Rübeland Railway

Blankenburg–Tanne railway
(Rübelandbahn)

Line length:

30.6 km (19.0 mi)

Track gauge:

1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)

Voltage:

25 kV 50 Hz AC

Maximum incline:

6 %

0,0

Blankenburg (Harz)

to Thale

to Halberstadt

1,4

Blankenburg Nord

2,3

boundary DBAG / Fels Netz GmbH

3,8

Blankenburg-Westend

5,6

Michaelstein(reversing station)

(old route)

Bielstein Tunnel (466m)

8,0

Braunesumpf

9,7

Hüttenrode

Krumme Grube Tunnel (307 m)

Nebelsholz Tunnel (90 m)

12,9

Neuwerk

14,4

Rübeland

Rübeland Lime Works

Kaltes Tal Lime Works

15,9

Mühlental

0,0

Elbingerode (Harz)

(0,0)

old branch

old lime works

(5,7)

Drei Annen Hohneto the Harzquerbahn

20,8

Anst Hornberg

Hornberg Lime Works

23,2

Königshütte

30,3

Tanneto the South Harz Railway

460 m

The Rübeland Railway (German: Rübelandbahn) is a railway link from Blankenburg via Rübeland and Königshütte to Tanne in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was built by the Halberstadt-Blankenburg Railway (HBE) between 1880 and 1886. The route length is 30.6 kilometres, the height difference over 300 metres. The seven kilometre long section from Königshütte to Tanne was closed in 1968 and the five kilometres from Elbingerode to Königshütte followed suit on 30 August 2000, the last train to Königshütte having run in 1999.

The name Rübeland Railway was first used when the railway was nationalised. Previously it had been known as the Harz Railway (Harzbahn).

The Rübeland Railway has a backshunt (Spitzkehre) in Michaelstein and several ramp sections with inclines of 60 ‰.

In addition to the junction with the South Harz Railway in Tanne the Rübeland Railway was linked via a branch line with the Harzquerbahn and Brocken Railways, that ran from Wechsel station to Drei Annen Hohne. This line was closed in 1963 and the track was later lifted, but the trackbed left in place. As a result, it was able to be rebuilt without the need for planning permission.

On 1 January 1950 the Halberstadt-Blankenburg Railway, which had been nationalised in 1946, was taken over by the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn.

Between 1960 and 1965 the Rübeland Railway was electrified, in order to be able to transport the raw material, lime, in larger quantities from the quarries near Rübeland. The power system used for this isolated network was not the usual German, single-phase, electrification system, 15 kV AC, 16 2/3 Hz, but single-phase, 25 kV AC, 50 Hz, which was taken from the 110-kV state electricity network at a substation at the exit to Blankenburg with the aid of transformers. On 1 August 1966 electrical operations began and since then the DR Class E 251, specially built for the Rübeland Railway, has been used on this line. The section from Hornberg junction to Königshütte was closed in 2000, goods services having ceased on 2 June 1996 and the last passenger train between Elbingerode and Königshütte having run on 29 May 1999. The service was minimal; passenger trains usually consisted of a locomotive and only one or two coaches.

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Wikipedia