Gummersbacher Kleinbahnen

Gummersbacher Kleinbahnen
Course book section (DB) :	240 k (1950)
Route length:	15.1 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	600 V overhead line  =
Legend Thalbecke Mühlenseßmar Wallpaper factory Brückenstrasse / Bachstrasse Rathausstrasse Bahnhofstrasse Gummersbach train station Nöckelseßmar Zanella factory Vosselstrasse Niederseßmar Kölnerstrasse Niederseßmar State Railway Station Siegburg – Olpe railway line Depot Depot Depot Rebbelroth Post Rebbelroth train station / bathing establishment Grossenohl Derschlag train station Derschlag middle Derschlag branch / post Freight station, handover to the Siegburg – Olpe railway line Derschlag club house Lindenstrasse monastery Dümmlinghausen Dümmlinghausen Post On the Kamp Genkel mouth

The Gummersbacher Kleinbahnen were a single-track, electrified , standard-gauge railway line in the Gummersbach city ​​area. It served as a tram and freight line until the 1950s . It led from Gummersbach via Nöckelseßmar, Niederseßmar , Derschlag and Dümmlinghausen to the Genkel estuary, in Nöckelseßmar a three-kilometer branch branched off to the quarries near Talbecke. The Kleinbahn branched off in Niederseßmar and Derschlag from the Siegburg – Olpe (Aggertalbahn) railway line and ran on its original track.

Until January 31, 1951, the owners of the Gummersbacher Kleinbahnen were the city of Gummersbach and the Oberbergische Kreis , then the Oberbergische Verkehrsgesellschaft (OVAG).

history

Starting in 1907, there were initial plans to build a tram due to the different traffic conditions in the city. In 1910 the state railway line in the area between Niederseßmar and Derschlag (12 kilometers) was relocated to the slope. In this way, the old route, which ran right through the town, could be used as a tram route and freight railroad. In addition to passenger transport, it was primarily used to develop industry. From March 27, 1915, operations between Gummersbach and Derschlag began with rented steam locomotives , and from April 3, 1916 to the Genkel estuary. On October 1, 1916, electrical operation began with 600 volts direct current to Derschlag, and from November 25, 1919 to the mouth of the Genkel. The management had been transferred to the Continentalen Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebs-Gesellschaft , which, however, had merged into the AG for railway construction and operation before the opening of operations ; this took over the management at the opening.

Three other projects were also planned: an extension of the tram to Bergneustadt, a branch line to Eckenhagen and a tram line between Osberghausen and Niederseßmar. The first two projects were dropped with an indication of the cost. The third project was refused by the Reichsbahndirektion Elberfeld for safety reasons: in this area, in contrast to the section between Niederseßmar and Derschlag, the safety risk of a tram on the old state railway track was too high for the directorate.

Passenger traffic was handled by two-axle tram cars, which were mostly on their own, but there were also four sidecars. Freight traffic took place with four electric locomotives .

Passenger traffic was only carried out between Gummersbach Tapetenfabrik and Dümmlinghausen. The trains ran about every half hour between 4:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m.

With the construction of the Aggertalsperre in 1927, there was a high number of commuters through guest workers who switched in Derschlag from the state railway to the tram of the Gummersbacher Kleinbahnen to the Genkel estuary behind Dümmlinghausen. If the freight traffic was otherwise between 50,000 t and 100,000 t, it was 167,388 t in 1927/28. In 1927/1928 616,644 people were transported, in 1939/1940 916,836.

On April 1, 1938, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG (RWE) took over the management.

In 1945 the Dümmlinghausen – Genkel estuary was shut down and put back into operation for a short time on April 15, 1949, although it was finally shut down in 1950. Passenger traffic from Gummersbach to Derschlag followed on May 18, 1953. Between Derschlag and Dümmlinghausen the complete shutdown followed on October 4, 1953, the Niederseßmar – Talbecke freight traffic on October 1, 1956. The connection to the state railway in Oberderschlag was removed in 1953. In Niederseßmar, the small railway tracks were dismantled except for the systems required for the remaining traffic to the lime works. This residual traffic lasted until 1965.

