Fischbachtalbahn

Fischbachtalbahn
Route number :	3240
Course book section (DB) :	681
Route length:	26.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV, 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	<15  ‰
Minimum radius :	253 m
Top speed:	100 km / h
Dual track :	(continuous, but not at the Wemmetsweiler Rathaus stop)
Legend Routes from Saargemünd and Mannheim Nahe Valley Railway from Bingen (Rhein) Hbf 0.0 Saarbrücken Central Station 208  m Fischbach Saar line to Karthaus , Forbacher Bahn to Rémilly and Rosseltalbahn to Bous (Saar) Saar route from Karthaus 1.7 Saarbrücken grinding mill 209  m Fischbach 5.3 Neuhaus until 1985 6.8 Franziskaschacht 9.0 Fischbach 9.5 Fischbach-Camphausen 258  m 11.2 0.0 Brefeld until 2005 1.8 Maybach mine 12.7 Quiver 278  m 2.7 Göttelborn pit 0.0 16.4 Merchweiler 320  m Merchweiler tunnel (2 × 624 m) Primstalbahn from / to Lebach 18.2 Wemmetsweiler PV until 2006 314  m 18.8 Wemmetsweiler town hall since 2006 313  m Town hall tunnel (54 m) 22.3 Schiffweiler 283  m Ab and Schlawerie Awanst Hermineschacht B 41 Nahe Valley Railway from Saarbrücken 26.5 Neunkirchen (Saar) Hbf ( Keilbahnhof ) 257  m Nahetalbahn to Bingen (Rhein) Hbf Route to Homburg (Saar) ^ Bft from Wemmetsweiler

The Fischbachtalbahn (KBS 681) is a railway line along the Fischbach , which flows into the Saar in Saarbrücken , to Wemmetsweiler . There the line has been dividing since 2003 (Wemmetsweiler curve) and continues west to Lebach , east to Neunkirchen (Saar) .

history

At the beginning of the seventies of the 19th century, the development of the coal mines in the Fischbachtal began. This is how the Camphausen mine was built in 1871, the Brefeld mine in 1872 and the Maybach mine in 1873. Even at the planning stage, people thought about the removal of the coal. Initially, it was planned to operate the coal mines with branch lines from the Sulzbachtal. However, since this would have had to make a tunnel through the ridge, the plan was soon dropped. In addition, the route through the Sulzbachtal was already heavily congested. For this reason, as early as 1866, the plan was made to build a route from Neunkirchen through the Fischbachtal to Saarbrücken . In 1873 permission was given to build the line. In February 1879 coal loading could begin in the Camphausen mine. On October 15, 1879, the line via Brefeld and Wemmetsweiler to Neunkirchen (Saar) was opened. The branch line to the Maybach mine was opened on April 6, 1881. After the in Göttelborn 1,887 coal mine sunk was originated from Merchweiler of the spur track to the pit Göttelborn, which opened on 1 October 1891st In 1965 the entire line was electrified . After the Göttelborn mine was closed, the Merchweiler – Göttelborn branch line will still be used to operate the Weiher power station.

However, as passenger traffic had long been geared more towards Lebach than Neunkirchen, the passenger trains always had to change direction at Wemmetsweiler station . To avoid this, a connecting curve (the so-called Wemmetsweiler curve ) was planned as early as the 1990s . In 2003 this curve was built and the railway junction was moved to Illingen . The old Wemmetsweiler station was abandoned for passenger traffic and replaced in 2006 by the new Wemmetsweiler Rathaus station closer to the town center.

The road bridge on the L128 state road in Wemmetsweiler was replaced by a 54 meter long tunnel as part of the urban redesign .

Railway stations and stops

The train station in Fischbach-Camphausen and the breakpoint in Brefeld are no longer served today. They are both more likely outside the built-up area up the slope in the south of the rather narrow Fischbach valley. The platforms and station signs are still there. As a replacement for the train station in Fischbach, a new stop was built a little further north and therefore closer to the town.

The station buildings in Fischbach-Camphausen, Brefeld and Schiffweiler are very similar in terms of their construction - despite their different times of construction given by Deutsche Bahn in Saarbrücken. However, the similarity is so great that one can safely assume a common concept and thus probably also that the times of construction are close together.

