Lautertal Railway

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Kaiserslautern - Lauterecken-Grumbach
Route of the Lautertal Railway
Route number (DB) : 3302
Course book section (DB) : 272b (1949–1972)
652 (1972–1992)
673 (since 1993)
Route length: 34.5 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class : D4
Maximum slope : 14 
Minimum radius : 185 m
Top speed: 80 km / h
Route - straight ahead
Main line from Mannheim
Station, station
0.0 Kaiserslautern Hbf 250.5  m
   
Koenigstrasse
   
Main line to Saarbrücken
Stop, stop
1.4 Kaiserslautern - Pfaffwerk
   
1.8 Pfaff siding
   
2.3 Bender, later Galgenberg ( Awanst )
   
2.5 Rittersbacher (Awanst)
Stop, stop
3.3 Kaiserslautern West 232.6  m above sea level NHN
BSicon BS2c1.svgBSicon BS2 + r.svg
BSicon exKBHFa.svgBSicon STR.svg
0.5 Kaiserslautern West 232  m above sea level NHN
BSicon eBS2l.svgBSicon BS2r.svg
0.0
3.3
   
3.9 City industrial track
Road bridge
Lautertal Bridge ( A 6 )
   
4.6 Kaisersmühle until 1912
   
volume up
Station, station
7.7 Lampertsmühle-Otterbach 218.2  m above sea level NHN
   
Route from Otterberg
   
Otterbach
   
Industrial track, connection Lampertsmühle
   
Bach railway to Reichenbach
Road bridge
B 270
   
9.0 Sambach until 1912
Stop, stop
10.6 Katzweiler 215.2  m above sea level NHN
Stop, stop
13.0 Hirschhorn / Palatinate 214.9  m above sea level NHN
   
volume up
   
Mooslauter
Stop, stop
15.0 Sulzbachtal (until summer 2018 Untersulzbach ) 209.3  m above sea level NHN
Station, station
17.0 Olsbrücken 204.6  m above sea level NHN
   
volume up
   
19.3 Kaulbach until 2000 201.7  m above sea level NHN
Stop, stop
19.8 Kreimbach-Kaulbach
   
20.4 Kreimbach until 2000 199.3  m above sea level NHN
   
21.9 Westdeutsche Hartsteinwerke siding
   
22.0 Stahlhausen- Rutsweiler until 1914
Stop, stop
22.6 Rossbach (Palatinate) 194.7  m above sea level NHN
Station, station
24.5 Wolfstein 188.1  m above sea level NHN
   
25.1 Siding Schwerspatwerke, later Karl Otto Braun
tunnel
Iron button tunnel (91 m)
   
25.4 Karl Otto Braun siding
   
volume up
   
26.5 Oberweiler-Tiefenbach until 1912
Stop, stop
27.6 Reckweilerhof 180.3  m above sea level NHN
Stop, stop
30.7 Heinzenhausen 175.1  m above sea level NHN
Road bridge
B 270
Stop, stop
32.2 Lohnweiler 169.9  m above sea level NHN
   
33.2 Lauterecken until 1912 166.9  m above sea level NHN
Road bridge
B 270
   
Glan
   
Siding railway cutter
   
former Glantalbahn from Homburg
   
34.2 Lauterecken stop 1896–1904 162.8  m above sea level NHN
   
34.5 Lauterecken-Grumbach 162.8  m above sea level NHN
   
former Glantalbahn to Staudernheim

Swell:

The Lautertalbahn is a 34.5 kilometer long single-track branch line in Rhineland-Palatinate . It runs from Kaiserslautern along the Lauter, which gives it its name, to Lauterecken . The railway line , opened in 1883 by the company of the Palatinate Northern Railways , was initially 33.2 kilometers long and has existed in its current form since 1904. It gained almost exclusively regional importance, which continued to decline after the Second World War due to increasingly competitive car traffic . The German Federal Railroad therefore planned in the 1980s to shut down the line after neighboring railway lines had already lost passenger traffic . Since the foundation of Deutsche Bahn and its integration into the Rhineland-Palatinate cycle, its continued existence has been secured. While freight traffic came to a standstill around the turn of the millennium , the demand for passenger traffic grew. Plans from the 1990s to run the railway line through the city center of Kaiserslautern and market it as a “city railway” were not implemented.

history

Planning, construction and opening (1859–1883)

Around 1860 the committee of the notables of the Glan and Lauter valleys , which had its seat in Wolfstein , was formed. It advocated a railway line that branched off from the Palatinate Ludwigsbahn in Kaiserslautern , then ran through the Lauter and lower Glantal valleys and should meet the Rhine-Nahe Railway in Staudernheim , which was completed in the same year . A corresponding license was granted in the mid-1860s. The committee sent a memorandum to the Ludwigshafen- based management of the Palatinate Ludwig Railway Company . The project was in competition with the planned route along the Alsenz , which was opened in 1870 and 1871.

