Zieverich – Elsdorf railway line

Zieverich – Elsdorf East
Route number (DB) :	2603
Course book section (DB) :	247b (1961) 224d (1938)
Route length:	4.53 km
Gauge :	1435 mm; until 1912: 1000 mm
Legend from Bergheim 0.0 Zieverich to Bedburg 2.2 Brockendorf 4.6 Elsdorf East Swell:

The Zieverich – Elsdorf railway is a disused railway line in North Rhine-Westphalia .

history

The line was originally built as a meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway through the Bergheimer Kreisbahn and was part of the network built in 1896/97. On November 5, 1896, it was opened as part of the Mödrath – Horrem – Bergheim – Elsdorf route for freight traffic, and on February 20, 1897 for passenger traffic as well. The branch in Zieverich to Bedburg, which is more important in terms of traffic, was not put into operation until May 8, 1897. The early opening for freight traffic was mainly due to the sugar factory in Elsdorf, on the east side of which the train station was located, as some of the beets and the coal needed for processing could still be delivered by train. Paradoxically, there was never a passenger train connection to the Düren – Neuss railway line in Elsdorf, even though it passed on the west side of the sugar factory. Despite the meter gauge design, regular gauge expansion was also considered. The subgrade was correspondingly wide, standard track sleepers were laid at shorter intervals and a heavy superstructure was used. In 1904 the third rail was installed. After that, the passenger trains ran on the narrow gauge, the freight trains on the regular gauge. The Bergheimer Kreisbahn was nationalized on January 1, 1913. From 1938 six passenger trains ran daily; the trains all went via Zieverich to Bergheim, some trains also ran on the Bergheim - Rommerskirchen railway to Fortunagrube and Rommerskirchen. Passenger traffic was discontinued on May 28, 1961, and freight traffic was discontinued six years later, on May 28, 1967.

Route description

Zieverich stop

Zieverich stop in 2007

The Zieverich stop, built in 1897 and equipped with two platforms, is located on Lechernicher Straße . The route kilometrage starts here. The trains in the direction of Cologne and Düsseldorf stop at different platforms. Until 1967 the line branched off from here in the direction of Elsdorf Ost .

Brockendorf stop

The Brockendorf stop was at kilometer 2.2 and consisted only of a red cattle wagon as a waiting hall. It was exchanged once in November 1950 after population protests. Until it was closed in 1967, the breakpoint remained relatively meaningless.

Elsdorf Ost train station

East station with three-rail tracks

The small train station Elsdorf belonged to the Bergheimer Kreisbahn from 1896 and was located at kilometer point 4.6. From the station building, the line ran first meter-gauge, then normal-gauge in the direction of Zieverich . The reception building had its own well from the beginning and a telephone from 1900. After it was closed in 1967, the station building stood empty for a long time. Finally, the former reception building was sold in a dilapidated state and converted into a café by a private investor between 1997 and 1999. The station building at the east end of Eisenbahnstrasse is still preserved today as a Cafe Steam Locomotive, even a former steam storage locomotive of the sugar factory is on display there.

literature

• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 4: North Rhine-Westphalia, southern part. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-660-9 , pp. 105-109

Web links

• Description of route 2603 in the NRWbahnarchiv by André Joost
• Course book from 1944

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
2. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau, November 25, 1950. Retrieved March 29, 2000 . 
3. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau, November 16, 1950. Retrieved March 29, 2000 .