Wieslauterbahn

Hinterweidenthal Ost - Bundenthal-Rumbach
Route number (DB) :	3312
Course book section (DB) :	280c (1949–1972) 680a (1972–1976) 675.1 (since 1997)
Route length:	15,324 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Maximum slope :	12.625  ‰
Minimum radius :	288 m
Top speed:	80 km / h
Dual track :	-
Legend from Landau (Palatinate) 0.0 Hinterweidenthal Ost to Rohrbach (Saar) 1.465 Bundesstrasse 427 1.8 West Palatinate wood industry 1.802 Horbach 1,881 Wieslauter 1.930 Hinterweidenthal place 2.578 Wieslauter 4.0 Tank farm ( Awanst ) 4,392 State road 486 5.3 Wieslauter Flood transmission 6.0 Moosbachtal 6.112 Moosbach 6,985 Wieslauter 7.772 Dahn 8.210 Wieslauter 8,560 Dahn south 9.187 Wieslauter 9,623 Wieslauter 10.1 Wieslauter 10.1 German Tailleur (Awanst) 10.8 Busenberg - Schindhard 11.0 Langenbach 11.1 Kuhbach 12.4 Geiersteinbach 13.6 Bruchweiler 13.8 Wieslauter 14.5 Wieslauter Wasgauwaldbahn from Ludwigswinkel 15.1 Bundenthal-Rumbach to Wissembourg (never realized) Swell:

The Wieslauterbahn - more rarely called Wasgaubahn , Wieslautertalbahn or Lauterbahn - is a branch railway line in Rhineland-Palatinate . It branches in the station Hinterweidenthal east of the Landau-Rohrbach railway and leads through Dahn according Bundenthal - Rumbach . It achieved its greatest importance in excursion traffic.

The line was opened in 1911 as one of the last within the Palatinate . In 1966, in response to competing individual traffic , passenger traffic was discontinued ; the only exception was the excursion train “Bundenthaler”, which started in Ludwigshafen . In 1976 this train also ended. There was still freight traffic until 1995 . In 1997, passenger transport was reintroduced on Sundays and public holidays, the continuation of which was temporarily in jeopardy after the turn of the millennium , but is now secured in the medium term. In the following years the offer was extended to Wednesdays and Saturdays. Decades of decommissioning plans have repeatedly met with resistance from the residents of the region and thus contributed to the preservation of the railway line.

history

First initiatives (1862–1870)

The first plans for the construction of a railway line through the Wasgau or its part of the Dahner Felsenland existed as early as 1862. The line should run from Zweibrücken via Pirmasens , Kaltenbach , Dahn and Bergzabern and, when there is wind, join the Palatinate Maximiliansbahn, which opened in 1855 . The main argument was initially the very efficient timber transport in the area.

Together with the full length of the Winden – Karlsruhe railway line, which was opened in 1865 , it was to function as part of a further transport route for coal from the Saar region . An additional motivation for the construction of a route through the Wasgau was the tourist potential seen at the time. However, the planned railway line was in competition with the projected Südpfalzbahn Landau – Zweibrücken , which was to run further north along the Queich and Rodalb via Annweiler . Since the construction of a Wasgau route in east-west direction would have been difficult due to the complicated topography, only the southern Palatinate route, which was opened in 1874 and 1875, was initially used. Only the Winden – Bad Bergzabern railway line, opened in 1870, emerged from the project to build a railway across the Wasgau .

Further plans (1870–1900)

After the Franco-Prussian War , neighboring Alsace-Lorraine fell to the newly founded German Empire . Immediately from this, efforts resulted from the Alsatian city of Weißenburg (formerly Wissembourg ) to build a route serving international traffic along the Wieslauter via Dahn and Selz to Rastatt . A corresponding committee was formed in 1873 . In the same year another was constituted in Dahn, which planned a route along the Wieslauter. At the same time, the management of the Palatinate Railways presented plans for a railway line from Hinterweidenthal to Bergzabern, which was to run mainly along the Wieslauter . A connection to Weißenburg in the form of a branch line was included from the start. Although the Bavarian government provided an interest rate guarantee, the economic situation in the 1870s prevented the implementation of these plans.

