Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz railway line

	from Leipzig Bayer Bf
0.218	Herlasgrün (wedge station)	429 m
	from and to court
0.540	At the Herlasgrün substation
3.990	Thoßfell (until 1999, most recently Hp)	463 m
5.926	A 72 (30 m)
8.076	Treuen (formerly Bf)	472 m
11.796	Eich (Sachs)	495 m
	B 169n
17,493	Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf (formerly Bf)	542 m
18.500	Anst commercial area Auerbach (Vogtl)
18.800	Auerbach (Vogtl) Hp (since 1986)	546 m
	from Zwickau (Sachs) Hbf
22,184	Dorfstädter Strasse (20 m)
22.270	Falkenstein (Vogtl)	552 m
	to Muldenberg
28.409	Bergen (Vogtl)	518 m
29.237	Shoot (25 m)
34.079	Lottengrün	531 m
	to Plauen-Chrieschwitz
41,323	Undermarx green	450 m
44.097	Taltitz	415 m
46.231	Flood bridge (17 m)
46.382	White Magpie (40 m)
	from Plauen (Vogtl) ob Bf
47.293	Oelsnitz (Vogtl)	391 m
	after Cheb

The Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz line is a branch line in Saxony , which was originally built as a section of the Voigtland State Railway (Herlasgrün – Eger). It begins at Herlasgrün station on the Leipzig – Hof railway line and leads via Auerbach / Vogtl. to Falkenstein / Vogtl. , the further section via Bergen to Oelsnitz / Vogtl. was shut down in sections from 1951.

history

The Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz connection has its origin in the “Voigtland State Railway” from Herlasgrün to the Bohemian Eger. The route was opened on November 1st, 1865.

On November 1, 1874, the connecting line from Plauen to Oelsnitz was opened. The Oelsnitz – Eger section formed the Plauen – Eger railway line with the newly opened Plauen – Oelsnitz section, while the remaining Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz section also formed its own railway line. The volume of traffic between Herlasgrün and Oelsnitz via Falkenstein decreased drastically, since all continuous trains now use the shorter and faster connection via Plauen. On October 15, 1878, the previous main line was therefore downgraded to a branch line ("secondary line").

Previously, in 1876, the Zwickau-Lengenfeld-Falkensteiner Railway Company (ZLF) with its Zwickau – Falkenstein line, which opened in 1875, had been taken over by the Saxon State Railways. From then on, the trains from Zwickau were tied through, while the trains from Herlasgrün ended in Falkenstein. From the summer schedule of 1892, the trains ran from Herlasgrün to Klingenthal, although the ten-kilometer gap between them was not removed until November 15, 1892 with the Falkenstein – Muldenberg railway line .

Because of the low volume of traffic, the decision was made in 1951 to dismantle the Lottengrün – Oelsnitz section for so-called priority projects. On April 27, 1951, on the grounds that building materials were needed for the construction of the Berlin outer ring , the train service was discontinued and the line was dismantled a little later.

Passenger train near Auerbach (1993)

The section between Falkenstein and Lottengrün remained in operation until 1970/72 as part of the Falkenstein – Plauen connection. On September 26, 1970, the tourist traffic was stopped there, freight traffic to service the Theuma slate quarries continued until autumn 1972.

The tracks between kilometer 24.6 and Lottengrün station were dismantled by 1978. The remaining track from Falkenstein up to km 24.6 was retained for the eventual servicing of the siding at the substation Dorfstädt of SDAG Wismut . In the following years, however, this track was used to park damaged wagons from Raw Zwickau . It is still there after the expansion of the branch switch in Falkenstein in 1996.

In the mid-1990s, the remaining line as a section of the Reichenbach / Zwickau – Adorf / Klingenthal connection was selected by the Free State of Saxony as a pilot project for the revitalization of a branch line at risk of closure. After extensive track renewal in 1996/97, the line speed could be increased to 80 km / h. Since 1997, the route has only been served by the private Vogtlandbahn in the SPNV. It operates this route as line RB5 with the Mehltheuer – Plauen – Falkenstein – Klingenthal – Kraslice (–Sokolov) route. RegioSprinter railcars will continue to be used until December 2019 .

