Grifte – Gudensberg railway line

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Grifte – Gudensberg
Former Gudensberg train station (photo 2005)
Former Gudensberg train station (photo 2005)
Course book range : 198 b 1950 ; 173 a 1938
Route length: 7.72 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route - straight ahead
Main-Weser Railway from Kassel
Station, station
0.0 Edermünde - handles
   
0.7 Main-Weser-Bahn to Marburg
   
2.5 Haldorf
   
4.2 Diss
   
7.1 Gudensberg quarry loading ramp
   
7.7 Gudensberg

The Grifte – Gudensberg railway was a 7.72-kilometer standard-gauge small railway line in northern Hesse. It connected Grifte on the Main-Weser Railway with the city of Gudensberg .

history

The city of Gudensberg founded the Grifte-Gudensberger Kleinbahn-Aktiengesellschaft on November 29, 1898, with 390,000 marks it was the main shareholder.

The line was opened on July 15, 1899. The operating resources were provided by the state railway, the personnel by the operating company. Every year around 100,000 travelers were transported, with traffic geared towards rush hour traffic to Kassel.

In 1931, rail passenger traffic was discontinued and a small train's own bus carried it on the road.

Since Henschel & Sohn, based in Kassel , was looking for a demonstration opportunity for the newly developed Henschel rail bus, this railcar was taken over by the railway company in 1931 and rail traffic was resumed, with five pairs of trains running. Since it was a one-way vehicle, turntables had to be created at both end points. In 1935, another two-axle Henschel railcar was added, but it was built in the form of the light railcars emerging at the time as a bidirectional vehicle and with normal pulling and pushing devices.

From 1935 the operator traded under the name Grifte-Gudensberger Kleinbahn- und Kraftwagen-AG . The increase in arms production in the 1930s also doubled the number of people. After the Edertalsperre was blown up in 1943 and the Main-Weser Railway was impassable , the route even served as a diversion route; in Gudensberg buses to Wabern were used.

In 1957 the stock corporation was converted into a GmbH.

The company's own passenger traffic was discontinued on November 28, 1953. After that, a pair of Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) trains ran between Gudensberg and Kassel Central Station on working days until December 31, 1954 . In 1955, the railroad took over the freight traffic from the DB, for which a Wehrmacht locomotive WR 360 C 14 (V 36) was bought used. Until August 8, 1965, the Grifte-Gudensberger Kleinbahn carried freight trains with their own locomotive. After irreparable damage to the locomotive, the DB took over the rest of the operation. In 1972 the line was converted into a connecting railway. On January 31, 1979, rail operations were finally stopped.

The tracks were dismantled around 1980; the route is now largely used as a footpath and bike path. The reception buildings in Haldorf and Gudensberg have been preserved true to the original and are now used for other purposes.

The model railway manufacturer Lima produced a V36 based on the Grifte-Gudensberger Kleinbahn as a special model.

literature

  • Gerd Wolff, Andreas Christopher: German small and private railways, Volume 8: Hessen . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2004, ISBN 3-88255-667-6 , p. 310-318 .
  • Rolf Löttgers: The small train without any steam locomotives . In: railway magazine . No. 8 , 2016, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 46-49 .

Web links

Commons : Grifte – Gudensberg railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files