Ełk – Chernyakhovsk railway line

Ełk – Tschernjachowsk (Lyck – Insterburg)
The Lyck – Insterburg railway line in 1938
Course book range :	DR 118s (1940) / 137e (1944) PKP 535
Route length:	118.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Białystok and from Pisz Small railway line from Laski Małe (Klein Lasken) 0.0 Ełk (Elk) Ełk Wąski (Lyck Kleinbf.) to Korsze and Orzysz 2.0 Gbf Ełk Towarowy II Ełk (Elk) 6.9 Przykopka (Przykopken / Birkenwalde) 10.0 Chełchy (Chelchen / Kelchendorf) 14.8 Kijewo (Kiöwen) 20.2 Olecko Małe (Klein Oletzko / Herzogshöhe) to and from Suwałki Treuburger Kleinbahnen 27.5 Olecko (Marggrabowa / Treuburg) to Kruglanken 36.4 Stożne (Stoosznen / Stosnau) 42.6 Kowale Oleckie (Kowahlen / Reimannswalde) 48.0 Pogorzel (Pogor cells / Hegelingen) 53.7 Górne (Gurnen) from Szittkehmen / Wehrkirchen 61.2 Botkuny (Buttkuhnen / Bodenhausen) to and from Stallupönen / Ebenrode Gołdapa (Goldap) 65.3 Gołdap (Goldap) to Angerburg State border Poland / Russia 74.1 (Kuddern / Kudern) Bagrjanovo 79.6 ( Wikischken / Wiecken ) Bagrationowo from Gumbinnen 85.7 ( Darkehmen Ost / Angerapp Ost ) Osjorsk Angrapa (Angerapp) to Angerburg 94.0 (Spirockeln / Hohenfried) 101.9 ( Tendon tendons ) Krasnoyarskoye 109.3 (Karlswalde) Chernyakhovsk southern bypass from Schelesnodoroschny from Kaliningrad 118.9 Chernyakhovsk (Insterburg) to Chernyshevskoye and to Sovetsk

The railway Elk Insterburg can be distinguished since the new boundaries in 1945 in the Polish section of Elk to Gołdap , which was further operated, and the Russian section, which was not restored after the devastation of World War II, especially the bridges. There is currently no passenger traffic on the Polish section either.

history

Railway bridge over the Angerapp near Darkehmen

The railway line was opened in 1879 and represented an important north-south connection in the province of East Prussia in what is now the Warmia-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland and Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia . The line was under the authority of the Reich Railway Directorate in Königsberg (Prussia) until 1945 . It connected the five East Prussian district towns of Lyck (Ełk), Marggrabowa / Treuburg (Olecko), Goldap (Gołdap), Darkehmen / Angerapp (Osjorsk) and Insterburg (Tschernjachowsk).

In 1868, Lyck was connected to the railway network with the Königsberg – Lyck line (today's PKP line 38), which was extended to the Prostken border station on July 1, 1871 and even continued to Brest in Belarus in 1873 . In 1885 the Olsztyn – Lyck railway followed and in 1915 the Sensburg – Lyck railway . At that time, Lyck had become an important railway junction in East Prussia , which was supplemented between 1913 and 1918 by a 48-kilometer network of Lyck small railways (today the privately operated Ełcka Kolej Wąskotorowa ).

In Marggrabowa / Treuburg , the Lyck – Insterburg line received additional branch lines. In 1908 the disused Marggrabowa – Kruglanken line opened , ten years later the Marggrabowa – Suwałki line , which is still in operation today as PKP line 39. Here the lines operated by the Treuburger Kleinbahnen supplemented the state railway network with 43 kilometers.

In Goldap , numerous branch lines were also connected to the Lyck – Insterburg railway line. The Angerburg – Goldap railway was built in 1897, the Goldap – Stallupönen / Ebenrode railway line in 1901 and the Goldap – Szittkehmen (Wehrkirchen) railway line, also known as the “Kaiserbahn”, in 1927 . The latter traveled the same route with the Lyck – Insterburg railway between Buttkuhnen / Bodenhausen and Goldap.

In Darkehmen / Angerapp in 1914 the Gumbinnen – Angerburg railway was connected to the Lyck – Insterburg railway with the establishment of the “Ost” railway station.

In Insterburg , the Lyck – Insterburg line met the Königsberg – Eydtkuhnen / Eydtkau line of the Prussian Eastern Railway , which had been in existence since 1860 and is still in operation today and is an important link between Moscow and the Russian exclave Kaliningrad . Since 1863/65 trains have been running from Insterburg on the newly built - today no longer operated - Insterburg – Tilsit railway line and since 1871/73 on the Thorn – Insterburg railway line, which is no longer used in Russia today . Here, too, the 221 kilometer network of Insterburger Kleinbahnen complemented the state railway lines.

Ełk – Gołdap railway line

An excursion train at the Botkuny stop (2003)

On this section of the route, which was operated by the Polish State Railways after 1945 , passenger traffic was discontinued in 1993, initially on the section from Olecko to Gołdap and in 1999 also on the section from Ełk to Oletzko. The last section was resumed from 2005 to 2012.

literature

• Siegfried Bufe: Railways in West and East Prussia , Egglham, 1986.
• German course book. Complete edition of the Reichsbahn course books . Edition of January 21, 1940 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, Oberbetriebsleitung East Berlin, reprint 1st edition 1988.

Web links

Commons : Railway line 41 (Poland)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Old Polish timetables on www.infrastructurea.org .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Story of Ełk - Lyck
2. ^ Historical chronology Goldap
3. ^ History of the Goldap district
4. ↑ Dieter Zeigert, Disappeared Tracks. The "Kaiserbahn" Goldap - Szittkehmen , Stade, 2011
5. ↑ ^{a b} Reichsbahnrat Walther, Die Eisenbahn (Gumbinnen district)