[message repaired as text-only]


Hello,
The Schweers and Wall 'Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz' shows 2 closed sections of SBB line near Zurich, does anyone have any information about them, including photos?:


1) Bassersdorf - a section of line between Glattbrugg and Effretikon, including what must be the original Bassersdorf station, seems to have been bypassed and abandoned in 1980.


2) Otelfingen - Niederglatt - the line between these 2 places seems to have been closed and abandoned in 1969, except for the section between Tanklager Mettmenhasli and Niederglatt which remains open for freight traffic. The latter section of the line also includes a disused halt/station at Oberhasli, with another station at Buchs on the completely closed section. This appears to have been replaced by a new station - Buchs-Dallikon - on the line between Otelfingen and Glattbrugg.


The superb Eingestellte Bahnen http://www.eingestellte-bahnen.ch website does not feature these 2 lines as yet, so any info on them would be of great interest to me.


Chris

The Bassersdorf original section closed 15.03.1980, the day before the line through Zürich Flughafen was commissioned.


Otelfingen to Tanklager Mettmenhasli (7.359 km) closed to passengers 17.01.1937 and completlely 06.03.1969 although a short section at Otelfingen is retained as a siding


The remaining part of the line also closed to passengers 17.01.1937

The km posts were measured from Zürich HB 0 reversing at Niederglatt

Niederglatt 15.260
Oberhasli 23.900
Buchs ZH 29.601
Oetelfingen 33.800 (36.520 on Oerlikon-Wettingen line)

If you go to google.ch and type "Bahnstrecke Niederglatt Otelfingen" links to several German language pages on the line will appear

Am 30.01.2017 um 20:24 schrieb cmrosindale@... [SwissRail]:

2) Otelfingen - Niederglatt [...] The superb Eingestellte Bahnen
http://www.eingestellte-bahnen.ch website does not feature these 2
lines as yet

They do mention this line. But as the title of the site refers to private railways and this was an SBB line, you only find them in the annex. But you find them
<http://www.eingestellte-bahnen.ch/330901.html>

The story of the two Buchs stations belongs to the "Nationalbahnkrach" which you could translate as the "National Railway crash". The SNB "Schweizerische Nationalbahn" wasn't a state railway but a company set up by smaller towns and private persons who wanted to have an alternative to the big railway companies of that time (later bought up by the Confederation to form the SBB in 1902).

The SNB built a line from Konstanz and Singen via Winterthur, Oerlikon, Baden Oberstadt, Lenzburg, Suhr to Aarau and Zofingen, where the line and the funds of the company ended. The segments opened 1875-77 and 1880 NOB took over the assets after the company's bankruptcy.

When NOB realized that the SNB was going to deserve the Furttal North of Zürich they hastily acquired a concession for a line Otelfingen - Buchs - Niederglatt which had the (wanted) effect to take away much freight traffic from SNB, as always the shortest itinerary had to be chosen. For the rest, the line was not really needed and was one of the firsts to be closed down in Switzerland.

Markus, Gürbetal

Am 30.01.2017 um 20:24 schrieb cmrosindale@... [SwissRail]:

1) Bassersdorf - a section of line between Glattbrugg and Effretikon,
including what must be the original Bassersdorf station, seems to
have been bypassed and abandoned in 1980.

This wasn't a line closure but a relocation, as there were many in Switzerland. e.g. Ziegelbrücke - Mühlehorn on the Zürich - Chur line. But not all of these can be found in the Schweers&Wall atlas, e.g. the relocated entry into Yverdon from the South or the Seebahn in Zürich (Enge and Wollishofen). A relocation is a different process from a closure and doesn't appear in the official publication of the Confederation (Bundesblatt/Feuille fédérale/Foglio fédérale).

Markus, Gürbetal

There have been several such re-routings over the years in the Zürich area, including:

* The original route from the Wipkingen station to the Hauptbahnhof, which curved down an embankment to join the station approaches on their northern side. In the 1890s this was replaced with the current viaduct that takes the tracks over to the southern side, and Röntgenstrasse now follows the old track alignment.


* As Markus mentions above, the original route from Wollishofen station to the Hauptbahnhof. This ran somewhat to the east of current alignment and more at street level, with many level crossings. The route was relocated in the 1920s, at which time the current Enge and Wiedikon stations were built to replace earlier stations on the old route. The old route crossed the Sihl on a bridge after passing through a tunnel under the ridge to the south; that tunnel is still there and is now used by road traffic (it is the western of the two road tunnels, and clearly shows its railway heritage).


* The old route from the Hauptbahnhof to Stadelhofen station. This left the Hbf in a westerly direction, before performing a clockwise 270 degrees turn via a viaduct over the Limmat, passing through Letten station and the Letten tunnel before reaching Stadelhofen. This route was rendered obsolete in 1990 by the Hirschengraben tunnel, which took a direct route under the Limmat to Stadelhofen, although I think it was a few more years before it formally closed. The Letten tunnel has since been filled in, but the rest of the route is a pedestrian path that makes for an interesting walk through some of Zürich's railway and industrial past.


