Uslar – Schönhagen (Han) railway line
| Uslar – Schönhagen (Han) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Uslar train station in May 2008
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| Route number : | 1802 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book range : | 200c (1958), 200a (1944/1945) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 10.057 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Uslar – Schönhagen (Han) line was from 1921 to 1990 a single-track, non-electrified and approximately ten kilometer long standard gauge line in the northwest of the former Uslar district (since 1932 largely to the Northeim district ) in southern Lower Saxony in Germany . The line with the route number 1802 had the course book number 200c until 1958 and was a branch of the Sollingbahn Ottbergen - Northeim .
In order to differentiate itself from the place Schönhagen (Eichsfeld) in today's administrative community Uder (in its vicinity and belonging to the aforementioned administrative community, interestingly, as the place Fürstenhagen can be found in Uslar ), the Schönhagen train station got the addition (Han) for the former Hanover Province .
history
A route from Bodenfelde via Polier on to Schönhagen to Uslar was already discussed when the Solling Railway was being planned, but this railway line was then implemented via Vernawahlshausen and past the Steimke. As a result, the Uslar – Schönhagen (Han) railway line was proposed temporarily by the Uslar district, at the latest from 1897 as an alternative to the current Göttingen – Bodenfelde ( Oberweserbahn ) railway that opened on August 15, 1910 . It should continue this route from Verliehausen . It was even supposed to lead beyond Schönhagen into the forest area of the Solling in Prussian territory into the Prussian part of the village of Neuhaus im Solling (at the time divided into two because the eastern Neuhaus was on Brunswick territory) and then on to Silberborn or alternatively to Holzminden . However, this would have been very difficult due to the terrain from Neuhaus with a gradient of up to 1:40 m. An alternative continuation from Silberborn via Stadtoldendorf to the Ilmebahn ending in Dassel would have been just as time-consuming, as a tunnel would be necessary for this. By connecting the two Solling villages of Silberborn and Neuhaus, which also belong to the Uslar district, the local glassworks and woodworking companies would have benefited.
However, on June 25, 1904 , the corresponding state parliament decided to build the Göttingen – Bodenfelde line in its current course, as the direct connection with the Weser port in Bodenfelde promised more goods than a railway with its terminus or crossing point in Uslar. For Uslar's population, which was already relatively strongly oriented towards the regional center of Göttingen , this meant that they could still not reach this city directly by train, but had to change trains in Northeim or Bodenfelde.
The construction of the Uslar – Schönhagen (Han) railway was then intended to promote the agriculturally oriented places in the northwestern part of the Uslar district. It also played a role that the Uslar train station on the Solling Railway was about one kilometer outside of the city in the east near the town of Allershausen , and therefore the transport of heavy parts from / to the wood and metal processing companies located in Uslar itself was difficult. because longer inclines (today's Bahnhofstrasse or, alternatively, the Bella Clava ) had to be mastered. A train station closer to this industry in the southwestern part of Uslar could have improved this situation considerably. In particular, the buyer of Sollinger Hütte, which went bankrupt in 1914, made the new start dependent on a siding. It would also have been easier for the Uslar residents to reach the Solling Railway and the offices that were then located in Uslar could have been more easily reached by the population of the district.
After already on March 27, 1914 under the chairmanship of the then Uslar District Administrator Dr. Otto Dilthey agreements regarding the acquisition of land with the participating municipalities were made and the state parliament had also concluded its deliberations, the construction was decided by law on June 10, 1914. On July 31, 1914, a contract was then concluded between the Uslar district and the Kassel Railway Directorate for the land in question.
However, the First World War , which broke out shortly before on July 28th, and its consequences turned out to be a major obstacle for the project, which was actually relatively easy to implement due to the topography .
So it happened that the preparatory work including the surveying was not completed until the spring of 1915, with the result that the construction was carried out in two stages. The construction of the first section from the Uslar train station to the Uslarer Oberhütte (in the southwestern part of the city of Uslar) began in July 1915, while the tenders for the second part could not have taken place until the summer of 1916. More precisely, the second part began at the second junction, see route overview. The continuation should run via the train stations Sohlingen (kilometer 5.32; in the southeast of Sohlingen) and Kammerborn (kilometer 7.62; in the northwest) to the terminus in Schönhagen (kilometer 9.62; in the northwest). Due to the war, however, the construction of the second section was suspended by the railway management for the time being. The part that had been heaped up until then only served as a footpath and its further construction was only carried out on March 1, 1919 as emergency work for the next approximately two years.
Nevertheless, this section could not be completely completed: The excess of the originally planned budget caused by the hyperinflation at the beginning of the 1920s was taken by the railway administration as a reason not to continue building the second part of the line for the time being (12 million Reichsmarks instead of the original estimated 2,160,000 Reichsmarks). However, the superstructure of the first section was continued. Finally, on October 1, 1921, this 3.28-kilometer first section Uslar - Uslar Stadt was officially opened by the Deutsche Reichsbahn through the Kassel Railway Directorate (this section was unofficially used by industry before).
That of now in an initiative Berlin working Dr. Dilthey reached a compromise in November 1925 regarding the interest sum of 7,000 Reichsmarks for further expansion to Sohlingen, however, after several previous submissions to the Berlin ministries had already been unsuccessful. Only a lawsuit for the costly dismantling of the second section (in particular a half-heaped embankment and the half-finished station buildings in Schönhagen and Sohlingen) caused the Deutsche Reichsbahn to complete the line on May 4, 1927. It was then put into operation on October 1, 1927, even if the Sohlingen station building had not yet been completely completed. At the instigation of the community of Schönhagen, this took place in a festive setting, for which a locomotive of the type ' Prussian T 13 ' (92 639) with Prussian skylight cars was used. Those present included the Reichsbahn President Martin and the Uslar District Administrator Karl Langsdorff (departure was 11:30 a.m.).
The fourth class train stations in Sohlingen , Kammerborn (at that time Cammerborn ) and Schönhagen (Han) were opened simultaneously for passenger luggage , express goods, goods and animal traffic as well as for the handling of corpses, while the fourth class train station in Uslar Stadt around them Handling was supplemented after it had previously only been set up for wagonload and general cargo traffic. This station, like the one in Schönhagen, also had a second ramp for head and side loading.
Since then, the following four connections have run regularly every day:
| Station: | 1st trip: | 2nd trip: |
|---|---|---|
| Uslar | 06:50 am | 6:30 p.m. |
| Uslar city | 07:07 am | 6:47 pm |
| Sohlingen | 07:19 am | 7:00 p.m. |
| Kammerborn | 07:27 am | 7:08 pm |
| Schönhagen (Han) | 07:34 am | 7:15 pm |
| Station: | 1st trip: | 2nd trip: |
|---|---|---|
| Schönhagen (Han) | 8:11 am | 7:50 pm |
| Kammerborn | 8:18 am | 7:57 pm |
| Sohlingen | 8:29 am | 8:09 pm |
| Uslar city | 8:45 a.m. | 8:25 pm |
| Uslar | 8:54 a.m. | 8:34 pm |
From October 17, 1927, an early train couple also operated - initially on a trial basis.
Furthermore, from October 17, 1927, the local freight trains 8725W and 8726W were released for passenger transport in 4th class:
| Station (8725W): | 1st trip: |
|---|---|
| Uslar | 2:45 p.m. |
| Uslar city | 2:52 p.m. (from: 3:07 p.m.) |
| Sohlingen | 3:14 p.m. (from: 3:39 p.m.) |
| Kammerborn | 3:46 p.m. (from: 3:47 p.m.) |
| Schönhagen (Han.) | ----- |
| Station (8726W): | 1st trip: |
|---|---|
| Schönhagen (Han) | 4:27 pm |
| Kammerborn | 4:33 p.m. (from: 4:34 p.m.) |
| Sohlingen | 4:40 p.m. (from: 5:05 p.m.) |
| Uslar city | 5:11 p.m. (from: 5:26 p.m.) |
| Uslar | 5:35 pm |
The route was essentially only frequented between Uslar and Uslar Stadt, albeit only modestly there. For this reason, among other things, and due to the widespread use of cars , passenger transport was discontinued on June 1, 1958 with the beginning of the summer timetable for reasons of economy and replaced by bus transport .
A remarkable special trip, however, was that of the Rot-Weiß Allershausen soccer club to a soccer game on April 26, 1970 (which was won 2: 1) in which over 120 people took part.
