Vienenburg – Langelsheim railway line

Vienenburg Rbf – Langelsheim
Route number (DB) :	1934 (Vienenburg – Grauhof) 1935 (Grauhof – Langelsheim)
Route length:	17.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Heudeber-Danstedt / from Halle (Saale) Hbf from Braunschweig 123.2 Vienenburg Rbf to Bad Harzburg Bundesstrasse 241 Racket Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg Oker 135.9 Grauhof Gbf from Hildesheim Grauhof Pbf ( wedge station ) to Goslar Bundesstrasse 6 Grane Bundesstrasse 82 from Goslar 142.4 Langelsheim to Neuekrug-Hahausen to Altenau Swell:

The Vienenburg – Langelsheim railway was a two-track main line in Lower Saxony, mainly used for freight traffic . It ran along the northern edge of the Harz from Vienenburg to Langelsheim . The connection, which was opened in 1875, lost its importance with the division of Germany and is now closed and dismantled.

history

The Magdeburg-Halberstädter Eisenbahngesellschaft (MHE) had been trying to establish a western connection of its route network since the 1850s, but this failed due to disputes between the states of Prussia , Hanover and Braunschweig . It was not until 1864 that a state treaty between Prussia and Braunschweig was concluded, which provided for a railway connection between Halberstadt and Vienenburg , which was completed in 1869.

With the annexation of Hanover in 1866, the way further west was possible. At about the same time, the Hanover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (HAE) was looking for a connection to the east, and the mining towns in the Upper Harz wanted a rail connection. The HAE planned a new long-distance route Vienenburg - Hildesheim - Hameln - Löhne , the MHE a connection from Vienenburg via Langelsheim to Clausthal .

However, the HAE ran into financial difficulties in 1873, so that it was taken over by the MHE. This summarized the two projects aimed at Vienenburg and built a line to Grauhof, which split there to Clausthal (former Innerstetalbahn ) and to Hildesheim (today part of the Hildesheim – Goslar railway ). In Ringelheim the latter had a connection to the Braunschweigische Südbahn to Kreiensen , from where western and southern Germany could be reached with the Altenbeken – Kreiensen and the Hanover – Kassel line .

Freight traffic from Löhne to Vienenburg was started on May 19, 1875, and passenger traffic followed on June 30. The branch from Grauhof via Langelsheim to Lautenthal was used for goods traffic from October 25th, and from November 15, 1875, people could also travel. The kilometering continues that of the MHE route from Halle .

On September 15, 1877, the line from Langelsheim to Neuekrug-Hahausen followed on the Braunschweigische Südbahn, which saved the detour via Ringelheim in the direction of Kreiensen. Since then, Vienenburg – Langelsheim has been used as a long-distance railway over its entire length.

At that time Goslar was only connected to the railway network via the Vienenburg – Goslar railway. To improve this situation, two railway lines from Grauhof and Langelsheim were built into the city at the same time, which were available on May 1, 1883. From now on, passenger traffic took the route via Goslar, while the steadily increasing freight traffic remained on the route with less incline.

In Vienenburg, a medium-sized marshalling yard , now demolished , was built to which a smaller facility at Grauhof was assigned. The place Immenrode , directly touched by the route, was offered a stopping point during the construction of the route, but this was rejected by the municipality.

The tracks after the landslide in 1930

In 1930 the Vienenburg potash mine ran full of water and the ground subsided under the railway line, and the repair of the line took six months.

With the division of Germany in 1945, this connection lost its connection to the east. Now the route via Goslar was completely sufficient, the Deutsche Bundesbahn withdrew. According to contradicting statements, the traffic ended between 1949 and 1960. The section Grauhof Gbf - Grauhof Pbf was still an industrial connection, which was finally disconnected from the network at the end of the 1990s.

Today the railway has been dismantled, but dams and remains of bridges can still be found. The Hildesheim – Goslar railway line continues through a tight curve in the former Gleisdreieck near Grauhof.

literature

• Josef Högemann: Railways in the Harz (I). Volume 1: The State Railways . Kenning Verlag, Nordhorn 1995, ISBN 3-927587-43-5 , p. 12 f., 22 ff .

Web links

• Pictures of the current condition of the route
• The railway line in Immenrode

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
2. ↑ Karl-Heinz Impe: But you didn't want a train station. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on December 30, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.