Norderdithmarschen circular path

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Heide – Pahlhude
Former train station in Tellingstedt (2014)
Former train station in Tellingstedt (2014)
Route length: 54 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Top speed: 30 km / h
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Marschbahn of Itzehoe
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54.0
0.0
Heide Kleinbahnhof / Bahnhof Heide
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Marching track to Husum
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3.1 Ostrohe
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4.8 Aukrug
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6.3 Süderheistedt
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7.9 Barkenholm
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9.4 Linden trees
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13.2 Hennstedt
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17.2 Hollingstedt
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18.8 Delve
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19.3 Schwienhusen
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21.1 Ripples
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50.2 Süderholm
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46.7 Bennewohld
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45.3 Gaushorn
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43.5 Welmbüttel
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40.8 Tellingstedt
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37.7 Wellerhoop
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35.9 Schelrade
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33.8 Wrohm
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30.5 Dellstedt
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25.0 Dörpling
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23.5 Pahlhude
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The Norderdithmarschen district railway was a narrow-gauge railway in meter gauge that opened up the district of the Norderdithmarschen district east of the district town of Heide in a ring.

history

Around 1900, the Norderdithmarschen district was connected to the railway network in Heide station and to shipping on the Eider in the Pahlhude port . While the march with the railway lines crossing in Heide already had satisfactory connections to markets and suppliers, the communities on the Geest to the east were only accessible by roads on which the horse-drawn carriages offered insufficient transport options.

In the district council of Norderdithmarschen, the representatives of the municipalities decided unanimously on July 11, 1901 to build a small railway to develop the eastern Geest areas of the district. The district should take over half of the expected operating deficit, the city of Heide should contribute 10%, Tellingstedt 20%, Hennstedt 10% and other municipalities together 10%. The decision was made in favor of narrow-gauge vehicles pulled by steam locomotives because only such systems were subsidized by the Prussian state. After all, the grant of 1,212,000 marks covered 40% of the construction costs. The founding fathers could not have overlooked the fact that the narrow gauge would ultimately be decisive for discontinuing the railway.

While the formed railway construction committee in the south of the district via Tellingstedt along the Geestrand parallel to the district boundary to Süderdithmarschen was able to quickly determine a route, in the north on the way towards Delve and Pahlhude every village wanted to get its rail connection. This was solved by a route with many curves, especially since the money available did not allow further branch routes. In particular, large moor areas had to be avoided in the east of the district, but also developed. This is how a typical access railway was created. Strictly speaking, there were two railway lines that led from the district station in Heide to Pahlhude an der Eider, where there was a port. The "Nordring" via Hennstedt and Delve was 23.5 km long: the trains had a journey time of around 1.5 hours. The "Südring" via Tellingstedt with a bulge towards Wrohm and Dellstedt was 30.5 km long; the travel time was a little longer than on the "Nordring". The maximum speed was 30 km / h. There were no continuous trains beyond Pahlhude.

Opening train of the Kleinbahn

The opening took place on the Nordring in two stages on May 17 and October 5, 1905, then on the Südring in four stages between October 14 and December 23, 1905.

As expected, operations began with increased traffic. After just eight years, the maximum values ​​of 288,379 people, 57,426 tons of goods and 21,546 head of cattle were recorded. Brisk construction activity had started on the Geest and land prices were rising. Spring brought the most important income in the operating years. In 1912 the city of Heide began to pave its streets with cobblestones. The small train took over the stones from the Eiderschiff in Pahlhude and brought them to town. In 1913/14, the circular path for building barracks in Heide was allowed to bring the building material. Those years brought modest profits. After an initial euphoria due to the drafting of drivers, the First World War brought personnel bottlenecks and soon resulted in a material shortage that made repairs to vehicles and routes difficult. At the end of the war, due to the political upheavals, there was no new impetus to remove the traces of the war losses. The meager profits placed in reserves were lost in the ensuing inflation. The employees who returned from the war were hired again. In 1921 the highest number of employees was reached with 92 employees. This led to overcrowding, so that the Kleinbahn had to reduce the workforce to 60 people in 1923 through layoffs. In 1922, traffic had to be reduced due to the shortage of materials. As a result, another 23 employees were laid off.

