Narrow-gauge railway Taubenheim – Dürrhennersdorf

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Taubenheim (Spree) –Dürrhennersdorf
Line of the narrow-gauge railway Taubenheim – Dürrhennersdorf
Section of the route map of Saxony from 1902
Course book range : 161b (1944)
Route length: 12.044 km
Gauge : 750 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope : 25  ‰
Minimum radius : 100 m
Top speed: 30 km / h
Legend
   
 0.000 Taubenheim (Spree) 309 m
   
 Connection of the Oberoderwitz – Wilthen railway line
   
 Spree
   
 2.560 EÜ Lindenberger Str. (10 m)
   
 2.95 Oppach 314 m
   
 3,595 Viaduct Oppach (75 m)
   
 5.188 Bach bridge (10 m)
   
 5,640 Bach bridge (10 m)
   
 5.83 Beiersdorf (Upper Lusatia) 374 m
   
 6.050 Beiersdorf Bridge (22 m)
   
 7.28 Oberschönbach 401 m
   
 8.74 Schönbach (b Löbau / Sachs) 373 m
   
 9.84 Unterschönbach 354 m
   
 11.609 Viaduct Dürrhennersdorf (55 m)
   
 12.044 Dürrhennersdorf 349 m
   
 Connection to the Ebersbach – Löbau railway line

The Taubenheim – Dürrhennersdorf narrow-gauge railway was a Saxon narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm in the Lusatian mountains . The approximately 12 km long route ran from Taubenheim via the industrial town of Oppach to Dürrhennersdorf . The line, opened in 1892, only served local traffic and was dismantled in 1945 as a reparation payment for the Soviet Union .

history

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, there was a general economic boom in the newly founded empire. In addition to the textile industry, a few metal processing companies also settled in the area around Oppach, Beiersdorf and Schönbach. The industrialists wanted a rail connection to improve the transport options, since initially all goods were transported to the stations by horse-drawn vehicles. In a committee founded in 1887, the factory owner and member of parliament, Karl Friedrich Matthes, campaigned for the construction of a railway. From the outset, however, there were doubts about the profitability of a railway line, so that on February 7, 1890, the state parliament only approved a narrow-gauge railway. In September 1891, construction began on the 12.04 km long narrow-gauge railway. A total of 94,000 m³ of earth was moved, 13,740 m of track were laid and bridge structures were built. The route was opened on November 1, 1892. The construction costs for the entire route amounted to about 1.1 million marks, since two larger bridges were necessary at Oppach and Dürrhennersdorf.

In addition to people, coal, stones and agricultural products were mainly transported for the factories along the way. At the same time as the route was opened, postal traffic was also started. A separate rail mail car was used for this as the so-called A-Bahnpost . Around 1930, mail was shifted to the streets. During the Second World War there was another rail mail on the narrow-gauge railway.

In the early years, the route was used by three pairs of trains in mixed passenger and freight traffic. Since the start of operation, trestle traffic has been carried out, but initially only with a single pair of trestles. From 1911, the mixed operation was given up, since with the increasing volume of traffic the shunting times took longer and longer, additional pure freight trains were also driven. In 1927/28, one of the last on the Saxon narrow-gauge railways to switch to roller carriage operation. A stronger superstructure and elevated loading ramps were required for the rolling carriage operation; these modifications were carried out in 1927. This was only done so that the remaining roller stands could be moved to Zittau, because the ČSD did not want to convert their narrow-gauge Frýdlant v Čechách – Heřmanice railway to trolley operation. Since the new construction of outdated roll stands was rejected, the last Saxon vehicles were brought together in Zittau.

The line experienced its heyday between 1938 and 1944 during war preparations and the Second World War . The armaments industry located here produced numerous goods that were important for the war effort. In addition to five pairs of trains, two passenger trains also ran on the Taubenheim – Oppach section, and additional freight trains were added to the timetable. The most important goods customer at this time was primarily the Siemens plant in Oppach. Between 1000 and 1200 commuters used the narrow-gauge railway every day during this time. As planned, two locomotives were required from 1940 onwards, but the originally planned use of the still new narrow-gauge railcars 137 322-325 did not materialize. On May 8, 1945 the Wehrmacht blew up the viaduct in Dürrhennersdorf, but the makeshift repaired bridge could already be used again in June 1945.

