Bliestalbahn

Zweibrücken – Sarreguemines
Route number (DB) :	3285 (Bierbach – Reinheim)
Route number (SNCF) :	170,000
Course book section (DB) :	280c (Bierbach – Reinheim, 1957–1972) 686 (Bierbach – Reinheim, 1972–1991)
Course book range :	280d (1944)
Route length:	36.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Landau from Brenschelbach 96,343 Zweibrücken Hbf 226  m Schwarzbach State border Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland 99.800 Desert (Saar) 100.090 Einöd (Saar) (closed) to Homburg Bundesstrasse 423 Federal motorway 8 Blew from Schwarzenacker 103.2 9.110 Bierbach (formerly Bf) to Rohrbach (Saar) 11.600 Wurzbach 12.790 Blieskastel city 12.900 Bundesstrasse 423 Dachskautbach 15,470 Blickweiler Wecklinger Bach Blew 17.430 Breitfurt Ludenbach 20,500 Bliesdalheim village 21,470 Bliesdalheim 24,410 Gersheim Gailbach 26,500 Reinheim (Saar) 27.315 25.084 Germany / France border 26,419 Bliesbruck (Bliesbrücken) Allmendbach 29.800 Blies-Ébersing (Bliesebersingen) Cobach 32.277 Folpersviller (Folpersweiler) 34.600 Route national 62 35.400 from Bitche 36.2 ~ 7 various factory connections 37.600 Saar 38.200 from Mommenheim by Berthelming 38.400 D 919 (formerly Route nationale 61 ) 36.799 Sarreguemines (Saargemünd) to Falck-Hargarten to Saarbrücken Swell:

The Bliestalbahn is a former railway line between Bierbach and Sarreguemines , the northern section of which is in Saarland and the southern section of which is in French Lorraine and largely follows the eponymous Blies .

The railway, which opened in 1879, was built from Zweibrücken . It gained strategic importance during both the First and Second World Wars . After the separation of the Saar area as a result of the First World War and the Saarland after the Second World War, to which most of the places along the route to Reinheim were added, there was a permanent shift in traffic to Homburg . For this reason, the term Bliestalbahn is often incorrectly extended to the Homburg – Bierbach railway, which also runs along the Blies, but which is part of the Homburg – Zweibrücken or Schwarzenacker – St. Ingbert is.

Through the addition of the Bliesbruck – Sarreguemines section to France, through traffic became less important. Passenger traffic south of Reinheim ended in the 1950s. In 1991, the Saarland section Bierbach-Reinheim followed. The section Zweibrücken – Bierbach, originally built as part of the Bliestalbahn, is now part of the Landau – Rohrbach railway . The Bliestalbahn in the narrower sense was shut down in 1997 and its route has now been converted into a cycle path, which is part of the so-called Glan-Blies-Weg .

history

prehistory

As early as the 1830s, the French government was planning to build a railway line from Metz via Sarreguemines and further through the Palatinate (Bavaria) along the Blies to Homburg with a subsequent continuation to the Rhine . After the city of Saarbrücken had found out about this, it urged the relevant committee not to pursue the efforts any further, as this would have resulted in the Saar region and its coal mining area being isolated from traffic. Nevertheless, Bavaria was open to linking the Palatinate Ludwigshafen – Bexbach railway with Metz, which was opened in full in 1849 . A route through the Bliestal valley was the preferred choice, since, in contrast to a connection via Saarbrücken, Prussian territory could be bypassed. After the Ludwigsbahn was continued to Saarbrücken in the following years and at the same time a connection from Saarbrücken to Metz was established, the realization of a route along the Blies initially became a long way off.

The traffic conditions in the region eased when the Homburg – Zweibrücken railway line was opened in 1857 and the Schwarzenacker – St. Würzbach railway line in 1866 and 1867 . Ingbert were opened. With the latter in particular, many mining and industrial workers living in the Bliestal had a shorter journey to their workplaces in Zweibrücken , Homburg , St. Ingbert or in Sulzbachtal . The closest train station was Lautzkirchen , which was not far from the town of Blieskastel .

Request to obtain a route through the Bliestal on June 24, 1868

In the 1860s, the French railway company Chemin de fer de l'Est began to plan a railway line from Folpersviller to Sarreguemines. On June 24, 1868, the Palatinate government applied for a concession to project a route along the central Bliestal to Sarreguemines. A provisional committee was formed in Blieskastel with the same aim. In October, the Bavarian Ministry of Commerce granted the concession to plan a Bliestal route.

In the following period, the preparatory work for the construction of the planned route began. On April 29, 1869, the concession for the Palatinate part of the railway followed. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871 brought the company to a standstill. After the end of the war, other planned routes within the Palatinate , as the Rhine district was now called, enjoyed priority.

planning

Which had been on January 1, 1870 Palatine Ludwig Railway Company , the Palatine Maximilian Railway Company , the Palatine Northern Railway Company and the Neustadt-Dürkheimer Railway Company to the Palatine railways together. With the exception of the Neustadt-Dürkheimer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, however, they retained their independence. The railway projects that Ludwigsbahn-Gesellschaft was obliged to implement included a railway line from Landau to Zweibrücken as well as a line that branched off the Würzbachbahn, crossed the Bliestal and ran to Sarreguemines.