Timetable of the circular railway

As a rule, three pairs of passenger trains ran on each section. Fertilizer and lime for cultivating the moors, especially the Dellstedt black grouse , were brought into the region via the railway line . The peat litter produced in Dellstedt was transported away by train. The rest of the freight traffic - mainly agricultural products, especially pigs - on this route was modest. Nevertheless, in 1928 the railway owned a total of eight steam locomotives , twelve passenger cars, four baggage cars and 87 freight cars. A saloon car belonged to the passenger car .

The war had led to the realization that railways and horse-drawn vehicles were too cumbersome for the transport tasks at hand. For this reason, motor vehicles were produced in large quantities, so that after the war production capacities and vehicles were looking for new tasks that competed with the small railways. In 1927 it was obvious that only rationalization measures could save the company. There was a lack of funds for investments in, for example, railcars from the Wismar wagon factory, as in other small railways, or - as the alternatives discussed - even the introduction of a roller-head system or gauging . In 1930 the district's accounts showed a total debt burden of 288,271 Reichsmarks.

Small train

After a little more than three decades, the end came. Passenger traffic on the Nordring was stopped on February 29, 1936, the remaining parts of the company followed until October 2, 1937. Passenger traffic was taken over by buses. The tracks were dismantled. Station buildings and street names that are reminiscent of the small train can still be seen in some places today. Some sections of the route in and between the places can still be found.

Systems of the small train

For a small railway, the circular path had many, quite large, partly representative buildings, which express the prestige of the founders. While the operationally comparable Rendsburger Kreisbahn had only two permanent railway buildings with a length of 45 kilometers, the Kleinbahn had nine of its own station buildings at 22 stations. A restaurant in the permanent buildings was part of the standard equipment of the two basic types in clinker brick construction and with a whitewashed exterior, the stations occupied by railway agents before arrival until after the trains depart. Their guest room served as waiting room III. Class. There was also a separate second class waiting room with several tables in niches. Several innkeepers in the communities approached had made their inns available and assumed the role of railroad agents. Their tasks included the sale of tickets, the handling of general cargo, the issuing of the shipping documents and help with loading and unloading. Most of the time, the agents had to notify consignees and deliver mail delivered by rail. The peasants were responsible for loading rural goods and cattle. The railway only provided loading tracks and ramps, some of the loading business was carried out on the main track. The station facilities were equipped with simple loading gauges and bars that could be placed over the rails as track blocks. Few stations had more than the through track.

Kleinbahnhof Heide

In Heide, 300 meters from the railway station of the railways to Tönning, Husum, Neumünster and Meldorf, on the other side of Hamburger Straße, along the tracks of the state railway, was the small station with more than six tracks and a representative reception and administration building. This stately building had large round windows, arcades, a half tower and Neuwilhelminian clinker masonry. The station management housed in it was for a long time the central meeting point for railway employees of both the state railway and the small railway.

The railway system comprised a central platform with two platform edges, a loading platform for the reloading business onto standard-gauge vehicles , a small wooden cattle ramp, which was supplemented in 1913 with a larger concrete ramp with reloading facilities , a gantry crane for reloading onto standard-gauge tracks, which was initially extended to three times in 1909 large locomotive shed with workshops, accommodation for six steam locomotives and a carriage shed in which the small railway's own saloon car was stationed. In front of this shed was a turntable on which all the locomotives had to be turned because the station was designed as a terminus . However, the access to the turntable on the edge of the railway system was too cumbersome to use during operation, so in 1927 it was given a new place in front of the locomotive shed. Several taps for city water were set up in the locomotive shed for the water supply. There was an oil cellar under the shed, next to it a 100 kg hand crane that was used to move the lubricants out of the oil cellar. The coal bansen was in front of the engine shed. The coal was loaded by hand with coal baskets over flatbeds set up next to the locomotives. Behind the engine shed, the two branches of the small railroad branched out in a field that was still undeveloped.

