Mittelthurgau Railway
Mittelthurgau Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MThB control car (Bt 202) with destination Engen
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Timetable field : | 830, 835 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route length: | 39.58 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power system : | 15 kV 16.7 Hz ~ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maximum slope : | 24 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wil – Kreuzlingen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Mittelthurgau Railway (abbreviated MThB ), based in Weinfelden, was a Swiss private railway. It was liquidated privately in 2003, including its freight subsidiary Lokoop , its activities and infrastructure property were mainly taken over by the SBB subsidiary Thurbo , which was originally supposed to form an alliance between MThB and SBB.
history
After an initiative committee for the construction of the Mittel-Thurgau-Bahn (MThB) was founded in Kreuzlingen on August 11, 1890, it established its first contacts with the Westdeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG (WeEG) based in Cologne in 1899 . In 1901 a license application for a standard gauge railway was submitted to the Federal Council , which had been drawn up by engineer Jakob Ehrensperger from Winterthur. On December 19, 1902, the Swiss Federal Assembly granted the concession for a railway from Wil via Weinfelden to the border near Konstanz. In 1903 the Grand Ducal State Ministry of Baden approved the introduction of the railway line into the Konstanz station. In 1906, the initiative committee signed a 15-year non-cancellable contract for the construction and operation of a standard gauge railway Wil-Weinfelden-Konstanz with the WeEG. In this contract, the name "Mittel-Thurgau-Bahn - MThB" appeared for the first time, under which name a stock corporation was founded on April 28, 1908. Subscription to shares began on November 26, 1906. The largest block of shares was taken over by the canton of Thurgau , while the three cities of Constance, Weinfelden and Wil SG and the canton of St. Gallen subscribed for further significant amounts . In addition, 27 municipalities and private interested parties joined the group of shareholders. WeEG contributed a lien secured bond capital of 3 million francs.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 10, 1909 between Weinfelden and the Thur. 60,000 cubic meters of earth were moved; four of the seven engineering structures to be constructed were larger objects. The Bussnang Viaduct was not tackled until late, most recently the section from Weinfelden-Berg down to Weinfelden, because detailed approvals were not available. In 1911, the removal of the iron bridges began. The Thur Bridge was loaded with three SBB type B 3/4 locomotives with a tender, each with about 85 tonnes of road mass. Further investigations of the substructure and superstructure, the crossings of the railway with power lines, the structural systems and the rolling stock finally allowed the Wil-Weinfelden-Kreuzlingen-Konstanz trunk line to be opened on December 16, 1911. In accordance with the contract, the WeEG ran the business. In 1931 the contract was transferred to Vereinigte Kleinbahnen AG (VKA) in Frankfurt am Main. The latter sold its stake, in particular the interest-bearing bonds to the AG for Transport in Berlin-Wilmersdorf and a small part to Overseas Trust Corporation Ltd. in Johannesburg. A package of bearer shares was given to Midland Bank Ltd. sold in London, but returned to the VKA from there in 1938. The contract was temporarily suspended during the war years . After the First and Second World Wars, the MThB was an important source of income from hard currency for the German contractual partners during the inflationary period. At the end of 1950 the contract was terminated and the MThB definitely went into own operation.
The 41-kilometer, standard-gauge, single-track trunk line from Kreuzlingen via Weinfelden to Wil is predominantly in the canton of Thurgau , only the last, four-kilometer section belongs to the canton of St. Gallen . It was opened on December 20, 1911 for passenger and freight traffic and was used by steam trains and, from 1938, also with initially rented diesel railcars. As the last notable private railway in Switzerland, it introduced electrical operation on September 24, 1965. In 1969 the Mittelthurgau travel agency was founded as a subsidiary.
The trains started and ended regularly in Constance, where there was a connection to the German state rail network. They used the 1 km long Kreuzlingen - Konstanz route, which had been put into operation by the Swiss National Railways (SNB) on July 17, 1875 and later passed on to the SBB.