As a result of the war, the north of Lorraine , in which the southern part of the planned route from Reinheim to the end point Saargemünd - formerly Sarreguemines - was, fell together with the neighboring Alsace as the realm of Alsace-Lorraine to the newly founded German Empire . It was envisaged that the Ludwig Railway Company should also build the section of the route in the aforementioned Reichsland. The northern starting point should initially be near Lautzkirchen . Initially, it was planned to build a new branch station immediately east of the previous Lautzkirchen station. However, this failed for several reasons. The city of Blieskastel protested because of the relatively long distance. In addition, there was a disagreement with an affected property owner regarding the price for the assignment of the required land. For this reason, the Bierbach train station, located around two and a half kilometers to the east, was to serve as a branching station and Blieskastel was to receive a local train station along the new route. Efforts to set up a connecting curve between the Blieskastel and Lautzkirchen stations did not, however, prevail. This also applied to the wish of the municipality of Habkirchen to have the route within the Reich area consistently run on the right bank of the Blies.

At the instigation of the responsible engineer, the line through to Zweibrücken was brought into play. As far as Einöd it should run parallel to the Homburg – Zweibrücken railway line and then a connecting curve between Einöd and Bierbach should be created. The decisive factor was that the line should conceptually serve as a continuation of the Landau – Zweibrücken line, which was also being built at the same time. In addition, most of the places in Bliestal belonged to the Zweibrücken district office . In addition, the neighboring Homburg should not have too much influence as a railway junction. On February 22, 1875, the Palatinate Ludwig Railway Company was granted the concession for the construction of the line to Saargemünd from the Bavarian side. On September 25, 1875, the approval of the Reich government followed, whose say arose from the fact that the route partly ran in the Reichsland. It finally gave the go-ahead in February 1877.

Construction and opening

The construction of the line, for which a total area of ​​4740 ares had to be acquired by 1879, was carried out in two sections in Zweibrücken and Saargemünd. The high water level of the Blies in 1844 served as a benchmark for the height of the railway embankment. Work on the Bavarian section began in autumn, within Alsace-Lorraine in December 1875. Although initially a single-track route, the entire railway line was prepared for a later double-track expansion.

The building materials for the line structures were obtained from the adjoining region, the house stones, however, from the area around Landstuhl and Metz. The construction was largely unproblematic on Bavarian terrain, as the gradient there was a maximum of 1: 250. On the section Zweibrücken – Bierbach it was necessary to widen some dams, culverts and cuttings. The connecting curve from Einöd to Bierbach, often called the “Ingweiler curve”, made a deeper cut necessary. The Bliesbrücke of the Würzbachbahn had to be extended because the new line was to run parallel to it from there. Between Blickweiler and Breitfurt , a valley had to be crossed with a bridge that had three openings, each 16 meters wide. In addition, the railway had to be equipped with two flood bridges. On the Bierbach – Reinheim section, engineering structures were essentially limited to smaller bridges and culverts.

Bliesbrücken station in March 1879

The railway line within Lorraine was more complex. For example, the Reinheim – Folpersweiler section (formerly Folperswiller) had a gradient of 1:66. For this reason, excavations totaling 470,000 cubic meters were necessary. In the Kobach valley near Bliesebersingen , a ridge of a total of 28 meters and cuts between 8 and 14 meters deep had to be overcome. Since the limestone was unstable on site, the dam had to be secured with sand and slag. By October 15, 1877, the Zweibrücken – Bierbach section was completed to allow trains on the Zweibrücken – St. Ingbert to enable. Because the winters in 1878 and 1879 were very snowy, the railway embankment at Bliesebersingen slipped, so that the opening originally planned for December 29th was delayed several times. Freight traffic was opened on March 1, 1879; Regular passenger traffic on the 36.8-kilometer route began one month later, on April 1st.

Further development (1879–1920)

In order to meet the military requirements, the Bliestalbahn was expanded to two tracks from 1888. This measure was completed two years later. At the same time and because of the new operating regulations for Bavarian main railways, the stations received new signals for exit and transit. In 1901 the municipality of Bliesebersingen, located between Bliesbrücken and Folpersweiler, received a train station. On January 1, 1909, the Zweibrücken – Reinheim section, together with the other railway lines within the Palatinate, became the property of the Bavarian State Railways .

Breitfurt station in 1910

After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, 20 military trains per day drove from Germersheim to Landau and from there via Zweibrücken to Bliestal. As a result, scheduled traffic initially came to a standstill. In the further course of the war, the Bierbach – Saargemünd section, together with the Schwarzenacker – Bierbach connection that was established in 1866 , the Homburg – Zweibrücken railway line opened in 1857 , and the Homburg – Bad Munster Glantal Railway , completed in 1904, gained strategic importance because the Nahe valley railway was not overloaded during marches against France and a bypass of Saarbrücken was possible. After Germany lost the war and the French military marched in, the Bliestalbahn was closed to passenger traffic on December 1, 1918, but was reopened three days later.

