The railway line "Windbergbahn"

The "Windbergbahn" is a railway line on the outskirts of the cities Dresden and Freital (Central Europe, Germany, Saxony). This short railway line is interesting because it was the first mountain railway operating with steam locomotives in Germany. After the "Semmeringbahn" in Austria, the "Windbergbahn" was the second mountain railway in Europe. Therefore it got the nickname "Sächsische Semmeringbahn (Saxon Semmeringbahn)". For awhile the village Possendorf was the end of the railway route so it is also known locally as "Possendorfer Heddel". On a particularly interesting section of the route that is still existing today a difference in elevation of 120 m must be overcome on a 1.6 km bee-line. Railway engineer Guido Brescius designed a route of 5.6 km to use on this section resulting an average upward gradient of 1:46.7. At that time there was little experience in using steam locomotives on such a steep railway line.

[historischer Windbergzug - 8,7/49,2 kB]

train, like it went many years on the "Windbergbahn" with "Windbergbahn"-locomotive 98 001, baggage car, "Windberbahn"-observation car and box car with flat roof during the fourth Dresdenly steam locomotive exhibition ("4. Dresdner Dampflofest")
(Foto: Gottschling, Dresden 1995/04/30)
Zoom - 49,2 kB

The railway line of the "Albertbahn" corporation to the village Hänichen was built between April and October 1856. It purpose was to transport the hard coal from the pits in "Windberg" mountain area and the village Hänichen quickly to the harbour of Dresden and the Elbe River.
The engineers, the firemen and the brakemen spoke of beautiful scenery alonge the route and soon excursion travel took place on Sundays and holidays. The travelers rode in decorated coal cars.
1868 the "Königlich Sächsische Staatseisenbahn (K. Sächs. Sts. Eb.) (Royal Saxon State Railway) bought the railways from the "Albertbahn company". The trip travels were stopped in 1871 for safety reasons.

Freital		Dresden
railway route of available line selection, dismantled track (dotted line) of the "Windbergbahn" and of the sidings to the coalmines around the mountain "Windberg"

Due to declining coal production, the pits around Hänichen closed at the end of the 19th century and subsequently many miners became unemployed. To stop the people from moving out of the area, (and allow them to use the line to commute to work between Dresden and Freital) and also to encorage new industry to settle, the communities asked to have the coal railway rebuild. It would be used for public transportation and for transportation goods. The rebuilding of the tracks and the construction of railway stations and warehouses took place first in September - October, l907. The extension of the route from Hänichen to Possendorf opened in September, l908.
The double-axled tank locomotives did not longer meet the request. Therefore the Royally Saxon State Railway obtained a total of 18 locomotives of the class "I TV" (later class 98.0) in the years 1910, 1913 and 1914. The tank locomotives supplied from "Sächsische Maschinenfabrik Chemnitz (Saxon machine factory Chemnitz) (the former machine factory Richard Hartmann) were used mainly on the Dresden - Possendorf route ("Windbergbahn") and are therefore well known as "Windberglok". Built according to the patent of Guenther and Meyer this locomotive class had two double-axled bogies whose cylinders where connected with flexible steam lines. Only one "Windberglok" was preserved. This locomotive is not in working condition and belongs to the "Verkehrsmuseum Dresden" (traffic museum Dresden).
In order to offer better comfort for the passengers, starting in 1912, four special observation cars (the so called "Windbergbahnaussichtswagen" - "Windbergbahn"- observation cars) were put into use. These cars had particularly large windows, covered platforms, gas lighting and other innovations. One observation car could be saved from being scrapped and was reconstructed.
The "Windbergbahn"-locomotives and the "Windbergbahn"-observation cars embossed for many years the picture of the railway line Dresden - Freital - Possendorf. During the week the trains were used by work commuters and on weekends for pleasure travel. Bricks, wood and agricultural products were transported in the freight trains.

After 1930, with the start of automobile travel, passenger travel declined slightly. After World War II and the bombing of Dresden commuter traffic started again. Pleasure traffic only slowly increased. In 1951 the route between Kleinnaundorf and Possendorf (5.14 km) closed as the rails were needed for more important railway routes. (Starting in 1946 in East Germany many railway lines or their second track were dismantled and transported into the Soviet Union as reparations.) Uranium ore, needed by the Soviet Union for its atomic armament program, was found in the area of the hard coal pits. In November, 1957 the passenger traffic was completely stopped because of the many trains which were transporting the ore. The heavy ore-laden trains put a great strain on the already over 30 year old steam locomotives. Therefore, after successful attempts (untill 1963), diesel locomotives with flange-lubricating devices were used.

Uranium mining had ended even before the political reunification of Germany in 1989. With the end of the "Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR)" (German National Railroad in the GDR) in December, 1993 all goods traffic stopped. Now the future of the railway line is very uncertain.
1980 railway friends founded an association which worked to obtain the cars, the buildings, the track and other historic documents of the first German mountain railway. Also, due to the efforts of this association, the last "Windbergbahn"-observation car was reconstructed. These railway enthusiasts organized special trips on the "Windbergbahn" line which took place for the first time in May, l99l.

Due to its strong upward gradients and its many curves (smallest radius 85 m) this short railroad line has a very special attraction. A trip to see it is definitely worthwhile. And, in addition there are numerous other interesting attractions for railway enthusiasts in the Dresden area: the narrow-gauge Freital Hainsberg - Kurort Kippsdorf railway, the narrow-gauge Radebeul Ost - Radeburg railway, the transportation museum of Dresden, the Dresden stand cable railway and the Dresden suspension railway to name a few.
Next scheduled dates for "Windbergbahn" are to be find at the timetable.

Some information about the "Windberg"-locomotives (class 98.0) are to be find under the adress ghp_loco.htm.
For further information please visit the German speaking sides or contact the association "Sächsischer Museumseisenbahn Verein Windbergbahn e. V.".

exhibition about the "Windbergbahn"
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Copyright (c) Windbergbahn e. V.
The use of parts of the text, of pictures, of photos etc. from this page for commercial purposes is only allowed with the premission of the Saechsischer Museumseisenbahn Verein Windbergbahn e. V.
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author: Klaus Gottschling created 1998/06/10; last change 2002/04/28;