Kehdinger circular path

Stade – Itzwörden
Route length:	51.8 km
Gauge :	1,000 mm between the Stade freight yard and gas station, also 1,435 mm
Legend 0.0 Stade in front of the state train station Handover to the state railway 0.2 Freight depot from state railway Three-rail track Moat 0.9 Stade Salt Gate port Old harbor, swing bridge 1.1 to the gas station, three tracks up to here 1.5 Stade Kehdinger Tor 3.4 Hörne- Brunshausen Connection of the glass factory 1.7 km 5.7 Götzdorf 7.3 Bützfleth 9.5 Abbenfleth Connection of ammunition depot 11.1 Barnkrug 12.7 Wethe 13.5 Assel (Drochtersen) 15.2 Ritsch 16.8 Gauensiek 17.6 Drochtersen Church 17.9 Drochtersen 19.8 Nindorf 21.9 Dornbusch herb sand 23.9 New territory 26.6 Wischhafen 28.4 Hamelwörden 30.5 Schinkel 31.8 Landesbrück- Oederquart 34.0 Freiburg (Elbe) 36.0 Esch 38.7 Crooked dike 40.0 Guards 42.1 Baljerdorf 44.2 Balje 46.1 South dike 48.5 Horne -Außendeich 50.5 Itzwörden

The Kehdinger Kreisbahn (KKB) was a 50.5 km long narrow-gauge railway in meter gauge , which opened up what was then the Kehdingen district (now northwest of the Stade district ). From June 13, 1899 to November 15, 1933, it connected the city of Stade via Bützfleth , Drochtersen , Wischhafen , Freiburg (Elbe) and Balje with Itzwörden (district of Geversdorf , today district of Cadenberge in the district of Cuxhaven ). Passenger traffic in the section north of Freiburg (Elbe) was given up on May 22, 1932; it was taken over by the bus company Alex und Heinrich Peill oHG , the predecessor company of KVG Stade .

The Kehdinger Kreisbahn (KKB) belonged to the Kehdingen district (from 1932: Stade district) and had its own management from 1910 (previously: Havestadt & Contag, Berlin).

Map of the Lower Elbe from 1910

The main customers of the railway were the numerous brickworks and agriculture in the area . The station in Stade was northeast of the Niederelbebahn station . The route ran east around the old town, at the Salztor there was an additional stop (colloquially "Catholic station", origin of the name unclear). There were a total of 29 train stations and (partly demand) stops. In Wischhafen there was a connection to a ferry over the Elbe to Glückstadt , in Itzwörden to a ferry over the Oste .

The railway only had its own track body for 6.7 km, otherwise it ran on the side of the existing country roads.

Passenger traffic was moderate, up to the late 1920s about 300,000 people were carried annually. Between Stade and Freiburg (Elbe) five to six pairs of trains ran daily, between Freiburg (Elbe) and Itzwörden two to three. Even the use of a railcar between 1923 and 1926 did not bring any significant improvement.

The freight was still moderate. Around 30,000 tons were transported each year, in good years up to 60,000 tons. About 2/3 of them only went as far as the Stade harbor. Transport on trolleys was only possible as far as Brunshausen to the glass factory, everything beyond that had to be reloaded. This traffic remained in operation until April 1, 1936 after passenger traffic was discontinued, but was limited to freight trains. The standard gauge connections were taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn from July 1, 1937 . The gas works continued to operate until the mid-1960s, the port until 1973.

literature

• Hans-Otto Schlichtmann: The Kehdinger Kreisbahn Stade – Freiburg – Itzwöhrden . Kreissparkasse Stade, 3rd edition, Stade 1997.
• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 10: Lower Saxony 2. Between Weser and Elbe . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2007, pp. 72-93, ISBN 978-3-88255-669-8

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Kraftverkehr GmbH - KVG . In: Hamburger Nahverkehrs-Nachrichten , No. 4/1984, pp. 8–15, Association of Traffic Amateurs and Museum Railways eV (VVM), Hamburg 1984