In December 2019 ^[obsolete] there will be a vehicle change in the Vogtlandbahn network on lines RB1 and RB5. The old RegioSprinter of the Vogtlandbahn no longer operate in the Vogtland, but are modernized and used on the newly acquired North Bohemian routes.

Route description

course

Starting from Herlasgrün train station , the Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz railway branches off from the Leipzig – Hof railway towards the southeast. At the former Thossfell stop in Gospersgrün , federal road 173 is crossed in a curved track . The railway line then runs parallel to federal motorway 72 in a northeastern direction before it crosses under the A 72 near the Treuen junction . Now the railway line leads east through the north of Treuen , then in bends south-east into the Göltzsch valley . The route now runs to the south parallel to the eastern Zwickau – Falkenstein railway line , which it meets at Falkenstein (Vogtl) station .

To the west of the Falkenstein station, the route of the Falkenstein – Muldenberg railway line , which is still used today, separates from the now dismantled route towards Oelsnitz in a curved track to the south. Today there is a cycle path on this route, which runs in a south-westerly direction. In the former Lottengrün station, the Lottengrün – Plauen railway branched off in a north-westerly direction. In the further course, the route continued in a south-westerly direction to the Taltitz stop . Then it ran south to the Pirk dam , then on its north bank in a south-east direction to the Oelsnitz (Vogtl) train station , where it met the Plauen – Cheb railway line .

Operating points

Herlasgrün station (around 1900)

Herlas green ⊙50.5712 12.2356

Until the opening of the Voigtland State Railway, Herlasgrün station was an insignificant stopover on the Leipzig – Hof railway line . Only when the gap between Plauen and Oelsnitz was closed was the station comprehensively expanded, since from then on the trains began and ended here and no longer in Reichenbach. In this context, the Herlasgrün locomotive station , which was closed in the 1900s, was created .

Former Thossfell stop (2017)

Thossfell ⊙50.5408 12.2559

The Thossfell stop was set up for passenger traffic on June 1, 1886, and freight traffic was possible from July 26 of the same year. Since the station was built on the land of the Thossfell manor owner, it was named Thossfell, although the community of Gospersgrün was much closer. The stop consisted of only two tracks with two switches, a 280-meter-long loading line , a platform with a wooden waiting hall and two car bodies as a shed replacement. In 1905 the station was elevated to a station, and in 1914 a farm building was built.

In 1966 a switch was removed and the loading track ended bluntly from then on. The station was downgraded to a stop in 1969, and the loading platform was completely removed at the same time. Until 1985 the stop was still manned by a gatekeeper who also took over the ticket sales. The post ceased to exist with the construction of an automatic barrier over today's federal highway 173 . The unoccupied breakpoint was completely abandoned in 1999.

Faithful ⊙50.5479 12301

The Treuen station in the industrial city of the same name initially comprised seven tracks with 12 switches. All buildings were practically identical to those of Eich. The reception building had a floor area of 486 square meters, the goods shed 358 square meters, plus a free access and a farm building. Two platforms were available for passenger traffic and, after the station facilities were expanded in the 1890s, two loading lanes, a head and side loading ramp and a scales were used for freight traffic . At the same time, two sidings were built.

The station remained unchanged until the end of the 1940s, after which several points had to be expanded to gain superstructure. At the beginning of the 1960s, a cold store was built in Treuen, which was given its own connecting line. A class V 15 locomotive was stationed in Treuen to serve it , which also took over the shunting service and handover to Eich.

When the line was renovated in the 1990s, Treuen was demoted to the status of a stop, and all tracks except for the main track have now been removed. A bus station was set up on the station forecourt. The reception building was demolished in 2015. The only building that has survived since then has been the goods handling facility.

