Federseebahn

Bad Schussenried – Riedlingen
Route number (DB) :	4512
Course book section (DB) :	306d (1963)
Route length:	29.34 km
Gauge :	750 mm Schussenried – Torfwerk from 1970 1435 mm
Maximum slope :	1: 46 = 22  ‰
Minimum radius :	120 m
Legend Southern Railway of Friedrichshafen 0.00 Bad Schussenried (until 1966 Schussenried) Southern Railway to Ulm Hairpin (since gauging) 0.50 Connection to Holzhof Schussenried 0.75 Shot channel 1.70 Connection to Wilhelmshütte 1.90 Bad Schussenried Monastery 1.92 Schussenried place 2.20 Connection to Ammann fuel trading 2.27 Connection to the peat shed sanatorium 3.85 State road 283 5.00 Sattenbeuren 5.74 Peat plant (after re- gauging Anst ) 5.85 End of line after gauge change Connection of peat plant ( Gleisdreieck ) 8.64 dig 9.45 Bad Buchau (Württ) (until 1966 Buchau (Württ)) 10.20 Kappel (Württ) 12.50 Volloch- Dürnau Krumbach 14.22 Kanzach 15.60 Kanzach 15.76 Soul forest 17.00 Kanzach 19.49 Dürmentingen 20.50 Burgau Kanzach 22.45 Hailtingen Kanzach 24.31 Göffingen Kanzach 25.55 Unlingen place from Ulm 27.20 Crossing the main line 29.34 Riedlingen to Sigmaringen

The Federseebahn , also known as the Kanzachtalbahn or colloquially Buchauer Zügle or Buchauer Bähnle , was a 29.34-kilometer narrow-gauge railway in Baden-Württemberg . The route located in Upper Swabia connected Bad Schussenried ( shotenried until 1966) with Riedlingen . The track width of the railway built by the Royal Württemberg State Railways was 750 millimeters. Following closure of the narrow gauge railway in 1970, a shorter part section was used as siding on standard gauge umgespurt .

history

Buchau station in 1920

Planning, construction and opening

Initial plans for a connection from Schussenried to Buchau - Bad Buchau since 1963 - go back to Emil Kessler junior , who wanted to build a steam tram from Schussenried to Buchau. The planned alignment on the side of today's busy state road 275 to Buchau was rejected by the authorities. The project failed, but the surveys carried out showed the need for a rail link. In 1891, planning work began for a narrow-gauge railway on its own track. The construction was approved on July 14, 1895. Construction began on April 8, 1896 and the line was opened on October 13 of the same year.

The Buchau train station was designed in such a way that it was possible to continue into the Kanzachtal without additional effort. There were initially no specific intentions to do so, as the expected profitability was estimated to be too low. The fact that the building continued in the direction of Riedlingen is primarily thanks to the commitment of the art miller Josef Blank from Seelenwald. He pointed out the timber traffic to be expected from the surrounding forests and the pilgrimages to Berg Bussen . His efforts were successful. On August 16, 1907, the extension to Riedlingen was approved. The construction of the railway was delayed by several years, but in contrast to many other lines, it did not come to an end after the First World War . On November 15, 1915, the extension to Dürmentingen was put into operation and on November 27, 1916, Riedlingen was reached. The Buchau – Riedlingen section was the last narrow-gauge line to be opened by the Royal Württemberg State Railways. The traffic remained modest. In 1912/13, 11,650 t of goods were handled in Buchau and 44,030 tickets were sold.

Container wagons on trestles in Bad Buchau (July 1964)

German Federal Railroad (1949–1969)

Apart from the post-war years, traffic was still modest. In Buchau, the most important intermediate station, 29,918 tickets were sold in 1950, 17,901 in Schussenried Ort, then followed in Dürmentingen and Unlingen, each with a little over 5,000 tickets. On October 2, 1960, the Buchau – Riedlingen section was closed and the line between Kappel and Riedlingen was soon dismantled. The Buchau – Kappel section remained as the station track of the Buchau station to serve the warehouse there. On May 31, 1964, passenger traffic between Schussenried and Bad Buchau also ended after only one train had run in recent years. The freight traffic continued to run for now. On January 1, 1969, this section was finally closed. To operate the siding in Bad Schussenried, however, a narrow-gauge locomotive was stationed there until the beginning of 1970. This was followed by the dismantling of the narrow-gauge rails and, in the Bad Schussenried – Torfwerk section, the gauging and rededication to the siding.

Standard-gauge siding to the peat plant (1970–2002)

The standard gauge siding served a gravel works that had settled on the former peat factory site. The connection to the southern line in Bad Schussenried was made via a hairpin in the station area, as the narrow-gauge line, which ran in a tight curve here, could not be used. The construction was carried out with old, usable standard gauge material. The siding was used regularly for gravel transport for a long time, but has been idle since 2002.

This section is still owned by Deutsche Bahn AG today . The remaining section up to the gravel works is owned by the gravel company and is therefore a closed siding. The re-gauging of both sections of the route was financed from funds from the so-called Leber Plan , which were intended to promote freight transport by rail. For this reason, it was not possible to rebuild the line to Bad Buchau for local public transport , as in this case the funds for the previous sections would have been misappropriated. In addition, the volume of traffic would be too low and there would have been no financing for the operating costs. The remaining line is still in place, but the Federal Railway Authority approved the dismantling of the tracks in November 2013. The private section to the gravel works is kept operational, but the section of the Deutsche Bahn is not. At the Schussenried train station, the connection point has now been expanded so that the track can no longer be used.

Temporary reactivation for passenger traffic (2003)

On the occasion of the state exhibition "Old Monasteries - New Men" on secularization in the former Schussenried Monastery , a new stop was set up right in front of the monastery gate . From April 13, 2003 to October 6, 2003, RAB class 650 railcars commuted between Bad Schussenried station and the monastery, changing direction in the hairpin. After the end of the national exhibition, operations were stopped again. The platform built at the time is still there. The resumption of regular passenger traffic to the monastery, the stop there is near the center of Bad Schussenried, was examined, but discarded for reasons of cost.

About naming

The name Federseebahn was applied by the Esslingen entrepreneur Emil Kessler junior , who in 1880 had already had two meter- gauge locomotives built on his account for the project of a “ steam tramway ” from Schussenried to Buchau. Kessler was aiming for such a showcase project in order to get the then largely idle construction of railway lines going in Württemberg in an inexpensive way as a local railway . However, the negotiated agreement with the Buchau community did not materialize. Railway enthusiasts picked up Kessler's name in the 1960s. The term Federseebahn was and is not in use on site. Rather, the talk is of the "Buchauer Zügle".

vehicles

Locomotive 99 637 as a technical monument in Bad Buchau

The locomotives of the Württemberg series Tssd were mainly used as locomotives . For a long time, from 1907 to 1919, the only narrow-gauge steam multiple unit DWss No. 1 of the Württemberg State Railways took over almost all passenger traffic between Schussenried and Buchau. In Bad Buchau, one example, the 99 637 , on the site of the former train station reminds of the narrow-gauge railway that once operated here. The Buchauers commemorate the railway with an annual Züglesfest , which is organized by the local rag choir. He also takes care of the maintenance of the locomotive. But a Württemberg Tss 3 was also used here.

literature

• Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten railways in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 241-244 .
• Kurt Seidel: Narrow gauge in Baden-Württemberg. Einhorn-Verlag, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1977, ISBN 3-921703-19-0 , especially pp. 83-94.

Web links

Commons : Federseebahn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Forgotten railways - the Federseebahn
• Information on the website of the University of Hohenheim
• Private page with route map
• The timetable of the Federseebahn in the timetable from 1944/45
• Link to the Federseebahn episode of the SWR series "Eisenbahnromantik"

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kurt Seidel: Narrow gauge in Baden-Württemberg. Einhorn-Verlag, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1977, ISBN 3-921703-19-0 , pp. 20-22.
2. ^ Railway report. Issue 1–2 / 2014, p. 71.
3. ↑ amfedersee.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Kurt Seidel: Narrow gauge in Baden-Württemberg. Einhorn-Verlag, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1977, ISBN 3-921703-19-0 , p. 153.