Werdau – Mehltheuer railway line

	from Hof Hbf
0.000	Werdau	303 m
	to Leipzig Bayer Bf
	Leipzig-Hof
1.810	Werdau West	315 m
1,920 0.000	Route change 6652/6653
5.710	Langenbernsdorf	350 m
8.179	Teichwolframsdorf	355 m
	to Katzendorf
10,400	Truly	363 m
13.804	Seelingstädt (b Werdau) Hp	330 m
15.520	Seelingstädt (b Werdau)	330 m
	to Paitzdorf / to AB 102 ( Wismut-Werkbahn )
	AB 102 – Braunichswalde ( Wismut-Werkbahn )
19.198	Gurgling	290 m
	after Culmitzsch
21.060	Wolfersdorf (Kr Greiz)	260 m
23.240	End contactor (formerly Bf)	250 m
	from Weischlitz
27.900	Wish Village (Elster)	213 m
	to Gera south
	Gera south-Weischlitz
29.263	White magpie
	from Leipzig-Leutzsch
32.580	Weida	258 m

33.004	Viaduct Oschützal (255 m, out of service since 1984)
	according to Probstzella
	Branch since the viaduct was closed
33.810	Weida Mitte (since 2002)
34.271	Osterburg tunnel (79 m)
34.920	Weida old town (formerly Bf)	244 m
35.850	Weida tunnel (71 m)
39.350	Loitsch - Hohenleuben
40.780	Schüptitz tunnel (97 m, removed)
41.600	Schüptitz
43.600	Hohenleuben
45.800	Instinct
46.750	Instinct	342 m
	from Zeulenroda ob Bf
49.740	Zeulenroda und Bf	365 m
53.790	Pollwitz	405 m
60.790	Pausa (formerly Bf)	477 m
65.250	Bernsgrün (until 2011)	502 m
	from Leipzig Bayer Bf
67.653	Flour turret	509 m
	to Hof Hbf

The Werdau – Mehltheuer railway is a branch line in Saxony and Thuringia , originally used by the Kgl. Saxon State Railways was built and operated. The section running from Werdau via Wünschendorf to Weida has been closed today. The route between Weida and Mehltheuer is part of the Gera - Hof connection .

history

Until 1945

The Werdau – Wünschendorf – Weida section was opened by the Saxon State Railway on August 29, 1876.

Werdau-West station sign

The section after today to the municipality Rosenbach / Vogtl. Mehltheuer owned by Mehltheuer has a more extensive building history: According to this, the first plans date back to 1864, which were related to a planned continuation of the Weißenfels – Zeitz – Gera line opened by the Thuringian Railway Company in 1859 and which failed due to Bavarian resistance. The Mehltheuer-Weidaer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (MWE) was founded in Plauen in 1872 with the aim of building a railway line that would be shorter than the existing state railway connection from Leipzig via Plauen to Hof and Eger . The line should branch off from the Gera – Saalfeld line of the Thuringian Railway Company at Weida station in the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach and head south through the Reuss younger line at Hohenleuben and Triebes to the lower Zeulenroda station that leads to Reuss belonged to the older line . Finally it should reach the Saxon Vogtland near Pausa and after 35 kilometers end in Mehltheuer at the state railway Leipzig – Hof. That is why international treaties were concluded between the four participating governments and the corresponding concessions were granted.

When construction began, economic difficulties arose. The handover to the “railway king ” Strousberg did not help either, because - as it is said in a contemporary account - “as is well known, but also veiled this brilliant railway entrepreneur at that time Fortuna her face”. In 1876 the MWE went bankrupt and the Saxon state acquired the railway. He only expanded it into a secondary line and opened operations from Weida Altstadt to Mehltheuer on November 15, 1883. The Weida – Weida Altstadt section followed in 1884.

Later, in 1913 (Triebes – Zeulenroda) and especially in the 1930s, the entire Werdau – Weida – Mehltheuer line was partially expanded to double-track as the main line, for example between Loitsch-Hohenleuben and Triebes. In this context, the two signal boxes in Loitsch-Hohenleuben and the northern signal box in Triebes were rebuilt in the architectural style of the 1930s.

After 1945

Passenger train on the Red Rock near Hohenleuben (1953),
on the side of the rock was the dismantled second track.

