Münchberg – Selbitz railway line

Münchberg – Selbitz
The railway area in Münchberg , on the house platform a Vogtlandbahn railcar to Helmbrechts
Route number (DB) :	5024 (Selbitz – Helmbrechts) 5025 (Münchberg – Helmbrechts)
Course book section (DB) :	853
Route length:	20.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	22.2  ‰
Minimum radius :	183 m
Top speed:	50 km / h
Legend from Hof ​​Hbf from Zell (Oberfr) 0.000 Münchberg 536 m to Bamberg Federal motorway 9 3.100 Unfriedsdorf (since 1956) 5.338 Hildbrandsgrün 7.027 Wüstenselbitz (formerly Bf) 7.900 Weißenbach (until 1922) 9.314 10.9 Helmbrechts (formerly Bf) 601 m 8.9 Helmbrechts outdoor pool 6.6 Volkmannsgrün Selbitz 5.0 Schauenstein 2.5 Eselberg tunnel (113 m) 2.2 Willow green from yard 0.0 Selbitz to Bad Steben Swell:

Helmbrechts station

Agilis regional shuttle in Helmbrechts

A buffer stop marks the end of the Münchberg – Helmbrechts route today

The former railway tunnel in Weidesgrün

The former terminus of the line in Selbitz

The Münchberg – Selbitz line is a branch line in Bavaria . It leads from Münchberg via Helmbrechts to Selbitz . The Helmbrechts – Selbitz section has now been closed and dismantled except for a tunnel in Weidesgrün, a bridge in Schauenstein and two bridges in Selbitz. Passenger trains continue to run between Münchberg and Helmbrechts.

history

After the completion of the work on the Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn in 1848, many villages away from the larger cities also sought a rail link. The people of Helmbrecht owe their rail connection to the initiative of Mayor Heinrich Pöhlmann, who, together with other like-minded people, has been working on the construction since 1863. After industrialists from Münchberg had campaigned for the new railway line, it was added to the list of new connections to be planned in 1876 as the "Selbitz Railway". After the proposal failed two years later in the Bavarian state parliament and a decision was made against the construction of the Selbitz –Helmbrechts– Münchberg line , all hopes were initially buried.

The surprise was all the greater when Münchberg received a letter from the Hof- based railway construction section asking them to estimate the expected traffic on the Hof – Naila – Stammbach route . On January 5, 1883, Münchberg's city council replied to this letter, adding that due to the trade relations between Münchberg and Selbitz, the construction of a local railway between the two communities should also be considered. As early as January 14, 1883, representatives of all cities interested in the railroad met in Schauenstein . Among the participants from Münchberg was the then town clerk Ludwig Zapf , who later did an excellent job of building the Münchberg – Zell railway line .

Since, according to the Local Railway Act, the land for the railway line had to be provided by the municipalities, it was agreed that Helmbrechts 30/40, Wüstenselbitz 8/40 and Münchberg 2/40 would take over the land acquisition costs estimated at around 40,000 marks. In order to relieve the cities, the local industrialists promised to bear part of the costs. In order to give more weight to the request of the cities, representatives of the three municipalities called in Munich on June 11, 1883 . The result, however, was less positive, as the necessary bridge over the Pulschnitz and the extensions in the Münchberg train station meant costs in the eyes of the state government that would have been disproportionate to the expected income. On August 2 of the same year, the city of Münchberg received a letter from the general management in which it advocated the construction of the route, but required the cities to contribute 8,500 marks for the necessary renovation work in Münchberg station in addition to the land acquisition costs. This sum was finally raised by the municipalities and the staking out work for the new railway line began just 14 days later.

