Small train Leer – Aurich – Wittmund

Bensersiel-Aurich
Course book section (DB) :	Esens / Wittmund – Leer: 221s (1950), 221h (1939) Esens – Bensersiel: 1000h (1950)
Route length:	84.6 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend 69.7 Bensersiel 65.0 Esen's small train station 64.2 Esen's state train station North – Jever 62.3 Folstenhausen 59.6 Dunum 57.4 Brill from Wittmund 53.3 Ogenbargen 51.9 Middels-Westerloog 49.2 Pfalzdorfer Weg 46.8 Plaggenburg 43.2 Sandhorst 40.0 Aurich connection DB 37.0 Aurich East 35.0 Popens 34.8 Ems-Jade Canal Popen's factory 32.8 Shirum 30.4 Holtrop 28.5 Cracks 27.5 Aurich-Oldendorf 25.7 Großefehn 23.1 Spetzerfehn 21.2 Strackholt 19.1 Bagband 16.1 Stikelkamp 13.0 Hesel 11.5 Hesel factory 9.9 Holtland 8.4 Brinkum 5.1 Logabirum 2.6 Loga North dike Mole-Rheine 0.0 Empty transition to the state railway to the harbour

Wittmund – Ogenbargen
Course book section (DB) :	Esens / Wittmund – Leer: 221h (1939)
Route length:	14.2 km
Gauge :	1000 mm, from 1940/1948 1435 mm
Legend 67.5 Wittmund North – Jever 65.9 Wittmund city 63.0 Will 58.0 Ardorf brickworks 57.3 Ardorf 56.3 Wittmundhaven 55.3 Middels-Osterloog from Esens 53.3 Ogenbargen after Aurich

The narrow-gauge small railway Leer – Aurich – Wittmund (LAW; today Kreisbahn Aurich GmbH) ran in meter gauge from Leer via Aurich to Esens and Bensersiel . A branch line led from Ogenbargen to Wittmund .

The small railroad opened up the East Frisian peninsula , whose inhabitants were able to use this transport route to deliver agricultural products to the cities on the one hand, and technical goods and colonial goods on the other.

In the vernacular, the Kleinbahn was referred to as Jan Klein using a typical East Frisian word creation . The buses of the Aurich District Railway Transport Company, which emerged from the Kleinbahn, still bear this name today.

history

Kreisbahn Aurich GmbH was founded in 1898 by the districts of Leer , Aurich and Wittmund , and just one year later the company's first section between Wittmund and Aurich with a gauge of 1000 mm was opened. By 1909, the route network had grown to around 85 kilometers, making the Kreisbahn one of the largest small railways in north-western Germany. On April 28, 1930, the company filed for bankruptcy. However, operations continued on a small scale. With funds from the Province of Hanover and the Prussian state , the Kleinbahn Leer-Aurich-Wittmund GmbH was founded on September 3, 1931 and continued operations.

From 1933 onwards, operations were under the control of the Hanover State Small Railway Authority , and in 1959 Bentheimer Eisenbahn took over operations until the end of rail traffic. In 1964 the company was renamed again, since then it has operated as Kreisbahn Aurich .

The now standard-gauge section Ogenbargen – Wittmund was closed on October 1, 1951 between Ogenbargen and Ardorf and on December 1, 1951 between Ardorf and Wittmund, dismantling began that same year. On May 17, 1953, passenger traffic between Esens and Aurich was discontinued, and on April 1, 1956 on the Aurich – Leer route. Passenger traffic was only available in bathing traffic to Langeoog according to the tide timetable on the Esens – Bensersiel section. This ended on February 6, 1967. Freight traffic was stopped here on September 15, 1966, so that in 1967 the dismantling of the tracks could begin. On December 30, 1969, the last freight train ran between Esens and Leer. After the closure on December 31, 1969, the tracks were removed in the 1970s.

route

A four-rail track was laid between Wittmund and the new Wittmundhaven Zeppelin Airport in 1916 during the First World War. After 1925 the standard gauge track was no longer used. In 1940 the Wittmund – Wittmundhaven section was completely retraced to standard gauge, and between 1948 and 1950 the Wittmundhaven – Ogenbargen section as well.

There was a connection to the state railway in the following stations:

• Empty: Hannoversche Westbahn / Emsland route Rheine – Lingen – Meppen – Emden and to Oldenburg . To the north of Leer station , on the west side of which was the terminus of the small railway, this crossed the double-track main line to Norddeich at the same level .
• Aurich: to Abelitz and Emden . The small train station was parallel to the five-track state train station. It had two head tracks on a tongue platform , of which the state railway side had already been dismantled in the 1950s. Its station building , a winding building with half-timbered parts , stood across from that of the state railway.
• Esens and Wittmund: East Frisian coastal railway Esens – Wittmund – Sande (–Oldenburg)

vehicles

Steam locomotives

The operation was opened in 1899 with six two-axle steam locomotives from the Hagans company, later eight more machines of various types were added to the Kleinbahn, the last in 1941 from Bavaria. In 1957 the last steam locomotives were shut down and from then on all traffic was handled by railcars.

Railcar

From 1933 railcars , including two Wismar rail buses (SK 1 and SK 3) and a Wismar railcar type Frankfurt (T 4), gradually took over the passenger trains .

Wismar rail buses

The two "pig snouts" SK 1 and SK 3 had an axle base of 4.00 m, they were initially 10.10 m long over bumpers . Their car bodies had a length of 7.24 m, they were 2.43 m wide and about 2.70 m high. The railcars were powered by Ford type AA gasoline engines , one of which was housed under the two engine hoods . Depending on the direction of travel, only the front engine was in operation as there were no reversing gears . After the collision with a truck on March 31, 1938, the SK 3 was rebuilt in the Wismar wagon factory and - while maintaining the wheelbase - extended by one compartment. In addition, it was equipped with new engines (type Ford-BB ) and converted for operation with propellant gas , the four gas bottles were placed on the roof.

The railcars initially had 24 upholstered seats in the seat division 2 + 2, plus several folding seats in the entry areas.

• SK 1: serial number 20204, delivered on 28 January 1933. After a collision in the station Hesel on February 3, 1941 in the wagon factory Wismar for sidecar rebuilt TA 1, wherein the chassis has been shortened and the motor ports were closed. Recommissioned on March 13, 1942, then mainly used with the T 4. 1957 transferred to the Spiekerooger Inselbahn ; scrapped.
• SK 3: Factory number 20251, delivered on May 10, 1935. Re-commissioning after conversion on January 9, 1939. The vehicle burned on January 7, 1947 in the Aurich railcar shed.

T 47

From 1956, with the T 47, the railway owned a goods towing car that was equipped with additional coupling hooks and buffers for roll-headed traffic without an intermediate car . It was a two-axle self-construction, which was built in 1955/56 in Aurich from the bogie car 573 built by Herbrand . He had an under-floor mounted, 150  PS paid Bussing - diesel engine , of a hydromechanical Voith -Diwabus- gear and Cardan drive both axles. Between the driver's cabs on both sides, the vehicle had a packing compartment that was accessible through sliding doors in the middle of the vehicle . The T 47, which could pull up to eight freight cars , remained in place until the line was closed and was scrapped in 1972.

Diesel locomotives

It was only after the Second World War that the small railroad started using diesel locomotives , initially only for shunting services, later also for freight transport. A two-axle, standard-gauge locomotive, which was previously used at Wittmundhafen Air Base , was purchased for the re-tracked route to Wittmund . The first narrow-gauge diesel locomotives came in 1951 and 1953. In 1961, a locomotive was purchased from the Kleinbahn Selters – Hachenburg for rolling stand traffic and used under the designation D12 . It was scrapped in 1968. In 1967 a larger diesel locomotive was acquired, the MaK 400 BB type D 08 built in 1959 . Like the T 47, the locomotive, painted green, with buffers and coupling hooks, was able to move standard gauge wagons jacked up without intermediate wagons. It was sold to the Brohltalbahn in 1971 and has been in service with the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) since 1989 .

After the shutdown

Since its decommissioning in train in 1969 which operates orbit Aurich Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH a bus service in the region , where in each case the stations in Leer, Aurich, Esens, Wittmund and sands are used as final stops. Some of these bus lines run in sections along the former light rail lines. From 1980 the Aurich district was the sole shareholder of the company.

Today there are numerous buses of various types and service vehicles available. The company also operates as a bus travel company .

The former route was expanded at the end of the 1970s as an East Friesland hiking trail , on which the Ossiloop , a fun run, is held every year .

literature

• Hinrich Rudolfsen, Wolf-Jobst Siedler: The Leer-Aurich Wittmund small train . Kenning, Nordhorn 1997, ISBN 3-927587-46-X .
• Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 9: Lower Saxony 1. Between the Weser and Ems . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 3-88255-668-4 , p. 112-142 .

Web links

• Homepage of the Aurich Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH district railway
• Railway romance episode 579

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.jan-klein.de/Historie.html
2. ↑ Bahn Extra 3/2018: branch lines in the 1960s, p. 15
3. ↑ ^{a b} Lok Magazin 6/2018, p. 56 f.
4. ^ Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 129: Wismar Rail Bus , p. 34.
5. ^ Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 129: Wismarer rail bus , p. 42.
6. ^ Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 129: Wismarer rail bus , p. 20.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 129: Wismar rail bus , p. 41.
8. ^ Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 129: Wismar Rail Bus , p. 94.
9. ↑ Lok Magazin 3/2018, p. 8 f.
10. ^ WJK Davies: The Light Railway Railcar in Western Europe . Plateway Press, East Harling 2004, ISBN 1-871980-52-6 , pp. 229 .
11. ↑ Bahn Extra 3/2018: branch lines in the 1960s, S. 42nd
12. ↑ Map of the Ostfrieslandwanderweg , as seen on September 20, 2012.