North branch Heide – Pahlhude

On the north branch, the route initially ran along the edge of a bog

Ostrohe

For the place, which had 260 inhabitants in 1925, the company had built a timber-framed goods shed, which was only intended to be a temporary measure, but remained unchanged until the end of the small business, and built a small separate agency building. The track ran along the roadside to Ostrohe; the trains crossed the Broklandsau and stopped at the stop at the restaurant

Aukrug

There were no other railway systems here. After a further stretch next to the road, the route branched off and reached after a kilometer

Süderheistedt

The associated place had 216 inhabitants in 1925; Here stood a medium-sized agency building, a goods shed and a toilet - all made of clinker brick. The route then swiveled to the southeast. After driving between Wiesen and Knicks, she crossed the road to Pahlen and reached

Barkenholm

The place, which had 216 inhabitants in 1925, received buildings with gray / yellow clinker brick building typical of the landscape and a siding with the connection to the Kruse brickworks. Just like in Pahlen, Linden and Schalkholz, the farmers were able to earn good additional income here by hand with the good clay of the Dithmarsch landscape. In 1905 a steam brick was built that sent its products by small train. The clay stocks were exhausted in 1915 and the station facilities were demolished in 1921 without replacement. Overall, the brick factories on the Norderdithmarscher Geest produced around two million bricks per year.

The line left the small train station on the approach to the brickworks, turned north and reached

Linden trees

The place had 692 inhabitants in 1925. A loading street, a small goods shed, a small bricked cattle loading ramp and a stately, tree-surrounded, villa-like station building were built here.

Again pasture was crossed, which is called Brandmoor here. The route reached with

Hennstedt

a town already larger in 1925 with 1574 inhabitants. The volume of passenger traffic, freight traffic and the loading of pigs made the town the largest station on the northern route. There were also three sidings, a goods shed and several storage sheds, which were surmounted by a stately clinker building as a station building. In 1913 a water tower and a stable were added. After only one head ramp was initially available for loading cattle, larger cattle loading ramps were built from 1927 on, where four to five cattle wagons could be loaded.

Behind the Hennstedt train station, the road from Albersdorf to Friedrichstadt was crossed and the route ran through the Hollingstedter Südergehölz and reached close to the Hollingstedter windmill

Hollingstedt

a place with 1925 361 inhabitants with a small agency building and adjoining goods shed on two tracks with a loading street in the north of the place. There is now a children's home in the buildings (as of 2015).

After a short drive east, the route turned in

Delve

a place that had 608 inhabitants in 1925. There was a stately reception building made of red brick here. The station had two tracks, a loading street, a small goods shed and a toilet. Since the port of Delve was of little importance after its heyday at the end of the 19th century, no port connection was built.

South of the train station, the streets cross to Hennstedt and a few 100 m further to Pahlen before the stop

Schwienhusen

which connected the place with 157 inhabitants in 1925, from which the Eider ferry Bargen could be reached. There was a plank platform as a platform, but no building.

After a short drive through the march of the Eiderniederung was

Ripples

reached, which included a settlement with 62 inhabitants in 1925, which was located above the then considerable station building.

After a ride on a dam through the Wallener Moor, the train arrived

Locomotive shed of the circular railway in Pahlhude (2018)
Locomotive shed of the circular railway in Pahlhude (2018)
Pahlhude,

which in 1925 with 960 inhabitants housed the second terminus of the district railway. The station was equipped with a two-tier locomotive shed with overnight accommodation for train crews in a whitewashed, clinker-adorned extension that was on the platform instead of a reception building. There was a water tower next to the engine shed. Water could be drawn from taps in the shed. In 1913 an agency building, a water tower, a stable building, a weighbridge and a toilet were added. Here a track led into the port and ended next to the shed of the dike protection association, which kept fascines, sandbags and other material for emergencies in the event of Eider floods. In the opposite direction, three port loading tracks branched off. One track ended at the ramp of the goods shed at the Eiderkai, where reloading was carried out between rail and ship. Sometimes the load volume here was so heavy that the track construction crew had to help out the small railroad. Two tracks led across the street to Portland Zement AG, one of which ended at the company's loading ramp and the other led to the company's loading dock on the Eider. The cement factory had a horse-powered field railway with a 500 mm gauge. When the cement factory was closed in 1927, its access tracks to free loading tracks and the parts leading into the factory premises were dismantled. On July 1, 1927, the district leased the port and redesigned the train station as an entrance to the district's own storage building. After the port of Pahlhude had already lost its importance, it once again gained a modest importance for the handling of grain between Eiderschiffen and small railways. In 1928/29 134 ships handled 7,350 t of grain, in 1929/30 201 ships handled 11,380 t. As early as 1930/31, 184 ships only accounted for 8,250 t, and in 1931/32 for 173 ship handling operations, the balance totaled 6980 t.

