Mügeln – Neichen narrow-gauge railway

Mügeln (b Oschatz) –Neichen
Section of the route map of Saxony from 1902
Route number :	6967; sä. MN
Course book section (DB) :	502
Route length:	23.938 km
Gauge :	750 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope :	17  ‰
Minimum radius :	100 m
Top speed:	30 km / h
Legend from Oschatz from Döbeln Hbf 0.00 Mügeln (b Oschatz) 148 m 0.82 Mügeln (b Oschatz) city 148 m 1.34 Old boys 149 m 3.03 Nebitzschen 152 m according to Kroptewitz 4.61 Glosses (b Oschatz) 156 m 5.73 Groeppendorf 158 m 7.91 Mahlis 160 m 10.62 Reckwitz 163 m 11.30 Wermsdorf (b Oschatz) 167 m 14.34 Mutzschen 172 m 15.76 Böhlitz- Roda 154 m 17.35 Wagelwitz 147 m 18.87 Cannewitz 142 m 20.27 Thought joke 137 m 21.78 Nerchau- Gornewitz 136 m 23.94 Neichen earlier Nerchau - Trebsen (Connection to the Glauchau – Wurzen railway line )

The narrow-gauge railway Mügeln-Neichen is a Saxon narrow-gauge railway . The approximately 24 km long route opened in 1888 connected Mügeln to Neichen via Wermsdorf and Mutzschen . It was mainly used for goods transport in the hilly agricultural region, mainly for the sugar beet harvest. The excursion traffic to the Horstsee also had a certain importance. Between 1967 and 1972, the majority of the line was gradually shut down; the section from Mügeln to Glossen is still in operation today .

history

Railway construction and opening

Not far from the wooded area around Wermsdorf, the Leipzig – Dresden railway line was opened from 1837 to 1839 , and further lines were built in the following years, such as the Borsdorf – Coswig railway line from 1866 to 1868 and the Glauchau – Wurzen railway line from 1875 to 1877 . Away from the routes, however, the transport links were still poor. After all, Wermsdorf had the advantage of being on a post road that was expanded in the 18th century. Therefore there were connections to the Luppa-Dahlen train station on the Leipzig – Dresden long-distance line as well as to Grimma and Oschatz. As early as the 1840s, there was a desire for a rail link in the area, and efforts, especially in Mügeln, were continued in the following decades, albeit initially without success. It was only with the Railroad Regulations for German Railways of Subordinate Importance of 1878 that railroad construction appeared really possible, from now on railroad construction as an inexpensive narrow-gauge railroad was favored. The first decree of the Saxon government on railway construction was issued in 1879, but was rejected by the Saxon state parliament . The second decree of 1881 on the construction of a line Oschatz – Mügeln – Döbeln was approved by the state parliament in 1882, a branch line from Mügeln to Wermsdorf was also being considered. The Oschatz – Mügeln – Döbeln line was opened in two sections in 1884/1885. The construction of the narrow-gauge railway via Wermsdorf was decided a little later.

The surveying work began in April 1885, and the final route was determined by December 1885. The Nerchau-Trebsen station was chosen as the connecting station on the Glauchau – Wurzen line; Oelschütz was also up for discussion beforehand. Nerchau-Trebsen was closer to Grimma, while Oelschütz was considered advantageous because of the shorter connection to Leipzig / Wurzen. The actual construction work began in November 1887, for which the route was divided into six construction phases, which were managed by two construction offices. The construction costs for the 24 km long route were around 1.7 million marks.

The construction time was only one year, the opening date was scheduled for November 1, 1888, but traffic was already carried out before this date. Passenger traffic between Mügeln and Altmügeln to the Altmügelner Stoppelmarkt was started in September 1888 with numerous special trains. From September 27, 1888, at the urging of the large farms, freight trains for sugar beet transport were already running between Mahlis and Mügeln. The grand opening took place on November 1st, 1888.

Until the end of World War II

The operational center of the line was the Wermsdorf station, where the railway administration was also located. Only the short distance to Altmügeln was under the control of the Mügeln railway administration. Freight traffic in particular developed positively. Since the Kemlitz kaolin pits were mainly loaded in Nebitzschen, around 1900 numerous neighboring communities demanded a change of gauge to standard gauge. However, this was categorically rejected by the state government, so only the narrow - gauge railway Nebitzschen – Kroptewitz, which only serves goods traffic, was created to better connect the kaolin pits . The line opened in 1903 was also under the control of the railway administrator in Wermsdorf.

During the First World War , numerous pairs of trains were deleted from the timetable due to a lack of personnel, particularly on the Wermsdorf – Neichen section. The Wermsdorf railway administration was dissolved on March 1, 1924 and placed under the Mügeln railway administration. This was again dissolved in 1927. In the 1920s and 1930s they looked again at changing gauges to standard gauge, but the traffic problems with the construction of Autobahn 14 - which ran close to the railway line - were seen as completely sufficient. No further efforts were made to improve the traffic situation.