The city of Helmbrechts applied for a change in the route at the beginning of September. The end point should no longer be Helmbrechts, but Wüstenselbitz in order to achieve cheaper freight costs. But it fell on deaf ears everywhere and the general management in Munich also stayed with the originally planned route. The route branched off from the main line at the Bechermühle in Kulmbacher Strasse in Münchberg, then ran through Gottersdorfer Grund and Lerchenholz and was then supposed to reach Hildbrandsgrün . In the Bavarian Local Railway Act of April 21, 1884, the connection from Münchberg to Helmbrechts was listed alongside twelve other routes. In the Chamber of Deputies, the railway was included in the law with 110 votes to 29. In the planning, the runway was specified with the following data: Length: 9.73 km, maximum gradient 1:45 (22.2 ‰), minimum curve radius: 180 m.

The total cost has now been put at 680,000 marks, which means a price of 69,800 marks per kilometer. The municipalities and other interested parties were supposed to contribute 56,000 marks. However, contrary to all promises, work on the route was suspended, which prompted the railway committee in Münchberg to request continuation in a letter. It was declared that the line should be operational by 1886 at the latest. After the first groundbreaking on August 19, 1885, work was suspended due to the harsh winter until construction could continue in May 1886. On November 6th of the same year the arrival of the first locomotive in Wüstenselbitz was celebrated, on November 15th the line to Helmbrechts was completed. After the first test drive with the “Zeil” locomotive had taken place on May 11, 1887, the Münchberg – Helmbrechts local railway was opened on June 1, 1887. The textile industry flourished in Helmbrechts thanks to the railway connection. 120 years later, almost nothing was left of the proud railway era.

Continuation of the route to Selbitz

After the initial success, Schauenstein again applied to the Bavarian State Parliament to continue the route into the Selbitztal . After the construction of the railway was approved 30 years later, on July 26, 1912, the First World War ruined all plans. In 1923 the track construction work was finished, whereby in addition to the normal substructures of the route, ten stone bridges and a tunnel were the only ones required on an Upper Franconian branch line.

The old Helmbrechtser Bahnhof was abandoned for passenger traffic in 1924 because the area and the adjacent buildings were in the way of an extension of the line to Selbitz. The main track in Münchberg was swiveled and a new train station, which still exists today, was built outside the city. It was only around 500 m away from the Weißenbach district, so the stop there was closed in 1923. In the old station, which was originally supposed to be demolished, goods traffic remained for financial reasons. In 1924, the Schauenstein train station followed with an extension to the goods shed. The “Münchberger Gleis” could be accommodated in the Selbitzer station area without any problems. From 1924 onwards, Selbitz was not only a junction station for trains from Hof ​​and Bad Steben with connections in Naila to Schwarzenbach am Wald and in Marxgrün to Blankenstein / Thuringia, but also the terminus on the line from Münchberg via Helmbrechts. A provisional stop was set up at what was then the Helmbrechts open-air swimming pool, which was only used as a stop in summer. Since in the afternoon, when bathing temperatures were also to be expected in the Franconian Forest, passenger train traffic was only handled at around 2 p.m. and then again between 5 and 6 p.m., the railway could inevitably be used little.

Handling of driving operations

After three pairs of trains had been operated in the first half of the year, the timetable already included five pairs of trains in 1888. In 1896, a second permanently stationed steam locomotive can be identified for the first time in Helmbrechts . In addition, there were two passenger cars and four freight cars. In the following years only one locomotive was stationed in Helmbrechts. The number of cars varied slightly. In the years that followed, not much happened on the line until the VT 95 series rail buses were used for the first time in the 1950s . The end of the steam locomotive was heralded.

The end of the train

After rail operations on the Münchberg – Zell route had been discontinued in 1971 and passenger traffic between Falls and Gefrees in 1973, passenger traffic on the Helmbrechts – Selbitz route was also discontinued on May 30, 1976. In the following year, the track dismantling work on the Schauenstein – Selbitz line began from Schauenstein. The shelter in Weidesgrün had already been demolished in May. In October 1981 the DB had three of a total of 6 bridges on this section of the route blown up. The "Waldenfelsbrücke" near Uschertsgrün was subjected to an extreme stress test in 1989 for test purposes by the then DB until it finally collapsed (Werner Rost in Frankenpost of 23 December 2002). To this day, however, the bridge over Brunnenstrasse and Obere Austraße still stand in Selbitz. In addition, the Eselberg tunnel near Weidesgrün is evidence of the former route. It has now been locked on one side and serves as a warehouse. After the freight traffic to Schauenstein had ceased on March 31, 1987, the track dismantling from Schauenstein to Helmbrechts began. This closed the chapter on the Selbitztalbahn . Sections of the route between Weidesgrün tunnel (approximate location) and Schauenstein as well as Volkmannsgrün and Helmbrechts are used today as cycle paths and footpaths. There are also track km stones to be found there. In Volkmannsgrün the former railway bridge over the road to Helmbrechts was even rebuilt for the cycle path.

The Münchberg – Helmbrechts line still exists, but the former through track at Helmbrechts station is closed with a buffer stop. The remaining route is almost ten kilometers long.

The Hildbrandsgrün stop has not been served since the 2015 timetable change. The reason given by Deutsche Bahn was that from this point on, dynamic text displays were required and the Bavarian Railway Company did not want to participate financially in the installation. After the cities of Münchberg and Helmbrechts as well as the district of Hof were willing to contribute to the costs, the stop was reopened for the 2017 timetable change.

Buildings

All the original buildings on the route were still there until the 1970s. So was in Wüstenselbitz next to the station building and a goods shed in brick - and half-timbered construction . The station building, a freight hall and a two-tier engine shed were in Helmbrechts . These buildings have all disappeared now. First the locomotive shed in Helmbrechts had to give way, and in 1984 the building in Wüstenselbitz. The final step was the demolition of the old train station in Helmbrechts in 1986 with the associated toilet block .

The Volkmannsgrün and Weidesgrün stops, made of simple wooden houses, lasted until 1977. In Volkmannsgrün, a shed has been built on the former railway line, the current cycle path.

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  Münchberg train station

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  Wüstenselbitz train station

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  Goods shed Helmbrechts

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  The shelters at the simple bus stops were identical to those in Reinersreuth

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  The train station in Schauenstein

Vehicles used

Agilis regional shuttle in Wüstenselbitz

The first locomotive on the line was the "Zeil", a type D VI . It was followed by the D VII “Eschenau” series as a stationary machine , which was listed in the railroad's inventory lists until 1920. Until then, it was based in Helmbrechts. The fate of the machine can no longer be traced today. What is certain is that it was used by the Reichsbahn until it was retired under the number 98 7640.

The Eschenau was followed by a type D XI locomotive from around 1920 . In addition to this machine, a GtL 4/4 series was stationed in Helmbrechts from 1924 . These machines were probably en route until World War II. The last steam locomotives to be used on the line were units of the standard series  64 and 86 . In addition, class 70 locomotives were on the road in the 1950s . Simultaneously with them, diesel trains appeared on the route for the first time. Examples of the series VT 70 and VT 75 did their service on the line before 1954 VT 95 railcars were used.

These vehicles made it possible to reconfigure the train units very quickly, with corresponding practical advantages. A train set, each with a railcar at the ends (there was a driver for each railcar) and two sidecars in the middle, brought commuters to Selbitz and drove on to Naila with commuters and students. The vehicles were equipped with central buffer couplings (and shock spring bars instead of buffers ). This allowed an uncomplicated separation and re-formation of the train unit. In Naila the two cars in front drove on to Bad Steben. The two rear cars drove back to Selbitz with commuters and students. A two-person rail bus unit had arrived there in the meantime. The rail bus from Naila in the Selbitz train station drove past this to the next switch, and coupled in reverse, which was done by the semi-automatic coupling. The driver alone had to change the driver's cab for coupling and for the subsequent journey. The newly formed unit of four - it thus became twin-engine - transported commuters and students via Weidesgrün, Schauenstein and Volkmannsgrün to Helmbrechts and together with other students to Münchberg.

The VT95 series were replaced in 1974 by the more powerful VT-98s .

The locomotive hauled trains were taken over by the V 100 series in the 1960s . The Köf III stationed in Münchberg also sometimes took over the service on the local railway. From 1986 railcars of the 614 series drove on the route .

The regional rail services were provided by Vogtlandbahn on behalf of Deutsche Bahn with diesel multiple units of the 642 series and RegioSprinter until June 2011 . The route is currently being used by agilis Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel multiple units.

Today's course book number is 853. The travel time between Münchberg and Helmbrechts is about fifteen minutes.

literature

• Andreas Kuhfahl, Wolfram Alteneder: The branch lines of the BD Nuremberg . Verlag C. Kersting, Bonn 1986, ISBN 3-925250-02-6 .
• Siegfried Bufe: Railway in Upper Franconia . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-922138-13-6 .
• Robert Zintl: Bavarian branch lines . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-531-6 .
• Deutsche Reichsbahn, Horst-Werner Dumjahn: The German railways in their development 1835-1935 . Reichsdruckerei, Berlin 1935 / Reprint with foreword by Horst-Werner Dumjahn: Dumjahn Verlag, Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-921426-29-4 .
• Roland Fraas u. a .: 100 years of the Münchberg-Helmbrechts local railway 1887–1987 - commemorative publication for the 6th – 8th anniversary June 1987 . Publisher: MEC 01 Münchberg e. V.
• Roland Fraas and Gernot Dietel: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Ed. Working group Stadtgeschichte Münchberg, Volume 1
• Dennis Philipp, Roland Fraas and many more: Local railways in Helmbrechts - The first and last of their kind Publisher 2012: MEC 01 Münchberg e. V.
• Kerstin Schäfer: The high-rise buildings of the Upper Franconian branch lines. History, inventory and conversion, Neustadt / Coburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-944237-05-3 .

Web links

• Route and operating points of the preserved route section on the OpenRailwayMap
• Timetable 1944
• The Münchberg - Helmbrechts local railway

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
2. ^ Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 62
3. ^ ^{A b c} Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to the Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 63
4. ^ Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 64
5. ^ ^{A b c} Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 67
6. ^ ^{A b} Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 69
7. ^ Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 70
8. ^ Gernot Dietel and Roland Fraas: Railway in Münchberg 1848–1998 , Contributions to Münchberger Stadtgeschichte, Volume 1, p. 72
9. ↑ Roland Fraas: 100 years of the Münchberg-Helmbrechts local railway 1887–1987 , MEC 01 Münchberg e. V., p. 27f
10. ↑ Dennis Philipp, Roland Fraas u. a .: Local railways in Helmbrechts. The first and last of their kind . S. 63 f .
11. ↑ Roland Fraas: 100 years of the Münchberg-Helmbrechts local railway 1887–1987 , MEC 01 Münchberg e. V., p. 31
12. ↑ Roland Fraas: 100 years of the Münchberg-Helmbrechts local railway 1887–1987 , MEC 01 Münchberg e. V., p. 33ff
13. ↑ Lorenz Storch: Closed train stop: Hildbrandsgrün terminus. (No longer available online.) In: Bayerischer Rundfunk. January 29, 2016, archived from the original on September 28, 2016 ; accessed on September 28, 2016 . 
14. ↑ A light goes on: Bahn is upgrading the Hildbrandsgrün stop after protests. In: BR.de. December 11, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2018 . 
15. ↑ Roland Fraas: 100 years of the Münchberg-Helmbrechts local railway 1887–1987 , MEC 01 Münchberg e. V., pp. 41-50
16. ↑ Roland Fraas: 100 years of the Münchberg-Helmbrechts local railway 1887–1987 , MEC 01 Münchberg e. V., pp. 61-67