The damage caused by the war was limited, but the Elsterbrücke near Wünschendorf was blown up. As part of the reparation payments , the second track was removed after 1945, and the line is still single-track and not electrified today. In the first years after the war the timetable was very thin: the timetable from 1947 only showed three pairs of trains on working days between Wünschendorf and Zeulenroda, while there were four on the other two sections. There were two continuous pairs of trains (one on Sundays and public holidays), with a journey time of around 3 hours 30 minutes.

From 1953 until the closure before 1962, uranium ore trains operated as block trains or in groups of wagons via a siding from Katzendorf to Teichwolframsdorf and from there to the Saxon processing plants . In 1957, the loading of the uranium ore mined in the Culmitzsch opencast mine began in Gauern and the transport to Lengenfeld , Dresden-Gittersee , Tannenbergsthal and Crossen near Zwickau for further processing . On September 11, 1958, a 2.2 km long connecting line from Gauern to the Culmitzsch loading station went into operation, which was shut down again in 1966. When the processing plant (AB) 102, known as the “New Factory”, opened in Seelingstädt in 1960, the Culmitz ore transports were directed backwards from the Seelingstädt railway station via the “Taiga curve” into the plant.

Since the second track on the neighboring main line, the Leipzig – Hof railway line , was also missing until the 1970s as a result of the dismantling, long-distance trains were sometimes routed over the Mehltheuer – Weida line and partly via the continuation to Werdau. This included, for example, the D 145 Munich - Dresden in 1967 . In the 1970s, the pair of trains D 308/309 was still routed from Berlin to Munich via the Weida – Mehltheuer section, and in the 1980s, during construction work on the main routes via Probstzella and Gutenfürst , a few unscheduled transit trains. The 1988/89 timetable still lists a pair of through coaches on Saturdays from Zwickau via Wünschendorf and Gera to Bad Salzungen . In freight transport, TEEM trains or empty tank wagons drove to Seddin as required, unless they were part of the Gera – Mehltheuer – Gera local freight train service, which was repeated several times a day .

From 1995 to 1999, a pair of interregional trains on the Gera - Karlsruhe route ran on the Weida – Mehltheuer section , giving the route back a long-distance train connection for a short time. The pair of trains stopped in Weida and Zeulenroda, but not in Mehltheuer. Interregio trains were occasionally diverted over the Wünschendorf – Werdau section when the main line Gera – Gößnitz – Glauchau or parts of it were closed due to construction work.

On May 1, 1997, the Federal Railway Authority (EBA) approved the closure of the Wünschendorf - Weida section , freight traffic ceased from January 31, 1996 and passenger traffic from June 2 of the same year. This meant that the route could no longer be used continuously. On July 18, 2012, Deutsche Bahn AG submitted an application to the Federal Railway Authority to dismantle the tracks (km 28.5 to 31.9) for this section.

Last day of operation at Seelingstädt station (Wünschendorf – Werdau route) on May 29, 1999

In 1998 a regional express service on the Gera-Zwickau route was introduced every four hours on the Wünschendorf-Werdau section, with only the Seelingstädt , Teichwolframsdorf and Werdau West subway stations being served. The 219 series was used, which, with its two UIC-Z compartment cars, was clearly under-challenged.

Even before the introduction of this regional express connection between Zwickau – Werdau – Wünschendorf – Gera, the range of travel options had been thinned out to such an extent that the trains still running were hardly used due to their inadequate timetable and lack of traffic stops. No passenger train connections were offered on Sundays in the 1998/99 timetable. The reason that ultimately led to the discontinuation of the travel offer was deliberately brought about. An already prepared and started repair of the route sections between the train stations Werdau West, Langenbernsdorf and Teichwolframsdorf was canceled and not carried out consistently, so that by means of speed restrictions (in places up to 10 km / h) the rail traffic was blocked and further run down. In the 1998/99 timetable year, Deutsche Bahn AG also saved on security and personnel. At Teichwolframsdorf, for example, as a replacement for the missing dispatcher, the stop-indicating entry signals were overrun with a written order.

