Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim railway line

Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim
Route number (DB) :	4921
Course book section (DB) :	313d (as of 1944)
Route length:	6.4 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	20  ‰
Minimum radius :	200 m
Legend from Wertheim 0.0 Tauberbischofsheim according to Lauda Brehmbach B 27 Muckbach 3.5 Dittwar Connection to the Dittwar industrial park 6.4 Koenigheim

The Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim line was a 6.4 kilometer long single-track branch line that branched off about half a kilometer after the Tauberbischofsheim station as a branch line from the Lauda – Wertheim line. The planned connection to the Walldürn – Hardheim line could never be completed.

course

After the junction in Tauberbischofsheim, the route crossed the Brehmbach ( ⊙ ) and the federal road 27 ( ⊙ ) with two bridges before following the valley of the Brehmbach upstream. The B 27 ran in parallel. At the residential and industrial area of Bahnhof Dittwar , the route crossed the Muckbachtal cycle path before a railway embankment ( ⊙ ) led across the valley of the Muckbach , shortly before its confluence with the Brehmbach. Immediately after the embankment, the route crossed the L 578 in front of the Dittwar station. From there the route led upstream on the left side of the slope of the Brehmbach valley to Königheim train station.

history

Prehistory, planning and construction

→ for the prehistory see also: Walldürn – Hardheim railway line

The nucleus of the Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim railway line was the petitions of the communities between the rear of the Odenwald and Taubertal, which had been pushing for a railway connection between Walldürn and Tauberbischofsheim to be built in the 1870s . After an expert report by the BadStB in December 1903 confirmed that such a connection was completely inadequate and the state initially rejected its realization, the neighboring communities did not give up. In September 1906, a "railway committee" founded in Tauberbischofsheim in 1905 was able to ensure that the BadStB investigated the construction costs of a more stretched and thus supposedly cheaper route on behalf of the government.

The result presented at the end of 1907, however, was devastating: Instead of the previously calculated costs of 4.7 million marks , the calculated costs were 5.2 million. The construction costs per km would have been the highest for a railway line in Baden , and this for a pure local railway. At the same time, the appraisal of a branch line to Königheim certified the building worthiness. As a result, the Baden government finally rejected the construction of a through line and concentrated on the proposed branch line, the construction of which as a state railway was decided by law on September 2, 1908.

Construction work began in 1910. The Baden State Railways (BadStB) opened operations on December 1, 1914 without any major celebrations, as the First World War had already broken out. The Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim line was the last railway line opened by the BadStB.

From 1915 to 1917 and from around 1930 to the end of the 1940s, a Kittel steam powered rail car served passenger traffic. From 1952 until it was discontinued, it was carried out with Uerdinger rail buses of the VT 95 series.

Decline

Dittwar station, 1984

In 1966 the Deutsche Bundesbahn initiated a decommissioning procedure for the railway line. After approval on February 5, 1968, passenger traffic was discontinued on May 26, 1968 and freight traffic on December 31, 1968. Until 1968, however, there was a lot of activity at the goods handling at the Dittwar and Königheim stations. All resident companies handled their entire turnover of goods via the two train stations. As early as May 1969, the tracks between the Dittwar and Königheim industrial area were dismantled. In 1970 the municipality of Königheim took over the 5 hectare railway area with the buildings in order to build a multi-purpose hall and a sports center. The former station building was integrated into it, all other buildings were demolished. The engine shed serves as a club warehouse.

Destroyed embankment after the flood of the century in 1984

During the Corpus Christi flood in 1984, parts of the railway line in the area of ​​the embankment in the Muckbachtal were destroyed and subsequently rebuilt.

The railway section from Tauberbischofsheim to the industrial area at Dittwarer Bahnhof remained until the 1990s as a siding for local companies. The regular service of the remaining siding was carried out by Köf stationed in Tauberbischofsheim .

In 2014, an exhibition by the Heimatverein Brehmbachtal in the Königheim parish hall commemorated the 100-year history of the former railway line. A true-to-scale replica of the former railway area by Burkard Gassenbauer as well as an illustrated booklet was used to trace the history of the former railway line.

