Electric narrow-gauge railway Solothurn – Bern
The electric narrow-gauge railway Solothurn – Bern ( ESB ) is a former railway company in the Swiss cantons of Solothurn and Bern . It merged on January 1, 1922 with the Bern-Zollikofen-Bahn (BZB) to form the Solothurn-Zollikofen-Bern-Bahn (SZB) and has been part of the Regionalverkehr Bern – Solothurn (RBS) since 1984 . Today it operates the former ESB line Solothurn – Worblaufen .
history
In June 1912, the Federal Assembly granted the concession for the electric narrow-gauge railway Solothurn – Bern , whereupon project planning work began. When the constituent general assembly of the Solothurn-Bern-Bahn ESB took place on October 9, 1912 at the Zum Brunnen inn in Fraubrunnen , the BZB had already been running for four months. When the license was granted, the BZB was required to ensure the integration of the ESB as far as Bern, which meant that the ESB's planning was limited to the Solothurn - Zollikofen route .
As with the BZB, a meter-gauge overland railway was planned, which, however, should also handle freight traffic. After construction began in the summer of 1913, work had to be stopped from August 1, 1914 due to the outbreak of war in Europe and was only resumed with restrictions in late autumn. While the railway was still being built, the depot workshop in Solothurn was able to move into in 1915 and the first driving tests were carried out.
According to the official building approval - approval and registration - April 7, 1916, the railway was officially opened on 9 April. In Zollikofen, the ESB had a direct rail connection to the BZB, but direct traffic from Solothurn to Bern was only introduced in 1924 with the opening of the Rüttilinie (in Zollikofen).
route
For freight transport with standard gauge wagons, roller bolsters were built in Solothurn and Schönbühl , which enabled freight wagons to be taken over directly from the network of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). Standard-gauge sidings were available at the Biberist, Lohn-Lüterkofen, Bätterkinden, Fraubrunnen, Grafenried and Jegenstorf railway stations; these allowed the standard gauge wagons to be removed from the roller bolsters and loaded and unloaded, while the roller bolsters could be used for other purposes.
bridges
The bridge over the Emmental railway in Biberist was the first slab bridge of concrete that was used in Switzerland at a railway line. It was replaced by a new building in October 2008.
Rolling stock
When operations began in 1916, five railcars, six passenger cars (two each BC4, C4 and C2), three combined baggage / mail cars (Z2) and eight freight cars (four K2, two L2 and M2 each) were available.
- Railcar
- BCFe 4/4 1-2
- CFe 4/4 11-12
- Fe 4/4 21
Additional wagons were procured in 1921: one BC4 and one C4, three freight wagons (two K2 and one X2) and a Z (mail wagon ) taken over from the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). Another Z from the RhB followed in 1922.
After the merger to form SZB, additional rolling stock was procured, as was already in use at ESB.
- CFe 4/4 13 (1924)
- one BC4 and one C4 each (1925)
- BCFe 4/4 3 (1929)
literature
- Theo Stolz, Paul Bucher; Solothurn-Zollikofen-Bern-Bahn history and rolling stock . Self-published by the SZB in 1979, no ISBN
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eisenbahn Amateur 6/2008, page 321