The history of the Härtsfeldbahn

On this page I gather some important facts about then Härtsfeldbahn. This collection is not meant to be complete and is not intended to replace the existing books about this line.

A short overview

Opening of the first part from Aalen to Ballmertshofen on October 30, 1901.
Length of the track 39 km.
Opening of the Bavarian part from Ballmertshofen to Dillingen/Danube on April 3, 1906. Length of the track now 55 km.
Traction change from steam to diesel rail cars at June 30, 1956. The steam locomotive were placed out of service in 1963.
Transportation of people stopped at September 30, 1972, goods at November 30, 1972. Dismounting of the track from 1973 thru 1976.

The end.
The end?
A lot of track lines ended this way, but not this one!

12 years later ...

January 23, 1985, foundation of the club "Härtsfeld-Museumsbahn e.V."
Opening of the "Härtsfeldbahn"-museum on February 22, 1986 as the first railway museum in Baden-Württemberg.
Reconstruction of a part of the tracks at the ancient railway station area at Neresheim since 1986.
Inauguration of the reconstructed original railcar T33 at August 9, 1992.
Inauguration of the reconstructed original steam locomotive 12 at August 7, 1994
First step of the reconstruction of the track Neresheim - Sägmühle at May 16, 1996
A very rare event in railway history: The line is opened a second time at the centennial, nearly 30 years after stopping the service and dismounting it. The service started at October 20, 2001.
On September 16, 2005 the club happened to acquire the ancinent railbay station building of Dischingen and to renovate ist the following years.
On October7, 2006 the official start of construction of the 2nd section Sägmühle - Katzenstein (Härtsfeldsee) began with wood cutting.
May 2007, the club took over the engine shed, which was formerly occupied by municipal ??Bauhof??
September 25, 2007 - the ground breaking ceremony took place for the 2nd section.
May 10, 2008 - for the first time sinc5 stopping the service and dismounting the track 35 year ago a narrow gauge train circulatetd on the ??Landkreis?? Heidenheim, even if it as been only a construction train..
And the story is to be continued, the line is planned to be elongated to Dischingen..

The line routing of the Härtsfeldbahn

With the friendly permission of the "Landesvermessungsamt Baden-Württemberg" two maps from the year 1956 showing the line routing of the Härtsfeldbahn. The Bavarian part is copied from a map in our archives.

Section Aalen - Neresheim

Streckenabschnitt Aalen - Neresheim ca 19 Kb

Section Neresheim - Ballmertshofen

Streckenabschnitt Neresheim - Ballmertshofen ca 6 Kb

Section Ballmertshofen - Dillingen

Streckenabschnitt Ballmertshofen - Dillingen (Donau)ca 8 Kb

The rolling stock of the Härtsfeldbahn

After my knowledge still existing vehicles are marked in blue.
Names of companies, towns etc. could not be translated and are marked green.

The original version of this data collection has been created by our club member Jürgen Ranger.

