Pöbeltalbahn

Schmiedeberg (Bz Dresden) –Moldau (planning status 1921)
Route number :	sä. SMo
Route length:	17.29 km
Gauge :	750 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope :	33  ‰
Minimum radius :	80 m
Legend from Kipsdorf 0.00 Schmiedeberg (Bz Dresden) 445 m to Hainsberg 1.25 Low mob 469 m 3.63 Election mill 531 m 5.40 Bear Rock 587 m 7.34 Schellerhau 637 m 7.45 Pöbeltalbrücke (120 m) 8.70 Schönfeld 651 m 10.47 Weißeritztal Bridge (181 m) 11.22 Seyde 664 m (Connection to the Nossen – Moldau railway line ) 14.58 Hermsdorf - Rehefeld 747 m Three-rail track 750/1435 mm or parallel line to the standard gauge State border Germany / Czech Republic 17.29 Moldau (today Moldava v Kr.h.) 782 m (Connection to the Prague – Vltava line )

The Pöbeltalbahn was a project for a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm in the Eastern Ore Mountains . It was to branch off the Weißeritztalbahn in Schmiedeberg and lead through the Pöbeltal to the Hermsdorf - Rehefeld station on the Nossen – Moldau railway line . Today's Moldava v Krušných horách train station was planned as the end point .

history

The first petition for a railway through the Pöbeltal from Schmiedeberg to Moldau came from 1881, when the Dippoldiswalde authorities tried to extend the narrow-gauge railway Hainsberg – Kipsdorf (Weißeritztalbahn), which was under construction. At that time, however, the Saxon state was still expecting an extension of the narrow-gauge railway from Kipsdorf to Altenberg and from there on to Moldova, so the claims were rejected.

At the request of interested parties, the civil engineer Karl Pöge created a detailed route project in 1893, which from then on was added to all further inquiries. The Dresden-Altstadt operations management finally determined the need for such a connection. At the time, around 3,000 inhabitants lived in the immediate catchment area of ​​the planned route, most of whom were farmers and forest workers. It was assumed that they would use the railroad very little. The local businesses were poorly developed and had only insignificant trade relationships. The operations management refused to allow through traffic from Bohemia to Dresden because the freight would have had to be reloaded in the lane-changing stations at Moldau and Hainsberg. The construction costs were put at 2,200,000 marks, significantly more than the proponents had indicated in their petitions.

Preserved bridge abutments at km 1.809 (2007)

The project got moving when, after 1900, imports of Bohemian coal to Saxony began to boom. In 1908, 15,000 tons of Bohemian lignite were transshipped on the train in Schmiedeberg, which were delivered by horse-drawn vehicles from the Vltava train station . In connection with the planned construction of several dams for flood protection in the Eastern Ore Mountains, the Saxon government finally declared the Schmiedeberg – Moldau railway to be worth building in 1912. In the spring of 1912, the two chambers of the state parliament approved the construction of an industrial railway for the transport of building materials from Schmiedeberg to Bärenfels, where a retention basin was to be built.

The Schmiedeberg Construction Office, which was set up for the re-routing of the Weißeritztalbahn between Obercarsdorf and Buschmühle, was responsible for planning the construction of the line. Ultimately, the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914 prevented the plans from being implemented quickly, and the construction of the retention basin in the Pöbeltal was even postponed entirely. Only the high unemployment after the war caused the start of the work as emergency work.

Torso of the planned reception building in Schmiedeberg station (2008)

In March 1921, the Mros company began civil engineering work on the route. Due to disputes with a property owner, no subgrade could be built between kilometers 2.77 to 3.40, the remaining route up to kilometer 4.11 was completed, except for the missing superstructure, by the end of the work on November 14, 1923. Excessive superstructures of the Weißeritztalbahn were planned for the bridges, which were vacated by the relocations of the route there. However, only the superstructures of the bridges at the distance kilometers 0.597 and 4.049 were actually installed.

The new Schmiedeberg station on the new Obercarsdorf – Buschmühle route on the Weißeritztalbahn went into operation on December 1, 1924. The systems required for the Pöbeltalbahn had only been partially built at that time. The two platform tracks, parts of the platform tunnel, the water station and the foundation of the planned boiler house including the inspection pits were completed. Initially, only the extension with a waiting room and ticket issuing facility was built from the station building.

When a continuation of the work was no longer foreseeable, the now Deutsche Reichsbahn dissolved the Schmiedeberg construction department on March 31, 1925. At this point in time, construction costs of 300,000 marks had been used; 3,300,000 marks had been estimated for the entire project. The completed section of the route remained the property of the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a gravelled substructure. On January 1, 1960, the parcels with a total area of ​​13.8 ha were transferred back to the municipalities.

Relics

A few parts of the route can still be made out in the area. The completed embankment from Schmiedeberg to Niederpöbel still exists today, and the facilities at Niederpöbel station are clearly recognizable as such. After an interruption, there is another heavily overgrown section at the planned Wahlsmühle stop.

See also

• Saxon narrow-gauge railways

literature

• Hans-Christoph Thiel: The Weißeritztalbahn - narrow-gauge railway Freital-Hainsberg-Kurort Kipsdorf . Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 1994, ISBN 3-927587-21-4 , pp. 41-44

Web links

• Description of the Pöbeltalbahn at www.sachsenschiene.de
• Illustrated search for traces from spring 2007