Beerwalde – Drosen railway line

Berry forest droplets
Route number (DB) :	-
Course book section (DB) :	-
Route length:	6.0 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend 0.0 from Ronneburg and Meuselwitz 1.1 Beerwalde (Kr Schmölln) Gbf 4.1 Löbichau 5.9 Droplets

The Beerwalde – Drosen line was a connecting line to the Wismut factory railway in East Thuringia, which was primarily built and operated by SDAG Wismut for the transport of uranium ore and sand .

history

The first section from the Meuselwitz – Ronneburg railway to the Beerwalde works station went into operation on May 31, 1975 , together with a track diagram . This was accompanied by the introduction of shift worker trains between Gera Hauptbahnhof and Beerwalde. In December 1979, the first extension to the Löbichau train station took place, where a staggering plant was built. To transport sand from Kayna , a connecting curve was built from the Meuselwitz – Ronneburg line, creating a triangle Beerwalde South W 11 – Beerwalde North W 22 – Beerwalde station used for turning trains. A biotope was created in the middle of the Gleisdreieck . On January 2, 1981, a track was opened from the Beerwalde – Löbichau track for ore loading in Drosen, which was operationally treated as part of the Löbichau station. Due to the location of the junction, an exit from Löbichau to Beerwalde, but not to Drosen, was possible. Initially, the ore was only loaded via a ramp in Drosen. It was not until April 1984 that Drosen station went fully into operation, including the track diagram interlocking, loading bunker and platform tracks. From then on, the shift workers' trains were driven via Beerwalde to Drosen.

After only ten years of operation, the Drosen station, to which only a single cement wagon was delivered regularly, was closed in 1994. The Löbichau station was served until the spring of 1997, but in the autumn of that year the entire route was canceled in favor of the heavy goods vehicle route to relocate the Drosener heap.

Route description

course

The Beerwalde – Drosen railway branched off from the Meuselwitz – Ronneburg railway line between the stations of Großenstein (Kr Gera) and Beerwalde (Kr Schmölln) via the Beerwalde south W 11 – Beerwalde north W 22 – Beerwalde north W 22 – Beerwalde station. Shortly afterwards, the work station of the same name was reached between the Beerwalde dump in the north and the town of Beerwalde in the south. The railway then took a left turn to the north. At the Löbichau junction, the eastern track led to the Löbichau freight yard, while the western track ran around the Löbichau offset plant in the north in a curved track. West of Ingramsdorf was the Drosen freight station, the terminus at the Drosen ore loading station.

Operating points

Beerwalde (Kr Schmölln) Gbf ⊙

The Beerwalde (Kr Schmölln) Gbf station north of the town of the same name was opened on November 27, 1972. The first section of the Meuselwitz – Ronneburg railway to the Beerwalde works station, which has only been used for freight traffic since 1972 , went into operation on May 31, 1975 together with a switchboard . This was accompanied by the introduction of shiftworker trains between Gera Hauptbahnhof and Beerwalde, which was extended to Drosen in 1984. Over by the Wismut built railway line wrong at peak hours three times a day from Monday to Friday shift workers traits of bismuth works railway .

The trains initially only reached the station via a connecting curve from the Beerwalde stop (Kr Schmölln), which was closed in 1972, in the west of Beerwalde on the Meuselwitz – Ronneburg railway line. With the establishment of the backfill in Löbichau in December 1979, the route to Löbichau station was expanded and a connecting curve was built from the Großenstein (Kr Gera) freight station to enable direct sand train traffic from the Kayna sand pit near Kraasa via Beerwalde to the backfill in Löbichau. This created a triangle Beerwalde Süd W 11 – Beerwalde North W 22 – Beerwalde station, which was used for turning trains.

With the winter timetable 1990/91 the workers traffic was stopped. On September 10, 1997, the station including the signal box went out of service. The station facilities in Beerwalde were then demolished.

Löbichau ⊙

The Löbichau freight yard was inaugurated on December 4, 1979 with the opening of the packing plant. The station was located northwest of Löbichau and was the end point of the sand pulls from the Kayna sand pit. On January 2, 1981, a track was opened from the Beerwalde – Löbichau track for ore loading in Drosen, which was operationally treated as part of the Löbichau station. Due to the location of the junction, an exit from Löbichau to Beerwalde, but not to Drosen, was possible.

The end of the station was sealed with the cessation of mining and worker traffic with the 1990/91 winter timetable. After the railway line to Drosen was closed in 1994, the Löbichau freight yard was closed in the spring of 1997. The railway facilities were completely removed in the course of the renaturation of the mining area.

Drops ⊙

At the ore loading location in Drosen, the first part of the Drosen freight station was opened on January 2, 1981, which was operationally treated as part of the Löbichau station. Initially, the ore was only loaded here via a ramp. Due to the location of the junction in front of the Löbichau freight yard, it was possible to exit from Drosen to Beerwalde, but not directly to Löbichau. It was not until April 1984 that Drosen station went fully into operation, including the track diagram interlocking, loading bunker and platform tracks. From then on, the shift workers' trains were driven via Beerwalde to Drosen.

After only ten years of operation, the Drosen station, to which only a single cement wagon was delivered regularly, was closed in 1994. The signal box was also out of service at this point. The station area has been completely renatured.

Vehicle use

The Wismut-Werkbahn used its own specimens of the 120 series for freight train traffic . The shift work traffic was carried out by the Deutsche Reichsbahn with the class 118 in connection with double-decker articulated trains and in the 1980s with individual double-decker cars . In the 1980s, Wismut used an ESF 3 electric towing vehicle to load ore at Beerwalde station, which was soon replaced by the more powerful ESF 4 vehicle due to insufficient power.

Web links

• The Beerwalde – Drosen railway line on www.sachsenschiene.net
• The Beerwalde – Drosen railway line on www.bahntrassenradeln.de
• PDF document about the Wismut factory railway

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Track plans: Indication FZMP = travel time measuring point for Beerwalde and Löbichau; southern signal group Q, S and T in Drosen
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Hans-Jürgen Barteld: The Wismut Railway around Ronneburg (=  secondary railway documentation . Volume 41 ). 1st edition. Kenning, Nordhorn 1998, ISBN 3-927587-92-3 .
3. ^ The Beerwalde works station (Kr Schmölln) on www.sachsenschiene.net
4. ^ The Drosen freight yard at www.sachsenschiene.net