Greißelbach – Freystadt railway line
| Greißelbach – Freystadt (Oberpf) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route number (DB) : | 5931 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 9.8 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Greißelbach – Freystadt line was a branch line in Bavaria , popularly it was called the Lerzerbahn. It was about ten kilometers long and branched off the Sulztalbahn Neumarkt – Beilngries at Greißelbach station and headed west to Freystadt .
history
There were plans for the connection of Freystadt to the railway network before 1882, but the projected route from Hilpoltstein and leading to Neumarkt or Amberg was viewed as too expensive and ultimately not implemented. Only the Local Railway Act of 1882 and another law of April 21, 1884 on the construction of the line together with the Sulztalbahn paved the way for the hoped-for railway connection. The then mayor of Thannhausen Johann Baptist Lerzer , then a member of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies, had a major influence on the creation of the railway , which earned it the name Lerzerbahn. The detailed planning began in 1885, the construction of the line in October 1886. In July 1887 the line was completed and was opened for freight traffic; the official opening took place on June 1, 1888 at the same time as the Sulztalbahn.
Initially, three pairs of trains traveled the route to Greißelbach every day, in the 1930s there were up to five that were brought to Neumarkt. The increasing number of motorized individual traffic in the 1950s and the relatively long travel times via Greißelbach to Neumarkt with old Bavarian local railway cars that were still in use at the time, but certainly no longer up-to-date, meant that passenger traffic between Freystadt and Greißelbach was discontinued in July 1960. The line gained fame in the second half of the 1950s, as the steam locomotive 98 507 was the last locomotive of the 98.4-5 series (formerly Bavarian class D XI ) to be used in passenger traffic. The cessation of freight traffic, which was finally handled by the class 333 small locomotive stationed at Neumarkt (Oberpf) station , took place at the end of December 31, 1977, and the line was dismantled the following spring.
Route description
The "Freystädter Bockel " (this nickname for the steam locomotives that operate here is now used to represent the entire route) ran the Sulztalbahn from Neumarkt to Greißelbach . Only here did the approximately 10 km long route branch off at track 3, which initially led directly to the west along the state road St2220. The Wiefelsbach was crossed on a bridge and then the road was crossed twice. At the foot of the Sulzbürg, Rocksdorf was reached with the Sulzbürg stop. From here we continued in a westerly direction, first on a low dam, then at ground level to Wettenhofen. The line then reached Thannhausen, where the stop of the same name was located. From here it turned north to Freystadt. The station had three tracks, a separate locomotive shed and two siding to BayWa warehouses. The station building still stands today.
Current condition
The railway station buildings in Greißelbach and Freystadt still exist today from the route, and traces can also be seen in the area, some of which are cycle paths and farm roads .
literature
- Ulrich Rockelmann: Searching for traces of dismantled railway lines in the Nuremberg area . Hofmann Verlag Nürnberg, Nürnberg 1999. ISBN 3-87191-270-0 .
- Christoph Meier, branch line Neumarkt - Beilngries , Neumarkt idOPf. 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-042576-9