The Drei-Ähren Railway (German for ''Three Ears of Corn Railway'', French ''Voie Ferrée Trois Épis'') consisted of the

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges ...

Electric Tramway from Türkheim to Drei-Ähren and the track gauge Military Light Railway from Drei-Ähren to Uhlhorst at Drei-Ähren near

Colmar Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

Electric Tramway from Türkheim to Drei-Ähren

History

From 5 June 1899, the Electric Tramway from Türkheim to Drei-Ähren connected the small town of

Türkheim Türkheim is a municipality in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

, located west of

, with the pilgrimage church at Drei Ähren (French Trois Épis). The construction of the railway went back to an initiative of the electricity company Schuckert & Co. from

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, while the Alsace was an Imperial Territory of Germany. At times there were plans to extend the route from Türkheim to Winzenheim and thereby connect it to Colmar's secondary railway and tram network.Erhard Born: ''Das elsässisch-mittelbadische Schmalspurnetz.'' In: Erhard Born (editor): ''Schmalspur zwischen Vogesen und Schwarzwald.'' Self-published, Schwäbisch Gemünd 1972, , p. 19. The plans were, however, not implemented. After an interruption of operations in the First World War since 1919 under the name ''Société d’Electricité de Turckheim et Tramways de Turckheim aux Trois Epis'' (TTE), the railway was shut down on 1 April 1937.

Route

Drei-Ähren (now Trois Épis) lays good 400 meters higher than Türkheim, which gave the railway the character of a mountain railway - albeit without cogwheel operation. It had a total length of and the maximum gradient was 1 in 10.2 (9.8%). The electrical plant for the power supply was of the terminus and had a siding which branched off into four tracks to

coal bunker A coal bin, coal store or coal bunker is a storage container for coal awaiting use or transportation. This can be either in domestic, commercial or industrial premises, or on a ship or locomotive tender, or at a coal mine or processing plant. ...

, a repair shop and the car shed with 2 stands for 3 cars each.

Operation

In addition to a freight car and a baggage car, seven tram cars were available for operation. The average speed was on the ascent and on the descent. The lower sixth of the railway line could be driven uphill at .Civil engineer Walloth from Colmar
''Zum Bau der Drei-Aehrenbahn, einer neuen Bergbahn in den Vogesen.''
In: ''Zeitschrift für das gesamte Lokal- und Straßenbahnwesen.'' Vol. XVIII, 1899.

Military Light Railway from Drei-Ähren to Uhlhorst

History

During the First World War, the military construction division R 22 laid a long military light railway with a track gauge of to Uhlhorst station, around the front line at Lingekopf, Kleinkopf, Barrenkopf and Hartmannsweilerkopf west of Drei-Ähren. Its objective was to transport building materials for the bunkers, barbed wire, weapons, ammunition and supplied to the front line and on the way back bring wounded soldiers to the hospitals. Thousands of French and German soldiers were killed in the battles along this railway line. On 31 December 1917, the Bavarian FeBA 24 (Feldbahnamt, Light Railway Office) took over the line and operated it until May 1918. After that, FeBA 50 took over the line until the end of the war.Andreas Bärwald
Der Mansfelder

''Die elektrische Bergbahn von Türckheim nach Drei Ähren und die 600mm Drei Ährenbahn.''
11. Dezember 2015.Jürgen Ehret
''Kriegsbahnen im Oberelsass : 1914 - 1918''
Ed. Winterwork, 2014
S. 274-279.
/ref>

Route

At the upper terminus of the electric tramway, the goods were reloaded onto the

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

waggons on the light railway line. These could be hauled upwards on a winch-operated single-track incline car to the military light railway station on the square in front of the pilgrimage church in Drei-Ähren. At the ''Bärenstall'' (literally ''Bear Cage'') station, a branch line turned north to the Lingekopf. The main line continued via Schratzmännle, Barrenkopf and Kleinkopf to the Uhlhorst terminus north of

Hohrod Hohrod () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. The communes coo ...

berg. There was a double-track incline between Barrenkopf and Kleinkopf, which overcame a height difference of on a long piece of the route.Rüdiger Fach and Günter Krall
''Heeresfeldbahnen der Kaiserzeit.''
Kenning, Nordhorn, 2002
S. 110
/ref> The conveyor track has been decommissioned in the postwar period and lifted by French troops.

Operation

The military light railway line was operated as a horse-drawn railway or with a benzene locomotive. The journey time was about 1½ hours.

References

External links

''Le tramway de Turckheim - Trois-Epis.''
* Société d'histoire Wickram-Turckheim
''Tramway Turckheim-Trois Épis : anecdotes, histoires et images.''
Société d'histoire et d'archéologie Wickram, Turckheim, Haut-Rhin, 1999. {{coord, 48.09936, 7.23289, region:FR_type:building, display=title, name=Break of gauge 1000 mm/600 mm 600 mm gauge railways in France Railway lines in Grand Est