A lack of demand and the poor condition of the tracks led to the discontinuation of the train, which became known as the “slowest regional express” of Deutsche Bahn, on May 30, 1999, and thus the overall tourist traffic. On November 15, 2000, the decommissioning was ordered by the EBA. Since then there have been repeated initiatives to restart operations, but these have not been successful. Since an overpass structure was not used when the Werzeit bypass was built, the route between Werdau West and Werdau is also interrupted. Furthermore, the overpass structure over the Saxon-Bavarian Railway in Werdau was removed. The section between Seelingstädt and Gauern, which was converted into a siding of the Seelingstädt train station, has not officially been closed; Until the beginning of 2003, a customer in Gauern was served by the Wismut Railway. In June 2007, the Deutsche Regionalisenbahn (DRE) leased the line from Deutsche Bahn AG and handed it over to the "Friedrich List" railroad development association in Zwickau so that it can be prepared so that train operations between Werdau West and Wünschendorf / Elster can be resumed.

The development after the closure of the Werdau – Wünschendorf / Elster line:

After the closure of the Wünschendorf / Elster - Werdau / West section, the “Werurance Forest Railway” project was developed. The route section has been gradually upgraded by a railway support association since 2007. At the beginning of September 2007, operations were resumed with a historic hand lever trolley between Teichwolframsdorf and Langenbernsdorf. In May 2010, the hand-lever trolley already ran 5 times on four weekends between Werdau / West - Langenbernsdorf - Teichwolframsdorf and in the opposite direction. This interim solution has had a very positive effect on the acceptance and development of the Werzeit forest railway and the integrated tourism region. Since 2012, a steam trolley has occasionally been integrated into the rail traffic according to the schedule.

After the Vogtlandbahn operated passenger services on the Weida – Mehltheuer route from 2000 to 2003 , DB Regio trains ran until June 2012 . In 2006 the regional train line 103 Gera – Mehltheuer ran every two hours , stopping at all stations, but at some only when required. In addition, until December 2006 there was the regional express line 12 Leipzig - Gera - Hof (- Munich ), which runs every four hours . Because of the route from Saxony through Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia to Bavaria , this line was also called the Four-Country Express . In the interim period of the RE, RB operated the regional train line 103 from Gera to Zeulenroda, some of which were connected directly to and from Leipzig with the regional train line 51 from Weida. Since the timetable change on December 11, 2011, the Pöllwitz and Bernsgrün stops are no longer served. At that time, the timetable provided for ten pairs of regional trains on the section from Weida to Zeulenroda and four pairs of regional express trains on the entire route - two of them with a route across Hof to Regensburg - from Monday to Friday.

On June 10, 2012, the Erfurter Bahn (EB) took over all services in the local rail passenger transport and runs all journeys as line EBx 13 (Erfurter Bahn Express). While train crossings were initially held in Pöllwitz, but no more passenger stops, the stop in Schüptitz was reintroduced after public protests.

The timetable from 2020 currently provides for 10 pairs of trains a day, almost all of which travel via Zeulenroda to Hof and are bound from Leipzig or Leipzig.

Thanks to the new intermediate signal on track 2 in Weida station, these trains from Hof are coupled with the trains from Saalfeld in order to then run together via Gera to Leipzig. Conversely, the trains from Leipzig to Saalfeld and Hof are then winged at Weida station.

On August 3, 2012, DB Netz AG requested, Regional Unit South-East, a plan legal decision on the dismantling of the track between the stations Wünschendorf / Elster Weida, train-km 28.500 to km 31.900 Bahn, the Federal Railway Authority .

In 2014, Deutsche Bahn sold the Werdau – Wünschendorf section to the SIRE Saxon Institute for Regional Development and Energy Management AG .

In the course of an upcoming route modernization and the installation of electronic interlockings , an application was made to obtain only one crossing track in each of the Loitsch-Hohenleuben and Zeulenroda stations and Bf. The Pöllwitz station should be closed. This has now been done, the Pöllwitz train station has been dismantled, so that Pöllwitz no longer has a station.

Route description

course

Chursdorf, railway viaduct (2016)

Railway line in Chursdorf (2016)

About two thirds of the Werdau – Weida section is in Thuringia. It has been leaving Werdau train station in a north-westerly direction since 1900 and then leads through the Werdau forest . Until 1900 the exit took place on a shorter route in a south-westerly direction. Before breakpoint Trünzig the route comes back from the Werdauer forest of crosses at Chursdorf the national highway 175 and exits Gauern in the valley of the fox creek over. South of Wünschendorf / Elster it swings into the Elstertal , where it meets the Elstertalbahn . Behind Wünschendorf, after crossing the last-mentioned route, it leads over the Elster and then flows into the Weida train station.

