Brienz-Rothorn Railway

Brienz-Rothorn Railway
Rothorn Kulm mountain station of the BRB
Timetable field :	475
Route length:	7.6 km
Gauge :	800 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope :	250  ‰
Minimum radius :	80 m
Rack system :	Dept
Brienz – Rothorn
Legend 0.0 Brienz BRB 566  m above sea level M. Zentralbahn to Interlaken and Meiringen Wellenberg Bridge Schwarzfluh tunnel (18 m) 2.1 Geldried 1019  m above sea level M. Tunnel Erd (119 m) Fluh tunnel (3 windows); (290 m) 3.6 Planalp 1341  m above sea level M. Chüemaad tunnel (133 m) 5.7 Senior squadron 1819  m above sea level M. Schonegg I tunnel (37 m) Schonegg II tunnel (133 m) 7.6 Rothorn Kulm 2244  m above sea level M.

The Brienz-Rothorn-Bahn (BRB) is a cogwheel railway ( System Abt ) in Switzerland that only runs from Brienz to the Brienzer Rothorn in summer, annually from the beginning of May to the end of October .

history

After two earlier inn projects on the Rothorn had been unsuccessful, in 1889/90 the German engineer Alexander Lindner, who lived in Lucerne , planned the mountain railway with the support of tourists interested in Brienz, which was supposed to overcome the greatest difference in altitude of a mountain railway at the time. Theodor Bertschinger from Lenzburg joined the company as a builder and architect . During the construction period of only 16 months between summer 1890 and autumn 1891, up to 640 construction workers, mostly Italians, were employed.

The railway opened on June 17, 1892, but soon ran into financial difficulties. The Schynige Platte Railway , which opened in 1893 and the Jungfrau Railway , which opened in 1898, and the First World War were to blame . On August 9, 1914, operations were therefore stopped and the railway closed. In September 1916, the railway received federal approval to demolish the railway facilities. Because the railway administration would have had to advance the demolition costs, the dismantling was not carried out despite the war-related shortage of materials.

In 1931 financiers dared to reopen the line because the tracks were still in good condition despite the long break in operation. Later, the conscious decision was made not to electrify the line, which made it a special attraction: Today, the Brienz-Rothorn Railway is the only steam train in Switzerland alongside the Furka mountain railway.

However, the maintenance and operating costs associated with steam operation put a heavy financial burden on the company. Although the general assembly of June 21, 1968 unanimously decided to shut down the BRB and build an aerial cableway , the cog railway remained. However, the operating concept of 1971 provided for the procurement of three diesel locomotives to increase capacity and improve it. In this way, the seven steam locomotives from the time of the foundation and the reopening could be spared. New steam locomotives could not be procured for the time being because the industry showed too little interest.

This changed in 1988 when the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) in Winterthur was commissioned to develop and build new, more powerful steam locomotives. For the 100th anniversary, the BRB started operating the oil-fired locomotive No. 12 in 1992 with the support of a friends' association. Three more locomotives were added later.

The track systems have been renewed for several years. Rails and racks with a larger profile are used here. The normal railway sleepers are replaced by new sleepers in Y-format.

Routing

Wellenberg Bridge

Schwarzfluhtunnel

The length of the route is 7.6 km, and the railway climbs 1678 meters with an incline of up to 25%. The travel time is around one hour at a maximum speed of 9 km / h. The route of the BRB begins in Brienz, at 566  m above sea level. M. , right across from the central railway station . After crossing the "Wellenbergbrücke", the route goes through the Burgerwald (a deciduous forest) up to the "Schwarzefluetunnel", which is 18 m long. Shortly afterwards the train reaches the crossing point Geldried (1019 m above sea level).

After the crossing point, continue through the "Härdtunnel" with a length of 119 meters. The name of this tunnel means that the tunnel was not carved into the rock, but rather leads through "Härd", ie earth, to a large extent. After the “Härdtunnel” there is a short distance through the forest before you reach the “Fluhtunnels”. These have a total length of 290 m, but are interrupted by two large viewing windows, which provide a beautiful view of Brienz and Lake Brienz .

Railroad crossing at Geldried

After the "Fluhtunnel" you come to a fir forest, which leads to the Planalp station at 1,341 m above sea level. M. is enough. All steam locomotives fill up with water here for the onward journey to the summit. From Planalp the route continues over alpine meadows up to the «Mittlesten» alpine table. At the beginning of railway operations, a permanent iron bridge was built here, but this was soon torn away by an avalanche in winter . As a result, a bridge was built that could be dismantled in autumn and had to be rebuilt every spring. It was not until the 1980s that this maintenance-intensive construction was replaced by an earth dam.

After crossing the dam, you come to “Chüemad”, where the journey continues into the 40 meter long “Chüemadgalerie” with a 92 meter long “Chüemad tunnel”. Shortly afterwards you reach the crossing point Oberstafel (1819 m above sea level). From here the railway line goes in a long left curve along the mountain to the 100 meter long «Schonegggalerie». This is followed by the two “Schonegg tunnels”, 37 and 133 meters in length. Shortly after leaving the last tunnel, the train reaches 2244 m above sea level. M. the terminus Rothorn Kulm .

