Kleinbahn Bossel – Blankenstein
| Bossel – Blankenstein | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map of the course of the Kleinbahn Bossel-Blankenstein
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| Route length: | 9.37 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kleinbahn Bossel – Blankenstein was a standard gauge railway line in the southern Ruhr area . The only 9.37 km long railway connected through the Hammertal the stations Bossel at the railway Hattingen-Wuppertal and Blankenstein at the Ruhrtalbahn and was built in the period 1909-1912.
history
founding
The opening took place in sections:
- October 18, 1910: Blankenstein - Glückauf Barmen colliery
- July 22, 1911: to Ibachsmühle
- February 7, 1912: to Bossel
The railway was primarily used for freight traffic , especially for the transport of the mineral resources of hard coal and sandstone extracted in the Pleßbach area . The route was that of a mountain railway with a gradient of up to 2.5%, 20 m deep cuts and 15 m high dams . The still existing Sirrenberg tunnel with a length of 35 m is one of the shortest in Germany. The difference in height between the two terminus stations is 156 m.
The initiative to build and operate the line came from the surrounding communities of Nieder- and Obersprockhövel , Durchholz, Buchholz and Westerherbede and was intended to help overcome the coal crisis at the beginning of the 20th century by recovering the coal mined nearby by reducing transport costs made competitive.
The mines Kleine Windmühle , Elisabethenglück , Tinsbank , Cleverbank or Plessbach , Vereinigte Hammerthal and Harmonie were connected . The United Adolar colliery had its own siding.
The operation of the railway was carried out by the Continentale Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebs-Gesellschaft from Blankenstein, where there was an extensive station and workshops for the eleven railway cars and the two own steam locomotives .
Operating company for the Kleinbahn Bossel-Blankenstein
From April 1, 1921, the operating company for Kleinbahn Bossel-Blankenstein took over the facilities on a lease basis after the predecessor company had already terminated the contracts at the end of 1920 due to a lack of profit prospects .
Kleinbahn Bossel-Blankenstein GmbH
On September 1, 1950, the small railway Bossel-Blankenstein, formed from the municipalities, transferred the management of the Westphalian Provincial Association, which later became the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association .
Railway company Bossel-Blankenstein mbH
Since around 1960 the owner has been operating as the Bossel-Blankenstein mbH railway company .
Passenger trains did not use the route as planned. Miners were only allowed to use the railway during the First and Second World Wars and afterwards (1914–1918 and 1939–1949). In 1914, 72,744 people were carried in converted freight cars.
The economic situation of the railway was initially good, contrary to expectations. In 1912 111,800 tons of goods were transported, in 1914 135,882 tons. There was non-public passenger traffic in the driver's compartment, 7058 people were carried in 1912. Then the First World War dashed hopes, especially its consequences, the occupation of the Ruhr and the Great Depression . Only the pseudo economic boom during the rule of National Socialism made the balance sheets in the black . With the beginning of the Second World War , the decline of the railway began, at the end of which all operating goods were completely run down.
In the time of the economic miracle , the railway was used and renovated again because of its proximity to the still important mines . In this way, all rails and sleepers could be replaced. Furthermore, the steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . Nevertheless, the closure could not be prevented when the colliery began to die out in the 1960s and parts of the route were needed for the construction of the Federal Highway 43 . In 1964 the last mine on the route was shut down. On April 1, 1968, the entire operation was shut down after no more trains had run between Bossel and Durchholz on September 17, 1966.
The course of the route can still be seen today, even the Sirrenberg tunnel, one of the shortest railway tunnels in Germany, is still there. The route is used in parts as a forest and hiking trail .
At the end of 2011, the last parts of the track were removed from the road surface in the Hammertal.
The two steam locomotives built by Orenstein & Koppel in 1910 had three axles. In 1954 a diesel locomotive was bought from Deutz and in 1963 from Jung (type R 30 C ). The Deutz locomotive, today's D 52, was sold to the Ruhr-Lippe Railway and is now with the Hamm Museum Railway .
literature
- Rolf Swoboda: The Bossel-Blankensteiner Kleinbahn. Neddermeyer, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-933254-00-0 .
- Gerd Wolff, Lothar Riedel: German small and private railways , Volume 5: North Rhine-Westphalia / Northwestern part. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1998, ISBN 3-88255-662-5 .
Web links
- Bossel-Blankensteiner Railway
- Historical map with route
- Bossel-Blankensteiner Railway (Youtube)
- http://www.bahnen-im-bergischen.de/cms/seite.php?id=120
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bossel-Blankensteiner Railway on: Ruhrkohlenrevier.de. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.ruhrkohlenrevier.de/ob3403.html
- ^ Jörg Petzold: Kleinbahn Bossel – Blankenstein . In: The Museum Railway . No. 1 , 2015, ISSN 0936-4609 , p. 22 .