Most of the Weida – Mehltheuer section is in Thuringia, with only the Pausa and Mehltheuer train stations belonging to Saxony. After crossing the B 175, the route branches off from the Gera – Saalfeld route and touches the old town of Weida. It then follows the Weida river to Schüptitz and, south of it, the course of the Triebesbach. From Zeulenroda the heights of the Vogtland are reached and shortly before the Mehltheuer train station the highest point of the route at 512 meters above sea level. In the course of the route, the federal highway 94 will be crossed in Zeulenroda and the federal highway 282 in Mehltheuer .

The direction from Werdau train station was originally via the southwest, while the route branched off in the direction of the northwest when it was relocated in 1900. For this reason, the kilometers in Werdau are given differently: old it is 0.00, new it is −0.182.

Operating points

Werdau ⊙50.7276 12.3673

The station, opened in 1845 on the Leipzig – Hof railway line , was originally a long way from the city center, but Werdau only slowly grew closer to the station in the decades that followed. In the following decades, the station was only expanded step by step, after the opening of the Werdau – Weida – Mehltheuer railway line, the station was no longer sufficient for the increased volume of traffic. So it was fundamentally rebuilt around 1900 for around 1.5 million marks. In spite of this, the facilities were again too small in the 1920s, and as an expansion on site was hardly possible, a new marshalling yard was built in Zwickau. At the end of the 1990s, the station was almost completely dismantled, and the facilities of the former depot were completely removed.

After the suspension of rail traffic on May 30, 1999 on the Werdau – Wünschendorf (Elster) section, an overpass structure was dispensed with when building the Werdau bypass running parallel to the Leipzig – Hof railway line and the route between Werdau and Werdau West was thus interrupted. Furthermore, the overpass structure over the Saxon-Bavarian Railway in Werdau was removed.

Werdau station, reception building (2016)
Werdau station with S-Bahn (2016)
Werdau station, platforms (2016)

Werdau West ⊙50.73755 12.36434

Although the Werdau – Wünschendorf – Weida section was opened on August 29, 1876, the Werdau West stop did not go into operation until February 1, 1916 when the route was relocated in the urban area of Werdau. When the train service between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster) ceased, the station was shut down on May 30, 1999. The dilapidated wooden station building and the platform systems are still there, but the station lettering that was still in place in 2006 is no longer there. The stop is located in the western part of the curved track. The "Straße zum Westbahnhof" leading to the stop is still reminiscent of the former station. Werdau West is the starting point of the “Werdar Forest Railway”, which is operated in the museum to Seelingstädt.

Werdau West stop (2016)
Werdau West stop, waiting hall (2016)
Werdau West stop, platform (2016)

Langenbernsdorf stop (2016)

Langenbernsdorf ⊙50.734791 12.295774

The Langenbernsdorf station was opened on August 29, 1876 as the Bauernsteig stop on the street of the same name south of Langenbernsdorf in the Wergau forest . In 1905 it was dedicated to the station and on May 1, 1908, it was renamed Langenbernsdorf . In 1933 it was dedicated to the stop, in 1952 again to the train station and in 1983 to the stop. In the area of the station, the railway line forms the southern boundary of Langenbernsdorf, with which the station is connected via "Bahnhofstrasse". The station was shut down on May 24, 1998, one year before the cessation of train traffic between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster). The reception building is still there.

Teichwolframsdorf ⊙50.731647 12.26653

The Teichwolframsdorf station was opened as a stop on August 29, 1876 and dedicated to the station in 1905. In addition to the reception building, the station was equipped with farm buildings, some of which have still been preserved. From 1953 until the closure before 1962, uranium ore trains operated as block trains or in groups of wagons via a siding from Katzendorf to Teichwolframsdorf and from there to the Saxon processing plants . When the train service between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster) ceased, the station was closed on May 30, 1999. It is located away from the Thuringian town of Teichwolframsdorf, which is further south-west, in the Wergau forest.

The border with Saxony runs parallel to the east of the tracks. During the construction of the railway line, it was the border between the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach (Free State from 1918) and the Kingdom of Saxony (Free State from 1918). Between 1920 and 1953 the station was on the Thuringian-Saxon border, then until 1990 on the border between the Gera and Karl-Marx-Stadt districts .

