Kleinbahn Ihrhove – Westrhauderfehn
| Ihrhove – Westrhauderfehn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Course book section (DB) : | ex 223g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 11.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kleinbahn Ihrhove – Westrhauderfehn (IW) was opened by the operating company (GmbH) of the same name on November 3, 1912 as a standard gauge small train from Ihrhove station in the East Frisian district of Leer to Westrhauderfehn . The Prussian state, the province of Hanover and the district of Leer each took over a third of the company's capital . The state of Lower Saxony, which had taken over the shares of Prussia and the province after the Second World War, left the company in 1970, which now belonged entirely to the district. Since June 1, 1973, it has been operating as the Leer District Transport Authority (VLL) based in Rhauderfehn, and operates an extensive bus network and also offers travel services.
The company initially operated its small railway itself. Only on April 1, 1947 did it transfer it to the Lower Saxony State Railway Authority in Hanover. After its dissolution, the Bentheimer Eisenbahn was responsible for operations from October 1, 1959 until the end of 1973.
In Ihrhove, which today belongs to the municipality of Westoverledingen , only the rail connection to Groningen is separated from the Emsland line from Leer to Rheine; passenger trains no longer serve the station.
The eleven kilometer long small railway opened up the Overledingerland between the Ems and the Langholter Tief. Times of good utilization alternated with times of decline. In passenger transport, the railway had to fight off competition from bus routes early on, so that it set up its own motor transport company as early as 1929.
Although a few train journeys to and from Leer had been made since October 2, 1949, rail passenger traffic remained a problem child and was discontinued on May 27, 1961. Freight traffic was served until March 31, 1973; in the area of Ihrhove station until 1979. After the line was dismantled in 1974, the route became a hiking trail.
vehicles
As initial equipment, the railway procured two B-coupler steam locomotives, which were given a C-coupler from 1914 to 1916 and a B-coupler from 1919 to 1957 for reinforcement. The D221 diesel locomotive built by O&K was put into operation in 1954 for peat removal, but was quite prone to failure, but could not be parked and sold until 1965. A Wismar rail bus was delivered for passenger transport in 1937 and was initially designated as T1, from 1950 as T149, which was parked in 1961. The DR VT 85 901 built by DWK was acquired in 1953 and, after being converted, drove as the T159 from 1954 until it came to Wittlager Kreisbahn in 1961 . The railcar, built by LHB and AEG in 1925, was delivered to the Krefeld Railway and ran from 1953 to 1956 on the Leer-Aurich-Wittmund small railway and from August 1, 1956 after conversion to standard gauge as the T165 at IW, where it was parked in 1961. Since the start of operations, there were two, at times up to five, passenger cars, a mail and baggage car and four freight cars were in the fleet from 1914 to 1921. A lever trolley was available when the company opened and was replaced in 1947 by a track motorcycle and a new lever trolley.
literature
- Hinrich Rudolfsen: The Kleinbahn Ihrhove – Westrhauderfehn. Kenning, Nordhorn 1994, ISBN 3-927587-25-7
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 9: Lower Saxony 1 . Eisenbahn-Kurier, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 3-88255-668-4 , p. 178-187 .