Another design followed in 1874. The cost of a railway line along the Lauter, including a branch line to Otterberg, was 3.58 million Rhenish guilders , which corresponded to 6,137,150  marks . The city of Otterberg, on the other hand, advocated a direct route for the Lautertal Railway through its urban area. A new petition from the municipalities on the Lauter was launched in 1877. It initially failed due to the poor financial situation of the company of the Palatinate Northern Railways , which acted as the operator of those railway lines within the Palatinate that were north of the Ludwigsbahn. For this reason, the Lauterbahn should be designed as a secondary line, the plan for a side line to Otterberg was postponed. The costs were reduced to 4.3 million marks.

The northern railways received the concession for the line on May 9, 1880. The planning was delayed due to differences of opinion about the route and problems with the necessary land purchase. On February 18, 1882, work began with the groundbreaking on the site of what would later become the Kaiserslautern Westbahnhof . Due to the expected heavy freight traffic to the Westbahnhof, this section was designed as a full line with a comparatively stronger superstructure . Several companies began building the route at different locations around the same time. The line was opened on November 15, 1883, after a tour had already confirmed its serviceability on September 17.

Further development (1883–1911)

In the first decades there was a structural and operational curiosity in the Westbahnhof of Kaiserslautern: The part serving the passenger traffic was laid out with its track systems as a terminal station , which is why passenger trains to Lauterecken first passed the station and then were pushed back. Trains in the opposite direction first drove into the station, pushed back on the free track and then drove forward again to the main station.

In 1895 the superstructure of the Lautertalbahn was reinforced to adapt to the requirements of the service freight trains, as the lower Glantalbahn Lauterecken – Staudernheim was built as a direct continuation of the line. In 1896 the Northern Railway opened the Lauterecken – Odernheim section . An additional stopping point was created to the north of the terminus in the district of Veldenzstadt to facilitate access for residents of the northern urban area and the central Glantal. A year later it was connected to the Rhein-Nahe-Bahn to Staudernheim .

In order to establish a link with the Glantalbahn section Altenglan –Lauterecken, which was opened in 1904 , there was a new linking station with Lauterecken-Grumbach station from this year . Otherwise, a more complex and expensive route would have been necessary for the Glantalbahn in the Lauterecken area. Until the completion of the Glantalbahn in 1904, there were continuous trains from Kaiserslautern to Staudernheim. The former Lauterecken station continued to operate as a stopping point until 1912; the stop opened in 1896, which was not far from the new connecting station, was abandoned.

On January 1, 1909, the Lautertal Railway, together with the other railway lines within the Palatinate, became the property of the Bavarian State Railways . As early as 1912, the Kaisersmühle, Sambach, Oberweiler-Tiefenbach and Lauterecken stops were given up due to a lack of profitability. From May of the same year, the barriers were removed at 42 level crossings for reasons of rationalization. Two years later, the Stahlhausen-Rutsweiler stop also had to be closed due to weak demand.

World Wars and the Interwar Period (1911–1949)

With the opening of the branch line to Otterberg branching off in Otterbach in 1911 and the Bach line to Weilerbach , which ran to Reichenbach from 1920 , the Lautertalbahn gained in importance, especially in its southern section, especially since the passenger trains on these two routes often ran to Kaiserslautern. During the First World War , the stops in Kaulbach and Lohnweiler had to be closed for eleven months from November 1, 1917 . In 1920 the line became the property of the newly founded Deutsche Reichsbahn . The travel time on the Lautertalbahn was almost two hours.

In 1922 the line was incorporated into the newly established Ludwigshafen Reichsbahndirektion (Rbd Ludwigshafen). In the same year there were plans to close the holdings in Kaulbach, Lohnweiler and Roßbach-Stahlhausen due to low utilization, local protests prevented this project. In 1923 and 1924 a so-called government operation took place, for which the occupying power France was responsible. The population tried to boycott the railway during this time by making more use of postal lines and private trucks. The Reich Ministry of Transport also prohibited the railway workers from cooperating with the occupiers. For this reason, the French took rail traffic into their own hands. Since they were not sufficiently familiar with the operating regulations and the safety equipment of the systems, rail operations during this time turned out to be risky.

On September 1, 1936, the Rbd Ludwigshafen was dissolved. The route was now up to Lauterecken-Grumbach station in the area of ​​the Trier Rbd , the station itself was in the Mainz Rbd .