Teichwolframsdorf train station (2016)
Teichwolframsdorf train station, entrance from Werdau (2016)
Teichwolframsdorf train station, tracks (2016)

Trunky ⊙50.750852 12.258082

The Trünzig stop was only opened on May 18, 1952. It is located between the towns of Trünzig in the west and Stöcken in the east on the street “Stöckener Straße” / “Landsteig”. On May 24, 1998, the breakpoint was abandoned. In addition to a residential building, he owned a stone waiting room, both of which are still there.

In the direction of Mehltheuer, Trünzig was on the Werdau – Wünschendorf (Elster) section between 1958 and 1990 the last stop in the Karl-Marx-Stadt district, and since 1990 the last stop in the Free State of Saxony.

Trünzig stop, reception building and waiting hall (2016)
Trünzig stop (2016)
Trünzig stop, platform (2016)

Seelingstädt stop in Chursdorf (2016)

Seelingstädt (b Werdau) Hp ⊙50.777208 12.258554

The Chursdorf stop, located in Chursdorf , which is now part of Seelingstädt , was opened on July 1, 1892. The station name was changed in 1909 to Chursdorf b Werdau . After the place was incorporated into Seelingstädt on April 1, 1939, it was renamed Seelingstädt (b Werdau) Hp on May 15, 1939 .

The reclassification of Seelingstädt and Chursdorf the district Werdau in the district Gera country on July 1, 1958, the breakpoint after the station was Teichwolframsdorf since the second stop in the district of Gera and since 1990 in Thuringia. On May 24, 1998, the breakpoint was abandoned.

Seelingstädt (b Werdau) ⊙50.787245 12.241034

The Seelingstädt (near Werdau) station was opened as a stop on August 29, 1876 and dedicated to the station in 1905. The Bahnhof Seelingstädt settlement , which is now the largest district of Seelingstädt, developed around the train station located about 2 kilometers north of the old town center . The station had the following names:

until 1898: Seelingstädt
until 1911: Seelingstädt near Werdau
until 1933: Seelingstädt near Werdau
from 1933: Seelingstädt (near Werdau)

Until the reclassification of Seelingstädt and its districts from the district Werdau in the district Gera country on July 1, 1958, the station on the section Werdau-Wünschendorf (Elster) to 1952, the last stop in Saxony and to 1958 in the district of Karl-Marx -City.

As a result of the uranium mining in the Ronneburg Revier , the Seelingstädt railway station grew in importance from the end of the 1950s. From here the Wismut factory railway branched off to Paitzdorf , which is still used in freight traffic to this day. With the cessation of passenger traffic between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster), the station was converted into a freight station on May 30, 1999.

Seelingstädt train station (near Werdau)
Seelingstädt train station, reception building (2016)
Seelingstädt train station, reception building (2016)
Seelingstädt railway station (2016)
Seelingstädt railway station (2016)

Gauern stop (2018)

Gurgling ⊙50.793437 12.192369

The Gauern stop was opened as a stop on October 1, 1884 and dedicated to the station in 1905. The place was in Saxony-Altenburg before 1920 , since then it has been Thuringian.

In 1957, the loading of the uranium ore mined in the Culmitzsch opencast mine began in Gauern and the transport to Lengenfeld , Dresden-Gittersee , Tannenbergsthal and Crossen near Zwickau for further processing . On September 11, 1958, a 2.2 km long connecting line from Gauern to the Culmitzsch loading station went into operation, which was shut down again in 1966.

A year before passenger traffic between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster) was discontinued, the stop had not been served since May 24, 1998.

Wolfersdorf (Kr Greiz) ⊙50.78507 12.17193

Wolfersdorf stop (2018)

The Wolfersdorf (Kr Greiz) stop was opened on October 1, 1905. It was in the Grand Duchy or Free State of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach until 1920 and had the following names:

until 1911: Wolfersdorf near Weida
until 1922: Wolfersdorf b Weida
from 1922: Wolfersdorf (Kr Greiz)

A year before passenger traffic between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster) was discontinued, the stop had not been served since May 24, 1998.

End contactor ⊙50.782598 12.142138

Stop end contactor (2014)

The station Endschütz was opened on October 1, 1893rd It was run as a stop until 1905, as a train station until 1974 and since then again as a stop. A year before passenger traffic between Werdau and Wünschendorf (Elster) was discontinued, the stop had not been served since May 24, 1998. The red brick reception building is still there on site.

