page_title: Mansfeld Mining Railway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mansfeld Mining Railway / History
caption_attribution_description: Mansfelder Bergwerksbahn
context_page_description: The Mansfelder Bergwerksbahn is an 11-kilometre long 750 mm gauge heritage railway in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
context_section_description: Copper ore is found around Mansfeld, and has been mined since 1199. In 1885, a 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) long railway opened linking the Glückhilf mine at Welfesholz and the Kupferkammer smeltery at Hettstedt. At first, the railway only carried goods traffic, but in 1882 the carriage of miners commenced. In 1883, workshops were established at Klostermansfeld.
  By 1930, the Mansfelder Bergwerksbahn system extended to 95 kilometres (59 mi) of track, serving 13 copper mines, two smelteries and had interchanges with two station served by standard gauge trains. Transporter wagons were introduced during the 1930s, along with air brakes on the rolling stock. Traffic on the Mansfelder Bergwerksbahn reached its peak in 1955. The first diesel locomotives were introduced in 1961. In 1965, steam locomotive No. 10 was converted to use heavy oil as its fuel, the first narrow gauge locomotive in Germany to be so converted.
  Between 1964-69, the last of the copper mines at Eisleben and Hettstedt were closed. Carriage of passengers ceased in 1970. The smeltery in Eisleben closed in 1972 and the track between Eisleben and Helbra was lifted some years later. In 1989, the smeltery and power station at Helbra closed, and with it the railway too.
caption: Locomotive No.9 at Benndorf
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "KONICA MINOLTA", "Image Model": "DiMAGE Z6", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Nero PhotoSnap 1, 2, 0, 9", "Image DateTime": "2007:07:22 17:00:31", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail Software": "Nero PhotoSnap 1, 2, 0, 9", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2007:07:22 17:00:31", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "34318", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5451", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:06:29 15:04:02", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:06:29 15:04:02", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "77/10", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "375/64", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "72", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "800", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}