Narrow-gauge railway Jindřichův Hradec – Nová Bystřice

Jindřichův Hradec – Nová Bystřice
Course book series (SŽDC) :	229
Route length:	32.869 km
Gauge :	760 mm ( Bosnian gauge )
Maximum slope :	17  ‰
Minimum radius :	120 m
Top speed:	50 km / h
Legend 0.000 Jindřichův Hradec JHMD formerly Neuhaus 470 m from Veselí nad Lužnicí Three- rail track 760/1435 mm 1,985 odb. Dolní Skrýchov to Obrataň Silnice I / 23 / I / 34 2.569 odb. Kanclov Standard gauge railway to Jihlava ochranná zeď střelnice (521 m) 4.376 Hamerský potok vlečka Jitka as 5.240 Jindřiš formerly Heinrichschlag 480 m Jindřiš zastávka 500 m 8,563 Blažejov early blue loft 10.720 Malý Ratmírov formerly Klein Rammerschlag 540 m 13,339 Střížovice formerly Drösowitz 535 m 18,039 Kunžak - Lomy formerly Königseck-Tieberschlag 600 m 22.306 Kaproun formerly Kaltenbrunn 640 m 24,523 Senotín formerly Zinolten 650 m 25.207 Vertex 673 m 27.144 Hůrky earlier Adam's freedom 650 m 30.108 Dračice 30.194 Albeř used to be silly 32.869 Nová Bystřice formerly Neubistritz 600 m

The narrow-gauge railway Jindřichův Hradec – Nová Bystřice is a narrow-gauge railway connection in the Czech Republic that was originally built and operated as a state-guaranteed local railway between Neuhaus and Neubistritz. It runs in South Bohemia from Jindřichův Hradec ( Neuhaus ) to Nová Bystřice ( Neubistritz ).

According to a decree of the Czech government, the line has been classified as a regional railway ("regionální dráha") since December 20, 1995. Since 1998 it has been owned by the private railway company Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy (JHMD).

history

The district committee in Nova Bystřice received the concession to build the line on December 18, 1894. The license was issued for a period of 90 years. Until the end of the 76th year after the license was granted, interest on the investment capital of 4 percent each and a maximum of 42,162 guilders per year was guaranteed. Part of the concession was also the obligation to start construction of the line immediately and to complete it within a year and a half. The district committee then founded the local railway company Neuhaus-Neubistritz . The company's share capital totaled 203,000 guilders in 2030 ordinary shares of 100 guilders each. The line was opened on November 1, 1897. The kk Staatsbahnen (kkStB) took over the management on behalf of the local railway company.

Operation started with steam locomotives. For this purpose, there were boiler houses in Neuhaus and Neubistritz. Soon after the opening, goods transport with trolleys was set up.

In July 1899, the Lower Austrian Waldviertelbahn opened its line from Gmünd to Litschau and Heidenreichstein in neighboring Lower Austria . Litschau is only a few kilometers away from Neubistritz, so that a connection between the two routes was soon planned. The First World War and the ensuing establishment of Czechoslovakia made this plan obsolete.

With the establishment of the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) in autumn 1918, management was also transferred to them. Initially, however, nothing changed in the legal position of the local railway company. The first winter timetable published by ČSD in 1918/1919 showed two pairs of trains on the entire route.

JHMD train in Albeř (2008)

On January 1, 1925, the Neuhaus – Neubistritz local railway was nationalized. With this, ČSD also became the owner of the infrastructure. In the period that followed, they tried to modernize the route. From the 1930s, railcars were used in times of low traffic.

After the Sudetenland was annexed to Germany on October 1, 1938, most of the route was now on German territory. Although there was no connection to other German routes, the Deutsche Reichsbahn , Reichsbahndirektion Wien , was now operating. The connection was now contained in the Reich curriculum as KBS 461k Neuhaus (Böhmen) –Neubistritz .

After the end of the Second World War , the line came back to the ČSD. The German population in the border area was expelled in 1945/46, so that the transport performance fell significantly, especially since resettlement with Czechs was only possible to a lesser extent. As a result, only the substance of the line was preserved; the infrastructure was hardly modernized in the following decades. Only the vehicle fleet was replaced by modern vehicles. In the mid-1950s, the old steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives, and new cars were procured for passenger transport in the 1960s.

The old superstructure was left in place during the renovation; here at Malý Ratmírov (2009)

Despite the low traffic, the line remained in operation until the 1990s. The existence of the route was only called into question as a result of the changed political framework conditions from 1990 onwards. In the 1995/96 timetable, only one “alibi train couple” drove on the weekends in the winter half-year, traffic was idle Monday to Friday. Only in summer was there more traffic with a total of four pairs of trains. In the summer months, a historic train with a steam locomotive also ran on Sundays.

On January 25, 1997 the tourist traffic was finally stopped. As a result, the private Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy as (JHMD) tried to continue operating on its own. These efforts led to success, so that from June 20, 1997 passenger trains could run again. On February 28, 1998, the JHMD also took over the infrastructure.

