Alb Valley Railway

Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof – Bad Herrenalb

9420

710.1
to 1992:
710 (total traffic Karlsruhe – Ettlingen city) ,
711 (Karlsruhe – Bad Herrenalb)
until 1970:
311 (total traffic Karlsruhe – Ettlingen city) ,
311b (Karlsruhe – Herrenalb)

Route length:

25.679 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Route class :

D4 (Ettlingen City – Bad Herrenalb)

Power system :

750 volts =

Maximum slope :

25 ‰

Minimum radius :

23 m

Top speed:

80 km / h ( LNT )
50 km / h

Dual track :

Karlsruhe – Busenbach

Legend

		Karlsruhe Local Railway (1890–1939)
		Karlsruhe main station (until 1913)
		Service track to the parking yard (1897-1910)
		1. Albtalbahnhof (until 1910)
		2. Albtalbahnhof (1910–1914, 1897–1910 storage station)
		Karlsruhe Nebeniusstraße (until 1910)
		3. Albtalbahnhof (1914–1915)
		Connection to the tram network (since 1958)
	0.000	Transition VBK ( BOStrab ) to AVG ( EBO , operating form BOStrab)
		(4.) Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof (since 1915)	115 m
		southern Karlstrasse (to the tram)
		to the Rheinbahn in Rastatt (since 1996)

	0.136 ~ 0.148	Transition from EBO , operating form BOStrab, to EBO

		Rheintalbahn , Karlsruhe Hbf (since 1913)
		Karlsruhe Gbf and K 9657

	1,320	Karlsruhe Dammerstock (formerly Beiertheim )	115 m
	1,650	Karlsruhe Rüppurr Castle (formerly Klein-Rüppurr)	115 m
	2,320	Rüppurr Ostendorfplatz (formerly garden city , since 1924)	116 m
	2,885	Rüppurr Tulpenstrasse (formerly Rüppurr train station)	119 m
	3.524	Rüppurr Battstrasse (since 1958)	117 m
	3.500	Wendeschleife Battstraße (since 1958)
		Federal motorway 5
		Ettlingen Umformerwerk (until 1988)
		Bundesstrasse 3
		Dirt road
	4.965	Ettlingen Neuwiesenreben (since 1972)	125 m
		Alb
	5,860	Ettlingen Wasen (formerly parade ground)	126 m
	6.300	from Ettlingen West
	6.498	Ettlingen Hereditary Prince / Castle (formerly Ettlingen Hereditary Prince)	132 m
	6.925	Ettlingen city train station	136 m
	7.000	Ettlingen City (formerly Ettlingen Holzhof)
		Connection bar shower
	7.455	Ettlingen Albgaubad (since 1959)	140 m
	7.500	Wendeschleife Albgaubad (since 1959)
		Ettlingen forest colony (1914–1960)
		Ettlingen Wattsteig (1960–1989)
		Alb
		Connection spinning mill
	9,568	Ettlingen spinning mill	161 m
	10,435	Busenbach	170 m
		Route to Ittersbach (until 2007)
		Route to Ittersbach (since 2007)
	11.000	Busenbach turning loop (1960–1984)
	12,252	Etzenrot	193 m
		Connection of the Baden cotton spinning mill and weaving mill
	15.260	Fischweier (formerly Spielberg- Schöllbronn )	214 m
		Spielberg
	18.145	Marxzell	252 m
		Burbacher Strasse (Kreisstrasse 3554)
	21,350	Frauenalb - Schielberg	305 m
		Districts of Karlsruhe / Calw , formerly Baden / Württemberg
	23.367	Steinhäusle (demand breakpoint for residents, since 1981)	328 m
	24.630	Bad Herrenalb Kullenmühle (since 1927)	341 m
		Alb
	25,450	Bad Herrenalb train station (with a turning loop since 1961)	352 m

Swell:

The Albtalbahn , sometimes also abbreviated to ATB , was still written Albthalbahn when it opened, is a railway line from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb . Since its Umspurung of meter on standard gauge and its linkage with the Karlsruhe tram it forms the basis for the Karlsruhe rail network and was the model for linking regional railway lines with urban trams in other European cities. The route is named after the river Alb , which accompanies it along its entire length. The Albtalbahn is operationally and historically closely linked to the Busenbach – Ittersbach branch , which in turn originally formed an operational unit with the Pforzheimer Kleinbahn from Ittersbach to Pforzheim .

history

construction

A train of the Albtalbahn passes the Ettlinger Schloss . This section of the route was already used from 1887.