Construction workers building the line (1909)

It was not until the 1890s that efforts to provide the region with a rail connection reappeared. Above all, the Dahn rent official Ludwig Foohs campaigned vehemently for a rail connection to his home town. However, there were again different ideas about the specific route. Bergzabern wanted to have extended the branch line beginning in Winden to Dahn, while the latter forced a line to Weißenburg. In addition, there were plans for a connection from Bergzabern via Schönau to Saarburg , which was supposed to serve supraregional traffic. In 1899 the Bavarian side began to plan a connection in the Pirmasens – Lemberg –Dahn – Weißenburg route . After it turned out that the cost of such a line would be too expensive at 7.5 million marks, the decision was made in favor of a significantly cheaper branch line via Hinterweidenthal to Bundenthal , which was to branch off from the southern Palatinate Landau – Zweibrücken railway.

Approval, construction and opening

Opening train on December 1, 1911 in Hinterweidenthal Ort

In 1904 the project was approved by law. According to the “treatment of the existing vicinal railways and the construction of secondary railways”, the state subsidy totaled 1,699,700 marks. The detailed project planning was completed towards the end of 1907. Negotiations for the acquisition of the required land then took place. The route was originally scheduled to open in early 1909. In fact, construction of the line only started that year. The nationalization of the Palatinate railway network, which was planned in 1905 and did not take place until January 1, 1909, also delayed the construction of the railway. The new branching station Kaltenbach Ost was built especially for the newly emerging railway line on the Südpfalzbahn between the subway stops Hauenstein and Hinterweidenthal-Kaltenbach . The Hinterweidenthal-Kaltenbach station was given the new name Kaltenbach . Since neither the Kaltenbach station nor the new train station was conveniently close to the Hinterweidenthal settlement area, the community received a train station on the branch line in the immediate vicinity . Further stations emerged in Dahn, Reichenbach , Bruchweiler and Bundenthal.

"After almost three years of construction and with great material sacrifices by the valley residents, that is, 300,000 marks, the Hinterweidenthal – Bundenthal local railway will be opened to traffic tomorrow."

- Palatinate People's Newspaper

The route was opened on December 1, 1911. The first train moved in the direction Bundenthal with a steam engine of the genus T 4.I and was decorated with blue and white flags. The rush in the population was very large at all train stations on the opening day. The route was initially operated by the Royal Bavarian State Railways , which had owned the entire Palatinate route network for almost three years.

First years (1911–1920)

Bundenthal-Rumbach station in 1911

With the commissioning of the Wieslauterbahn, tourism in the region experienced an upswing. In addition, a few years after the route was opened, an excursion train from Landau to Bundenthal-Rumbach ran every Sunday on the initiative of the Palatinate Forest Association . One such had already existed from 1906, but in the first few years the destination was Pirmasens .

The cities of Bergzabern and Weißenburg continued to hope that the railway line from Bundenthal would be continued eastwards. The government in Bavaria had already agreed in 1910 to want to build the extension to Weißenburg in the Palatinate region, provided that the Reichseisenbahnen in Alsace-Lorraine were involved in the planned construction of a main line from Kaiserslautern-Pirmasens- Trulben - Eppenbrunn - Bitsch . In April 1914, everything indicated that the line would be connected to Weissenburg in Alsace. However, the First World War , which broke out four months later, prevented the construction of this connection. Since Weißenburg (French: Wissembourg ) belonged to France again after the end of the war, together with the rest of Alsace , the corresponding plans finally came to a standstill.

In the period that followed, initiatives were formed that sought to continue southwards along the Sauer , in particular to connect the previously remote places Schönau , Fischbach and Ludwigswinkel to the rail network.

After the First World War, the military occupation of the left bank of the Rhine by Allied troops began in 1919. The catchment area of ​​the Wieslauterbahn was now in the French-occupied zone. Railway operations initially remained in the hands of the Bavarian State Railways.

Development under the Deutsche Reichsbahn (1920–1945)

On April 1, 1920, the line became the property of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . In 1922 the line was incorporated into the newly established Ludwigshafen Reich Railway Directorate . After the war on the Ruhr began , the French military took over the operation of the railways in the occupied territories in early 1923. This operation also affected the branch line in Wieslautertal and lasted until November 15, 1924.