After the end of the war, the north of Lorraine fell back to France and was henceforth the responsibility of the newly founded Réseau ferroviaire d'Alsace-Lorraine (AL). The rest of the previously Bavarian part of the Bliestalbahn was added to the newly created Saar area with effect from March 10, 1920, with the exception of Zweibrücken . From then on, the Saareisenbahn was responsible for this section of the route, some of which had emerged from the former Prussian Railway Directorate Saarbrücken. In the same year the embankment was hit by a flood.

Between the wars and the Second World War (1920–1945)

On May 15, 1934, the new Bliesdalheim-Dorf stop was put into operation. A year later, the Saar area was reorganized into the German Empire . From then on, the Deutsche Reichsbahn was responsible for the Bierbach – Reinheim section, which was subordinate to the Saarbrücken Reichsbahndirektion . At this point the railway line had already lost its importance. With the dissolution of the AL on January 1, 1938, the French route section became the property of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF).

Since the Bliestalbahn was located within the red zone established in the run-up to World War II , after the outbreak of war and the associated evacuation order, trains drove from the Bliesdalheim, Gersheim and Reinheim stations to evacuate the residents. At the beginning of the French Saar offensive on September 10, 1939, the railway bridge between Breitfurt and Blickweiler was blown up so that the railway line could not serve the advance of the French army. On June 14 of the following year, ten days before France's capitulation , the building was rebuilt as a temporary measure. The rest of the Bliestalbahn was also restored to working order. In the further course of the war, the line again acquired great strategic importance, as it had done between 1914 and 1918, mainly due to the numerous attacks on the Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway . In autumn, transports were used to supply the German soldiers. In both directions, trains ran every ten minutes in the Bliestal. On some days, 30 trains ran within two hours.

During the Second World War, the operation with diesel vehicles, which had existed since 1933, was discontinued, and once again only steam locomotives ran. The diesel fuel was needed for the military, there was less lack of coal. In March 1945 the Bliesbrücke was destroyed again to stop the Allies ; a sleeper plow also destroyed several tracks along the route. Just a month later, the Americans rebuilt the partly destroyed railway line, but from then on there was only one track.

Decline (1945–1991)

In the first few years after the Second World War, American and French military trains used the now permanent single-track route. In 1947 it was hit again by floods. The Saarland , to which the Bierbach – Reinheim section had been added again, was separated again after the Second World War. From then stayed there the Saarland Railways (SEB) - in 1951. Railroads Saarland called (ESS) - responsible. On October 4, 1952, cross-border passenger traffic between Reinheim and Bliesbruck was discontinued. Then the German side went to Reinheim and the French side to Bliesbruck . As early as 1954, the SNCF decided to shut down passenger transport on its route section from the new calendar year in order to reduce its operating deficit. It finally implemented this measure on May 11, 1959.

With the return of the Saarland to Germany, the EdS was transferred to the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB), which had existed since 1949, on January 1, 1957 and was henceforth responsible for the Saarland part of the route. At the end of the 1960s, the ticket offices at the railway stations on the line closed. In 1974 freight traffic on the Reinheim – Sarreguemines section was discontinued. Three years later, baggage, express and general cargo traffic on the German section of the route was abandoned. From 1976 the DB also wanted to shut down the German section of the route, against which resistance arose in the region. The then parliamentary state secretary Ernst Haar emphasized that the Bliestalbahn would be preserved.

In 1983, a makeshift buffer stop was erected at the southern end of Reinheim station ; one of these already existed in Folpersviller. Passenger traffic on the German side ended on May 31, 1991. Freight traffic on the Bierbach – Reinheim section ended on September 28, 1991.

Decommissioning and dismantling

Ticket for the special train from Blieskastel Stadt to Lauterecken-Grumbach

Nevertheless, there were efforts to reactivate the German section of the route. For this purpose, a development association for the Bliestalbahn was formed. The Federal Railway Directorate Saarbrücken considered all stations with the exception of Gersheim to be dispensable, while all other operating points would have been sufficient as stops. In 1993 the route was hit again by floods.

In 1992 and 1993 damaged freight wagons were parked on the route. After the cessation of passenger transport, some special trains still ran on the route, for example on August 20, 1995 on the occasion of the Lautertal Adventure Day from Blieskastel-Stadt to Lauterecken-Grumbach on the Lautertal Railway . It was shut down on April 1, 1997. In the period from February to May 1997, Deutsche Bahn AG dismantled the tracks between Bierbach and Reinheim. In 2004, the tracks in the French section were dismantled. On May 20, 2006 a cycle path was opened on the route there.

Route and relics

After leaving the Zweibrücker Hauptbahnhof , the Landau – Rohrbach railway , which was part of the Bliestalbahn in this area, crosses the Schwarzbach . As far as Einöd, it ran parallel to the existing Homburg – Zweibrücken railway line , which was two independent single-track lines until the two-track expansion. After Einöd, the route turned west in a connecting curve into the valley of the Blies to Bierbach .

