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496:'s intentions to close the line from Bad Lauterberg to St. Andreasberg West caused further problems. Only a great storm of protest kept the Oder Valley Railway open and also encouraged plans to modernise the rack railway. But neither the acquisition of a modern diesel rack railway locomotive, which could run through from Scharzfeld to St. Andreasberg, nor the electrification of the line could be carried out due to cost. The last attempt to save the line was the use of
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in
September 1958, which killed 18 and injured 100 people, was cited, at a business meeting on 28. November 1958, in announcing the closure of the line in Sankt Andreasber. Consequently, rail services ceased on 1 January 1959 after 46 years of operations, on safety grounds, even though the
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station on the
Glockenberg. Goods workings had started three days earlier in order to familiarize railway staff with operations. Initially, five pairs of trains were timetabled daily, each with a journey time of about 15 minutes (at a top speed of 8 km/h). In the 1920s, only two pairs of
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After further negotiations it was decided in 1906 to build the third option with a slightly altered loop and a maximum gradient of 1 in 8.2. Construction started on 1 April 1911. During the winter of 1912/13, work had to be halted for several months, which meant that laying the track and the rack
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The location of the Oder Valley
Railway station, remote from the village centre in a deep valley, was rather inconvenient for the townsfolk of St. Andreasberg. So as early as 23 June 1903, the local council had sent proposals to the railway administration in Kassel explaining three options for
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mechanical engineering department, drove a railbus without any authority or permission, on the inclined part of the route on 18 September 1957 and determined that the railbus would have had to be fitted with additional brakes for the downhill run. But they were never employed in service.
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extending the railway to the town centre. Extending the adhesion-based Oder Valley
Railway did not seem feasible due to the high cost. The railway had to climb 70 metres in height, which would have been only possible by artificially extending the line to achieve an acceptable grade for an
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In 1955, the Lower Saxony
Ministry for the Economy and Transport warmed that operations on the St. Andreasberg rack railway were very unprofitable. Rapidly rising traffic on the roads and the lack of modernization of the line made the end of the rack railway ever more likely.
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rail only started in April 1913. The route was 1,636.15 metres long and required 1,543.61 metres of double-bar, rack rail. The concession to operate the railway was received on 5 June 1911. It was granted by the district president of
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The surviving station building was a resort administrative office and then, until 2005, an artist's studio. The large roof overhang is a bus station today. The old trackbed has been partially tarmacked and leads to the barbecue site of
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The rack railway was officially opened on 19 June 1913, but goods operations had already started 3 days earlier so that employees could familiarise themselves with the operation. The railway had two, triple-axle, rack railway,
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On 17 August 1959 the rack railway was officially closed and work began immediately on lifting the track. The St. Andreasberg
Railway Company (
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The railway become unprofitable in the 1950s and should have been modernized. In addition, safety had become a concern after an accident on the
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cause of the accident on the
Drachenfels line was not directly applicable. The last train probably worked the line on 23 April 1959.
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climbing out of the
Sperrlutter Valley and cutting through the Grüner Hirsch with a maximum gradient of 1 in 6
565:(in German), vol. 11. Niedersachsen – 3. Südlich des Mittellandkanals, Freiburg im Breisgau: EK-Verlag,
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opened in 1884, before the rack railway was built. This line connected Sankt
Andreasberg via
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following the road through the
Sperrlutter valley with a maximum gradient of 1 in 12
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543:) operated a bus service until 30 May 1965 when it was taken over by the DB.
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and permitted the operation of a steam railway for the next 100 years.
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in central Germany. To begin with its shareholders were the state of
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was proposed. Three different options for the route were evaluated:
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421:. The station was located at the foot of the Glockenberg hill.
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On 19 July 1913 the line was officially opened at the
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Former railway embankment of the rack railway section
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following the Wäschegrund with a comparable incline
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404:. The terminus of the Oder Valley Railway was the
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484:trains ran daily due to the effects of the
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19:St. Andreasberg West–St. Andreasberg Stadt
318:) operated a now-closed, standard gauge,
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503:: Dr. Paul Schöning, head of the
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586:www.werkbahn.de about the cog railway
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611:Defunct railway companies of Germany
371:Former wayside halt at Schwalbenherd
336:Hanover State Light Railway Office
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563:Deutsche Klein- und Privatbahnen
541:St. Andreasberger Eisenbahn GmbH
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417:("state railway station"), of
30:St. Andreasberg Stadt station
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606:Railway lines in Lower Saxony
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303:St. Andreasberg rack railway
316:St. Andreasberger Kleinbahn
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531:A serious accident on the
419:St. Andreasberg West
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626:Rack railways in Germany
523:in memory of the railway
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262:St. Andreasberg Stadt
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616:Transport in the Harz
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460:and two, twin-axle,
561:Gerd Wolff (2009),
533:Drachenfels Railway
494:Deutsche Bundesbahn
475:Rack rail operation
469:Drachenfels Railway
382:Oder Valley Railway
134:Oder Valley Railway
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390:South Harz Railway
132:Junction with the
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621:Sankt Andreasberg
572:978-3-88255-670-4
462:passenger coaches
332:Sankt Andreasberg
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80:8 km/h max.
68:Track gauge
56:Rack system
48:Line length
600:Categories
431:Abt system
402:Scharzfeld
398:Nordhausen
324:Upper Harz
505:Brunswick
501:railbuses
407:‹See Tfd›
308:‹See Tfd›
90:Route map
43:Technical
394:Northeim
72:1,435 mm
62:, 2 bars
555:Sources
512:Closure
450:Hanover
388:to the
342:History
328:Prussia
322:in the
51:1,636 m
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411:German
312:German
105:Legend
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400:) in
266:603 m
238:572 m
166:433 m
162:West
567:ISBN
492:and
380:The
301:The
258:1,7
230:1,4
208:1,4
186:0,1
155:0,0
60:Abt
602::
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396:–
392:(
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