Treuen station (2016)
Treuen station (2016)
Treuen station, goods handling (2016)

Eich (Sachs) ⊙50.5456 12.3403

The station already had six different names during its operation, in detail these were:

until November 28, 1875: Lengenfeld station
until November 15 or 17, 1879: Lengenfeld ob Bf
until September 30, 1905: Eich train station
until June 30, 1911: Eich i Sachsen station
until December 21, 1933: Eich train station (Sa)
since December 22, 1933: Eich (Sachs) train station

Although the residents of the city of Lengenfeld had strongly advocated the construction of the railway, the Voigtland State Railway ran about three kilometers past the city. Nevertheless, the Lengenfeld train station received its name, although the municipality of Eich was only about 500 meters away from the train station. The station facilities were designed with correspondingly large dimensions. Four continuous tracks, a short stump track on a head ramp were connected by seven points. There was still a loading lane, a goods shed and a side ramp for goods traffic, and two platforms were available for passenger traffic. The buildings were very similar to those of the Treuen train station.

After the opening of the Zwickau – Falkenstein railway line of the ZLF, there was a new station in Lengenfeld , which was much cheaper and thus soon overtook the old station. Therefore, the station was dismantled by 1880, in addition to a platform, the stump track with the head ramp, the track scales and two switches were eliminated, so that two tracks from now on, tracks 1 and 2 ended as stub tracks. From 1881, Eich was only a stop, but was upgraded to a station again in 1905, as the state of the opening had been restored to the dead end due to greater traffic increases. The biggest customer from then on was the Eich Pechsiederei, which also had its own freight cars.

Although Eich received the status of a crossing station, the tracks were dismantled except for the main and the crossing track in 1997. The connecting railway to the Pechsiederei, built in 1984, is also no longer available today. Since December 11, 2011, the Eich (Sachs) station is no longer served by passenger traffic.

Eich (Sachs) station, street side (2016)
Eich (Sachs) station, residential building (2016)
Eich (Sachs) station after passenger traffic ceased (2016)
Eich station, track side (2017)

Auerbach (Vogtl) above Bf ⊙50.5192 12.3819

The station already had three different names during its operation, in detail these were:

until November 28, 1875: Auerbach train station
until September 30, 1911: Auerbach ob Bf
October 1, 1911: Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf

The Auerbach train station was similar to the one in Treuen. It was over two kilometers from the city, and there was a not inconsiderable incline to the train station for horse-drawn vehicles. Analogous to the first station in Lengenfeld, after the commissioning of the Zwickau – Falkenstein railway line, what is now the upper station in Auerbach lost its importance.

Of the former six tracks with more than 10 switches, only two remained after the dismantling in 1880. The weighbridge, the head and side loading ramp, a loading street track and the goods shed were removed without replacement. This was accompanied by the downgrading to the stop. The connection to a sawmill was also relocated. The northern extension of the reception building with an area of 564 square meters was also demolished, and the station restaurant was also closed.

In the 1900s, the station was expanded slightly, and a new extension was added to the station building in addition to another siding. The previous loading track was converted into a platform track in 1924, so that public goods transport was no longer possible in the upper Auerbach train station.

After the Second World War, the siding to the sawmill was taken over by Wismut , and later it was used by a wholesale company. In 2002 the reception building was demolished. After the modernization, it looks similar to Auerbach (Vogtl) and Bf.

Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf (2016)
Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf, bus station (2016)
Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf with Vogtlandbahn (2016)

Auerbach (Vogtl) Hp

Auerbach (Vogtl) Hp ⊙50.5067 12.3791

At the beginning of the 1980s, the residents of a new building area in Auerbach wanted a train station because otherwise they had a long walk to the upper station. The council of the district of Auerbach planned a corresponding station from 1984, on December 8, 1986 the stop, consisting of a concrete waiting hall and a 150 meter long platform, was opened. Also present was Dieter Neumann , president of the Rbd Dresden , present.

Falkenstein station was still an island station before the station was renovated , around 1905

Falkenstein (Vogtl) ⊙50.4788 12.3603

The Falkenstein (Vogtl) station was only built as a simple crossing and water station when the railway line opened. With the opening of the Zwickau – Falkenstein railway line of the shortly thereafter nationalized ZLF, Falkenstein became an island station in 1875 , since the ZLF built its station facilities south (and thus on the other side) of the existing station.

