Reutlingen – Schelklingen railway line

	from Tübingen
0.00	Reutlingen Central Station	375 m
	to Plochingen
3.14	Reutlingen Süd (until May 1, 1907: Eningen and others )	406 m
	Reutlingen – Eningen local train / Reutlingen tram
4.91	Pfullingen	429 m
6.18	Pfullingen south
8.20	Unterhausen spinning mill	482 m
9.87	Unterhausen (Württ)	508 m
11.03	Honau (Württ)	526 m
	Rack section
13.18	Lichtenstein (Württ)	704 m
15.28	Engstingen (formerly Kleinengstingen)	691 m
	from Sigmaringen
18.97	Kohlstetten (formerly the train station)	677 m
21.89	Big louder
22.00	Offenhausen	663 m
24.13	Gomadingen (formerly the train station)	655 m
27.32	Marbach (b Münsingen)	647 m
28.78	Grafeneck	658 m
34.53	Münsingen	705 m
37.12	Tank loading bridge
38.67	Oberheutal	717 m
40.72	Mehrstetten	701 m
49.09	But after	596 m
50.31	Schmiech
50.75	Hütten (formerly the train station)	584 m
51.91	Talsteusslingen
53.03	Schmiech
55.67	Schmiech
56.46	Schmiechen Albbahn (formerly Schmiechen Ort)	548 m
57.00	Infrastructure boundary ENAG / DB Netz
57.19	Federal Highway 492
57.56	from Sigmaringen
58.25	Rogue blades	535 m
	to Ulm

The Reutlingen – Schelklingen railway is a former 58.25 kilometer branch line from Reutlingen to Schelklingen that crosses the Swabian Alb . The 15.28-kilometer northern section of Reutlingen– Kleinengstingen is now closed, this section has been largely rededicated as a railway cycle path . The Reutlingen – Honau section is also known as the Echazbahn or Echaztalbahn , while the Kleinengstingen – Schelklingen section is now marketed as the Swabian Alb Railway .

history

The branch line was built between 1891 and 1901 and opened in the following sections: Reutlingen – Honau on June 2, 1892, Honau– Münsingen (and thus the rack section) on October 1, 1893 and Münsingen – Schelklingen on August 1, 1901 it created the long-desired direct connection between Reutlingen and Ulm .

History of railway construction

Lichtenstein Castle, from which the former train station owes its name. In the background the Echaz valley with the towns of Honau and Unterhausen

After Reutlingen was connected to Plochingen via today's Neckar-Alb Railway in 1859 and to Tübingen from 1861 , the city, which was already heavily influenced by industry, advocated the connection of the hinterland to the east and south. The primary goal was not initially a route crossing the Swabian Alb in the direction of Ulm, but the connection to Sigmaringen . Even after the Kingdom of Württemberg had agreed with Prussia to build the Tübingen – Sigmaringen railway in 1865 , the city of Reutlingen continued to pursue the goal of connecting Reutlingen directly via Gammertingen to Sigmaringen; Of this line, only one more line to Schelklingen was to connect to the Ulm – Sigmaringen railway line built from 1865 onwards . Only when this project was finally rejected by the Württemberg government in 1872 as a project that was harmful to the Tübingen – Sigmaringen railway line, plans in Reutlingen shifted to a crossing of the Swabian Alb and thus to an axis from Reutlingen to Ulm.

Railway construction

On June 2, 1892, the Royal Württemberg State Railways opened the 11.03-kilometer standard-gauge branch line from Reutlingen Central Station via Pfullingen to Honau at the foot of the Swabian Alb through the Echaz valley . On October 1, 1893, the 23.5-kilometer-long continuation followed with the steep section, which was overcome with the help of a rack, via Kleinengstingen through the Lautertal to the Oberamtsstadt Münsingen. The 23.72 kilometer connection to the Ulm – Sigmaringen railway in Schelklingen was put into operation on August 1, 1901. In Kleinengstingen, a private railway line of the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL) to Gammertingen has also been branching off since November 7, 1901 .

