Weiltalbahn

Weilburg – Grävenwiesbach
Route number (DB) :	3712 (Weilburg – Grävenwiesbach) 3713 (Weilmünster – Laubuseschbach)
Course book section (DB) :	196g (1969)
Route length:	22.0 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Wetzlar 0.0 Weilburg Weilburger Tunnel (302 m) Gensberg (Abzw) to Koblenz L 3025 Gensberg Tunnel (292 m) Because 3.3 Freienfels 5.8 Essershausen 8.2 Ernsthausen 9.1 Lützendorf 10.1 0.0 Weilmünster 2.2 Rohnstadt 5.2 Laubuseschbach 10.7 Weilmünster Tunnel (333m) 13.1 Weilmünster-Kurhaus 14.8 Audenschmiede 17.7 Heinzenberg from Bad Homburg 22.0 Graevenwiesbach to Wetzlar Swell:

The Weiltalbahn was a single-track, non-electrified branch line in the Hintertaunus . It was 22 kilometers long and led from Weilburg via Weilmünster to Grävenwiesbach . In Weilmünster a 5.2 km long branch branched off to Laubuseschbach . In Grävenwiesbach there was a connection to the Taunusbahn to Friedrichsdorf and to the Solmsbachtalbahn to Wetzlar.

construction

North portal of the Gensberg tunnel

In order to transport the rich natural resources in the remote region better, began one of the existing 1889 with the construction Lahn Valley Railway branching branch line of Weilburg to Weilmünster, for which a Weilburg Lokbahnhof to supply the steam locomotives built. It was inaugurated on November 1st, 1890.

On May 15, 1892, the extension to Laubuseschbach was opened . A planned further extension through the Laubustal via Wolfenhausen - Münster - Weyer with a connection to the Main-Lahn-Bahn and even beyond to Kirberg was no longer implemented due to the First World War and the associated mine deaths

Between the train stations Essershausen and Ernsthausen there was a loading facility for iron ore from 1892 until the mining operations were stopped in 1949. This was transported from the "Grube Fritz" pit to the lintel scaffolding on the Weiltalbahn with a narrow-gauge mine train.

The connection between Weilmünster and Grävenwiesbach only went into operation in 1909 with the construction of the Taunusbahn from Usingen, which was the continuation of the Usinger Bahn and thus connected this route and the Weiltalbahn.

Decline and shutdown

From the mid-1950s, the steam engines of the series were 50 , 56 and 86 gradually from railcars of series 795 detached. A special feature was the since 1954 between Frankfurt and Cologne circulating Heckeneilzug , which was also conducted, among other things, the Weil Valley Railway.

Sunday and public holiday traffic between Grävenwiesbach and Weilburg no longer existed from the 1955 summer timetable.

Bridge over the Weil with remains of rails

From the winter timetable of October 2, 1955, passenger traffic on the Weilmünster – Laubuseschbach branch line was completely discontinued, and freight traffic followed on September 28, 1968.

In the 1960s , operations on the Weilburg – Grävenwiesbach section continued to decline. On September 27, 1969, passenger and freight traffic between Weilmünster and Grävenwiesbach and passenger traffic between Weilmünster and Weilburg were finally suspended. The Weilmünster – Grävenwiesbach section was completely closed and the tracks dismantled a year later. The 124 meter long viaduct near Mönstadt was demolished in 1974 because no one could find a way to preserve the rusting structure.

On the remainder of the stretch between Weilmünster and Weilburg, goods traffic was still operated in the transfer procedure until January 30, 1988, although in recent years it was only used when required. A Köf III ( series 332 ) was then used. Passenger traffic only returned temporarily after a few special trips.

On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Lahntalbahn , a passenger train ran the route for the last time on September 19 and 20, 1987, but only as far as Freienfels , as the overpass in Essershausen was already closed at that time due to dilapidation. At the end of the 1980s, the Limburg-Weilburg district planned to buy the remaining line from the Deutsche Bundesbahn in order to keep it as a museum line . However, the repair costs of up to six million DM estimated by the DB quickly turned these plans into waste. In 1990 the remaining route was also dismantled.

future

former route as a cycle path near Freienfels

The new Weiltalweg was opened on parts of the Weiltalbahn in 2001 . A reconstruction of the route, which is being considered by the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), is currently rather unlikely in view of the cuts in regional funds in the federal budget, but nevertheless possible as the route has not yet been de-dedicated. In the current regional plan for Central Hesse , a safeguarding of the existing situation is required in order to bring rail traffic back to the Weiltalbahn in the future . However, the current development on the northwest portal of the Weilmünster tunnel stands in the way of this. A report prepared by the RMV in 2007 showed an unfavorable cost-benefit factor. Thus, the reactivation plans should have done.

See also

• Weiltalweg

literature

• Heinz Schomann: Railway buildings and routes 1839–1939 . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (=  cultural monuments in Hesse - railway in Hesse . Volume II, 2nd volume). Konrad Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 , p. 724 ff .

Web links

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

• Private homepage about the Weiltalbahn and other routes in the Hintertaunus
• Photos of the Weiltalbahn (2014)
• Route Heinzenberg-Grävenwiesbach (measuring table sheet from 1935) ( Deutsche Fotothek )
• Routing around Weilmünster (measuring table sheet from 1915) ( Deutsche Fotothek )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
2. ↑ Study trip: 125 years of the Weiltal Railway to Laubuseschbach . In: History Association Weilburg . October 22, 2017 ( geschichtsverein-weilburg.de [accessed October 8, 2018]).
3. ↑ Christoph König: Railways left and right of the Lahn - Fritz pit. Retrieved October 8, 2018 . 
4. ^ Kurt Eckert: Small and branch lines in the Taunus . Rösler + Zimmer Verlag, Augsburg 1978, ISBN 3-87987-147-7
5. ^ Freight traffic on branch lines in the BD Frankfurt . In: Railway courier . tape 9 , 1986, pp. 55 ff .
6. ↑ http://www.eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/3712-weilmuenster.html
7. ↑ Expert opinion in the minutes of the 20th meeting of the district council of the Limburg-Weilburg district on December 12, 2008 (PDF; 170 KiB)