Narrow-gauge railway Cranzahl – Kurort Oberwiesenthal

0.000	Cran number	654 m

	(Connection to the Vejprty – Annaberg-Buchholz railway line and Bf )

2.744	Untereudorf	685 m
3.820	EÜ farm road (14 m)
4.530	Neudorf (Erzgeb)	697 m
4.760	Sehmabrücke (11 m)
5,970	Fourth Street	730 m
	White sehma
	Red sehma
8.020	Kretscham-Rothensehma	792 m
	(Vertex)	831 m
10.500	Precipitation	813 m
13.620	Hammerunterwiesenthal	796 m
13,850	Longer
14.933	Rümmler & Co.
15.720	Unterwiesenthal	847 m
17.060	Viaduct Hüttenbachtal	888 m
17.350	Oberwiesenthal health resort	892 m

The fichtelberg railway is a Saxon Schmalspurbahn with 750 mm gauge in the upper Ore . It begins at Cranzahl station on the Vejprty – Annaberg-Buchholz railway line and leads via Neudorf to Oberwiesenthal . The route is known nationwide today under the marketing name Fichtelbergbahn , which was given in 1996 .

history

Prehistory and railway construction

Although Wiesenthal was founded in the 16th century after silver finds, the mining area, like the Bärensteiner, always remained insignificant compared to the Annaberg and Joachimsthal mining areas. The remote and high-lying location also disadvantaged agriculture and prevented the settlement of significant industries. After mining was finally stopped in the middle of the 19th century, the region's economic development stagnated.

The neighboring Annaberg received a railway connection in 1866 with the Annaberg – Chemnitz line. As a result, various projects were planned for a continuation through the upper Ore Mountains to Bohemia. With the Weipert – Annaberg and Komotau – Weipert railway lines opened in 1872 , the area received a railway connection with the Schmiedeberg station.

Despite the rather unfavorable location - the station about 7 km away could only be reached via a steep road - there was a noticeable increase in traffic. So the Fichtelberg developed into a popular excursion destination.

The initiative to build the railway came from the state when, in 1893, three variants for a railway connection in Oberwiesenthal were examined.

Option 1: starting from Crottendorf on the Walthersdorf – Crottendorf railway through the Zschopau valley
Option 2: starting from Cranzahl on the Weipert – Annaberg railway line through the Sehmatal
Option 3: starting from Bärenstein on the Weipert – Annaberg railway through the Grenzbachtal

In addition to the distance to Annaberg, the main direction of traffic from Oberwiesenthal, the route to Bohemia, from where lignite was imported in large quantities, was taken into account in the planning. The variant via Crottendorf was eliminated because of the long journey from Bohemia. Although the variant through the Grenzbachtal would have been easier to build, it was decided to use Cranzahl as the starting point. On the one hand, the Bärenstein train station on the hillside could only be expanded with difficulty, on the other hand, a much larger catchment area was opened up. The connection to Neudorf and the local forest in particular should increase the profitability of the route. Since only a small volume of traffic was forecast anyway, a narrow-gauge railway should meet all requirements. The Saxon parliament decided on 1 March 1894 plan submitted on December 4, 1893. Railway construction.

The first survey work began in the summer of 1894 and was originally supposed to be completed in the same year. Since major changes were made to the route during the survey, this work lasted until the summer of 1895. Thus, contrary to the planning in Untereudorf, the route was relocated to the slope and the location of the Oberwiesenthal train station was changed. The official start of construction was in April 1896; however, some culverts had already been built the previous autumn . In the winter of 1896/97 work was suspended due to the weather; Nevertheless, the railway construction could be completed in July 1897 with the exception of minor remaining work.

The route was officially opened on July 19, 1897. Overall, the route was significantly more expensive than planned; instead of the initially calculated approx. 1.5 million marks, the narrow-gauge railway ended up costing almost two million marks. This means that the cost of one kilometer of railway line was around 113,000 marks, which is significantly higher than that of other Saxon narrow-gauge railways. With the opening of the line, the narrow-gauge railway received an abbreviation for a railway line that is common in Saxony. It read CW for C ranzahl- W iesenthal.

Until the end of World War II

Oberwiesenthal station (around 1910)

In 1899 the trolley traffic was started; However, this was replaced by trolley traffic as early as 1906 . In the first few years of operation, passenger traffic rose sharply. The cause was a brisk excursion traffic in winter as well as in the summer months. That is why the Cranzahl station was completely rebuilt from 1912 onwards. Nevertheless, the income did not even cover the expenses, as the lucrative excursion traffic was limited to a few days a year.

While there were still traffic restrictions during the First World War due to a lack of coal, the transport performance in passenger transport exceeded the values of the pre-war period in the 1920s. In addition, there was the transport of the building materials for the Fichtelberg suspension railway . The facilities at Oberwiesenthal station were completely inadequate for the volume of traffic and were therefore extensively expanded from 1926 onwards.

When parallel bus routes were set up in the 1930s, the volume of traffic decreased noticeably. For the narrow-gauge railway, only the traffic peaks remained, for which the motor traffic did not offer enough capacity. The already poor operating result deteriorated further. So old plans for a standard gauge railway through the Pöhlbachtal came up again. Already at the turn of the century, plans for a standard gauge line from Weipert to Joachimsthal had been made. In this context, the possibility of changing the gauge of the narrow-gauge railway was also examined. Such projects were thwarted by the outbreak of the First World War. In the 1920s, too, various expansion plans - including a Fichtelberg tunnel - did not go beyond the planning stage. All such ventures ended with the outbreak of World War II.

The narrow-gauge line suffered a major decline in traffic at the beginning of the Second World War, because excursion traffic almost completely collapsed. As the war continued, the timetable was thinned out more and more and more and more passenger trains only ran “on special orders”. At the end of April / beginning of May 1945 the train service was completely stopped.

post war period

It was not until June 1945 that traffic was resumed on the route that was located in the immediate vicinity of the area in the Soviet occupation zone that had remained unoccupied in 1945 (see Free Republic of Schwarzenberg ).

Since the end of 1947, uranium has been mined in the Bärenstein Precipitation district . In the same year the uranium mining areas were largely declared a restricted area. The Cranzahl – Kurort Oberwiesenthal route was also affected by these access restrictions. The narrow-gauge railway took over the removal of the ore extracted. In addition to the narrow-gauge railway, the material for the shafts was also delivered via the completely overloaded Bärenstein station. In addition, the extensive rush hour traffic had to be carried out, because in the heyday of the area around 1950 approx. 3,000 miners were employed in the mining area. Since the shift trains consisted of up to ten cars, numerous vehicles had to be moved onto the route from other narrow-gauge railways in order to cope with the heavy traffic. When mining ceased in the mid-1950s, traffic levels returned to normal. The exclusion zone introduced in 1947 was also repealed in 1955. This made it possible to practice winter sports without restrictions. The ore mining resulted in subsidence in the area of precipitation; the already bad structural condition worsened.

When it was decided in 1965 to rebuild the Fichtelberghaus , which burned down in 1963 , this led to increased traffic. It was also during this time that studies of economic efficiency were carried out for the first time. The commission appointed, however, recommended continued operation because, on the one hand, an increase in transport services was to be expected and, on the other hand, the general condition of the railway was good except for the sometimes poor route. Shifting traffic to motorized transport and closing it down would not bring any economic benefits for the time being. A second study, also carried out during this period, however, recommended that the route should be closed as soon as possible. With the exception of the 1966/67 closings of stations for freight traffic that were hardly used anyway, nothing happened at first.

During the renovation of the parallel street in 1973, the railway took over the replacement traffic. A shutdown was out of the question until 1990 due to a lack of capacity in motor transport - there was a lack of trucks and buses as well as the necessary road expansion. For two years the line was classified as worthy of preservation together with other narrow-gauge railways; a possible shutdown was thus averted for the time being.

Development since 1990

Passenger train near Kretscham-Rothensehma (2009)

The newly built SDG workshop in Oberwiesenthal (2007)

After 1990, the railway lost its importance as an important feeder to the highest city in Germany. In 1990, however, larger sections of the route were renewed. On July 1, 1992 the remaining freight traffic was stopped; since then, freight wagons have only been transported for operational purposes. After 1994, the current owner, Deutsche Bahn AG, oriented itself towards an early closure or privatization.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the railway, a festival week took place from July 12th to 20th, 1997, unlike any other narrow-gauge railway in Germany. In addition to the regular trains, there were over 100 special trains, some of which condensed the timetable to an hourly cycle.