In 1992, the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) conceived the local transport service Seehas ( Konstanz - Singen (Hohentwiel) - Engen ), which was approved by the district of Konstanz in mid-1993 . For the quick implementation of the timetable change on May 29, 1994, rolling stock was urgently needed, which was taken from the ongoing production of the fourth series of the " New Shuttle Trains " (NPZ) for the SBB in consultation with the industry and the SBB . With a view to the start of operation of the Seehäsle with three Diesel GTW from Stadler, the subsidiary Mittelthurgaubahn (Deutschland) GmbH was founded in Constance in August 1996 .
In 1996, MThB won the tentative tender for the SBB lake line, initially for a maximum of 10 years, and began operating with the timetable change on June 1, 1997. However, the costs of investing in infrastructure and rolling stock were clearly underestimated, so they bought significant shares in inland freight traffic and wagonload traffic with externally financed rolling stock. This led to considerable over-indebtedness, and the Mittelthurgaubahn AG was finally liquidated on October 11, 2002. The long-time director Peter Joss and the president of the administrative board Hermann Lei (at that time a member of the government) resigned as chief responsible. The rolling stock and the systems were taken over by SBB and transferred to Thurbo AG.
Extended operational management
In addition to its main route, MThB took over management of the following routes in Germany and Switzerland in the 1990s:
- Germany:
- « Seehas » Konstanz - Radolfzell - Singen (Hohentwiel) - Engen , on behalf of Deutsche Bahn
- “Seehäsle” Radolfzell - Stockach on the non-electrified Radolfzell – Mengen railway line , on behalf of the Constance district
- Switzerland
- Romanshorn - Kreuzlingen - Stein am Rhein - Schaffhausen
- SBB lake line , the operation of the line was won in competition with the SBB; The following took place: technical upgrading of the line, procurement of new rolling stock and increased cycle times
These tasks have been taken over by the SBB subsidiaries SBB GmbH (Germany) and “Thurbo” (Switzerland), the latter is now also the owner of the main line (Kreuzlingen–) Tägermoos - (Weinfelden) - (Wil). The infrastructure operation of the lake line went back to the SBB, which also operate the infrastructure of the main line on behalf of the «Thurbo».
Some of the historical rolling stock, such as the “ Most India Express ” with the steam locomotive Ec 3/5 number 3 (built in 1912) including the associated wagons, a railcar (ABDe 4/4 number 12, see “ Thurgauer Zug ”) and a few others vehicles are from the club Historic Central Thurgau-Bahn entertained for heritage, social and excursions and operated. These are exhibited in the “Locorama” railway adventure world in Romanshorn.
Rolling stock
model series | Manufacturer | Construction year | origin | number of pieces | Discarded | Remarks | |||
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series | Numbers | total | today | ||||||
Locomotives | |||||||||
Re 4/4 | 21st |
SLM BBC / MFO / SAAS |
1969 | 1 | 0 | 2002 | > SBB 11172 II | ||
Ae 476 | 471 |
LEW (at) STAG |
1968 | DR (1993) | (Ex) | 100 | 1996 | ex DR / DB 142 150; at LAG sold | |
472-474 | 1967, 1969 | DB (1994) | ex DR / DB 142 132, 133, 159; at LAG sold | ||||||
475-476 | 1971, 1968 | DB (1995) | ex DR / DB 142 191, 157; at LAG sold | ||||||
477-479 | 1967 | ex DR / DB 142 118, 126, 128; at LAG sold | |||||||
470 | ex DR / DB 142 130; at LAG sold | ||||||||
Re 416 | 625-628 |
SLM BBC / MFO / SAAS |
1946-1950 | "CR" (1999) | (Ex) | 40 | 2002 | > Classic Rail | |
Re 486 | 651-656 | Adtrance | 2000 | 6th | 0 | 2002 | > SBB Re 481 001–006 | ||
Railcar | |||||||||
ABDe 4/4 | 11-15 |
SIG / SWS SAAS / BBC / MFO |
1965 | 5 | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo | ||
16 | 1966 | GFM (1984) | (Ex) | 1> Thurbo; ex GFM ABDe 4/4 171 | |||||
RBDe 566 | 631-634 | SWG / SIG / FIG | 1994 | 4th | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo | ||
Bm 596 | 671-673 | STAG | 1996-1997 | 3 | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo> SBB GmbH | ||
RABe 526 | 680-689 | STAG | 1998-1999 | 10 | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo | ||
Control car | |||||||||
Bt | 201-202 | 1965 | 2 | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo | |||
203 | 1964 | GFM (1972) | (Ex) | 2> Thurbo; ex GFM Bt 303 | |||||
204 | GFM (1983) | > Thurbo; ex GFM Bt 302 | |||||||
Bt | 211-216 | SWG / SIG / FIG | 1994 | 6th | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo> SBB GmbH | ||
Bt | 221-224 | STAG | 1999 | 4th | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo | ||
Bt | 231-232 | 1962-1963 | SZU (2001) | (Ex) | 20 | 2002 | > Thurbo> SBB GmbH; ex SZU Bt 997-998 | ||
Passenger cars | |||||||||
B. | 121-122 | SBB (1984) | (Ex) | 90 | 2002 | > Thurbo | |||
123 | SBB (1986) | ||||||||
124-127 | SBB (1993) | ||||||||
128-129 | SBB (1995) | ||||||||
FROM | 151 III -152 III | SBB (1993) | (Ex) | 60 | 2002 | > Thurbo | |||
153 | SBB (1984) | ||||||||
154 | SBB (1987) | ||||||||
155 | SBB (1991) | ||||||||
156 | SBB (1995) | ||||||||
FROM | 161-164 | 1995 | 4th | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo> SBB GmbH | |||
Shunting locomotives | |||||||||
Em 2/2 | 41 | Stadler | 1972 | 1 | 0 | 2002 | > SBB Tm 233 950 | ||
Tm | 51 | Stadler | 1966 | 1 | 0 | 2002 | > Thurbo | ||
Tm II | 61 | RACO | 1968 | 1 | 0 | 2002 | > FW (trolley operation) | ||
Tm 236 | 662 | RACO | 1968 | SBB (1999) | (Ex) | 10 | 2002 | > Winpro; ex SBB Tm II 663 | |
Tm 236 | 652-653 | STAG | 1999 | 2 | 0 | 2002 | > SBB Tm 233 910–911 | ||
Tm 236 | 648-649 | STAG | 2000 | 2 | 0 | 2003 | > TPF Tm 237 087, SBB Tm 234 090 |
literature
- Michael Mente: From MThB to Thurbo: 100 years of history and stories about the railway in central Thurgau. Accompanied by the stories of a cultural monument under steam . Verlag Flügelrad, Weinfelden 2013, ISBN 978-3-033-03961-2 .
- Michael Mente: When a branch line becomes the main thing: Lecture at the vernissage of the book “From the MThB to the Thurbo”. Special publisher print, wing wheel, Weinfelden 2013.
- Michael Mente: 100 years of the Mittel-Thurgau-Bahn . The MThB and thurbo lent years of regional traffic. In: Railway amateur. No. 11, pp. 546-555 and 12/2011, pp. 598-609 ISSN 0013-2764 .
- E. Rieben: A ride on the Mittel-Thurgau-Bahn. In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch , Vol. 3, 1927, pp. 49–55 ( e-periodica )
- Peter Schulijk: The end of a private railway. Mittelthurgau Railway liquidated . In: Lok Magazin . No. 256, volume 42/2003. GeraNova, Munich, ISSN 0458-1822 , p. 24.
- M. Vogler: Some things about the Mittel-Thurgau-Bahn and its construction. In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch , Vol. 3, 1927, pp. 41–48 ( e-periodica )
Web links
- Cultural association for the preservation of the historical legacy of the M.Th.B .: Association "Historical Central Thurgau Railway"
- Location of the historical vehicles of the former M.Th.B .: Railway adventure world "LOCORAMA ® Romanshorn"
- Publishing house with publications, pictures and activities on the history of MThB: "flügelrad Weinfelden"
- Mittelthurgaubahn.ch: The history of the Mittelthurgau railway
- Felix's homepage
Individual evidence
- ↑ judgments in the next process to train debacle acquittal of Thurgau Altregierungsrat Hermann Lei, NZZ , December 16, 2004