Steam locomotives

No.	Type	Manufacturer	construction year	Fabric No.	Remarks
Construction locomotives
4 h	Bn2t	Vulcan	1894	1438	Euskirchener Kreisbahn, 1901 thru about 1903 Härtsfeldbahn
Solingen	Cn2t	Krauss	1891	2555	Ronsdorf - Müngstener Eisenbahn, 1901 construction loco at the Härtsfeldbahn, 1903 Euskirchener Kreisbahn, 1918 -> ?
Lüttringhausen	Cn2t	Krauss	1891	2260	Ronsdorf - Müngstener Eisenbahn, 1901 thru about 1903 Härtsfeldbahn
Traffic locomotives
1	B'Bn4vt Mallet	Hohenzollern	1899	1191	Bergheimer Kreisbahnen 1m, 1901 Härtsfeldbahn, about. 1903 Euskirchener Kreisbahn 1m, 1923 Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn 1lm, 1938 Kleinbahn Bremen - Tarmstedt 6lm, 1941 Engelskirchen-Marienheider Eisenb. 6lm, 1946 Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn 6lm, 1950 2lm 1952 +
1"	B'Bn4vt Mallet	Hohenzollern	1901?	1498	Bergheimer Kreisbahnen 6m, 1905 Härtsfeldbahn, 1956 out of service and scrapped
2	B'Bn4vt Mallet	Hohenzollern	1899	1192	Bergheimer Kreisbahnen 2m, previewed for the Härtsfeldbahn (evtl. ab 1902), about 1903 Euskirchener Kreisbahn 2m, 1906 Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn 2lm, 1950 Kleinbahn Bremen - Tarmstedt 6lm, occasionally on loan at Euskirchen, 1952/1957 +
2"	B'Bn4vt Mallet	Hohenzollern	1903	1688	Brohltalbahn 7m, 1905 Härtsfeldbahn, 1956 out of service and scrapped
3	B'Bn4vt Mallet	Hohenzollern	1901	1473	1916 to Heeresfeldbahn, dissapeared in1918
4	B'Bn4vt Mallet	Hohenzollern	1900	1306	Bergheimer Kreisbahnen 5mm, from about 1903 thru 1908 at the Härtsfeldbahn, 1913 KED Köln T 35 Cöln 85, ...?
5	Bn2t Serpollet	Esslingen	1899	2968	Lenz & Cie. 1s, Filderbahn 9, 1905 Härtsfeldbahn, 1908 after an accident reconstructed as type Kittel at Esslingen (Fabr.No. 3478), after 1913 +
5"	Dn2t	Krauss	1919	7562	Heeresfeldbahn H.K. 91, 1919 Härtsfeldbahn, 1933 thru 1937 occasionally on loan tos Nagold - Altensteig, 1936 thru 1938 on loan to Amstetten - Laichingen, 1944 / 1945 Nagold - Altensteig, 1958 out of service, 1960 +
6	Bn2t Serpollet	Esslingen	1899	2969	Lenz & Cie. 2s, Filderbahn 10, 1905 Härtsfeldbahn, 1913 +
7	Cn2t Kastenlok	Esslingen	1897	2904	Filderbahn 7 "Echterdingen", 1909 Härtsfeldbahn, as shifter at the Härtsfeldwerke, 1920 to a construction enterprise (fact not assured)
11	Bh2t	Esslingen	1913	3710	1963 out of service, 1965 town of Neresheim, 1967 monument at the railway station, 1995 HMB Neresheim
12	Bh2t	Esslingen	1913	3711	1962 out of service, 1965 town of Heidenheim, 1966 playing ground at Heidenheim, 1986 HMB Neresheim

Rail cars

No.	Type	Manufacturer	contruction year	fabric No.	Remarks
T 30	Bo'Bo'	Fuchs	1956	9053	1976 Amstetten - Laichingen T 30, 1987 WEG-plant Neuffen, 1989 Brohltal-Eisenbahn VT 53
T 31	Bo'Bo'	Fuchs	1956	9054	1976 Amstetten - Laichingen T 31, 1986 to a railway constructor in Malaysia
T 32	(1A)(A1)	Wismar	1937	20270	Kleinbahn Bremen - Tarmstedt Tr. 3, 1956 to WN T 32, out of service about 1967, +
T 33	B'2'	Wismar	1934	20233	Kleinbahn Bremen - Tarmstedt Tr. 1, 1956 to WN T 33, 1960 - 1964 new body constructed by Auwärter / Neresheim, 1973 Amstetten - Laichingen as spare parts, 1982 private for Öchsle, 1984 Freundeskreis Schättere, 1985 HMB Neresheim
T 37	B'B'	MAN	1960	145169	Südharz-Eisenbahn T 14, 1964 Härtsfeldbahn T 37, 1973 Amstetten - Laichingen T 37, 1985 out of service at Laichingen, 1987 HMB Neresheim