The nucleus of the Albtalbahn was the Ettlinger Seitenbahn , which was standard-gauge from the beginning , which connected the Ettlingen West station on the Badische Hauptbahn with Ettlingen Hereditary Prince from 1885 and was extended two years later to today's Ettlingen Stadt station. But this could not cope with the increasing traffic between Ettlingen and Karlsruhe alone, so that the construction of a direct connection via Rüppurr was soon discussed. Plans for a railway construction from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to the northern Black Forest to Herrenalb existed as early as 1870. On the one hand, the Alb valley was already a popular excursion destination for the people of Karlsruhe, on the other hand, the industrial companies in Ettlingen and Karlsruhe developed into important sources of income for them Population of the surrounding places. The stagecoach connection, which runs once a day, was no longer sufficient for the needs.

Ettlingen initially offered resistance because it feared that the construction of a direct rail link to Karlsruhe could result in the city being incorporated . With the proposal to design the railway line as a meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway , the objections could be invalidated. In contrast to the neighboring Murgtalbahn , the Albtalbahn could be tackled immediately as a continuous route from Baden to Württemberg (Herrenalb). The Baden concession was granted in 1896 and the Württemberg one in 1897.

Frauenalb-Schielberg station 2006: The station building dates back to the early days of the Albtalbahn.

The first section between Karlsruhe and Ettlingen was opened on December 1, 1897 he was followed by the sections Ettlingen Frauenalb on 14 May 1898 and Frauenalb-Herrenalb on 2 July 1898. The branch line from Busenbach after Ittersbach followed on April 10, 1899 .

The side line to Ettlingen West was equipped with a three- rail track ; to simplify freight traffic , this was extended to Busenbach in 1899 and to Etzenrot in 1906 . The Albtalbahn was built by the West German Railway Company (WEG) , which brought it into its newly founded subsidiary Badische Lokal-Eisenbahnen Aktien-Gesellschaft (BLEAG) in 1898.

Development of the meter-gauge Alb Valley Railway

Due to the soot nuisance caused by the steam locomotives of the Albtalbahn in the Karlsruhe city streets, the Karlsruhe – Ettlingen section was electrified with 550 volts direct current as early as 1898 and electrical suburban traffic with railcars was started. The trains to Herrenalb then ran electrically to Ettlingen and to the south with steam locomotives. A coal-fired power station was built at the Seehof between Rüppurr and Ettlingen for electrical operation .

Since the electrical operation proved successful, an extension to the entire Alb Valley Railway was considered, but because of the greater distances, electrification with alternating current of higher voltage was preferred. Therefore, direct current operation was given up in 1910 and the entire line was converted to alternating current operation by 1911. Single-phase alternating current 25 Hz 8000 volts was used as the power system (later increased to 8800 volts), whereby in the Karlsruhe city area until 1936 only 650 volts could be used. The power station at Seehof was converted and continued to be used.

Routing of the Albtalbahn within Karlsruhe with the year the route was opened and closed

In the course of the new construction of the Karlsruhe main station , the northern end point of the Alb Valley Railway had to be relocated a total of three times within Karlsruhe between 1910 and 1915. Originally the station was on Ettlinger Straße at the height of the fairground , it was relocated on February 26, 1910 to today's Beiertheimer Allee at today's Hermann-Billing-Straße , clearing Ettlinger Straße for the construction of a new tram route. Previously, there were already some siding of the Albtalbahn at the new location on what was then the "old" Klosestrasse , whose connection to the old terminus was briefly used as access. From April 7, 1910, the access to the relocated terminus was no longer east of the city garden , but west between Beiertheimer Allee and (new) Bahnhofstrasse on the previous state railway line south of the old Karlsruhe train station, which today corresponds roughly to the "new" Klosestrasse. The relocated station was approached from the other end. A second relocation took place to the south in a provisional facility at the northern end of the (new) Bahnhofstrasse (in operation from January 19, 1914 to March 22, 1915), before the terminus on Ebertstrasse , which is still in use today, further south, near the new Karlsruhe main station originated.

Technical problems and a lack of steam coal forced BLEAG in 1917 to severely restrict electrical operation and even to stop it at times. Only after the power station was converted into a converter station and connected to the newly built Murgwerk was it possible to stabilize electrical operation again. From 1922, electric trains started running again.

While traffic on the Alb Valley Railway developed very positively in the first years of operation, the railway ran into economic difficulties after the First World War . Operations could only be maintained with financial support from the Karlsruhe district , which resulted in a reduction in the number of timetables. The parallel omnibus traffic between Karlsruhe and Rüppurr, introduced by the city of Karlsruhe in the mid-1920s, further worsened the economic situation of the railway.

In the course of the global economic crisis , BLEAG came under increasing pressure and went into bankruptcy . The Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebsgesellschaft (DEBG) finally took over the Albtalbahn in 1932 from the bankruptcy estate of BLEAG . Through modernization measures such as the start of rolling carriage traffic , DEBG succeeded in improving the economic conditions of the railway again.

The construction of the motorway in the mid-1930s brought some changes to the Alb Valley Railway. The route between Rüppurr and Ettlingen had to be swiveled to the east, where the railway was given a joint bridge with the highway over the motorway. The simultaneous expansion of Herrenalber Strasse in Rüppurr into a motorway feeder also required the tracks between Dammerstock and Rüppurr Castle to be rebuilt .

During the Second World War , the Alb Valley Railway was attacked several times by fighter planes , but the damage remained comparatively minor. Only the demolition of the bridge over the Karlsruhe marshalling yard at the end of the war led to a shortening of the Alb Valley Railway to the southern bridgehead at Dammerstock for several months until it was rebuilt.

Articulated railcar of the AVG in downtown Karlsruhe (1978)

Re-gauging and linking to the tram network

After the Second World War, both the track and the vehicles were in a dilapidated condition, so that extensive modernization was necessary. However, DEBG had little interest in continuing to operate the railway. The city of Karlsruhe took the initiative in the political discussion about the future of the Alb Valley Railway. Her main concern was to be able to reorganize the heavy suburban traffic between Karlsruhe, Rüppurr and Ettlingen and to eliminate the need to transfer passengers at Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof from the Albtalbahn to the tram . Therefore, she suggested changing the gauge to standard gauge and linking it to the urban tram network .

With the help of the state of Baden-Württemberg , she founded the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH (AVG) in 1957, which took over the Albtalbahn from DEBG on April 1, 1957 and immediately began the renovation work. With the re-gauging work went hand in hand with the conversion of the electrical operation to direct voltage with 750 volts. As early as April 18, 1958, the first tracked section from Albtalbahnhof to Rüppurr was put into operation. From now on, the Albtalbahn railcars continued to run from the Albtalbahnhof to Karlsruhe city center, so that most passengers no longer had to change trains. There they used a long loop of houses in a clockwise direction, it led from the Albtalbahnhof via Karlstraße, Kaiserstraße , Marktplatz , Ettlinger Straße and across the main station forecourt back to Albtalbahnhof.

The next re-tracked sections were put into operation as follows: on May 15, 1959 to Ettlingen, on April 15, 1960 to Busenbach, on May 12, 1960 to Etzenrot, on December 12, 1960 to Marxzell and on September 1, 1961 to Herrenalb .

A train to Ittersbach on Karlsruhe's market square (1994)

Even after the line had been re-tracked between 1957 and 1975, the systems were further modernized, including the construction of a central signal box in Ettlingen (1967), the re-routing of the Albtalbahnhof – Dammerstock (1977) and Rüppurr – Ettlingen Neuwiesenreben (1988) sections, the upgrading of the line for a maximum speed of 80 km / h (until 1983) and the double-track expansion between Ettlingen and Busenbach (1989–1990).

The land required for the route improvement in the hamlet of Steinhäusle, which belongs partly to Marxzell and partly to Bad Herrenalb, had to be “bought” in 1981 with an unofficial stop for residents there. Apart from the local notice timetable, this is not communicated in the timetable and was not recorded on the route network plans for many years . There is also no station sign . Since there is no platform available there, the passenger change takes place on the asphalt level crossing with the internal name Steinhäusle 2 . Due to the narrow street, you can only get in and out via the first door. The driver has to be informed verbally of the wish to get off the train ; boarding passengers have a non-directional stop request device available that activates a corresponding light signal for the approaching train. The travel time to the two neighboring stations Kullenmühle and Frauenalb-Schielberg is two minutes each, passengers to and from Steinhäusle can also use express trains.

As a result of the expansion measures, the offer for passengers could be continuously improved. While the Albtalbahn trains needed around 70 minutes for the line between Karlsruhe and Herrenalb at the meter gauge time, it was 46 minutes in 1979 and only 35 today. In addition, the timetable has been condensed.

business

Not to scale track plan of the Albtalbahn, as of 2006

route

From the Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof to Busenbach, the line is double-track throughout, with a single track to the south. Crossing possibilities exist in Etzenrot, Fischweier, Marxzell and Frauenalb.

The line has been electrified with 750 volts direct current since it was changed to standard gauge. The power supply is decentralized via several rectifier plants . The platform height is 38 centimeters at almost all stations. Wendeschleifen allow at stops Rüppurr Battstraße , Ettlingen Albgaubad and Bad Herrenalb Station a turning of mover carriage . Until October 1984 there was another turning loop in Busenbach, which, however, had a radius that was too small for the 2.65 meter wide light rail cars. Since this was only used by three trains a day at that time, the conversion did not pay off and it was omitted without replacement.

The whole route is operated according to the driving regulations for the operation of non-federal railways (FV-NE). The route is equipped with light signals from the H / V signal system. Those in the Albtalbahnhof were replaced in 2009 by signals from the Ks signal system, the others north of Busenbach at the end of 2015. These are provided by the ESTW Albtalbahnhof or the ESTW sub-center Ettlingen Albgaubad with the ESTW-A Rüppurr-Battstrasse and Rohrackerweg. The latter EBI Lock 500 ESTW has been controlling the Spielberg ESTW since November 28, 2011 ( route to Ittersbach ; also EBI Lock 500) and meanwhile also the Albtalbahnhof ESTW. The Busenbach - Bad Herrenalb route has long been controlled by an MCDS ESTW in Ettlingen. Since February 2017, the ESTW Ettlingen has been controlled from the central control center in Karlsruhe (ZeLeiKa). Driving between Dammerstock and Rüppurr Battstraße is within sight . Although it is a railway line, no vehicles according to EBO standard design can run in the Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof - Rüppurr section due to the clearance profile. The railway workshops are located in Ettlingen . Vehicle storage halls can be found in Ettlingen and Bad Herrenalb.

passenger traffic

During the day, two pairs of trains per hour run between Karlsruhe and Bad Herrenalb as line S1. The train service between Karlsruhe and Ettlingen Albgaubad is compressed to a ten-minute cycle. In rush hour traffic , additional express trains strengthen the offer, which were originally marked with a red line signal . Since 1978, the Albtalbahn trains in the north of Karlsruhe have been transferred to the Hardtbahn .

Until 2018, only the light rail vehicles of the types GT8-80C and GT6-80C built between 1983 and 1992 by AVG and the Karlsruhe transport company were used . These have been successively replaced by NET2012 since 2018. In times of high demand, the light rail cars run in double traction. Line number S1 has been in use since May 29, 1994. Before that, the trains ran as Line A for A lbtalbahn, and the trains to Ittersbach, now known as Line S11, also ran with the line signal A.

AVG railcar and museum locomotive 58 311 in Bad Herrenalb (July 1989), the left train is marked as an express train with a red line signal

The scheduled operation with light rail vehicles is supplemented on some Sundays and public holidays in summer by historical steam trains of the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde (UEF), which run between Ettlingen city and Bad Herrenalb. Class 50 and 58 locomotives are used in front of express train cars from the 1930s. In the past, the Albtalbahn was also used as a test route for new light rail vehicles. In 1982 the prototypes of the Stuttgart DT8 light rail vehicles ran on the line, and in 1997 the new Saarbahn vehicles .

The Albtalbahn has been integrated into the then newly founded Karlsruhe Transport Association (KVV) since 1994 . Before that, however, there was already a tariff association with the Karlsruhe transport company.

Freight transport

The freight on the Albtalbahn plays only a minor role and is limited to the forwarding hall in Busenbach and occasional timber loading in Busenbach. It is operated by AVG diesel locomotives , which take over the freight wagons in the Karlsruhe freight yard from DB Cargo and SBB Cargo .

Special train stations

Karlsruhe Albtal train station

Albtalbahnhof, before that the infrastructure and in 2008 also the system boundary between tram (VBK to BOStrab, front) and railroad (AVG to EBO, back), whereby the BOStrab / EBO system boundary was moved to the other end of the station on July 1, 2015 . The left pair of tracks is used by the Albtalbahn (S 1 / S 11), the right is used by the S 51, S 52, S 7 and S 8 trams.

The Albtalbahnhof, built in 1915 on Ebertstraße, was converted into a four-track system in the course of the gauge changeover and connected to the Karlsruhe tram network via a track triangle . A connecting track to Charles Street allows the turning of vehicles. The station building was demolished in 1959 and replaced by a low-rise building with a ticket office. In 1988, the AVG added a two-aisled station hall to the station , which spans all four tracks.

In 1996, as part of the expansion of the Karlsruhe light rail network, the tracks were completely rebuilt. A track connection with the Karlsruhe main train station was established, which allows the Albtal train station to be driven out onto the railway lines to Durmersheim and Karlsruhe West . Since then, the Albtalbahn trains (S 1 and S 11) have been using tracks 3 and 4, while the tram lines S 51, S 52, S 7 and S 8 have been using tracks 1 and 2. A parking station built in 1996 and expanded in 2006 with a total of 8 tracks complements the facility.

Ettlingen city

Ettlingen Stadt station with the station hall built in 1986

The operating center of the Albtalbahn at Ettlingen Stadt station extends from the Erbprinz / Schloss stop to the Albgaubad stop . The four-track track system has been spanned by a station hall since 1986. The AVG central interlocking and a ticket office are located in the station building . The station also has two workshop halls, a vehicle storage hall and a goods hall. Several sidings and the turning loop at the Albgaubad complete the facility.

Busenbach

Busenbach train station has two platform tracks, south of which the routes to Bad Herrenalb and Ittersbach separate. A platform hall built in 1990 in timber frame construction spans both tracks. The track system was rebuilt in 2006 and supplemented by a bridge that leads the Ittersbach route over the neighboring state road, which meant that a heavily used level crossing could be removed. West of the Herrenalber line was the AVG main workshop, which dates back to the early days of the Albtalbahn, until 1971. After a new workshop was built in Ettlingen, the old main workshop was dispensable and was replaced by a goods hall.

Bad Herrenalb

Bad Herrenalb station with the station hall in the historical style

In keeping with the historical steam train journeys on the Alb Valley Railway, Bad Herrenalb station was given a historical appearance at the end of the 1970s. In addition to the station hall, which was built in 1978 and spans all three tracks, a water crane , a historical, mechanical train destination indicator , a bell and a form main signal were set up. Parts of the station hall come from the Baden-Baden city station, which was closed in 1977 . The reception building has been restored and houses a restaurant . A modern railcar parking hall complements the facility. Until 2012, Bad Herrenalb station was also the valley station of the Falkenburgbahn , which connects the station with the Falkenburg clinic .

Vehicle fleet

Vehicles during the BLEAG and DEBG times

Historic AC electric locomotive of the Alb Valley Railway

The initial inventory of narrow-gauge steam locomotives was 13 machines, four box steam locomotives for use in the urban areas of Karlsruhe and Pforzheim 1-4, four mallet locomotives 5-8 , two double-coupled and two triple-coupled tank locomotives. After electrification, the stock was reduced. When electrical operation was only possible to a limited extent between 1917 and 1922, two additional steam locomotives were purchased. After the normalization of electrical operation, however, the number of locomotives fell to five locomotives by 1938 due to retirement, re-gauging and sale, which remained in use until the end of the narrow-gauge era.

In 1898 six two-axle meter-gauge electric railcars with an output of twice 27 kW and six matching sidecars for direct current operation were procured for the Albtalbahn . The vehicles remained in use until 1910 and were then handed over to the Wermelskirchen-Burger Railway . In addition, in 1901 BLEAG procured two four-axle electric locomotives with an output of four times 50 kW for covering the trains in the Karlsruhe – Ettlingen section. The two electric locomotives were handed over to the Pforzheim tram in 1911 , where they were in use until 1916.

Eight four-axle railcars with two times 60 kW power and four four-axle electric locomotives with four times 59 kW power were procured for AC operation . The locomotives were designed with a central driver's cab and symmetrical porches, which earned them the popular nickname of iron . All twelve vehicles were in use until the end of meter-gauge operation.

A technical rarity was the motor locomotive with benzene motor drive , which was in the inventory from 1924 to 1954 and was built by the Windhoff company . The engine produced only 38 kW, so that the locomotive could not be used in front of regular trains. It was primarily used for overhead line maintenance.

For passenger transport , the Albtalbahn had up to 77 two- and four-axle passenger cars , which were used together with the electric and steam locomotives, but also in combination with the four-axle railcars. A train set was even prepared for use as a push- pull train in the early 1950s . A large number of open and closed goods wagons , mostly with two axles, were available for freight transport. The stock reached more than 170 cars. With the start of rolling wagons, the number of freight wagons fell to around 40, plus ten rolling wagons .

For freight traffic in the Ettlingen area, two standard-gauge steam locomotives were always in use on the Albtalbahn, with the locomotives sometimes being swapped with other BLEAG or DEBG railways. With one exception, there were two or three coupled tank locomotives of different types.

Vehicles at the AVG time

Waggon Union car from 1975

AVG articulated multiple unit as it looked at the end of the 1970s

Between 1958 and 1969, AVG procured a total of 21 six- and eight-axle articulated railcars of the widely used Düwag design for operation on the re - tracked Albtalbahn . The six-axle vehicles were also extended to eight-axle vehicles between 1961 and 1967. The cars remained in use on the Albtalbahn until 1984, after which they operated on the Karlsruhe tram network for another 15 to 20 years. Later eight of them were handed over to the Timișoara tram in Romania , where they were in operation for a few years, but have now all been decommissioned.

In 1975 the vehicle fleet was expanded to include four eight-axle cars 22 to 25 . These cars, procured from Waggon-Union , had a more modern, angular appearance, but were technically compatible with the existing vehicles. They remained in use on the Albtalbahn until around 1987 and have been operating on the Karlsruhe tram network ever since. Three of them have since been turned off.

Between 1983 and 1992 , the Albtalbahn's vehicle fleet was completely replaced by a total of 60 six- and eight-axle light rail cars of the types GT6-80C and GT8-80C , of which around 40 are required for use on the S1 and S11 lines. The carriages represent a variant of the type B light rail car in one-way design and offer a total of 93 seats in the six-axle version and 117 in the eight-axle version.

Since 2018, the light rail vehicles GT6-80C and GT9-80C have been successively replaced by the newly acquired Vossloh NET 2012 . These low-floor vehicles offer barrier-free access to many platforms and are fully air-conditioned.

AVG has been using diesel locomotives in freight transport since 1959. At first only one locomotive was available, since 1974 two. With the expansion of freight traffic to other routes, the number of diesel locomotives has increased further since 1990.

Multi-system test vehicles

Several attempts have been made on the Albtalbahn with electric vehicles for various power systems, some of which were trend-setting for the development of multi-system vehicles in the railway sector:

In 1954 the electric locomotive number 4 of the Albtalbahn was converted into a two-frequency locomotive in cooperation with DEBG , Badenwerk and BBC , which operates both with the current system common on the Albtalbahn (single-phase alternating current 25 Hz 8.8 kV) and with single-phase alternating current 50 Hz 10 kV could be operated. For test purposes, the Busenbach – Herrenalb route could optionally be supplied with both power systems; later test drives took place on the Busenbach – Ittersbach route. The converted electric locomotive proved itself so that it remained in service until 1962.
From 1957, a three-system railcar was used on the Albtalbahn. The vehicle had been taken over by Kleinbahn Müllheim-Badenweiler and was converted electrically by Badenwerk and AEG . The railcar had DC motors that could be fed either directly from a DC overhead line or from an AC overhead line with the help of a rectifier. This made it possible to operate the vehicle with alternating current 25 Hz 8.8 kV, alternating current 50 Hz 10 kV and direct current 1,200 V. Trips under direct current overhead lines were carried out on the neighboring Pforzheim-Ittersbach small railway . After the end of the test runs, the three-system railcar remained in use on the Albtalbahn until the end of meter-gauge operation.
In 1986 a light rail vehicle of the Albtalbahn was converted into a two-system multiple unit for 750 V direct current and the current system of single-phase alternating current 16.7 Hz 15 kV used by DB in order to investigate the feasibility of mixed operation between railways and light rail vehicles. The successful test drives finally led to the development of the two-system Stadtbahnwagen Karlsruher Bauart , which was delivered in over 100 copies from 1991 and in individual cases also runs on the Alb Valley Railway. The two-system light rail operation has also become known as the Karlsruhe model .

Historic vehicles

A total of three locomotives from the narrow-gauge era of the Albtalbahn have been preserved:

the alternating current electric locomotive number 2 was kept as a non-roadworthy monument locomotive and initially set up in Ettlingen and later at the Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof. For the 50th anniversary of the AVG it was optically refurbished and is currently stored in a hall.
The Mallet steam locomotive number 7 ^s (type B'Bn4vt), decommissioned in 1966 and placed on a playground for thirty years, is currently being refurbished by the German Railway Association (DEV) into an operational museum locomotive for the Bruchhausen-Vilsen-Asendorf line. The locomotive delivered by the Karlsruhe machine works in 1898 comes from the original equipment of the Albtalbahn.
the steam locomotive 99 7203 is used by the Ulm Railway Friends (UEF) on the Amstetten – Oppingen museum railway . This steam locomotive, built by Borsig in 1904 , originally came from the Mosbach – Mudau branch line and was only used on the Albtalbahn in 1964 to dismantle the meter gauge track between Busenbach and Ittersbach.

Cars number 4 and 12 of the AVG articulated railcars are kept in a working condition in Karlsruhe. Car 4 has now been given back the yellow paintwork with dark green trim that it wore in the 1960s, while car 12 has the green and yellow paintwork of the late 1970s.

Movie

SWR: Railway Romanticism - 100 Years of the Albtal Railway (episode 310)

literature

Manfred Koch (editor): Electricity: History of local public transport in Karlsruhe . Badenia Verlag, Karlsruhe 2000, ISBN 3-7617-0324-4 .
Klaus Bindewald: The Albtalbahn: History with a future: from the narrow-gauge railway to the modern light rail. regional culture publisher, Ubstadt-Weiher 1998, ISBN 3-929366-79-7 .
Kurt Schwab: Tram and small train in Pforzheim . Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 1997, ISBN 3-927587-64-8 .
Gerd Wolff, Hans-Dieter Menges: German small and private railways. Volume 2: Bathing . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1992, ISBN 3-88255-653-6 , p. 9-62 .
Günter König: The electrical operation of the Alb Valley Railway in narrow gauge . In: The Museum Railway: Journal for Small Railway History. No. 3/1992, pp. 21-47. German Railway Association
Helmut Iffländer: The Alb Valley Railway: from the tourist train to the modern local transport company. Andreas-Braun-Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-925120-03-3 .

Dieter Höltge: Albtalbahn and Kleinbahn Pforzheim-Ittersbach . Verlag Wolfgang Zeunert, Gifhorn 1976, ISBN 3-921237-27-0 .

Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten railways in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 52-60 .