In 1892 the Falkenstein – Muldenberg railway line was opened from Falkenstein . Although it had been expanded several times before, the station was completely rebuilt from 1908 onwards. This is where today's reception building was built.

When the private railway was built in 1875, a boiler house and locomotive treatment facilities were built here. These systems were the starting point for the Falkenstein depot , which later became independent for around 20 years .

At the end of the 1990s, the track systems were significantly reduced. Today there are only two continuous tracks left in the station, all the remaining tracks end bluntly.

Bergen (Vogtl) train station, reception building (2017)

Bergen (Vogtl) ⊙50.4625 12.295

The station already had three different names during its operation, in detail these were:

until June 30, 1911: Bergen
until October 4, 1930: Bergen (Sa)
since October 5, 1930: Bergen (Vogtl)

Initially, the Bergen stop consisted of only two tracks, but a third was soon added. A side loading ramp, a goods shed and a loading lane were available for goods traffic. Since the station, which was elevated to a train station in 1905, was about two kilometers from the eponymous town of Bergen , the station always remained quite meaningless. Only when the Wismut was loading ore here in the 1950s did the station experience a major increase in traffic.

Lottengrün ⊙50.4506 12.2486

Lottengrün station was built around 1869 from a water station on the Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz railway line. Initially expanded to a freight loading point, from 1879 passenger traffic was also carried out. In addition, from 1902 an industrial line branched off here to the Theuma slate quarries, which was later extended as a public railway line to Plauen . In 1951, the Lottengrün – Oelsnitz section was dismantled due to the low volume of traffic. On September 26, 1970, passenger traffic ended on the Falkenstein (Vogtl) –Lottengrün section and the Lottengrün – Plauen railway line. After the operation of the Theuma slate quarries on the railroad was stopped in the autumn of 1972, the now Lottengrün freight yard went out of service on October 1st, 1972. The station building in the east of Lottengrün has been preserved to this day.

Undermarx green ⊙50.4319 12.1657

Untermarxgrün station, restaurant to the bus stop (2018)

The Untermarxgrün stop at the intersection with Chaussee Plauen – Oelsnitz was opened together with the railway line. The stop consisted of three continuous tracks and a short stump track to the goods shed, which was dismantled again in 1880. In 1905 the station was elevated to a station. In addition to a farm building, the high-rise buildings also included an official residence, a switchman's house and a two-story station building, which was later enlarged twice by adding a low-rise building. With the closure of the Lottengrün – Oelsnitz section, the station went out of service on April 27, 1951. At the location in the “Plauenschen Straße” on the north-western edge of Untermarxgrün is the restaurant “To the stop”. The bus stop is named "Untermarxgrün, old station".

Taltitz ⊙50.43 12.1296

In 1908, the population of the town, about one kilometer away, wanted a stopping point. The Taltitz stop at the gated level crossing on the Taltitz – Oelsnitz road was set up on October 1, 1909. The facilities consisted of a platform, a wooden waiting hall, a farm building and a free pass. Ticket sales were taken over by the gatekeeper. Although the intersection was replaced by a road bridge in 1920, the stop remained staffed until 1951. With the closure of the Lottengrün – Oelsnitz section, the station went out of service on April 27, 1951. At the location in the New World settlement , the buildings have been preserved to the present day.

Taltitz stop, railway keeper's house, auxiliary building and station building (2018)
Taltitz stop, station building (2018)
Taltitz stop, station building and farm building (2018)
Haltpunkt Taltitz, farm building (2018)
Taltitz stop, free pass (2018)

Oelsnitz railway station (around 1910)

Oelsnitz (Vogtland) station, track side 2018

Oelsnitz (Vogtl) ⊙50.4131 12.1589

The Oelsnitz station initially consisted of only four continuous tracks, plus a locomotive station, where locomotives were stationed for leader and replenishment services. It was not until the Plauen – Oelsnitz gap was closed that the station was expanded extensively in the early 1870s. The station was expanded several times up to around 1900, then it remained essentially in this form until the end of the Second World War. The only major operational change was the closing of the locomotive station in 1925, as there were now enough powerful locomotives available. After the end of the war, some tracks were dismantled, but drastic dismantling measures only took place after the Lottengrün – Oelsnitz section was closed in 1951. Although numerous tracks have been removed since 1989/90, 6 tracks have been preserved to this day, including two loading road tracks.