On June 1, 1998, the newly founded BVO Bahn GmbH, since 2007 the Saxon Steam Railway Company (SDG), took over the route from Deutsche Bahn AG . As part of the takeover, the railway was given the new, effective advertising name, Fichtelbergbahn , which was quickly attached to the side wall of all the passenger coaches that were taken over. The new operator managed to make the railway known nationwide within a very short time and to implement a new tourism-oriented operating concept. Substantial funds were also spent on vehicle maintenance and construction work. In the summer of 1999, further sections of the route were renewed for 4 million marks. A new vehicle workshop was built in Oberwiesenthal.

Route description

course

simplified elevation profile of the route

The narrow-gauge railway has its starting point in the station Cranzahl 654 m above sea level. NN on the standard-gauge railway line Vejprty – Annaberg-Buchholz und Bf . The passenger trains of the narrow-gauge railway start at a common platform with the standard-gauge railway. The former freight facilities with the trolley pit are located on the opposite north side of the station. The narrow-gauge trains leave the station in a left curve and then follow the right slope of the Sehmatal above the elongated village of Neudorf . The first stop is the Unterneudorf station ; then the route slowly descends into the valley floor as far as Neudorf station . The route is in the Sehmatalgrund until the Vierenstraße stop . The Vierenstraße stop is the starting point for hikes in the Fichtelberg area. From Vierenstraße the prolonged maximum slope of 1:27 starts. From now on the train runs through the dense forest of the Fichtelberg area. The following Kretscham-Rothensehma station was named after the individual inn and the Sehma, which was colored red by iron ore. The route continues to climb afterwards, crosses the watershed to the Pöhlbach and reaches precipitation . There follows a downward gradient into the Pöhlbachtal. The train crosses the B 95 and then runs uphill again along the state border with the Czech Republic on the Pöhlbach. On the other side of the valley, the Chomutov – Vejprty railway line runs within sight.

Behind the next station, Hammerunterwiesenthal , the valley narrows so much that there is only space for the railway line and the main road. On the right hand side there are steep meadow slopes, on the left a wooded ridge that already belongs to the Czech Republic . After the Unterwiesenthal stop , the railway winds its way out of the Pöhlbachtal again, and the Fichtelberg is visible on the right and the 1,244 m high Keilberg on the left . After crossing the B 95 again, the route leads over a large, 100 m long and 20 m high steel scaffold pier viaduct and reaches the terminus at Kurort Oberwiesenthal . At the reception building the altitude is attached: 893.962 m above sea level. NN.

Operating points

Cran number

Cranzahl station (2010)

The Cranzahl ⊙ station was opened in 1872 together with the Weipert – Annaberg railway line . With the construction of the narrow-gauge railway, the track systems were expanded extensively for the first time. The previous station building, built in 1880, has been significantly expanded. All narrow-gauge systems with a transfer hall , equipment transfer ramp and a separate boiler house were built north of the existing standard-gauge systems. Such a cross between narrow and standard gauge was necessary; with a different arrangement (south of the standard gauge systems), however, significantly more soil had to be moved during construction and there was fear of considerable snow drifts in winter. 50.5112 12.9927

The station has been rebuilt since 1912; this is also where today's passenger transport systems were built south of the standard-gauge railway. Since then, the main station has remained unchanged to this day.

Untereudorf

Untereudorf stop, view towards Cranzahl (2017)

The locally as "gooseberry station" called breakpoint Unterneudorf ⊙ is executed modest. A crossing track installed in 1929 or 1933 was dismantled in 1950. 50.494 12.9747

Neudorf (Erzgeb)

Neudorf station (Erzgeb), reception building and toilet (2017)

The Neudorf (Erzgeb) station ⊙ at route kilometers 4.53 was intended as a crossing station from the start. In the early years this was the biggest stopover. In addition to three tracks - two platform and one loading street track - a massive waiting hall had also been built. The car bodies that had been used for freight traffic since the line was opened were replaced in 1934 by a goods shed with an attached loading ramp on a specially constructed butt track. 50.4776 12.9736

Until the 1960s, the station was also more important in freight traffic. In 1967 the station was closed to truckload traffic. Today there are still three tracks in the station, only the dead-end track to the goods shed, which is no longer needed, has been dismantled.

Fourth Street

Vierenstrasse stop

Originally established primarily for timber shipping of the state forest, which was breakpoint Vierenstraße ⊙ hardly changed since the track opened. The station was not intended as a crossing station from the start; Nevertheless, the track of the timber loading ramp was integrated into the main track on both sides. A wooden waiting hall and a now demolished free pass were built on high-rise buildings. 50.4671 12.9677

After the closure for freight traffic in January 1967, the loading ramp was continued to be used by the railway maintenance office.

