department of the Provincial Association of Saxony in Merseburg ran the operation until 1945/46 , after the end of the war the railway company was placed under state administration and from the turn of the year 1946/1947 the management of the Saxon Provincial Railway GmbH . From this, in turn, the small and private railways managed by it were all handed over to the management of the Deutsche Reichsbahn on April 1, 1949 .
Then the railway was transferred to the Sächsische Provinzbahnen GmbH and via the Association of People's Own Enterprises (VVB) on April 1, 1949 to the Deutsche Reichsbahn. This stopped the passenger traffic on May 21, 1966. Freight traffic ended on December 31, 1994, and the line was closed on August 15, 1995.
The tracks on the line were dismantled after the closure. In addition to the station building in Bebitz, those in Beesenlaublingen and Alsleben are also under monument protection. The one in Beesenlaublingen is empty and decaying, there is a kindergarten in the old Alsleben train station (as of 2020).
Vehicle use
In 1939, the vehicle fleet comprised two steam locomotives, one railcar, two passenger cars, one packing car and nineteen freight cars.
Locomotives
At the start of operations, the railway had two tank locomotives built by Henschel & Sohn that were based on the Prussian T 2 . In 1909 a third locomotive based on the Prussian T 3 was also purchased by Henschel & Sohn, but the vehicle was sold to Kleinbahn-AG Wallwitz-Wettin as early as 1911 . In return, Wettin received a steam locomotive based on the T 2.
As a temporary solution, a Henschel type Bismarck was rented from Delitzscher Kleinbahn-AG in 1927/28 until a four-coupler was bought in 1928. This locomotive, built by Hanomag in 1918, was sold again in 1933. For a short time, T 3s were repeatedly rented in the 1930s and 1940s, with the 89 6024 such a vehicle has survived.
After the line was taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn, T 3s continued to be used for the time being. However , the Bernburg depot , to which the Alsleben locomotive station now belonged, wanted to give up the locomotive service in Alsleben. Since the coal supply of the small tank locomotives was insufficient, the 89 6009 was equipped with a 3 T 12 tender in 1952/53, but the vehicle was only used on the line for a few months. Until 1961, most of the trains were covered with the three-couplers. With a locomotive of the 92 series , however, another type of locomotive had been in use since 1957, and from 1957 some freight trains were hauled by the 57 series.
After the tank locomotives were surrendered, the Alsleben locomotive station was abandoned in 1961, and from then on the line was only used by the 57 series. These were gradually replaced by vehicles from the 50.35 series in the 1960s . Steam locomotives were last used on the line in the early 1980s, but the majority of the services had been transferred to class V 60 diesel locomotives as early as the 1970s . These handled all traffic up to the closure, the 110/112 series only came on the line in individual cases .
Lore
The tradition of Kleinbahn AG Bebitz-Alsleben is in the Dessau department of the Saxony-Anhalt State Archives .
literature
- Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley. Verlag Dirk Endisch, Korntal-Münchingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-936893-22-9 .
- Wolfgang List, Hans Röper, Gerhard Zieglgänsberger: Archives of German small and private railways. Saxony-Anhalt. (Routes, vehicles, operations). Transpress, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-613-71087-0 .
Web links
- Course book 1944
- Tradition of the Kleinbahn AG Bebitz-Alsleben in the holdings of the Reichsbahndirektion Magdeburg in the state archive of Saxony-Anhalt, Dessau department
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley , p. 93 f.
- ↑ Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley , p. 94 f.
- ↑ a b Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley , p. 96
- ↑ Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley , p. 97
- ↑ Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley , p. 97 f.
- ↑ Dirk Endisch: Small and private railways in the lower Saale valley , p. 122