Since it was often not possible to keep to the timetable during the Second World War , a "List of Essential Trains" was published in 1941. Accordingly, at least three trains had to run between Kaiserslautern and Lauterecken. In December 1944, the Lauterecken-Grumbach station was the victim of a series of air raids due to its function as a railway junction, as a result of which, among other things, the engine shed burned out. In March of the following year there was further bombing.

German Federal Railroad (1949–1993)

After the Second World War, the German Federal Railroad (DB) took over the operation of the line and assigned it to the Federal Railway Directorate Mainz (BD Mainz). The latter received those routes from the former Saarbrücken Directorate that were within the newly created state of Rhineland-Palatinate . In 1951 the DB opened the new Pfaffwerk stop between the main and west stations . With the dissolution of BD Mainz in 1971, the line came back to BD Saarbrücken. From 1975 onwards, Sunday traffic on the Lautertalbahn stopped, and from then on buses took over. Operation with steam locomotives ended on September 26th of the same year . In 1983 the Lautertalbahn celebrated its 100th anniversary, on this occasion the Trans-Europ-Express ran between Kaiserslautern and Lauterecken.

Since the passenger transport was discontinued from the 1950s due to the increasingly competitive car traffic on several neighboring routes in the western North Palatinate Bergland - including the routes branching off in Otterbach to Otterberg (1954) and to Reichenbach (1972) - the Lautertal Railway was also discontinued Discussion. The Saarbrücken Federal Railway Directorate, under whose leadership the traffic on the neighboring Glantalbahn gradually ended at the same time, expressed its intentions . After passenger traffic on the latter also came to a standstill in 1986 in the northern section of the Lauterecken-Grumbach-Staudernheim section, the Lautertal Railway, together with the Landstuhl-Kusel railway, was the only one that was spared the wave of closures of branch lines in the region. On June 9, 1986, the German Federal Railroad and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate signed a state treaty that divided all railway lines in the state into three categories. Accordingly, the profitability of the Lautertalbahn should still be checked. Thus, the Lautertalbahn was still threatened by closure plans in the following years, but the population and local politicians managed to maintain the line.

The Federal Railroad gave up the separate passenger station in Kaiserslautern West in 1969 and replaced it with a stop of the same name. This is located directly at the junction of the original train station. At the end of the 1980s, the terminal station was closed as a freight tariff point and served as a siding for a few years. At the same time, efforts were made to set up a breakpoint within the factory premises of the Karl Otto Braun company , which is located directly north of the Eisenknopf tunnel in Wolfstein, but this did not materialize.

In 1991 plans were developed to let the trains of the Lautertalbahn run from the Westbahnhof on a route through the city center in order to end near the town hall at a newly built "Citybahnhof". In this context, the Bachbahn branching off from the Lautertalbahn to Weilerbach was to receive passenger traffic again. However, financial bottlenecks and a lack of political support prevented the plans from being implemented.

Deutsche Bahn (since 1994)

In the course of the rail reform that came into force on January 1, 1994 , the operator of the line, the Deutsche Bundesbahn, became part of the Deutsche Bahn AG . In the same year the line became part of the Rhineland-Palatinate cycle . Since the state was also responsible for ordering local transport from 1996, the latter and the neighboring municipalities agreed to cover the costs of the route. A shutdown was therefore no longer necessary. On August 20, 1995, the car-free Lautertal campaign took place for the first time, with passenger trains running on Sundays for the first time in 20 years. The trains were very busy that day.

In 2000, the Lautertalbahn, like the whole of the West Palatinate, was initially integrated into the tariff system of the West Palatinate Transport Association (WVV) before it was merged with the Rhein-Neckar Transport Association (VRN) six years later . In the same year, the Kreimbach-Kaulbach stop went into operation, replacing the previous Kreimbach and Kaulbach stops . In addition, in 2005 the platforms in Olsbrücken , Lampertsmühle-Otterbach, Heinzenhausen and Wolfstein were made barrier-free .

In the period from December 16 to 18, 2005, the control technology of the Lautertalbahn was renewed and the previous mechanical interlocking technology of the Bruchsal G type , which had been in use for around 100 years, was replaced. Since then, an electronic signal box in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse has been monitoring the route.

The route was renovated in 2018. Seven bridges were replaced by new buildings, two points in the Lampertsmühle-Otterbach train station were renewed and the stop in Untersulzbach (new name: Sulzbachtal) made barrier-free. Plans to renovate further breakpoints were not implemented during this time, as no construction company could be found for the tendered lot.

In addition to the planning of making further stops barrier-free, two level crossings along the route are to be technically secured, at which the trains are currently having to slow down significantly, as the maximum speed at these level crossings has been reduced as a result of accidents and poor visibility.