The architecture of these three reception buildings shows us another trend in 19th century architecture, the half-timbered construction . Until around 1750, half-timbered construction was the dominant construction method in bourgeois residential architecture in the “Germanic” areas of Switzerland , England , Normandy and Germany , while stone construction predominated in the “Romanic” countries . After the few new half-timbered buildings were plastered in the following period, historicism reverted to the visible framework . However, the focus was less on the technical and constructional advantages, but only on the decorative design. Therefore, half-timbered construction was mostly only used on the upper floor or in the gable . In this respect, at least the station buildings in Schiffweiler and Brefeld are a notable exception.

Fischbach-Camphausen mine station

The Fischbach-Camphausen mine station was built in 1879 and must have been expanded considerably in the 20th century. The floor plans and elevations from more recent times show an elongated building complex with a two-story core structure and a restaurant in the north and the operating rooms in the south.

The original core building did not have a waiting hall at the time the floor plan was drawn up; passengers reached the house platform via a passage north of the central section, which led past the ticket office. This is how you get to the restaurant today. A signal box was added to the ticket office . It is unlikely that there was no waiting room from the start, as this was normally part of the basic equipment of a stopping point.

The station building is still owned by Deutsche Bahn AG, but the trains now stop at the newly built Fischbach / Camphausen station.

Brefeld

The year of construction of the Brefeld station reception building is one of the few that can no longer be determined. The floor plan shows a rectangular building with a retracted, presumably newer extension in the south. About in the middle of the main building is the passageway with a ticket office, which you enter through a double portal and exit directly opposite. In the southern part are the service and operating rooms with their own entrance, in the north the waiting room with tap room, toilets and a kitchen . The wooden cornice between the two floors, which is identical to that in Fischbach-Camphausen, can still be seen today.

Today the entire northern part and the signal box are missing. The framework has been plastered or clad almost everywhere and can only be seen on the ground floor on the street side. The former station building is no longer used as such.

Schiffweiler

Schiffweiler railway station 1914

The floor plan of the reception building in Schiffweiler shows that there was also a passage that led past the ticket office onto the house platform. However, this corridor was integrated into the core building. To the east of it were the service rooms and a rectangular signal box that no longer exists today.

The reception building is no longer in operation today. The passengers have to go through a passenger tunnel to the island platform .

A design drawing of the Schiffweiler train station from 1914 shows the condition at that time: the core structure is almost identical to the building in Fischbach-Camphausen. Here the first and second floors were built in half-timbered construction. In this old view, the doors still have segmental arches that are no longer visible today. To the east are the single-storey goods halls , which were also built in half-timbered construction. To the west there is a single-storey extension with four axes and segment-arched windows. The design was created because of the planned expansion of these outbuildings. The western part, which later contained the restaurant, is probably not original, as can be seen from its massive construction and the lack of a basement.

Today the first floor of the reception building is clad with slate on both sides and the roof is also covered with slate. The narrower, single-storey warehouse is tiled.

In terms of traffic, the Schiffweiler train station is extremely unfavorable at the foot of the mountain, in a completely peripheral location. The station building was built very late (1914) and was also two-storey, albeit in a half-timbered construction. A single-storey half-timbered goods handling hall was added to the southeast . Instead of a staircase from above to the island platform, the access was under the tracks, so that the station was (and is) easier to reach for the neighboring town of Landsweiler-Reden than for the eponymous Schiffweiler.

The demolition of the Schiffweiler train station began on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. After it was completed, a gabion wall was first built with stones bundled in steel nets to separate it from the railroad tracks. This was followed by the construction of a bus stop for local public transport and the creation of paved parking spaces for rail users or car pools .

literature

• Kurt Hoppstädter : The origin of the Saarland railways (=  publications of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Saarland . Volume 2 ). Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, 1961, ISSN  0018-263X .
• Kurt Harrer: Railways on the Saar. One and a half centuries of railway history between technology and politics. Alba Verlag, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-87094-210-X , (Brief traffic history)

Web links

Commons : Fischbachtalbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Reich course book 1944
• Route 3240, tunnel portals Merchweiler tunnel and pictures of the construction of the town hall tunnel
• Route 3242, tunnel portals Schleifmühle tunnel

s. also: History of the Saarland Railways ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/3240.html#rathaus
2. ↑ http://www.eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/3240-merchweiler.html
3. ↑ http://cdu-wemmetsweiler.de/bin/Wemmets-Konzeptskizzen-27.04.09.pdf  ( 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. CDU Wemmetsweiler (PDF; 1 MB)  
4. ↑ http://bahnhoefe-im-saarland.2bnew.de/ Master's thesis in art history at Saarland University by Barbara Neu MA, 1994
5. ↑ Markus Fuchs: New traffic junction is being built. October 15, 2011, accessed November 20, 2011 .