The freight was since 1 January 1974 only to Sohlingen, as he walked back also steadily on the total distance and just as the track condition permanently deteriorated. After a festive final trip with passenger transport in 1976, the tracks between Sohlingen and Schönhagen were removed again. Due to the structural change in the region, including the decline of the local furniture industry, which used to be world-famous, goods traffic to Sohlingen was also officially discontinued after an announcement in the spring of 1988 on 23 September 1989 with the start of the winter timetable, as it had been on for years at that time This section had become meaningless and the route was no longer used from the Uslar exit before 1989, especially since the condition continued to deteriorate: In 1986 the maximum speed up to there was only 20 km / h and the telegraph line was severely damaged . Shortly afterwards, the tracks including the associated installations up to the Uslar Stadt train station were removed in 1989 and the rest including the installations from the level crossing over the Bundesstraße 241 until 1990.
In the meantime, a large part of the route is a well-developed bike and hiking trail , which was opened on June 15, 2003. Some places are paved, others have been paved with gravel and hard split.
The Uslar Stadt station building was used as a pub ( junk ) as early as the 1980s and 1990s and the associated storage shed as a discotheque ( meeting ) since the mid-1980s . At the beginning of the 2000s, however, the storage shed was demolished and the renovated station building itself now serves (2012) as a residential building and office. The station area itself, on the other hand, is largely used as a parking lot for a car dealer and a grocery store. The Kammerborn train station now serves as a barbecue and playground and the area of the Schönhagen train station has been built over with family houses, parts of which also serve as a mini golf course . A memorial stone also commemorates this railway line in the northeast of the village.
additional
Larger structures still visible today are:
- The approximately 15 meter high embankment near Allershausen,
- the crossing of the Solling Railway (part of the Allershausen population fled under this bridge when the American army marched into World War II at the beginning of April 1945) near Allershausen,
- the cuts south of the Eichhagen mountain and north of the Eichholz forest between Allershausen and Uslar, including a small stone bridge over a field path,
- the red sandstone arch bridge over the district road 449 in Uslar to Bodenfelde ( Alleestraße ) including the dam,
- the station building south of Uslarer Wiesenstrasse,
- a cut between Uslar and Sohlingen immediately north of the federal highway 241,
- Warehouse at the Sohlingen stop,
- Remains of a dam at the exit of the federal road 241 Sohlingen towards Kammerborn,
- near the Teufelsmühle between Kammerborn and Schönhagen a bridge over the Ahle,
- the embankment for the end of the track in the north-western part of Schönhagen.
The level crossing in Allershausen over Dorfstrasse, the high railway embankment and the red sandstone arch bridge over Landstrasse 554 to Göttingen are still part of the Solling Railway.
Four level crossings had to be secured by guards: km 3.742, km 3.853, km 3.986 and km 4.031.
use
The line was one of the shortest branch lines in Germany for passenger traffic .
Goods transported were cut wood from the Solling, fertilizer for the pastures and meadows in the Ahletal and basalt for the forest roads. The Uslar furniture industry ( Ilse-Werke ), which was flourishing in the middle of the 20th century, and a metal smelter located in Uslar ( Sollinger Hütte ) also used this to handle their deliveries. Until the Sohlinger flax roasting plant was closed in 1953, flax was also delivered during the season.
In the last few years, the route was mainly served by a type Köf III locomotive with its home station in Bodenfelde, but occasionally also by a type Köf II . The route was also used for test runs of railway construction machines manufactured in the Sollinger Hütte (e.g. ballast plows and tamping machines), which also used one of the few VW buses that could be converted for rail transport in the early 1980s .
course
The line began in Allershausen, east of Uslar station, as a branch of the Sollingbahn Ottbergen – Northeim (today's route number 2975, today's route book route 356 north) around the local route kilometer 36: at the level of the Uo signal box, which was demolished in November 1995, near the fork in the loading street in Allershausen Turn 23 to the branch of the main line and the kilometering of the branch line started there with −0.617 (the station itself was thus at route kilometers 0.000). Next came an entrance signal. At the station Uslar exit was at the time on a third, southern and today also no longer existing track on the former platform C possible. There were various branches from the branch line with the W8, W9, W21 and W22 points (numbered in ascending order from west to east) to loading tracks. There was also a second connection to the main line west of the station via the W6 and W9 switches.
