early Höllentalbahn colorviews

Ravenna Viaduct

We mentioned Freiberg im Breisgau in a recent post; a short distance to the south of the city a famous railway line runs into the Schwarzwald or Black Forest, called the Höllentalbahn, meaning "Hell Valley Railway", that partially runs through the Höllental valley and connects Freiburg im Breisgau with Donaueschingen, a distance of 74.7 km (46.4 miles).  The scenery is very pretty so the reason for the name is a bit perplexing although probably locals were having fun as there is a station on the line called Himmelreich or heavenly kingdom.  One of the postcards shows a settlement called Hölle or Hell, but it doesn't seem to be called that nowadays.

The railway rises from an altitude of 278 m (912 ft) in Freiburg to 885 m (2,904 ft) in Hinterzarten. Part of the route has a 5.5% gradient, making it one of the steepest adhesion only lines in Germany. 

The line, which opened as far as Neustadt-Schwarzwald in 1887, was constructed for the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways. The 7.2 km (4.5 mile) section of the line between Hirschsprung and Hinterzarten has a maximum gradient of 5.5%, and was initially operated as a rack railway using the Riggenbach system.

The line was extended from Neustadt to Donaueschingen in 1901. In 1932/33, ten powerful Class 85 steam locomotives were built, which enabled traffic to operate over the Hirschsprung and Hinterzarten section without rack assistance, and rack operation ceased in 1933.

In 1936 the Deutsche Reichsbahn electrified the line between Freiburg and Neustadt with 20 kV, 50 Hz AC. When the eletrification of Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basle railway had been completed in 1958, the Höllentalbahn was linked to the nationwide electric railway system. Therefore, in 1960, the electrified section of the Höllentalbahn was converted to the standard 15 kV, 16⅔ Hz system used throughout the German as well as in much od the Swiss and Austrian railway networks.

The Höllentalbahn was used successfully to test designs for the DB Class 144. Later, the class 145 were used, which was itself replaced by the DB Class 139. Today, the electric line uses modern double-decker rolling stock pulled by DB Class 143 locomotives.

The stretch of line between Neustadt and Donaueschingen remains unelectrified.

After leaving Freiburg Hauptbahnhof, the Höllentalbahn diverges from the mainline Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basel railway to the east. It the crosses over the mainline on a flyover and serves two further stops within the city, before starting its ascent of the Höllental.

Features of the stretch of the line through the Höllental include the Hirschsprungfelsen (a rock formation) and a crossing of the Ravenna Gorge on the 40-metre (131 ft) high Ravenna Bridge.

After leaving the Höllental, the 19.2 km Dreiseenbahn (three lake railway) branch to Seebrugg peels off at the spa town of Titisee, close to the Titisee lake. The town of Neustadt-Schwarzwald follows, where electrification ends and through passengers normally need to change trains.

Further on, between Neustadt and Donaueschingen, the viaduct at the former Kappel Gutachbrücke station crosses the Wutach River at the beginning of its long gorge. While in a 535-metre (1,755 ft) tunnel near Döggingen station, the line crosses a main European watershed, between the Rhine drainage basin (flowing into the North Sea) and the Danube drainage basin (flowing into the Black Sea).  Douaueschingen is actually where the Donau or Danube River begins.