Austrian Steam in the Twilight Years - esp Branch lines north of Vienna

[Calthrop]

The main reason for GySEVs peculiar existence is that the current Austrian Land of Burgenland was historically part of the kingdom of Hungary - in the last decades of Austria-Hungary railways were a „devolved matter“. So originally, it was a Hungarian railway which just crossed a couple of kilometers into Austria at Ebenfurth.

In 1921, Burgenland (minus some important parts, mainly Sopron - historically Ödenburg in German, even though that name is rarely used anymore) came to Austria and GySEV was really bi-national, since of course Austria and Hungary where by then separate countries.

After WW2, GySEV remained a public limited corporation because their Austrian concession was based on this status. However, with collectivization, all shares were owned by the Hungarian state. Austria only acquired part of the shares after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Sopron was the main town in Burgenland when it was still Hungarian, so it was the railway hub as well. So no way around it when you wanted to go to Deutschkreutz. Indeed, that line, after 1921, did not (and still does not) have a direct connection to the rest of the Austrian network except through Hungary (towards the south, the line used to go on to Szombathely, but this was closed long ago).

Indeed for this reason the short stretch from the border into Deutschkreutz is electrified with 25 kV. The rest of the line was, unfortunately but not surprisingly (the detour via Sopron makes journey times unattractive) closed in stages long ago.

Very interesting, how the GySEV anomaly thus originated -- thank you. I do get the picture that the "dual" aspect of Austria / Hungary up to the empire's dissolution post-World War I had various strangely complex aspects; with, shall we say, assorted sources of controversy / discontent both "before" and "after", concerning "where was whose".

 

[52290]

Have heard from a couple of sources, good things about the Linz -- Summerau line (never saw it first hand, with -- as ever -- my single, one week's, visit to the country in steam days). Have the feeling that it tended to be a bit "sold short" as per reports / recommendations in Britain. The late and much-regretted quarterly Continental Railway Journal -- always on the whole good for "gen" re Austria -- seemed in steam days, a bit meagre on info re Linz to Summerau; save for one long, detailed, and highly approving paragraph about the line (including the horse-shoe) in the summer 1973 issue. A bonus about this route, I learn from CRJ, was that at Summerau, CSD steam (class 556 2-10-0 and 475.1 4-8-2) worked across the border from Czechoslovakia; though only on passenger -- CSD freight haulage here, was diesel.

This was another steam delight which Austria featured "back in the day": at assorted points, steam working across the border from the systems of various Communist neighbours: thus making possible photography of the locos therefrom, without the notorious hazards of that activity if attempted on the territory of lands with that form of government. At Gmuend (of the 760mm Engerths), Czechoslovak class 556 2-10-0s worked across the border two or three times a day; while on the route southward from Graz, Yugoslav steam worked cross-border to / from Spielfeld-Strass -- the last station in Austria -- from / to Maribor (Slovenia, Yugoslavia) and points south. There were also places at the "east end" of Austria, to which Hungarian steam plied and could be observed; including on the curiosity which was the Gyor -- Sopron -- Ebenfurth railway -- Hungarian-based, but nonetheless privately owned (!), with trackage in both countries.

Have heard from a couple of sources, good things about the Linz -- Summerau line (never saw it first hand, with -- as ever -- my single, one week's, visit to the country in steam days). Have the feeling that it tended to be a bit "sold short" as per reports / recommendations in Britain. The late and much-regretted quarterly Continental Railway Journal -- always on the whole good for "gen" re Austria -- seemed in steam days, a bit meagre on info re Linz to Summerau; save for one long, detailed, and highly approving paragraph about the line (including the horse-shoe) in the summer 1973 issue. A bonus about this route, I learn from CRJ, was that at Summerau, CSD steam (class 556 2-10-0 and 475.1 4-8-2) worked across the border from Czechoslovakia; though only on passenger -- CSD freight haulage here, was diesel.