Wish village (Elster) ⊙50.797621 12.097664

Wünschendorf (Elster) station (2012)

The Wünschendorf stop was opened on July 17, 1875 with the Gera Süd – Weischlitz railway line. After the opening of the Werdau – Wünschendorf – Weida section of the Werdau – Mehltheuer railway on August 29, 1876, it was upgraded to a station on August 1, 1884. It had the following names:

until 1908: Wünschendorf
until 1911: Wünschendorf ad Elster
since 1911: Wünschendorf (Elster)

After the Wünschendorf (Elster) - Weida section was closed on May 1, 1997 and the Werdau - Wünschendorf (Elster) section on November 15, 2000, the Wünschendorf (Elster) station is only a stop on the Gera Süd - Weischlitz railway line.

Weida ⊙50.786244 12.06253

Weida Station (2012)

The Weida station was put into operation north of the place with the opening of the Gera – Eichicht section (today: Kaulsdorf (Saale)) of the Leipzig – Probstzella line operated by the Prussian State Railway on December 20, 1871 . The Prussian station building was inaugurated in the same year. With the opening of the Werdau – Wünschendorf – Weida section of the Werdau – Mehltheuer railway operated by the Saxon State Railway on August 29, 1876, the Weida station also received a Saxon reception building around 1885. In 1905 the station was dedicated to the train station. At that time the station already had several high-rise buildings, such as signal boxes, goods sheds, water tower and a residential building.

The Saxon train station in Weida had the following names:

until 1911: Weida
until 1920: Weida Sächs Stb
until 1922: Weida Ost
since 1922: Weida

The Saxon part of the station changed in 1922 from the Dresden Railway Directorate to the Erfurt Railway Directorate. While the Saxon station building was demolished in 1981, the same fate met the Prussian station building in 2004. In the course of the modernization, the platforms were provided with modern bus shelters. After the suspension of passenger traffic on the Wünschendorf (Elster) –Weida section on June 2, 1996, trains in the Weida station in the direction of Gera – Leipzig, Saalfeld and Mehltheuer – Hof.

Weida middle ⊙50.776435 12.05557

The Weida Mitte stop was only opened on June 14, 2002. It is located in the center of Weida on "Friedensstraße". The breakpoint has a modern bus shelter.

Weida old town ⊙50.767916 12.0584

The Weida-Altstadt stop was opened on November 15, 1883 and dedicated to the station in 1905. Since 1911 it has been called Weida Altstadt . In 1971 it was downgraded to the breakpoint. The ailing station building is no longer in operation. The station is located in the south of Weida on "Berggartenstrasse" / "Graefenbrücker Strasse".

Weida Central Stop (2018)
Old town stop (2018)

Loitsch-Hohenleuben station (2018)

Loitsch – Hohenleuben ⊙50.733994 12.048235

The Loitsch-Hohenleuben stop was opened on November 15, 1883 and dedicated to the station in 1905. Until 1901 the spelling Loitzsch-Hohenleuben was used . The restored reception building is no longer in operation. The train station is located in Loitsch at the confluence of the Leuba and Weida rivers .

Schüptitz ⊙50.722672 12.029841

The Schüptitz halt was opened on October 1, 1904. It has a reception building and a wooden waiting hall. After the stop in Schüptitz was discontinued in 2011, it was reintroduced in 2012 after citizen protests. The station now also has a modern waiting room.

Hohenleuben ⊙50.702875 12.03638

Schüptitz stop (2018)
Hohenleuben stop (2018)

The Hohenleuben stop was opened on November 15, 1883 under the name Reichenfels . In 1915 the name was changed to Hohenleuben . Between 1930 and 1950 the station was dedicated as a train station. The station building was demolished in 2010. The breakpoint is located southwest of the Reichenfels castle ruins , which gave the station its first name. Hohenleuben is about two kilometers to the northeast.

Stop of drive ⊙50.6881 12.023292

With the relocation of the stop in the urban area of Triebes to the area of a shopping center, the Triebes stop on the street “Triebesgrund” was opened in 2006 . It is located in the center of Triebes on the bank of the river of the same name .

