The Lordonbahn was a 42 km (26 mi) long narrow-gauge railway network with a gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+58 in) from Weiler (Villé) to Chaume de Lusse in the Vosges in France. It was laid and used in World War I to pass a height difference of more than 567 metres (1,860 ft).[3]

Lordonbahn
Military locomotives N° 90 and N° 435 of the Lordonbahn:
Train exiting the tramway station Urbeis in the direction of the tramway station at Passhöhe 28.5. – 3.6.1918


One of the military steam locomotives of the Lordonbahn
Technical
Line length42 km (26 mi)
Track gauge600 mm (1 ft 11+58 in)
Route map


Route of the tramway superimposed onto a modern map[1]

km (mi)[2]
0.0 km (0.0 mi)
Weiler (Villé)
260 m (850 ft)
2.2 km (1.4 mi)
Bassemberg
281 m (920 ft)
3.6 km (2.2 mi)
Grube (Fouchy)
304 m (997 ft)
Steingrube
7.4 km (4.6 mi)
Urbeis
386 m (1,266 ft)
Kestenbrück
Sylvestergrube
Passing loop
12.2 km (7.6 mi)
Passhöhe
602 m (1,975 ft)
Buchenhain
Passing loop
Waldeslust
Passing loop
Lubine
16.6 km (10.3 mi)
Kapelle
598 m (1,962 ft)
16.7 km (10.4 mi)
Wooden trestle bridge
Griessbach
Passing loop
Waldfrieden
22.4 km (13.9 mi)
Wegspinne
729 m (2,392 ft)
24.0 km (14.9 mi)
Gruppe II
Passing loop
25.6 km (15.9 mi)
Rainburg
Passing loop
28.7 km (17.8 mi)
Bhf. Trois Maisons
515 m (1,690 ft)
23.8 km (14.8 mi)
Passing loop
25.2 km (15.7 mi)
Buch
Passing loop
27.0 km (16.8 mi)
Lusshof
827 m (2,713 ft)
Station Terminale
Station Sup. Funiculare

History

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The light railway was built in early 1915 by German pioneers and Russian prisoners of war.

Name

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The Lordonbahn was named after the village of L'Ordon, which is 2.25 kilometres (1.40 mi) northeast of the Chaume de Lusse. Locals called the light railway Tacot Allemand.[4]

Route

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Route of the Lordonbahn
 
Profile of the Lordonbahn

The Lordonbahn light railway network consisted of a 27 kilometres (17 mi) long main line from Villé to Chaume de Lusse and three branches from Col d'Urbeis to Lubine, from Wegspinne to Trois Maisons and from Gare du Lusshoff-les-Yraux to the hamlet of La Pouxe.[4]

The route with a gauge of 600 mm ran along the Val de Villé in Alsace to the 602 metres (1,975 ft) high Col de Urbeis, where it crossed the border to France. Behind the border a branch branched off to the west to Lubine. At Wegspinne (German for track spider) station, another branch line branched off to the east to Trois Maisons from the main line leading south to Lusshof station (Chaume de Lusse). The Lusshof was above today's Tunnel Maurice-Lemaire at a station of the Eberhardt aerial tramway to Klein Rumbach (Petit Rombach). From Lusshof, a branch line led around an 876 metres (2,874 ft) high mountain peak to the Terminale station at La Pouxe near Wisembach with another branch to the top station of a cable car at Les Yraux Fermes.

Operation

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Urbeis tramway station, May/June 1918
 
Tunnel at Passhöhe
 
Wegspinne tramway station
 
Bridge at km 16.7

On 31 December 1917 five military steam loco­motives, eight benzene locomotives and 97 wagons were in use on the Lordonbahn, which were operated and maintained by 193 men. 77 of them belonged to the 24th Bavarian Brigade and 87 were soldiers from other military units. They were supported by 19 civilians and 10 prisoners of war from Russia and Romania. Every day, an average of 160 tons of weapons, ammunition and supplies were transported on 6 round trips with 32 wagons, as well as wounded soldiers in the opposite direction.[4] In addition, a brand-new Borsig steam locomotive with five coupled wheel sets drove on the route (Borsig, 0-10-0, N° 10235/1917).[5][6]

References

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  1. ^ Richard Oster and Association Guerre en Vosges: Histoires 14-18: La Lordonbahn, “le tacot allemand”
  2. ^ a b Profile of the Lordonbahn.
  3. ^ Joël Forthoffer: Les chemins de fer secondaires d’Alsace, hier et demain, p. 196.
  4. ^ a b c V.M.: Vallée de Villé – La guerre du « Tacot » 11 November 2018.
  5. ^ J. L. Boehler: Le Tacot de la “Lordonbahn”. 11. November 2008.
  6. ^ "Drehscheibe Online Foren :: 04 - Historisches Forum :: 1WK - die Lordonbahn in den Vogesen (mit L und B) -ergänzt". drehscheibe-online.de. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
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48°19′33″N 7°10′39″E / 48.32595°N 7.17758°E / 48.32595; 7.17758 (Col de Urbeis)

  Media related to Lordonbahn at Wikimedia Commons