Herford small train

The Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH operated from 1900 to 1966 one - since 1930/33 electrified - narrow gauge line .

Herford small train (without stopping points)
Course book section (DB) :	214f (1962)
Route length:	40.8 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	1500  =
Legend 0.0 Wallenbrück ⊙ 3.4 Spenge ⊙ 5.6 Westerenger ⊙ Bielefelder Kreisbahnen ⊙ 8.5 Enger , applicant ⊙ 9.3 Enger-Wörde ⊙ 11.0 Steinbeck Bf ⊙ 12.5 Oetinghausen , Heide ⊙ 13.6 Oetinghausen ⊙ 14.5 Lippinghausen ⊙ 15.2 Sundern ⊙ Hamm – Minden railway line ⊙ 17.9 Herford , Kleinbahnhof ⊙ Werre ⊙ 19.2 Lübbertor ⊙ 19.7 Bergertor ⊙ 21.7 Peace Valley ⊙ Federal motorway 2 ⊙ 24.8 Bad Salzuflen , Kleinbahnhof ⊙ 25.6 Kurpark ⊙ 28.7 Loose ⊙ 30.7 Hagenmühle ⊙ 31.8 External ⊙ 33.8 Soltervish 35.7 Holwiesen-Wehrendorf ⊙ 38.0 Horst ⊙ 38.9 Vlotho , small train station ⊙ 39.9 Weserstrasse ⊙ 40.4 Vlotho Bundesbahnhof ⊙ Vlotho Weserbahn ⊙ Connection gravel plant Vlotho, Weserhafen ⊙

history

The company's plans go back to 1895. Since then, the district council has been planning the construction of an approximately 111-kilometer route. In 1897, the first plans were the council of Herford submitted. On June 14, 1898, Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH was founded with a share capital of 1.4 million marks . The shareholders were the district, the city of Herford and the nine other neighboring communities, the Princely Rent Chamber in Detmold and ten private individuals. In the years 1927 to 1931, Elektrizitätswerk Minden-Ravensberg GmbH (EMR) took over the entire share capital - except for 20,000 marks.

The initially favored gauge of 600 mm was abandoned after lengthy disputes in favor of the meter gauge. A connection via Spenge to Melle was planned , but only Wallenbrück on the district and today's state border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony was reached as the western end point . A branch line to Bünde was also planned, but was never implemented.

Opening of the route sections

• August 10, 1900 - from Herford to Enger , from April 1901 there was a connection to the Bielefelder Kreisbahnen (closed in February 1954) to Schildesche , Bielefeld and Werther (Westphalia) . A joint venture existed between the two railways until 1934.
• September 20, 1900 - from Enger via Spenge to Wallenbrück
• August 1, 1902 - from Herford to Bad Salzuflen
• September 14, 1902 - from Bad Salzuflen via Exter to Vlotho Kleinbahnhof
• October 1, 1903 - from Vlotho Kleinbahnhof to the state train station and the Weser port.

In addition to bridges, the notable buildings for the small train included the retaining walls along the Forellenbach in Vlotho and on the Werre in Herford between the Lübbertor stop and Bergertor station. The latter was even partially destroyed in a flood at the end of December 1925.

Operation until World War II

Initially, the operation was carried out with steam locomotives . The conversion to electrical operation, which was planned before the First World War, took place between June 26, 1930 and August 16, 1933. In addition to passenger transport, goods transport also took place. Goods for the Oetker works were regularly transported between Vlotho and Bielefeld . In addition, the grain deliveries coming by ship from Bremen were transported to the district via Vlotho .

In the timetable year 1939, the trains ran between Spenge and Bad Salzuflen via Enger - Herford every hour, every 120 minutes the trains continued to Vlotho ( Reichsbahnhof ). From / to Wallenbrück there were five pairs of trains a day. The travel time from Spenge to Enger was around 10 minutes, to Herford Kleinbahnhof 35, Bad Salzuflen Kurpark 58 and Vlotho (Rbf) 95 minutes.

War: The 1940s

During the Second World War , the Herford railway station was particularly hard hit. Between November 16 and December 18, 1944, operations had to be completely shut down. Another shutdown took place between April 3 and June 5, 1945, when the district was occupied by Allied troops. Shortly thereafter, steam operation resumed. The line was interrupted on February 9, 1946 when the Hansabrücke in Herford collapsed after a flood . The reconstruction took place until May 1, 1949.

Decline and cessation of operations

Although the Vlothoer Hafen with its small railroad connection survived the Second World War undamaged, there was hardly any freight traffic between Exter and Vlotho. This also applied to passenger transport, which was increasingly being shifted to the road. In 1947, a shutdown was considered. The further development led in August 1956 to the cessation of goods traffic Bad Salzuflen − Vlotho. Initially, the number of passengers and goods transported rose again, but from the 1950s onwards competition grew from the use of buses and private transport . From 1951, EMR buses ran parallel to the small train. The Herford – Schwarzenmoor – Exter connection was served by private buses from the Pieper company, which had received the concession for this shortly after the war. This route was already considered in the initial considerations for the construction of small railways, but the steam locomotives intended for use at the time would not have been suitable for the existing inclines and slopes. The EMR / Herford Kleinbahnen were only able to counteract the enticement of small train passengers here by taking over this bus concession in 1962. The need for additional bus connections resulted from the development of partly new or expanded settlements away from the rail network planned at the turn of the century.