Reinheim (Saar) train station

Shortly before the Blieskastel-Lautzkirchen train station, the Bliestalbahn turned south-west to Blieskastel and followed the course of the Blies in a south-south-east direction. Between Blieskastel Stadt and Blickweiler she crossed the federal highway 423 . South of Gersheim the route crosses the Gailbach . The German-French border was crossed between Reinheim and Bliesbruck; Not far from there is the European Culture Park Bliesbruck-Reinheim . Behind Blies-Ébersing , the route left the eponymous river and passed the southern outskirts of Folperswiller. She then crossed under the Haguenau – Falck-Hargarten railway line at Folperswiller station and then reached Sarreguemines next to it and after around five kilometers with her.

The railway line from Bierbach to Reinheim was converted into the Bliestal-Freizeitweg, which was opened on May 1st, 2000 and forms part of the Glan-Blies-Weg and the Saarland cycle path network. On May 20, 2006, it was extended via Bliesbruck to Sarreguemines, but no longer runs on the railway line for the last few kilometers, as this is identical to the one that is still in operation to Haguenau or Bitche. Some of the original station buildings were demolished over time. Due to the closure of the route, all that have been preserved are converted and no longer accessible to the public.

Kilometrage

Route of the Bliestalbahn shortly before Blieskastel with a bridge over the Würzbach with a milestone

Originally, the kilometers were set from Zweibrücken. After the Second World War, the distance from Homburg main station was valid , starting at 0.000, leading via Schwarzenacker and Bierbach and ending at the Saarland border in Reinheim at 27.315.

railway station	1900	1960
Bierbach	6.864	9.110
Blieskastel (city)	10,521	12.790
Blickweiler	13,249	15,470
Breitfurt	15.204	17.430
Bliesdalheim	19.236	21,470
Gersheim	22.176	24,410
Reinheim	24.270	26,500

traffic

passenger traffic

Until World War II

In the first four weeks there was only limited passenger traffic, which was limited to the Blieskastel – Reinheim section. A third class passenger car was attached to a freight train. The trains ran from and to Zweibrücken. The timetable from 1897 indicated through car connections to Metz and Bruchsal . After 1900 the Bliestalbahn no longer played a role in long-distance traffic. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bliestalbahn had a total of ten pairs of trains that were not very busy; An average of only six tickets were sold per train journey and station. In addition, the opening of the Glantalbahn Homburg – Münster in 1904 meant that most trains ran from Bierbach via the connection that had been in place since 1866 to Schwarzenacker and from there to and from Homburg instead of Zweibrücken. Ten years later, most of the trains ran back to Zweibrücken. A journey between Zweibrücken and Saargemünd took around 75 minutes at that time.

In 1918, traffic on the Lorraine section of the route, which from then on was located within France, temporarily ended. In the course of the separation of the Saar area from 1920, a reorientation of the traffic flows to Homburg took place, which had also been added to the newly created area. As a result, the trains continued from Bierbach to Homburg. After the Saar was annexed to the German Reich in 1935, there were isolated connections to Zweibrücken again, although the majority of the trains continued to go to Homburg. In 1937 a total of eleven pairs of trains ran between Homburg and Reinheim. In 1944 the connections starting and ending from Zweibrücken only ran to Bliesbrücken.

After the Second World War

Winter timetable for the Bliestalbahn for the 1979/1980 period

From 1952, there was no longer any passenger traffic that went beyond the German-French border. The timetable for 1953 and 1954 showed only two pairs of trains between Sarreguemines and Bliesbruck. The Saarland section of the route was used by 13 pairs of trains at the same time. In each direction of travel there was a corner connection on the Homburg – Einöd – Reinheim route. A trip between Homburg and Reinheim took around an hour. In 1959, passenger transport on the French section of the route ended.

In the period that followed, the number of trains between Bierbach and Reinheim was also reduced. From 1968 to 1984 there were eleven pairs of trains on this section of the route on workdays and seven on Saturdays. The 1979/1980 winter timetable shows occasional trips between Zweibrücken and Reinheim. In 1986, the weekday access offer was reduced from twelve to five pairs. The service also ended on Saturdays.

Freight transport

In the first decades of its existence, the Bliestalbahn gave the regional economy a big boost, which was reflected accordingly in freight traffic. The stations Blickweiler, Bliesdalheim-Herbitzheim and Gersheim-Walsheim had particularly heavy freight traffic . Early 20th century operated a freight train of the relation Homburg-Sarreguemines the intermediate stations along the Blies Valley Railway. In the 1930s, the Bliestalbahn had the heaviest freight traffic in its history during the construction of the west wall .

After the Second World War, the competition from trucks increased, which caused the throughput on the route to steadily decrease. At the end of the 1950s, there were two cross-border freight trains per day, mainly transporting grain, fertilizer and iron. The border traffic was as follows: At the Bliesbruck station, a Kö II pulled the corresponding wagons across the border. These were then optionally coupled to those freight trains in Reinheim or Gersheim that operated on the German section of the route. Freight traffic on the French section of the route ended in the 1970s. From 1950 to the mid-1970s, the freight share of the Bliestalbahn fell from 55 to 30 percent. Most recently, goods traffic was handled from Zweibrücken. Most recently, it was only possible to Gersheim due to the lack of transfer options in Reinheim.