Today there are still around two kilometers of the rail line from the bridge over the Brehmbach to the Tauberbischofsheim junction to the edge of the Dittwarer Bahnhof industrial area. The partially overgrown tracks end at the Muckbachtalradweg on the former embankment. However, it is no longer possible to drive on the route.

Operating points

Operation of the siding by Köf stationed in Tauberbischofsheim, 1984

 Map with all coordinates of the operating points of the Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim railway line: OSM | WikiMap

Tauberbischofsheim

The Tauberbischofsheim ( ⊙ ) station was built by the Grand Ducal Badische Eisenbahnbaugesellschaft between 1866 and 1868 and is still in operation as part of the Lauda – Wertheim line. The former station building is now used as the Euro Academy .

→ Main article : Tauberbischofsheim station

Railway siding in the Dittwar industrial park, 1984

Dittwar

A residential and industrial area of ​​the same name was created near the former Dittwar train station ( ⊙ ). The former station building has been privately owned since 1981.

→ Main article : Dittwar railway station

Connection to the Dittwar industrial park

After Dittwarer Bahnhof in the direction of Königheim there was a rail connection to a commercial enterprise ( ⊙ ).

Koenigheim

Königheim station, May 2007

The former Königheim station ( ⊙ ) had four tracks and was the end of the line. In addition to the reception building and the toilet building, there was a locomotive shed with a bedroom. The former train station was rebuilt and has been used by Königheim associations ever since. In 2019 the building was demolished.

literature

• Municipal council of Tauberbischofsheim: Request from the municipalities of Tauberbischofsheim, Königheim, Dittwar, Gissigheim, Pülfringen, Heckfeld, Brehmen ,gerichtstetten, Erfeld, Waldstetten, Bretzingen and Hardheim to build a railway from Königheim via Gissigheim to Hardheim: High Second Chamber of Estates! , Tauberbischofsheim local council, 4 pages, Tauberbischofsheim 1913.
• Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten railways in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 15-17 .
• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf: Railways between Neckar, Tauber and Main . tape 1 : Historical development and railway construction . EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2001, ISBN 3-88255-766-4 .
• Hans-Wolfgang Scharf: Railways between Neckar, Tauber and Main . tape 2 : Design, operation and machine service . EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2001, ISBN 3-88255-768-0 .

Web links

Commons : Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim railway line  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim route at verkehrsrelektiven.de
• Excerpt from the course book from 1944

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uwe Büttner: 100 years of the Tauberbischofsheim - Königheim railway line: look back to the “Brehmbachtalblitz”. Fränkische Nachrichten Verlags-GmbH, January 4, 2014, accessed on October 19, 2014 . 
2. ↑ State Archive Baden-Württemberg, Department General State Archive Karlsruhe - Documents. In: .landesarchiv-bw.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 
3. ↑ State Archive Baden-Württemberg, Department General State Archive Karlsruhe - Documents. In: .landesarchiv-bw.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 
4. ^ Horst-Werner Dumjahn: Handbook of the German Railway Lines: Opening dates 1835-1935, line lengths, concessions, ownership structure . Dumjahn, Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-921426-29-4 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} The branch line Tauberbischofsheim-Königheim was built 100 years ago. In: mainpost.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Uwe Büttner: 100 years of the Tauberbischofsheim - Königheim railway line: look back to the “Brehmbachtalblitz”. Fränkische Nachrichten Verlags-GmbH, January 4, 2014, accessed on February 15, 2017 . 
7. ↑ When the train was still running. In: mainpost.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Uwe Büttner: Exhibition: Remembrance of “100 Years of the Tauberbischofsheim – Königheim Railway” - the railway area has been replicated to scale. Fränkische Nachrichten Verlags-GmbH, December 16, 2014, accessed on December 23, 2014 . 
9. ^ Fränkische Nachrichten : Review and Preview. The Tauberbischofsheimer Bahnhof has an eventful history. It will be rebuilt from autumn. Railway station through the ages . August 30, 2013. Online at www.fnweb.de. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
10. ↑ About us - Euro Academy Tauberbischofsheim. In: euroakademie.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 
11. ↑ Decision to demolish the old train station - Fränkische Nachrichten. In: fnweb.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 
12. ↑ Bit by bit: Building is being torn down - Fränkische Nachrichten. In: fnweb.de. Retrieved May 28, 2020 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap