Falkenbach Viaduct

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 50 ° 43 ′ 17 "  N , 6 ° 11 ′ 48"  E

Falkenbach Viaduct
Falkenbach Viaduct
Convicted Stolberg – Walheim railway line
Subjugated Inde , Venwegener Strasse
place Kornelimünster
Entertained by EVS Euregio transport network
overall length about 145 m
Number of openings 8th
Pillar spacing 18 m
Pillar strength 2.20 m (brick pillars)
height 23 m
Clear height 20.7 m
start of building Spring 1888
opening December 21, 1889
Status Out of service
location
Falkenbach Viaduct (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Falkenbach Viaduct

The Falkenbach Viaduct is a viaduct on the Stolberg – Walheim railway line across the Inde valley near Kornelimünster between Breinig and Hahn .

history

Construction and expansion

As early as the middle of the 19th century there were first considerations to build a railway connection from Stolberg to Belgium and Luxembourg. After the section of the Vennbahn between the Aachen-Rothe Erde and Walheim stations was built in 1885 , the railway line from Stolberg Central Station via Stolberg-Hammer to Walheim was completed and connected to the Vennbahn in 1889 . In the course of this extension, the viaduct was led over the Indetal, locally also known as the Falkenbachtal. The Falkenbach Viaduct (also called Viadukt Schlausermühle) was originally supposed to have only five arches; longer dams at both ends should compensate for the difference in height. However, because the resulting width of this dam would have required additional land acquisition, a longer viaduct with eight arches was built. Limestone was chosen as the building material . The section to Walheim, on which the viaduct is located, was opened on December 21, 1889.

The Falkenbach Viaduct was single-track, but increasing traffic and the strategic importance of the railway line motivated a double-track expansion. Since the viaduct was not wide enough to accommodate another track, a second viaduct was connected flush with the first using the same construction method from September 1907.

At times a tram line of the Aachen tram ran from Kornelimünster to Breinig below the viaduct . Today the Eifelsteig runs under the viaduct.

Destruction and rebuilding

Steel construction of the Falkenbach Viaduct

In the course of the Second World War , the two northern pillars of the viaduct were blown up by retreating German soldiers on September 11, 1944 and then replaced by US pioneers with a steel structure that could accommodate a single track. This steel construction was repaired in the 1950s by the Deutsche Bundesbahn , the cost of which was 60,000  D-Marks . During the repair, girders were reinforced and a railing was attached. Plans to replace the steel structure with a concrete bridge failed.

Due to its poor condition, the Falkenbach Viaduct was recently only passable at an ever lower speed. Since it could no longer absorb braking forces, it was finally blocked for operation.

Remediation efforts

The association Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland is endeavoring to run a museum to restore the operability of the Falkenbach Viaduct. In the summer of 2011, measurement drives were carried out with a Deutsche Bahn measurement vehicle based on the DB class 798 between Stolberg Hauptbahnhof and the viaduct. In December 2014, an endurance test was carried out with vehicles from the association; In March 2015, the design was checked using a two-way vehicle equipped with a telescopic arm . In the week from November 30, 2015, renovation work on the masonry was carried out using a road-rail vehicle for around a week.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roland Keller: Planning for a route between Stolberg-Hammer and Raeren , on eisenbahn-stolberg.de , accessed on March 15, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b Roland Keller: The construction of the line from Stolberg to Walheim , on eisenbahn-stolberg.de , accessed on March 15, 2015.
  3. ↑ Stolberg - Walheim - Raeren , on gessen.de , accessed on March 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b Roland Keller: 1889 to 1920: The railway operations of the KPEV (Länderbahnzeit) , on eisenbahn-stolberg.de , accessed on March 15, 2015.
  5. ↑ Map to the Eifelsteig. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b Roland Keller: 1920 to 1949: The railway operations of the Deutsche Reichsbahn , on eisenbahn-stolberg.de , accessed on March 15, 2015.
  7. ↑ a b c Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland - Nostalgic special trips between Stolberg and Eupen ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland, accessed on March 13, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eisenbahnfreunde- borderland.de
  8. ↑ Track has been rehabilitated from Raeren to the border. Aachener Nachrichten of March 19, 2009, available at vennbahn.de , accessed on March 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ Roland Keller: Photo diary March 2015 , on eisenbahn-stolberg.de , accessed on March 13, 2015.
  10. ↑ Web Album Eisenbahnfreunde borderland ( Memento of 10 May 2016 Internet Archive ), accessed on November 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ Facebook page Eisenbahnfreunde Grenzland , accessed on December 15, 2015.