Völklingen-Heidstock – Püttlingen Grube railway line
| Völklingen-Heidstock – Püttlingen pit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Route on a measuring table from 1882
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| Route number (DB) : | 3292 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 4.12; originally 5.95 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway Völklingen-Heidstock-Puettlingen mine was a standard-gauge , single-track railway line , which the Saarland City Völklingen to the east of the village Püttlingen nearby coal mine Viktoria association. It was in operation from 1872 to 1965.
history
When planning to build a new coal mine , the mine Viktoria , east of the Saarland community Puettlingen also the construction of a 5.95 km long was the main railway provided, which at the pit Saar Railway in the south-western station Völklingen should join. The construction price was estimated at 363,000 thalers . The construction of the railway took longer than planned and thus initially delayed the commissioning of the mine. On July 1, 1872, both were opened at the same time, Püttlingen was connected to the railway network for the first time. The Friederiken railway line should be disregarded here , which ran in the extreme southeast of the Püttlinger district, even if only for a short stretch, and which is known for the failed use of the Geislautern steam car around 1820. Due to its peripheral location, it was of no importance for the place.
The railway did not have its own station building at the pit. Instead, a ticket office and a waiting room were set up in the mine’s administration building. A residential building was built nearby for railway employees.
Passenger traffic was offered as a GmP . The coal trains carried unheated and unlit fourth class wagons . The seating was limited to two benches on the inside of the car, the rest was declared as "sufficient standing room". Since the station was not only a good kilometer outside, but also around 70 meters above the Püttling town center, the municipality submitted an application in May 1876, which was ultimately unsuccessful, for the additional establishment of a more conveniently located stop.
Nevertheless, the railway developed well. For the years 1908 to 1910, ticket sales are in the mid five-digit range. In 1910, 23,310 bills of lading were handled in goods traffic and 29,742 bills of lading were handled in dispatch. Up to five people found work at the station.
A significant change in the operating conditions resulted when the Köllertalbahn went into operation on October 1, 1911. At this Püttlingen received a new station in the immediate vicinity of the town center, the old station kept the name Püttlingen Grube . At the same time, passenger traffic on the route to the mine was stopped. Now it was the residents of the eastern districts on the heights who had reason to complain about the long way to the train station. In particular, the residents of the Ritterstrasse hillside settlement preferred to take the slightly longer walk to the Luisenthal train station on the Saar line. There, the trains on the Saar line could be used directly without having to change trains in Völklingen. Multiple attempts to re-establish passenger traffic on the old line, the last one in 1938, were unsuccessful. The workforce in the mine yard was reduced to two employees.
When the Köllertalbahn was built in 1911, it was not connected directly to the Saar line in Völklingen, but to the existing mine railway in the area of the later Heidstock stop. The section leading from there to Völklingen was abandoned three years later, as it crossed the road from Völklingen to Saarbrücken by means of a level crossing. Instead, a few hundred meters to the east, a new line was built with the Heidstock tunnel and an adjoining bridge over the Saar line to the south. From then on, at the latest, the route to the mine was named Völklingen-Heidstock - Püttlingen Grube . The route length has been shortened accordingly to 4.12 km.
In the period that followed, operations on the route were largely limited to coal transports. The station directory of the Deutsche Reichsbahn from 1944 lists Püttlingen Grube , under station number 30427, as a fourth category station with limited public goods and without luggage and express goods traffic. The route was badly damaged in an air raid on July 21, 1944. It reached its peak in transport performance in February 1957 with an average of 3718 tons per day.
When the mining in the mine ceased in May 1963, the station's existence also ended. The last station master, Vinzenz Kiefer, was transferred to the Püttlinger local station. On the railway itself, coal was brought from the Warndt mine for further processing to Püttlingen and back until 1965 , when operations ended. In 1970 the tracks were dismantled.
The railway was built by the KPEV as a state line. During its entire existence it remained part of the state rail network . Since its establishment, it was part of the St. Johann - Saarbrücken Railway Directorate and later one of the corresponding successor authorities.
Route description
The route began at the Völklingen train station . From there it initially led to the east parallel to the Saar line, and then, after crossing the Köllerbach , turned to the northeast. It crossed the road from Völklingen to Saarbrücken, today's B 51 , at the same level , and then cut through a fleeing castle from Roman times known as the Alte Burg or Rammelte . From there it led in a northerly direction, steadily rising, past the Anna tunnel along the eastern slope of the Köllerbach valley . At about the level of the southern foothills of Püttlingen, it wound in a wide arc to the east, crossed a side valley of the Köllerbach and finally led to the multi-track terminus located in front of the gates of the mine.
Current condition
Large parts of the route can still be seen today, with smaller gaps. On the old route between Völklingen and Heidstock, the Black Path runs , and between Heidstock and Püttlingen a forest and farm path . Only the end section running at the level of Püttlingen in an east-west direction to the mine station was built over with a bypass road, the L 269 leading from Püttlingen to the Riegelsberg district of Hixberg . The former station building "Püttlingen Grube" was converted and now serves as a private residence.
The street names Am Grubenbahnhof and Eisenbahnstraße in Püttlingen are reminiscent of the railway .
literature
- Karl Heinz Janson: The Köllertalbahn Völklingen - Püttlingen - Heusweiler - Lebach; Anniversary book for the centenary of the railway opening in 1911 with the history of the two mine railways, Erfurt 2010. ISBN 3-86680-654-X
- Paul Sperling: On the history of the Viktoria mine railway. Article on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Köllertalbahn. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
- Hans-Joachim Kühn: On the history of the Köllertalbahn . Article on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Köllertalbahn. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
- Günter Altmeyer, Maria Altmeyer: Püttlingen residents' book 1868 - 1910, 2004. ISBN 3-931519-37-6
Web links
- Page to the pit Victoria with pictures of the train station facilities at the pit
- Description of the route on Völklingen-im-Wandel.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Statistical Handbook for the Prussian State, Volume III, 1898, p. 71. Digitalisat ; Statistical Handbook for the Prussian State, Volume IV, 1903, p. 58. Digitized ; Report on the results of the operation of the united Prussian and Hessian state railways in the financial year 1906, Annex 1. Prussian House of Representatives, 20th legislative period, IV. Session 1907/08, printed matter No. 34, p. 160. Digitized
- ↑ General account of the state budget of 1870, annexes, p. 106 digitized
- ^ Journal for the mining, smelting and saltworks in the Prussian state, XX. Volume, Berlin, 1872, p. 52. Digitized
- ↑ a b c Karl-Heinz Janson: Memories of the last head of the mine railway ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Saarbrücker Zeitung , October 25, 2011. Accessed February 14, 2012.
- ^ Deutsche Reichsbahn: Official station directory 1944, p. 660 at GenWiki , accessed on February 15, 2011
- ↑ Hans Dieter Hennrich: Heidstock history and the drawing here , both on the website of the Saarland Residential Property Association. Accessed on February 15, 2012.