Honau – Lichtenstein cog railway

Honau with the rack railway on a postcard from 1905

Cogwheel and rail section of the rack railway in Honau station

On the rack section , the railway overcame a height difference of 179 meters with a maximum gradient of 1:10 over a length of 2.15 kilometers. It was the first cogwheel route for passenger traffic in Württemberg and one of the steepest railway lines in Germany. To cope with the steep ascent of the Alb , a gear drive with a " Riggenbach 's ladder rack of the Bissinger- Klose type " was used. The locomotives had a gear drive located between the wheels. The starting point for the steep section was Honau train station in the Echaz valley . Almost in the fall line , the route led to the plateau of the Swabian Alb, partly directly along the federal road 312 , the so-called Honauer Steige. The end of the steep section was the Lichtenstein train station , which owes its name to the nearby Lichtenstein Castle .

The line from Honau was closed for all traffic on July 28, 1969 and dismantled to Kleinengstingen. From there on, it was retained for military traffic to the Münsingen military training area . The Reutlingen – Honau passenger traffic was served by rail buses until June 1, 1980; From May 27, 1983, freight traffic was limited to the section Reutlingen Hbf – Reutlingen Süd. After the cessation of freight traffic on September 29, 1994, this last section was closed and largely dismantled.

Military traffic

In 1972 the Oberheutal train station was opened, which was mainly used for loading tanks destined for the Münsingen military training area or the Herzog Albrecht barracks in Münsingen. First steam locomotives and later diesel locomotives mastered the Alb ascent with military trains weighing up to 1700 tons. Up to 170 military transports to Oberheutal took place every year, with the station being dimensioned so that up to ten trains could be loaded and unloaded daily. In practice, a maximum of four trains were dispatched in one day. However, the station was only approved for block trains , and the loading of individual transports (such as tanks) was officially only allowed in Münsingen station. Finally, on April 27, 2004, the year the Herzog Albrecht barracks closed and a year before the Münsingen military training area was closed, the last military transport was loaded.

Thereafter, the Oberheutal station was unused until the Deutsche Bahn in 2009, due to the economic crisis, used it to park unneeded freight cars. Since 2010 the station has been a tariff point for wagonload traffic again and is used to load logs.

present

Entrance to the signal box of the Münsingen train station

The lever bench in operation in the 1907 signal box in Münsingen

The railway infrastructure company Erms-Neckar-Bahn AG has leased the entire length of the Kleinengstingen – Schelklingen line from Deutsche Bahn since 2004. Since then, school transport ordered by the state of Baden-Württemberg has been operated again on school days by DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee . The tourist traffic has been carried out by the Schwäbische Alb-Bahn GmbH (SAB) since 2014, until 2013 trains from the Eisenbahnbusfreunde Ulm e. V.

Historical rail buses run between Kleinengstingen and Schelklingen on Sundays and public holidays from the beginning of May to around mid-October (MAN rail bus of the Swabian Alb Railway and until October 2013 VT 98 Ulmer Spatz of the RAB; since then NE 81 of the SAB) with additional bicycle carts - sometimes from or to Ulm. The offer is mainly used by day trippers to the Schmiech and Lauter valleys.

Since 2004, regional trains have been running again on school days to transport schoolchildren and commuters between Gammertingen, Offenhausen , Gomadingen and Münsingen and between Münsingen and Schelklingen. These are driven with class 628 diesel multiple units (in exceptional cases with class 650 or class 218 with n-type cars ). Freight traffic has been taking place again since 2010, for example to transport long timber. In 2010 alone around 5,000 tons of wood were removed. Freight runs the club founded by Swabian Alb-Bahn railway company Swabian Alb-Bahn GmbH in cooperation with DB Schenker through.

In autumn 2008, the Sondernach stop was reactivated. Since the timetable change in December 2008, trains have stopped there again as scheduled. Since October 2011 there has been a bus shelter in the historical style at this stop, built by volunteers from Sondernach, with the support of the Schwäbische Alb-Bahn e. V.

Since the summer of 2009, the Schwäbische Alb-Bahn association has been running regular steam train trips as well as other mainly tourist special trips on the route, often in cooperation with DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee and the Baden-Württemberg local transport company . A new locomotive shed was also built in Münsingen for steam train journeys, as the home of the association and as an event location, based on the style of the other historic buildings at the station. The association is also working on the Württemberger Zug project , which provides for the permanent stationing of a historic train exclusively made up of vehicles from the Royal Württemberg State Railways in Münsingen.