This was another steam delight which Austria featured "back in the day": at assorted points, steam working across the border from the systems of various Communist neighbours: thus making possible photography of the locos therefrom, without the notorious hazards of that activity if attempted on the territory of lands with that form of government. At Gmuend (of the 760mm Engerths), Czechoslovak class 556 2-10-0s worked across the border two or three times a day; while on the route southward from Graz, Yugoslav steam worked cross-border to / from Spielfeld-Strass -- the last station in Austria -- from / to Maribor (Slovenia, Yugoslavia) and points south. There were also places at the "east end" of Austria, to which Hungarian steam plied and could be observed; including on the curiosity which was the Gyor -- Sopron -- Ebenfurth railway -- Hungarian-based, but nonetheless privately owned (!), with trackage in both countries.

I've just dusted down my 1970 OBB Kursbuch and CSD Poriadok and these photos of trains around Gmünd. The first photo shows Engerths 399.04 and 399.06 at Alt Nagelberg with trains from Heidenreichstein and Litschau. The second photo shows a Ng freight on the Gross Gerungs line passing under the international bridge at Gmünd, note the standard gauge waggons, and the third shows CSD 2-10-0 556.0506 arriving at Gmünd.It will depart on the 15.35 for Ceske Velenice, super power for a 5 minute journey.

 

[Austriantrain]

Very interesting, how the GySEV anomaly thus originated -- thank you. I do get the picture that the "dual" aspect of Austria / Hungary up to the empire's dissolution post-World War I had various strangely complex aspects; with, shall we say, assorted sources of controversy / discontent both "before" and "after", concerning "where was whose".

Indeed, in many aspects. It is said that Bosnia got only narrow-gauge railways at least partly because Hungary refused to co-finance anything more and Austria, always broke, could not afford it on its own.

From 1867 onwards Austria and Hungary were almost separate countries united by the Crown and a few common competencies (mainly foreign relations and defense- well War then, actually).

 

[Calthrop]

It is said that Bosnia got only narrow-gauge railways at least partly because Hungary refused to co-finance anything more and Austria, always broke, could not afford it on its own.

This, I feel, must have been a delight for narrow-gauge buffs (not that many such from distant lands, are likely to have been able to explore the Bosnian system in the first half of the 20th century); but less so for normal sane people who had to use the wretched things ! I have Keith Chester's book on the Bosnia-Hercegovina n/g -- love its recounting of the introduction thereon in 1938, of "rapid" DMUs which could cover the 685km between Belgrade and the Adriatic coast in a dizzy 16-and-a-half hours; whereas steam expresses had taken 24 hours for the same run. If I have things rightly, standard gauge was introduced into Bosnia only post-World War II, with the inauguration of the s/g line from the Belgrade -- Zagreb main near Slavonski Brod, via Doboj to Sarajevo.

 

[181]

I do get the picture that the "dual" aspect of Austria / Hungary up to the empire's dissolution post-World War I had various strangely complex aspects; with, shall we say, assorted sources of controversy / discontent both "before" and "after", concerning "where was whose".

It is said that Bosnia got only narrow-gauge railways at least partly because Hungary refused to co-finance anything more and Austria, always broke, could not afford it on its own.

I seem to remember from Keith Chester's book (which I've read but don't have immediate access to) that Split had to wait decades for a proper railway connection and that this was partly due to Austro-Hungarian disagreements.

If I have things rightly, standard gauge was introduced into Bosnia only post-World War II, with the inauguration of the s/g line from the Belgrade -- Zagreb main near Slavonski Brod, via Doboj to Sarajevo.

Not quite -- although the Austro-Hungarians and pre-WW2 Yugoslavs as far as I know didn't build any SG lines of any length (just a few very short cross-border sections), the Dobrljin to Banja Luka line was built to standard gauge in Turkish times, apparently with the intention of forming part of a Vienna-Constantinople main line; see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schienenverkehr_in_Bosnien_und_Herzegowina#Normalspur and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemins_de_fer_Orientaux#Background (plus the following 'construction' section).