Rentershofen embankment
| Rentershofen embankment | |
|---|---|
.JPG) The dam seen from the west, with crossing of an alex
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| place | Röthenbach (Allgäu) , Ellhofen |
| length | 901 m |
| height | 53 m |
| Sole width | 260 m |
| Crown width | 22 m |
| start of building | 1847 |
| completion | 1853 |
The renter Hofener embankment (also renter Hofer embankment or levee at Oberhäuser ) is a railway embankment of the Allgäu web at Röthenbach (Allgäu) . According to the Röthenbach Heimatverein, it is considered the "largest man-made embankment in the world".
history
prehistory
In 1836, Württemberg presented the first plans for the construction of the main line Ulm – Friedrichshafen , which led to a kind of competitive thinking on the Bavarian side. So commissioned by King Ludwig I engineers, the possibility of a railway line from court over Augsburg at the Bavarian side of Lake Constance to consider and ordered in 1840 their building from. The last section from Oberstaufen ( 784 m ) to Lindau ( 394 m ) through the Westallgäu represented a particular difficulty . Here 390 meters of altitude had to be overcome over 51 kilometers, plus the overcoming of the many hills and valleys in the Westallgäu and the conditions that the route must not cross the Bavarian-Württemberg border.
planning
It took seven years to plan the Oberstaufen – Lindau section. After a number of drafts - including the construction of a tunnel through the Kugel near Maierhöfen - the construction committee decided to lead the route via Harbatshofen , Heimhofen , Ellhofen to Oberhäuser , which means crossing the over 500 m wide and over 50 m high Rothach valley between Ellhofen and Oberhäuser resulted. Initially, the construction of a viaduct was planned at this point , but construction manager Friedrich August Pauli quickly realized that this was almost impossible on the boggy subsoil. In addition, the production and delivery of the bricks would have resulted in a considerable time delay. It was therefore suggested that the valley be filled up. There was no special structural requirement for the dam, as the watershed of the Bregenz Ach and Argen is located at this point . In 1846 the king finally approved the construction of the dam, among other things as a kind of job creation measure, as many people were looking for work at that time.
Construction phase
Construction of the dam began in 1847. First, iron piles were driven into the boggy subsoil for stabilization. This was followed by the filling, both from the Oberhausen side and from the Eisenberg (Ellhofen side). With wheelbarrows, lorries and slides, over 3,000 workers moved around 2.24 million cubic meters of earth by hand in seven years of construction. The required bulk material was extracted from the surrounding slopes and from Eisenberg to the south. The Eisenberg was removed to the level of the railway embankment. The use of farm animals was not possible because of the unstable subsoil and the sometimes steep location.
Many workers came from the area, but most of them were migrant workers from Vorarlberg , Switzerland , Württemberg and the Palatinate (Bavaria) . The construction also meant an economic upswing for the region. Dealers, innkeepers and farmers in the area around the construction site raised the prices for their products significantly. The infrastructure has also been significantly improved, for example new roads have been built, and the former beneficiary's house in Röthenbach has been converted into a hospital . This was necessary because serious accidents occurred time and again on the construction site. During the entire construction phase, 44 workers were killed in work-related accidents, the most common causes of death being spills, head injuries and spinal injuries. The construction of the dam was repeatedly interrupted, for example by strikes - especially during the March Revolution - or by outbreaks of diseases such as smallpox .
The opening ceremony was on October 12, 1853, when the first train crossed the embankment on the route from Oberstaufen to Aeschach . This was followed by the construction of a road from Oberhäuser to Ellhofen a little below the railway line on the dam. In the 1890s, the railway line to Weiler was built into the dam below the road to Ellhofen and was in operation until 1991.
.JPG)
use
Today the Allgäu Railway runs over the crown of the dam, at the northern end of which the Röthenbach (Allgäu) station is located. On the western slope, the district road LI3 and the cycle path to Weiler run on the former railway line. At the southern end there is a gravel works of the Allgäuer Kies- und Schotterwerke ( AKS ). On the east side, the connecting road leads from Oberhäuser via Rentershofen to Röthenbach. Today the east side is mostly forested, so that the dam is difficult to see from this side.
Climatic effects
The severing of the valley meant a considerable encroachment on nature, the climatic effects of which can still be felt today for the neighboring communities:
East Side
In the east, the residents of Rentershofen were deprived of the evening sun by the dam and the Röthenbachers were deprived of the view of the Hirschberg and the Alpstein Mountains with the Säntis . The residents were also cut off from the warm Lake Constance wind coming from the Rhine and Rothach valleys.
West side
In the west it met the Rothachtal with Weiler im Allgäu . Here, the fog coming up from Lake Constance builds up in the Rothachtal valley through the embankment and covers hamlets as a kind of high fog. As a result, the sun may shine in the surrounding higher places while there is fog in or over the hamlet. Locals often humorously refer to the place as fog hole or hamlet in the fog instead of hamlet in the Allgäu.
Others
Initially planned implementation of the dam for the maintenance of the connecting roads from Röthenbach to Weiler and from Rentershofen to Oberhäuser were not implemented due to protests from residents. They feared that in winter they would not have been able to use the sled to get to Röthenbach because of the snow-free route in the passages.
To this day the rumor persists that a locomotive that crashed during construction is said to be inside the railway embankment.
literature
- The Rentershofener Bahndamm: the history of railway construction from Augsburg to Lindau. Klaus Gorlo; 1997.
- Yearbook of the district of Lindau 1998 , Rupert Knestel, page 60ff., ISBN 3-89089-0482 .
Web links
- Terrain relief of the railway embankment in the BayernAtlas
- The Renterhofener Bahndamm in the yearbook of the Lindau district in 1998
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information board on the embankment. 2017, Retrieved May 26, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Ingrid Grohe: The railway - also a prestige project. Der Westallgäuer , December 7, 2010, accessed on May 26, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Appell: Rentershofen, largest railway embankment of its time. Bayersammler, 2012, accessed May 26, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Rupert Knestel: Yearbook of the district Lindau 1998. (Not available online.) In: The building of the Royal North-South train from Augsburg to Lindau. Lindau district (Bodensee), 1998, archived from the original on August 6, 2017 ; Retrieved May 25, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c The man and his dam Home care - Rupert Knestel leads to the 901 meter long Rentershofen railway embankment. Allgäuer Zeitung, September 12, 2009, accessed on May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Largest railway embankment in the world. Der Westallgäuer, December 10, 2003, accessed on May 26, 2017 .
- ^ A b Karl Schweizer: 150 years of the railway in the Lindau district. 2003, Retrieved May 25, 2017 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 36 '47.2 " N , 9 ° 57' 26.1" E