Old Galgenberg Railway Tunnel South Portal

The tunnel is located between Laubach and Freienseen at kilometer 42 on the now closed section of the railway line. He drives under the 310m high Galgenberg.

The first railway tunnel was put into operation on October 1, 1903 with the section between Laubach and Mücke. It was 146 m long and is walled up today

.Since 1936 there have been plans to expand the Bad Hersfeld-Alsfeld-Mücke-Hungen-Friedberg connection to two tracks. In preparation for this, a second tunnel was built parallel to the existing tunnel in 1938/39, which was also known as the "Galgenberg Tunnel".
It had a length of 196 m.

Due to the Second World War, the double-track expansion of the line was no longer possible.
Rather, the second, functionless tube was used from 1943 to bring part of the armaments production of the Frankfurt company VDO here to safety from air raids. A so-called underground relocation (underground relocation).

Between May and October 1944, around 1,200 forced labourers, prisoners of war and inmates from a branch of the Heddernheim labor education camp manufactured speedometers for aircraft and measurement and control technology for the Fieseler Fi 103 (V1)* and Aggregat 4 (V2)** aircraft.

After the war, the VDO administration building was converted into the Waldschänke inn.
The tunnel is currently used for mushroom cultivation.

*𝑫𝒊𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒊 𝟏𝟎𝟑 was the first military cruise missile. It was also called the V1 (Retribution Weapon 1) as one of the "miracle weapons" in Nazi propaganda during the Second World War. **𝑨𝒈𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒕 𝟒 (𝑨𝟒) (suggestive name: fire devil) was the type designation of the world's first functional large rocket with a liquid engine in 1942.
It was designed as a long-range ballistic artillery rocket and was the first man-made object to break through the barrier to space – 100 kilometers altitude, as defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale – in 1944.
From mid-1945, the A4 formed the starting point for space developments in the USA and the Soviet Union.

Both tunnels are very interesting. But watch out for private property. The short western tunnel (133m, built in 1908) was in operation until the 1960s and was part of the Mücke - Laubach railway line. The longer eastern tunnel, about 200m, was completed but never put into operation. During the Second World War, VDO manufactured Luftwaffentechnik and parts of the V2 in both tunnels. Today there is a commercial mushroom cultivation in both tunnels. It would be nice if the west tunnel becomes part of the new cycle path between Laubach and Freienseen

Attention! The whole area is extremely impassable and littered with numerous dangerous spots. I expressly warn against going there before the site is secured.