* The line at Aathal station has also been relocated. The old station building still exists, about 100m away from the current line, and still contains the old signal interlocking.


Chris.

Wipkingen relocation opened 18.08.1894


The re-alignment Zürich HB-Enge/Wollishofen opened 28.02.1927


Zürich HB-Letten-Stadlehofen closed 27.05.1989 (date of last train). Letten station still exists and bizarrely a Berlin S-Bahn trailer, 875 003 (EB 165 080), is preserved there.


Aathal deviation opened 14.05.1990

And I forgot about the relocation of the Forchbahn in Zumikon, from an on-street alignment to a tunnel.

Chris.

Wipkingen relocation opened 18.08.1894

NOT on the map

The re-alignment Zürich HB-Enge/Wollishofen opened 28.02.1927

NOT on the map

Zürich HB-Letten-Stadlehofen closed 27.05.1989 (date of last train).

is on the map

Aathal deviation opened 14.05.1990

is on the maü

relocation of the Forchbahn in Zumikon, from an on-street alignment
to a tunnel. 07.11.1970

NOT on the map

original Spanischbrötlibahn Zürich - Baden had a different entry into Baden until 1877, through Schlossbergtunnel, which is now part of a parking.

is on the map

original St. Gallen - St. Fiden line was single track on the surface, doubled and in Rosenbergtunnel since 1912

NOT on the map

original entry into Yverdon 1855 single track, deviated and doubled 1933

NOT on the map

Just to give a few examples...

Markus, Gürbetal

Just a few more examples of closed or realigned sections in the Zürich area not mentioned in this discussion so far


- Esslingen Bahnhof, relocated in 1995(?) and line shortened slightly. Last time I checked the original station and goods shed were still standing and in use as a restaurant.


- Closure of narrow gauge lines in Zürcher Oberland, Wetzikon - Meilen and Uster - Oetwil.(closed 1950 and 1949/50 respectively)


- Relocation of railway through Opfikon into tunnel. Not sure of date. Possibly in connection with opening of airport line.


- large number of street-running industrial lines all over Zürich abandoned over the years. At one point you could go all the way to Hardturm and also quite a long way along Sihlquai. Tracks are still visible in many locations. Still open is the line from Bhf. Hardbrücke to the Swissmill and that from Bhf. Altsetten to VBZ workshops.


- maybe a bit of a stretch to call this Zürich area, but there have been various realignments of WSB / AAR, sometimes using closed down parallel SBB lines, as well as abandonment of Wohlen - Meisterschwanden.

- the "Schipka Pass" has already been mentioned by another contributor


I've probably missed a few.

Esslingen original station closed 21.03.1995 with the new one opening the next day.


Another one is the original SZU Selnau terminus station closed 04.05.1990 of which no trace now remains

Then there is Zürich HB: The current buffers are at km 0.07 (Zürich-Baden) having been moved first in 1902 and again in 1927 as the station was expanded or rebuilt

Esslingen Bahnhof, relocated in 1995(?) and line shortened slightly. Last time I checked the original
station and goods shed were still standing and in use as a restaurant.

and still looking quite distinguished:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.2897098,8.7129128,3a,46.7y,227.74h,95.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgMcrox2M37e8-qYFZpixTg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

It is difficult to imagine that there were once not just one, but two different narrow gauge railways in the street here.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Swisstopo map website's aerial photography clearly shows traces of:

1) Bassersdorf - the original track alignment through the town can still be clearly seen, with much of it re-used for minor roads/streets. The site of the original Bassersdorf station is visible, but has been built over.


2) Niederglatt - Otelfingen - the route of this line can still be seen for much of its length.


3) Weesen - the outline of the original curved alignment of the Zurich - Chur mainline can still be seen in the present town layout, although sadly the original station building seems to have been lost in the near total redevelopment of the station site. No traces can be seen of the original alignment of the Linthal branchline between Weesen and Nafels-Mollis or of the mainline between Weesen and Ziegelbrucke, but presumably yhe trackbeds of both have been ploughed back into the fields.


4) Emmenbrucke - Waldibrucke - part of the original route of the Seetalbahn is still in use for freight traffic between Waldibrucke and Emmenfeld, with most of the rest traceable as a narrow road running beside the main road. Emmen station however seems to have gone and the original Seetalbahn exit track out of Emmenbrucke station is hard to spot, especially since the sidings there seem to have been mostly lifted. From my first trip on the Seetalbahn years ago, I remember the curious way for Luzern - Lenzburg trains to leave the station at Emmenbrucke to head onto the Seetalbahn, where they had to pull out of the station into the sidings, then reverse out onto the Seetalbahn! An anachronism now hard to visualise had I not witnessed it back then.


