Local railway Mixnitz – Sankt Erhard
Local railway Mixnitz – Sankt Erhard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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E4 with mixed goods-passenger train at Mautstatt (Sept. 2003)
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Route length: | 10.7 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gauge : | 760 mm ( Bosnian gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power system : | 800 V = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maximum slope : | 30 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minimum radius : | 60 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top speed: | 25 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The local railway Mixnitz-Sankt Erhard AG or Breitenauerbahn in Styria is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RHI Magnesita , which operates the Breitenau magnesite plant. The local railway company owns the narrow-gauge railway , which is operated by the Styria Railway today over a length of 10.380 kilometers. It has a track width of 760 mm and was built in the course of developing the magnesite deposits in Breitenau am Hochlantsch .
The starting point of the train is the ÖBB train station Mixnitz - Bärenschützklamm ( Austrian Southern Railway ), where the transported freight is reloaded onto standard gauge wagons. Today's end point of the route is directly on the premises of the magnesite plant in Breitenau am Hochlantsch.
history
In 1906, in the Styrian town of Breitenau am Hochlantsch - in a side valley east of the Mur - a magnesite mining company founded by the German industrialist Carl Spaeter and subsequent smelting was built. The limits of the removal of production and the delivery of the necessary means of production such as coal by horse-drawn vehicle were soon apparent. Therefore, the plan for a narrow-gauge electric small train was born.
The first passenger train ran on the line on September 12, 1913, at that time with 600 V direct current . The company later switched to 800 V direct current. In 1953 two vehicles were acquired from the discontinued Ybbs tram for the purpose of shunting. From the beginning, the line was primarily used for the transport of materials for the magnesite plant, but also for the extensive timber transports at the time and, until 1966, also for passenger traffic.
After the passenger traffic had declined more and more over the years, it was discontinued on July 31, 1966 and replaced by a post bus line.
After the cessation of passenger traffic in 1970, the route was shortened slightly at both endpoints and the storage hall and workshop were relocated to Mixnitz. On the site of the former three-track railway station in Sankt Erhard, there is now a hall for the magnesite works, along with service and loading tracks. From 1988 onwards, the line was gradually renovated.
Floods caused by heavy rainfall in August 2005 caused severe damage to the superstructure in some sections, so that no traffic could take place. Operations resumed on October 14, 2005 after the line had been restored.
In addition to the weekday freight trains for magnesite transport, nostalgic passenger trains run on individual weekends between May and September, which have been organized by the Friends of the Breitenauerbahn since 2007.
vehicles
Locomotives
When the railway opened in 1913 , AEG delivered two two-axle E1 and E2 electric locomotives , both of which are still there, the E2 is still operational (as of 2018). Normal operation is handled by two four-axle (Bo'Bo 'wheel arrangement) electric locomotives built by ÖAMG and BBC in 1957 and 1963 . Two standard-gauge two-axle diesel locomotives were available for shunting in Mixnitz-Bärenschützklamm, but they were sold.
Pulled wagons
A passenger car that was built for the route by the Ringhoffer works in Prague in 1913 came to the Deutschlandsberg Forest Railway in 1930 and then to the Gurktal Railway . In July 2013 it was exchanged for another passenger car and has since been part of the car fleet of the bottle train on the Stainzerbahn . The car belongs to the series C (which means a 3rd class car ), it originally had the car number 1 and the serial number 83265. The car weighs 3715 (according to another source 3750) kg, it is 6.7 m long and has 18 seats .
Two two-axle passenger cars and a summer car are available for the nostalgic trains .
Freight traffic is mainly carried out with flat wagons for pallet transport.
literature
- Andreas Christopher, Gunter Mackinger , Peter Wegenstein: Private railways in Austria. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-71052-8 .
- Walter Krobot, Josef Otto Slezak , Hans Sternhart: Narrow gauge through Austria. 1825-1975. 3. Edition. Verlag Josef Otto Slezak , Vienna 1984. ISBN 3-85416-095-X . Pp. 36–38 (text), 140–143 (images).
- Author collective: The local railway Mixnitz - St. Erhard. The Breitenauerbahn in pictures. Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2018. ISBN 978-3-902894-40-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dietmar Zehetner: Traditional local railway . In: railway magazine . No. 9 , 2018, ISSN 0342-1902 , p. 44 f .
- ^ Manfred Hohn : Forest railways in Austria. Verlag Josef Otto Slezak, Vienna 1980. ISBN 3-900134-68-5 . P. 160.
- ↑ a b Krobot, Slezak, Sternhart: Schmalspurig. P. 304–305 (sketch with dimensions on p. 304)
- ↑ Flascherlzug received the Liechtenstein forest railway wagon . In: Weststeirische Rundschau . No. 30, year 2013 (July 26, 2013), 86th year, ZDB -ID 2303595-X . Simadruck Aigner u. Weisi, Deutschlandsberg 2013, p. 15.