Lüneburg – Bleckede railway line

Lüneburg – Bleckede
Boltersen station
Route number (DB) :	9110
Course book section (DB) :	ex 109d
Route length:	23.78 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed:	50 km / h
Legend from Lüneburg east side 0.0 Lüneburg -Nord (Bleckeder train station) to Lübeck 1.134 Master path 1.2 Master path to the port of Lüneburg 1.218 Infrastructure boundary OHE / BlKB 3.4 Erbstorf brickworks 4.7 Erbstorf former train station Elbe Lateral Canal (since 1975) 7.3 Scharnebeck 8.9 Rullstorf 11.7 Boltersen 16.0 Nets to Garze 19.2 New Neetze from Garze 23.8 0.0 Bleckede from Bleckede harbor 1.3 (0.0) Bleckede Süd / Vorbahnhof von Wendewisch Connection to Ölhof to the oil farm (1.3) Bleckede Waldfrieden Limit OHE / HEW connection Hp Waldfrieden 6.1 Alt Garge today trolley station to and from the port 7.8 East Hanover power plant Draisine operation

The Lüneburg – Bleckede railway is a standard-gauge , 24-kilometer-long railway line operated by the Osthannoverschen Eisenbahnen (OHE), which has been operated by the Bleckeder Kleinbahn Verwaltungsgesellschaft since 2012.

history

On September 1, 1904, the Bleckeder Kreisbahn opened a branch line from Karze to the existing Bleckede - Echem to Lüneburg line . The track width was 750 millimeters. The traffic developed satisfactorily, in 1912 traffic with trolleys was started. Due to the installation of larger marine tank facilities near Bleckede, it was decided to change the gauge of the Lüneburg – Bleckede line. In order to raise the necessary capital, the Bleckeder Kleinbahn GmbH was founded, in which, in addition to the Bleckede district, the province of Hanover and the state of Prussia also took over shares. The route between Neetze and Bleckede has been re-routed to avoid the detour via Karze. On March 1, 1919, the tracked route was opened.

As of December 1, 1921, the management was held by the Lower Saxony State Small Railway Authority. In 1931 the Bleckede district was dissolved and added to the Lüneburg district, which also became a partner in the Kleinbahn. This was expressed in a change of name, the company was now called Kleinbahn Lüneburg – Bleckede . From September 10, 1943, the line was called Lüneburg – Bleckeder Railway , and on July 10, 1944, it merged to form the Osthannoverschen Eisenbahnen . On February 22, 1945, the terminus of the Lüneburg-Bleckede railway was badly damaged in an air raid on Lüneburg .

In Bleckede, since 1943, a six-kilometer-long line from the Hamburger Elektrizitätswerke to the Ost-Hannover power station in Alt Garge, operated by Bleckeder Kleinbahn and later by its successor, OHE. Public passenger transport began on this section in 1954.

In 1976, due to the construction of the Elbe Lateral Canal , the route between Erbstorf and Scharnebeck was changed. Together with the K33 district road, the route now crosses under the Elbe Lateral Canal in a tunnel-like structure.

Due to the poor condition of the line, the OHE applied for the line to be closed in 2009. In 2010 the line was closed to rail traffic. Since the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verkehrsfreunde Lüneburg (AVL) had an interest in the continued operation of their Heide-Express trains , they founded the Bleckeder Kleinbahn Verwaltungsgesellschaft , which leased the route from the OHE on February 1, 2012 and since then has operated as an EIU from kilometer 1.2 occurs. The Lüneburg Nord station up to the sidings will continue to be operated by the OHE. The AVL have meanwhile renovated parts of the route.

business

passenger traffic

The Lüneburg Nord terminus was a few hundred meters away from the state railway stations, which was difficult for transit travelers. After the gauge change, three pairs of trains ran daily; with a journey time of one hour, they took almost as long as the narrow-gauge trains. From 1933 railcars were used, which enabled a slight reduction in travel time. From 1951 onwards there were also express trains that covered the distance in 35 minutes. In 1954, passenger trains ran to Alt Garge for the first time. In 1960 passenger trains were introduced into Lüneburg Ost station, which was a considerable improvement for those changing trains. In the period from 1950 (five pairs of trains) to 1970 (nine pairs of trains) traffic was increased.

On June 2, 1973 the Bleckede – Alt Garge passenger service was discontinued, and on May 21, 1977, the Lüneburg – Bleckede service was also discontinued.

Since 2010, passenger traffic has been taking place on the route between Lüneburg and Bleckede on several weekends a year, operated by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verkehrsfreunde Lüneburg. On November 24, 2010, that organization took over the lease contract for the line from OHE.

In Erbstorf Ziegelei, the second station track was put back into operation in 2011, so the station has again station status. In the Erbstorf stop, however, the turnouts for the sidings were removed.

From May 15 to 19, 2017, traffic with five pairs of trains was offered on a trial basis. An LHB VT 2E from the Aschersleben transport company was used.

Freight transport

Freight traffic was mainly used for land trade, and there were large warehouses at several train stations. The oil traffic, the reason for the gauging, did not get going; Significant oil shipments were only made during the Second World War. The Alt Garge power plant received the coal it needed by water. The port of Bleckede also only generated low sales.

As on many other OHE routes, the military with the tank facility in Bleckede was nevertheless one of the largest customers. After the land trade had been shifted to the road and the loading of beets had been abandoned, freight trains were only running as required, especially in timber transport. For this purpose, the branch to Waldfrieden, which was no longer served from December 31, 1994, was used again. A two-way vehicle was used as the transport vehicle. Only the industrial area north of Lüneburg was served more frequently. On December 31, 2007, freight traffic to Bleckede was stopped.

On August 11 and 12, 2016, there were again freight train journeys between Lüneburg and Bleckede-Hafen for the Bleckede gravel works. These trips were a test run, which was supposed to show the possibilities of resuming regular freight traffic.

Tourist traffic

The section between the breakpoint Waldfrieden and old-Garge can with since 2005 Handcars be traveled.

AW Bleckede

One of the OHE's two repair shops is located in Bleckede (next to Celle). In addition to the company's own locomotives, including the Erixx railcars, vehicles from external companies and railway associations, such as the Karoline locomotive of the Geestacht Railway Friends, are repaired here, which are transported via the route from / to Lüneburg.

literature

• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 10: Lower Saxony 2. Between Weser and Elbe. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2007, pp. 361–378, ISBN 978-3-88255-669-8

Web links

Commons : Lüneburg – Bleckede railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Draisinen in Bleckede
• Excerpt from the course book from 1944
• Closed: The Bleckede - Waldfrieden - Alt Garge railway line

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 50. Lüneburg 1982
2. ↑ http://eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/9110.html
3. ↑ Rail network conditions of use of the Bleckeder Kleinbahn: [1]
4. ↑ One-week trial traffic . In: railway magazine . No. 7 , 2017, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 31 .
5. ↑ Landeszeitung.de: Split rolls by train to the Elbe, accessed on August 29, 2016