Falkenstein – Oelsnitz cycle path

The disused section of the former Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz railway line was expanded to become the Falkenstein – Oelsnitz cycle path and opened on May 27, 2011. The 21.8 kilometer long path connects the Göltzschtal cycle path with the Elster cycle path . The cycle path uses the former railway line for 16.1 kilometers, while the cycle path deviates from the gently sloping ideal line for 5.7 kilometers onto public roads and paths. The cycle path is paved throughout, 2.5 meters wide.

to Falkenstein
Break area
former train station
to Bergen
Railway keeper's house near Droßdorf
Railway cycle path near Droßdorf
Snack at the former Untermarxgrün train station

literature

Erich Preuß , Reiner Preuß : Saxon State Railways . transpress Verlagsgesellschaft , Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-344-70700-0 .
Wilfried Rettig : The railways in Vogtland . tape 1 . EK-Verlag , Freiburg 2001, ISBN 3-88255-686-2 .

Web links

Commons : Herlasgrün – Oelsnitz railway line - collection of images, videos and audio files

Description of the route on sachsenschiene.net

Individual evidence

^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 141.
↑ Railcars of the old type will run until 2019. In: Freie Presse. Retrieved September 3, 2019 .
↑ Order for rail traffic around the Czech Louny goes to the Länderbahn. Retrieved September 3, 2019 .
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 128.
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 129.
^ The Treuen train station on www.sachsenschiene.net
↑ www.sachsenschiene.net Railway stations in Saxony E – F (accessed on January 5, 2013)
↑ ^a ^b ^c Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 131.
^ The Eich (Sachs) train station on www.sachsenschiene.net
^ The Eich (Sachs) station in the Vogtland Railway Forum
↑ Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf on www.sachsenschiene.net
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 133.
↑ Tracks in service facilities (DFA) , DB Netz AG (PDF; 179 KiB; as of April 1, 2012)
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 115 f.
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 116 f.
↑ Lottengrün station on www.sachsenschiene.net
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 118.
^ Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 119.
^ Wilfried Rettig: Plauen / V-Cheb (Eger) - The PE railway line in the Euregio-Egrensis. Verlag Jacobi, Fraureuth 2007, ISBN 978-3-937228-01-3 , p. 30 ff.

[1] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 141.

[2] Railcars of the old type will run until 2019. In: Freie Presse. Retrieved September 3, 2019 .

[3] Order for rail traffic around the Czech Louny goes to the Länderbahn. Retrieved September 3, 2019 .

[4] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 128.

[5] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 129.

[6] The Treuen train station on www.sachsenschiene.net

[7] www.sachsenschiene.net Railway stations in Saxony E – F (accessed on January 5, 2013)

[Rettig_131-8] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 131.

[9] The Eich (Sachs) train station on www.sachsenschiene.net

[10] The Eich (Sachs) station in the Vogtland Railway Forum

[11] Auerbach (Vogtl) ob Bf on www.sachsenschiene.net

[12] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 133.

[Gleise_in_Serviceeinrichtungen-13] Tracks in service facilities (DFA) , DB Netz AG (PDF; 179 KiB; as of April 1, 2012)

[14] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 115 f.

[15] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 116 f.

[16] Lottengrün station on www.sachsenschiene.net

[17] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 118.

[18] Wilfried Rettig: The railways in Vogtland. Volume 1, p. 119.

[19] Wilfried Rettig: Plauen / V-Cheb (Eger) - The PE railway line in the Euregio-Egrensis. Verlag Jacobi, Fraureuth 2007, ISBN 978-3-937228-01-3 , p. 30 ff.