The ''Interessengemeinschaft 3-Seenbahn e.V.'' is a German heritage railway located in

Schluchsee The Schluchsee is a reservoir lake in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, southeast of the Titisee in the Black Forest near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Name In the Alemannic dialects of the region the name of the lake is the ''Schluec ...

-Seebrugg in

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

. It was founded on 13 January 2008 to prevent the demolition of the former freight yard in Seebrugg. At certain dates all over the year the volunteers organize and operate vintage train rides on the

Three Lakes Railway The Three Lakes Railway (German: ''Dreiseenbahn'', or sometimes, ''Drei-Seen-Bahn''.) is a long line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The line is electrified to the standard 15 kV, 16⅔ Hz system commonly used throughout the German ra ...

(

Titisee The Titisee is a lake in the southern Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg. It covers an area of and is an average of deep. It owes its formation to the Feldberg glacier, the moraines of which were formed in the Pleistocene epoch and nowadays for ...

– Seebrugg) and on the Höllentalbahn (

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

– Titisee – Donaueschingen)

History

In 2008, Deutsche Bahn (DB) planned to demolish the abandoned former Seebrugg freight yard. At this time, the station was largely in the state of the 1950s, so eight railway enthusiasts founded a society to save the tracks from being removed. After they managed to stop the demolition and to buy the terrain from DB, they organized first steam train rides in August 2008, which were financed by ten communities near Seebrugg. They started to free the tracks from vegetation. Since 2009, the tracks are passable again. The same year in summer they were first used by steam trains. In 2010 an original Baden

water crane A water crane is a device used for delivering a large volume of water into the tank or tender of a steam locomotive. The device is also called a water column in the United States and Australia. As a steam locomotive consumes large quantities of ...

was placed in Seebrugg. In April a ''Henschel DEL 110'', a 1939 Diesel-Electric switcher, was handed over by ''Club 41 073'' as permanent loan. In May an

Eilzugwagen The ''Eilzugwagen'' was a type of railway passenger coach (US: passenger car) specially developed for German semi-fast (or fast stopping) trains, known as ''Eilzüge''. These coaches were first built in the 1930s and continued to be produced until t ...

reached Seebrugg as their first own rail vehicle. In 2011 the society started to raise money to renovate the old tracks, which were about 50 years old and in poor condition. The districts of

Lörrach Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including t ...

, Waldshut and Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and several communities in Black Forest promised financial support. Additionally, €270,000 were asked from the ''LEADER'' funding program of the EU. From 14 September until November 2014 the tracks were completely changed by ''Geiger + Schüle Bau Ulm''. In the following years the overhead wiring will be hung up again after being illegally removed by DB in 2008. The 3-Seenbahn wants to transform the freight yard Seebrugg into a railway museum in the style of the 1950s. They want the visitors to be able to go on a journey through the post-war years. Kohleverladung 2015.jpg, Coal loading demonstration, summerfest 2015 Museumsbahnhof Seebrugg.jpg, Seebrugg while summerfest 2010 Wasserkran im Bahnhof Seebrugg.jpg, The water crane

Rolling stock

The rolling stock of the IG 3-Seenbahn e.V. consists of locomotives and wagons as they could be found in the Black Forest between 1945 and 1960.

Locomotives

At the moment the society has to rent locomotives from other heritage railways because it doesn't have its own operational mainline locomotives. It owns the non-operational E44 1170 (DRG Class E44) and an also non-operational ''Köf II''. A ''Henschel DEL 110'' (called ''Köe 6043'') handed over by ''Club 41 073'' as a permanent loan does all shunting in Seebrugg. In August 2015, a second, operational ''Köf II'' (Köf 6586) was bought and transported to Seebrugg to supersede Köe 6043. In the long run the society wants to make the original Höllentalbahn steam locomotive ''85 007'', which at the moment stands in Freiburg as a monument, operational to operate its steam trains with it. The locomotive will be handed over as a permanent loan by the city council of Freiburg as soon as the IG 3-Seenbahn has built a locomotive shed in Seebrugg. K%C3%B6f_6586_in_Seebrugg.jpg, Köf 6586 (Ex DB 323 878-9) Koe6043SeebruggBesser.JPG, Köe 6043 (DEL 110 24424) E44_1170_Freiburg_2013.JPG, E44 1170 Lokomotive 85007 01.jpg, 85 007 in Freiburg

Passenger cars

For operation in the vintage trains the society owns two authentic train sets which will be refurbished part by part. Those are: * an ''

Eilzug An Eilzug (pl: ''Eilzüge'', cs, spěšný vlak, sk, zrýchlený vlak, English: ''Regional fast train'') is a type of passenger train in German-speaking countries which roughly equates to a British 'fast-stopping train' or 'semi-fast train'. The t ...

'' including 5 four-axle ''Eilzug'' coaches, which shall be added by one more coach and a four-axle baggage wagon * a ''Personenzug'' (commuter train) including 4 two-axle coaches and a two-axle baggage wagon. Since January 2015 the society also owns three operational ''

Donnerbüchse The German term ''Donnerbüchse'' (plural: ''Donnerbüchsen'', formerly ''Donnerwagen'') means "thunderbox" and is the nickname for the four-wheeled, open, passenger coaches, built from 1921 onwards, that served with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. In con ...

n'' which could be taken over from '' Schwäbische Albbahn'' 74_285_Kar.JPG, Eilzugwagen ''74 285 Kar'' 83 117 Stg.JPG, Donnerbüchse ''83 117 Stg'' 83 282 Esn.JPG, Donnerbüchse ''83 282 Esn'' 36_404_Esn.JPG, Donnerbüchse ''36 404 Esn'' Bahnsteig des Bahnhofs Seebrugg bei Nacht.jpg, ''Eilzugwagen'' 74 770 and the three ''Donnerbüchsen'' at Seebrugg passenger station

Freight cars

The freight car collection includes typical postwar types of freight cars. While some of them contain different exhibitions, others are used as storage. Two freight cars will be worked up to be used as baggage and bike cars. Rothaus Bierwagen (cropped).jpg, Rothaus beer cooling cars Seebrugg Bahnhofsfest 2012 1080606.jpg, Loading demonstration with wood Stückgut-Schnellverkehr Leig.jpg, ''LEIG'' double freight car for fast cargo traffic, built in the 1950s OmmBrombergSeebrugg.jpg, Omm 52 (in the foreground) and GGths Bromberg

References

External links

* {{authority control Railway museums in Germany Heritage railways in Germany History of rail transport in Baden-Württemberg Museums in Baden-Württemberg