Triebes station ⊙50.682934 12.021528

The Triebes stop was opened on November 15, 1883. It was dedicated as a train station between 1885 and 1894 and between 1896 and 2006. The station building from 1912 was demolished in 2013. With the relocation of the urban stop to the “Triebesgrund” street, the station to the south was abandoned.

Zeulenroda und Bf (2004)

Zeulenroda and Bf ⊙50.6596 12.0115

In Zeulenroda unt Bf , which was opened on August 15, 1883, a 3.7 km long branch line began, which connected the lower station on the outskirts of the city with the central upper station. It was opened on September 1, 1914 and was nicknamed " Stadtbahn ". Traffic ceased there in 1996.

In 1987 the operating center received light signals and a signal box using Soviet EZMG technology.

Pöllwitz ⊙50.628032 12.024264

The facilities of the Pöllwitz station , which opened on August 15, 1883, consisted of three continuous tracks, which at last had a useful length of 643 m. In 1987 the operating center received light signals and a signal box using Soviet EZMG technology. In 1994 wagonload traffic was stopped. Since the cancellation of the passenger train stops in 2011, the operating center has been completely closed.

The Triebes flows west of the station and forms the border between the Thuringian and Saxon Vogtland (extreme northeastern tip) in this area.

Former Pausa train station, track side (2018)

Pause ⊙50.587906 12.00393

The Pausa stop was opened on November 15, 1883 and dedicated to the station in 1905. 1970 was downgraded to the breakpoint. In addition to the reception building, the goods sheds, farm buildings and the railway maintenance office have also been preserved on the site.

In addition to the Mehltheuer terminus , Pausa was the only Saxon train station on the Weida – Mehltheuer section until 1952. The place came to the Gera district in 1952 , to Thuringia in 1990 and only back to Saxony by referendum in 1992.

Amber green ⊙50.566161 12.040429

The Bernsgrün stop was opened on October 1, 1885 and closed on December 11, 2011. The waiting hall had already been demolished in 2002. The Russian, from 1920 Thuringian stopping point Bernsgrün was between the Saxon stations Pausa and Mehltheuer .

Mehltheuer station, former reception building

Flour turret ⊙50.5443 12.0367

The Mehltheuer station , which opened on November 20, 1848 on the Leipzig – Hof railway line , only became more important after the Werdau – Weida – Mehltheuer railway line opened. The station was generously expanded in the 1880s, and a small locomotive station was also built. The next major changes took place immediately after World War II when several tracks were dismantled. Seven of the former 29 tracks are still there today, and there is also a siding to a liquefied gas storage facility.

Civil engineering

Oschützal Viaduct (2009)

Viaduct Oschützal

The viaduct over the Oschützal in Weida is the longest and most important bridge structure on the route. The 185 meter long and 28 meter high truss girder bridge is designed as a pendulum pillar viaduct and is now a listed building . For static reasons it has not been used since 1983; the branch was moved further south.

tunnel

Today the railway line has two tunnels , the 79 meter long Schlossberg tunnel between Weida Mitte and Weida Altstadt and the 71 meter long Vipsberg tunnel between Weida Altstadt and Loitsch-Hohenleuben. The 97-meter-long Schüptitz tunnel was removed in 1929 because otherwise considerable expenses would have been necessary for partial renewals. From the safe storage of the rock in this newly created open cut, one can probably conclude that in view of the very similar local and geological conditions in the Vipsberg Tunnel, no significant forces should be triggered in the overburden that could endanger the existence of the Vipsberg Tunnel.

Vehicle use

In the 1990s, the class 219 dominated passenger traffic on both branches of the route , which was supplemented by the class 202 when there was a lack of locomotives or by the class 628 for filling capacities . From 1992 the class 220 was used for the first time between Weida and Mehltheuer , pulling sand trains for the line expansion Plauen – Hof and a little later shared the service of tank car trains with the class 219. In the years 1997 to 1999 there was a pair of trains with milk wagons to and from Italy, which were driven by two locomotives of the 219, 232 series or with a combination of both series. From 1997 machines of the series 211 and 212 were also used from Hof in front of passenger trains to Weida, of which the most prominent was the museum locomotive V 100 1023, which was destroyed in the fire in the DB Museum in Nuremberg in 2005.

For the four-nation Express came class 218 on the route used. The Regional Express trains, which have been in service since December 2006, ran with the 612 series . Class 642 railcars ran on regional line 103 . The Erfurt Railway uses Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 .

