Die Bregenzerwaldbahn

[rekoboy]

We have just got back from a visit to Frau Rekoboy's cousin Michaela who is a medic in Feldkirch in Vorarlberg, the most westerly Austrian federal state. On our previous visits we never seemed to have time to visit the object of my desire - the preserved 5km section of the Bregenzerwaldbahn - but this time we managed it. The Bregenzerwaldbahn, 760mm gauge, ran from Bregenz on Lake Constance, the capital of Vorarlberg, up into the mountains to the small town of Bezau. The line was never one of the most profitable of ÖBB and was not so well-known by tourists as the Zillertalbahn. It was dieselized at a fairly early stage with the class 2091 centre-cab machines that were produced during the German occupation 1938-45. Latterly, before closure, the motive power was provided by the ÖBB 2095 class. In its last couple of years the line hosted a series of steam spectaculars organized by Eurovapor which brought a variety of steam locos and a lot of money into the tills. Sadly, the line was closed between 1980 and 1983 as a result of catastrophic landslides which destroyed part of the formation, but the last 5km between Schwarzenberg and Bezau, the terminus, have been preserved. That was our destination. On our visit both of the steam locos were undergoing repair so we had the line's class 2095 rod-coupled Bo-Bo diesel for the return trip. The rolling stock is a mixture of historic 4-wheel restored carriages and more modern bogie rebuilds from the ÖBB workshops in St Pölten. The 2095 is a 760mm gauge loco with the heart of a standard gauge machine - a 12 cylinder diesel which develops 600bhp. Most of the preserved bit of the Bregenzerwaldbahn is fairly level but on the gradients with a loaded train when the driver opens up the throttle of the 2095 , boy, oh boy, diesel ecstasy! The terminus at Bezau possesses a sector table (if that is the correct translation for Segmentdrehscheibe) - the first time that I have seen a modern one in action. Enjoy the photos!

Edited September 11, 2022 by rekoboy

[sncf231e]

In the seventies I have travelled a number of times between Bregenz and Bezau with the Bregenzerwaldbahn. These pictures are from 1976:

 

 

When I visited again in 2013 I travelled the short 5 km distance; a steam locomotive was used then:

 

 

Regards

Fred

[Gordonwis]

I sadly never got round to riding this - the rest of my family did the full line but I was elsewhere (possibly even on  a TEFS trip somewhere exotic). I did see and ride all the other OBB ng lines