Braunschweig-Schöningen Railway
The Braunschweig-Schöninger Eisenbahn AG (BSE) was a railway company in the east of what is now Lower Saxony . Its routes covered the Altenau valley between Elm and Asse like a bracket until 1971. Even today, some well-preserved station buildings and embankments bear witness to this past. At times the BSE had a fleet of 2,300 wagons. It served passenger transport in this region for over fifty years, and freight transport for a few decades longer. The train was popularly called Bimmel-Lutchen .
history
On August 22, 1898, the Duke of Braunschweigisch-Lüneburg State Ministry authorized its railway commissioner to build a single-track, standard-gauge branch line from Braunschweig to the terminus Mattierzoll and Schöningen with a branch in Sickte . This branch was then built in Hötzum .
The owner was a stock corporation that was founded on August 27, 1900 by the Brunswick State, the West German Railway Company and the Lenz & Co. GmbH company. After the Second World War, the AG for Transport owned more than 50 percent of the capital. The stock corporation was converted into BSE Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH after the railway operations had ceased.
According to the interim report of March 10, 1899 , the hilly terrain at Elm and Asse caused great difficulties for the planners (representatives of the Berlin Railway Brigade ). The groundbreaking for the 72-kilometer stretch of the BSE was carried out on May 30, 1900, the first freight train rolled between Braunschweig and Mattierzoll on November 11, 1901 and on January 2, 1902 on the route to Schöningen, passenger traffic followed on both Routes on February 15, 1902. At that time, many day trippers took the steam trains to Elm and Asse.
The BSE led initially to operate itself and operating times and the subsequent railway Oschersleben Schöningen (Oschersleben Schöninger Railway Company) . The Allgemeine Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebs-GmbH later took on these tasks as part of the Lenz Group . After 1945 the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ran the BSE to the end.
The division of Germany in 1945 had a negative effect on the business. The highest number of passengers was reached in 1948 with 872,000 people. But there were no connections across the new border and after the currency reform, the number of passengers dropped rapidly, as with almost all branch lines. As early as December 14, 1949, a dedicated bus line was opened, which was followed by others - including to Wolfenbüttel - so that a subsidiary was founded for this purpose. This transferred the bus network to the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1970/71 and took over lines in the area of the Teutoburg Forest Railway , which also belonged to the AGV Group.
Rail passenger traffic between Hötzum and Mattierzoll was discontinued on July 1, 1950, on the Braunschweig – Schöningen route on October 1, 1954. After that, only freight trains drove. The final end for the BSE came when the Schöninger Saline ceased operations in 1970; Salt mining in the Asse had already ended in 1964 . The last balance sheet of the BSE showed a loss of 1.29 million marks. The final cessation of freight traffic took place on July 1, 1971. This was followed by the dismantling of the tracks.
stretch
The trains originally started in the Braunschweig Nord station of the Braunschweigische Landes-Eisenbahn (BLE) and only separated from it in Braunschweig Ost (then Gliesmarode West). On February 1, 1920, the BSE opened its own terminus, the Braunschweig Nordost station. The railway depot with repair workshop and locomotive shed was located in the Gliesmarode industrial estate . From here the route led in the direction of Volkmarode , only to swivel to the right shortly before it. Along the edge of the Buchhorst we went to the Schapen train station (see below), which is still connected to the Schäfersruh inn and from there across the Buchhorst to the Rautheim train station . On the west side of the road, the tracks turned south. Behind the lagholz, the route led to the Hötzum station, where it split:
- A track led straight ahead to the Salzdahlum sugar factory ; this old industrial settlement emerged from the former saltworks. To the east of Salzdahlum we went towards the Salzdahlum windmill. Shortly after Ahlum the road Wolfenbüttel – Ahlum was crossed, on a heaped up route it went past Wendessen over the Söhlberg to Groß Denkte . Here the breakpoint was at the end of Mönchevahlbergerstrasse. The following route presented the builders with difficult tasks. A valley had to be hollowed out in the flank of the Festberg and the depression of the Burgtal had to be crossed with an embankment. In Wittmar there was a branch to Asseschacht I, which was next to the Assewirtschaft. The main route went via Remlingen alongside the B 79 to Semmenstedt . The route now swiveled north to avoid the Roklum field mark . Roklum did not belong to the Duchy of Brunswick , but to Prussia . The next stop was Winnigstedt . From there, the line swiveled to the Mattierzoll terminus on the Jerxheim – Börßum railway line .
- After the junction in Hötzum, the Schöningen route reached the double village of Sickte , exactly between the districts. The route led between Lucklum and Veltheim with a branch to the Elmkalkwerk Hemkenrode towards Evessen . The common stopping point for Kneitlingen and Ampleben was approached at the Elmrand north of Schöppenstedt . From there direction Schöppenstedt past Küblingen , via Eitzum , Groß Dahlum , Wobeck , Twieflingen , Hoiersdorf to Schöningen. Sidings led to the Hoiersdorf cement factory and the Schöningen saltworks.
memories
Today you can still see some of the routes from the former railway line that have become hiking and cycling paths or, overgrown by trees and bushes, stand out from the field marrow. Only the Wendessen – Groß Denkte – Wittmar line was completely renewed at the end of the 1970s, provided with new road bridges and expanded to the Asse II salt mine. This route was connected to the rail network of the Federal Railroad. After the route was initially used to transport nuclear waste , which was brought into the Asse II test camp, overburden salt from Ronnenberg was stored until 2002 in order to secure the mine building.
The Schapen train station, built in 1906 and once a loading station for the local canning industry, will permanently host the municipal exhibition on Riddagshausen . Information about the European reserve is available in the summer months. A traditional part of Braunschweig , the combination of the excursion restaurant “Schäfer's Ruh” and the train station, could continue to exist.
In the Dieringhausen Railway Museum, a red railway passenger car has been preserved, which, as a private railway car, has compartments of all classes. In the meantime it has been converted into a tour vehicle and was later set up in the outdoor area of a kindergarten for some time. In the long term, it should be restored to its original state and ready for operation.
literature
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 11: Lower Saxony 3 - South of the Mittelland Canal . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88255-670-4 , pp. 383-407