Gnieźnieńska Kolej Wąskotorowa

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Witkowo district orbit
Gauge :	Gniezno – Gniezno Wąskotorowe 1435 mm 750 mm / 600 mm
from 1883, 900 mm
Legend 0 Gniezno Gnesen sugar factory ~ 10 Niechanowo
from 1896
Legend Gniezno 0.000 Gniezno Wąskotorowe (1940–1945 Gnesen Gaubahnhof) 0.820 Cukrownia w Gnieźnie (Gnesen sugar factory) 1,966 Skład budowlany (construction warehouse ) 2.043 Ogród Wiktorii (German Victoria Garden) 3,768 Jelonek (formerly Hp) 7.242 Żelaskowo (1940–1945 Eisenau) 9.375 Niechanowo (1940–1945 Niechanau) to Arcugowo 11,472 Miroszka (1940–1945 Miroschka) 13,246 Małachowo (1940–1945 Malvenkamp) 16.084 Witkowo (1940–1945 Wittingen) 18,594 Strzyżewo Wąskotorowe (1940–1945 Tiefenbach) 21,867 Wiekowo Wąskotorowe (1940–1945 Pappelberg) 22,990 Ługi Wąskotorowe (1940–1945 Lugi) 23,541 Ługi gravel pit 25,171 Charbin 26,432 Military connection 27.061 Sawmill 27.732 Powidz (1940-1945 Kurheim) Plaża Wojskowa (seasonal stop around from 2010) 30.181 Przybrodzin (1940–1945 Imsee) 31,433 Jezioro Powidzkie 31,861 Ostrowo Nowe (1940–1945 Wittenau) 33.699 Ostrowo Stare (1940–1945 Huttenwerder) 34.990 Rusin (1940–1945 little hut) 37.940 Anastazewo (1943–1945 Annendorf) Konin narrow-gauge railway

The Gnieźnieńska Kolej Wąskotorowa was founded as a district orbit Witkowo ( Polish Witkowska Kolejka Powiatowa ). The narrow-gauge railway in Witkowo in Poland led temporarily the name Gniezno circular path ( Gnieźnieńska Kolej Powiatowa ).

history

In 1883, the owners of the sugar factory decided to connect Gnesen with the nearby Ebenau ( Polish Odrowąż ) with a railway line with a gauge of 900 mm. In the 19th century, the historical capital of Poland, Gniezno, was part of the Prussian state administration.

Ten years later, the Prussian law on the establishment of narrow-gauge railways gave the Witkowo district in the Prussian province of Posen the opportunity to buy up the narrow-gauge railway from the sugar factory and to convert it to a gauge of 600 mm. From January 1, 1896, the first section of the new circular path led from Gnesen via Niechanowo and Arcugowo, which is considered to be the formal start date for passenger traffic on the Witkowoer Kreisbahn .

The Witkowo district built an almost 80-kilometer network of small railroad lines with a gauge of 600 mm. The "main route" connected the district town of the neighboring district Gnesen (25,000 inhabitants) via Niechanowo / Niechanau with the district town Witkowo, which at that time had only 1,800 inhabitants, and further with the village of Powidz / Kurheim, 27 kilometers away .

From the Niechanowo / Niechanau junction in the middle of the district, a branch line ran via Arcugowo / Herzogsburg in a southerly direction to the village of Mieltschin / Mielen, 13 kilometers away , and from Arcugowo via Grotkowo / Grotkau to Mierzewo / Erlendorf (nine kilometers). From April 14, 1898, a freight railway reached Kleparz / Klepel station after 6 kilometers , where there was a connection to the Wreschener Kreisbahn .

The network had a length of 54 kilometers. It is unclear whether on January 1, 1896 - apart from the freight railway - all of the routes mentioned were put into operation, except for the Witkowo – Powidz section, which followed on September 16, 1897, or whether in 1896 only from Niechanowo to Mieltschin was operated and In 1897 the other sections followed.

It was not until October 29, 1911 that the “main line” was extended by another ten kilometers from Powidz to the border town of Anastazewo / Annendorf, where a “beet railway” to Konin in Russian Poland followed. Only goods traffic took place on the routes Mierzewo – Królewiec – Stanisławowo (four kilometers), Grotkowo – Żółcz-Czeluścin (six kilometers), Zolcz – Czerniejewo (three kilometers) and Grotkowo – Grotkowo Gut (two kilometers), opened in 1907 and 1916.

The statistics for 1914 contain nine locomotives, eight passenger cars, four pack or mail cars, 167 freight cars and four special cars.

Gnieźnieńska Kolej Powiatowa

After the province of Poznan was incorporated into the Republic of Poland, the Witkowo district was dissolved and placed under the administration in Gniezno. The railway operated under the name: Gnieźnieńska Kolej Powiatowa . Around 1930 it transferred the Mierzewo – Kleparz section to the Wreschener Kreisbahn, which had previously operated there.

Gnesen circular path

During the Second World War the company was called Gnesener Kreisbahn or Gnesener Eisenbahn and was last under the Gaubahnen Wartheland .

Further development

In 1957 the line was shut down and gauge changed from 600 mm to 750 mm. With this gauge, it was still in operation for around 40 kilometers in 2010. In Klepary it has a connection with the Wreschener Kreisbahn (also 600 mm, has been re-gauged to 750 mm and has since been decommissioned and dismantled) and in Anastazewo with the Kujawi narrow-gauge railways - also re-gauged to 750 mm and closed around 2000.

The Gnesener Kreisbahn acquired a railcar from the Hannoversche Waggonfabrik and built two more in its own workshop. This meant that "express trains" were offered on the routes that had shorter travel times than the steam trains. There was also a rail mail on the route around 1916 . Weyer passenger cars were part of the initial equipment of the railway .

Museum train

After a four-year break, a museum trip took place on September 8, 2019 on the upgraded stretch between Gniezno Wąskotorowe and the former Jelonek stop, which was equipped with a bypass.

literature

• Siegfried Bufe: Railways in East Brandenburg and Posen. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1988, ISBN 3-922138-33-0 ( East German Railway History 2).
• Carsten Recht: The small railways in 600 mm gauge. 2nd Edition. Kleinbahn-und-Karten-Verlag Recht, Buchholz 1996, ISBN 3-931122-01-8 .

Web links

Commons : Kreisbahn Witkowo  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• WITKOWOER KREISBAHN / WRESCHENER KLEINBAHN / GNESENER FEEDING RAILWAY (Gniezno - Anastazewo) - 750 mm. Retrieved May 27, 2019 . 
• Linia Gniezno - Anastazewo. In: Ogólnopolska Baza Kolejowa. Retrieved March 2, 2020 (Polish). 
• Measuring table sheet 3573 Powiz. 1940, accessed March 4, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Measurement table sheet 3572 Witkowo. 1940, accessed March 4, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Rafał Wichniewicz: Kolejka Rusza w trase. In: gniezno24.com. September 3, 2019, accessed March 4, 2020 (Polish).