Kaliseilbahn Springen – Dorndorf
The Kaliseilbahn Springen – Dorndorf was a cableway for goods traffic that transported the potash salt from the Springen potash plant to the loading station in Dorndorf / Rhön .
location
The cable car connected three potash shafts near Springen in West Thuringia , today the Wartburg district , with the potassium sulfate factory on the eastern edge of the Dorndorf location. The cable car spanned the Werra valley , the Bad Salzungen – Unterbreizbach railway and the Reichs - or later long-distance roads 62 and 84 .
history
In search of potash deposits in the Werra district , the “Grand Duke of Saxony” potash union was founded in May 1905. The potash sulfate factory founded on the western outskirts of Dorndorf "An der high Eiche" (still known as "Alte Chemische" in Dorndorf) and a workers' settlement (known as "Die Kolonie") were also built after the turn of the century. The old plant was connected to the production shafts in Dietlas, three kilometers away, and the Menzengraben, five kilometers away , by a funicular. Expected cost savings and operational disruptions (e.g. strikes by employees of the Reichsbahn) led to the construction of a single-lane factory track system from the loading station Dorndorf (old factory) via Dorndorf (new factory) to the factory of the "Kaiserroda-Merkers union" in the eastern neighboring town of Merkers .
Due to technical problems, the potash mining in Dietlas had to be stopped in 1926, so the cable car to Dorndorf and the plant were shut down.
The second potassium sulfate and chlorinated potassium factory in Dorndorf belonged to the “Heiligenroda Union” and was put into operation in 1913. The associated dismantling field of this union stretched between Frauensee , Dönges , Kieselbach , Oberzella and Vitzeroda , there were three shafts in the Springen corridor - designated as "Union Heiligenroda I" to "Union Heiligenroda III" - and two shafts in Möllersgrund "Union Heiligenroda IV "And" Unions Heiligenroda V "established. Here, too, the inexpensive construction of a cable car was preferred to the construction of a branch line through the narrow valley of the Springer Bach. In order to transport the chemicals produced in the factories (mainly potassium chlorine and potassium sulphate), works connecting tracks were laid to Dorndorf (Rhön) station. When the "Heiligenroda I trade union" went into operation in 1909, it was initially connected to the Wintershall potash plant in Heringen (Werra) with a 6550 m long cable car , which was accepted on January 22, 1910 and an hourly transport capacity of 45 tons with a payload of 600 kg (75 cars per hour). This connection was closed with the construction of the funicular to the new factory in Dorndorf in 1913.
The production of the Dorndorf potash plant was stopped on June 30, 1991. The associated industrial power station Dorndorf was shut down on September 30, 1991. The dismantling of the cable car began shortly after the pits in Springen closed in 1990.
technology
The cable car was used exclusively to transport the extracted raw potash.
Three electrically driven cable car sections were linked together:
- The 3.5 km long main line had 55 supports on which 280 lorries were constantly in motion. In full load operation, the means of transport could carry a daily output of 6100 t of crude salt, the rope speed was 2.3 m / s.
- An approximately 1.5 km long cable car connected the head station of the main line between the neighboring shafts "Union Heiligenroda II and III" with the furthest headframe at the shaft "Union Heiligenroda I".
- A separate cable car section only 600 m long was built from the factory premises in Dorndorf to a landfill site 500 m away in order to dispose of the non-recyclable production waste above ground on a dump on the southern outskirts of Dorndorf.
Ecological consequences
The transport of the potash salt in open wagons led to the drifting of salts onto the areas below. Salinisation of the soil in the Werraaue and soil erosion on the slope north of today's federal highway 84 were the result. Fallow areas developed under the cable car route, where individual, more salty areas with salt vegetation have developed. The rift systems of the Werraaue also showed salinisation in this area, which favored the settlement of salt plants .
After the cable car was dismantled, an almost vegetation-free route remained. To restore soil fertility, the areas in the Werraaue were made usable again for agriculture around 1994 with the application of sewage sludge compost . The slope with no vegetation and danger of erosion north of today's B 84 was left to succession .
Since the cable car was shut down, there has been a massive decline in salt vegetation. Since numerous protected salt plant species have also been identified, conservationists view this development with concern.
literature
- Siegfried Baumgardt: Tiefenorter potash history . Tiefenort 2012. 196 pp.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Royal Prussian. Landesaufnahme (Ed.): TK25, sheet 2990 - Vacha ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition 1905, with the route of the Dietlas – Dorndorf cable car (old chemical factory)
- ↑ a b c Dorndorf Citizens' Association (ed.): Festschrift 1225 years Dorndorf / Rhön . Self-published, Dorndorf 2011, p. 51-53 .
- ↑ Ortschronik Widdershausen , accessed on January 20, 2014
- ↑ a b Municipality of Merkers-Kieselbach (Hrsg.): Festschrift for the local jubilee 850 years Kieselbach . Merkers-Kieselbach 2005, p. 62 .
- ^ Schuster / Bellstedt / Schmidt: Nature conservation in the Wartburg district, Issue 16 - Flora, fauna and development of the inland salt areas in the Wartburg district . Ed .: District Office Wartburgkreis. 2010, p. 35 ff .
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 '3.8 " N , 10 ° 5' 39.1" E