A pair of trains from the Thuringia steelworks in the direction of the Czech Republic have been running in freight transport on weekdays since 2008 , pulled by the 203 series , the Vossloh G 1700 diesel-hydraulic locomotive or the Siemens ER20 diesel-electric locomotive from the Unterwellenborn EVU Stahlwerk.

Accidents

On October 16, 1995, the 232 476 with a diverted Interregio and the 202 836 with a regional train collided at Teichwolframsdorf station . There was one fatality.

literature

Wilfried Rettig: secondary and narrow-gauge lines, railway systems, accidents, anecdotes . In: The railways in Vogtland . tape 2 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2002, ISBN 3-88255-687-0 .

Web links

Commons : Werdau – Mehltheuer railway line - collection of images, videos and audio files

Details and pictures of the Werdau – Mehlteuer route

Individual evidence

↑ Route data on www.sachsenschiene.de

↑ STREDA - DBAG route data, as of 2003

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Thomas Frister: Weida - Mehltheuer and Zeulenroda unt Bf - Zeulenroda ob Bf . In: Dieter Fuchs, Hans-Wolfgang Scharf (Ed.): Route archive German railways . tape 2 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2003, chapter 12.Descriptions, p. (12 b) 287 - (12 b) 314 .

↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Trebge: railway history Hohenleubens . In: Leubatalanzeiger . No. 23 , December 2010, p. 15-17 .

↑ ^a ^b Hans-Jürgen Barteld: The Wismut Railway around Ronneburg (= secondary railway documentation . Volume 41 ). 1st edition. Kenning, Nordhorn 1998, ISBN 3-927587-92-3 , p. 9-10 .

^ Publication by the Federal Railway Authority. (PDF) (No longer available online.) August 3, 2012, formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 25, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.eba.bund.de

↑ Railway line through the forest becomes a cycle path. In: Free Press. September 12, 2014, accessed October 24, 2017 .

↑ Communication from the Federal Railway Authority to the application ESTW Weida (a) - Mehlteuer (a) km 32.72 to km 67.65 Str. (6653) Werdau-West - Mehlteuer. (No longer available online.) Federal Railway Authority, February 26, 2016, archived from the original on October 19, 2016 ; Retrieved October 19, 2016 .

^ Rainer Heinrich, Wilfried Rettig: The Werdau – Weida – Mehltheuer railway line. Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 2005, ISBN 3-933613-65-5 , p. 53.

^ The Werdau West stop on www.sachsenschiene.net

^ Website of the Werzeit Forest Railway

^ The Teichwolframsdorf train station on www.sachsenschiene.net

^ The Hohenleuben stop on www.sachsenschiene.net

↑ The Triebes stop at www.sachsenschiene.net

↑ Rettig: secondary and narrow-gauge lines, railway systems, accidents, anecdotes . 2002, p. 15th ff .

↑ Rettig: secondary and narrow-gauge lines, railway systems, accidents, anecdotes . 2002, p. 17th f .

↑ The Pausa stop on www.sachsenschiene.net

↑ The Bernsgrün stop on www.sachsenschiene.net

^ Rainer Heinrich, Wilfried Rettig: The Werdau – Weidau – Mehltheuer railway line. Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 2005, ISBN 3-933613-65-5 , pp. 121f.

↑ Information and pictures about the tunnels on route 6653 on eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de by Lothar Brill

↑ KBS 546 photos. In: Bahnbilder.de. Retrieved April 29, 2012 .

[1] Route data on www.sachsenschiene.de

[2] STREDA - DBAG route data, as of 2003

[Streckenarchiv_Deutsche_Eisenbahnen-3] Thomas Frister: Weida - Mehltheuer and Zeulenroda unt Bf - Zeulenroda ob Bf . In: Dieter Fuchs, Hans-Wolfgang Scharf (Ed.): Route archive German railways . tape 2 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2003, chapter 12.Descriptions, p. (12 b) 287 - (12 b) 314 .

[4] Friedrich Wilhelm Trebge: railway history Hohenleubens . In: Leubatalanzeiger . No. 23 , December 2010, p. 15-17 .

[ReferenceA-5] Hans-Jürgen Barteld: The Wismut Railway around Ronneburg (= secondary railway documentation . Volume 41 ). 1st edition. Kenning, Nordhorn 1998, ISBN 3-927587-92-3 , p. 9-10 .