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Narrow Gauge Developments

Class 5090

Delivery of the new examples of this class is well advanced 009 was sent to Zell am Zee on 5 January and 008, 010 and 011 are in Waidhofen It has come to light that the axles of the earlier examples and the first three of the new series were insufficiently strong and will have to be replaced.

Clan 4090

Despite enormous political pressure for the new e.rn.u.s to enter passenger service continuing difficulties remain and (somewhat exaggerated) press reports have claimed that the new trains have cost more than the German high speed trains, but will nun slower than the old 1099 locos! Extensive work on the catenary has been necessary because the softer suspension of the 4090 causes greater lateral movement of the pantographs; at present this has been done as far as Winterbach. According to Eisenbahn the replacement of 85 masts is necessary. on 11 April official technical tests of the trains took place (the so-called Polizeifahrt) and a speed of 88 km/h was reached between Obergrafendorf and Klangen. The latest difficulty (according to Schienerrverkehr Actuell) is that the money supply has been turned off as a result of the haIving of the Federal subsidy for railway infrastructure; with the result that work on the catenary In the Gosing tunnel cannot proceed. Money has been found, however, to repaint the trains as the original scheme with a brown window band did not rneet the approval of the OBB Generaldirektor. The whole vehicle is now grey-white except for a red band along the lower edge

Ybbstalbahn

When all the 5090s have been delivered to Waldhofen, only one 2091 loco will be retained The first to go was 2091.012, which was rernoved to St Polten on 17 March- Even when all 5090s are in service, some trains will still be locomotive hauled - the morning train for school children for seating capacity reasons and the two post carrying trains to Lunz. because the postal coach is not compatible with the railcars. Tile 5090s should enable considerable econornies to be made; not only are they one-rnan operated, hut they consume only 50 litres of diesel oil for a return trip to Lunz compared with 150 litres for 2095

The local authorities in the Yhbstal are making considerable efforts to ensure the survival of their railway line and have made a practical contribution by taking over responsibility for building maintenance, snow clearance and rubbish disposal. The Burgermeister of the 7 Gerneinde wrote to the Lower Austrian Landeshauptmann urging that the Provincial Government should play its part. The letter pointed out that the number of passengers carried rose between 1988 and 1994 frorn 400,000 to over 700,000 passengers and also urged that consideration be given to re-opening the part of the line between Lunz am See and Kienberg-Gaming.

However the Summer timetable sees the cancellation of the early train from Waidhofen to Lunz and a reduction in services to Ybbsitz

Obergrafendorf-WieseIburg

Passenger trains have been withdrawn between Ruprechshofen and Wieselburg except for a few trains to Wieselburg in the evening and back the next morning, which are necessary as there is no overnight accommodation for trains or crews at Ruprechshofen.

Waldveiertelbahn

The draft of the new timetable for the line Gmund - Gross Gerungs contained a note that at some time during its validity train services would be withdrawn between Stainbach-Gross Pertholz and Gross Gerungi. This however did not appear in the published version so the axe, which has been threatened for some years, may be deferred a little longer.

Fiestritztalbahn

The new facilities for the trans-shipment of talcurn in Weiz are now in operation The serious threat that the railway would be truncated at Anger and that the steam trains could no longer run to Birkfield appears to have been lifted This section is no longer used for good trains by the StLB and tie line stood in the way of an urgently needed expansion by a furniture factory in Anger. Agreement has now been reached whereby this can be achieved without closing the tine.

Zilllcrtalbahn

The timetable calIs for 3 train sets to be in operation and this can be covered by the Knotz railcars only if all are operational. In the case of non-availability the preferred reserve is D10 the former Jugoslav locomotive, with airbraked middle coaches from the railcar sets. In December 1994 D10 was in the workshops for installation of a new engine. a 12 cylinder turbocharged Jenbacher motor; at the same time the loco was equipped for push pull working

Waldviertler Scltmalspnrbabnverein (WSV)

We have received information that there is now a pnvate service operated by the WSV on the Altnagelberg to Heidenreichstein branch north of Gmund NO. Some time ago, the OBB released this line into the control of the WSV (unlike the line to Litschau over which they still retain control to operate freight services) who have now obtained permission to run services on the branch.

These operate mainly at weekends and often in conjunction with WSV services from Gmund to Litschau. the service is prirnarily to investigate the state of the track prior to other passenger services but is available to participants who turn up on the day. These services are branded Feldbahn and are representative of many narrow-gauge forest railways in Austria.

One interesting train is an occasional 0400 from Heidenreichstein to Altnagelteerg Friedhofweg advertised as a "Schwarnnmertzug" (mushroom picker special) !!! Tins particular train runs on 15, 26 August and 2 September. The "full" passenger service runs on 5, 19 August and 16 September.

These services will be operated by the WSV's first locomotive which is a 1950s vintage diesel hydraulic locomotive constructed in the (old) DDR. Current rolling stock on these services Is a home built "coach" built on the underframe of an ex-DDlR wagon and constructed in the WSV workshops in the old loco depot at Heidenreichstein.