The Kander Valley Railway (, Alemannic: ''Chanderli'') is a private

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

through the Kander valley in the southwest of the German state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. The 13-kilometre-long

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

links Haltingen on the Rhine Valley Railway with

Kandern Kandern () is a city in southwestern Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in the '' Kreis'' (district) of Lörrach. During the Battle of Schliengen, in which the French Revolutionary army fought the forces of Austria, the battle lines ...

History

On 1 May 1895, the Kander Valley Railway was taken into service by a consortium of ''Vering & Waechter'', ''Mitteldeutsche Creditbank'' and '' Moritz von Cohn''. On 1 April 1899 the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebsgesellschaft AG (DEBG) took over the Kander Valley Railway and ran in until 26 April 1963 when the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs AG (SWEG) assumed operational control. After the collapse of an embankment on 4 July 1983 near Wollbach services between Wollbach and

were suspended and passenger services suspended until 31 December 1983. Goods services to Wollbach were reinstated on 1 April 1985. On 14. April 1985 the line was still officially closed. Thereafter the ''Zweckverband Kandertalbahn'' took over the infrastructure and, since 1986, have operated a heritage railway here together with the ''Kandertalbahn e.V.'' – the owner of the railway vehicles. The railway is still used today to transport timber. There are ideas to reactivate the line in the medium term and integrate it into the Regio S-Bahn Basel network.EU Ausschreibung Nr. 2009/S 179-257206
/ref>

Museum operation

Since 1969 the Eurovapor Society has operated a heritage railway, initially with the SWEG’s historic vehicles. Following the closure of services by the SWEG, heritage services have been worked since 1986 by the Zweckverband Kandertalbahn. The vehicles themselves are owned by the ''Kandertalbahn'' Society. The saison traditionally begins on 1 May and runs until the end of October. On Sundays, three shuttle services are operated between Kandern and Haltingen, on 1 Mai, on Ascension Day and for the Rossmärkt (stallion market) in Kandern additional trains are laid on. On 1 Mai and Ascension Day there is always a guest locomotive on duty; for the Rossmärkt, diesel railbuses operate extra services. Specials can also be booked, both with steam or diesel.

Running and rolling stock

* Steam locomotive 30 ( Prussian T 3, 1904) ''Chanderli'' – 1955–1966 on the Kander Valley Railway – in for a major service * Steam locomotive 7 (formerly a monument in Staufen, 1907) – 1907–1937 on the Kander Valley Railway – actually in restoration * Steam locomotive 8532 ( E 3/3, 1915) ''Tigerli'' – stored in Kandern with boiler damage * Steam locomotive BBÖ 378.78 (ÖBB 93.1378, 1927) – sold * Diesel shunter V 7 ( Deutz, Typ A8L 614 R, 1957) – operational, underwent major inspection 2019/20 * Diesel locomotive Em 3/3 (one off by

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

, 1954) – operational, stored due to lack of authorization to run * Diesel railcar VT 3 (Waggonfabrik Werdau, 1928) – Europe’s oldest operational diesel railcar * Diesel locomotive crane No. 179 (Eisenbau Wyhlen AG, 1951) – sold Passenger coaches from the 19th and 20th century complete the fleet. File:Kandertalbahn 004.JPG, V 7 in front of Kandern station File: Kandertalbahn 001.JPG, Loco no. 30 ''Chanderli'' near Haltingen File:Chanderli01.jpg, Loco. no 30 ''Chanderli'' climbing uphill shortly before Hammerstein File: Kandertalbahn 006.JPG, 3rd class coach, Ci 44 built in 1894 File:Binzen, Chanderli.jpg, Loco no. 30 ''Chanderli'' in Binzen

References

Literature

* * Renate Reimann: ''100 Jahre „Chanderli“''. In: Das Markgräflerland Vol. 2/1995, pp. 86–93 *

External links

Website of the Kander Valley Railway

{{coord missing, Baden-Württemberg Railway lines in the Black Forest Heritage railways in Germany Railway museums in Germany