Salzwedel – Diesdorf railway line

Salzwedel – Diesdorf
Route number (DB) :	6902
Course book section (DB) :	303 (1995)
Route length:	36.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend 0.0 Salzwedel Neustadt from and to Salzwedel freight yard 1.6 Salzwedel Altperver Gate meter-gauge line until 1927 after Badel Salzwedel – Oebisfelde 2.1 Salzwedel Neuetor until 1927 End of the new line 5.7 Steinitz (Altm) Ost former Bf. 6.5 Steinitz (Altm) 9.5 Wieblitz-Eversdorf former Bf. 11.7 Tylsen former Bf. 13.9 Wallstawe 18.3 Ellenberg (Altm) 20.7 Wiershorst former Bf. 22.3 There to Diesdorf ( meter gauge ; until 1928) 25.4 Dehre West former Bf. 26.9 Bonese Ost former Bf. 27.8 Bonese 29.4 Bonese South 30.8 Schadeberg- Dülseberg formerly Bf. von Dehre (meter gauge; until 1928) 32.5 Schadeberg 33.6 Schadeberg- Schadewohl formerly Bf. from Wittingen 36.2 Diesdorf (Altm) to Beetzendorf

The Salzwedel – Diesdorf railway line was a single-track branch line in today's Altmarkkreis Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt . It was built from 1900 by the Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen .

Route description

The first 30, later 36 kilometers long route connected the district town of Salzwedel on the Stendal – Uelzen railway with the town of Diesdorf to the west . It ran from the Salzwedel Neustadt train station to the Salzwedel Altperver Tor train station, where the Salzwedel – Badel line, also built by the Salzwedel Kleinbahnen, branched off into the 1960s . In the further course it led through agriculturally characterized, slightly undulating land and had some uphill sections. In Diesdorf it met the normal-gauge small railway lines Beetzendorf - Rohrberg –Diesdorf and Wittingen - Zasenbeck –Diesdorf, which were operated by the Altmärkische Kleinbahn .

history

The narrow-gauge railway

In 1897 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. In Salzwedel, the Salzwedel Neustadt station was built immediately to the east of the Salzwedel station. From there on October 23, 1900, the first trains to Wallstawe left . On December 5 of the same year, Dülferberg (later called Schadeberg-Dülseberg) was reached, and from October 15, 1901, trains finally ran to Diesdorf. As early as 1902, the track systems in Salzwedel Neustadt were expanded due to the unexpectedly high volume of traffic. Three-axle tank locomotives were used . The first locomotives were purchased brand new from Hanomag in Hanover . Freight traffic was operated using the roll-head system. The Salzwedeler sugar factory , which was on the route, handled a particularly high volume of goods. The two-axle steam locomotive used specifically for this purpose was called "Zuckerlieschen".

The meter-gauge line crossed the Salzwedel – Oebisfelde state railway at the same level as the confluence of Brückenstraße with Neutorstraße in the southern Salzwedel city area. A few meters southwest of the intersection secured by signals was the Salzwedel Neuetor station. In the further course the former route ran parallel to Braunschweiger Straße to Ziethnitz.

In 1909 four pairs of trains operated as a mixed train . It took them around 110 minutes for the route.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the transport performance fell significantly. 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.

The standard gauge railway

Until 1945

In 1927 the line was changed to standard gauge, as the narrow-gauge line had proven to be insufficiently efficient. For this, the section were Dähre -Diesdorf and Salzwedel Neustadt station temporarily shut down on June 20 1927th The Salzwedel – Dehre section was largely re-routed so that the narrow-gauge railway could continue to run on the old route to Dehre. On October 5, 1927, scheduled trains ran for the first time on the standard gauge line to Dehre. The route now led over the route to Oebisfelde without any intersections. From then on, passenger traffic was carried out with railcars . From October 25, 1927 to March 17, 1928, at the same time as the construction work, narrow-gauge trains ran from Dehre to Diesdorf, and until August 26, 1928 to Dülseberg. On October 4, 1928, the entire route was finally used as a standard gauge line. The vehicle fleet had to be completely renewed. Brand- new DWK benzene railcars, which were converted to diesel drive in 1934, a railcar from the Dessau wagon factory and several steam locomotives were used on the two routes of the Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . These included two ELNA-5 locomotives from Henschel in Kassel , which were later designated as the 91.64 series. Almost all of the passenger cars procured were only in the third class; one car had eight seats in the second class. Three pairs of trains ran every day. The 15 kilometer stretch between Dehre and Dülseberg was rebuilt. The new line ran considerably further west and then made an arc to the south-east to reach Diesdorf. The new route was therefore six kilometers longer. In the same year, three pairs of trains were offered per week on the Salzwedel – Diesdorf – Wittingen route, but these resulted in losses. Otherwise the route proved to be profitable.

