Sulmtalbahn

Sulmtalbahn Leibnitz - Pölfing Brunn
Geographical data
continent	Europe
country	Austria
state	Styria
Legend from Spielfeld-Straß 0.000 Leibnitz 270  m above sea level A. to Graz 1,827 Kaindorf 5.062 Muggenau-Silberberg 7.364 Heimschuh 12,000 Fresing 14.859 Maierhof (also: Mayerhof) 18.806 Gleinstätten 20.610 Prarath 21,954 Sankt Martin - Dietmannsdorf in Sulmtal from Lieboch 24.768 Pölfing-Brunn to Wies-Eibiswald

The Sulmtalbahn was a standard gauge local railway from Leibnitz to Pölfing-Brunn in western Styria . It established a connection from the southern railway line in the Murtal to the GKB Wieserbahn . It was built by the Sulmtalbahn corporation, opened in 1907 and closed in 1967.

history

Construction and operation

The section of the Sulmtalbahn between Leibnitz and Gleinstätten (bottom left), edited in 1910 ( Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme ).

On January 31, 1906, Karl Freiherr von Wucherer-Huldenfeld and Dr. Leopold Stramitzer obtained a concession to build and operate a local railway from Leibnitz to Pölfing-Brunn. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in Leibnitz on March 11th. The execution of the construction was entrusted to the company Albert Buss & Co. in Vienna, a subsidiary of the Swiss construction company Albert Buss & Cie. On April 26, 1907, the Südbahn-Gesellschaft contractually took over management of the line under construction, which was officially opened on October 13.

In 1917 all traffic had to be suspended for several months due to a lack of coal during the First World War . On January 1, 1924, the Austrian Federal Railways (BBÖ) took over the operation of the Sulmtalbahn after the liquidation of the Südbahngesellschaft. On April 1, 1930, this task was taken over by the Graz-Köflacher Eisenbahn, which now also owned the majority of the shares in the Sulmtalbahn. From May 15, 1930, the GKB ran the Sulmtalbahn trains from Leibnitz to Wies-Eibiswald.

The only station on the route where train crossings were handled according to the timetable was Fresing station. Safety systems and signals were not available for this.

post war period

In 1953, rail buses of the VT 10 series ("Red Lightning") replaced the previous steam locomotive trains in passenger transport. On October 13, 1957, the 50th anniversary of the Sulmtalbahn was celebrated with a large participation of the population.

After the end of the immediate post-war period, the general motorization led to a decrease in the number of passengers, especially in passenger traffic. The volume of freight in freight traffic showed no downward trend, however, the coal mines in the catchment area of ​​the railway had already been restricted in the decades before. The railway was built primarily to transport coal from the Wies-Eibiswalder Revier. At the beginning of 1967, extensive maintenance work was carried out on the track systems. Nevertheless, on May 27, 1967, passenger traffic was unexpectedly stopped; the staff was only informed three days in advance. Existing freight was carried off until May 31, 1967. In the already printed timetable of the GKB summer timetable, information about the setting was provided by means of an insert sheet.

The 6.1 km long section between Gleinstätten and Pölfing-Brunn was retained as a connecting line to the Wieserbahn for two companies , the remaining section was removed in autumn 1976 and the around 1,100 tonnes of old rails were removed.

Today part of the former route is used as a cycle path.

Locomotives

Group photo with locomotive 2, probably around 1907 in Pölfing-Brunn station

The initial equipment of the vehicle fleet included two tank locomotives of the southern line 32d series supplied by the Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik . Following the acquisition of the company by the TBI and TBI machines were other rows on the Sulmtalbahn, among other things, sold to the GKB former Vienna rail locomotives of the row 30 .

Sulmtalbahn steam locomotives
number	design type	Construction year	Manufacturer
1-2	C n2t	1907	Wr. Neustadt

literature

• Horst Knely: 100 years ago: The opening of the Sulmtalbahn . In: Eisenbahn Österreich , Issue 9, 2007, pp. 446–448.
• Josef Slezak, Hans Sternhart: The 100 year old GKB - a treat for railroad fans . Self-published, Vienna 1960.
• Sepp Tezak : Memories of the Sulmtalbahn . In: Eisenbahnverkehr aktuell , No. 6, 1992, p. 8 ff.
• Sepp Tezak : Relics of the Sulmtalbahn . In: Eisenbahnverkehr aktuell , issue 12, 1998, p. 7 ff.
• Dietmar Zweidick, Monika Andrä: The Sulmtalbahn , commemorative publication for the exhibition in Kaindorf. Self-published, May 2007.
• Heimo Holik, Dietmar Zweidick: The history of the Sulmtalbahn , film, October 18, 2019, 7.30 p.m., Kultursaal Leibnitz

Web links

Commons : Sulmtalbahn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Der Bautechniker , 26th year 1906, No. 11, p. 223
2. ^ The Sulmtalbahn (1907–1967) . In: GKB turntable . Graz, April 2007, p. 9 f., ZDB -ID 2181683-9 .
3. ^ From Graz to Pölfing-Brunn. In: GKB turntable . Graz, December 2012, pp. 19-20, ZDB -ID 2181683-9 .
4. ↑ Martina Schweiggl: An accident with great consequences . In: mein district.at, October 17, 2018 (accessed July 24, 2020).
5. ↑ ^{a b} Sulmtalbahn discontinued . In: Zeitschrift Eisenbahn , 7/1967, Bohmann Verlag, Vienna