Rur-Wurm-Inde steam train

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Steam locomotive of the DR class 52.80, as it was in service with the DRWI from 1996 to 2005

The steam train Rur-Wurm-Inde (abbreviated DRWI ) was an association based in Düren , which was active from 1993 to 2005 with numerous steam train journeys in the Düren district . In 1993 the district took over two lines in danger of being closed down from the Deutsche Bundesbahn , and the association initially received great support from local politics. He owned his own steam locomotive of the DR class 52.80 , and his journeys were soon marketed in cooperation with the district under the name Rurtal-Express (REX) (then www.rur-rex.org ). His home base, the old Jülich Nord terminus of the Jülich Kreisbahn , was demolished in 2004, so that the association had to restructure, which ultimately did not succeed and at the end of the steam journeys on the Rurtalbahn routes and finally the association's insolvency 2008 led.

history

After the Dürener Kreisbahn (DKB) took over the operation of the Linnich - Jülich (at that time only goods traffic), Jülich - Düren and Düren - Heimbach (Eifel) railway lines from the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Jülich - Düren section after 18 years Break now also ran on Sundays, numerous railway enthusiasts in the region saw ideal conditions for setting up a regular steam train. In addition to the advantage that you did not have to deal with the Federal Railroad, which is considered cumbersome, with a regionally rooted partner on site, the Eifel's tourist potential also promised sufficient popularity for the planned journeys through the Rur Valley : they are close to the route Attractions such as the Obermaubach reservoir , Nideggen Castle and the Rurstausee near Heimbach . The local rivers Rur, Wurm and Inde were chosen as part of the name for the association , in order to address the residents of these areas in particular and based on the idea of ​​also offering trips in the Wurmrevier .

On May 21, 1993, a private citizen bought the mine train steam locomotive "Emil Mayrisch 2", which was used there until the end, from the nearby Emil Mayrisch coal mine in Siersdorf , which was closed in December 1992 and which he made available to the DRWI . In the summer of 1993, the DRWI started the necessary general inspection of the locomotive on its own. For this purpose, u. a. the inlet pipes renewed, the brake system overhauled and the locomotive equipped with Indusi and steam heating for passenger cars to be carried . When it was built in 1953, the locomotive was comparatively young - six years later the Federal Railroad procured a steam locomotive for the last time. The boiler was due to the short operating break even in good condition and did not require much effort. At the end of the work, there was a test drive between Jülich and Linnich at the permissible top speed of 50 km / h.

Loan locomotive 64 491 with the DRWI's special conversion train to Heimbach on track 21 of Düren station, June 18, 1995 - at that time, trains from Jülich could still go directly to the Eifel

In October 1993 the DRWI was able to carry out its first steam ride through the Rur Valley with this locomotive. The cultural foundation of the Kreissparkasse Düren made it possible to purchase own cars in the course of 1994. As a result of their processing and other new acquisitions, the association was able to form a stylish passenger train from so-called conversion wagons (type B4yg) from 1995 . Together with the steam locomotive 64 491, which was rented from April to mid-June 1995 by the Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Rail Transport eV from Bocholt , the DRWI was able to use a typical federal railway train from the 1950s / 1960s. Then the locomotive "Emil Mayrisch 2" was used again, but from a railway historical point of view it did not fit the DB conversion wagons, as it was a mine train locomotive and was used in the coal mining industry for shunting coal wagons.

1996 DRWI reached via several intermediaries in the possession of 1943 war locomotive built a Tender -Dampflok 52 8148. While also fit this not strictly to the Federal Railroad cars, because they are in operation condition of the Deutsche Reichsbahn presented, but she made alone by their size ( 23 m in length compared to the only 12 m long series 64 or the even shorter "Emil Mayrisch 2") a stately impression for both railway enthusiasts as well as families and Eifel tourists.

