Oschatz – Mügeln – Döbeln narrow-gauge railway

Oschatz – Döbeln Hbf
Excerpt from the route map of Saxony 1902
Route number :	6969; sä. OD
Course book section (DB) :	502
Route length:	30.940 km
Gauge :	750 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope :	17  ‰
Minimum radius :	100 m
Top speed:	30 km / h
Legend 0.00 Oschatz 129 m (Connection from main line Leipzig – Dresden ) 0.21 to Strehla Three- rail track 750/1435 mm 0.81 Connection to the Oschatz sugar factory 1.05 Oschatz Lichtstrasse 126 m 1.30 Oschatz Körnerstrasse 126 m 1.75 Oschatz market only in 2006 2.08 Oschatz south 123 m 2.35 Oschatz Tierpark only in 2006 2.77 Kleinforst-Rosensee 124 m 3.29 Altoschatz-Rosenthal 125 m 4.30 Thalheim (b Oschatz) 129 m 7.22 Naundorf (b Oschatz) 139 m 9.14 Schweta Inn 145 m 9.88 Schweta Bahnhof formerly Schweta (b Oschatz) 10.66 Mügeln Flocke formerly Niedergoseln-Wetitz and Grauschwitz Flocke 11.37 Mügeln (b Oschatz) 148 m to Neichen 13.89 Lüttnitz 169 m 15.85 Schrebitz Nord formerly Görlitz (b Oschatz) 190 m 16.56 Schrebitz 201 m 18.41 Lapwing formerly Töllschütz 20.19 Zaschwitz 231 m 20.91 Tronitz 233 m 22.45 Mockritz - Jessnitz 211 m 24.00 Döschütz 26.08 Gadewitz 190 m 26.59 Bk Gärtitz (signal station) by Wilsdruff 29.70 Döbeln- Gärtitz formerly Gärtitz 178 m (Connection to main line Chemnitz – Riesa ) 30.05 Chub North formerly Großbauchlitz 177 m Four- rail track 750/1435 mm 30.92 Döbeln Hbf 176 m (Connection to main line Chemnitz – Riesa )

The Oschatz – Mügeln – Döbeln narrow-gauge railway is a Saxon narrow-gauge railway . Only the section from Oschatz to Mügeln is still in operation today , the rest of the line to Döbeln has been closed since 1968. The listed parts of the Döllnitzbahn, which is managed as a whole, can be found in the list of cultural monuments of the Döllnitzbahn .

history

99 1568 on July 15, 1988 in Oschatz

The narrow-gauge railway from Oschatz via Mügeln to Döbeln was one of the first narrow-gauge railway lines in Saxony. The first section from Mügeln to Großbauchlitz was opened on September 15, 1884. The remaining sections followed on November 1, 1884 (Großbauchlitz – Döbeln) and January 7, 1885 (Oschatz – Mügeln).

In the following years, the section between Oschatz and Mügeln developed into one of the most important narrow-gauge railways in Saxony. In contrast, the section between Mügeln and Döbeln remained insignificant. Major transport services were only provided there during the sugar beet harvest in autumn each year. The section between the Mügeln and Döbeln stations was therefore one of the first disused narrow-gauge railways in Saxony. As early as December 14, 1964, the always sparse passenger train traffic was given up there. Freight traffic was maintained until 1967. On January 1, 1968, the line was shut down and dismantled a little later.

The Oschatz – Mügeln line was also originally scheduled to be closed by 1975. The last passenger trains ran there on September 28, 1975. Freight traffic, on the other hand, remained important. Extensive transports had to be carried out, especially for the kaolin factory in Kemmlitz , but also for the many industrial companies in Mügeln.

The change in transport policy in the GDR came in 1981, when, completely unexpectedly, the oil imported from the Soviet Union was no longer available in the required quantity. From then on, the motto was to carry out all transports by rail if possible. The originally intended closure of the line was no longer pursued. By 1984 the now completely worn out tracks were completely renewed.

Freight train in Oschatz (1988)

In 1984 the route's centenary was celebrated with a large number of special trains. In the 1980s, up to six pairs of freight trains ran daily to handle the large volume of goods. Only after the political change in eastern Germany in 1989 did the situation change. It was only through the initiative of the district and the Pro Bahn passenger association that the route was maintained. In December 1993 the line became the property of the newly founded Döllnitzbahn . Nevertheless, there was a further decline in traffic in the following years. In 2001, freight traffic was completely abandoned.

In 1995 passenger train traffic was resumed by the Döllnitzbahn. Initially, trains for school traffic ran between Oschatz and Altmügeln ( Mügeln – Neichen route ). Regular traffic on working days was only introduced later, although it has since been discontinued due to insufficient occupancy, in the 2019 timetable during school hours there are four train journeys in each direction between Mügeln and Oschatz, Monday to Friday.

Since the cessation of goods traffic in 2001, the route has only been used by special and school trains. In February 2011, the Zweckverband für die Nahverkehrsraum Leipzig (ZVNL) announced that it would cancel student traffic on July 8, 2011, as the Saxon Ministry of Transport cut allocations. On January 1, 2015, the new transport contract with the Döllnitzbahn came into force and traffic continued with locomotive-hauled trains.

Since December 7, 2018, the railcar ex ÖBB 5090 015 bought by NÖVOG on November 15, 2017 has been used as the now VT 137 515, which was previously refurbished in the workshops of the Zillertalbahn in Jenbach .

At the beginning of 2018, an additional switch was installed in Thalheim, which had been dismantled in the Oschatz station the previous year. As a result, the previous stump track can be used as a sideline from June.

Vehicle use

Class IV K locomotives (Mügeln, 1984)

In the early years, the triple-coupled IK locomotives were initially used on the line. Later the train traffic was also handled by the Saxon class III K. From the turn of the century, the more powerful IV K class (DR series 99.51-60) was used, which handled all traffic until the early 1990s.

Goods traffic was initially carried out with narrow-gauge freight wagons, later rolling vehicle traffic was also introduced. The cars used corresponded to the general Saxon building and procurement regulations for the narrow-gauge railways and could therefore be freely exchanged with vehicles on other Saxon narrow-gauge lines.

literature

• Ludger Kenning: Narrow gauge railways around Mügeln and Wilsdruff , Verlag Kenning, Nordhorn 2000, ISBN 3-933613-29-9
• Wolfram Wagner: The Mügeln-Döbeln narrow-gauge railway: Chronicle of an almost forgotten railway line , Nossen 2004

Web links

Commons : Oschatz – Mügeln – Döbeln narrow-gauge railway  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description of the route on www.sachsenschiene.de
• Pictures on stillosed.de
• Website of the Döllnitzbahn GmbH

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Rescue Train for the Wild Robert"
2. ↑ Sven Steinke: The local traffic around Leipzig is being cut considerably. In: Eisenbahnjournal Zughalt.de. April 28, 2011, accessed April 4, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Hagen Rösner: The tragedy ended: Association is again giving coal for the narrow-gauge railway. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung. December 18, 2014, accessed April 4, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Helge Scholz: The best thing about school is the daily train journey . In: SOEG (Ed.): Dampfbahn Magazin. , 2/2019, ISSN 1866-2366, pp. 6-7.
5. ↑ Axel Kaminski: New sleepers and fresh gravel for Döllnitzbahn in Altoschatz. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung. March 8, 2018, accessed April 4, 2018 .