Now the route ran parallel to the Solling Railway at first. In Allershausen, about 300 meters behind the train station, Dorfstrasse ( called Bahnhofsthor at the time ) was crossed and, after another 200 meters, an arched bridge crossed Göttinger Strasse (Landstrasse 554 Uslar – Göttingen). There was also a signal south of this bridge. Now the route continued on a high embankment through a corridor formerly called Bornsgrund before it crossed the main route after around 1,000 meters behind the station on a girder bridge to the west. After two cuts about 7 and 10 meters deep north of the Eichholz forest and south of the Eichhagen mountain and a small stone arch bridge in between, it crossed Alleestraße (Kreisstraße 449 Uslar– Bodenfelde ) in the south of Uslar on another stone arch bridge and ran for the next approx. 300 meters south parallel on a sloping embankment to Uslarer Wiesenstraße to the Uslar Stadt train station .
This station did not correspond to the Uslar station: the sandstone station building that still exists today was located opposite the confluence of Mühlenstrasse (which was then called Neue Bahnhofstrasse because of the station ) and Wiesenstrasse. After a small bridge over the Hüttengraben about 300 meters behind the train station, there was an unrestricted level crossing over the Bundesstraße 241 (or Reichsstraße 241 at the time) at the exit towards Sohlingen , where there was still a traffic light system until the early 1990s . The direct rail connections to the industrial companies mentioned were also in this area.
The railway ran more or less parallel to the main road until shortly before Schönhagen in the north with a distance of about 10 to 100 meters in the north-west in the Ahletal. A cut was made behind Uslar, whereupon the breakpoint in the east of Sohlingen near the main road at the entrance to the town followed. After another crossing over the Bleichstrasse in Sohlingen, it then ran partly on smaller dams. In Kammerborn, the breakpoint was in the northwestern part. The brook Ahle was crossed between the villages of Kammerborn and Schönhagen near the Teufelsmühle, to which the railway line ran parallel to the south until then. The end of the route was then at km 10.057 on an embankment in the northwestern part of Schönhagen on Lindenstrasse.
Route pictures
Sollingbahn and this line cross the Landstrasse 554 leading to Göttingen on the outskirts of Allershausen.
Start of the footpath on the dismantled railway line at the entrance to Allershausen. The Sollingbahn runs to the right.
Former railway line (today's footpath to downtown Uslar) shortly before crossing the Solling Railway between Allershausen and the Eichholz.
Crossing the Solling Railway in the south-western part of Allershausen.
The city center of Uslar and the Eichhagen housing estate (right in the picture). In the lower area, the footpath coming from Allershausen on the former railway line crosses the Alleestraße leading out of Uslar in a westerly direction.
proof
- ↑ Sollinger Nachrichten of January 15, 1898
- ↑ Sollinger Nachrichten of October 22, 1927
- ↑ Sollinger Nachrichten of November 21, 1925
- ↑ Sollinger Nachrichten of October 4, 1927
- ↑ Sollinger Nachrichten of September 20, 1927
- ^ Sollinger Nachrichten of October 1, 1927
Web links
- Inspection of the disused route
- Pictures from 1986
- Köf III on the route
- Photos and further information (PPT file, Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, 1014 kB)
literature
- Gerd Aschoff, Gerd Busse, Gustav Meier: Höchst Eisenbahn, On the past and present of the Bundesbahn branch line Göttingen – Adelebsen – Bodenfelde. PRO-BAHN - regional group, Göttingen 1987.
- Gerhard Brodhage: ALLERSHAUSEN near Uslar. Verlag Jörg Mitzkat, Holzminden 2003, ISBN 3-931656-61-6 .
- Josef Högemann: Railway Altenbeken – Nordhausen. Kenning-Verlag, ISBN 3-927587-35-4 .
- Josef Högemann: Sideline and narrow-gauge railways in Germany: Bodenfelde – Göttingen. 12th supplementary edition , GeraNova-Verlag, 1997, ISSN 0949-2143 .
- Josef Högemann: secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany: Uslar – Schönhagen (Han). 21st supplementary edition , GeraNova-Verlag, 1998, ISSN 0949-2143 .
- Sollinger Heimatblätter No. 16, October 1927.
- Royal Prussian land recording from 1896. Including supplements from 1924, sheet 2445, Reich Office for State Recording .