Düren Railway
The Dürener Eisenbahn AG , DEAG for short , has operated a meter-gauge steam tram from the city of Düren since April 1, 1893, for the transport of people and goods, which was licensed as a small train in 1934. After a step-by-step expansion phase, the entire Düren - Inden route was used from 1927 to 1963 , the shutdown took place very quickly and was completed in 1965.
history
Foundation and development
DEAG was founded in 1888 by representatives of the domestic industry under the direction of the Kgl. Kommerzienrat Felix Heinrich Schoeller and the city of Düren under the name Dürener Dampfstraßenbahn AG (DDAG). They wanted to connect their operations to the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft route by rail . The original plans for the railway were based on the sole use of the railway for freight traffic. On December 2, 1891, Felix Heinrich Schoeller, who was also elected chairman of the new supervisory board, received a concession, subject to the rights of third parties, for an initial period of 25 years. But it wasn't until April 1, 1893, that the 2.8 kilometer long line for freight traffic between Düren and Birkesdorf was opened. The first passenger transport followed a good year later on June 1, 1894. On September 9, 1897, the company received the concession for passenger transport and the further construction of the railway.
The next 2.9 kilometer extension of the railway between Birkesdorf and Merken took place on January 1, 1901. The construction of the third section, around 3 kilometers long, between Merken and the pier was associated with considerable difficulties. Some properties had to be expropriated because the owners refused to sell them. This section was completed on January 20, 1908. The last 2.4-kilometer stretch to Inden began in 1913, but was not realized until after the First World War and the license was granted on August 16, 1926, and opened to passenger traffic on July 3, 1927. Thus, after a construction period of a good 34 years, the railway had reached a length of 11.1 kilometers. Passenger traffic was operated electrically from November 20, 1913.
A total of 19 companies with around 13 kilometers of siding were located on the route. This resulted in some very dense train sequences. In 1908, for example, there were so many trains on the route that train intervals of less than 50 minutes were the rule rather than the exception.
Change of concession
On January 26, 1939, Dürener Dampfstraßenbahn AG was renamed Dürener Eisenbahn AG (DEAG). In 1941 the company procured four electric locomotives to convert the freight transport that had been operated by steam locomotives up to that point . However, the conversion of the entire freight traffic dragged on until 1952.
War and reconstruction
The railway suffered considerable damage during the Second World War . Traffic had to be stopped after a heavy bombing raid on the night of November 18, 1944. The operation with the still existing steam locomotives was not resumed until November 10, 1945. The temporary bridge over the Rur was completed on July 13, 1946, opened to traffic and the line to Merken was resumed. On October 1st of the same year the route to Pier followed. The line to Inden was completely rebuilt on October 1, 1949.
Decline
As early as 1948 DEAG tried to expand the lines for passenger traffic in the city center of Düren and to take over the line of the Düren circular railway from Düren station to the market, which had been shut down in 1944 due to war damage. However, this was never implemented. After the war, the railway began to suffer more and more from the consequences of increasing individual traffic. The shunting trips in the area of the sidings of the companies were a particular obstacle to traffic for the motorists. Despite the fact that still relatively new used railcars for the Osnabrück tram were procured in 1960, passenger traffic between Inden and Merken was initially suspended on June 3, 1963; only one or a few pairs of trains drove the rest of the way. From this point on, passenger traffic was essentially carried out by bus. But the situation continued to deteriorate. The end came when a company had to switch the delivery of the lignite it used from rail to truck because the supplier of the coal no longer had a siding. The railway line was finally closed on June 30, 1965 and goods traffic was taken over by trucks.
Bus transport
After the extensive cessation of rail transport, DEAG operated passenger transport on the lines it had licensed with buses on lines B Düren - Birkesdorf, D Düren - Inden and L Pier - Lucherberg - Lamersdorf - Inden - Pier, line L as a round trip . After the cessation of rail transport, joint transport with the DKB was finally set up on November 3, 1963. The bus routes could thus be extended to Kaiserplatz - the annoying need to change trains at the train station was no longer necessary.
End of society
The ultimately successful cooperation between DEAG and DKB in bus transport led in 1967 to a decision by the DEAG supervisory board to sell the concession for the bus routes to DKB. From January 1, 1969, the DKB took over the following bus routes:
- 6: Düren Kaiserplatz - train station - Birkesdorf / Lindenbaum
- 16: Düren Kaiserplatz - train station - Birkesdorf - Inden
- 26: Pier - Lucherberg - Lamersdorf - Inden - Pier
The forwarding company was also sold, thus ending the history of DEAG. The sole director of DEAG at the time, Weyrauch, was appointed director and managing director of DKB on January 1, 1969, which concluded the merger of the two companies.
route
literature
- Ronald Copson: Dürener Eisenbahn AG. (= Kleinbahn books). Verlag Wolfgang Zeunert, Gifhorn 1976, ISBN 3-921 237-26-3 .
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 4: North Rhine-Westphalia - southern part. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-660-9 .
Web links
- 60 years of the Düren Railway
- Documentation of the remains of DEAG (as of 2014) by Dennis Mellerowitz
- https://epaper.zeitungsverlag-aachen.de/2.0/article/f99acc0825
- Early documents and newspaper articles on the Düren Railway in the 20th Century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .