Island railway

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This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Train of the Inselbahn Wangerooge in the entrance to the west pier
The museum horse train on Spiekeroog at the new local train station
Sandwich push-pull train of the Langeoog island railway at the local station
Wismar rail bus T1 of the Borkumer Kleinbahn in front of the local train station Borkum
Steam locomotive Borkum III (Ex Dollart) for nostalgic steam operation in Borkum train station (July 2005)

An island railway is a railway (mostly narrow-gauge railway ) that connects smaller islands . Most island railways have no connection to the railway network on the mainland. Main railways on islands (e.g. the Vogelfluglinie on Fehmarn , the Usedomer Bäderbahn on Usedom or the main railway line on Rügen - each with branches -) are normally not included in the island railways. The term island operation has become commonplace for railways that are not necessarily located on an island, but have no connection to other routes, i.e. they form an island for operational reasons.

description

The first island railways in what was then the German Empire were built towards the end of the 19th century , when the need for both passenger and goods transport arose on the smaller East Frisian islands in the German Bight and on the Baltic Sea . The railways developed in almost all cases as a narrow-gauge railways that with very few exceptions, had no connection to the regular rail network on the mainland.

While the first routes were designed solely for passenger traffic, new ones for mixed traffic or exclusive freight traffic quickly appeared. A little later, the first railways intended only for coastal protection work were built . The island railways made an important contribution to the economic development of the German islands , since for a long time they were the only usable means of transport on site.

The oldest island railway in Germany is the Borkumer Kleinbahn , which opened as a horse-drawn railway in 1879 ( gauge 900 mm) and is still in operation today. Since around 1981 this has gained importance again due to increasing tourism and today has numerous historical and modern vehicles , while most of the other island railways - including important ones such as the Sylt Inselbahn (1888-1970) - have long since been discontinued.

With one temporary exception, trains with steam locomotives and later with diesel locomotives or diesel multiple units ran on the island railways (an early exception was the meter-gauge Juist island railroad with gasoline locomotives ). The Amrum Island Railway (gauge 900 mm) was the only one to be electrified with 700 V direct current from 1909 to 1910 and operated with tram - like two-axle electric multiple units with open driver's cabs , until last year a fire in the power station forced the shutdown and the steam locomotives, which had been completely run down, returned had to be reactivated.

Especially during the First and Second World Wars , in addition to the regular island railways for passenger and / or freight traffic, there were field railways on many islands that only served military purposes ( military railways ). On Norderney and Heligoland , the island railways that were built were exclusively military railways, with the meter-gauge cable railway running in a tunnel on the latter island being a specialty. These railways lost their right to exist after the Second World War and were dismantled by 1947 by order of the British occupying power at the time.

There were also some small island railways, which were used exclusively for coastal protection or material transport and never carried passengers . One still exists today, the Minsener Oog coastal protection railway (opened around 1925, gauge 600 mm), which is not open to the public because its route leads through a nature reserve for sea ​​birds ( Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park ). Other such railways such as the Neuwerk coastal protection railway (1962–1985, 600 mm gauge) or the Helmsand island railway (1930–1985, 600 mm gauge) have long since been abandoned.

Another special feature are the narrow-gauge Halligbahnen , which create a connection to the mainland via built dams that are mostly flooded at high tide . These railways are primarily used to transport material, but in the case of the Halligbahn Dagebüll – Oland – Langeneß (opened in 1927, track width 900 mm), private motor-driven lorries and draisines also operate . The Halligbahn Lüttmoorsiel – Nordstrandischmoor (opened in 1934, gauge 600 mm), a wagons railway, on which small diesel locomotives and freight wagons run in addition to private wagons and trolleys , is also used to transport materials and supply the Halliginsel for private transport.

The Spiekerooger Inselbahn (gauge 1000 mm - meter gauge ) is a special case today , which has been operated as a museum horse-drawn railway on a section of the route since 1981 after regular traffic with trains and railcars was discontinued . This was opened as a horse-drawn tram in 1885 and was also the last horse-drawn tram in Germany to be operated as such until 1949 and then converted to a partially new route to motorized vehicles. This museum horse-drawn tram, so far the only one of its kind in Germany, will in all likelihood be preserved and could possibly be extended later after a fundamental repair of the track system , possibly again according to its entire old route with through-town traffic.

Today the Borkumer Kleinbahn (gauge 900 mm), the Inselbahn Langeoog (gauge 1000 mm) and the Wangerooger Inselbahn (gauge 1000 mm) are the main modes of transport on the islands mentioned and are of great importance for tourism . The facilities, routes and vehicles are in good condition for all three and the three railways continue to enjoy stable and profitable passenger numbers.

Island railways in Germany

Island railways in operation

In Germany there are currently the following island railways:

North Sea Islands (Scheduled)

only museum horse-drawn railway operation

Hall connections not public

Baltic Sea

Former island railways

In the past, the following islands in Germany also had island railways:

North Sea

(From west to east)

Baltic Sea

Island railways of other countries

Aruba (Kingdom of the Netherlands)

Australia

Denmark

France

Great Britain

Madagascar

Sweden

Spain

See also

literature

  • Malte Werning: Wangerooge - The island railway and its history . Lokrundschau Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-931647-09-9 .
  • Malte Werning: island railways of the North Sea . GeraMond Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7654-7245-X .
  • Malte Werning: Island and bath railways of the Baltic Sea . GeraMond Verlag, Munich 2005.
  • Hans-W. Rogl: The North Sea Island Railways . 6th edition, alba, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-87094-230-4 .
  • Hans-W. Rogl: Archive of German Small and Private Railways: Lower Saxony . transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71022-2 .

Web links