Feldbahn of the military training area Elsenborn

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Elsenborn military training area
Narrow gauge railway in the 1920s
Narrow gauge railway in the 1920s
Soldiers of the Spoorweg Regiment operating the narrow-gauge railway network in the Elsenborn camp [1]
Soldiers of the Spoorweg Regiment operating the
narrow-gauge railway network in the Elsenborn camp
Line of the field railway of the military training area Elsenborn
Route from Sourbrodt to Elsenborn camp, 1910
Route length: 3.2 km
Gauge : 600 mm ( narrow gauge )
Legend
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Sourbrodt on the standard gauge Vennbahn
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Sourbrodt
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Ammunition depot
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Elsenborn military training area

The light railway of the training area Elsenborn was a 3.2 km long military - narrow-gauge railway with a track width mm 600 that the 1901-1939 military training area Elsenborn at Elsenborn with the station Sourbrodt at the normalspurigen Vennbahn association.

history

The line was built around 1900 and put into operation in 1901. It was not a field railway built with a flying track , but a narrow-gauge main line designed for locomotive operation . The route was leveled by incisions with slight inclines. The substructure corresponded to that of many main traffic routes. The overpasses and bridges were designed and built with durability in mind.

After the First World War, the previously Prussian district of Malmedy was ceded to Belgium on the basis of the Versailles Treaty . In the post-war period, the Belgians used D-coupled brigade locomotives on the route that they had received from the German Army Field Railway as part of the armistice agreements. The small train known colloquially as " Fiery Elias " was primarily used for replenishment, but there were also passenger trains. The taverns and the increasing prostitution at the train station displeased Reverend Nicolas Pietkin when he warned from the pulpit with the following pun against the bad luck of the railway (French: "chemin de fer"): "C'est le chemin de l'enfer!" ("This is the way to hell!")

The transport unit employed around 70 civilians, the majority of whom were recruited from the surrounding population. It was relocated to the Bressoux barracks in the winter months when there were no exercises on the field . In the run-up to the Second World War , due to the general mobilization of Belgium, the camp, with the exception of the permanent employees, was largely abandoned and in 1939 the small railroad to the camp was stopped and the narrow-gauge railway dismantled.

  • Feldbahn at the Hotel du Camp

  • German brigade steam locomotive TCF 32 Hortense

  • Narrow-gauge tracks at Sourbrodt train station

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ De Achttiendaagse Veldtocht. Het Belgische verhaal van mei 1940, eenheid per eenheid: Regiment Spoorwegtroepen.
  2. ↑ a b Boom at Sourbrodt station. In: The train is coming ... History and Museum Association between Venn and Schneifel, accessed on March 29, 2019 (abbreviated from: Echo de Malmedy, May 5, 1889, based on templates by R. Giet, Sourbrodt).
  3. ^ A b Poultney Bigelow: travel report, New York Times of June 6, 1900. In: KuLaDig.
  4. ↑ a b Johny Houtsch: sheet 17 in La Vennbahn, ligne de chemin de fer of Fagnes. February 17, 2016 - December 27, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b Elsenborn military training area . In: KuLaDig, Kultur.Landschaft.Digital. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  6. ^ Joerg Seidel: Camp d'Elsenborn with light rail. Around 1925.
  7. ↑ Christoph Hendrich: The Sourbrodter train station - heavenly blessing and hellish danger. (PDF; 101 kB) In: Vennbahn-Stories (10 Sourbrodt). May 22, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Roland Keller: Memories of the Vennbahn. Published January 23, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2019.

Coordinates: 50 ° 27 '52.2 "  N , 6 ° 11' 19.7"  E