Halle-Hettstedter Railway Company
The Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (HHE) was one of the most important railways of the AG for Transport , which in 1935 still owned 61 percent of the capital. It was founded on March 28, 1895 by the railway construction and operating company Lenz & Co GmbH with the participation of the city of Halle an der Saale . The Halle operations department of Lenz & Co, which set up a main workshop in Nietleben in 1922 , also ran the railway until 1945. Although this was licensed as a small railway , the company indicates that the company - in vain - sought the status of a secondary railway.
history
Like the port railway in Halle, the new HHE rail network was built in standard gauge . On May 30, 1896, passenger traffic officially began on the 45-kilometer route that led from Halle-Klaustor via Gerbstedt to Hettstedt . Freight trains have also operated here since August 1, 1896. There was a track connection from Halle Klaustor to the port railway. However, people had to use the tram or walk to the city center .
Merger with Halleschen Hafenbahn AG
Already on January 9, 1895, before the HHE, the Hallesche Hafenbahn AG was able to start operations between the Thuringian freight station via Turmstrasse (later Halle Süd industrial station) and the Sophienhafen . The six-kilometer route was reserved exclusively for freight traffic, but it was extremely profitable due to the many sidings to various companies.
Although both companies (HHE and Hallesche Hafenbahn AG) were independent companies, the first discussions about a merger took place as early as 1896. This has been simplified by the same track width and designs of the vehicles and systems. After both sides agreed, the merger between HHE and Hafenbahn was entered in the commercial register on March 17, 1897 .
Another story
From 1899/1900 a branch line ran from Gerbstedt to Friedeburg . This extended the entire HHE network by ten kilometers to a length of 63 kilometers.
The statistics for 1939 show a vehicle fleet of 14 steam locomotives, 36 passenger cars, 6 pack wagons and 295 freight cars.
At times, the HHE also operated its own bus routes from Halle to Mansfeld and Dölauer Heide .
Nationalization of the HHE
Like almost all private railways , the HHE was placed under compulsory government administration after the end of the Second World War until it became part of the Sächsische Provinzbahnen GmbH on December 15, 1946 . But she remained largely independent. From 1948 it belonged to the Association of People's Own Enterprises (VVB) of the state of Saxony-Anhalt's transport system, and on April 1, 1949, it was subordinated to the Deutsche Reichsbahn .
Friends of the Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn e. V.
The Friends of the Halle - Hettstedter Eisenbahn e. V. has made it its business to revive the HHE. Former sections are to be put back into operation as a historic railway line.
Lore
The tradition of the Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft is in the Dessau department of the Saxony-Anhalt State Archives .
literature
- Ralph Lüderitz, Hans-Dieter Rammelt: The Halle-Hettstedter Railway - The checkered history of the HHE In: EK series regional transport history . tape 11 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1996, ISBN 3-88255-422-3 ( The Halle-Hettstedter Railway - The checkered history of the HHE ( Memento from September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )).
- Wolfgang List, Hans Röper, Gerhard Zieglgänsberger: Archive of German Small and Private Railways - Saxony-Anhalt . Transpress, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-613-71087-0 .
- Werner Dietrich: The Halle-Hettstedter Railway and the economic boom in the city of Halle (1895-1914) . In: Press office in the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Saxony-Anhalt (Ed.): Contributions to the state history of Saxony-Anhalt . Issue 3. Magdeburg 1994, p. 86-104 .
Web links
- Friends of the Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn e. V.
- A look back at the former Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn (HHE) ( Memento from October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Pictures and videos of the activities of the castle builder G.Beinert with his buildings for the HHE
- Documents and newspaper articles on the Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in the 20th Century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
- Tradition of the Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in the holdings of the Reich Railway Directorate Halle in the Saxony-Anhalt State Archives, Dessau Department