5) Beinwil am See - Beromunster - much of the route of the now-lifted Seetalbahn branchline between these two places can still be seen, either as narrow tarmacked lanes between Beinwil and Reinach, the WSB metre-gauge line between Reinach and Menziken (which was re-routed onto the standard-gauge line's vacant trackbed to remove a street-running section), and as country lanes between Menziken and Beromunster. What may be either the original Beromunster station building or loco shed may survive there.


6) Wildegg - Lenzburg - the abandoned Northern section of the Seetalbahn can still be traced for most of its length, although the former station at Niederlenz is hard to spot, and the former Lenzburg Stadt station, where the kiosk apparently outlived the train service for many years and where the overhead catenary masts oulived their wires when the line between Spitzkehr junction and Lenzburg Industrie was retained for freight traffic - I clearly remember seeing Lenzburg Stadt station with its ghostly wireless catenary masts many years ago - seems to have been obliterated by road-building........


Fascinating.


Chris

If you go to
https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visibility=true,false,false,false&layers_timestamp=18641231,,,&X=219535.64&Y=727498.28&zoom=7

you can see the original railway lines and then trace them on the modern
day map.

Dixie

Am 02.04.2017 um 21:50 schrieb Dixie Dean:

If you go to
<https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visibility=true,false,false,false&layers_timestamp=18641231,,,&X=219535.64&Y=727498.28&zoom=7>
you can see the original railway lines and then trace them on the modern
day map.

Interesting thing is playing with "transparency", hidden behind the cogwheel of "Journey through time - Maps".

Markus

<https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visibility=true,false,false,false&layers_timestamp=18641231,,,&X=219535.64&Y=727498.28&zoom=7>


Hmmm.....
I am receiving message:
Error 403 Forbidden
Forbidden
Guru Meditation:
XID: 35521125
Varnish cache server


regards
toma

Markus writes:

Interesting thing is playing with "transparency", hidden behind the cogwheel

It is interesting the way this shows that the westbound carriageway of the A3 motorway follows the old railway route along the south shore of the Walensee, apparently even to the extend of going through the same tunnels. The eastbound carriageway uses a direct tunnel under the Kerenzerberg, roughly parallel to the current railway tunnel. Something I hadn't previously realised.

What with the road reuse of the rail tunnel between Enge and Wiedikon (covered earlier in this thread), that is two fairly significant conversions of rail to road usage, which is something I'd never previously associated with Switzerland. Are there others?.

Tunnels closed to rail traffic and now road tunnels not previously mentioned:


Bissone Tunnel on Gotthard line closed 12.12.1963


Saspietsch Tunnel on closed (29.11.1965) Ponte Brolla to Bignasco line was re-used as a road tunnel in 2001


The section of line replaced between Salgesch and Leuk on 05.11.2004 is now a road and includes the 125m Leuk Tunnel


The 170m Zangschirli Tunnel on the closed Leuk-Leukerbad line (27.05.1967) is now a road tunnel


There are examples of closed formations re-used for roads whithout a tunnel. For instance between Biel and Tüscherz where a deviation (new rail tunnel) opened 14.03.1969


http://www.bielertagblatt.ch/nachrichten/vermischtes/vor-dem-tunnel-fuer-die-bahn http://www.bielertagblatt.ch/nachrichten/vermischtes/vor-dem-tunnel-fuer-die-bahn

Tunnels closed to rail traffic and now road tunnels not previously mentioned:

Bissone Tunnel on Gotthard line closed 12.12.1963

...

I've identified all the others you mention on map.geo.admin.ch, but I'm stumped by the Bissone one. I'm looking at the Bissone that lies at the eastern end of the Melide causeway. I can see no sign of a tunnel being reused for a road near there. Am I in the wrong place?.

It is not clear, I assumed the road used the tunnel. The full SCHIENENNETZ SCHWEIZ entry is


"12.12.1963 Bissone tunnel closed. Replaced by new formation without a tunnel. Old formation used for A2 [Motorway]"


You can see this tunnel up to 1967 on the historic pages of Swisstopo, in the 1968 map the motorway is there. The motorway does go into a tunnel there but I can't tell if it is the former railway one

Am 03.04.2017 um 18:19 schrieb martin98baumann@...:

in the 1968 map the motorway is there. The motorway does go into a
tunnel there but I can't tell if it is the former railway one

I can't see a motorway tunnel where the Bissone tunnel was.
<https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.swissimage&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visibility=true,false,false,false&layers_timestamp=19551231,,,&X=89686&Y=718489&zoom=9&time=1955&layers_opacity=0.25,1,1,1&crosshair=marker>

Thre is a motorway tunnel parallel to the still existing 570 m Maroggia tunnel.

03.06.1956 double track Bissone - Maroggia-Melano
12.12.1963 deviation Melide - Maroggia-Melano
02.04.1965 double track Melide - Bissone

Markus