Klüttunnel
| Klüttunnel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Closed north-east portal of the Klüttunnel
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| use |
Railway tunnel (single track) |
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| traffic connection | Begatalbahn | |||
| place | Hamelin | |||
| length | 316 m | |||
| Number of tubes | 1 | |||
| construction | ||||
| completion | October 30, 1897 | |||
| business | ||||
| release | October 30, 1897 | |||
| closure | 1983 | |||
| location | ||||
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| Coordinates | ||||
| Northeast portal | 52 ° 5 '32 " N , 9 ° 21' 4" E | |||
| Southwest portal | 52 ° 5 '32 " N , 9 ° 21' 4" E | |||
Map with all coordinates: The Klüttunnel is a 316 meter long, former rail tunnel in Hameln . It belonged to the Bielefeld – Hameln railway line , the eastern part of which, from Lemgo , was called the Begatal Railway . The single-track line crossed the Klüt near the Weser and the tunnel therefore bore his name. The Klüttunnel was opened to traffic in 1897 and closed in 1980. Since then it has served as a shelter for bats .
prehistory
The tunnel belonged to the Begatalbahn as a single-track branch line between Hameln and Lage , which later also led to Bielefeld. The route is named after the Bega river , in whose valley it runs between Barntrup and Lemgo . The plans for the construction were made at the beginning of the 1880s. After Prussia and the Principality of Lippe had agreed on financing in the early 1890s, work began. The greatest obstacle was the Weser in Hameln. It was here that the most difficult structures on the route with the 316 meter long Klüttunnel and the Weser bridge were built . The difficult route with a tunnel through the mountain was chosen deliberately, although a route upstream between the Ohrberg and the Klüt would have been technically easier. To do this, however, long dams would have had to be built in the Weser valley, narrowing the valley and increasing the risk of flooding .
Tunnel and construction work
The tunnel is made in a slight arch. It has a north-east portal towards Hameln and a south-west portal towards the former Klein Berkel train station . Above the north-east portal there was a sculpture depicting the Pied Piper of Hameln . It is now restored in a hotel in Hameln. Between the tunnel and the Weser bridge, the Hameln / Klüt stop was located directly at the foot of the Klüt.
About 100 workers built the tunnel. Among them were around 50 workers from Italy who lived in Klein Berkel. A deep and long incision was made in the mountain towards the Weser. The soil removed and the excavation from the tunnel were used to fill the five-meter-high railway embankment on the other side of the Weser. A cable car was built across the river to transport around 60,000 m³ of earth. The tunnel breakthrough took place on November 25, 1895.
Operation and shutdown
The railway line between Hameln and Lage was largely completed in 1896, but the obstacles from Klüt and Weser delayed its completion. The tunnel and the long bridge over the river required not only costs and time, but also a high level of engineering. At that time, the buildings were considered a sign of progress and the triumph of industrialization. On October 30, 1897, the line was inaugurated and the Klüttunnel was put into operation. High government representatives from Prussia and Lippe were present at the inauguration, including the President of the Province of Hanover Rudolf von Bennigsen . Continuous traffic from Hameln to Bielefeld was only possible with the final expansion of the line in 1904. During the Second World War , the tunnel served as an air raid shelter for the population during the air raids on Hamelin . From the station, a train that was always on standby carried residents there when there was an air raid. When American troops were approaching towards the end of the war, German pioneers blew up the Weser bridge over which the railway line ran near the Klüttunnel on April 5, 1945. As a result, the train from the direction of Bielefeld only drove to the Hameln / Klüt stop and was no longer able to reach the Hameln train station. Only after the severely damaged bridge had been rebuilt for four years, the line was opened to traffic again in 1949.
In the mid-1970s, rumors arose about the closure of the Begatalbahn due to low transport numbers and damage to the Weser bridge near Hameln. Since the line was rated as uneconomical, passenger traffic was discontinued in 1980 and the rails in the Klüttunnel were dismantled around 1983. The Hameln / Klüt stop near the tunnel, including a small station building, was demolished in 1990. From the stopping point, only the edge of the platform leading to the tunnel is visible today. The two tunnel portals have been bricked up in the lower area. Steel grids block access above this. Today the tunnel serves as a shelter for rare bat species.
Web links
- Description of the Klüttunnel and the Weser Bridge at hamelner-geschichte.de
- Photos of the tunnel portals and rail route map
- Photos from the last operating time 1979
- Photos from the last operating time around 1980
- Historical drawings of the Klüttunnel with tunnel portal, stop and Weser bridge
- Four historical photos of the tunnel construction
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Calendar sheet - Pied Piper Figure Klüttunnel ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The consequences of the aerial warfare for the Hamelin population ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The course book route 404: Bielefeld-Lage-Hameln (Begatalbahn) ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2014 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.
- ↑ Cracked the grid to the Klüttunnel: worries about the bats ( memento of the original from January 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Dewezet of December 11, 2003