Customers included the lime works in Gersheim and Bliesdalheim , the former Gersheimer Raiffeisenlager, the Walsheim brewery , the malt factory and a winery, a brick factory, a building materials trade, a shoe factory in Blieskastel and numerous mills in the Blies Valley, for example in Breitfurt. For the former, sometimes perverse trains .

Vehicle use

Steam locomotives

No precise information can be found for the initial period of operation. At the beginning of the 20th century, locomotives of the Palatinate series G 4.I , G 4.II , G 4.III and G 5 were used in freight transport , which were stationed in Kaiserslautern . Passenger traffic was handled by the P 2.I and P 2.II series .

After 1920, the Bliestalbahn used several locomotives of the Palatinate Railways , which were given to the Saareisenbahnen under the Versailles Treaty . In the 1920s, steam locomotives of the 91.3 series ran between Homburg and Reinheim in front of passenger trains from Homburg . From 1930 the DR series 86 was used for both passenger and freight traffic. After the end of the war, the series 23 , 38 , 78 , 86 - all for passenger traffic - and 50 from the Bahnbetriebswerke Homburg and Saarbrücken ran the route. In 1968 the use of steam locomotives on the Bliestalbahn ended.

Diesel vehicles and railcars

From 1933 diesel multiple units appeared for the first time, including the Wismar rail bus , which was stationed in the Homburg depot. The SEB wanted to streamline operations in this way. Between May 15, 1934 and May 15, 1935, they tried a simplified visual operation on this route, as it should have a relatively short braking distance of around 42 meters even at 40 km / h, and the signal service and the barred level crossings away. In this way, the passenger traffic between Homburg and Reinheim showed parallels to a tram operation. The Wismar subtype VT 133 was replaced by the more powerful VT 135 multiple unit before the war , as the results were below expectations. From 1936 to 1938 the Wittfeld accumulator railcar was also to be found. With the beginning of the Second World War, the use of diesel vehicles came to a temporary standstill.

Uerdinger rail bus

At the beginning of the 1950s, Uerdinger rail buses of the type VT 98 handled part of the passenger traffic. First the subtype VT 95 and later the further developed VT 98 were used . The 634 series was also used at the end of the 1970s . Diesel locomotives had already taken over some of the traffic on the line before the steam locomotives were decommissioned. The V 100 series - later called the 212 series - and occasionally the V 60 and V 160 series were used . Class 218 locomotives were used to transport lime . The former was responsible for all passenger traffic from 1984 onwards. The last passenger train on the route was the 212 342 on May 31, 1991. In recent years, goods traffic has been carried out by a Köf II locomotive .

Operating points

Bierbach

Former station building in Bierbach

→ Main article : Bierbach train station

The station is located on the southwestern edge of Bierbach . It was opened in 1866 as part of the Würzbachbahn Schwarzenacker – Hassel, which was extended to St. Ingbert a year later. From 1877 it was a separation station with the opening of the Zweibrücken – Einöd – Bierbach section and, with the opening of the rest of the Bliestalbahn at the beginning of 1879, a contact station. Due to the change in traffic flows that arose after the two world wars through the creation of today's Saarland, it became the separation station between the Landau – Rohrbach railway line, which ran in an east-west direction, and the trains of the Bliestalbahn, which from now on preferably crossed in a north-south direction Schwarzenacker frequented Homburg. The former line is still in operation today, but the former train station is now only a stopping point.

The station building was built in 1890 and its construction is rather simple. It cannot be assigned to a clear architectural style because it obviously had no representative function. The exterior is a white, plastered, two-storey rectangular building. In the east - but only on the side of the track - a corner projecting protrudes . The building has an eaves and tile-covered half hip roof . A single-storey extension was added later on the narrow side, which, unlike the main building, does not have a basement.

The room layout on the ground floor was classic: the passengers entered the anteroom with its ticket office through the door on the central axis . On the left side was the waiting room through which the platform was reached. To the right of the ticket office were other service rooms.

Blieskastel

Between Bierbach and Sarreguemines, Blieskastel was the most important train station along the route. It also served the neighboring towns of Webenheim and Mimbach . The first station building, built in 1879, was destroyed by a bomb attack on March 16, 1944. In 1964, the construction of a successor building began, which was commissioned on March 25, 1965. There was also a picture signal box in the building. Since after the Second World War the Lautzkirchen station on the route to Rohrbach was renamed Blieskastel-Lautzkirchen as a result of the incorporation of Lautzkirchen into Blieskastel , the station, previously called Blieskastel, was henceforth called Blieskastel Stadt . Train crossings took place in the station until the end of passenger traffic. The station building from the 1960s was demolished in March 2005.

The station also had a goods shed built at the same time as the first station building, which was demolished in mid-1968. It had already been replaced by a new one in 1967, which also disappeared 20 years later.