In the summer of 2010 the old barrier in Gomadingen, which had to be wound down by the train crew, was replaced by a new traffic light system with half barriers; the crank barrier is in a museum.

Network 50

In April 2019 the SAB was awarded the contract for the network 50 "Swabian Alb Railway and Amstetten-Gerstetten". The transport contract was signed at the end of May 2019. The term of the contract is 9.5 years and the scope of services approx. 225,000 train kilometers per year from the second commissioning stage.

In the first operating stage, the timetable between Münsingen and Ulm was extended on June 9, 2019. At the timetable change on December 15, 2019, the reactivated line between Engstingen and Gammertingen with the new platforms in Großengstingen at the school center and Trochtelfingen as well as the Haidkapelle crossing station went into operation with the second operating stage.

Traffic significance

"Ulmer Spatz" on the Lauter

The importance of the railway lay primarily in passenger transport. On the one hand, commuters to Reutlingen and Pfullingen used the train, on the other hand, excursion traffic - especially on weekends - played a major role. It opened up a very popular excursion area on the Albtrauf . In addition to Lichtenstein Castle, the attractions were the Nebelhöhle , Olgahöhle and Karlshöhle (today Karls- und Bärenhöle ), the Echaz spring and the Traifelberg and Schönberg viewpoints .

Freight traffic never achieved any particular importance on this steep and short section, as the sections of the branch line below the rack section could be served from Reutlingen and above Ulm. In 1951 there was only one general cargo - coaches .

With the advent of motorization in the period after the Second World War , the number of transports decreased more and more, so that in view of the complex cogwheel operation, traffic was stopped in 1969 and this section was dismantled, as was the connection between Reutlingen Süd and Honau later. The section between Kleinengstingen and Schelklingen has been used again in school and tourist traffic since 2004.

Planning

For several years there have been considerations to integrate the Reutlingen Hbf – Schelklingen line into a Neckar-Alb regional light rail system based on the Karlsruhe model . This would require reactivation or the construction of the new line between Reutlingen and Kleinengstingen.

Furthermore, the association Zahnradbahnfreunde Honau-Lichtenstein ( ZHL ) is planning to rebuild the rack section Honau-Lichtenstein, which would also put the adhesion-operated section Lichtenstein-Kleinengstingen back into operation.

vehicles

NE81 railcar between Schelklingen and Schmiechen Ort

Traction vehicles

Class 798 with a rack rail bus at the Gomadingen stop

Steam locomotives class Fz , later class 97.3
Steam locomotives class Hz , or class 97.5 from 1922. Of the four machines built, three have been preserved:
- 97 501 at the ZHL in Reutlingen; it has been in use again as an operational industrial monument since 2014
- 97 502 in the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum
- 97 504 in the German Museum of Technology in Berlin
- 97 503 was cannibalized and scrapped as a spare parts donor after the Second World War.

The 97 501 locomotive is in a large hall at Reutlingen Westbahnhof and was refurbished to be operational until 2012. The routes in and around Reutlingen and on the Swabian Alb are planned.

From September 1961, rack-and-pinion rail buses of the VT 97 series took over operation on the entire route from Reutlingen to Ulm. After making appropriate adjustments to the level crossings and switches, they were able to pass through Schelklingen to Ulm. The VT 97 was derived from the VT 98 series and supplemented by a gear drive. There were eight such railcars, all of which were used on the Honau – Lichtenstein cog railway. The last two vehicles ordered for the Erlau – Wegscheid railway line came directly to Tübingen after a landslide on this line.

dare

Württemberg freight car with a brakeman's cab in Münsingen station

The two-axle branch line cars customary in Württemberg were mainly used as passenger cars . The baggage car was a three-axle special design with a brake gear on the middle axle.

The VT 98 series rail buses procured in the 1950s and 1960s to accelerate and simplify branch line operations were used between Reutlingen and Ulm. To overcome the steep stretch, the cogwheel steam locomotives that were still in operation pushed them uphill or braked them downhill.

Vehicle list

The Schwäbische Alb-Bahn GmbH (SAB) mainly uses NE81 for regular services . The MAN rail buses are used for excursions. A small Köf locomotive is available for shunting tasks. Freight trains and special trains can be pulled by an ML 500 C diesel locomotive.