Route

Course of the Lautertal Railway in Wolfstein

The entire length of the route follows the Lauter , the eponymous river, and continuously loses altitude. Shortly before Kaiserslautern West, it passes a rock cut and then crosses under the Lautertal Bridge of the Federal Motorway 6 , before passing not far past the Kreuzhof , which belongs to the Erzhütten-Wiesenthalerhof district in Kaiserslautern . From Otterbach on , federal highway 270 runs parallel to the railway line and spans it three times. North of the Lampertsmühle-Otterbach train station, it touches the western outskirts of Sambach. The railway line itself crosses the Lauter several times, including at Hirschhorn / Pfalz , Olsbrücken and Wolfstein . The number of curves increases steadily in the north. The only tunnel along the route is the 91 meter long iron button tunnel north of Wolfstein train station . Shortly before reaching the Lauterecken-Grumbach terminus, the line spans the Glan . 53 percent of the route is in curves with radii between 200 meters and one kilometer. The speed limit between Kaiserslautern and Otterbach is 80 kilometers per hour, while in the northern section it is lower due to the many bends.

Initially, the railway line runs along the boundaries of the independent city of Kaiserslautern , from Lampertsmühle-Otterbach to Olsbrücken it crosses the district of Kaiserslautern . The remaining part of the route is in the Kusel district . With Kaiserslautern, Otterbach, Katzweiler , Hirschhorn / Pfalz, Sulzbachtal , Frankelbach , Olsbrücken, Kreimbach-Kaulbach , Wolfstein, Oberweiler-Tiefenbach , Hohenöllen , Heinzenhausen , Lohnweiler and Lauterecken , the area is crossed by a total of 14 local communities.

The necessary branch-off journey to the old West train station in Kaiserslautern had its own kilometrage, which began at the junction (kilometer 3.3) and where this now closed station was given the kilometer indication 0.46.

business

passenger traffic

When operations opened, a total of three pairs of trains ran between Kaiserslautern and Lauterecken. In 1896, with the opening of the lower Glantalbahn to Odernheim , train journeys were tied through, and from 1897 to Staudernheim . With the opening of the remaining Glantalbahn sections in 1904, continuous traffic to Staudernheim ended. From 1906, individual trains ran sections of the railway, for example between Lauterecken and Wolfstein, between Kaiserslautern and Olsbrücken and between Kaiserslautern West and Lampertsmühle-Otterbach. After the Bachbahn and the line to Otterberg had been opened for passenger traffic, their trains mostly went to Kaiserslautern, so that the Kaiserslautern – Lampertsmühle-Otterbach section had increased traffic. In the decades that followed, the number of pairs of trains per day generally fluctuated between three and eight. In the first few years after World War II, two pairs of trains ran on weekdays, only one on Sundays and public holidays. In the years that followed, morning traffic was concentrated on the southern route, while trains went north in the afternoons.

From 1966 to 1969 there were two express trains daily in the direction of Kaiserslautern. Sunday traffic ended in 1975, and service on Saturdays seven years later. Occasionally there were trains that went beyond Lauterecken to the lower Glantalbahn. The summer timetable from 1971 shows two pairs of trains connecting to Staudernheim and Meisenheim . The establishment of the West Palatinate Transport Association in 2000 brought about the reintroduction of regular weekend traffic. In the same year, on the occasion of the State Garden Show in Kaiserslautern, the regional express line Karlsruhe – Kaiserslautern drove to Lampertsmühle-Otterbach to cope with the rush of visitors.

The route, which is operated every hour, is listed by Deutsche Bahn as route book route  673 and is registered as regional train 66 within the framework of the Rhein-Neckar transport association (VRN). The train crossings took place in the stations Lampertsmühle-Otterbach and Wolfstein until 2008 . Since the 2008/2009 timetable change in December 2008, the two previous train crossings have been omitted; instead, Olsbrücken is primarily used as a crossing station . This cuts the travel time by an average of six minutes, which ensures a shorter transition time to and from the RheinNeckar S-Bahn in Kaiserslautern.

Freight transport

The freight had always play a subordinate role along the way. Only during the two world wars did the Lautertal Railway become more important as a transit route. In the first years of its existence there were no separate freight trains; instead, there were at most mixed trains .

In 1920 a local freight train ran from Kaiserslautern to Lauterecken-Grumbach , which served all the stations. A second train ran at noon if necessary. Another freight train ran to Lampertsmühle-Otterbach and a fourth to the Kaiserslautern Westbahnhof . While a separate freight train was responsible for the branching Bach Railway until the 1950s, with the decreasing volume of goods on this route, the service was taken over by the trains running in the Lautertal. Initially, it was taken care of in the north in the morning, but from the 1980s it was approached on the way back. At this point in time, transfer trains from the Einsiedlerhof marshalling yard were responsible for freight traffic due to their increasingly less important role . In 2000, freight traffic initially ended. With the renewal of the Pfalzwerke siding in the Lampertsmühle-Otterbach station, it was resumed around a decade later.