Since Pahlhude station had to clear the platform from the arrival of a train to the arrival of a train from the other route, arrivals from the opposite direction were only possible after a 15-minute break.

South branch Pahlhude – Heide

From Pahlhude left the southern route southwards through the Eidermarsch on a two-meter high dam through the reed landscape of the so-called lump pit and reached

Dörpling

In 1925, 476 people lived here. The station had an agency building a bit out of the way. A yellow / gray bricked goods shed and a cattle loading ramp formed the station facilities. The station was followed by a cut through the Buddelberg and a dam through the Dellstedter Moor, which at that time still existed in its original natural form. This was where the last courtship grounds for the capercaillie in Schleswig-Holstein were.

Dellstedt

In 1925 the place had 740 inhabitants. Here a peat litter factory was connected to the small train network; Peat products were brought to the loading platform of the small railroad via its six-kilometer-long field railway in 600 mm gauge. It was located on the site of the station and was shown in the balance sheet as a siding. Bales of peat were reloaded with a hand-operated gantry crane. The Kleinbahn did not have its own buildings here. The Gasthof Dithmarscher Hof took over the agency business.

After crossing the road from Heide to Rendsburg , the route turned in a tight curve to the west to lead along the Geestrand to Heide.

Wrohm

1925 was a municipality with 648 inhabitants. The Gasthof Kaiser acted as an agency.

Schelrade

(1925 192 inhabitants) and

Wellerhoop

(1925 53 inhabitants) belonged to villages far away from the railway line. First

The goods shed in Tellingstedt still exists in 2014
Tellingstedt,

which had 1,443 inhabitants in 1925, owned the most important railway station on the southern line, where several buildings and a whitewashed agency building, along with several tracks, made up a sizable station complex. Here the cattle loading ramp caused the same problems as in Hennstedt, which were cleared with a track connected to both sides of the new ramp. The route accompanied the highway to Heide on its north side, crossed it a few hundred meters

Welmbüttel ,

which in 1925 stated 234 inhabitants. Welmbüttel is located in the middle of the so-called circular firs, the mixed forest of Norderwohld and the Heidberge, which are the focus of a destination that is very popular with day trippers and which gave the stop a certain importance, especially before the First World War, which was enhanced by private initiative through fish ponds and fish farming. Nearby is the Rügenbarg , where walking paths , shooting ranges and benches as well as maze and lookout points form the Dithmarscher Switzerland around the highest elevation in Dithmarschen . In addition, the station had the same equipment as the circular path with a reception building, goods shed and toilet.

Behind Welmbüttel the route crossed the Norderwohld. The next station in

Gaushorn

to a place with 1925 226 inhabitants had a low building as a station building north of the place, in which three areas were divided for goods floor, apartment of the station tenant and function rooms for the passenger traffic. The waiting rooms II. And III. Class were separated by partitions.

After the station, the route ran sideways to the Chaussee

Bennewohld,

whose eponymous settlement had 45 inhabitants in 1925. The train station was across from Gasthof Zur Hoffnung , which became a railway agency. A small goods shed was sufficient for the low loading business. The road turned after a bend towards the place. She crossed the train and headed straight for it

Süderholm,

which had 501 inhabitants in 1925 and was given a red brick building as a building. After crossing the road again, the southern route reached the descent into the march on the embankment through the Süderholmer Moor, which in the opposite direction, with an incline of 1:60, required the locomotive crews to perform at their best in bad weather. From here, the passenger had a view of the destination Heide with its 42 m high water tower.

Web links

Commons : Kreisbahn Norderdithmarschen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Heinz-Herbert Schöning: The small train of the Norderdithmarschen district. Westholsteinische Verlagsanstalt, Heide 1980, ISBN 3-8042-0231-4 .
  • Heinz-Herbert Schöning: The Norderdithmarschen district orbit. Kenning, Nordhorn 2006, ISBN 978-3-933613-72-1 .
  • Gerd Wolff: Deutsche Klein- und Privatbahnen, Volume 13: Schleswig-Holstein 2 (western part) . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-88255-672-8 , pp. 188-209

Individual evidence

  1. Schöning 1980, pp. 10-11
  2. Schöning 2006, p. 23
  3. Schöning 1980, pp. 43-66
  4. Schöning 1980, p. 99
  5. Schöning 1980, pp. 24-34
  6. Schöning 1980, pp. 100f
  7. Schöning 1980, pp. 35-41