1999/2000 timetable of the Rur-Wurm-Inde steam railway (DRWI) in the Linnich terminus, which was not used for regular passenger traffic at the time

With this locomotive, the DRWI carried out numerous trips between Düren and Heimbach or Jülich and Heimbach. There were also trips between Linnich and Jülich, some of which offered the opportunity to learn how to heat or drive a steam locomotive. The timetables of DRWI appeared to about 2,002 in the printed DB timetable and AVV -Fahrplänen the region Düren. In addition to the scheduled steam train trips along the Rur, the DRWI also organized several special trips in the Aachen region. Since the massive looking 52 locomotive was more powerful than the small and modern "Emil Mayrisch 2" to attract passengers, the latter was handed over to the Walburg Railway Friends in Hessisch Lichtenau on August 10, 1999 .

The home base of the 52 locomotive and the increased fleet of DRWI cars was the Jülich Nord terminus of the Jülich Kreisbahn (JKB), 200 m west of the federal station in Adolf-Fischer-Strasse, not to be confused with the Jülich-Nord Rurtalbahn stop, which was set up in 2002 in the Jülich north quarter on the route to Linnich. The JKB Station was used by the DKB in their early years (from 1993) own for parking and repairing vehicles, just as the old three permanent rectangular shed in recent Bundesbahnhof Jülich in which the railcars of the railway amateur clubs Jülich (EAKJ) to 2001 had their quarters. Even though it was very tight in both parking and workshop facilities, especially after the acquisition of the new RegioSprinter in 1995, the DKB granted the DRWI a place to stay for their vehicles. When the DKB opened its new central workshop for rail transport in Düren-Distelrath in January 1998 , the situation eased.

However, from now on the DKB no longer needed the JKB station Jülich for its own purposes, and the last train ran on the rest of the JKB line to Puffendorf in 1999, so local politicians decided to shut down the entire JKB line, the DRWI to give up their location and to transform the site of the JKB train station into a residential area. In 2001 a “study on reusability” and an urban development framework plan “Former Jülich Nord station” were drawn up. Two years later, a development plan (No. 19 “Bahnhof Jülich-Nord”) was drawn up, and on October 6, 2003, the Jülich city council decided to change the zoning plan, which paved the way for another use. The DRWI had to leave the JKB station by May 2, 2004; in summer / autumn 2004 the tracks in the station area were dismantled. However, 12 years passed before the first residential buildings were built.

Despite an intensive search, the DRWI only found the Dieringhausen Railway Museum as alternative accommodation , which required a journey of more than 100 km from Jülich. This meant that numerous members of the association could no longer work to the extent required. In addition, the approval of the steam locomotive 52 8148 expired on September 29, 2005 and a new, costly general inspection was necessary, so that the DRWI announced their "last tour with the tractor for the time being" for the 25th September 2005 - the journey led from Erkelenz via Düren to Königswinter . After that the trips (then with borrowed locomotives) decreased rapidly. At the beginning of 2007 the DRWI moved with its 52 8148 from Dieringhausen to Mönchengladbach Hbf , but even there it was no longer successful. At the beginning of June 2008 the DRWI had to cease operations, it became insolvent and was dissolved, the vehicles were sold to Centralbahn AG from Basel , which continued to leave the locomotive on the railway site in Mönchengladbach on Kranzstraße.

In 2011, a new association called Eisenbahnfreunde Niederrhein / Grenzland was founded in Mönchengladbach . This acquired locomotive 52 8148 in December 2012 with the aim of making it roadworthy again.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The mining locomotives in the Aachen district - The Emil Mayrisch mine. In: Railway in the Aachen area. Guido Rademacher, accessed on October 12, 2019 .
  2. ^ Rur-Wurm-Inde steam train: Steam train rides on the Rur Valley Railway, 1995 timetable (DRWI flyer)
  3. ↑ Steam locomotive 52-8148 drives to the Drachenfels. In: Aachener Nachrichten online. Zeitungsverlag Aachen, September 12, 2005, accessed on October 2, 2019 .
  4. ^ DRWI: Announcement of the cessation of operations at the beginning of June 2008 and the dissolution of the association. 2008, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Mönchengladbach: An old steam locomotive is being revived. In: Rheinische Post online. April 9, 2013, accessed October 2, 2019 .