In 1952 modern railcars and sidecars were procured; they could not prevent the decline in passengers and the migration to and enticement through the buses, some of which were operated by their own company (EMR). In 1960, 2,421,871 people and 79,013 tons of goods were transported. When the concession expired in 1962 and the city of Herford and the Lippe district in Bad Salzuflen were no longer interested in an extension, the end of the railway was sealed. The following sections of the railway were gradually dismantled:

• Apr. 29, 1962 - From Exter to Vlotho
• Nov. 05, 1962 - From Herford, Bergertor to Exter
• Nov. 02, 1963 - From Spenge to Wallenbrück
• Jul. 01, 1964 - from Herford, Bergertor to Herford, Kleinbahnhof
• Apr. 22, 1966 - From Spenge to Herford

Freight traffic continued on a small section in Herford, but was also stopped there on June 30, 1966.

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  The small railway line in Spenge between the station and the settlement today (geographical location: ⊙ )

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  Cycle path sign for the cycle path “Experience the small train” on the old route near Spenge

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  Small train station in Herford

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  The retaining wall of the small railway line next to the Werre (Herford) today

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  The former small train station in Friedenstal (today a restaurant)

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  Rat-Hasse -Promenade in Bad Salzuflen as a bike and footpath on the small railway line

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  Former embankment of the Kleinbahn between the Kurpark and Loose (today a bike and hiking trail)

vehicles

The operation was started with five steam locomotives of the type B1 from Hagans , which were identical to the locomotives of the Bielefelder Kreisbahnen. As there, in 1903 two more powerful locomotives with three coupled axles were procured from Borsig . The light locomotives were replaced by three four-axle locomotives from Borsig in the 1920s, and another one was exchanged for one of the older Borsig locomotives from the Bielefelder Kreisbahn soon after commissioning. All locomotives were scrapped in 1956. Four of the two-axle locomotives were sold to Mindener Kreisbahnen and Kehdinger Kreisbahn in 1920 and 1922 , and the fifth was scrapped in 1935. The three-coupler locomotive was scrapped in 1938, the four-axle locomotive in the 1950s.

In 1951 and 1953 a two-axle diesel locomotive each was procured from Deutz ( Köf 12 and Köf 14 ), and in 1959 another locomotive as the V 15 was purchased from the Ruhrthaler Maschinenfabrik Schwarz & Dyckerhoff . These locomotives were sold to Inselbahn Juist , Sylter Inselbahn and Kreis Altenaer Eisenbahn after they stopped operating .

There were also two regular gauge locomotives, including a Köf II .

Four two-axle railcars were procured for electrical operation in 1930 and three in 1932. In 1952, two four-axle Duewag open- plan cars with matching control cars were purchased; the latter were converted into multiple units in 1961. In 1954, two used two-axle railcars for the Minden tram were acquired.

Initially, 19 four-axle passenger cars were available for passenger transport, which were manufactured by the Düsseldorf railway company . In 1949/50 five cars were bought used for steam trains. Four two-axle and two four-axle trailer cars were purchased for electrical operation, and three existing cars were converted. In 1949 two first aid vehicles were added. Eight sidecars were acquired from the Minden tram, some of which replaced the older sidecars. The inventory also included four baggage cars, up to 130 freight cars and 70 trolleys (1939).

In 1956, six passenger cars were borrowed from the neighboring Bielefeld district railways.

The small railway museum in Enger

Narrow was formerly on the route of the Herford small railway and the Bielefelder Kreisbahnen . The planning for a small railway museum began in 1998. That year the city council decided in principle to locate such a museum in Enger. Construction of the museum began in November 2006 and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated in May 2007. The museum opened on September 13, 2009. The building is a direct extension to a discount market and presents a diesel locomotive and two cars on three tracks in an exhibition hall.

literature

• Rainer Kotte: The Herford small railways . Uhle & Kleimann, Lübbecke 1986. ISBN 3-922657-54-0
• Regine Krull, Kerstin Stockhecke, Rüdiger Uffmann: Once, 3rd class to Enger. The history of the Herford small railways 1900 to 1966 . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 1987. ISBN 3-92708-501-4
• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 6: North Rhine-Westphalia (northeastern part) . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2000, ISBN 3-88255-664-1 , pp. 74-100.
• Friedrich Kammeyer, Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH: 50 years of Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH Herford . Festschrift published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary on August 10, 1950
• Friedrich Kammeyer: Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH Herford 1900-1966 . Contemporary publication by Elektrizitätswerk Minden-Ravensberg GmbH
• Dirk Düllmann: The Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH . Herford 1986. Documentation by Elektrizitätswerk Minden-Ravensberg GmbH for the history festival of the Herford district
• Dieter Höltge: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany, Volume 3 Westphalia (excluding the Ruhr area) EK-Verlag, Freiburg i.Br. 1990, ISBN 3-8825-5332-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Krull et al. Once 3rd class after Enger , page 91
2. ↑ http://www.deutsches-kursbuch.de/2_198.htm
3. ^ Lower Saxony State Archives Hanover, Best. Main State Archives, signature: 2. HA Hann. 133 Acc 28/81 No. 352. HA Hann. 133 Acc 28/81 No. 35
4. ↑ http://www.enger.de/Leben-in-Enger/Kultur/Museen/Kleinbahnmuseum

Web links

Commons : Herford Kleinbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Kleinbahnmuseum Enger on narrowspur-ostwestfalen.de, accessed on April 10, 2020
• Herford Kleinbahnen GmbH, 1986
• History of the Herford small railways (private homepage, German)

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap