Railway line Crossen an der Elster – Porstendorf

Crossing on the Elster – Porstendorf
Route between Graitschen and Bürgel (2018)
Route number (DB) :	6659
Course book section (DB) :	552
Route length:	29.41 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Leipzig-Zeitz 0.00 Crossing the Elster according to Probstzella 3.60 Rauda Bundesstrasse 7 6.69 Eisenberg East 8.71 Eisenberg (Thür) Federal motorway 9 12.82 Hainspitz 14.79 Serba 19.12 Bürgel (Thür) 22.67 Graitschen 24.58 Löberschütz 26.38 Beutnitz (Thür) Saale of large herring 29.41 Porstendorf to Saalfeld

The Crossen on the Elster – Porstendorf railway connected Elster and Saale valley and the towns of Bürgel and Eisenberg in between, a few kilometers north of the Weimar – Jena – Gera railway . In Crossen an der Elster (until 1991 Krossen / Elster) there was a connection to the Leipzig – Zeitz – Gera – Saalfeld – Probstzella line , and in Porstendorf to the Saalbahn (Großheringen – Camburg – Jena – Rudolstadt – Saalfeld).

history

prehistory

Bürgel station (2018)

As early as the 1850s there were first attempts for a railway line in this area, this plan failed, as did the Weimar-Jena-Bürgel-Eisenberg-Krossen project set up in 1865 due to excessive costs.

Eisenberg – Crossen Railway Company

The eastern half of Crossen – Eisenberg, which partly runs in the Raudatal , was opened on April 1, 1880 by the Eisenberg – Crossener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , in which the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg and the city of Eisenberg participated. The alignment was initially carried out extremely sparingly, as the state offices between Cursdorf (spelling at that time) and Crossen were also used.

nationalization

After the company was transferred to the Prussian State Railroad on April 1, 1903 , the latter continued the railway construction to the west through more demanding areas. This section, which runs partly in the Gleistal valley, Eisenberg – Porstendorf (popularly known as “donkey”) was put into operation on October 2, 1905. Subsequently, the route sections running on the highway were re-routed and opened to traffic on October 1, 1906.

Steam-hauled train near Löberschütz, around 1962.

The route crossed today's B 7 several times . The highest point of the route was at Serba at 282.3 m above sea level. NN , the lowest point in Porstendorf with 139.3 m above sea level. NN. In 1945 the Saale bridge near Porstendorf was blown up. However, from April 30, 1945, after repairs, it was again passable.

Decline

On April 1, 1969, passenger traffic between Eisenberg and Bürgel was discontinued, followed by the Bürgel - Porstendorf section on August 1, 1969. Freight traffic between Eisenberg and Porstendorf ceased on November 24, 1969.

Route between Beutnitz and Löberschütz (2018)

In 1998 the service on the eastern part of Crossen – Eisenberg was also terminated: on May 24th the passenger traffic and on December 31st the goods traffic. The section was legally closed on May 4, 1999. This means that Eisenberg, the administrative seat of the Saale-Holzland district and the popular excursion destination Mühltal , which begins at Kursdorf between Rauda and Eisenberg, has no rail connection. The sections between Crossen an der Elster and the Mühltal ( long- distance cycle route Thuringian city chain ) to Eisenberg, as well as Despite and Beutnitz are now a cycle path .

Relics

Beginning at Porstendorf, large parts of the former railway line are still clearly visible (2016). The station building in Eisenberg is one of the still preserved station buildings. When the A 9 was expanded in the 1990s, the former passage under the motorway was retained.

In the Crossen an der Elster station, the once overriding function as a branch station for the branch line from the Prussian main line Leipzig-Gera can still be recognized. This station was comparatively expensively developed. Even today, in addition to the house platform for trains to Eisenberg and Porstendorf, it still has an island platform that is covered for around 100 years and an equally old pedestrian tunnel.

Route in Graitschen (2018)

See also

• the slightly northerly railway line from Zeitz via Osterfeld to Camburg with a very similar character and history

Web links

Commons : Railway line Crossen an der Elster – Porstendorf  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Technical data on the route, with route map

literature

• Günter Fromm : 100 Years of the Eisenberg-Crossen Railway , in: Der Modelleisenbahner, Heft 4/1980, S. 94/95
• Ferdinand Plessner : The steam street train from Eisenberg to Crossen: its construction and operating forms and advice for the production of similar local trains , Stollbergsche Buchdruckerei, Gotha 1880 ( digitized version )
• Werner Drescher: The Saal railway and its connecting railways , transpress-Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00109-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fromm, Günther; Der Modelleisenbahner, magazine of the German Model Railway Association of the GDR, issue 4/1980, p. 94.
2. ↑ Der Modelleisenbahner, magazine of the German Model Railway Association of the GDR, issue 4/1980, p. 95.
3. ^ Drescher, Werner: Die Saalbahn, Eisenbahn-Kurier-Verlag, Freiburg, 2004