Kretscham-Rothensehma

Kretscham-Rothensehma station

Since the Kretscham-Rothensehma ⊙ station is roughly in the middle of the route, it was planned as a crossing station during the planning phase. A water station was also set up here. The crossing track was extended in 1912 to over the nearby level crossing of today's S 266. In 1984, the initial track position was restored because the entry point in the cut towards precipitation was difficult to keep free of snow and ice in winter. When the line was renovated in 1990, the loading street track was also dismantled; today only the continuous line and the crossing track are left in the station. 50.4669 12.9878

The still preserved wooden waiting hall with service room is largely identical to that of Vierenstrasse.

Precipitation

Precipitation station (2017)

The train station ⊙, located in the forest, is named after the town of precipitation, which is around 1.5 km away . The station was not intended for the original configuration; the establishment was only decided at short notice during the construction of the line. At the time of the opening of the route there were no buildings; a wooden waiting hall was not built until the end of 1897. A car body was set up for general cargo traffic. The crossing track was built around 1912. 50.4639 13.0144

Today's massive reception building was built for their miners in 1948 on the initiative and on the account of SAG Wismut .

Hammerunterwiesenthal

Hammerunterwiesenthal station (2010)

The Hammerunterwiesenthal station ⊙ was only in 1897 from the through main track and one on both sides involved loading track, either way branched off from a short dead-end track. The massive waiting hall that still exists today was also built at this time. After just four years of operation, the station was no longer sufficient, especially for freight traffic, and was expanded for the first time; since then the station has been the largest intermediate station for the narrow-gauge railway. In addition to the neighboring lime and crushed stone works, material for a sawmill and products from a neighboring factory in Bohemia were handled in the station. The tracks were expanded a second time in 1912, when parking spaces for special winter sports trains were created. A last addition took place in 1928 when the lime and gravel works expanded production. 50.4415 13.009

Most of the freight traffic was handled through this station until traffic was closed in 1992. In the end, the gravel works remained the main customer.

Since the vehicles are no longer exchanged for standard-gauge transport vehicles with other narrow-gauge railroads today, an equipment transfer ramp was built in the station in 2001 , where narrow-gauge vehicles can be loaded onto low-loaders.

Unterwiesenthal

Unterwiesenthal stop (2017)

Initially, station ⊙ was equipped with a loading platform; after 1926 two more tracks were built. In 1950 the first track systems were removed. Today there is only the continuous main track in the former Unterwiesenthal stop, which has been downgraded to the stopping point . The massive, brick-built waiting hall, similar to that of Hammerunterwiesenthal, is still there today. In the early years, a car body served as a goods shed. 50.4275 12.989

Oberwiesenthal health resort

Kurort Oberwiesenthal station (2007)

The Oberwiesenthal Station ⊙ (until October 5, 1935 only as a station Oberwiesenthal called) is the highest railway station in Saxony. When the station opened, there was a reception building with an attached goods shed, a farm building and a two-track two-tier boiler house. The station was expanded for the first time in the 1920s. The station building, in which the railway administration was also located, was given its present form. The boiler house was also expanded to include two more stands. 50.4212 12.972

In 1927 a major renovation of the station took place. A second boiler house was built around 1930 for the locomotives of the 99.73-76 series now stationed in Oberwiesenthal . Since then the station has remained largely unchanged, only the two boiler houses were demolished in 2002 and replaced by a new locomotive hall and workshop. The central workshop for all SDG narrow-gauge railways is also housed in the building, which was completed in 2004 and has a typical local construction method .

From the beginning of the 1950s to the end of the 1960s there was also a siding to the municipal gas works at the southern end of the station.

Viaduct Hüttenbachtal

Viaduct Hüttenbachtal in Oberwiesenthal (2012)

The scaffolding pillar viaduct ( ⊙ ) lies on a gradient of 3.3% and a curved track with a radius of 350 m. The bridge parts of the 88,000 mark expensive structure were made in Lauchhammer and only assembled on site. With a total length of 100 m, the four bridge fields had a clear width of 17.5 m. The height of the viaduct is 18 m. 50.4217 12.9759

In the 1920s, the bridge fields were supplemented by a girder for a higher axle load. The foundations were renewed for the first time in the 1950s, and fundamental renovations were carried out in 1990 and 2004.

Vehicle use

The vehicles corresponded to the general principles of the vehicles procured for the Saxon narrow-gauge railways. Locomotives and wagons were therefore freely exchanged for other narrow-gauge railways as required.

All vehicles initially had the lever brake , which was replaced by the Körting suction air brake in the 1930s . In the 1930s there was a change from the Wendt coupling , which was initially used , a special semi-automatic design of the central buffer coupling, to the Scharfenberg coupling . In the 1930s, continuous steam heating also replaced the ovens previously used. Since spare parts for the Körting suction air brake had not been available for a long time, the company switched to the air brake at the beginning of the 1990s .

Locomotives

New construction locomotive 99 794 (2010)

Since there were not enough vehicles of the type IV K available in 1897 , a machine of the type III K was stationed in Oberwiesenthal for a short time . Even if the traffic with locomotives of the class IV K (class 99.51-60) was carried out until the end of the 1930s, III Ks came again and again on temporary and short assignments, especially in winter.

In 1929, the 99 731 was the first brand new locomotive of the 99.73–76 series . This machine was followed by more, displacing the 99.51–60 series. Between 1933 and 1937, the 99.64–65 / 67–71 series was also stationed on the route.

After the end of the Second World War , the DR had to surrender numerous narrow-gauge locomotives as reparations. The 99.64–65 / 67–71 and 99.73–76 series were particularly affected. Since the Oberwiesenthal health resort had to surrender several machines and more locomotives were defective, there were no longer enough locomotives available. From other narrow-gauge railways, therefore, locomotives of the 99.51-60 series were again transferred to the narrow-gauge railway. The tense vehicle situation could only be resolved with the delivery of the brand new 99.77-79 series .

This series is still used for the majority of operations today. Only in 1990 came due to the lack of vehicles - a large part of the 99.77-79 series was parked defective - again one vehicle each of the 99.51-60 and 99.73-76 series for several months of temporary work on the track. In 2000 the BVO procured a diesel locomotive as a reserve vehicle for the route; the L45H , which has been re- tracked to 750 mm , has been in operation since 2001.

literature

Andreas Petrak: Cranzahl-Oberwiesenthal narrow-gauge railway . Sideway documentation, Volume 24, Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 1996, ISBN 3-927587-56-7 .
Andreas W. Petrak: Fichtelbergbahn - on a narrow track from Cranzahl to Oberwiesenthal health resort . Bildverlag Böttger, Witzschdorf 2006, ISBN 3-9808250-0-0 .

Movies

SWR : Railway Romanticism - Winter in the Ore Mountains (episode 121)
SWR: Railway romance - 100 years of the Erzgebirgsbahn (episode 267)
MDR : On a narrow track - the Fichtelbergbahn
Armin Maiwald from Sendung mit der Maus has a driving license for steam locomotives and was therefore allowed to drive the steam locomotive on the 2009 Maus team hike on the hiking trail of the German Unity for a ride on the narrow-gauge railway Cranzahl-Kurort Oberwiesenthal.

Web links

Commons : Fichtelbergbahn - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b André Marks (Ed.): Sächsische Schmalspurbahnen - Impressions for the 125th birthday in Eisenbahn-Bildarchiv , EK-Verlag , Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-88255-367-7 , p. 56.
^ Matthias Hengst: True-to-scale track plans and buildings for Saxon narrow-gauge railways. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1993, ISBN 3-992138-50-0 , p. 54.
↑ Andreas W. Petrak: Fichtelbergbahn - on a narrow track from Cranzahl to Oberwiesenthal health resort. P. 93.
↑ https://www.wdrmaus.de/extras/armins_sommerreisen/2009/sommerreise2009.php5 in part 5, accessed on August 9, 2020

[125._Geburtstag,_S._56-1] A ^b André Marks (Ed.): Sächsische Schmalspurbahnen - Impressions for the 125th birthday in Eisenbahn-Bildarchiv , EK-Verlag , Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-88255-367-7 , p. 56.

[2] Matthias Hengst: True-to-scale track plans and buildings for Saxon narrow-gauge railways. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1993, ISBN 3-992138-50-0 , p. 54.

[3] Andreas W. Petrak: Fichtelbergbahn - on a narrow track from Cranzahl to Oberwiesenthal health resort. P. 93.

[4] ttps://www.wdrmaus.de/extras/armins_sommerreisen/2009/sommerreise2009.php5 in part 5, accessed on August 9, 2020