Chemin de fer touristique d'Abreschviller
| Abreschviller-Grand Soldier | |||||||||||||||||
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 Abreschviller Depot with the Mallet locomotive No. 1 from 1906
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| Route length: | 6.1 km | ||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 700 mm | ||||||||||||||||
| Region (F): | Lorraine | ||||||||||||||||
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The Chemin de fer touristique d'Abreschviller (Waldeisenbahn Alberschweiler) is a narrow gauge - heritage railway with a track width mm 700, starting from Lorraine Abreschviller . A section of the former forest railway network, the largest of which was 73 km, has been maintained by the Association du Chemin de Fer Forestier d'Abreschviller (ACFA) since 1968.
history
Near the Vosges , around 50 km from Strasbourg , is the Donon massif . In the forest area, wood was felled as early as the 18th century . At that time, there were no traffic routes, so in 1850 the first ideas to create aisles and paths in the forest area arose. The first five kilometers of the forest railway were laid in 1884, and the Prussian field railway track of 700 mm was chosen as the gauge in what was then the German Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine . In 1892 it was necessary to transport a lot of wood after a hurricane , so the expansion of the forest railway was accelerated and new rolling stock was procured. By 1900 there were already 35 km of routes, in 1918 over 50 km. After 1918 Alsace-Lorraine became part of the national territory of France . The Abreschviller forest railway was the only railway in France with a gauge of 700 mm. In 1906 the first steam locomotive was procured for the forest railway; it was this the only one in the Maschinenfabrik Heilbronn built B = B - locomotive of the type Mallet . In 1933 another steam locomotive was procured from the Decauville company . In the 1950s the greatest stretch of the route was reached with 73 km, which is divided into several branches. 1953 was an even Diesel Locomotive Company COFERNA procured. Due to the motorization and road expansion that began after the Second World War, the route network became increasingly smaller, in 1960 there were only 61 km of route. In 1964, when the network was only 40 km in length, the forest railway was shut down. The diesel locomotive was used for shunting purposes in Abreschviller for another year .
In 1964 the first ideas for reopening a section of the route came up. A year later, the Association du Chemin de Fer Forestier d'Abreschviller (ACFA) was founded, which took over the remaining rolling stock and part of the route to Grand Soldat. Consideration was also given to preserving a section up to the Col du Beschpunkt. However, due to the expected operational problems caused by the switchbacks , this project was abandoned. In 1968 the first train was run on the newly built tourist railway, and in 1969 official operations began. In the meantime, new rolling stock was procured or built, which turned out to be problematic due to the gauge. In 1970 a former Heeresfeldbahn steam locomotive type HF110C was purchased by the Styrian State Railways , which was re-gauged to 700 mm and has been in operation since 1976. This is the last remaining HF110C from the Styrian State Railways. The route is used regularly from April to October. A special feature of the operational management is that the train coming from Abreschviller has to enter a branch track (a former branch of a branch) in order to be able to let the opposite train pass.
At the other end of the route in Grand Soldat, a small sawmill has been prepared for visitors and provides information about the woodworking techniques that used to be common.
The most important level crossings along the route are now secured with barriers. The level crossing system is switched on with a remote control from the driver's cab and switched off by the brakeman on the last car via remote control. Before these systems were installed, the level crossings were secured by guards (with a flag) on the days of traffic.
vehicles
Locomotives
- No. 1, B'Bn4vt, type Mallet , serial number 476/1906, Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Heilbronn
- No. 2, Cn2t, year of construction, serial number 1835/1926, Decauville
- No 3, diesel locomotive , built in 1953, Coferna
- Nr 4, Cn2, HF110C, serial number 10120/1944, Jung
- No?, Bn2t, serial number 4720/1911, Orenstein & Koppel
- No.?, HF50B , serial number 4252/1945, Gmeinder
- No.?, Diesel locomotive, 1956, Deutz
- No?, Draisine , self-made from Renault - Automobile , 1925
- No?, Draisine, self-made from a Hotchkiss automobile, 1930
literature
- Report in "Die Museums-Eisenbahn" 4/1985
- Hubert Fingerle, "The Abreschviller Forest Railway"
- Railway courier 11/2000
- Model railroader 5/1999