In the course of the Second World War, the timetable was gradually thinned out more and more, the travel times did not change for the time being. Until 1945 the railway was spared the effects of war except for the usual darkening. On April 14, 1945 there was an air raid on Glossen train station, killing several people. From mid-April to early May 1945, the region was occupied by both American and Soviet troops. The train traffic then came to a complete standstill. Even before the end of the war, the American troops withdrew behind the Mulde, so the area was completely under Soviet occupation.

Short flowering period, shutdown and future

Mahlis Railway Station (2011)

Passenger train in the rebuilt Glossen station (2007)

Shortly after the end of the war, operations were resumed, initially with only a few trains. The traffic gradually returned to normal. In the beginning the traffic was mainly hamsterers , but from 1947 at the latest the railway experienced a brief heyday. As always, primarily fuel and agricultural goods were transported. The Nebitzschen – Neichen section no longer benefited so much from a renewed increase in traffic in the Mügeln network from 1957. Larger transport services were only provided during the sugar beet harvest in autumn each year.

From 1967 the traffic on the route was gradually reduced. On August 28, 1967, the passenger train service between Wermsdorf and Neichen was stopped. Freight traffic ended there on July 1, 1968, and Mutzschen station was served until 1970. In 1972 the last passenger trains ran between Mügeln and Wermsdorf, a little later this section was also closed. For freight traffic, the Mügeln – Nebitzschen section remained in operation as part of the Oschatz – Kemmlitz connection.

The Deutsche Reichsbahn handed over the still existing Mügeln – Nebitzschen line in November 1993 to the newly founded private railway company Döllnitzbahn . This was founded in 1993 on the initiative of the Oschatz district and the Pro Bahn passenger association . In 1995 the passenger train service to Altmügeln was resumed by the Döllnitzbahn. Initially, the trains only ran for school traffic, later regular traffic was introduced on weekdays. However, in 2001 the rest of the freight traffic was completely abandoned.

At the end of the 1990s there was a plan to rebuild the line to Wermsdorf, which had been dismantled in 1972. A fundraising campaign was even launched for this purpose. However, it was not possible to raise the necessary financial resources. In this context, a necessary re-routing at Wermsdorf was completely unexplained, as part of the original route there is now below the water level of the Wermsdorf dam . In 2005 and 2006, the track between Nebitzschen and Glossen was rebuilt with European funding for museum train traffic. This section was reopened on April 21, 2006 and is also used for school traffic to and from the grammar school in Oschatz. In the future, this section will serve to develop various remaining holes from kaolin mining for tourism . Döllnitzbahn GmbH announced in 2014 that it was considering rebuilding the disused line from Glossen to Wermsdorf. The line would end at the new Wermsdorf / Döllnitz reservoir to be built.

Vehicle use

In the early years, the triple-coupled I K locomotives were initially used on the line. Later the train traffic was also handled by the Saxon class III K. From the turn of the century, the more powerful type IV K (DR series 99.51-60) was used.

Goods traffic was initially carried out with narrow-gauge freight wagons, later rolling vehicle traffic was also introduced. The cars used corresponded to the general Saxon building and procurement regulations for the narrow-gauge railways and could therefore be freely exchanged with vehicles on other Saxon narrow-gauge lines.

literature

• Ludger Kenning: Narrow gauge railways around Mügeln and Wilsdruff , Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 2000, ISBN 3-933613-29-9
• Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: The narrow-gauge railway Mügeln – Neichen , Wilsdruffer Bahnbücher Nossen, 2007
• Erich Preuß, Reiner Preuß: Narrow gauge railways in Saxony , transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-613-71079-X
• Gustav W. Ledig, Johann Ferdinand Ulbricht: The narrow-gauge state railways in the kingdom of Saxony. 2nd increased and improved edition. Engelmann, Leipzig 1895 (Reprint: Zentralantiquariat der DDR, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-7463-0070-3 ).

Web links

Commons : Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Descriptions of Saxon railway lines
• History of the narrow-gauge railway Mügeln-Neichen

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 17
2. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 16
3. ↑ ^{a b} Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: The narrow-gauge railway Mügeln – Neichen , p. 19
4. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 21 ff.
5. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 27 ff.
6. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 29
7. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: The narrow-gauge railway Mügeln – Neichen , p. 31
8. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: The narrow-gauge railway Mügeln – Neichen , p. 34
9. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 35
10. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 38
11. ↑ Reiner Scheffler, Peter Wunderwald: Die Schmalspurbahn Mügeln – Neichen , p. 49 ff.
12. ↑ Helge Scholz: The best thing about school is the daily train journey . In: SOEG (Ed.): Dampfbahn Magazin. , 2/2019, ISSN 1866-2366, pp. 6-7.