Blickweiler

Blickweiler train station

The station was on the northeastern outskirts of Blickweiler . In addition, it also served the neighboring towns of Ballweiler , Wecklingen and Wolfersheim . He owned a 500 meter long military ramp, which was the largest of its kind along the Bliestalbahn. The tracks had been dismantled a few years before the cessation of passenger traffic. However, the loading track remained until the end.

The former station building has two floors and has a basement. It consists of rubble stones and is plastered. Its base is 80 square meters. On the first floor there was a waiting room, an administration office and a goods room. The administrator's apartment was on the upper floor. It was sold before traffic ceased and is now used as a residential building.

Breitfurt

The former station building is a two-story building made of broken stone with a basement. Its lower floor formerly formed the east wing of the first reception building of the Kaiserslautern main station . It is now privately owned and has been converted into a residential building in this context. It shows similarities to its counterpart in Gersheim. However, its design is much smaller and even simpler. Instead of three there are only two floors, instead of six there are only four window axes, one axis also being worked out as a risalit. Identical to Gersheim is the decreasing storey height and the hipped roof, but that here is slightly more inclined and therefore looks a bit more pleasing to the building. A single-storey goods shed was added to the north.

A construction plan from 1967 provides information about the use of the ground floor: From the anteroom with staircase the house platform could be reached through a corridor , in the window axis to the right of it the ticket office, left hand the waiting room. The fourth axis, which protruded somewhat from the building, was reserved for the dispatcher and luggage storage. According to all the rules and “basic features for the uniform design of the railways in Germany”, the determination of ticket issuance and waiting room will in reality have been exactly reversed compared to the plan. In the same year, a toilet was installed on the ground floor.

Particularly noteworthy, both in Breitfurt and in Gersheim, is the very rarely used design using round arch skylights and carnies arches , which is a regional specialty.

Bliesdalheim village

This stop was built on May 15, 1934, as the Bliesdalheim train station was relatively far from the town center. Only railcars stopped at it. Likewise, due to the limitations of its facilities, boarding passengers could not bring any luggage with them. Officially, it was only used as a stop and was accordingly not recorded in the timetable. It was given up again in 1944.

Bliesdalheim

The station was not far from the southwest outskirts of Bliesdalheim. In the first decades of its existence it was called Bliesdalheim-Herbitzheim . The station building erected in 1879 originally formed the southern pavilion of the first station building of Landau's main station, which was demolished in 1877 . It was located in the district of Bliesdalheim, the tracks, however, mostly belonged to those of Herbitzheim . From September 11 to October 16, 1939, it housed a command post for the French Army. Both the station building and the goods shed are now privately owned; the former serves as a residential building. It initially contained four tracks, in 1941 a fifth track was added for strategic reasons during the Second World War, which served as an alternative and overtaking track.

Gersheim

Former station building in Gersheim

→ Main article : Gersheim train station

In the first decades of its existence, the station was called Gersheim-Walsheim . He owned the largest station building on the whole route. It is the only three-story station building in Saarland that has survived today. After its renovation, the building will be used as an upscale restaurant and rest stop on the Bliestal-Freizeitweg. It is listed as an individual monument in the state monument list.

The building was opened around 1885 and is in the building tradition of the northern Italian palazzo style. It originally formed the central wing of the reception building of the Kaiserslautern main train station , before the latter was replaced by a larger one in 1879. Above all, Bavarian architects such as Friedrich von Gärtner and his student Friedrich Bürklein rediscovered the early Florentine Renaissance after 1860. Blossoms of this architecture reached into the furthest corners of the kingdom.

The building is rectangular, along the tracks and looks very defiant and chunky. The facade is brightly plastered, the height of the floors decreases more and more towards the top. The northern of the six window axes protrudes like a risalit on both the track and the street side .

On the track side, the large arched windows and doors including skylights on the ground floor are bricked up, otherwise the building is still largely in its original condition and is relatively well preserved. There is an almost identical house in Hof (Saale) . It is the railway administration at Hof Central Station from 1848. Despite the 30-year difference in construction, its vertical structure, three-storey structure, arched windows, decreasing storey height, flat hipped roof and cornices are similar.

Reinheim (Saar)

The train station, which was initially only called Reinheim , was located on the south-eastern outskirts of Reinheim . With the assignment to the Saar area, it received the addition Saar . From March 1, 1935 to September 1, 1939 and from July 6, 1959, it served as a border station. Since 1952 it has also been the terminus for passenger trains from the north. He had two driving, a shunting and a loading track. The latter was provided with a loading ramp to the nearby goods shed. Although the station still had two tracks in the 1980s, only track 1 was in operation at that time. The station building was sold before passenger traffic was discontinued and was therefore no longer of any importance for rail operations. It now serves as a residential building. In addition, for decades it was the location of a railway maintenance depot, the building of which is now privately owned.