SAB currently has the following vehicles:

Vehicle number	Type	Construction year	Painting	origin	Status	commitment	Remarks
VT 5	MAN rail bus , railcar	1960	Cream / red	ex. HZL VT 5	operational	Excursion traffic
VT 8	MAN rail bus, railcar	1960	Cream / red	ex. HZL VT 8, ex MAN demonstration vehicle	operational	Excursion traffic	without HU
VT 9	MAN rail bus, railcar	1966	Cream / red	ex. HZL VT 9	switched off		Spare parts dispenser
VS 14	MAN rail bus, control car	1962	Cream / red	ex. HZL VS 14	operational	Excursion traffic	with a large bicycle compartment
VT 128	NE81 Waggon-Union , railcar	1993	Cream / red	ex. SWEG VT 128	operational	Line bus traffic	previously Kaiserstuhlbahn
VT 129	NE81 Waggon-Union , railcar	1993	Cream red	ex. SWEG VT 129	operational	Line bus traffic	previously Kaiserstuhlbahn
VT 410	NE81 Waggon-Union , railcar	1981	Orange / white	ex. WEG VT 410	switched off		Spare parts dispenser
VT 411	NE81 Waggon-Union, railcar	1981	Cream / red	ex. WEG VT 411	operational	Line and freight transport
VT 413	NE81 Waggon-Union, railcar	1993	Cream / red	ex. WEG VT 413	operational	Line bus traffic
VS 201	NE81 Waggon-Union, control car	1985	Cream / red	ex. SWEG VS201, ex AVG VS471, ex WEG VS201	operational	Line bus traffic	with a large bicycle compartment
VS 250	NE81 Waggon-Union, control car	1993	White blue	ex. WEG VS 250	operational	Line bus traffic	with a large bicycle compartment
V50 001	Krauss-Maffei ML 500	1957	red	ex. DB	in HU		currently in main inspection
PSO 2			green	ex. Scheuffelen paper mill, Oberlenningen
KöF 11 003	KÖF III , Gmeinder	1959	red	ex. DB	operational	Shunting service and construction trains
KöF 323 752-6	KöF II, Gmeinder	1960	Red / gray	ex. DB ex. Hermann Paule GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart	operational	Shunting service	On permanent loan from Hermann Paule GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart
T3 930	Württemberg steam locomotive	1905	black	ex. Royal Württemberg State Railway	operational	Special and construction trains	Property of GES
Klv 53-0358	Heavy compact car		yellow		operational	Construction train service

literature

General Directorate of K. Württb. State railways (ed.): Swabian hiking book. Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1899.
Rudolf P. Pavel: branch line Reutlingen – Schelklingen. 2nd edition, Verlag Bleiweis, 1999.
Hans-Wolfgang Scharf: The railway in the Danube valley and in northern Upper Swabia. EK-Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1997, ISBN 3-88255-765-6 .
Dieter Reichhold: Swabian Alb Railway. A journey through time along the Reutlingen - Münsingen - Schelklingen route. Wiedemann Verlag, Münsingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-9805531-7-9 .
Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten railways in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 201-207 .
Joachim Lenk: With the locomotive to the shooting range. Wiedemann-Verlag, Münsingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-941453-19-7 .

Web links

Commons : Reutlingen – Schelklingen railway line - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Terms of use for the Schwäbische Alb Bahn ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 190 kB) Retrieved July 26, 2012 @1@ 2

^ Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten paths in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 201-207 .

↑ Frank Ausmeier: eningen, Sutton Verlag GmbH, Erfurt, 2012, p 15

↑ Swabian Alb Railway - The route. Accessed on July 26, 2012

^ Albert Mühl: The Württemberg State Railways / Albert Mühl; Kurt Seidel. With 104 type sketches by Rudolf Stöckle . Theiss, Stuttgart 1970, ISBN 3-8062-0032-7 , p. 86 .

↑ Joachim Lenk: For maneuvers with the tank on the rails. Südwestpresse, May 8, 2012, accessed May 9, 2012 .

↑ Schwäbische Alb Bahn, who mixes everything. 2012, accessed July 26, 2012 .

↑ Schwäbische Alb Bahn - rail bus timetable 2012 season. Accessed on July 26, 2012