Glue Express

Glue Express
Kleber-Express near Himmelreich (2003)
Route of the Kleber Express
Route length:	379 km
course
Legend 0 Munich central station 7th Munich-Pasing 42 Geltendorf 56 Kaufering 68 Buchloe 76 Türkheim (Bay) Bf 87 Mindelheim 93 Stetten (Schwab) 100 Sontheim (Schwab) 114 Memmingen 122 Tannheim (Württ) 129 Marstetten-Aitrach 136 Aichstetten 146 Leutkirch 157 Kisslegg 164 Wolfegg 177 Bad Waldsee 187 Aulendorf 206 Bad Saulgau 213 Herbertingen place 215 Herbertingen 221 amounts 232 Sigmaringen 256 Beuron 274 Tuttlingen 284 Immendingen 291 Geisingen 303 Donaueschingen 305 Hüfingen 313 Döggingen 327 Loeffingen 332 Rötenbach (Baden) 343 Neustadt (Schwarzw) 348 Titisee 352 Hinterzarten 364 Heaven 367 Kirchzarten 372 Freiburg-Littenweiler 375 Freiburg-Wiehre 379 Freiburg (Breisgau) central station

The Kleber Express was a hedge cable train that ran daily from 1954 to 2003 . He covered the route from Munich to Freiburg im Breisgau on a 379-kilometer secondary route through the foothills of the Alps , the Danube valley and the Black Forest in about six hours. The train pair was created at the request of numerous hoteliers from Baden-Württemberg and Swabia . Before the Second World War , however, this was no longer realized, so that the train was only introduced in 1954. In 1997, the pair of trains was given the name Kleber-Express, because the Kleber family from Bad Saulgau had been most committed to the connection.

The train was operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn until 1994 , and from 1994 by the Deutsche Bahn AG . It ran as an express train (E) until the 1990s . In the last years of its existence it operated under the train type Regional Express (RE).

historical development

Overview of the train numbers of the Kleber-Express

year	Train numbers
1954-1969	765/766
1969-1974	1562/1563
1974-1998	2262/2263
1999-2003	21208/21213

Since the beginning of the 20th century there have been through cars between Munich and Freiburg im Breisgau, which occasionally continued to Colmar . In the 1930s, a number of hoteliers from Bad Wörishofen and Titisee as well as Fritz Kleber from the Hotel Kleber Post in Saulgau expressed the wish to use their own continuous express train to replace the through coaches. The daily express train connection between Freiburg and Munich should better develop the Black Forest and the Allgäu for tourism. The aim was in particular to connect the Black Forest to Munich and the Allgäu to Baden . In 1935 the concern of the Deutsche Reichsbahn was presented, which in 1937 agreed to introduce it. However, the annexation of Austria in 1938 destroyed existing plans for such a train. The vehicle material that was previously intended for the connection was henceforth used to connect the former Austrian territories to the German Reich, so an express train was set up between Stuttgart and Salzburg at short notice . The connection should finally be operated from 1940. But the outbreak of World War II thwarted the project.

Thanks to the efforts of Hermann Kleber, Fritz Kleber's son, it was possible to establish a connection, for the first time from May 23, 1954, with the start of the summer timetable . The train ran as express train 765 from Freiburg to Munich, the return train ran with train number 766 and went to Buchloe combined with the D-train 482 Munich-Zurich-Milan. The pair of trains initially only ran in summer. From 1957 it drove all year round, but only from Munich to Aulendorf in the winter . The pair of trains received the nickname Kleber-Express in public ; the name was supposed to honor the Kleber family, who had campaigned strongly for the train couple. From 1959 the pair of trains continued to Sigmaringen in winter , from 1961 to Tübingen . In 1972, the entire route from Munich to Freiburg was finally used all year round. Before that, the train numbers changed in 1969 , the E 766 became E 1562, the E 765 became E 1563. In 1974 the train numbers changed again, E 1562 became E 2262, E 1563 became E 2263.

The threat of closure of the Herbertingen – Isny ​​railway in 1976 would also have meant the end of the Kleber Express. This was sometimes the only pair of trains on the route on weekends in winter. However, Andreas Kleber, the son of Hermann Kleber, was committed to maintaining the connection. On February 18, 1978, he organized a demonstration against the closure of the line in front of Saulgau station. The state of Baden-Württemberg then sided with the opponents of the closure. The name Kleber-Express was officially mentioned during the visit of the President of the Stuttgart Federal Railway Directorate after the demonstration; the train was to officially bear this name in honor of the Kleber family, who had campaigned most strongly for the train pair. However, this was not initially enforced. Andreas Kleber celebrated his wedding with Johanna Kleber on October 10, 1980 in this pair of trains , on this occasion the pair of express trains traveled as Intercity Johanna Kleber on that day . The sister's christening ceremony also took place on the Kleber Express.

With the introduction of the Allgäu-Swabian cycle , the existence of the train was again called into question. Only after the advocates of the train had proven that the train could be integrated into the regular timetable, the existence of the train was secured again. From 1992 the days of traffic were limited to the weekend. After many conversations with traffic experts, the pair of trains ran daily again from 1997. Since the person Andreas Kleber is firmly connected to the direct connection and he was strongly committed to the interests of the connection, Deutsche Bahn gave the train the official name of Kleber-Express in 1997 . For the train pair, which has meanwhile been classified as regional express, a separate edition of the leaflet Your travel plan has been published - which is unusual for regional trains . From 1998 to 1999 the Kleber Express changed train numbers several times, most recently it was given the numbers 21208 and 21213.