The Kaiserslautern West station had a relatively extensive freight traffic. In the mid-1980s the station lost its importance and the sidings were later dismantled. The Lampertsmühle-Otterbach station once had another important freight connection with the neighboring Lampertsmühle . Between Lampertsmühle-Otterbach and Lauterecken, only the Wolfstein train station represented a significant freight tariff point. Heavy spar from neighboring Königsberg made up the majority of the freight volume in the first decades. Later, the Karl Otto Braun company , which produces bandages, was the most important goods customer. Initially it only had one siding, but another was added in 1954, with one north and one south of the Eisenknopf tunnel.

Vehicle use

In the first years of operation, the railway line received its own fleet of vehicles, which included 14 local railcars. During the early days, locomotives of the G 2.I and T 2.II series ran , with four of the latter being specially procured for the Lautertal Railway. From 1900 the P.II drove , from 1905 the Palatinate G 5 and from 1908 the P 5 . The Kaiserslautern depot was primarily responsible for the vehicles used .

The series 93.0-4 , 93.5-12 and 38.10-40 were used during the times of the Reichsbahn and the times of the Federal Railroad up to and including the 1960s . After the Second World War, locomotives of the 23 , 50 and 86 series dominated the appearance of the Lautertalbahn. From the end of the 1950s, diesel locomotives of the DB class V 60 carried the main load in freight transport .

From the mid-1960s on, diesel locomotives of the V 100 series replaced steam locomotives in passenger transport, which were harnessed to so-called " silver coins ". The last day of use of steam locomotives was September 26, 1975 with a representative of the class 050 , on the outward journey she drove a passenger train and on the return journey a freight train. The use of the 218 series in Lautertal was comparatively short, and was limited to exceptional cases during the 1990s.

As early as the 1950s, accumulator railcars of the ETA 150 (515) series from Worms and Uerdinger rail buses from Landau were in use, from 1993 diesel railcars of the 628 series , which ran every hour. The latter were replaced by the 643 series vehicles at the 2008 timetable change .

The car-free Lautertal event has been held annually on the first Sunday of August since the mid-1990s . For this occasion, the Lautertalbahn trains were initially equipped with luggage trolleys for taking bicycles along. In the meantime, the diesel multiple units run in double traction on this day.

Operating points

Kaiserslautern Central Station

Kaiserslautern Hbf , starting point of the Lautertalbahn

In its function as a long-distance traffic stop, the Kaiserslautern main train station represents the "gateway to the world" for the Lautertal Railway. The latter was the third railway line after the Palatinate Ludwig Railway and the Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach railway , which served both as a feed line to the Alsenz Valley Railway and the Donnersberg Railway. which was connected to the Kaiserslautern main station. The Lautertalbahn trains mainly run on tracks 39 (departure) and 40 (arrival).

Kaiserslautern Pfaffwerk

Pfaffwerk stop

The barrier-free Kaiserslautern Pfaffwerk stop was set up in 1951 and is located directly at the junction of the Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway . Its importance lay above all in rush hour traffic for employees of the sewing machine company Pfaff before it moved within the city limits in 2007. Since then, the demand for this stop has decreased significantly, so that today not all trains of the Lautertalbahn stop at the Pfaffwerk.

Kaiserslautern West (train station and stop)

This operating point was a terminal station . Until 1915 it was called Kaiserslautern Westbahnhof . It had a two-story station building , which was destroyed in World War II. The reconstruction in the original form took place in 2000 as part of the construction work for the first state horticultural show in Rhineland-Palatinate , on the site of which the building is located today. The station was particularly important in freight traffic . Important customers were the municipal slaughterhouse located directly at the train station and the worsted yarn spinning mill in Kaiserslautern .

On the other hand, the operation for passenger traffic turned out to be very complicated, so that from 1969 a stop of the same name west of the route branch replaced the passenger train station. It was also modernized in the course of the garden show.

Kaisersmühle

The Kaisersmühle stop was located near the Kaisermühle in Kaiserslautern. It was used exclusively for passenger traffic and was accordingly run as a type 1 station during the time of the Bavarian State Railways. Foreman apartments were built in the immediate vicinity of the stop. Due to lack of profitability, it was abandoned in 1912.

