Dietschibergbahn

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Dietschibergbahn
Route length: 1,240 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope : 247  ‰

The Dietschibergbahn (DBB) is a former funicular in the Swiss city ​​of Lucerne .

location

The valley station of the Dietschibergbahn was on the eastern city limits of Lucerne, at the former Halde tram terminus of the Lucerne tramway . The slightly over a kilometer long train went from there up to the Dietschiberg hill , which was also known as the Kleine Rigi.

history

The story begins with Alexander Trautweiler and Max Stocker's application for a license on March 21, 1869 for a funicular from Haltstrasse to Landhaus Dietschieberg. This was complied with on June 17, 1896 for a period of 80 years, but with the stipulation that construction should start at the latest after one and a half years, and commissioning 18 months after the start of construction.

The creation of the rough project alone took five years, so the deadline for submitting the statutes and the project had to be extended a total of seven times.

The constituent general assembly took place on June 16, 1911. On the same day, the revised detailed plans were submitted to the Federal Postal and Railway Department. 8 objections and reservations were submitted to the plan. The actual construction began on November 24, 1911.

On August 10, 1912, the railway was opened to traffic.

On the Dietschiberg, among other things, there was a much-noticed model railway system. This lifelike outdoor facility on a scale of 1:10, built by Arthur Oswald, a partner in the Dietschibergbahn, was completed in 1951. It had a 427 meter long double track line with a track width of 144 mm. The facility had to make way for the golf club's enlarged parking lot. Almost nothing is reminiscent of Arthur Oswald's work: only a spiral tunnel and various track systems can be found in the nearby forest. The rolling stock was donated to the Verkehrshaus Luzern .

On April 26, 1977, a fire destroyed the popular excursion restaurant on the Dietschiberg. The exact circumstances have not yet been clarified and, for reasons that are also inexplicable, the popular restaurant was neither rebuilt nor replaced. As a result, the day trippers stayed away and on September 30, 1978, the railway had to cease operations due to insufficient user frequency. As a further consequence, the model railway system also had to give way to a parking lot for the golf club.

After long quiet years and the slow disintegration of the railway, the DBB-Betriebs AG was founded on May 13, 1991 to rebuild the railway. The mountain station and the valley station as well as the bridge over St. Annastrasse were renovated. The two train cabins were also removed to freshen them up. Since the city of Lucerne did not participate financially in the resumption of operations and the renovation, the efforts came to nothing. The golf club on Dietschiberg was also not interested in rebuilding the track and successfully prevented both the reopening of the track and the establishment of a restaurant on the popular walking mountain. So the DBB-Betriebs AG had to stop its efforts to restart the operation of the Dietschibergbahn.

Even the Pro Dietschibergbahn association , despite thousands of hours of voluntary work and hundreds of thousands of francs in donations, could not change the fate of the Dietschibergbahn and it remained with the desire to resume operations. The association disbanded in 1997. All railway systems except the valley station were taken over by the Dietschiberg Golf Club, which initiated the removal of the tracks and the bridge over Rigistrasse on the same day.

Today the railcars, cables and tracks have been completely removed and the route is overgrown with grass. The mountain station was converted into a residential building in 2008. Until 2015 there was a commercial enterprise in the building of the valley station, in 2016 the valley station was also converted into a residential building. As a reminder of the old silver train cars of the Dietschibergbahn, there is a silver sleeping car in the garage. It includes the bedrooms and bathrooms. The kitchen is attached to its front. The entire extension of the station itself will become a new living space. Already Emil Vogt wanted to realize with balustrades a flat roof; today the roof of the house is accessible. The project by Scheitlin Syfrig Architekten has received several awards since then.

source

  • Encyclopedia of Railways. 1912, volume 3, p. 371

literature

  • Paul Schneeberger jun.: 75 years of the Lucerne-Dietschiberg funicular railway 1912–1987. Published by the “Pro Dietschibergbahn” association, Lucerne 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dietschibergbahn valley station. In: Scheitlin Syfrig Architects. Retrieved March 11, 2020 .