{"id":3746,"date":"2013-09-11T05:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=3746"},"modified":"2013-09-11T10:25:30","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T14:25:30","slug":"german-coal-railway-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/german-coal-railway-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"German Coal Railway\u2014Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

RWE Power\u2019s Intensive Rail Network\u2014September 2013.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"RWE<\/a>
Neither our map or Sat-Nav showed the new RWE-Power mainline at Buir, Germany\u2014a line just recently opened. Yet, crossing the line on a road bridge we spotted this loaded train. We hadn’t been off the plane for even two hours. Canon EOS 7D photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

German coal railway? 60 million tones annually? An article in May 2013 Today\u2019s Railways<\/a> Europe<\/i> peaked my curiosity. Taking advantage of cheap fares on Ryan Air from Dublin to Maastricht, then into a Hertz rental car for the drive over the border brought an Irish friend and me trackside by early afternoon.<\/p>\n

While I\u2019ve long been aware of a heavy coal railway near K\u00f6ln, despite regular trips to Germany over the last 20 years, until last week I\u2019d never bothered to investigate it.<\/p>\n

RWE Power (formerly Rheinbraun) operates an unusual railway. This is a largely electrified network which on its main stems primarily carries lignite coal from enormous open pits to nearby power stations. It is built to a very heavy standard and tracks are separated wider than normal to allow for larger than normal loading gauge.<\/p>\n

Complicating matters, we\u2019d forgotten to bring the Today’s Railways article with us. But we managed to find the tracks anyway. Our first glimpse of the RWE Power mainline was of the old Hambachbahn double track line serving the Tagebau Hambach coalfield. This line is soon to be removed to allow expansion of the coalfield.<\/p>\n

Finding nothing moving on this section we decided to relocate and accidentally stumbled upon the \u2018new\u2019 Hambachbahn double track line located a couple of miles south of the old line, and parallel to Deutsche Bahn\u2019s east-west Aachen and K\u00f6ln main line at the village of Buir.<\/p>\n

RWE Power is presently undertaking a massive relocation of railway, A4 autobahn, and town to develop the coal beneath. The newly built railway is extremely impressive and could easily be mistaken for a high-speed line.<\/p>\n

At Buir, we met a local railway photographer named Bj\u00f6rn who gave us lots of advice and assisted our further photography. As it turned out, the new line was only being used for loaded trains (which passed about every 20 minutes), while the old line was handling empties.<\/p>\n

\"RWE<\/a>
Driving toward Bergheim we found this location on the new line, near the junction with the older (so to be closed) RWE Power Hambachbahn route. In the lead is a 1950-1960s era Class EL 1 electric locomotive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"RWE<\/a>
We stayed overnight in Bergheim and returned to Buir the following morning. The day began clear and bright and a procession of coal trains kept us busy. Exposed with a Canon EOS 7D and 40mm Pancake lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"RWE<\/a>
This 300mm view demonstrates the heavily built nature of the new (relocated) Hambachbahn line which is built in a deep cutting. Train speed is a steady plod (perhaps 30 kph?). In the lead is a class EL 2000 electric. Canon EOS 7D fitted with 75-300mm zoom lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"RWE<\/a>
At this point near the Tagebau Hambach coal field, the line follows a north-south alignment. By 10am clouds were racing across the sky making for some tricky exposures. Canon EOS 7D photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"RWE<\/a>
Trailing view of a coal loads from a public road bridge west of Buir. Rarely did we wait more than half and hour for a loaded train to pass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent a full 24 hours studying the railway and its operations. More to come!<\/p>\n

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