Thörlerbahn (Historic Railway)Thörlerbahn (Historic Railway)The Thörlerbahn, in official parlance local railway Kapfenberg- Au -Seewiesen , was a narrow-gauge railway operated by the Styrian state railways with a gauge of 760 mm. It connected the region around Aflenz in Upper Styria with the Southern Railway near Kapfenberg. Thörlerbahn History Originally planned as part of a projected railway connection from Mürztal to Mariazell , the narrow-gauge railway was officially opened on December 8, 1893 by the Styrian state railway office . The operation was run until 1922 by the kk privileged Südbahn-Gesellschaft , whose rolling mill in Graz also supplied the rails for the railway. The railway brought the region an economic upswing, primarily through freight traffic, and the iron industry in particular benefited from the innovative means of transport at the time. The connection never became very important for passenger traffic, since the larger towns such as Aflenz or Turnau were off the route and the further connection to the Mariazell Railway was never realized. From 1933 the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen used petrol railcars ( railbuses ) of the VT/s series built by Austro-Daimler on the line. The four-axle railcars, each equipped with two 80 hp engines, had hydraulic power transmission and air suspension for the first time . However, the lightweight car body and the petrol engines did not withstand the rough railway operation in the long term. At the latest at the beginning of the Second World War, the vehicles were parked due to damage and a lack of fuel. Passenger services were discontinued on March 15, 1959, the section from Seebach-Turnau to Au-Seewiesen was completely removed in 1964. On the other hand, freight traffic for the iron industry as far as Thörl developed positively, operations were switched to diesel traction in the 1960s, modern freight cars were procured, the superstructure was adapted to the increased loads and, finally, in the early 1990s a modern depot was built at the Kapfenberg state railway station . and workshop buildings erected. The section from Aflenz to Seebach-Turnau, which was only used sporadically to transport timber, was discontinued at the end of 1990. The Thörlerbahn association had set itself the task of protecting the section of track from demolition. In 1991 he started a nostalgic train trial operation with borrowed vehicles. This offer was consistently well received, so that in the following years an initially promising museum railway project could be set up: passenger cars were built on freight car chassis based on historical models and the last original steam locomotive No. 6 THÖRL , at the same time the last existing machine in a series closely related to the Z series, could be purchased from the Club 760 rented and reactivated. However, a bank failure in 1995 led to the bankruptcy of the local iron industry, so that the state railways were forced to close down after the loss of the largest (and practically only) freight customer. The club was still allowed to use the rails until the end of the 1998 season, but it was not possible to take over the entire 20 km route for financial reasons. Due to a lack of support in the region, where the use of the railway line as a cycle path and to widen the federal highway was more welcomed, the club filed for bankruptcy after the 1999 season was canceled. The vehicles were sold or returned to their owners. On October 31, 1999, a draisine drove the Thörlerbahn for the last time. In 2003 and 2004, the tracks were removed and, as previously planned, a railway cycle path was built. The reception building and the goods depot at Thörl station are listed buildings. Thörlerbahn Overview Track Length: 22.7 km Track Gauge: 760 mm ( Bosnian Gauge ) Thoerlerbahn Route Map Thörlerbahn Kapfenberg–Au-Seewiesen Track Length: 22.7 km Track Gauge: 760 mm ( Bosnian Gauge ) 0.0 Kapfenberg 509 m above sea level A (transition to the southern runway ) 0.5 Kapfenberg State Railway 2.8 angle 3.9 wasteland 537 m above sea level A 5.5 Hansenhutte 551 m above sea level A 10.0 Margarethenhuette 616 m above sea level A 11.4 Thorl 630 m above sea level A 11.5 Thörler Tunnel 8.8 meters 12.6 Aflenz recently renamed Thörl 642 m above sea level A 13.4 Crest Stone Hammer 646 m above sea level A 15.2 Mitterberg 17.3 Hinterberg 686 m above sea level A 19.8 Seebach - Turnau 715 m above sea level A 22.7 Au - Seewiesen discontinued in 1964 | |||||
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