Electric small train Alt-Rahlstedt – Volksdorf – Wohldorf

Electric small train Alt-Rahlstedt-Volksdorf-Wohldorf

Route length:

12.963 km

	from Hamburg
	Rahlstedt
	to Lübeck

	Transfer track

0.000 0.000	Alt-Rahlstedt
0.400 0.000	Alt-Rahlstedt, Stoffers
0.800 0.000	Oldenfelde, Farmsener Weg
1.250 0.000	Oldenfelde, school
1.550 0.000	Meiendorf, Aue
1.850 0.000	Meiendorf, Lorenz
2.250 0.000	Meiendorf, Eggers
2.650 0.000	Meiendorf, Soetebier
2.850 0.000	Ahrensburger Chaussee
3.470 0.000	Meiendorfer Feldmark
4.500 0.000	Volksdorf Forest

	Walddörfer track of Farmsen

3.182	Oldenfeld ramp

	Berne

	Meiendorfer way

	Branch to the Oldenfelder ramp
	(freight traffic only)
4.90 00.000	Chief Forester
5.350 0.000	Seven beeches
6.010 0.000	Volksdorf

	Walddörferbahn to Großhansdorf

6.620 0.000	Bergstedter way
7.390 0.000	Volksdorfer Feldmark
	Buckhorn
8.310 0.000	Ohlendorff's fir trees
9.310 0.000	Hoisbüttel / Lottbek
11.080 0.000	Ohlstedt, Sthamerstrasse
11.340 0.000	Ohlstedt	Beginning of passenger trains until 1953
	Old village street
11.400 0.000	Ohlstedt	Beginning of passenger trains from 1953
11.710 0.000	Copper grinder
12.280 0.000	Fir alley
12.963 0.000	Wohldorf

The small electric train Alt-Rahlstedt-Volksdorf-Wohldorf was a railway company. It connected the Hamburg exclaves in the northeast to the railway network. Part of the route - the route between Volksdorf and Wohldorf - has largely been preserved as a hiking trail today.

history

The small train 1904 ...

... and 1907

Building of the former goods acceptance and delivery in Wohldorf 2016

At the end of the 19th century, the inhabitants of the forest villages , which were politically part of Hamburg, saw themselves cut off from the rest of the world. So they wanted to get a tram line to Hamburg. But in 1898 the “ Strassen-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in Hamburg (SEGH)” announced that this route was not to be expected. So the idea came up to build a branch line between the nearby Rahlstedt station of the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn (LBE) and Volksdorf.

The license from the Hamburg Senate was granted to the Körting brothers on June 7, 1899. But it was not until January 10, 1903, that the company obtained the license from the Prussian administration. The final concession agreement was signed on October 21, 1903.

The company Gebr. Körting , based in Körtingsdorf near Hanover (now Hanover-Badenstedt ) , has been supplying the then Prussian Rahlstedt with electricity since 1898.

On December 12, 1912, the railway was renamed "Elektro Kleinbahn Alt-Rahlstedt - Volksdorf AG" (EKV) and a new legal form. The Hamburg state held 770,000 marks in common shares, 770,000 marks in preference shares was held by the Kommerzienrat Körting.

route

On September 29, 1904, the section between the Rahlstedt station of the Lübeck-Büchener Railway and Volksdorf was opened. Initially, there were 13 journeys a day, the journey time on the six-kilometer section was 18 minutes.

On Ascension Day, May 9, 1907, the extension to Wohldorf was opened. The route length was now 12.963 kilometers. At that time, a single trip cost 20 pfennigs.

Farmsen-Berne

Also in May 1907, the line to Oldenfelde was completed. Oldenfelde is adjacent to Berne and Farmsen . At the time, these places formed another Hamburg exclave in Prussia. A detour via Volksdorf and Rahlstedt to Hamburg was unreasonable for the residents.

The 3182 meter long route branched off at the head forester's office (km 4.9), on which only goods traffic took place. It ended near the Bekassinenau. This track was retained after the Walddörferbahn was built. The track for the test operation between the Farmsen underground station and the Berne underground station still runs on this route today.

vehicles

Two electric tram-type railcars were ordered from the Busch wagon factory in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel. In the spring of 1906, the railway company procured another multiple unit, six double-decker trailers and a mail and baggage car. A locomotive and two more double-deck trailers were added by August 1906.

