Zwieselau Forest Railway

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Zwieselau Forest Railway
Geographical data
continent Europe
country Germany
state Bavaria
Route-related data
Route length: 14.5 km
Gauge : 600 mm ( narrow gauge )

The Zwieselauer Waldbahn was a narrow-gauge forest railway in the Bavarian Forest between Oberzwieselau and Buchenau created for the transport of wood .

Construction and course

On July 4, 1929, a hurricane devastated the forests in the Zwieseler Winkel. In order to remove the huge masses of wood, the estate administration of Count Mellin in Oberzwieselau decided to follow the successful example of the Spiegelau Forest Railway and also to build a timber transport railway. A corresponding application was approved by the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft on September 20, 1929 .

For this purpose, the Zwieselau station on the Zwiesel – Grafenau railway line had to be expanded. In addition to the existing mainline track, overtaking track and loading track, there was a siding 180 meters in length, another track 320 meters in length, three switches and a weighbridge with a 40-tonne load capacity.

In addition to these standard-gauge tracks, the rails of the forest railway with a gauge of 600 millimeters were laid. In detail there were two main tracks with 75 and 175 meters, two storage yard tracks with 79 and 40 meters and two train tracks each 98 meters long. Immediately after the start of the route, a bridge was built over the Kleiner Regen , which is one of the very few remnants of the Zwieselauer Waldbahn.

The United Stahlwerke AG Hütte Ruhrort Meiderich supplied the rails , the construction company Walther Weiß took care of the construction of the line. It began at a height of 593.65 meters at Zwieselau train station and reached its greatest height nine kilometers away at 764 meters in the now no longer existing hamlet of Hirschbach, where the Frauenau drinking water reservoir is now located. A three kilometer long branch led 842 meters beyond the rain bridge to Kiesau near Pochermühle, where a train station with a branch track, a continuous and a passing track had been set up. A 1.5-kilometer branch line , which was only operated for a short time, ran to the Ziegelstadl and another branch stretch of one kilometer to Buchenau.

business

In 1930 the line was put into operation. The rolling stock consisted of a steam locomotive from the Orenstein & Koppel company , two diesel locomotives from the Deutz company , 30 freight wagons each for meter-long timber and for long timber, and four, later five material wagons . A steam locomotive from the Spiegelau Forest Railway helped out temporarily, and another steam locomotive was used at times. One of the two diesel locomotives disappeared in the 1930s.

Usually a locomotive pulled eight cars . The staff consisted of a train driver and four brakes , and later a stoker was also employed. An extremely complicated hanging, sliding and Ankupplungsmanöver was to overcome the hairpin on Pommer Bach, where only four cars with the locomotive had space.

The branch line to Pommermühle was closed in 1932. For years, the Zwieselauer Waldbahn continued to transport wood not only for the estate administration in Oberzwieselau, but also for the state forest administration. After 1954 it was only used by the estate administration. In 1955 the branch line to Buchenau was dismantled.

1958 brought the end of railway operations. The steam locomotive was sold to an American, the locomotive shed was burned down during the filming of the film Night fell over Gotenhafen . From 1960 the line was dismantled, some rails are still preserved today in the form of fences.

literature

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