New reception buildings were built in Salzwedel Neustadt and Dehre in the 1930s . The goods loading facilities have been expanded in several train stations. The Winkelstedt-Dorf stop, which was set up in 1933 and later renamed Bonese Süd, was the only station on the route without goods being loaded. In the timetable year 1938/39, four pairs of passenger trains and one to two pairs of freight trains ran on weekdays and five pairs of trains on Sundays. 245,403 people and 289,716 tons of goods were transported that year. 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. In the final phase of the war operations were stopped.

After the Second World War

One of the last passenger trains at Diesdorf station (1993)

Former Diesdorf train station (2010)

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. As early as September of the same year, operations on the Dehre – Diesdorf section were stopped because attempts to escape and smuggle were to be prevented due to the proximity of the inner-German border . The lock was lifted on February 27, 1946. The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen were taken over by the Saxon Provincial Railways and finally taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn on April 1, 1949 .

The Henschel locomotives procured in 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 . Occasionally, class 112 diesel locomotives also drove . The DWK railcars remained in service until 1975. From 1976 the closure of the Dehre – Diesdorf section was considered again and the track maintenance was reduced to a minimum. In 1979, the superstructure was so bad that operations ceased on June 25 and buses operated as replacement rail services . Due to the nationwide shortage of fuel and the relatively high volume of goods around Diesdorf, however, it was decided to fundamentally renovate the route. On May 23, 1982, traffic was resumed on the entire route. The Salzwedel – Dehre section was renovated in the summer of 1982. Here, around 170 students from several states worked the CMEA with which there in " International Student summer have been used." From 1982 three pairs of passenger trains, one pair of local goods trains and an additional train ran from Diesdorf to Salzwedel. After the political change , the volume of traffic decreased significantly. The sugar factory was closed in 1991. The route had numerous speed limits due to alkali damage. The barrier system of the level crossing at Altperver Tor station had to be operated by the train attendants, so that the train had to stop here twice. The last to operate were class 771 rail buses . On May 23, 1993, passenger traffic on the Dehre – Diesdorf section was discontinued, and on December 31, 1995 on the rest of the stretch. Freight traffic between Dehre and Diesdorf was also stopped on May 22, 1993, and between Salzwedel and Dehre on December 31, 1994. On April 1, 1997 the line was closed. In 2004 the tracks were removed and in 2005 the reception building of the Salzwedel Neustadt train station was demolished. A bypass road was built on part of the route near the Salzwedel Altperver Tor station.

Changes to station names

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

• Ziethnitz, from 1957 Steinitz (Altm) Ost
• Kemnitz, then Kemnitz (Altm), from 1951 Steinitz (Altm)
• Wieblitz, from 1928 Wieblitz-Eversdorf
• Deutschhorst, then Wiershorst-Deutschhorst, from 1957 Wiershorst
• Winkelstedt-Kleistau, from 1957 Dehre-West
• Winkelstedt Dorf, then Winkelstedt (Kr Salzwedel), from 1957 Bonese Ost
• Rustenbeck, from 1957 Bonese Süd
• Dülseberg (opened in 1928), from 1957 Schadeberg Dülseberger Straße, from 1966 Schadeberg-Dülseberg
• Düsselberg, from 1928 Höddelsen-Reddigau, from 1951 Neuekrug (Altm), from 1966 Schadeberg
• Schadewohl, from 1957 Schadeberg, from 1966 Schadeberg-Schadewohl

literature

• Andreas Kühn, Guido Huwe: The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . Dirk Endisch, Korntal-Münchingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-936893-48-9 .
• Wolfgang List: Kleinbahnen der Altmark . transpress, Berlin 1979, without ISBN.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Andreas Kühn, Guido Huwe: The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . Dirk Endisch, Korntal-Münchingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-936893-48-9 .
2. ↑ Urs Kramer, Matthias Bordkorb: Farewell to the rail. Freight routes from 1994 to today . Stuttgart 2008, p. 155
3. ^ Andreas Kühn, Guido Huwe: The Salzwedeler Kleinbahnen . Dirk Endisch, Korntal-Münchingen 2007, ISBN 978-3936893489 , p. 125.
4. ^ Course book 1943