Bielstein – Waldbröl small train

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Bielstein Klbf – Waldbröl
Course book range : 240 m (1950)
Route length: 18.32 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed: (from the mid-1930s) 40 km / h
Legend
   
 0.0 Bielstein Kleinbahnhof
   
 Line to Bielstein train station (Rhineland) ( Wiehltalbahn )
   
 Wiehl
   
 1.2 Bielstein-Bechstrasse (from 1935)
   
 2.0 Mühlen an der Bech station
   
 3.0 Bornhausen
   
 3.7 Nieder-Bellinghausen
   
 4.6 Marienberghausen-Elsenroth
   
 7.2 Homburg paper mill
   
 Bröl
   
 7.8 Nümbrecht / Homburg (Bröl)
   
 9.2 Lime kiln / Niederbernbach
   
 10.3 Under the hardt
   
 11.1 Gaderoth
   
 12.9 Winterborn
   
 13.9 Bruch-Grötzenberg
   
 14.6 Drinsahl
   
 16.1 Happach
   
 18.0 Hollenberg School (from 1936)
   
 18.3 Waldbröl Kleinbahnhof
   
 Owner limit, OVAG - Deutsche Bundesbahn
   
18.4
23.6
Waldbröl (Rhineland)
Route - straight ahead
 Wiehltalbahn to Osberghausen

The Bielstein – Waldbröl Kleinbahn was a standard-gauge , non- electrified , 18.32-kilometer-long railway line in the southern Oberberg district .

The railway construction company Becker & Co. , which later traded as "AG für Energiewirtschaft", organized the construction and operational management . From August 1, 1956 to June 30, 1966, the date when all traffic was shut down, the Oberbergische Verkehrsgesellschaft , which had been the owner since 1951, ran the business.

history

construction

Rail connection of the Limburg metal goods factory, Grötzenberg, 1915–1920

From the end of the 19th century, protracted considerations were made for the development of the western upper Wiehl valley by a railway line, which looked at different routes. Various problems with the approval of road sharing and freight promises from companies that refused to keep these promises led to delays. There was also talk of building the railway not in standard gauge but as a narrow-gauge railway . There was not even agreement on this point, as the narrow gauge widths also varied.

On February 27, 1908, a decision was finally made (after twelve years) in favor of a version similar to the route that had been realized, at that time still as far as Hermesdorf. But it wasn't until October 29, 1912 that those responsible were able to agree to build the railway as far as Waldbröl . Commissioning was planned for July 1, 1914. But even this date could not be met.

business

The railway was not opened until October 15, 1915. Initially, two pairs of freight trains with passenger transport operated , which had extremely long travel times due to the freight transport . The trains took more than an hour, sometimes two hours, to cover the 18-kilometer route . One of the trains that left Waldbröl at 2:33 p.m. didn't even arrive in Bielstein until 179 minutes later . But as in the planning phase, there were problems again. The timetables could mostly not be kept; There were various adjustments, but these in turn led to poor connections to the other railways in the surrounding area. The war also led to a shortage of materials and personnel, one of the only two train drivers was drafted into the military.

The main customers in freight transport were the paper mills in Homburg and Winterborn, a brickworks in Elsenroth and a sawmill in Mühlen. In 1928 53,000 tons of goods were transported.

The situation did not improve after the war. The poor material was additionally affected by the incline of the line, both operational steam locomotives  - the "Bielstein" and the "Waldbröl" - ultimately remained out of service for a long time. At the end of the 1920s, business management faced economic problems as the railway's competitors (the Bröltalbahn ) took away customers and the global economic crisis also affected the companies that sent goods here.

In 1935 (number 31) and 1937 ( 32 ), the railway finally procured diesel multiple units, which partially eliminated some of the railway's operational problems. At the same time, it was finally possible to separate freight and passenger traffic and increase the maximum speed on the route to 40 km / h. The passenger numbers rose in the following period as hoped sharply from 1935 80.000 to 160,000 1938th

Encouraged by the better economic figures, a 2.8 kilometer branch line was then planned into the town of Nümbrecht . Because of the steep incline, it should be operated electrically, as a rack railway was rejected here as uneconomical. Despite advanced planning, the proposal was put back to the files at the end of 1936 because this branch line could not be financed. Instead, a second diesel multiple unit was purchased.

During the Second World War , the railway was spared from bombing attacks due to its strategically useless importance ; however, the same problems arose again as in the First World War : shortages of personnel and materials. Except for a bridge in Bielstein, the war was survived without damage. After the war, the line only took over a few services of the Wiehl Valley Railway , which could not be used between Remperg and Waldbröl because the weak superstructure of the small railway no longer allowed. For a short time from autumn 1949 there were continuous connections to Gummersbach - the number of passengers rose drastically. This led to the acquisition of a third diesel railcar , number 33.

Soon after, one of the two old steam locomotives was decommissioned, the other, "Bielstein", followed a year later. The diesel railcar 31 was converted into a trailer car 31. This stock of vehicles remained unchanged until 1957. In 1959 a diesel locomotive was procured.

Decline

Passenger traffic had now improved significantly, but freight traffic continued to decline at the expense of profitability. Regular buses and the Wiehl Valley Railway then brought another drop in passenger numbers. In 1954, shortly after the Gummersbacher Kleinbahnen , which was also taken over and shut down by the OVAG , the Bielstein – Waldbröl Kleinbahn was also put into consideration by the OVAG. Three years later, on June 1, 1957, passenger traffic on the entire route ended, as did freight traffic between Waldbröl and Winterborn . The two diesel railcars were sold to DEBG (32) and OHE (33) in the same year .

The cessation of the rest of the freight traffic dates to June 30, 1966, at the same time as the cessation of passenger traffic on the Wiehl Valley Railway . The track dismantling followed a week later.

Preserved exhibits

The steam locomotive Waldbröl as a train locomotive of the "Bergischer Löwen" (Wiehltalbahn) in the railway museum Dieringhausen

Only the steam locomotive Waldbröl ( Jung ), 1914, is still preserved. It is the only surviving exhibit in the region and stood for years under the false name "Nümbrecht" in the same place as a technical monument and visibly rotted away until a railroad fan bought it in 1983 and im Dieringhausen Railway Museum. There it was dismantled for a long time in the locomotive shed (for reconditioning) and then from 2002 onwards it was reconditioned and reopened in 2008. Since 2009 it has been pulling museum trains again on the Wiehl Valley Railway , together with the MAN rail bus from Wiehltalbahn GmbH.

See also

literature

  • Bernd Franco Hoffmann: Disused railway lines in the Bergisches Land. Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt April 2013, ISBN 978-3-95400-147-7 .
  • Sascha Koch, Horst Kowalski and others: Railways in Oberberg and the history of the Dieringhausen depot. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2005, ISBN 3-89909-050-0 .
  • Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 4: North Rhine-Westphalia. Southern part. EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1997, ISBN 3-88255-660-9 , pp. 318-324.
  • Klaus Strack, Axel Johanßen: The Bielstein - Waldbröl small train. Chronicle of an almost forgotten railway in Oberbergisches. Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2000, ISBN 3-931251-63-2 ( traffic history between Ruhr and Sieg 1).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Video: Recommissioning of the Waldbröl , accessed on March 23, 2009