Lampertsmühle-Otterbach

The barrier-free Lampertsmühle-Otterbach train station is located in the district of Otterbach , in the immediate vicinity is the Lampertsmühle settlement belonging to the Kaiserslautern district of Erfenbach , to which it owes its double name. From 1914 to 1996 the Bachbahn branched off from here , which was initially led to Weilerbach and from 1920 to Reichenbach. The station was also the starting point for a branch line to Otterberg from 1911 to 1980 . The station had an important freight connection with the spinning mill located in Lampertsmühle. This came about just a few years after the opening. From the 1960s on, the volume of goods there decreased significantly, but the company still had its own factory locomotive until the early 1990s. In addition, there were sidings to the substation Pfalzwerke. While the first siding has now been closed, that of the Pfalzwerke was renewed in the 2010s.

It was given a two-story station building, the architecture of which corresponds to the other station buildings along the Lautertal Railway. It also has a lateral flat roof extension. Today it no longer plays a role in rail operations. An interlocking located in the north-western area of ​​the station was responsible for the operation of the branch lines to Reichenbach and Otterberg and the necessary shunting operations . It is now also out of order and now serves as a museum .

Sambach

The Sambach stop was used exclusively for passenger traffic and was accordingly run as a type 1 station during the time of the Bavarian State Railways. It was given up as early as 1912; even before that, it had been the most unprofitable operating point in the Pfalzbahn network, together with the Erbach station on the Glantalbahn . Since the 2000s, efforts have been made in Sambach to set up a stop on site again.

Katzweiler

The breakpoint and former train station Katzweiler is located on the southeastern outskirts of Katzweiler . In 1888 he received an additional track connection. He owned a two-story station building, the first floor of which was plastered and which had three dormer windows. At the beginning of the 1990s it was planned to house a home brewery in this, which had to be demolished during the construction phase.

As a goods tariff point, it was of rather subordinate importance; its loading platform was used by a local agricultural and building materials dealer.

In the meantime it has been dismantled to the stopping point. At the end of 2006, the 120 meter long platform was modernized. It was given barrier-free access, was coordinated with the boarding height of the trains and equipped with guide strips for the blind. These measures cost around 390,000 euros.

Hirschhorn (Palatinate)

The barrier-free stop Hirschhorn (Pfalz) is located on the south-eastern outskirts of Hirschhorn / Pfalz . At the time of opening, what was then the station had loading tracks, a loading ramp and two switches. The length of the sidings was 256 meters. Until 1914 it was called Hirschhorn-Weilerbach , as it initially served the community of Weilerbach , several kilometers away, alongside Hirschhorn . Since the latter received its own rail connection through the opening of the Bachbahn in the same year, the station on the Lautertalbahn was renamed accordingly. As a goods tariff point that mainly comprised agricultural products, it also played a rather subordinate role. Freight traffic ended on September 30, 1990. It was then dismantled to the stopping point.

Untersulzbach

The Untersulzbach stop had only one track with a platform, foreman apartments and at times a goods shed. The latter was right next to the reception building. During the time of the Bavarian State Railways it was listed as station type 3, which meant that it had "passenger, luggage and limited goods traffic" . The stop is located directly at a level crossing and has a platform south and north of it. The first is served in the direction of Kaiserslautern, the latter in the direction of Lauterecken.

Olsbrücken

Despite its name, the barrier-free Olsbrücken train station is in the district of Frankelbach . At the time of opening, the station had sidings that were used for freight traffic, a loading ramp, a weighbridge, a loading profile, two pulsometer systems for supplying water to the steam locomotives and five switches. The length of the sidings was 529 meters. At first it was called Olsbrücken-Frankelbach in its early days . He owned a two-story station building that no longer plays a role in rail operations. This is also the only one along the Lautertal Railway that has not undergone any major structural changes over the years. In 1897 the crossing tracks in Olsbrücken were extended to a total of 500 meters in order to meet military requirements.

Later it was given the function that still exists today as a crossing station . Since 1914 the stop has only been called Olsbrücken . In June 1986, goods traffic ended on site. Although train crossings are also possible in Lampertsmühle-Otterbach, Wolfstein and Lauterecken-Grumbach, since 2008 these have almost only taken place in Olsbrücken. The station equipment also includes parking spaces and bicycle parking spaces.

Kaulbach

The Kaulbach stop had only one track with a platform and at times a goods shed . He also had foreman apartments. From November 1, 1917 to October 1, 1918, he had to be temporarily given up due to a lack of personnel during the First World War . As early as 1922 there were efforts to abandon the stop for passenger traffic due to a lack of profitability. However, popular protests prevented this project. In 2000 it was finally given up in favor of the new Kreimbach-Kaulbach stop .

Kreimbach-Kaulbach

The barrier-free Kreimbach-Kaulbach stop was created in 2000 as a common stop for the community of Kreimbach-Kaulbach , whose districts had their own stopping points until then and which were closed for reasons of rationalization.

