Groß Gleidingen – Wolfenbüttel railway line

Groß Gleidingen – Wolfenbüttel
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Hanover to Braunschweig from Braunschweig to Hildesheim Beddingen transfer station to the port of Beddingen , to Salzgitter Flachstahl and Volkswagen to Volkswagen Steterburg Abzw Hoheweg to Braunschweig West (1886–1940s) Hoheweg to Derneburg (old route via Barum, 1886–1940s) right: original route Hoheweg – Wolfenbüttel West Benefit unknown Salzgitter-Bad – Leiferde railway line Fümmelse (new) Fümmelse (old) Reallocation in the 1940s Wolfenbüttel West terminus until 1890 from Braunschweig Wolfenbüttel ( train station ) Wolfenbüttel to Bad Harzburg to Oschersleben

The Groß Gleidingen – Wolfenbüttel railway was initially a branch line from the BLE's Braunschweig – Derneburg railway to Wolfenbüttel West station .

In the course of industrialization, the track systems in the Salzgitter area were rebuilt and re-routed several times, so at the beginning of the 1940s the connection between the westward railway lines to Hanover and Hildesheim near Groß Gleidingen and the eastward railway line Wolfenbüttel – Oschersleben was almost completely new.

Original course

The line used from 1886 to at least 1938 began at Hoheweg station on the Braunschweig – Derneburg line , the main line of the Braunschweigische Landes-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (BLE). It then continued on the then still northern outskirts of Fümmelse , i.e. between today's streets Obere Burgstraße and Im Burgenkamp or Nordring and the cemetery. The railway ran further north of today's industrial area. Shortly after the bridge over the Brückenbach, a dirt road runs along the route; this is the last remnant of the original route from 1886. The route ended in Wolfenbütteler Westbahnhof.

As an access route in rural areas, this route was winding and only allowed low speeds.

Later course

The later connection branches off at Groß Gleidingen with a track triangle from the Hildesheim – Braunschweig railway to the south, which runs in an east-west direction . There is also a track connection to the Hanover – Braunschweig railway line . The Beddingen transfer station follows immediately . To the south of this are the bridges of the L 615 state road and the 39 federal motorway . Immediately behind it branch off the connecting railways still in operation to the port near Beddingen, to Salzgitter Flachstahl (the former Reichswerke ) and to the Volkswagenwerk Salzgitter; There is still a connection to the Konrad shaft , to the Alstom plant and other smaller connections as well as to the main line of the Peine-Salzgitter transport company .

In contrast to the connections, the main route ran further south. Shortly after the turn-offs the Steterburg stop follows . The route makes a slight bend to the south-southeast at the level of the VW substation. Immediately in front of the level crossing on Landesstraße L 614 was the Hoheweg junction (not to be confused with the former Hoheweg train station ). Straight on a branch to was only BLE original route Braunschweig-Derneburg from 1886 towards Barum or Derneburg nor straight the route ultimately led to the station Salzgitter Drütte (formerly Immendorf ) of unused today Reichsbahn route Leiferde-Salzgitter Bad from the 1940s.

If you turn left at the Hoheweg junction, the route touches the former Hoheweg station on the Braunschweig – Derneburg BLE route from 1886 to the south and continues eastwards past the new northern outskirts of Fümmelse and joins the BLE route on what is now the western outskirts of Wolfenbüttel Hoheweg – Wolfenbüttel West. Between Hoheweg and Fümmelse there were two more transition curves to the Reichsbahn route in the direction of Salzgitter-Drütte.

The route that was used until recently was also designed for heavy freight trains and, in contrast to the original route, has hardly any curves.

history

Time of the state railway until 1938

During the construction of long-distance routes the triangle between the Brunswick Southern Railway was (then of Börßum direction Kreiensen ), the Hildesheim-Goslar railway , the Hildesheim-Brunswick railway and the Brunswick-Bad Harzburg railway remained free. In order to develop this area, the state government issued a concession to the private BLE in 1885 to build and operate a railway to Derneburg and from there to Seesen . They granted building grants to make the project interesting.

As early as July 18, 1886, the BLE trunk line Braunschweig North – Derneburg was opened, initially only for passenger traffic. Freight traffic started on August 5th. On October 17th, the branch from Hoheweg station across Fümmelse to Wolfenbütteler Westbahnhof followed. However, it served rather the regional development or the connection of the private BLE to Wolfenbüttel; the largest cities in the duchy had been directly connected to the current Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg railway since 1838.

As early as 1890 a connection was established from the Wolfenbüttel state train station to the BLE western train station; however, the BLE passenger trains ended in Wolfenbüttel West until 1932.

Between Fümmelse and Hoheweg, the route was also pivoted towards Barum and Derneburg.

Conversions from 1938 to 1954

In order to develop the new industrial complex , the then Reich government nationalized the BLE in 1938. From this year the passenger trains on the former BLE routes ran to what was then the main train station in Braunschweig .

In the next step, a new, straight connection was laid from Leiferde on the Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg railway to the Immendorf train station (now Salzgitter-Drütte ) (route 1920). The old BLE line was only connected to the south of it, and the old route through Thiede was largely shut down. As a result, the Hoheweg – Wolfenbüttel railway could no longer be used. It was eventually replaced by the more straight line Groß Gleidingen – Wolfenbüttel, which was connected three times to the new Leiferde – Immendorf line in the direction of Immendorf.

On June 1, 1943, works personnel traffic was started between Steterburg and Drütte. Presumably from May 15, 1949 to May 21, 1955, passenger trains ran from Braunschweig via Timmerlah, Beddingen and Steterburg to Salzgitter-Drütte.

Withdrawal from the 1950s

At the end of 1955, the section between Beddingen and Salzgitter-Drütte was again idle for some time, as evidenced by an application by the Federal Railroad for temporary closure. At the beginning of the winter half-year 1959/1960, passenger traffic between Salzgitter-Drütte and Wolfenbüttel was given up. The route was still being used as a diversion at the beginning of May 1977 when the Leiferde junction was being built. Freight traffic between the Beddingen transfer station , the Steterburg stop and Salzgitter-Drütte was discontinued on September 27, 1985. This section was finally dismantled in the early 1990s.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Preußische Landesaufnahme ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Turntable Online (planning map from 1942)
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} turntable online
4. ↑ Online turntable

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