Mühlibähnli

Mühlibähnli
Route length:	2.8 km
Gauge :	750 mm ( narrow gauge )
Top speed:	50 km / h
Dual track :	No
Legend Holcim cement plant Brunnen Unloading point at Industriestrasse Gotthard Railway Mettlenweg Schwyzerstrasse: H2 / H8 Brunnen - Schwyz Chloschterbach Schönenbuchstrasse Road to the Theresianum today part of the Camino de Santiago Motorway A4 / from the Mosi tunnel Holcim quarry / Unterschönenbuch gravel works

Mühlibähnli, spring 1989. Here in the Laimattli.

The mill railway between the Holcim quarry in the Ingenbohl part of the municipality of Unterschönenbuch and the former Holcim cement works in Brunnen was called the Mühlibähnli .

Route

The route originally began in the plant itself, but the wagons have been emptied in an unloading point on Industriestrasse in front of the plant for some time. The single-track line then passes under the Gotthard Railway . Then it leads along the Seewenstrasse and its nameless cement factory feeder, which crosses under the Gotthard Railway parallel to the Werkbahn. This is followed by the transition via Schwyzerstrasse - part of the main street Brunnen-Schwyz - the most dangerous. After a series of accidents, the previous signage with St. Andrew's cross and hazard warning lights was removed and replaced by a traffic light system in the 1990s .

Then the now partially overgrown route led through the field and then crossed Schönenbuchstrasse, then followed it along the right side of the road until shortly before the quarry. Then the road branches off to the left to the Unterschönenbuch chapel, while the railway line reaches the quarry area and is extended to two lanes.

vehicles

The fleet of the Werkbahn consisted of two diesel locomotives of the type DIEMA CFL 150 , 12 two-axle gravel freight cars and two control cars, which only consisted of the locomotive driver's cab. Two sets were in use, each composed of a locomotive, five freight cars and one control car each. Two freight cars were still parked in Unterschönenbuch.

In the past, when the cement factory still belonged to the Hürlimann family, two historic locomotives (MV2 and MV4) and a converted Deutz were in use. The freight wagons were much shorter back then, so the trains consisted of more wagons.

The two DIEMA locomotives were sold to the Zillertalbahn in 2013 .

timeline

The Mühlibähnli as "Schönenbuch Express" on 17./18. September 1982

Karl Hürlimann established a cement factory in Ingenbohl in 1882 . From 1885 the so-called Mühlibähnli ran as a horse-drawn tram to the local quarry. 1912-40 a steam locomotive and from 1940 a diesel locomotive carried the dump car. From 1990 there were two shuttle trains with the aforementioned DIEMA diesel locomotives.

In 1996, the Holcim Group took over the cement factory, but ordered it to be closed. Since there was no longer any use for the factory railway, their vehicles were sold and the route was canceled in 2009. Since the closure of the Brunnen cement works, the future of the industrial railway has been uncertain. The quarry and the attached gravel works in Unterschönenbuch are only loaded by truck.

In the course of the laying of a geothermal energy network in the municipality of Ingenbohl and the relocation of the supply line to the Agroeenergie-Wärmewerk Seewen SZ, most of the route was removed.

Way of St. James

On a section immediately before Unterschönenbuch, a Finnish railway was laid within the tracks , which forms part of the Way of St. James .

swell

1. ↑ http://www.sgeg.ch/index.php?id=44&filename=20060610_Brunnen.xml
2. ↑ On the trail of disused railways in the municipality of Ingenbohl: Mühlibähnli and the old Gotthard Railway
3. ↑ http://feldbahn.forumieren.com/geschichte-und-exkursionen-aus-europa-f5/feldbahn-zementfabrik-ch-brunnen-definitiv-stilllege-t865.htm