At the instigation of the French military, who operated a camp in Ludwigswinkel as part of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland , the short-lived Wasgauwaldbahn , which began in Bundenthal, was built in 1920 . Originally it was planned to build it in standard gauge as a continuation of the Wieslauterbahn via Niederschlettenbach - Nothweiler –Schönau – Fischbach; the Reich Ministry of Treasury only permitted a narrow-gauge version for cost reasons .

In 1935 the Reichsbahn modernized the line. Among other things, the on-the-go stations with mechanical signal boxes of the Bruchsal type received new signaling technology. In the course of the dissolution of the Reichsbahndirektion Ludwigshafen, the railway came under the jurisdiction of the Saarbrücken directorate on May 1, 1936. For the construction of the west wall , the transport of materials and workers took place via the railway line, and a railway gun was placed at the Hinterweidenthal Ort train station . With the outbreak of the Second World War , the Reich government established a 20-kilometer-wide strip in the area of ​​the border with France as the red zone , in which the Wieslauterbahn was included. This resulted in the evacuation of the residents of this area, so that passenger traffic came to a standstill for a year. Although the Wieslauterbahn was the target of several air raids during World War II , there was hardly any major damage. Nevertheless, as the war continued, traffic had to be restricted or stopped several times.

The decline after World War II

After the Second World War, the railway line came under the control of the Association of Southwest German Railways (SWDE) , which was incorporated into the newly founded Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) in 1949 . The latter incorporated the Wieslauterbahn into the Mainz Federal Railway Directorate , to which it allocated all railway lines within the newly created state of Rhineland-Palatinate . In 1956, Dahn received the additional Dahn Süd stop . The reception building of the station Dahn had to because of war damage a new condition, which went into operation 1959th In the 1950s, an approximately one kilometer long siding to a NATO fuel depot was built between Hinterweidenthal and Dahn .

The factory locomotive of the former Dillinger Hütte was built in 1972 by the Fördergemeinschaft Wasgau e. V. at the Bundenthal-Rumbach train station .

The significantly increased car traffic in the post-war period meant that the use of the route decreased. That is why the Deutsche Bundesbahn applied to the Federal Ministry of Transport to suspend passenger traffic. In addition, the German Federal Railroad had parallel rail bus introduced the other travelers by rail withdrew. Among other things, the Deutsche Bundesbahn declared the operation of the Wieslauterbahn unprofitable. On September 25, 1966, she stopped passenger traffic on the route. The population protested against this plan so vehemently that they delayed the departure of the last scheduled train on September 24, 1966 in Dahn train station by several hours. Only the excursion train “Bundenthaler” continued to run for the time being due to the great demand. This train also ran for the last time in May 1976. Of freight trains apart from then reached only special trains such as the train "German Wine Route" on track.

As early as 1971, the route changed to the area of ​​responsibility of its Saarbrücken counterpart in the course of the dissolution of the Mainz management . The sporadic freight traffic officially came to a standstill on May 30, 1995 after the last freight train had already run on May 2. At the same time, the Saarbrücken Federal Railway Directorate endeavored to completely shut down the line. In order to achieve this, she allocated all the costs that were necessary to maintain the line to the few special trains.

Reactivation (1997-2006)

Many local residents did not want to accept the discontinuation of the entire business. As early as 1987 this led to the foundation of the association Eisenbahnfreunde Dahn e. V. , whose goals include, among other things, to protect the Wieslauterbahn from being closed and to put it under monument protection . The efforts were soon successful: On June 1, 1997, the Wieslauterbahn was reactivated, initially only on Sundays and public holidays. This also led to the reactivation of the “Bundenthaler”, which initially began in Neustadt . Initially there were two pairs of trains, the number of which soon doubled. The new owner of the route was the Dahner Felsenland community . The latter also spent 180,000 DM on the renovation of the railway systems, while the Hauenstein Association contributed 20,000 DM and the district of Südwestpfalz 100,000 DM. The branch station Hinterweidenthal had in the meantime been given the name Hinterweidenthal Ost , as its previous name had meanwhile been assigned to the stop on the Landau – Rohrbach railway line in the Kaltenbach district . The infrastructure company was initially Kuckucksbähnel-Infrastruktur GmbH , which has maintained the museum railway of the same name in the Elmsteiner Valley since the 1980s .

A few years after reactivation, the line was again threatened with closure: In 2001, plans by the city of Dahn became known that the railway line would give way to a bypass road over a length of 800 meters. The community of Dahner Felsenland supported this project. However, resistance made itself felt again on site, and experts also criticized the planned shutdown.

Recent past (since 2006)

In 2006 the railway line was put out to tender. A total of four railway infrastructure companies then applied . The contract was awarded to the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), which leased the route on September 1, 2007 for a period of ten years. In addition to the AVG, DB Regio continues to operate on the Wieslauterbahn. The route is now part of the southern Palatinate network.

Passenger numbers have increased continuously, especially since the 2000s. The Wieslauterbahn achieved growth of 40 percent in 2009; other figures speak of more than 60 percent. In the same year, the Dahner Felsenland community sold the route to AVG for 160,000 euros, but retained the right to repurchase it in the event that the route was closed.

Route

The route at Busenberg-Schindhard

At the Hinterweidenthal Ost station , the line branches off from the Landau – Rohrbach railway line . Immediately after the exit switch, it is owned by AVG. Initially, the railway line, which is losing height in this area, runs parallel to the main line and to federal road 10 , in order to then pass under the latter and reach the settlement area of ​​the local community of Hinterweidenthal . From there it follows the eponymous Wieslauter , which it crosses several times along with some of its tributaries. The federal road 427 runs almost parallel to Dahn . Before Dahn there are sidings as well as a former siding to a nearby former tank farm.

Then the route passes the ruins of Neudahn Castle ; The Moosbachtal stop is in this area . The Jungfernsprung is at the height of the Dahn train station . After the Busenberg-Schindhard stop, there is a larger right-hand bend; the valley there becomes increasingly wider. After around 15 kilometers, it reaches the Bundenthal-Rumbach terminus .

The Wieslauterbahn runs the entire length within the district of Südwestpfalz . With Hinterweidenthal , Dahn , Bruchweiler-Bärenbach and Bundenthal, the area is crossed by four municipalities.

traffic

passenger traffic

Time of the Bavarian State Railways and the Deutsche Reichsbahn

The first timetable recorded a total of four pairs of trains. Three years later, two more were added on weekdays. One of them already ended in Busenberg-Schindhard. At weekends, the range of train services was usually a bit broader. In 1914, eight couples drove on Sundays and public holidays, one of which was tied to Landau . After the outbreak of World War I, the offer was reduced somewhat.

Wieslauterbahn timetable in 1925

The operation of the French military in 1923 and 1924 resulted in a deterioration in the offer. If a trip from Hinterweidenthal to Bundenthal-Rumbach had previously taken 40 minutes, this increased to 50 minutes. In addition, the offer was limited to four pairs of trains on weekdays and three pairs of trains on weekends; a special train for day trippers did not run during this time.

In 1931, the Sunday train offer was twice as high as that on the other days of the week. A train only drove between Hinterweidenthal and Dahn. There was also an excursion train - unofficially called the "Bundenthaler" - which started in Neustadt in the morning and returned in the evening. The Reichsbahn initially had plans to delete the “Bundenthaler” from the winter timetable for 1932/33. The protest in the population against this plan was so great that it was rejected. Another pair of trains was added during the period of the Third Reich . Since the line was located within the Red Zone , there was initially no passenger traffic after the outbreak of World War II; between 1940 and 1944 there were five pairs of trains a day. Due to the war, the journey times were again extended.

