Holzminden – Scherfede railway line
Holzminden – Scherfede | |
---|---|
Route number (DB) : | 2973 |
Course book section (DB) : | ex 249 |
Route length: | 49.2 km |
Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
Top speed: | 100 km / h |
The Holzminden – Scherfede railway was a 49 km long main line that ran from Holzminden to Scherfede (now a part of Warburg ), connecting the Altenbeken – Kreiensen railway with the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway . It was in continuous operation from 1876 to 1984. The most important place on the former route is the city of Beverungen .
course
The route ran from northeast to southwest through the Weserbergland . It crosses the Weser at Fürstenberg . In Wehrden there was a connection to the Solling Railway (in the direction of Northeim ), which was crossed under shortly after the station. The line ran through Beverungen, from there up the Bever valley and through the Warburger Börde . In Nörde the Hamm – Warburg railway line was crossed. In Scherfede the Obere Ruhrtalbahn , which here runs in the valley of the Diemel , was reached.
history
The line was built by the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (BME) to connect the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway to the east independently of the Prussian State Railway . A connection to Holzminden was an option , because from there the network of the former Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn ran via Kreiensen , Salzgitter-Ringelheim and Jerxheim either to the Magdeburg-Halberstädter Eisenbahn (MHE, in Oschersleben) and the Berlin-Potsdam Railway (BPE, in Schöningen). Coal trains and elegant express trains were to be used on the route. Local issues played no role in the routing. In the Warburger Börde it was brought past larger places such as Borgentreich and Warburg. The Duchy of Braunschweig had privatized its former state railway in 1870; BME and BPE had also acquired shares. Even before the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway was completed (1873), construction work began in 1872 to close the last gap in a private railway network from the Rhine to the Spree. The construction of the bridges, namely the Weser Bridge near Fürstenberg, was in the hands of the young Joseph Stübben . Traffic began on October 15, 1876. At the end of 1876 a pair of express trains ran between Berlin and Aachen. A year later, a luxury train to Paris and Ostend was added.
In the meantime, from 1879/80 onwards, the state railway concept had prevailed in Prussia, and the BME lines were also transferred to the Prussian State Railway in 1882. Holzminden – Scherfede was just one less favorably located main line among many, which connected two inclined routes and was inclined to the main traffic directions. Höxter and Warburg were bypassed unfavorably for regional traffic.
The long-distance trains were moved to the route via Altenbeken. It was not until 1900, when the traffic increased significantly, that a pair of express trains from Berlin to Cologne was inserted again, and the line was expanded to double tracks in 1907. In Nörde, a connecting curve to the Warburg – Hamm route was built, which allowed diversions from Holzminden – Nörde– Altenbeken (- Soest ).
After the Second World War, the section from Holzminden to Wehrden had its last heyday, as the Weser bridge on the Altenbeken – Kreiensen railway line near Corvey was destroyed. A connecting curve ("Engländerkurve") was built north-west of Wehrden , enabling journeys from Holzminden to Altenbeken over the Fürstenberger Bridge. From 1954 this was no longer necessary. The line sank to a regional development railway, even if it was used by an express train Aachen – Holzminden – Braunschweig until the end . It was often used to transport vehicles and tanks of the NATO armed forces until the early 1990s . The British Rhine Army was responsible for the maintenance of the Fürstenberg bridge over the Weser. Passenger traffic ended on June 2, 1984. Freight traffic was discontinued in sections between 1984 and 2001: On May 30, 1984 Beverungen – Borgholz; on May 31, 1988 Fürstenberg – Beverungen; on May 31, 1992 Holzminden – Fürstenberg and Borgholz – Nörde; on June 10, 2001 Nörde – Scherfede.
Todays situation
The railway line no longer exists today. The sidings in both Holzminden and Scherfede were gradually removed. Most of the track systems have been dismantled. The old sleepers are still present almost everywhere.
The Bahnflächenentwicklungsgesellschaft NRW (BEG), a joint company of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Deutsche Bahn AG, is planning to partially expand the disused railway line into an avenue cycle path . Today the embankment is left to nature and overgrown.
Planned sections, a total of 22.3 kilometers of expansion:
- Höxter project: New construction of a communal cycle path between Lüchtringen and Godelheim of 3.1 kilometers for 611,000 euros. The city of Höxter has so far been hesitant to the state program, as the municipality would have to co-finance and the Weser cycle path is already nearby. The Lüchtringen district of Höxter and the Lower Saxony community of Boffzen would benefit in particular . The route would also enable cyclists to use their own Weser bridge crossing between Fürstenberg and Godelheim.
- Beverungen project: The section between Blankenau and Dalhausen covers 11.2 kilometers and is to be expanded for around 1.89 million euros.
- Project Borgentreich: In the urban area of Borgentreich, the tracks are to be lifted for 9.1 kilometers on the route near Natzungen and Borgholz and the route is to be paved for cyclists. The estimated costs amount to 1.4 million euros.
The cities of Warburg ( Rimbeck - Nörde section ) and Willebadessen ( Eissen section ) have postponed participation in the state program for financial reasons.
literature
- Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee: Farewell to the rails. Disused railway lines for passenger trains in Germany. 1980-1985. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-613-01191-3 , p. 43ff.
- Werner Borchert: The connecting railway at Amelunxen. Commissioned 50 years ago. In: the wait. Home magazine for the Paderborn and Höxter districts. 90, 1996, ISSN 0939-8686 , pp. 7-9.
- Garrelt Riepelmeier: The Scherfede - Holzminden line and the railway in the old district of Warburg. DGEG Medien Verlag, Hövelhof 2010, ISBN 978-3-937189-56-7 .
- J. Högemann: A main line without a future - "End station for Holzminden - Scherfede" , Eisenbahn-Journal, Issue 11/1984, ISSN 0170-5288, p. 22ff.
Web links
- Description of route 2973 in the NRWbahnarchiv by André Joost
- Article on the route
- Documentation of the route ( memento from September 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
- ^ Joseph Stübben: The Weser Bridge at Fürstenberg . In: Journal for practical architecture 37, 1877, p. 139f.
- ↑ Luxury trains only ran briefly. Memories of the Scherfede-Holzminden railway line. In: Westfalenblatt . June 28, 2013, p. 37 (special supplement) .
- ^ Map of the area. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 26, 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ^ Map of the area. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 26, 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Presentation by the Beverungen road and real estate company dated January 10, 2012 (PDF; 162 kB)
- ↑ Map of the project. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on March 21, 2014 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )