Route Buchloe - Füssen In The Early 2000's

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by AmityBlight, Jul 7, 2024.

  1. AmityBlight

    AmityBlight Well-Known Member

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    Toyed with the thought of suggesting this for a while... finally gotta get this out of my system!
    Also, this is basically my home route since I live in this area :D

    The route
    Since I don't have a map of the route in its entirety, here is one of the southern part.
    [​IMG]

    The northern half is part of the Allgäubahn and can be seen in this excerpt from another map:
    Unbenannt.PNG

    In total this route is about 60km long, which would put it in the middle range of German routes in TSW, in terms of length. It's located in southwestern Bavaria, close to the alps.
    The northern half from Buchloe to Biessenhofen is one of the oldest train routes in Bavaria, opened in 1847. It's double-tracked, and the route shares it with many trains going from München/Augsburg towards Kempten, Lindau and Oberstdorf. Speed limit here is up to 160 km/h.
    From Biessenhofen to the south it switches to single track, with a max speed of up to 80 km/h. The part towards Marktoberdorf was built in 1876 and the rest towards Füssen in 1889. Now the route gets more curvy and has more stops along the way. Although being a relatively small diesel route, it's quite heavily frequented. On weekdays, commuters and schoolchildren fill up the trains, but there are also many tourists using it to get toward the alps, the lakes around Füssen, and especially the famous castle Neuschwanstein. :)
    Most of the trains are bound through to München and Augsburg, while a few (especially commuter trains during rush hour) only travel from Marktoberdorf to Buchloe. A complete journey from Buchloe to Füssen or back takes approximately 1,5 hours.

    The rolling stock
    In the era I'd imagined this route to be set, i.e. the early 2000's, the main two workhorses here were the 218 with usually 4 n-Wagen, serving the trains to and from München, while the trains to and from Augsburg consisted of 628 DMU's, mostly as double units. Occasionally, the 218 helped out in these services too.
    In the late 2000's, the 628 was mostly replaced by 642 and the 218 switched from n-Wagen to Dosto's.
    To get in the mood, here's a picture of a typical train near the Hopfensee :)
    [​IMG]

    The trains to and from the Kempten direction in the northern part consisted mostly of 218 with n-Wagen (later Dosto's) and 612 DMU's as single, double, triple and occasionally quadruple units. In the mornings and evenings, 628 and later 642 can be seen in these services too, since in Kempten was/is their home base and maintenance facility.


    Value of the route for TSW
    I hesitated for a while to actually suggest this route, since it's basically a regional-trains-only thing. There is (and has been at the time) no noteworthy fast or freight traffic. A daily freight train departs Buchloe towards Kempten, but has no stops scheduled along this route. The same goes for a pair of EuroCity trains running from München to Zürich via Kempten. The only freight traffic of note are the occasional hauls to and from the Army base in Füssen. Every couple of weeks, the local garrison (a bunch of mobile howitzers, armored recon craft as well as transport and supply vehicles) moved out for exercises on a bunch of flatbed wagons, often pulled by a 232 or 290 loco.

    Also, the feel and character of the route is quite similar to Maintalbahn and especially Niddertalbahn, with a scenery reminiscent of Rosenheim-Salzburg. It's sort of a hybrid.

    BUT the route has got one last ace up its sleeve: the signalling system :o
    To reduce maintenance and personnel cost along the route, the part between Marktoberdorf and Füssen has been fitted with SZB signalling in 1989. This is a heavily automated system where most of the signalling work is done by the trains and their drivers themselves. It basically works like this:
    -When you arrive at Marktoberdorf, you'll hook a device to the rear coupling of your train. Also, you get a bundle consisting of an infrared pistol as well as some keys.
    -All the crossings in this part of the route function just like on Niddertalbahn, with a magnet in the tracks to activate them and a monitoring signal for you and your PZB to see if it works.
    -At the stations where you meet an oncoming train, your switch is set to lead you to platform 2 while the other switch leads the other train to platform 1. When you are ready to depart, you grab your infrared pistol and aim for a sensor at the departure signal. If the ongoing track is free (and the batteries of the pistol aren't dead :o), the switch will be set for you to leave and the signal will go green.
    -When the device at your rear coupling passes a sensor, the switch will reset to its original position and the signal goes back to red again.
    -At Füssen, you have to pick up the device and take it along to the other end of the train for the return journey.
    -If push comes to shove and something goes wrong, a crossing or switch doesn't work properly or the battery in the pistol died, you still got the bundle of keys to set everything manually.

    I don't know about you all, but I think having this signalling system in TSW could be a bunch of fun, if done well :)
    What do you think?
     
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  2. Caravatt

    Caravatt Well-Known Member

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    Interesting, also for the particular signaling system. Bavarian routes are always welcome! :)
    PS. I took a better look to the route. It reminds me a lot (I don't know why) of Altenburg-Wildau, in TSC. Perhaps for the signaling and single track section. I'd love to see a regional DB route!
    EDIT- My country has never had a signaling system like this. We moved from the Manual Block (each maneuver post had an operator, who used a panel to change the aspect of signals), to the Automatic and Coded ones.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2024
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  3. AmityBlight

    AmityBlight Well-Known Member

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    The signalling system is indeed quite rare, it was an idea from the late 80's to reduce personnel on smaller, simpler side branches through automation. The technology wasn't quite there for full automation though, so they went with this. :)
    Although the system worked quite well, only a few routes have been equipped with this particular version... just 4 or 5 across Western Germany I think.
     
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