On December 26, 1999, the train fell victim to hurricane Lothar, which swept over the Black Forest at over 200 km / h : between Hüfingen and Hausen vor Wald, the train drove into fallen trees at around 11:00 a.m. The locomotive derailed with some cars and slid down an embankment. The rescue workers needed until late in the evening to get to the approximately 250 passengers who were on the train without major injuries. Because of the persistent hurricane and fallen trees, the rescue work had to be interrupted again and again. Soldiers from the French 110th Infantry Regiment of the Franco-German Brigade were also used to search for and evacuate the casualties .

In December 2000, Kleber had to close his hotel in Bad Saulgau; From now on, the Kleber Express operated again without a train name. After the withdrawal of its namesake and supporter, the direct connection between Munich and Freiburg was discontinued on December 14, 2003 as a result of austerity measures by the state of Baden-Württemberg. As a direct successor, a regional express Allgäu-Donautal-Express operated between Herbertingen and Munich for two years . Due to high delays, this long train run was also discontinued in December 2005.

Vehicle use

Kleber-Express at the entrance to Löffingen, 2003

Until 1960 the Kleber Express was mostly pulled by steam locomotives, the following period was mainly characterized by diesel locomotives. Electric locomotives were also used between Freiburg and Neustadt in the Black Forest. The last scheduled use of steam locomotives ended in the winter of 1965 on the section from Munich to Aulendorf with the 39 series . In the period that followed, diesel locomotives were used on the entire section of the route. The section between Freiburg and Neustadt, where electric locomotives were used as push locomotives until 2001, was an exception . From the 1988 summer schedule, the Kleber Express was continuously hauled by a machine from the 218 series.

Used locomotives

Locomotive series	Walkway	Depot	time
18.4-5	Munich – Aulendorf	Lindau	1954-1959
18.6			1959-1964
38.10	Aulendorf – Donaueschingen / Sigmaringen / Tübingen	Tübingen	1954-1955
39	Munich – Aulendorf	Kempten	1964-1965
75.4 / 10-11	Donaueschingen-Neustadt (Black Forest)	Villingen	1954-1959
85	Freiburg (Breisgau) –Neustadt (Schwarzw)	Freiburg	1954
139	Freiburg – Titisee / Neustadt (Schwarzw)	Mannheim	1981-1988
143	Freiburg – Titisee (sliding locomotive)		1997-2001
145	Freiburg (Breisgau) –Neustadt (Schwarzw)	Freiburg	1960-1981
E 244			1955-1960
211	Donaueschingen-Neustadt (Black Forest)	Villingen	1960-1961 1963-1964
211	Aulendorf – Neustadt (Schwarzw) / Tübingen	Ulm	1970-1972
212			1965-1970
215			1972-1976
218	Munich – Kempten from 1977: Munich – Neustadt (Schwarzw) from 1988: Munich – Freiburg	Kempten	1977-2005
220	Donaueschingen-Neustadt (Black Forest)	Villingen	1962
221	Munich – Aulendorf	Kempten	1965-1975

From 1954, center entry cars were used as rolling stock. Conversion cars were also rarely used. From the 1960s until the pair of trains was discontinued, n-type cars were used.

Routing

Part of the reason for the great popularity of the Kleber Express is also its route. From Freiburg, his route led through the Black Forest, the Upper Danube Valley , Upper Swabia and the Lower Allgäu to Munich.

The Kleber Express used the Höllentalbahn from Freiburg to Donaueschingen . After the electrification of the Freiburg – Neustadt section of the Höllentalbahn in 1936, the Kleber Express was the only continuous pair of trains between Donaueschingen and Freiburg. In order to avoid changing locomotives in Neustadt (Black Forest), the Kleber Express also drove a diesel locomotive on the electrified section. In the course of the train continued its journey on the Black Forest Railway , the Upper Neckar Railway, the railway Tuttlingen-Inzigkofen , the zollernalb railway and the railway line Ulm-Sigmaringen continued to Herbertingen. From Herbertingen the train drove on the Herbertingen – Isny ​​railway to Leutkirch in order to continue on the Leutkirch – Memmingen railway to Memmingen . In Memmingen, he continued his journey on the Buchloe – Memmingen railway to Buchloe, from where he reached Munich via the Bavarian Allgäu Railway .

The journey time of the Kleber Express was about six hours. This connection became increasingly unattractive for long-distance travelers to Freiburg. Today the travel time from Munich to Freiburg via Stuttgart and Karlsruhe is - despite the detour - around four and a quarter to five hours.

Movie

• SWR: Eisenbahn-Romantik - Kleber-Express (episode 487), 2003.

Web links

Commons : Kleber-Express  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Comparison between course books of different years
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jörn Schramm: Hoteliers am Zug - The Kleber Express. In: Lok Magazin. January 2011, GeraMond Verlag, Munich, ISSN  0458-1822 , pp. 80-85.
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Kleber Express. In: Eisenbahn-Journal. August 1998, Publishing Group Bahn, Fürstenfeldbruck, ISSN  0720-051X , p. 38.
4. ↑ Kleber-Express. In: Railway courier. February 2004, pp. 58-63.
5. ↑ Description of the film on swr.de.
6. ↑ Kleber-Express . In: Modellisenbahner. March 2004, Publishing Group Bahn, ISSN  0026-7422 .
7. ↑ As of 2003 (course book from 2003)

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 2, 2012 .