Bliesbruck

Bliesbruck station with bilingual station signs

Originally the station was called Bliesbrücken . After the southern section of the route was slammed into France after the two world wars, it became a border station. In the first decades of its existence it had a very high volume of traffic. From 1952 until the end of passenger transport on the Lorraine section of the route, it was the terminus for passenger trains from Sarreguemines. The reception building, which has a floor area of ​​11.81 square meters, is a two-story building with a basement, the lower floor is clad with layered stone, the upper floor is plastered and covered with slate. In terms of its architecture, it largely resembles that of Insheim on the Palatinate Maximiliansbahn . On the ground floor there was a waiting room, an administration office and a room for luggage. Above this there were two apartments for railway employees. After it was taken out of service, it was temporarily in a neglected state. In the meantime it has been renovated; yet it found no new use.

There was also a jointed goods shed made of a bolted compartment with a layered stone base and slate roof. Its footprint was 77 square meters. Other facilities at the station were a toilet building and a water reservoir for steam locomotives, which was vaulted with rubble stones and covered with earth. In addition, the station had three platforms, two of which had a total length of 147 meters; the third was 123 meters long. The station equipment also included a loading track with a ramp to the neighboring goods shed.

Blies-Ébersing

Until 1918 and from 1941 to 1945 the station was called Bliesebersingen . Until 1901, there was only a railway attendant's apartment in its place. Nevertheless, trains had to stop at this point beforehand in order to cross the dam over the Kobach valley. The station building was built in 1900 and 1901. The station did not play a major role in freight transport. The reception building now belongs to a private person.

Folpersviller

Folpersweiler station in 1879

Until 1918 and from 1941 to 1945 the station was called Folpersweiler . It served mainly as a prestressing station for its counterpart in Sarreguemines. Accordingly, he had the most extensive system of all the stops along the Bliestalbahn. This consisted of four tracks and four platforms. The reception building comprised a total of three floors. The upper floors originally formed the northern pavilion of the first reception building of Landau Central Station, which was demolished in 1877. In the final stages of World War II, it suffered. As its restoration was deemed unnecessary, it was subsequently demolished. The upper floors originally formed the northern pavilion of the first reception building of Landau Central Station, which was demolished in 1877 . In 1888 the station was also given a larger ramp.

Sarreguemines

→ Main article : Sarreguemines train station

The station was opened in 1864 with the opening of the Sarreguemines – Béning section of the Haguenau – Falck – Hargarten line. The latter was finally opened to its full length in 1869. In 1871 he was given the name Saargemünd . In the course of the construction of the Bliestalbahn, its facilities were enlarged.

Accidents

• In 1933, a motorcyclist drove against the closed railway barriers at the Bliesdalheim level crossing. He died instantly.
• On May 7, 1969, a local freight train derailed shortly before reaching Blickweiler station. There was only minor damage.
• On September 30, 1989, a tractor was hit by a train at an open level crossing. The latter dragged the driver along, which killed him.

reception

A newspaper described the line during its construction phase as “the last link of a diagonal, fairly straight railroad between Sarreguemines and Mainz and as such it will acquire great importance for transit traffic as well as in strategic terms and will become what the old Kaiserstraße under the railways The Saarbrücker Zeitung wrote on February 16, 1939, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Bliestalbahn, that the railway construction in the region brought "the long-awaited connection to the then already well-developed railway network of the West Palatinate and Saar". The route itself leads "through a blessed landscape". Although it is “not a world-famous route on which long-distance express trains or luxury cars run”, it nevertheless brought relief to the traffic situation.

In 1967, Heinz Sturm summed up in his work “The Palatinate Railways” that the line “barely outgrown local traffic” because “the function of the Kaiserstraße quoted [...] has taken over the St. Ingbert – Kaiserslautern line ”. With regard to the fact that the Bliestalbahn crosses the border between Germany and France, Wolfgang Fiegenbaum and Wolfgang Klee stated that it was created “at a time” “when [...]“ border issues ”played a completely different role”. A "connection to [...] Lorraine [...] bypassing Prussian territory" was the reason for its creation. The former mayor of Gersheim, Lothar Kruft, characterized the route as a "lifeline and connection to the world". In his opinion, this "once so important connection" has slowly been bled out.

literature

• Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways on Glan and Lauter . Self-published, Waldmohr 1996, ISBN 3-9804919-0-0 .
• Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rails. Disused railway lines in passenger train traffic in Germany 1991-1995 . Transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-71057-9 , p. 143-146 .
• Urs Kramer, Matthias Brodkorb: Farewell to the rails. Freight routes 1980 to 1993 . Transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-71346-8 , pp. 99 .
• Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways (=  publications of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science . Volume 53 ). pro MESSAGE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-934845-26-6 , p. 201-203 .
• Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . Edition Europa, Walsheim 2000, ISBN 3-931773-37-X .