The operation of the tram was switched to a trolleybus line until Bergneustadt (see Oberbergische Verkehrsgesellschaft ). However, this only lasted for nine years, then the operation was switched to buses and has remained so until today.

Route description

The route began at the still existing wallpaper factory in the direction of Windhagen, in the city center there were the stops Brückenstraße (later Bachstraße), Rathausstraße and Bahnhofstraße (the latter in front of the former Schramm / Saturn department store (until 2015)). It then ran on the right-hand side of the street up to the slope to Niederseßmar / Nöckelseßmar. The branch in Nöckelseßmar towards Talbecke was at the foot of the slope. The only light signal on the route was located here, it served to secure the slope to Gummersbach.

On the street on the right-hand side, the route ran past the Zanellafabrik and Vosselstraße stops to the triangle, where it continued towards Derschlag at the Niederseßmar Kölner Straße stop. A little further on, after the “Niederseßmar Staatsbahnhof” stop, the connecting track to the state railway line joined, from here on the railway also used its old route. After connecting the lime works, the depot station and its access track to the three-track, later four-track vehicle hall and a connection to the small rail freight station followed. As far as the Derschlag train station, the route then continued on the left side of the street, past the Derschlag state train station (with the stop of the same name) at the end of the old route.

In Derschlag, the tracks continued along the still existing Hotel Huland to the intersection in the direction of Bergneustadt / Dümmlinghausen / Reichshof, where the Derschlager Post was located at the time. Here it took a left turn and ran to the present day Vereinshaus bus stop, where it joined the track from the freight yard on the right-hand side of the street and continued to the Dümmlinghausen border. That freight station extended on the site where today there is a grocery discounter, tire service and the bus station. There was a level crossing in front of the bus station, the connection to the state railroad track was behind the Holländer Diele restaurant, which still exists today, where an old metal bridge can still be seen today.

The section from Derschlag to Dümmlinghausen mainly served the old quarry at the end of Aggertalstrasse and the construction of the Aggertalsperre . There were two freight stations in Dümmlinghausen at that time, one was in the area of ​​today's bus stop Leimicke Abzw., The other freight station at the foot of the Aggertalsperre with a connection to the crusher at today's tropic. The route ran from Leimicke Abzw. Behind the Otto Kind AG company and disappeared after the intersection in the direction of Bernberg along the Agger on a railway embankment behind the residential buildings. From the first bend of Aggertalstrasse, the route was then in the road subgrade and changed the side of the road towards the freight station at the level of the dam. The tram traffic ended where the Auf dem Kamp bus stop is still today . The tracks were demolished after the closure in the 1950s, and the buildings of the quarry on Aggertalstrasse disappeared in the 1980s. The railway systems can only be guessed at today, especially based on the embankment on the Agger and the cut at the intersection (today's roundabout) to Bernberg, where there is now an entrance.

vehicles

When electrical operation began, there were two four-axle and one two-axle AEG locomotives , and in 1926 another four-axle locomotive was delivered. For passenger transport there were five two-axle railcars from the Uerdingen wagon factory and two trailer cars. In 1927 another railcar was procured from the Wismar wagon factory . In 1949 two war tramcars (KSW) were added. Three more sidecars had also been procured used.

See also

• Railway network in the Oberbergisches Land
• List of trams in Europe

literature

• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways , Volume 4: North Rhine-Westphalia. Southern part , EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-660-9 , pp. 308-317.
• Sascha Koch, Horst Kowalski and others: Railways in Oberberg and the history of the Dieringhausen depot. Galunder-Verlag, Nümbrecht 2005, ISBN 3-89909-050-0 .

Web links

• Course book 1944
• OVAG website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.