Kreimbach

Kreimbach station, which was closed in 2000

At the time of opening, what was then Kreimbach station had loading tracks, a loading ramp and two switches . The length of the side tracks was 212 meters. Until 1912 the station was called Schmeisbach-Kreimbach , which was due to the nearby Schmeisbacher Mühle , which was also an important freight customer. At times a cable car led from the station to a neighboring quarry , which had been in operation since July 25, 1925. The loading of ballast came to a standstill in the 1970s. In 1990 it was abandoned as a goods tariff point. The station was later converted into a stop , and in 2000 the abandonment was made in favor of the new Kreimbach-Kaulbach stop . The former reception building was then renovated and converted into a restaurant . A former railroad car is integrated in the latter, which was placed next to the tracks by a heavy-duty crane in October 2004.

Stahlhausen-Rutsweiler

The Stahlhausen-Rutsweiler stop was used exclusively for passenger traffic and was accordingly run as a type 1 station during the time of the Bavarian State Railways. The Westdeutsche Hartsteinwerke had a siding at the stop, which was located directly at the southern end of the platform and could only be operated with a key. From 1911 the stop was only called Stahlhausen . Three years later it was closed for lack of profitability.

Rossbach (Palatinate)

Of all the stops operated at the time of the opening of the route that did not have an operating building, the Roßbach (Pfalz) station is the only one that still exists today. After the halt in Stahlhausen was given up in 1914, the halt was called Rossbach-Stahlhausen for two decades . As early as 1922 there were efforts to close the stop for passenger traffic due to a lack of profitability, but protests in the population prevented this project. From 1934 its official name is Roßbach (Pfalz) . The siding of the West German hard stone works at the Stahlhausen-Rutsweiler stop, which no longer exists today , was considered to be a connection to the Rossbach stop after the latter was closed.

Wolfstein

Diesel railcar 643 031 of the type Bombardier Talent leaving Wolfstein station

Wolfstein train station is not far from the core town of Wolfstein . At the time of its establishment, it was in the area of ​​the then independent municipality of Roßbach (Palatinate) . This led to conflicts that lasted until 1906. It was once a major freight tariff point along the route, so a small locomotive was even stationed here.

Its station building is a listed building , but it no longer plays a role in railway operations. In 2005 the platform was modernized, but the freight tracks were dismantled after the station had been closed to freight traffic since 2000.

Oberweiler-Tiefenbach

Until 1898 the stop was called Oberweiler . It was used exclusively for passenger traffic and was accordingly run as a type 1 station during the time of the Bavarian State Railways. It was given up in 1912.

Reckweilerhof

At the time of opening, what was then Reckweilerhof station had loading tracks, a loading ramp and two switches. The length of the sidings was 384 meters. Until 1898 it was called Röckweilerhof-Tiefenbach and from 1898 Röckweilerhof . Since October 8, 1933, it has been called Reckweilerhof . In addition, it was the only train station between Wolfstein and Lauterecken to have a siding that led to a lime mill. In the meantime it has been dismantled to the stopping point.

Heinzenhausen

At the time of the opening, what was then Heinzenhausen station had loading tracks, a loading ramp and two switches. Later, the station was also used for train encounters, which could only take place at this point between Wolfstein and Lauterecken-Grumbach. The length of the sidings was 176 meters. Now it's just a stopping point.

Lohnweiler

The Lohnweiler stop initially had foreman apartments. From November 1, 1917 to October 1, 1918, he had to be temporarily given up due to a lack of personnel during the First World War. As early as 1922 there were efforts to close the stop for passenger traffic again due to a lack of profitability, but this was prevented by protests in the population.

Lauterecken

It was not until 1887 that the Lauterecken train station received a real building, which replaced the temporary brick structure. It was the terminus of the line until 1896 , before the lower Glantalbahn Lauterecken– Staudernheim was built until 1897 as a direct continuation of the Lautertalbahn. With the opening of the Lauterecken-Grumbach train station in 1904, it was dismantled as a breakpoint and finally abandoned in 1912 due to lack of profitability. Its entrance building, which still exists today, is a listed building.

Lauterecken breakpoint

former Lauterecken stop at the confluence of the Lautertal Railway and the Glantal Railway

The Lauterecken stop existed from 1896 to 1904, when the lower Glantalbahn was the immediate continuation of the Lautertalbahn. It was intended to facilitate access to the railway for residents of the northern urban area of ​​Lauterecken and the communities in the central Glantal. With the completion of the Glantalbahn in 1904 it was given up.

Lauterecken-Grumbach

Lauterecken-Grumbach train station is located on the north-western outskirts of Lauterecken. It was put into operation in 1904 as part of the continuous opening of the Glantalbahn Homburg - Bad Münster in order to create a link with the Lautertalbahn. It once had extensive track systems. He also had two signal boxes , one of which still exists and is a listed building. In its northern area there was a water tower that was demolished in 1989. The freight traffic came to a standstill in the 1993rd Today it is equipped with parking spaces and a bus stop. There has been a draisine operation on the Glantal route since 2000. In addition to the Altenglan and Staudernheim stations, the station is one of a total of three borrowing stations for draisines .