Locomotives

The BRB locomotives are numbered starting with one and come from four generations:

• 1892 First generation steam locomotives
• 1933/1936 more powerful steam locomotives of the second generation
• 1973/1975 diesel locomotives
• 1992/1996 oil-fired steam locomotives

Oil-fired steam locomotive H 2/3 No. 14

Steam locomotive H 2/3 No. 3 on the site of the Steck company in Bowil

No.	drive	Construction year	Manufacturer	Special
1 (I)	Steam, coal-fired	1891	SLM 688	H 2/3 , 1940: defective boiler, 1961: spare parts donor, demolition
1 (II)			SLM 722	H 2/3, ex Glion – Rochers-de-Naye (GN) 4 cogwheel railway, ex Monte Generoso railway (MG) 7, not in operation, neatly located in the BRB Remise
2			SLM 689	H 2/3, motor vehicle for the steam sausage lover and the exclusive "Salon Rouge". Main revision (R3) on the machine in winter 2010/2011
3		1892	SLM 719	H 2/3, not in use, clean and safe in the external warehouse
4th			SLM 720	H 2/3, not in use, neatly arranged in the BRB Remise
5		1891	SLM 690	H 2/3, 1911 ex Wengernalpbahn 1, in operation (as of June 2012)
6th		1933	SLM 3567	H 2/3
7th		1936	SLM 3611	H 2/3, in operation again after Rev. 3 (as of July 2017)
8th	diesel hydrostatic	1973	Homemade BRB	Hm 2/2, sold to the Montreux-Glion-Rochers-de-Naye-Bahn (MGN) Bahn in 1995 ; there No. 4. 2015 resold to Ferrovia Monte Generoso .
9		1975	Steck / MTU	mainly for material transport, BRB traction share in 1991: 70% / 2009: 11.55%
10
11		1987
12	Steam, oil-fired	1992	SLM 5456	H 2/3, Bern coat of arms
14th		1996	SLM 5689	H 2/3, Brienz coat of arms
15th		1996	SLM 5690	H 2/3, coat of arms city ​​of Kanaya (sister city of Brienz)
16		1992	SLM 5457	H 2/3, bought in 2005 from the Montreux-Glion-Rochers-de-Naye-Bahn (MGN) Bahn

The boiler of an oil-fired steam locomotive H 2/3 with the number 16 of the Brienz-Rothorn Railway.

Front linkage of the steam locomotive H 2/3 No. 16.

The number 13 was not used as an unlucky number due to partial interpretation .

The main load of the traffic is handled with the oil-fired steam locomotives, as these are the most economical in operation. In the case of coal-fired locomotives, a heater is required in addition to the engine driver; in the case of oil-fired locomotives, this is unnecessary. According to the photo, a coal-fired locomotive needs 300 kg of coal and 2000 liters of water to travel uphill. The water can be taken in at several points in the valley as well as at three other intermediate stops.

Modern steam technology using oil firing was developed by SLM and is now being developed and built by the steam locomotive and machine factory DLM . The technology enables the use of control cars. The boilers are insulated and can be prepared for 10 bar boiler pressure unattended with an additional electrical preheater. The machines are ready for use in 10 minutes.

Varia

The Brienz-Rothorn Railway has had a partnership with Ōigawa Tetsudō since 1997 , which operates a rack railway in Japan with the Ikawa line, also using the Abt system. Their DD201 diesel locomotive was named ROTHORN , and DD203 was named BRIENZ .

Pictures (selection)

• 

  Founder's share dated February 22, 1892

• 

  Stock Series C

• 

  View from the Fluhtunnel

• 

  Technical data of the railway, photographed in the train station in the valley

literature

• Claude Jeanmaire: With coal, steam and paddle wheels . Publishing house for railway and streetcar literature, Basel 1971, ISBN 3-85649-009-7
• Claude Jeanmaire: The Brienzer Rothorn and its rack railway . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen 1992, ISBN 3-85649-081-7
• Kaspar Vogel: The Swiss Locomotive and Machine Factory 1871–1997. Minirex, Luzern 2003, ISBN 3-907014-17-0

Remarks

1. ↑ For the BRB train station Brienz, there are also self-declarations with a height of 570 and 571 meters above sea level

See also

• List of cultural assets in Brienz

Web links

Commons : Brienz-Rothorn-Bahn  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Brienz Rothorn Railway
• Pictures from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jubilee newspaper 1992, p. 18.
2. ↑ Railway Amateur 01/1977, p. 32.
3. ↑ Jubilee newspaper 1992, p. 19.
4. ↑ Jubilee newspaper 1992, p. 20.
5. ↑ CH +, Railway Profile Switzerland 2010 edition, page 61 (altitude information refers to kilometer 0)
6. ↑ From the Brienzer Rothorn to the Fujiyama. In: Jungfrau Zeitung from June 13, 2007
7. ↑ Photos Oigawa-DD201.jpg and Oigawa DD203.JPG in Wikimedia

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