In 1914, in its prime, the EKV owned six railcars and ten sidecars for passenger transport. There were four small electric locomotives for freight transport, which could also be used for passenger transport. The Wohldorfer Wald was a popular destination for the people of Hamburg; vacation trips were usually out of the question.

Construction of the Walddörferbahn

In 1911 a first plan was presented which, in addition to the Barmbek – Farmsen – Volksdorf – Wohldorf route, was also intended to connect the Großhansdorf enclave . In Ahrensburg , the railway should have a joint station with the Lübeck-Büchener railway . However, the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn feared competition, so this plan was not realized.

In 1914 construction began according to new plans. The train was to be run via Großhansdorf to Beimoor ; a settlement was planned there. Since the route ran over Prussian territory, the Prussian government was also allowed to start building the Alstertal Railway . After the end of the First World War , electrification was out of the question due to material procurement difficulties. On September 12, 1918, operations with two steam locomotives captured in Belgium were therefore started between Barmbek (then spelled “Barmbeck”) and Ohlstedt. After the locomotives had to be returned, only one track was initially electrified between Barmbek and Volksdorf. This section of the route was opened on September 6, 1920. On November 5, 1921, electrical operations in Großhansdorf began; the second track had been removed again. In those years of scarcity of raw materials, the material used for these rails was used as a “compensation” for the required conductor rails.

After the electrical operation of the Walddörferbahn opened , the number of passengers on the Kleinbahn collapsed. Therefore, on April 15, 1923, passenger traffic on the small railway on the Alt-Rahlstedt – Volksdorf line was abandoned. On July 1, 1924, the HHA took over management of the small railway line between Volksdorf and Wohldorf. With the opening of the western branch of the Walddörferbahn Volksdorf – Ohlstedt on February 1, 1925, the operation of the small railway was essentially limited to the remaining Ohlstedt – Wohldorf line.

Freight traffic, on the other hand, was expanded by a new line running parallel to the tracks of the elevated railway from Volksdorf to almost Farmsen. On May 1, 1934, this freight service was stopped. Today this route is used for brake tests on underground rail vehicles.

After 1934, all lines of the Kleinbahn south of Ohlstedt were canceled. The old catenary masts were given to employees from September 10, 1935.

Remaining operation

A railcar was stored in depot K of the HHA until the station was closed on May 22, 1977.

From July 27, 1959, the small train was switched to "one-man operation".

Until January 29, 1961, the small train only ran the two-kilometer remaining stretch from Ohlstedt through the Wohldorfer Forest to Wohldorf. The Kupferredder stop was opened on July 18, 1921, with the Tannenallee station in the middle of the route .

On this remaining section, tram vehicles ( type V2 ) were mainly used, but they had been converted for railway operation (mainly wider wheel tires). The vehicle hall at the Wohldorf terminus enabled island operation.

A change in the building regulations for rail vehicles made the procurement of new vehicles necessary. Due to the splintering of wooden structures (in the event of accidents), these should be withdrawn from circulation. Since a new acquisition did not seem profitable, operations were stopped on January 29, 1961. Then there was a shuttle service with buses until May 7, 1961, until the route merged with bus route 76.

Initially, the route was supposed to be kept as a museum, but the state did not believe that an association could do this. The route was dismantled in 1964 and turned into a hiking trail; a small section became school grounds.

On September 18, 1999, a first part of the small train museum planned (as early as the 1960s) was opened in the former Wohldorf station building. Pictures and realities of the small train are exhibited on the upper floor. The building has been closed since 2019 due to dilapidation, reopening after a decided, comprehensive renovation planned for 2021.

literature

Gerd Wolff: Deutsche Klein- und Privatbahnen, Volume 13: Schleswig-Holstein 2 (western part) . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-88255-672-8
Pascal Horst Lehne: The electric small train Altrahlstedt-Volksdorf-Wohldorf , Kleinbahn-Verein Wohldorf eV, 4th edition 1986
Waldschläger / Lehne: Once with the small train to the forest villages , Verlag Hiltrud Tiedemann 1989

Web links

Commons : Kleinbahnhof Wohldorf - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Hamburg Local Transport Archives. In: www.archiv-hhnv.de. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
↑ Heimat Echo , No. 4 of January 22, 2020

[1] Hamburg Local Transport Archives. In: www.archiv-hhnv.de. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .

[2] Heimat Echo , No. 4 of January 22, 2020