In the following years extensive investments were made in the infrastructure. The old facilities and buildings have been carefully renewed so that the route now looks like a living museum. Despite this historical condition, there is a lot of travel and freight traffic today. The summer museum train service has developed into a unique attraction in the Czech Republic. The historic train consists of the last remaining two-axle wagons and locomotives from the time the line was opened.

Route description

Hůrky railway station

Between the junction from the standard-gauge line and the bridge over the Hammerbach, the line on Traumüllerberg led through the Neuhauser Stadtwald. To protect the railway from the kuk army firing range there, a 4 m high quarry stone wall (ochranná zeď střelnice) was built along the railway line over a length of 521 m in 1897, which has been preserved.

Vehicle use

Traction vehicles

U 37.002 (formerly kkStB U 12) as a museum locomotive in Jindřichův Hradec

T 47.006 of the JHMD in Jindřichův Hradec

The kkStB procured triple-coupled narrow-gauge locomotives for the account of the local railway Neuhaus – Neubistritz, as they had previously been procured for the Murtalbahn , which they also operate (but privately owned as a stock corporation) . The kkStB designated these locomotives as the U series (after U nzmarkt on the Murtalbahn, the first location of this type). They were given the numbers U.1 to U.3.

After the First World War, the traffic was handled with Mallet locomotives of the U 47.0 series , which originally came from the Serbian State Railways. One each of the U 37.0 and U 47.0 have been preserved and are used in front of museum trains in the summer months. In addition, a Reșița locomotive from Romania with the designation U 46.001 is still on the narrow-gauge railroads, which supplements museum traffic in the summer months.

From 1929, the ČSD acquired two tower cars of the M 11.0 series , which were a narrow-gauge version of the ČSD M 120.4 series . These vehicles were mainly used in times of low traffic.

From 1939 on, two four-axle railcars of the M 21.0 series were also purchased. The use of railcars lasted until shortly after the Second World War . The M 21.004 railcar has been preserved and is now in Čierny Balog on the Schwarzgranbahn ( Slovakia ).

Since 1955, the traffic has been operated mainly with the diesel locomotives of the T 47.0 series . In the 1970s, more of these locomotives came to Jindřichův Hradec when the narrow-gauge railways Frýdlant – Heřmanice and Ružomberok – Korytnica kúpele were shut down.

A locomotive of the PKP series Lxd2 and multiple units M27 ( PKP series MBxd2 ) are now also in Jindřichův Hradec .

Passenger cars

Passenger carriage Balm / u in Jindřichův Hradec

The two-axle passenger cars initially procured were largely manufactured by the Ringhoffer wagon factory in Prague . Later, open four-axle vehicles, four-axle passenger cars and bar cars completed the portfolio.

In the 1960s, several originally Saxon load wagons came to Jindřichův Hradec, which had remained in Frýdlant v Čechách after 1945 . These cars were used in passenger trains until the late 1970s.

The type Balm / u passenger cars used today were manufactured by ČKD Tatra in Prague in the 1960s . The passenger coaches, which were ultra-modern at the time, have hard-padded benches, closed end stages, translation windows and their own oil heating.

In the 1980s, a museum train was put together from the last two-axle old wagons in the ČSD's inventory. This stylish train set is now regularly used as a museum train on weekends in summer.

Freight wagons

Freight car of the museum train

Initially the operation was carried out with two-axle wagons. Most of the freight wagons came from Grazer Maschinen- und Waggonbau-Aktiengesellschaft . Later on the roller-trestle traffic was introduced, which is still practiced today. The latest roll stands come from the Poprad wagon factory from the 1980s. Even today there are four-axle narrow-gauge freight wagons, which are mainly used to transport bicycles in passenger trains.

See also

• Jindřichův Hradec – Obrataň narrow-gauge railway

literature

• Helmuth Lampeitl: Narrow Gauge Romanticism in Eastern Europe . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2003, ISBN 3-88255-285-9
• Zdeněk Hudec u. a .: Atlas drah České republiky 2006–2007 , 2nd edition; Publishing house Pavel Malkus, Praha, 2006, ISBN 80-87047-00-1

Web links

Commons : Railway line 229 (Czech Republic)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• KBS229 Jindřichův Hradec – Nová Bystřice on www.zelpage.cz
• Official website of JHMD as (Czech / English)
• Protective wall at the former kuk shooting range

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zdeněk Hudec u. a .: Atlas drah České republiky 2006–2007 , 2nd edition; Publishing house Pavel Malkus, Praha, 2006, ISBN 80-87047-00-1
2. ↑ Decree of the Czech government of December 20, 1995
3. ^ Imperial law for the kingdoms and states represented in the Imperial Council of January 26, 1895
4. ↑ http://www.geerkens.at/wpdetail.php?katalog=1&id=81 ( Memento from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
5. ↑ 1918 timetable of the ČSD
6. ↑ 1944 timetable of the Deutsche Reichsbahn
7. ↑ ČD 1995/96 timetable