Stump Forest Railway
| Stump Forest Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 Stumpfwaldbahn diesel locomotive with flat car at Eiswoog station
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| Route length: | 3.5 km | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 600 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Stumpfwaldbahn is a museum field railway with 600 mm gauge that has been running in the Stumpfwald since 1996 , which is located in the north of the Palatinate Forest on the district of Ramsen .
course
The Stumpfwaldbahn begins in the west at Eiswoog train station , which is located on the reservoir of the same name . A few years after the start of operations, a stop was set up on the nearby (standard-gauge) Eistalbahn , which is also called Eiswoog . This stop is served by most of the Eistalbahn trains on Sundays, public holidays and Wednesdays (only partially). On weekdays, however, the trains on the Eistalbahn end in Ramsen .
The previous eastern end of operation of the Stumpfwaldbahn was initially at the Bockbachtal station , but was moved a little to the east as part of the route expansion opened in 2007 and converted into an alternate point, which is now the center of the route extended to Ramsen. Shortly before Ramsen there is the Wasserhaus siding and the Schützenhaus stop . There is also a small depot of the Stumpfwaldbahn directly at the Ramsen West terminus .
About halfway between the Bockbachtal train station and the Eiswoog terminus is the previous alternative point for multiple train operations. On the new section of the route towards Ramsen West there is another passing point at Wasserhaus, which, like the old passing point, is only used when there is a very high number of trains or for slow guest vehicles.
history
At the end of the 1980s, the Stumpfwaldbahn Ramsen e. V. aims to build and operate a museum light rail in the stump forest . For this purpose, a half-timbered building was created as a station building at the parking lot below the Eiswoog as the starting point of the route and the Kleehof shunting point was set up in the direction of Ramsen . There, at the Bockbachtal station, was the end point of the Stumpfwaldbahn. The route was inaugurated on September 9, 1996.
In spring 2005, work began to extend the line to the outskirts of Ramsen. The gap between the old and the new section was closed on May 20, 2007. The new section to Ramsen was opened on September 1, 2007.
In October 2008, the Stumpfwaldbahn was the chosen host of the International Light Railroad Meeting, which takes place annually with changing organizers, not least because of the route that is now well known in the museum railway scene.
In addition to the imminent construction of the factory hall and the associated track system on the outskirts of Ramsen, the focus of activities is now again on driving operations as well as the maintenance and reconditioning of other vehicles.
business
A large part of the internal transports and journeys along the Stumpfwaldbahn route is carried out on the railway itself, both for material transport and for maintenance work, which is mainly done on Saturdays or outside the public driving season generally on weekends.
The scheduled public transport takes place with specially built covered passenger cars on the entire route between Ramsen and the Eiswoog. The main load is taken over by three large passenger cars that take a total of 50 passengers; When the rush is increased, two more, slightly smaller cars are usually used in an additional train. In addition, other cars are temporarily available, which z. B. be used at larger events. All passenger cars are equipped with two-axle bogies.
From May 1st to October 3rd, trains run every hour on Sundays and public holidays from 10:10 am - except 12:10 pm - until 5:10 pm through the stump forest; the pure travel time for one direction of the entire route is just under 20 minutes. Some of the operational locomotives are used as locomotives, including a DIEMA DS40 from 1957. There are a total of around twelve diesel locomotives, some of which still have to be refurbished and / and due to lack of space, they are not on the line until the new depot is built are to be found. Most of them come from old field railways from mines , gravel works , quarries and sawmills .
Since 1998 the Stumpfwaldbahn organized a night torchlight ride in the second half of January , which developed into a crowd puller with steadily increasing visitor numbers. Initially, the torchlight trip took place annually, from 2009 it was carried out every two years, then it was removed from the program.
As a substitute, Saint Nicholas trips have been offered every year since 2017. These always take place around December 6th.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ St. Nicholas trips . Retrieved June 3, 2019 .
Coordinates: 49 ° 31 '47.3 " N , 7 ° 59' 25.1" E