Just a few months after the end of the war, on September 17, 1945, the line was stopped and the rails and almost all of their vehicles went to the Soviet Union as reparations. In November 1945 the last train of the dismantling column left. In the following years a few attempts were made to rebuild the line, but the project failed due to a lack of material. Many relics of the former railway line can still be found today. The Taubenheim (Spree) Station is part of the historic loop road in the village. In Oppach the station building and the abutments of the viaduct can still be seen, in Beiersdorf and Oberschönbach the former railway line is part of the circular route around the Bieleboh , from Mittelschönbach the former railway line to Dürrhennersdorf can be used as a cycle path. In Dürrhennersdorf, too, there are still many memories of the small train, such as the locomotive shed and the abutments of the viaduct.

Vehicle use

The locomotives and 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.

In the early years, the triple-coupled I K locomotives were initially used on the line. For a short time, a class III K (No. 36) locomotive was also part of the locomotive fleet. From 1926 until the closure in 1945, train traffic was almost exclusively handled by the more powerful IV K class . The short-term use of the V K type is documented around 1940. In the event of damage, the locomotives were often swapped for those of the Zittau narrow-gauge railway .

In 1892 there were three two-axle and one four-axle passenger coaches as well as 13 covered and 22 open freight cars. By 1926, the two-axle passenger coaches were replaced by four-axle ones. When operations ceased in 1945, a total of 17 four-axle passenger cars were in stock.

Goods traffic was initially handled almost exclusively with narrow-gauge freight wagons, as initially only a single pair of trestles was available. Rolling vehicles were also introduced later . In 1945 there were 23 four-axle trolleys . There were also a total of 18 narrow-gauge freight cars of the classes OO, GG and HH.

photos

  • Taubenheim (Spree) station

  • Oppach station

  • View of the former viaduct in Oppach (1993)

  • Loading ramp in Beiersdorf

  • Oberschönbach stop

  • former viaduct in Dürrhennersdorf

  • Dürrhennersdorf train station

literature

  • Reiner Preuß: Everything about narrow-gauge railways in Upper Lusatia. transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-613-71431-1 , pp. 12-79, 94-99
  • Wolfram Wagner, Gotthard Paul, Peter Krause and Christoph Walter: The history of the narrow-gauge railways Taubenheim (Spree) –Dürrhennersdorf and Herrnhut – Bernstadt ; 2nd edition, German Model Railway Association (ed.), 1989; without ISBN
  • Matthias Hengst: Former Saxon narrow-gauge railways north of the Elbe. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1995, ISBN 3-922138-56-X .

Web links

Commons : Schmalspurbahn Taubenheim – Dürrhennersdorf  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reiner Preuß: Everything about narrow-gauge railways in Upper Lusatia , p. 95
  2. ^ Matthias Hengst: Former Saxon narrow-gauge railways north of the Elbe , p. 44
  3. ↑ Wolfram Wagner: The railway mail on the Saxon narrow-gauge railways , Regionale Verkehrsgeschichte: Volume 22, EK-Verlag, ISBN 3-88255-436-3 , Freiburg 1998, p. 29 f.
  4. ^ Matthias Hengst: Former Saxon narrow-gauge railways north of the Elbe , p. 51
  5. ↑ The history of the Taubenheim (Spree) –Dürrhennersdorf and Herrnhut – Bernstadt narrow-gauge railways p. 32
  6. ^ Matthias Hengst: Former Saxon narrow-gauge railways north of the Elbe , p. 45
  7. ↑ Photo of the engine shed in Dürrhennersdorf on www.sachsenschiene.net
  8. ↑ The history of the Taubenheim (Spree) –Dürrhennersdorf and Herrnhut – Bernstadt narrow-gauge railways, p. 45