Web links

Commons : Bliestalbahn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Course book from 1944: from Homburg and Zweibrücken to Saargemünd ; from Homburg to Zweibrücken and back
• Website of the Bliestal-Freizeitweg
• “To relax over historical terrain” , article by Oliver Bergmann in the Saarbrücker Zeitung , July 9, 2011

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} saarlandbilder.net: former Bliestalbahn ex KBS 280e / 280f . Retrieved May 10, 2014 . 
4. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 30 .
5. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 31 f .
6. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 34 .
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} floben.beepworld.de: The history of the Bliestalbahn and surrounding railway lines . Retrieved May 10, 2013 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 25 .
9. ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 13 .
10. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 86 .
11. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 151 .
12. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 123 .
13. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 127 .
14. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 57 .
15. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 32 .
16. ↑ bahnhof-homburg.de: III railway in the neighboring city of Two Bridges . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 30, 2013 ; accessed on December 25, 2018 . 
17. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 35 .
18. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 201 f .
19. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 163 .
20. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 88 f .
21. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 87 f .
22. ^ ^{A b} Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 202 f .
23. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 168 .
24. ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 16 .
25. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 170 .
26. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 78 .
27. ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 145 .
28. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 48 .
29. ↑ Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines for passenger trains in Germany 1981-1995 . 1999, p. 146 .
30. ↑ ^{a b c d e} pfaelzer-eisenbahnseiten.homepage.t-online.de: Bliestalbahn part 1 . Retrieved May 24, 2013 . 
31. ↑ Werner Schreiner: Paul Camille von Denis. European transport pioneer and builder of the Palatinate railways . 2010, p. 126 .
32. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 38 .
33. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 36 .
34. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 53 f .
35. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 197 .
36. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 37 .
37. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 55 .
38. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 280 f .
39. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 222 ff .
40. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 248 .
41. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 252 .
42. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 270 ff .
43. ↑ achim-bartoschek.de: SL05 Bliestal-Radweg (leisure route): Blieskastel-Lautzkirchen - Sarreguemines . Retrieved May 10, 2014 . 
44. ↑ bahnhoefe-im-saarland.2bnew.de: The reception building - catalog . Retrieved May 25, 2013 . 
45. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 213 .
46. ↑ klauserbeck.de: weibrücken Hbf 0.0 - Bierbach 6.87 - Reinheim (Saar) 24.27 - border Germany / France 25.087 - Sarreguemines (Saargemünd) (1948) Homburg (Saar) Hbf 0.0 - Bierbach 9.11 - Reinheim (Saar) 26.50 - Germany / France border 27.315 - Sarreguemines (Saargemünd) 39.0 (1980) . Retrieved May 17, 2015 . 
47. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 194 .
48. ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 116 .
49. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 175 ff .
50. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 305 .
51. ↑ pfaelzer-eisenbahnseiten.homepage.t-online.de: The railway in Zweibrücken in brief . Retrieved May 27, 2013 . 
52. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 52 .
53. ↑ pkjs.de: 280d Zweibrücken and Homburg (Saar) –Saargemünd and back . Retrieved May 27, 2013 . 
54. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 307 .
55. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 202 .
56. ↑ bahnbilder.de: Scan from the course book Winter 79/80. Retrieved September 9, 2014 . 
57. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 231 .
58. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 24 .
59. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 214 .
60. ^ ^{A b} Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 142 .
61. ^ ^{A b} Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines in passenger train traffic in Germany 1991-1995 . 1999, p. 143 .
62. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 223 .
63. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 354 .
64. ↑ ^{a b} Urs Kramer, Matthias Brodkorb: Farewell to the rail. Freight routes 1980 to 1993 . 2008, p. 99 .
65. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 218 .
66. ↑ Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 132 .
67. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 190 ff .
68. ↑ Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 146 .
69. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 196 f .
70. ^ Rainer Schedler: From Trier via Saarbrücken to Kaiserslautern . 2000, p. 98 .
71. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 70 f .
72. ^ ^{A b} Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rail. Disused railway lines for passenger trains in Germany 1991–1995 . 1999, p. 144 .
73. ↑ bahnbilder.de: ex KBS 686 photos . Retrieved May 27, 2013 . 
74. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 71 .
75. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 90 .
76. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 72 .
77. ↑ ^{a b c} Breitfurt. bahnhoefe-im-saarland.2bnew.de, archived from the original on January 1, 2014 ; Retrieved May 25, 2013 . 
78. ↑ ^{a b c} Bliesdahlheim, Reinheim, Blickweiler. bahnhoefe-im-saarland.2bnew.de, archived from the original on December 15, 2013 ; Retrieved May 25, 2013 . 
79. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 182 f .
80. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 73 .
81. ↑ ^{a b} Landesdenkmalliste, Saarland Official Gazette, December 22, 2004
82. ↑ Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 164 .
83. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 76 f .
84. ↑ Martin Wenz: Type stations of the Palatinate Railways on the Southern Wine Route . In: Landkreis Südliche Weinstrasse (Ed.): Fascination Railway. Homeland yearbook . 2008, p. 15 .
85. ^ ^{A b} Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 77 .
86. ↑ Martin Wenz: Type stations of the Palatinate Railways on the Southern Wine Route . In: Landkreis Südliche Weinstrasse (Ed.): Fascination Railway. Homeland yearbook . 2008, p. 19 .
87. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 79 .
88. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 91 .
89. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 95 .
90. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 203 .
91. ^ Walter Weber: The Bliestalbahn. From start to finish . 2000, p. 9 .

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 4, 2014 .