Incidents

  • In 1890, a storm caused several freight wagons at the Lampertsmühle-Otterbach train station to become self-employed and collided with a passenger train, causing major property damage.
  • On October 1, 1928, Raueis prevented a signal from falling back to the desired position in Kaiserslautern Westbahnhof , whereupon a passenger train collided with an empty train. There were two dead and 15 injured in this accident.
  • In 1929 and 1930 there were two accidents in Roßbach for which no further information is available.
  • On October 22nd, 1995, there was an accident in Hirschhorn, as an empty haulage hit a herd of cattle and killed several animals. The railcar derailed and was brought back onto the rails with a crane, which reached the scene of the accident from Staudernheim via the Glantalbahn, which at that time no longer had regular traffic.
  • In 2017, 2018 and 2019, the railway line was closed several times in the summer due to heat damage.

literature

  • Klaus D. Holzborn: Railway areas Palatinate . transpress, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-344-70790-6 .
  • Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways on Glan and Lauter . Self-published, Waldmohr 1996, ISBN 3-9804919-0-0 .
  • Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways (= publications of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science. Volume 53). New edition. pro MESSAGE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-934845-26-6 .

Web links

Commons : Lautertalbahn (Pfalz)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Welcome to our website of the Rhein-Nahe-Bahn Bingerbrück - / Gau-Algesheim - Bad Kreuznach - Kirn - Idar-Oberstein - Türkismühle - Neunkirchen. (No longer available online.) In: nahbahn.de. Archived from the original on June 18, 2013 ; Retrieved June 9, 2013 .
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  7. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 13 .
  8. Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 231 .
  9. Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 232 .
  10. Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 233 .
  11. a b c d Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 35 .
  12. ^ A b Klaus Detlef Holzborn: Railway Reviere Pfalz . 1993, p. 128 .
  13. Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 36 .
  14. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 38 .
  15. ^ A b c Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 39 .
  16. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 11 f .
  17. a b c d e Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 42 .
  18. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 42 f .
  19. a b Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 12 .
  20. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 50 f .
  21. a b c d Klaus Detlef Holzborn: Railway Reviere Pfalz . 1993, p. 127 .
  22. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 65 .
  23. ^ A b c Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 122 .
  24. a b c Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 8 .
  25. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 31 .
  26. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 20th f .
  27. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 33 .
  28. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 66 ff .
  29. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 34 ff .
  30. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 7th ff .
  31. a b c d e f g h i j Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 14 .
  32. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 47 .
  33. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 91 .
  34. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 11 .
  35. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 49 .
  36. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 62 .
  37. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 32 ff .
  38. ^ A b Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 15 .
  39. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 40 .
  40. a b Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 34 .
  41. 120 years of the Lautertal Railway. In: lok-report.de. Retrieved March 15, 2013 .
  42. a b Track connection (Gla) of the Pfalzwerke Otterberg to the Lautertal Railway. In: rgebhard.de. Retrieved June 12, 2013 .
  43. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 122 ff .
  44. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 126 ff .
  45. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 131 ff .
  46. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 61 .
  47. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 142 .
  48. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 141 ff .
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  50. Celebrate appointments car-free. In: zeit.de. Retrieved March 15, 2013 .
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  54. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 7 .
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  59. Nobody is allowed to come! A train passes Sambach every hour - bus traffic with large gaps. In: otterbach-pfalz.de. Retrieved March 15, 2013 .
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  61. a b c Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 25 .
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  63. ^ Station profile> Hirschhorn (Pfalz). In: bahnhof.de. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013 ; Retrieved December 8, 2013 .
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  67. Station profile> Olsbrücken. In: bahnhof.de. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013 ; Retrieved December 8, 2013 .
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  69. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 125 years of railways in the Lautertal . S. 25th f .
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  73. ^ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft change of station names in 1933. In: hs-merseburg.de. Retrieved June 11, 2013 .
  74. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 21 .
  75. ^ Station profile> Lauterecken-Grumbach. In: bahnhof.de. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013 ; Retrieved June 9, 2013 .
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  77. Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways to Glan and Lauter . 1996, p. 66 .
  78. Heat damage eliminated: Lautertalbahn runs again from 12.30 p.m. In: rheinpfalz.de. June 22, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2019 .
  79. Kaiserslautern / Lauterecken: Lautertalbahn out of service until Saturday - buses replace trains. In: rheinpfalz.de. July 29, 2019, accessed August 1, 2019 .
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This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on December 15, 2013 .