Post-war period and German Federal Railroad

From the beginning of 1946 there were two pairs of trains. On Sundays there was an additional connection to Bundenthal. A morning train only ran by special order. As a curiosity, there was a connection on weekdays that began in Godramstein and thus beyond a railway junction . In the mid-1950s, the line had the heaviest passenger traffic in its history: a total of eight couples drove between Hinterweidenthal and Bundenthal-Rumbach on weekdays and another on Sundays. The "Bundenthaler" was reactivated in 1951 and already operated from Ludwigshafen during this time . As far as Neustadt, he followed the Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway , and after a change of direction to Landau, he used the Maximiliansbahn and then the Landau – Rohrbach railway to Hinterweidenthal . This excursion train was very busy. As far as Landau it served all stops en route and drove as an express train to Hinterweidenthal ; accordingly it stopped in this section exclusively in Albersweiler , Annweiler and Wilgartswiesen .

In 1965, a year before regular passenger traffic was discontinued, three pairs of trains ran Monday to Friday, while the Bundenthaler was the only train left on Sundays . For the latter, who last only drove as far as Dahn despite his name, the end also came in May 1976. In order to get to Bundenthal anyway, the passengers at Dahn train station had to change to an unnamed excursion train from Saarbrücken . The timetable for both trains was coordinated accordingly.

Since reactivation

In the first few years after the reactivation of passenger transport on Sundays and public holidays in 1997, two pairs of trains ran, the number of which later increased to four.

Scheduled local rail passenger transport takes place on Wednesdays, weekends and public holidays from May to October. The offer soon increased to five pairs of trains a day. Some of the trains operate on the so-called “ wing train principle ”, in which two diesel multiple units are used in double traction . The front part of the train continues from Hinterweidenthal Ost to Pirmasens and the rear part to Bundenthal-Rumbach . On Saturdays, two pairs of trains run as the Felsenland Express from Karlsruhe to Bundenthal-Rumbach and back. On Sundays, the train runs once from Karlsruhe to Bundenthal, commutes to Hinterweidenthal Ost and back in the afternoon, and then returns to Karlsruhe in the evening. These trains are run as express trains. The Bundenthaler also runs on Sundays , from Mannheim to Bundenthal-Rumbach and back, as well as two pairs of trains between Landau and Bundenthal-Rumbach, one in the morning and one in the evening. The Wednesday trains were added in 2012 on a trial basis for the summer of 2012 and 2013; there are railcars of the 628 series used. The introduction of traffic on Wednesday is due to the fact that it often functions as the day of arrival and departure as well as a day for hiking for the huts of the Palatinate Forest Association .

Freight transport

The regional timber industry in particular was an important pillar of freight transport . In the 1960s the wagon volume a day averaged 5.6 tons, although it was already limited to the necessary minimum at that time. A decade earlier, a siding to a neighboring NATO tank farm was built between the Hinterweidenthal Ort and Dahn train stations at 3.78 km . As a result, heavy tank car trains regularly ran on the northern section of the route , for which a dedicated diesel locomotive was responsible. After the Second World War, the numbers of goods traffic fell steadily: while in 1972 8,495 tons of general cargo were received along the route, ten years later it was only 3,750 tons. The same picture emerged when it came to shipping: 61,205 tons in 1972 compared to 6,875 tons. After the end of the Cold War , the United States Army gave up the tank farm and a military area near Fischbach in 1992. As a result, the route lost its strategic importance .

After the Second World War, freight traffic initially ran via Neustadt and Landau. After the dissolution of the Mainz Federal Railway Directorate in 1971, it was processed via Pirmasens, which, like the Wieslauterstrecke, was now under the Saarbrücken directorate, while Landau and Neustadt were subordinate to the Karlsruhe directorate. The last timber transports took place in the summer of 1987. At the time of the cessation of freight traffic in 1995, there was an occasional delivery run around ten o'clock .

Nevertheless, in March 1998 there was another transport on the route. The reason for this was that the Althoff circus settled in the Dahn district of Reichenbach for a few days. Since the entire freight traffic in the region had already decreased significantly, this posed a great logistical challenge. Nevertheless, it was possible to procure a diesel locomotive and a special freight wagon to transport the elephants to the Busenberg-Schindhard station.

Vehicle use

Steam locomotives

Initially, steam locomotives of the T 4.I series were used on the route , taking over both passenger and freight transport. Since the T 4.II were stationed at the Landau depot, which existed from 1920 , they presumably also reached the Wieslautertal. From the late 1920s, class 64 locomotives were largely responsible before they were replaced by class 86 locomotives . The DR and DB used the 50 series for freight transport .

