Salzwedel – Badel railway line

Salzwedel-Badel
Former station Kricheldorf / Krinau (2010)
Route number (DB) :	6903
Course book range :	759 (1980)
Route length:	20.0 km
Gauge :	1902–1926: 1000 mm from 1926: 1435 mm
Legend from Stendal 59.2 Salzwedel to Uelzen 56.0 Salzwedel old town 0.0 Salzwedel Neustadt from and to Salzwedel train station 1.6 Salzwedel Altperver Gate to Diesdorf 54.4 Jeetze junction (from 1966) to Oebisfelde 4.1 Krinau 6.1 Krinau Fuchsberger Strasse 6.9 Stappenbeck North 7.8 Stappenbeck 9.7 Mahlsdorf 11.8 Benkendorf (Altm) 13.5 Benkendorf (Altm) South 15.5 Jeggelife until 1926 / from 1926 17.6 Jeggelleben South Winterfeld narrow-gauge station 19.0 ( from Beetzendorf ), Winterfeld 20.0 Badel after Kalbe (Milde)

The Salzwedel – Badel railway was a single-track branch line in what is now the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt . It was built from 1901 by Kleinbahn Südost GmbH . Originally it led as a meter-gauge line to Winterfeld , around five kilometers west of Badel , later it was standard-gauge .

Route description

The approximately 20 kilometer long route connected the district town of Salzwedel on the Stendal – Uelzen railway with the southeastern town of Badel on the Hohenwulsch – Beetzendorf railway . It originally ran from the Salzwedel Neustadt station to the Salzwedel Altperver Tor station, where the Salzwedel – Diesdorf railway branched off by the then Salzwedel Kleinbahn . In the further course it led through agricultural, slightly undulating land. From Jeggeleben the route led to Winterfeld until the gauge change in 1926, and later to Badel. The route in the Salzwedel area was changed in 1966.

history

The narrow-gauge line

In 1898 a committee was founded in Salzwedel to prepare the construction of the line. A track width of 1000 millimeters was chosen in order to save costs. The starting point was the Salzwedel Neustadt train station, from which trains in the direction of Diesdorf were already leaving . The company opened on September 1, 1902, operated by Kleinbahn Südost GmbH . The most important goods customer from 1903 until its closure in 1990 was the Neukranz & Co. chemical factory in the Perver district of Salzwedel, which manufactured fertilizers . The transport of sugar beet contributed to the initially high volume of goods. Freight traffic was operated using the roll-head system. From 1903 plans were made to extend the line to Kakerbeck on the Klötze – Vinzelberg line , but this was rejected by the authorities in 1911 with a view to the existing network of neighboring railways . In 1906 three pairs of trains ran as mixed trains between Salzwedel and Winterfeld.

A hard stone works in the Fuchsberg train station ensured a further increase in the transported tonnage. With the onset of World War I, however, a decline set in as there was a shortage of workers and profits fell.

In 1921, the Kleinbahn Südost merged with the Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . In 1923, the Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen joined the small railroad department of the Provincial Association of Saxony based in Merseburg , so that the top management was based there.

In 1921 there were first plans for a change of gauge to standard gauge. On November 5, 1924, a three-rail track from Salzwedel Neustadt to the Neukranz plant was inaugurated. In addition to re-gauging, it was planned to relocate the south-eastern end of the route to Badel, as this would allow further villages to be connected and the route in the direction of Kalbe (Milde) to be shortened.

