Narrow gauge railway Diekirch – Vianden

Diekirch – Vianden
Route length:	14 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	32.5  ‰
Minimum radius :	60 m
Legend 0.000 Diekirch (transition to the Ettelbrück – Grevenmacher route ) 192 m Ettelbrück – Grevenmacher route 1,570 Diekirch city 2.870 Gilsdorf Bridge 3,499 Blees (8 m) 3,630 Bleesbrück 4.689 Bastendorf 202 m 6.543 Tandel 235 m 7.057 Tandeler Bach (5 m) 8.030 Walsdorf Fouhren tunnel (160 m) 282 m 9.504 Fouhren 278 m 11.487 Begging 235 m 13.007 Our (30 m) 13.606 Rother Street 14,186 Vianden 208 m

Old wagon at the former train station in Bettel (Luxembourg).

The narrow-gauge railway Diekirch – Vianden was a narrow-gauge railway with 1000 mm gauge in Luxembourg. The 14 km route linking Diekirch at the railway Ettelbrück-Grevenmacher with Vianden . The route was also popularly called Benni .

history

The narrow-gauge railway was built and operated by the Société anonyme des chemins de fer cantonaux Luxembourgeois . Construction work on the route approved in 1886 began in 1887. The route was opened on April 13, 1889. From then on, three pairs of trains ran daily, covering the route in around 60 minutes. A further construction to the 7 km Stolzemburg , where the only Luxembourg copper mine was located, did not take place.

Vianden station with retouched passenger cars around 1905

Due to rising operating costs, the railway made less and less profit and the maintenance of the narrow-gauge railway was reduced to a minimum. When the cantonal railway company was taken over by the state in 1924, the neglected line was completely renovated.

Since the operation could still not be carried out profitably, at the beginning of the 1930s consideration was given to a closure. Nevertheless, operations continued until 1948. From May 1948, freight and passenger traffic was carried out as a rail replacement service . The route was dismantled around 1950.

A cycle path was partially built on the former railway line, for example on the 3.3 km between Fouhren and Vianden. The former Bettel train station, which has been preserved, is located on this route.

literature

• Ed Federmeyer: Narrow Gauge Railways in Luxembourg , 1991

Web links

• www.rail.lu route Diekirch – Vianden

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.rail.lu Ligne Diekirch - Vianden - Title
2. ↑ Ed Federmeyer: narrow-gauge railways in Luxembourg - Volume 1 , p 174
3. ^ Railroad cycling in Luxembourg. In: www.bahntrassenradeln.de. Retrieved November 28, 2016 .