Diesel vehicles

Class 628 and 798 railcars (Uerdinger rail bus) in Bundenthal-Rumbach (2007)

From the mid-1950s, until the temporary cessation of passenger traffic, Uerdingen rail buses of the VT 95 and VT 98 series took over passenger transport services. From the 1970s, the special trains pulled class 218 diesel locomotives .

From the mid-1960s, diesel locomotives of the 211 and 212 series carried goods traffic, initially from Landau and from 1971 from Kaiserslautern . The V 160 series also came into play here .

From reactivation in 1997 to the 2010 summer season, operations for which DB Regio is responsible took place with class 628 diesel multiple units. Series 642 diesel multiple units have been in service since the 2011 season .

From 2010 to 2016, an AVG railcar from Esslingen was also used as planned, serving the journeys of the Felsenland Express on Sundays, public holidays and Saturdays. The railcar, which was built in 1958 and was owned by SWEG until 1994 , had its interior refurbished especially for its use on the Wieslauterbahn. The district of Südwestpfalz contributed to the corresponding costs . The railcar has not been operational since the end of 2016 after a severe, wear-related transmission damage.

Operating points

Hinterweidenthal Ost

Replacement signal at the train station

→ Main article : Hinterweidenthal Ost train station

The Hinterweidenthal Ost station, which has meanwhile been severely dismantled, is located around two kilometers northeast of the settlement area of ​​the local community Hinterweidenthal and was called Kaltenbach Ost in its first years of operation . It was only created in the course of the construction of the Wieslauterbahn and was used exclusively to switch to the Landau – Rohrbach railway line . In its early days, express trains also stopped at this station along the main line. Later it was named Hinterweidenthal , and since the resumption of passenger traffic to Bundenthal-Rumbach, it has been called Hinterweidenthal Ost .

He received a platform tunnel during construction. In addition, it had a total of six tracks. Below them were a passing track and four sidings .

The Wieslauterbahn trains start at his house platform ( platform 1). Trains on the main line only stop at the station during the operating times of the Wieslauterbahn, as, due to its remote location, it is only used to transfer to the connecting line, just like in the past.

Hinterweidenthal place

Hinterweidenthal Ort train station

→ Main article : Hinterweidenthal Ort train station

View of the Hinterweidenthal train station

Hinterweidenthal Ort train station is located on the north-western edge of Hinterweidenthal. In the first years of its existence it was only called Hinterweidenthal . Only after the starting point of the railway line had been given this name was the addition of “place” added.

It was once very important as a timber loading point. The track systems required for this have now been dismantled except for a loading track . The most important freight customer in the station was the West Palatinate timber industry , for which one of the two sidings was responsible. In the 1980s, the station still had a loading platform including a loading ramp , two sidings and mechanical signals. The latter were dismantled in 1989. The station building is a listed building . It is no longer relevant for rail operations itself and has not found any other use since then.

In addition, the station formed the freight tariff point for the one-and-a-half kilometers southern alternative connection point to a neighboring NATO tank farm .

Moosbachtal

The Albtal Traffic Company (AVG), built in 2012, the breakpoint Moosbachtal in the northern district of the city Dahn at the level of Moosbachtals and Neudahn Castle . It opens up two campsites , a Palatinate Forest hut, the Dahner Felsenpfad and several restaurants . Construction began at the beginning of July 2012, and operations began on September 15, 2012. The platform length of 60 m does not allow operation by the normally used multiple units 642 in double traction.

Dahn

Regional train to Landau at Dahn station (2008)

→ Main article : Dahn train station

Dahn train station is the only stop where train crossings are still possible today. Only the east of the two tracks has a platform . It was most important in the late 1930s. In terms of freight traffic, the station mainly received construction and fuel. Important local freight customers were the chip basket factory Frank and the Raiffeisen cooperative. The former was served until the cessation of goods transport on the route. In March 1945, the station building fell victim to an air raid in the course of the fighting during World War II . In 1959 his successor was inaugurated. As part of the construction of a bypass road, its demolition is planned in a few years.

