Ybbstalbahn

The Ybbstalbahn is a narrow-gauge railway of the Austrian Federal Railways with a track gauge of RailGauge|760, located in the Lower Austrian Mostviertel.

The original route follows the valley of the Ybbs at Waidhofen an der Ybbs up to the market town of Lunz am See, with a branchline to the town of Ybbsitz. The original route extended from Lunz am See to Kienberg Gaming, and is operated as a heritage railway under the name "Ybbsthalbahn-Bergstrecke" (hilly stretch).

Route

Waidhofen am der Ybbs - Lunz am See

The Ybbstalbahn starts in the narrow-gauge railway area of the main standard gauge station at Waidhofen am der Ybbs, where the workshops and freight transhipment equipment are also located. The railway first serves several stations in the city of Waidhofen, which primarily serve suburban traffic, untli it comes to the station at Gstadt at the 6 km mark, which is the junction for the branch line to Ybbsitz.

The main route follows the river Ybbs, which it crosses two times. The next large station is Opponitz, the location of the only tunnel of the Ybbstalbahn, and then after 25 km Hollenstein an der Ybbs (station Großhollenstein). This section from here gains altitude, as it follows the valley of the upper Ybbs.

This section serves mainly smaller stops, which are used mainly by ramblers during the summer, only Sankt Georgen am Reith providing much local passenger traffic. At kilometre 44 is the tourism town of Göstling close to the Scheibbs district, and a further nine kilometres the present terminus of Lunz am See.

The line continued over the Pfaff range to Kienberg Gaming where it connected to the standard gauge Erlauftalbahn to the district capital Scheibbs. This section was closed in May 1988, and has operated since 1990 as a museum railway.

A RailGauge|700 gauge forestry railway up the valley of the Ois terminated at Lunz am See station until it closed in the 1970's.

Gstadt - Ybbsitz

Gstadt station is the junction for the branch line, the line branching off the main route and crossing the Ybbs on a steel girder bridge. The line, which follows the valley of the Little Ybbs, serves several small stops and ends after six kilometers in the market town of Ybbsitz. The line crosses several level crossings, resulting in conflict with automobile traffic.

Gaming - Lunz am See (preserved railway)

The starting point of the museum railway today is the station at Kienberg-Gaming, the original terminal of the Ybbstalbahn, and the last stop of the standard gauge Erlauftalbahn of the ÖBB. At Kienberg-Gaming are the railway's facilities: the locomotive shed with workshop, which has been increased in size by the ÖGLB, a turntable, and newly built carriage sheds.

Shortly after leaving Kienberg-Gaming station the railway crosses the federal highway, and a little later, on a steel framework bridge, the Pockaubach and the road to Gresten. The alignment follows a steep wooded mountain saddle-back up to the summit of the Pfaffenschlag, at which first the stop, Gaming, is reached. The scenery opens up here to offer a beautiful panorama view over the region and the Kartause Gaming, after which the railway enters a steep rocky section in dense forest, and runs through many deep cuttings. In this section are the two landmarks of the "hilly stretch", two steel trestle viaducts, a bridge type otherwise only used in Austria on the Stubaitalbahn. The maximum grade on this section of the Ybbstalbahn is 3.44 % (1:29), which is the steepest gradient of any Austrian narrow-gauge railway with a track gauge of 760 mm.

The highest point the railway, 699 m, is reached at Pfaffenschlag, which also highest point of the parallel state highway. At this station the steam engines replenish their water supply, then the railway follows the eastern valley of the Bodingbaches. The tracks run through several deep rock cuttings, and in particularly steep area solid retaining walls are used. The railway soon reaches the first houses of the summer-resort Lunz am See and runs through a forest of wood-apples, the timber of which was formerly were logged and shipped from here., The railway then runs partially close area between the roofs of houses and a cliff. After crossing the Bodingbaches the railway reaches the station of Lunz am See, which it uses in conjunction with the section of the Ybbstalbahn still run by the ÖBB.

History

There were plans in 1870 to build a railway up the valley of the Ybbs to Kienberg Gaming. The collapse of the stock market of Vienna in 1873 brought a sudden end to this project. In the 1880's representatives of the Ybbstales again looked at building a secondary line, however only in 1893 did negotiations with the government Ministries begin. On the 26 December of the same yearly a law was passed for the building of the Ybbstalbahn. Consequently a decree of the Ministry of the Interior was given on the 11 September 1895 for the establishment of a corporation with the capital investment of 1.612.000 guldens.

The turning of the first sod for the initial section from Waidhofen to Gross Hollenstein take place at Waidhofen on the 1st June 1895. The opening of this section took place on 15 July 1896. Three years later, on the 15th May 1898, the second section from Gross Hollenstein to Lunz am See was opened. The section from Lunz am See to Kienberg-Gaming, the most difficult section to construct, was opened later that year, on the 12th November. Thus the entire 71 km route was constructed over a period of only 3 years.

With the building of the railway, the practice of rafting timber down the river ceased as it was unable to compete. The iron and steel processing industry was however tied up better with the ore mines on the Erzberg mountain and this industry prospered.

Closure of the "hilly stretch" and re-opening as a museum railway

The heavily-graded section of the Ybbstalbahn known as the "hilly stretch", with a length of 17.5 kilometers, connected the upper Ybbstal around Lunz am See and Göstling an der Ybbs with the Erlauftal, where it connected to the standard gauge line to the town of Scheibbs. The drift of passengers to buses on the faster road connection over the mountain, as well as the closure of goods traffic over Waidhofen to the Ybbs led to a continuous decline in income. These developments led finally in May 1988 to the closure of this section of the railway.

The Austrian Society for Local Railways (ÖGLB) already successfully operated the Höllentalbahn (Niederösterreich)
Höllentalbahn as a museum railway at this time, the operating company being the NÖLB (Niederösterreichi local railways). The NÖLB leased this section from ÖBB and commenced operation as a museum railway in 1990 under the name "Ötscherland express". Later the railway was renamed the "Ybbsthalbahn-Bergstrecke" (Ybbsthalbahn hilly stretch}.

Economic importance

The economic importance of the Ybbstalbahn was particularly great from it's completion 1898 to about 1960. Today important companies such as Welser or the Böhler Uddeholm company have their parent plants in Ybbsitz and Böhlerwerk and were over many years the major employers in this region. By working with these industries and their meeting their need for efficient transport the railway also became an important employer.

References

* Werner Schiendl - Die Bergstrecke der Ybbstalbahn, Verlag Kenning, 2005, ISBN 3-933613-52-3
* Werner Schiendl - Die Österreichische Gesellschaft für Lokalbahnen, Verlag Kenning, 2005, ISBN 3-933613-53-1
* Walter Kroboth, J. O.Slezak, H.Sternhart - Schmalspurig durch Österreich, Verlag Slezak, Wien 41991, ISBN 3-85416-095-X
* J. O. Slezak, Hans Sternhart - Renaissance der Schmalspurbahn in Österreich, Verlag Slezak, Wien 1986, ISBN 3-85416-097-6
* Markus Strässle - Schmalspurbahn-Aktivitäten in Österreich, Verlag Slezak, 1997, ISBN 3-85416-184-0