Silberhausen – Hüpstedt railway line
| Silberhausen – Hüpstedt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Course book range : | 186 k (1944) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 10.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 20 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 200 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Silberhausen – Hüpstedt railway was a normal-gauge railway in Thuringia that was closed today .
history
The Gotha – Leinefelde railway was opened as early as 1870, and was followed in 1880 by the Leinefelde – Treysa railway as part of the so-called “ Kanonenbahn ”. Nevertheless, agriculture in Eichsfeld offered only modest income opportunities. Natural resources in particular provided a certain balance. In the area of the Dün ridge south-east of Leinefelde , it was potash deposits that required transportation. A mine railway was planned from the Silberhausen state train station on the Gotha – Leinefelde route to the pits sunk in an easterly direction. The neighboring villages, however, advocated a public railway, as a mine railway would have been of no use to them.
Obereichsfelder Kleinbahn AG
The Kingdom of Prussia and the Province of Saxony each took over a third of the shares from Obereichsfelder Kleinbahn AG , which was founded on December 4, 1912 , the remainder was divided between two mining unions and three neighboring communities. In total the capital amounted to 1.14 million marks. The AG took over the mine railway, which was already under construction, and completed it. Freight traffic was opened on January 17, 1913, and passenger traffic followed on April 13, 1913.
The operation was initially led by the small railroad department of the Provincial Association of Saxony . Before the First World War, four pairs of trains ran, on Sundays and public holidays five with a journey time of 25 minutes.
When operations began, there were two three-axle steam locomotives (one of which was bought second-hand), two passenger cars, a combined passenger, luggage and mail car, and 16 freight cars.
The main source of income was the transports for the potash shafts, but the operating result did not develop as well as expected at the planning stage. In the economic crisis after the First World War, the potash works stopped their production in 1924, so that the railway was deprived of its base. Trains only ran three days a week. In 1935 a railcar was procured. Operations could only be maintained with great difficulty until the demand for services - especially in passenger transport - rose again in the Second World War. Freight traffic did not return to the results of the first years of operation, although the Deutsche Reichsbahn set up an alternate warehouse in the former potash shafts to protect against air raids .
After the occupation by the Red Army , the railway was placed under the administration of the Sächsische Provinzbahnen GmbH . These resumed the traffic that had been suspended at the end of the war in December 1945. On November 1, 1947, operations were finally shut down and the tracks were then dismantled as a reparation payment.
accident
In December 1920 there was a serious accident in which 14 people were killed when a train in Silberhausen ran over the buffer stop at the end of the line and fell down a slope.
Operating points
- Silberhausen station ⊙
When the small train was built, the existing Silberhausen station was significantly expanded. A total of 13 tracks, 28 switches and a turntable existed with the small train station east of the state train station. The station building of the state railway is a two-story brick building covered with slate, while the "station building" of the small railway consisted of a corrugated iron shed.
- Beberstedt station ⊙
The Beberstedt station was the only intermediate station on the railway line, in addition to the continuous main track with platform, there was also a loading track, from which a siding branched off to a sawmill. As in Silberhausen, the “station building” was just a corrugated iron hut.
- Hüpstedt train station ⊙
The Hüpstedt station formed the operational center of the small railway, the locomotive shed with attached water tower and the associated locomotive treatment systems were located here. A small goods shed was attached to the massive two-storey station building. A short loading lane was also available for freight traffic .
- Hüpstedt shaft station
Hüpstedt shaft station was the transfer station to the two connecting lines of the potash shafts. The two unions "Hüpstedt" and "Felsenfest" had their own track systems.
literature
- Günter Fromm, Harald Rockstuhl: The history of the Obereichsfelder Kleinbahn-AG 1913-1947 , Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2017, ISBN 978-3-86777-097-2 .
- Paul Lauerwald: The Obereichsfelder Kleinbahn started operations 100 years ago . In: Eichsfelder Heimatzeitschrift 57, 2013, issue 4, pp. 136–141, Duderstadt, Mecke 2013, ISSN 1611-1648 .
- Paul Lauerwald: Obereichsfelder Kleinbahn (Silberhausen-Hüpstedt). Side and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then & now. Supplementary delivery 124, Munich, GeraMond 2017, ISSN 0949-2143, 10 DIN A4 - p.
Web links
- www.vergessene-bahnen.de Silberhausen – Hüpstedt (Obereichsfelder Kleinbahn) , current state of the route with numerous photos
- Excerpt from the course book 1944
