Lichtenvoorde – Bocholt railway line
| Lichtenvoorde – Bocholt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 21 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Lichtenvoorde – Bocholt railway was a cross-border narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm, which was operated by the Geldersch – Westfaalsche Stoomtram-Maatschappij ( Geldersch-Westfälische Dampf-Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft ).
history
Before the First World War, numerous workers from the Netherlands were employed in the textile factories in Bocholt . The construction of a railway connection from Bocholt to the neighboring Gelderland was an obvious choice. There were first considerations at the end of the 19th century, in 1905 the Geldersch-Westfaalsche Stoomtrammaatschappij (Geldersch-Westfälische Dampf-Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft, GWSM) was founded. Obtaining the concession for the Prussian section according to the Kleinbahngesetz was laborious . First a line from Groenlo to Zeddam was built. It was opened in 1908. In 1908 there was also the Prussian concession, and so the line from Lichtenvoorde to Bocholt was opened on May 2, 1910. The provisional end point in Bocholt was replaced on September 1st by a real train station near the city. But even this was more than a kilometer away from the state train station. Although tracks were later laid to the station, they were never put into operation. The First World War put an end to the flourishing traffic on July 31, 1914, until then six pairs of trains had been traveling every day. Traffic was not resumed until March 1915. On May 1, 1916, traffic was finally stopped. However, the track system was not dismantled until 1937. Operation on the Dutch section of the route was taken over from 1917 by the Geldersche Stoomtram Maatschappij , which also operated the Velp-Doetinchen-Isselburg-Anholt railway , which also crossed borders . In 1933, however, traffic was also discontinued on the remaining GWSM routes.
Between December 2017 and April 2018 a bus connection from Bocholt to Aalten was offered; permanent operation is sought.
vehicles
At the start of operations, four three-axle steam locomotives built by Hanomag were available. There were also eight four-axle passenger cars, two mail / baggage cars and two freight cars. In some cases, however, the five two-axle tramway locomotives of the GWSM that were already in operation also ran on the route, which had been manufactured by the Breda company in 1908 . The vehicles had a suction air brake.
literature
- Jörg Petzold: Small Railway Anniversaries 2010. In: The Museum Railway . 2, 2010, ISSN 0936-4609 , p. 13.
- Werner Reckert: Dutch small railways in the Gelderland-Westphalian border area. In: The museum railway. 1, 1991, pp. 7-10.