Waldbahn Radmer

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The Waldbahn Radmer was a freight transport railway between Radmer and Hieflau in Styria in Austria . Mainly wood and ore were transported.

prehistory

The management of the fund assets of the imperial family (after 1918 Prince Hohenberg's possession) began as early as 1912 with the planning of a forest railway. However, this year the costs for the construction of the Radmer forest railway in the Stube - Säge Hieflau were only sufficient for the Trassensteig and 150 m substructure. According to oral records, construction is said to have started in a 600 mm gauge and a steam locomotive to pull the construction trains was procured. However, the outbreak of World War I brought railway construction to a standstill. After the First World War, the planning and construction of the forest railway was resumed, as huge amounts of wood were lying in the Radmertal as a result of storm disasters in 1916/17.

start of building

Construction began in August 1919 and operations began on March 3, 1920. Due to the large amount of wood in the Finstergraben, the route to the Neuhaus loading point had to be extended. The 12.8 km long route was completed in November 1922. All transport services were provided by a locomotive borrowed from iron ore (Kr / Mü 7212/1917 Bt n2 Erzberg 33) until the company bought its own locomotive . The railway was built very solidly because, in addition to wood, they wanted to transport up to 4,000 freight cars with ore from the Radmer mine every year .

The distance:

  • Track width 830 mm ( to be able to use vehicles from Erzberg)
  • Minimum radius 80 m
  • Maximum gradient 30 per mille
  • Rail weight per meter 18 - 22 kg (Finstergraben 12 kg)

Vehicles:

  • 1 steam locomotive O&K 9977/1922 Ct n2 "SOPHIE" 1922-50 +1951
  • 1 Austro-Daimler trolley, 35 hp
  • 54 trucks (loading weight per unit 8 t)
  • 2 platform wagons (load weight 12 t sawn timber)

route

The forest railway touched all important access roads, storage areas and delivery systems. The main loading area was in Finstergraben, with an intermediate storage area and saw in Radmer. On the way there were two turnouts (herb garden, water oven), the end point in Hieflau Säge. The loaded wagons were usually driven by gravity from Radmer to the Hieflau sawmill. There was no public transport .

On March 1, 1939, the management of the iron stone mine in Radmer commissioned the Kunath, Schmidt & Metzger company in Vienna to create a track connection from the Zwiebachbrücke to the mine. On September 25, 1939, provisional track sections were laid on the road and a locomotive from Erzberg (O&K 266/1899 Bt n2 No. 25/2 1939-41) served the mining area. The connecting line was not finished until 1941. There were 2 more locomotives (O&K 265/1899 Bt n2 No. 1/25 and O&K 4030/1910 Bt n2 No. 6/40 1939-53) and ore heaps with a capacity of 2, 8 m³. On December 12, 1941 the first ore train drove to the ground bunker (next to Radmer station), which was filled by December 15, 1941. After that, around 2,000 tons of raw ore were loaded every week.

In 1942, more locomotives from the Erzberg were used on the Waldbahn:

  • No. 4/60 Kr / Li 7155/1916 Bt n2 1942-47 (Donawitz 60.3)
  • No. 5/60 Kr / Li 7310/1917 Bt n2 1942-47 (Donawitz 60.5)
  • No. 6/60 Kr / Li 7311/1917 Bt n2 1942-47 (Donawitz 60.8)
  • No. 17/100 pile. 3236-38? / 1939 Bt n2 1942-?
  • No. 7/100 Kr / Li 6772/1913 Bt n2 1942-64 +1964
  • No. 29/100 Kr / Li 7153/1916 Bt n2 1942-64 +1964
  • No. 31/100 He 19385/1922 Bt n2 1942-64 +1964
  • No. 32/100 He 19386/1922 Bt n2 1942-64 +1964
  • No. 33/100 He 19387/1922 Bt n2 1942-64 +1964
  • No. 34/100 He 19388/1922 Bt n2 1942-64 1964 to Donawitz

The list of locomotives does not claim to be complete, as some of the information is different.

lease agreement

In 1948, the Hohenberg Forestry Office concluded a usage and lease agreement with the iron stone mining industry. The end of the "SOPHIE" locomotive came in 1950, and its name tag is still kept in the forest administration offices today. Gravity travel ceased with the introduction of ore trains, pure wood trains continued to run until 1954. There were still mixed trains until 1956, then timber traffic was discontinued and the forest railway line between Finstergraben - Radmer Abzw. And Bodenbunker - Hieflau Säge was dismantled until around 1964.

Since 1956 only ore has been transported to the ground bunker / Bf. Radmer. In 1962 and 1965, more powerful steam locomotives and ore hunts with 3.9 m³ came to the ore conveyor railway :

  • No. 14/200 Kr / Li 1478/1928 C1t h2 1962-67 (ex.BBÖ Uh1, ÖBB 498.01 +1967)
  • No. 15/200 Kr / Li 1479/1928 C1t h2 1962-67 (ex.BBÖ Uh2, ÖBB 498.02 +1967)
  • No. 16/200 Kr / Li 1513/1929 C1t h2 1962-67 (ex.BBÖ Uh5, ÖBB 498.05 +1967)
  • No. 12/200 Kr / Mü 17234/1945 Bt n2 1965-67 (Mining Zangtal +1967)
  • No. 13/200 Kr / Mü 17204/1944 Bt n2 1965-67 (Mining Zangtal +1967)

Reconstruction of the railway

In 1967 the railway was rebuilt: it was re- gauged to 900 mm and electrified with 1,200 V direct current . The length of the route - with a heavy rail profile - was only 7.32 km after the end of the timber extraction. The catenary was designed according to the Kummler & Matter system. The feed took place in the middle of the route (Ausw. Krautgarten). 600 V direct current was used in the mining area.

Vehicles:

  • No. 4/106 SSW 259/1930 Bo
  • No. 6/250 GE 30546/1949 Bo
  • No. 4/900 Lofag / BBC 17690/328/1952 BoBo
  • No. 5/900 Lofag / BBC 17691/329/1952 BoBo
  • Ore conveyor car (Zeltweger) 9 m³

The ore trains were from heavy Bobo - electric locomotives and 9-cart trains with 285 formed t. The railway was the last forest railway in operation in Austria, even if it was no longer in its original form. It was closed and dismantled on June 30, 1979 after the iron stone mine in Radmer was closed. Some vehicles from the mining company are still standing as industrial monuments in Radmer. None of the large BoBo electric locomotives have survived.

literature

  • Manfred Hohn : Forest Railways in Austria , Verlag JO Slezak, Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-900134-68-5
  • From the history of ore mining in Central Europe: Lectures at the 4th Erzberg Symposium in Eisenerz, 19.-22. October 1988 , Anton Karl Manfreda, Peter Sika, VWGÖ, 1992

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Radmer Forest Railway. In: pospichal.net. Retrieved January 11, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Peter Sika: From the history of ore mining in Central Europe . VWGÖ, 1992 ( limited preview in Google book search).