Volkmarshausen tunnel

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Volkmarshausen tunnel
Volkmarshausen tunnel
Southwest and northeast portal of the Volkmarshäuser Tunnel, 2008
use Railway tunnel
(initially double-track;
from 1943 single-track)
traffic connection Dransfeld ramp
place near Volkmarshausen
length 325.5 mdep1
Number of tubes 1
cross-section approx. 6 m × 8 m
construction
Client Kingdom of Hanover
building-costs approx. 88,639 thalers
start of building 1852
completion 1855
business
release September 23, 1856
closure September 10, 1995
location
Volkmarshäuser Tunnel (Lower Saxony)
Red pog.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates
Northeast portal 51 ° 26 ′ 49 "  N , 9 ° 40 ′ 31"  E
Southwest portal 51 ° 26 ′ 43 "  N , 9 ° 40 ′ 17"  E

The Volkmarshausen Tunnel is a 325.5 m long, former railway tunnel of the Hannöverschen Südbahn , which was built from 1852 to 1855 near Volkmarshausen in the Kingdom of Hanover . It is located in the southern Lower Saxony district of Göttingen between the former Oberscheden train station and the former Volkmarshausen stop . The tunnel belonged to the southern, now disused section between Hann. Münden and Göttingen , which was also known as the Dransfeld ramp . It is located at the southern railway line kilometer  135.8 and was driven through from 1856 to 1995. The construction costs amounted to around 88,639  thalers .

Geographical location

The Volkmarshäuser Tunnel is located in the Münden Nature Park in the south of the Bramwald . It runs in a north-east-south-west direction through the wooded north-west slope of the Hünenburg ( 312.5  m above sea  level ), a north-north-west neighboring elevation of the Blümer Berg ( 320.4  m ). The middle of the tunnel is about 350 m away from the Christ Church to the east-northeast on the outskirts of Volkmarshausen . To the northwest the landscape slopes down to the Schede ; the hamlet of Schedetal is located about 330 m north-northeast of the center of the tunnel at the tributary of the Weser .

History and description

19th century

The Volkmarshausen Tunnel was built between 1852 and 1855 with the help of Italian tunneling experts. The tunneling was carried out first by the construction of a two meters wide and four meters high directional tunnel from both sides of the tunnel where blasting with gunpowder were made. Both construction teams met in the middle after a year and a half of construction. The tunnel was then extended to a height of six meters and a width of eight meters and lined with clinker bricks.

With the inauguration of the southern section of the southern runway on September 23, 1856, the tunnel was also put into operation. The originally double-track railway line ran through it .

Drawing of the southwest portal, around 1850

The building is one of the most important engineering structures in the Kingdom of Hanover . It was the only railway tunnel in the kingdom and it is occasionally claimed that this was the main reason for the construction of King George V of Hanover . The real reasons for the tunnel construction, however, lay in the cost savings and the desire to run the route at the same altitude as possible to Kassel. The Mündener Bahnhof is on a hillside around 15 meters above the historic city center.

The tunnel is made in a slight arch. The north-east and south-west portal belong to the tunnel. Both tunnel portals, designed in the neo-Romanesque style, are made of sandstone and have decorative elements from the early days of the railway. On the southwest portal, the monogram of King George V and the Guelph Steed are shown in two portal rosettes . The north-east portal is equipped with two portal rosettes with the inscriptions "Begonnen 1852" and "Vollendet 1855". The tunnel portals are under monument protection and are available in miniature versions in nominal size H0 (scale 1:87) as a kit for model railways in stores. The Volkmarshausen stop was at the southwest portal.

  • North-east portal rosette 1: "Begeen 1852"

  • North-east portal rosette 2: "Completed 1855"

  • Southwest portal rosette 1: Monogram of King George V.

  • Southwest portal rose 2: Guelph Horse

20th century

Route kilometers 135.7 just before the north-east portal
Tunnel with remains of gravel, 2016

During the Second World War , the second track on the railway line was dismantled in 1943 - including in the tunnel. It was not replaced in the post-war period . On March 30 and 31, 1945, two air raids by American bombers took place on Hannoversch Münden . They also applied to the Gneisenau barracks of the Wehrmacht near Gimte , southwest of Volkmarshausen, where part of the Army High Command was quartered. Railway trains near the Volkmarshausen tunnel were also bombed during the attacks.

In 1955 the articulated multiple unit VT 10 “Komet” derailed at the north-east entrance of the tunnel at around 65 km / h through fallen rocks.

When the neighboring Werra Valley line was electrified in 1964 , the Dransfeld Rampe railway line steadily lost its importance. The brisk long-distance travel that once ran along the route and through the tunnel was reduced to freight and local trains. In 1974 the last steam locomotive passed the tunnel. After passenger traffic on the railway line was discontinued in 1980, only freight trains passed through the tunnel, in the end only between Oberscheden and Hann. Münden. In 1995 this section between Hann. Münden and Oberscheden closed. The last regular trip through the tunnel took place with a V-60 train in April 1995. The last time it was driven through the tunnel was on September 10, 1995 with a VT-98 multiple unit. In March 2000 the tracks in the tunnel were dismantled.

The tunnel structure is freely accessible. The former Volkmarshausen stop at the south-west portal of the tunnel is overgrown with plants. Even today it can be reached from the village via a forest path.

Web links

Commons : Volkmarshäuser Tunnel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tunnel length (325.5 m) according to the inscription on a former sign on one of the tunnel portals
  2. ↑ a b c d e Jens Kaup: The history of the Volkmarshäuser tunnel (total model construction - extraordinary model railway architecture ) , on vampisol.de
  3. ↑ a b c d Rosettes of the northeast portal: Begun in 1852 and completed in 1855 , on commons.wikimedia.org
  4. ↑ a b c History of the Volkmarshäuser Tunnel ( memento of October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), with 21 subpages, on archive.org
  5. ↑ Volkmarshausen Tunnel : Location of the tunnel at route kilometers "135.8", on eisenbahntunnel-portal.de
  6. ↑ Hünenburg in the map service Experience nature in Lower Saxony (illustration: map ), Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection ( information ) (DTK 25; height according to the top contour line in AK 5 / 2.5), on natur-erleben.niedersachsen.de
  7. ↑ Rosettes of the southwest portal : Monogram and Welfenross , on commons.wikimedia.org
  8. ↑ Model kits: east portal (north-east portal) and south portal (south-west portal ), on vampisol.de
  9. ↑ In the beginning there was chaos in: 40 Years of the Lower Saxony State Police School 1946–1986 , Ed .: State Police School Lower Saxony
  10. ↑ Kassel - Hann. Münden - Göttingen , in the railway in the Kassel area , on steamy.de
  11. ^ Southern section of the Hanover Southern Railway. VT 10 comet. ( Memento of February 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved August 3, 2016