Railway line Eibenstock und Bf – Eibenstock above Bf

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Eibenstock und Bf – Eibenstock above Bf
Line of the railway line Eibenstock und Bf – Eibenstock ob Bf
Section of the route map of Saxony from 1902
Route number : sä. EEo
Course book range : 442 (1975)
Route length: 3.145 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope : 50  ‰
Minimum radius : 200 m
Top speed: 20 km / h
Legend
   
 from Adorf (Vogtl)
   
 0.000 Eibenstock und Bf 513 m
   
 to Chemnitz Hbf
   
 3.145 Eibenstock above Bf 641 m

The Eibenstock unt Bf – Eibenstock ob Bf railway line (also known as the steep Eibenstock line) was a branch line in Saxony . It connected on the Erzgebirgshochfläche lying city Eibenstock with the valley of the river Mulde running railway line Chemnitz-Adorf . In addition to a section of the Wilkau-Haßlau-Carlsfeld narrow-gauge railway , it was the steepest railway line in Saxony with a gradient of 50 per thousand.

history

Postcard with lower and upper train station

Eibenstock had its first station on the Chemnitz-Aue-Adorfer Railway in 1875. The line running in the valley of the Zwickauer Mulde, however, lay far away from the town on the same level, so that any transport of goods to Eibenstock had to be laboriously carried by carts over steep paths to the town. After the construction of the section of Schönheide - Wilzschhaus the narrow-gauge railway Wilkau-Haßlau-Carl field , which went into operation in 1893, was an extension of Carlsfeld discussed. The city of Eibenstock turned to the Saxon state parliament with a petition with the aim of building a narrow-gauge railway from Eibenstock to Schönheide and Schönheiderhammer with a connection to the Wilzschhaus-Saupersdorf narrow-gauge railway . The state parliament rejected this petition in its session on March 13, 1894. The Saxon state parliament decided only around 1900 to build a standard-gauge secondary railway starting at Schönheiderhammer station in order to better connect the town of Eibenstock to the railway. However, the renovation of Schönheiderhammer station ultimately turned out to be too expensive, so that Eibenstock station should now be the starting point for the new line. Based on the model of the local railway Schlackenwerth – Joachimsthal in the Bohemian Ore Mountains, a line with a maximum longitudinal gradient of 1:20 was built. On May 3, 1905, operations began on the steepest railway line in Saxony.

On January 29, 1945, a serious accident occurred due to a brake failure on a train traveling downhill, in which five people were killed and 39 injured.

When the construction of the Eibenstock dam began in the early 1970s , the end of the railway was marked out. With the timetable change on September 27, 1975 the passenger train service was stopped. The line was closed on October 5, 1975 and dismantled a little later.

Operational peculiarities

Due to the steep incline, there were numerous safety regulations. The locomotive had to run on all trains on the valley side. If a coupling broke , the entire train of cars did not tear off. Furthermore, steam locomotives always had to stand with the smoke chamber facing the mountain, so that the fire box would not burn out due to lack of water. In addition, each locomotive was equipped with four independently acting brakes, namely:

  1. Air brake
  2. Additional brake
  3. Handbrake
  4. Back pressure brake

Every train traveling down the valley also had to stop at the entrance signal for Eibenstock station at Bf. The safety switch behind the entry signal led to a sand track . Only after the train had come to a standstill in front of the signal was it allowed to move the safety switch in the direction of the platform and thus create the entry road. Then the signal could be brought into the running position and the train could enter.

Since the serious accident in January 1945, the wagon trains have been transferred to the Aue depot every two days for brake checks .

A driver's car was placed in front of the trains on the mountain side . This had been provided with front wall windows and headlights so that the train driver could take over the route observation. In the event of any obstacles, the train driver braked using the continuous compressed air brake. The driver's car was also added to the freight trains.

