Weimar – Buchenwald railway line

Weimar – Buchenwald
Combined head and side loading ramp in Buchenwald station
Course book range :	185f (1952)
Route length:	14.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	28.6  ‰
Minimum radius :	180 m
Legend from Kranichfeld and from Erfurt Weimar to Halle and Gera 0.50 Weimar-North 247 m 1.55 Dürrebach 3.47 0.00 Schondorf 297 m to Großrudestedt 3.30 Wohlsborn 4.60 Grossobringen 322 m 8.83 Timber loading point Connection of Gustloff Plant II 10.80 Beech forest 455 m 10.92 End of the route

Construction work on the Weimar – Buchenwald railway line by concentration camp prisoners.

A piece of track still preserved at Buchenwald station.

The partially reconstructed and restored section of track at the station.

The Weimar – Buchenwald railway (also known as the Buchenwaldbahn ) was a single-track, non-electrified railway line in Thuringia . The approximately 14.5 km long route from Weimar to Schöndorf used a three -rail track with the narrow-gauge Weimar – Großrudestedt , from then on it ran on its own route to the Buchenwald concentration camp . The route, classified as a non-public connecting railway , was largely completed in 1944, although it was opened in 1943. Between 1946 and 1953, part of the route was used by public transport.

history

prehistory

The narrow-gauge railway Weimar – Großrudestedt opened up a number of industrial companies in the north of the city of Weimar. Since no trolley traffic was carried out, all goods had to be reloaded in Weimar. Therefore, the Thüringische Eisenbahn-AG (THEAG), which operated the narrow-gauge railway, tried to replace this personnel-intensive and cost-intensive process, as it was hardly possible to make a profit on the short transport route. From autumn 1937, the Weimar – Weimar Nord section was therefore expanded to three tracks. The company opened in 1938, and from then on the standard-gauge freight wagons were transported using a specially purchased Kö . An extension of the three-rail section to 1.4 km was planned, but was no longer built after the outbreak of the Second World War .

The Buchenwald concentration camp, which was established in 1937 (initially referred to as the Ettersberg concentration camp ), was initially only served by road. In 1942 a connecting railway was planned for the first time, as there was now less and less fuel available for the vehicles. The route should lead directly from Weimar to the north-west to the warehouse, but the planned route turned out to be too steep. So from the end of 1942 they wanted to continue the existing three-rail track to Schöndorf in order to reach the camp from there westwards over the Ettersberg. The route chosen now was three times as long, but much easier to build.

Until the end of World War II

In February 1943, the Reichsführer SS ordered that construction work should begin in March. Completion was decided for June 1943. Thereupon, in autumn 1943, a corresponding connecting railway contract was signed with the Central Administration for Secundairbahnen Herrmann Bachstein . The company should pay for the first three-rail section itself and receive a construction subsidy for the remaining kilometers to Schöndorf.

In the spring of 1943, the actual construction work began by the Waffen SS . For this purpose, numerous prisoners from the concentration camp were deployed, who largely had to complete the subgrade of the connecting railway by hand. Only shortly before the Buchenwald train station was an excavator used in a cut . However, the construction work began without a legal basis, the corresponding construction plans were only approved in autumn 1943.

The effects of the Second World War were already evident during construction; despite the declaration as an "important war project", the necessary building materials could not be procured in sufficient quantities. There was a lack of bedding gravel and suitable rails . Instead of the S-41 rails, for the most part, old material removed elsewhere was used, and the quality of the sleepers was also inadequate.

On June 21, 1943, the line was officially opened with a few invited guests to the exclusion of the population, the majority of the connecting line was only provisionally completed. The planned conversion of the transfer tracks to the Reichsbahn in Weimar did not materialize either; some tracks in Weimar-Nord were not built until 1944/1945. The connecting line itself was largely completed and approved by the police in the summer of 1944, but still with numerous defects. Until the end of the war, prisoners were constantly deployed to keep the extremely poor superstructure reasonably passable.

In June 1944, works personnel traffic was started and general cargo was also transported. During the air raid on the Gustloff armaments plant on August 24, 1944, the station was also badly hit. 29 cars and the already completed service building were completely destroyed. In February 1945, construction of the locomotive shed in Buchenwald began, but only the shell could be completed by the end of the war.

Development since 1945

Traffic was only interrupted shortly after the camp was liberated, and at the orders of the Americans it was resumed at the end of April 1945. In the meantime, the maintenance of the route was carried out by prisoners after the establishment of special camp No. 2 . Nevertheless, the structural condition deteriorated more and more. Therefore, the RBD Erfurt allowed the closure on November 26, 1945, but operations had to be continued on Soviet instructions.

In 1946 the crossing track in Großobringen was approved for freight traffic, and from May 4, 1947 passenger traffic to Großobringen was also started. In 1947 the plan was to dismantle the entire line as a reparation payment, but ultimately only numerous station sidings were dismantled. At the end of 1951, two pairs of trains ran from Monday to Saturday, one from Monday to Friday and one only on Wednesdays and Saturdays between Weimar Nord and Großobringen.

Because of the poor condition of the line, passenger traffic was stopped on October 3, 1953 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn , which had taken over the line in 1949. After that only goods traffic was carried out. In 1954/55 the Großobringen – Buchenwald section was dismantled. At least until the 1960s, the Großobringen station was still used by goods traffic, after which the tracks to Schöndorf and to Weimar were gradually dismantled. Most recently, only the connections in Weimar were served, the last time in the 1990s. Today most of the tracks have already been dismantled.

Locomotive use

THEAG ordered four ELNA-3 locomotives from Henschel & Sohn for the connecting line , but the vehicles could not be built due to the Second World War. In addition to their own machines, vehicles leased from the Deutsche Reichsbahn were also used for the time being , including machines from the 74.4–13 , 93.5–12 and 94.5–17 series . Since THEAG refused to procure series 42 and 52 vehicles , three steam locomotives with the numbers 92 435–437 were bought in 1944.

After 1945, other machines were also used by the DR, such as the 55 series . Machines of the 92 and Köf series took over the operation of the last connections . From the 1960s, the trains were then hauled by the V 60 .

literature

• Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 3rd edition 2006, ISBN 3-937135-44-8 .
• Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Buchenwaldbahn 1943–1953 , Rockstuhl Verlag, Bad Langensalza 2017, ISBN 978-3-95966-256-7 .

Web links

• www.weimar-rastenberger-kleinbahn.de The "Buchenwaldbahn"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 81.
2. ^ ^{A b} Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 84
3. ^ Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 86.
4. ↑ Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 97 f.
5. ↑ Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in the Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 102.
6. ^ Ministry of Transport of the GDR, official timetable of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, winter timetable 1951/52
7. ^ Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in the Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 105
8. ^ Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The Laura - Kleinbahn in Weimar and Sömmerdaer Land - The Buchenwaldbahn , p. 101.