Until the 1950s, it was a so-called island station , as it comprised a siding with three ramps that enclosed both the station building and the goods shed . Later it became two butt tracks , which were dismantled in 1997. It originally had a mechanical signal box, which the Deutsche Bundesbahn dismantled in 1978.

Dahn south

The Dahn Süd stop is located on the southwestern edge of Dahn. It was refurbished in 1956 because it is closer to the center of the city than the Dahn train station . With a platform length of 60 m, diesel multiple units of the type 642, which run in double traction, cannot stop at the stop.

Busenberg-Schindhard

Busenberg-Schindhard stop (2010)

The Busenberg-Schindhard station used to be a train station before it was dismantled to a stopping point . It is not located in the district of one of the two eponymous communities, which are a few kilometers away, but on that of Dahn, at the level of the Reichenbach district . It got its name because it mainly served the said communities and Erfweiler . Nevertheless, he was unofficially referred to as Reichenbach in the past . In the 1980s he still had a siding.

From the 1930s onwards it also had a signal box that has since been converted into a holiday home. A carpenter also bought the former station building in 1983, which had since been run down. He converted it into a restaurant . In 1998 it received an extension and two years later the outdoor area was changed.

It is planned for the future to build a new platform in a different position and to give up the existing one.

Bruchweiler

The Bruchweiler stop (also known as Bruchweiler-Bärenbach ) is located at the entrance to Bruchweiler-Bärenbach . It used to be a train station as well, which was dismantled as part of rationalization measures. However, at no time did he have a station building, only a bus shelter . In the 1950s, tickets were sold through a local greengrocer.

Bundenthal-Rumbach

Train in Bundenthal-Rumbach station

→ Main article : Bundenthal-Rumbach train station

The station Bundenthal-Rumbach - sometimes also Bundenthal called - is a terminal station and the terminus of Wieslauter track. It is located on the northern outskirts of the local community Bundenthal . He owned a now defunct locomotive shed in half-timbered construction . At first it had three regular tracks and a siding in front of the station building. Later, the track system was rebuilt so that in addition to two bypass tracks in the northern area of ​​the station, there was also a siding. Only one of the former now exists.

From 1921 to 1930, the narrow- gauge Wasgauwaldbahn railway to Ludwigswinkel began here , with tracks to the west of the normal-gauge railway. After the shutdown of passenger traffic, the Deutsche Bundesbahn planned to demolish all of the buildings in the early 1970s. However, on the initiative of two entrepreneurs from the region, the Verein Fördergemeinschaft Wasgau e. V. , who wanted to prevent these measures. While the goods shed was removed before the association was founded, the station building was saved. In the same year, the Friends' Association acquired a factory locomotive from the Dillinger Hütte , built by Škoda in 1941 , which is a memorial on the station forecourt .

future plans

After 2015, as part of the further development of the Rhineland-Palatinate cycle to the Rhein-Neckar cycle 2020, there should be trains on the route in rush hour traffic . Through trains are to run from Dahn to Landau. The responsible transport authority ZSPNV Süd has announced that daily train journeys will probably not be able to be realized before 2023. The reason given is that the train services awarded on this and adjacent routes - the so-called "Südpfalznetz" - will run until 2023 and the red-green state government has not listed any plans to expand the service on this route in the coalition agreement.

In addition, there were occasional considerations to reactivate the disused industrial track at the former Busenberg-Schindhard train station for timber transport, as a loading area for logs is planned on the immediately adjacent former company site of the "Deutsche Tailleur". In this way, timber transports are cheaper there than on the road.

Accidents

In October 1958 a truck was hit by a freight train at the Dahn Süd stop.

literature

• Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011 ( zspnv-sued.de [PDF; 2.7 MB ; accessed on September 14, 2012]).
• Klaus D. Holzborn : Railway areas Palatinate . transpress, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-344-70790-6 .
• Karl Kissel: Dahn - a chronicle . Stadt Dahn, Dahn 1999, ISBN 3-00-002205-8 , p. 286-296 .
• Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . In: Wolf-Dietger Machel (Hrsg.): Branch and narrow-gauge railways in Germany (then & now) (from Rügen to Rosenheim, from Aachen to Zwickau) . GeraNova magazine publisher, 1998.
• Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways (=  publications of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science . Volume 53 ). pro MESSAGE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-934845-26-6 , p. 240-241 and p. 249 .