Route description

Model of the reception building of the Eibenstock train station und Bf
Eibenstock ob Bf, reception building (2017)

Route

Starting from Eibenstock und Bf at Chemnitz – Aue – Adorf, the branch line initially branched off to the east and then led in an arc with a gradient of 1:20 over a length of 3 kilometers to the south, where Eibenstock above Bf was reached. The terminus is in the north of Eibenstock.

Operating points

Eibenstock und Bf ⊙

Initially, the station opened on September 7, 1875 on the Chemnitz – Aue – Adorf railway line was simply referred to as Eibenstock station. Since the station was far from the city of Eibenstock in the valley of the Zwickauer Mulde, the line to Eibenstock ob Bf was opened in 1905 and at the same time the station was renamed Eibenstock unt Bf . With the construction of the Eibenstock dam , the station was shut down and demolished on October 5, 1975. Today it is located under the water surface of the Eibenstock dam.

Eibenstock above Bf ⊙

Eibenstock ob Bf was opened on May 3, 1905 with the opening of the line from Eibenstock to Bf . On the same day, the station building on “Muldenhammerstraße” in Eibenstock was opened. In 1967 the coal shed was demolished. With the construction of the Eibenstock dam, the station was shut down on October 5, 1975 and lost its importance. In the building near the "Platz des Friedens" in Eibenstock there is now a food market.

Vehicle use

Locomotives

94 2105 in the Schwarzenberg Railway Museum

In the first years of operation, the trains were carried by the three-axle Saxon class VT (DR class 89.2). In addition, some class V locomotives were stationed in the Eibenstock locomotive station. These two series were replaced by the Prussian T 8 in 1923 , which was in use here until 1927. In 1926, the DR series 94.19-21 came on the steep section for the first time . Between 1935 and 1948, some machines from the DR series 94.5-17 were also used.

In the last few decades, the Saxon DR series 94.19-21 with Riggenbach counter-pressure brake was the only locomotive series approved on the steep stretch. Until recently, the Aue depot kept three locomotives ready for operation on the steep section. With the closure of the line in 1975, the use of Saxon regional railroad locomotives for the Deutsche Reichsbahn ended . The locomotive 94 2105 was saved from scrapping by employees of the Aue depot and can now be viewed in the Schwarzenberg Railway Museum .

In the last few months before the cessation of operations, only two operational locomotives of the 94.19-21 series were left, so that class 86 machines also traveled the steep section in exceptional cases (washout day or repair of one of the last two 94 series). Although the class 86 locomotives used did not have a counter-pressure brake, they were still able to bring the trains to a safe standstill before the entry signal in the lower station.

Passenger cars

In the first few years of operation, two-axle Saxon passenger cars with access platforms at the front ends and skylights were used. From the 1920s onwards, a colorful hodgepodge of different cars was used. Until 1971, numerous former regional railway cars were still to be found on the Stadtbahn. In the mid-1960s, auxiliary passenger cars of the MCi-43 series were used. It was not until 1971 that the outdated vehicle material was exchanged for Reco vehicles .

Model railway system steep section Eibenstock

In 1992 a model railway club from Klingenthal built a model railway system of the steep Eibenstock line in the nominal size TT . After the association was dissolved, the system was installed in the Adorf depot . Due to damage in the roof of the building, the model railway system suffered badly.

After negotiations with the Bahnsozialwerk Adorf as the owner of the facility, the Modellbahnclub Mittweida eV, founded in 2014, was able to obtain the facility on permanent loan. In 2017, the system was able to be rebuilt true to the original using historical images.

  • Model of the steep section of the Eibenstock

  • Model of the train station Eibenstock ob Bf

  • Model of the train station Eibenstock ob Bf, reception building

  • Model of the Eibenstock train station and train station

literature

Web links

Commons : Railway line Eibenstock unt Bf – Eibenstock ob Bf  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minutes of the meeting of the Second Chamber on March 13, 1894, p. 393 Digitalisat at Landtagsprotokoll.Sachsendigital.de
  2. ↑ Eibenstock ob Bf on www.sachsenschiene.net