Ellenserdamm – Ocholt railway line

Ellenserdamm-Westerstede-Ocholt
Route number :	1534
Course book range :	221b (1954) , 221m (1944)
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Wilhelmshaven 0.0 Ellenserdamm to Oldenburg 2.6 Steinhausen (Oldb) to Neuchâtel 5.6 Bockhorn from Varel 8.3 Grabstede 13.6 Moorwinkel Dam 16.3 Eggeloge 19.5 Linswege 19.6 End of the existing track system 22.6 Westerstede (Oldb) 26.8 Südholt from Oldenburg 29.9 Westerstede-Ocholt to Sedelsberg (previously to Cloppenburg) to Leer

The Ellenserdamm – Ocholt railway was a branch line in northwestern Lower Saxony .

history

On September 1, 1876, the Ocholt-Westerstede railway company opened the narrow-gauge line from Ocholt to Westerstede. The railway was built on the initiative of the municipality of Westerstede, which was also the partner of the railway company.

The presence of extensive clay deposits encouraged the construction of railway lines in the Varel area. Various routes were laid there as Varel branch lines by the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Railway (GOE). This is how the railway line from Ellenserdamm on the Wilhelmshaven – Oldenburg line to Bockhorn was created , which was opened on January 1, 1893 and extended to Grabstede on November 1 of the same year.

The expansion of Wilhelmshaven into a naval base also increased the need for feeder routes and so there were plans to close the existing gap between Westerstede and Grabstede in order to enable trains from the Ruhr area to be operated directly. The prerequisite was to nationalize and re-track the Ocholt – Westerstede line. A corresponding law was passed in the Oldenburg state parliament on March 27, 1903, and on October 16, 1904, the last train ran on the narrow-gauge railway. Just 14 days later, the first standard gauge train was running on the re-tracked route between Ocholt and Westerstede. The existing route was used, only the entrance to Ocholt was laid a little further east and the Westerstede station was built at a new location as a through station. The line was then extended to Grabstede and opened on October 1, 1905. Since then, continuous train traffic has also been possible. During the Second World War, the route was of considerable importance for through freight traffic. In 1944 there were three continuous pairs of trains in passenger traffic, plus connections Westerstede – Ocholt and Bockhorn – Ellenserdamm, and after the Second World War, continuous trains from Wilhelmshaven via Varel, Bockhorn and Ocholt to Cloppenburg. On May 23, 1954, passenger traffic was stopped, and freight traffic was also given up on the Bockhorn – Ellenserdamm section. From 1966 this also applied between Linswege and Grabstede, where the track system was dismantled immediately afterwards. 1992 ended on the northern route section between Grabstede and Bockhorn, most recently as siding was operated rail transport. The remainder between Ocholt and Westerstede was used by freight traffic until December 31, 2001. In the last few years of operation, tourist traffic with a rail bus from the Ammerland-Barßel-Saterland museum railway was offered as an Ammerland rail bus . Since 2006, the route between Westerstede and Ocholt has been used as a handcar .

End of the trolley line east of the Westerstede-Ocholt station

Train accident of 1944

In 1944 there was a serious train accident on the line at Moorwinkelsdamm station. In the head-on collision of two trains, three people were killed and 16 injured.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.bahnhof.de/bahnhof-de/bahnhof/Westerstede-Ocholt-1033988
2. ↑ Draisinenspaß Ammerland , accessed on October 22, 2016.
3. ^ The railway line between Westerstede and Grabstede - Part 2 , accessed on December 16, 2014.

literature

• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 9: Lower Saxony 1. Between the Weser and Ems . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2005. ISBN 3-88255-668-4 , p. 177