Web links

Commons : Wieslauterbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Route details on the operator's website Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft
• Homepage of the railway friends Dahn / Pf. e. V.
• Pictures of the route (October 2012) on vergessene-bahnen.de
• Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal (pdf)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} wieslauterbahn.info: Wieslauterbahn profile . (PDF) Archived from the original on April 3, 2015 ; Retrieved April 1, 2014 . 
2. ↑ DB Netze - Infrastructure Register
3. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 1 .
5. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 6 .
6. ↑ Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 2 .
7. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 178 .
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 3 .
9. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 6th f .
10. ^ Karl Kissel: Dahn - a chronicle . 1999, p. 288 f .
11. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 240 f .
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 249 .
13. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 7 .
14. ^ Karl Kissel: Dahn - a chronicle . 1999, p. 290 .
15. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 7th ff .
16. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 9 .
17. ↑ ^{a b c} Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 4 .
18. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 9 f .
19. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 241 .
20. ↑ Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 5 .
21. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 21st f .
22. ↑ ^{a b c} Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 9 .
23. ↑ ^{a b} vergessene-bahnen.de: Connection of NATO tank farm Hinterweidenthal . Retrieved March 22, 2014 . 
24. ^ Karl Kissel: Dahn - a chronicle . 1999, p. 294 .
25. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 53 .
26. ^ Klaus Detlef Holzborn: Railway Reviere Pfalz . 1993, p. 118 f .
27. ^ Karl Kissel: Dahn - a chronicle . 1999, p. 296 .
28. ↑ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 11 .
29. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 17 .
30. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 18 .
31. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 20th ff .
32. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 23 ff .
33. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 25 .
34. ↑ Fritz Engbarth: From the Ludwig Railway to the Integral Timed Timetable - 160 Years of the Railway in the Palatinate . 2007, p. 40 .
35. ↑ wieslauterbahn.info: Over 100 years of history ... The Wieslauterbahn from the first plans to today . (PDF) Retrieved December 10, 2013 . 
36. ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 240 .
37. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 50 ff .
38. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 31 .
39. ^ Klaus Detlef Holzborn: Railway Reviere Pfalz . 1993, p. 118 .
40. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 29 .
41. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 32 f .
42. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 30th f .
43. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 10 .
44. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 12 .
45. ↑ denkmallisten.gdke-rlp.de: Informational directory of cultural monuments - district of Südwestpfalz . (PDF; 1.9 MB) Retrieved July 20, 2013 . 
46. ↑ vergessene-bahnen.de: Hinterweidenthal Ost - Dahn . Retrieved December 10, 2013 . 
47. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 50 f .
48. ↑ wieslauterbahn.info: A "nice little platform" . (PDF) Retrieved February 2, 2014 . 
49. ↑ Reiner Schedler: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then and now . 1998, p. 8 .
50. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 13 .
51. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 14 .
52. ↑ Equipment features of the AVG stations ( Memento from September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 29 kB)
53. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 14th ff .
54. ↑ altes-bahnhoefl.de: History . Retrieved February 2, 2014 . 
55. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 16 .
56. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 42 f .
57. ↑ Chronicle from 2000 . Archived from the original on October 16, 2013 ; Retrieved April 1, 2014 . 
58. ↑ ^{a b} vrn.de: Rhein-Neckar-Takt 2020 . (PDF) Archived from the original on April 7, 2014 ; Retrieved April 1, 2014 . 
59. ↑ [http://www.harald-reisel.de/wieslauterbahn/260511.pdf No daily train journeys on the Wieslauterstrecke] (link not available)
60. ↑ Pirmasens - Dahn: Are freight trains rolling again soon in the Wieslautertal? Archived from the original on August 1, 2012 ; Retrieved April 1, 2014 . 
61. ^ Fritz Engbarth: 100 years of railways in Wieslautertal . 2011, p. 24 .

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on April 21, 2014 in this version .