Waggons

No.	Type	Manufacturer	Construction year	Remarks
Travel cars
1 - 7	(B)C4i	Herbrand	1901	1, 3: 1954/1955 new body constructed by Auwärter, 1973 Amstetten - Laichingen VB 101, 103, 101: 1986 HMB Neresheim, 103: 1986 MME Hüinghausen, 1992 HMB Neresheim, 4, 5: 1910 (?) Albtalbahn 2, 6, 7: thru 1973 +
15 - 18	Ci	Esslingen	1884	Filderbahn A1, A2, B1, B2, 15 - 18, 1906 Härtsfeldbahn, 16 + 1908 after accident, 1910: 8 - 10, 8: + 1958, 9, 10: + 1937
4", 5"	C4i	van der Zypen & Charlier	1891	Ronsdorf - Müngstener Eisenbahn, W.E.G.-plant Liblar, 1910 (?) Härtsfeldbahn, out of service 1956, 1958 +
10" - 13	C3i	SIG	1888 - 1892	SBB Brünigbahn 636, 638, 646, 652, 1949 Härtsfeldbahn, 11, 12: 1962/1963 new bodies constructed by Auwärter VB 253/254, 1973 Amstetten - Laichingen, 1976 Inselbahn Langeoog 2002 HMB Neresheim 10, 13: scrapped 1973
4"', 5"'	C4	Uerdingen	1902	Köln-Bonner Eisenbahn, 1914 Kleinbahn Bremen - Tarmstedt 24, 30 1956 Härtsfeldbahn, scrapped 1973
Baggage cars
21 - 22	PwPost	Herbrand	1901	1962 +
23	PwPost	Herbrand	1907	1973 +
24	Pw	Herbrand	1901	Reconstructed 1948 from Gw 102, 1973 +
Closed goods wagons
101 - 105	Gw	Herbrand	1901	scrapped 1973, 102: 1948 as baggage car 24
106 - 117	Gw	Rastatt	1903 - 1907	scraped 1973, 107, 110: 1950 coupler car
118 - 120	Gw	Both + Tillmann	1904 (?)	1962 bis 1973 +
Flat wagon with side stakes
201, 202	SSw	Fuchs?	1908	1958, 1962 +
Open goods wagon
301 - 308	Hw	Herbr. / Bo.+T.	1899	1958 bis 1973 +
309 - 312	Hw	Werdau	1917	1958 +
321, 322	Rw	Herbrand	1899	321 scrapped before 1973, 322 HMB Neresheim
361 - 363	Ow	Both + Tillmann	1907	scrapped before 1962
364 - 371	Ow	Herbrand	1899	scrapped in the years 1958 thru 1973
372 - 376	Kw?	Both + Tillmann	1904	also Hw resp. Ow, scrapped until 1973
401 - 407	Ow	Rastatt	1906	1951 to Brohltal-Eisenbahn 334 - 340, scrapped until 1965
Hw = wood truck, Kw= folding roof car, Ow = open car, Rw = flat wagon with side stakes
Rollböcke
1 - 24		Esslingen	1897 - 1900	1906 received from the Filderbahn, (*)
5, 6, 13, 14,		Esslingen	1906 / 1912	1950 received from Amstetten - Laichingen, (*)
23 - 28,		Esslingen	1928 - 1930	1950 received from , Amstetten - Laichingen(*)
31, 32, 35, 36, 49, 50		Esslingen	1936	1950 received from Amstetten - Laichingen, back in 1964
3 - 8, 11 - 20		Esslingen	1891 - 1899	1960 received from Nagold - Altensteig, (*)

(*): Nr. 4, 6, 8, 9, 15, 18, 20, 24, 26, 29 1973 to Amstetten - Laichingen, some of them still exist, the others scrapped 1973 / 1977
2, 6, 8, 10 and 24 today at HMB Neresheim

[ HMB-page ]