Steam locomotive ban

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Steam locomotive ban is the prohibition of the use of steam locomotives on a railway line or in the entire route network of a railway company. In Europe there were explicit steam locomotive bans on the Deutsche Bundesbahn (1977–1985), the British Railways (1968–1971) and the Ferrovie dello Stato .

Steam locomotive ban in the Federal Republic of Germany

The German Federal Railroad ended the era of steam locomotives in normal traffic on October 26, 1977 with the shutdown of the heavy freight tractors of the 042 and 043 series . In order to mark this event, which was followed by the public and the mass media , as final, the technical supervision of the Federal Railroad under the leadership of the ministerial director Horst Binnewies from the Federal Railroad's main administration in Frankfurt am Main issued the so-called "steam locomotive ban" a few days later. From now on, in order to present DB as a progressive company, steam locomotives were no longer allowed to run on the entire federal network on mainline tracks, not even on nostalgic trips . This was justified with the lack of opportunities to take water from steam locomotives and infrastructure for entertainment such as turntables , but above all with the lack of fire protection strips , even in winter. However, there were some exceptions to the ban. Companies with a connecting railway that still had steam locomotives in operation were allowed to drive to the next train station and deliver or pick up freight wagons there. Heating locomotives were also still in use in train stations.

The ban, which has been increasingly criticized over the years, was only gradually lifted on the 150th anniversary of the German railways in 1985. At the 1985 parades in Nuremberg, the Binnewies decree was still in force, so these events were made possible with one measure: Since the decree specifically only applied to mainline tracks, the tracks between Nuremberg-Langwasser and Nürnberg-Dutzendteich were declared construction tracks. This made driving steam locomotives possible on this route. The replica of the Adler locomotive from 1935 was not affected anyway, because in 1935 the locomotive / machine was classified as a “steam car”, while the ban only applied to steam locomotives.

Private railway operators with their own routes only resumed steam operation afterwards, for example the Society for the Preservation of Rail Vehicles (GES) opened operations between Korntal and Weissach in the Stuttgart area on the Strohgäubahn at Easter 1978 . This enabled many railway associations to “hide” that had operational steam locomotives but did not have their own route. The same applied to the historical railway in Frankfurt , which, with the support of the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn , organized the Königstein station festival with steam for the first time in 1981 .

Steam locomotive ban in Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) did not and does not have a general ban on steam locomotives ; such bans were always based on local conditions (tunnel, fire hazard). The same applies to the other railways. For example, in the Implementing Regulations AB FDV Chapter 16.1, some SBB routes are listed on which such a general ban applies. These are routes with a high proportion of tunnels and / or tunnel stations, with alternative routes usually available.

As a rule, diesel vehicles are only permitted on the same routes in emergencies; On these routes there is often a general ban on thermally powered vehicles, which also includes steam locomotives.

The general rule on the SBB network is that all trains that are driven by steam locomotives must, where possible, run on a parallel route that has no or only short tunnels. This means that there is a de facto ban on steam locomotives for the other route. Long tunnels (Simplon Tunnel, Gotthard Tunnel) on routes without an alternative route may only be driven with electrical traction support; In these situations, the steam locomotive only carries its own weight and is not allowed to carry any trailer load.

In other countries

During the steam locomotive era, especially in urban areas, there were often bans on steam locomotives, some of which were extended to include diesel locomotives and are still in force today.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b There was no general ban on steam locomotives . Turntable Online Forums , March 28, 2015, accessed October 26, 2017.
  2. ↑ In memory of Horst Troche . Association of German Museum and Touristic
    Railways , May 11, 2014, accessed on October 26, 2017. Frank Wennagel: The ban on steam locomotives: The years 1977 to 1984 . Society for the Preservation of Rail Vehicles Stuttgart eV (GES Stuttgart eV), August 25, 2013, accessed on October 26, 2017.
  3. ↑ Covering trains with two locomotives ...: Scope of the FV . Turntable Online Forums , April 7, 2015, accessed October 26, 2017.
  4. ^ Günter Hoppe: Steam on NE trains . Turntable Online Forums , April 7, 2015, accessed October 26, 2017.