The standard gauge line

Until 1945

The gauge change began in 1925, initially while maintaining the narrow-gauge operation , which was finally discontinued on June 20, 1926. At 20 kilometers, the new route was around one kilometer longer than the old route. On October 2, 1926, the standard gauge service to Badel began with freight trains, on October 29 of the same year passenger traffic. It turned out that the rails bought second-hand led to operational problems. The Salzwedeler were used on the two routes Kleinbahnen brand new DWK - benzene motor coaches that have been converted to diesel power in 1934, a motor coach from Dessau wagon factory and several steam locomotives. These included two ELNA-2 locomotives from Henschel in Kassel , which were later referred to as the 91.64 series. On January 19, 1929, a passenger train crashed into a freight train, resulting in one death. In the 1930s, the transport performance increased again. In 1935, the Salzwedel airfield at Fuchsberg train station was expanded as an air force base, contrary to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty . In addition, he received a siding with a total of 4.3 kilometers of track. In 1938/39 four pairs of trains ran between Salzwedel and Badel on weekdays - three of them to Kalbe - and five pairs of trains on Sundays. At the same time, one or two pairs of freight trains drove daily. In 1941, the Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen received their most powerful steam locomotive, which was designated No. 403. It had a top speed of 70 km / h and was given the series designation 75.66 in 1950 .

In the Second World War there were new problems due to personnel shortages. At times, rail operations had to be maintained with the help of prisoners of war. The train stations in Salzwedel Neustadt and Salzwedel Altperver Tor received bomb hits, so that freight traffic could not be conducted over this section. In the final phase of the war operations were stopped.

After the Second World War

After the end of the war, the US occupation soldiers granted permission to resume freight traffic on May 18, 1945. The following British occupation forces allowed passengers to be transported in freight trains on June 18 of the same year. A little later, after the Treaty of Yalta , the area became part of the Soviet occupation zone . From July 23, 1945, two pairs of freight trains could run daily with passenger transport. The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen were taken over by the Saxon Provincial Railways and finally taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn on April 1, 1949 .

The VEB Alcid , the former company Neukranz was after the war up to the suspension of operations in 1990 with apatite from the Soviet Peninsula Kola supplies. The daily freight of a freighter of around 2,600 tons was distributed over several freight trains and brought to Salzwedel-Perver.

The Henschel locomotives procured from 1927 were used with interruptions until 1970 and 1971 on the line. From 1963, rail buses of the VT 2.09 series ran until they ceased operations . From 1967, in addition to the existing trains, hauled passenger trains ran with a class 64 steam locomotive . The DWK railcars remained in service until 1975.

Due to the high volume of goods for the fertilizer plant, the route was relocated in 1966. For the line to Badel, a branch was created on the Salzwedel – Oebisfelde railway line and a new line of around one kilometer to Kricheldorf was built on the previous line that bypassed the fertilizer plant. This means that passenger trains no longer ran from Salzwedel Neustadt via Salzwedel Altperver Tor, but from Salzwedel station via Salzwedel Altstadt.

According to the 1975/76 winter timetable, three pairs of passenger trains ran daily between Salzwedel and Badel, two of which went to Kalbe. The journey time for the now 21.9 kilometers long route was around an hour. Trains ran in the morning, at noon and in the late afternoon. Only one train was hauled by a locomotive. The route was listed as the Salzwedel – Kalbe (Milde) railway with the course book number 759.

From the 1979 summer schedule, the trains ran at a maximum of 10 km / h due to the poor superstructure . It was decided to close the line for the 1980/81 winter timetable. The last passenger train ran on September 27, 1980. Then buses drove in the rail replacement service . Freight traffic between Krinau Fuchsberger Strasse and Badel also came to an end at this point.

Changes to station names

Several stations along the route were given new names during the operating time.

• Kricheldorf , from 1951 Krinau
• Fuchsberg, from 1951 Fuchsberg (Altm), from 1957 Krinau Fuchsberger Strasse
• Buchwitz, from 1951 Buchwitz (Altm), from 1957 Stappenbeck Nord
• Büssen, from 1957 Benkendorf (Altm) Süd
• Mösenthin-Zierau, from 1957 Jeggeleben Süd

literature

• Andreas Kühn, Guido Huwe: The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . Dirk Endisch, Korntal-Münchingen 2007, ISBN 978-3936893489
• Wolfgang List: Kleinbahnen der Altmark . transpress, Berlin 1979, without ISBN

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Andreas Kühn, Guido Huwe: The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . Dirk Endisch, Korntal-Münchingen 2007, ISBN 978-3936893489
2. ^ DR course book winter 1975/76