Southern Harz Railway Company
The Südharz-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (SHE) was after the Gernrode-Harzgeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (GHE) and the Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (NWE) the third railway company with a meter gauge network in the Harz . She was the operator of the narrow-gauge railway Walkenried – Braunlage / Tanne .
history
founding
A committee was founded as early as 1894, which, with the approval of the Duchy of Braunschweig, carried out preparatory work for the construction of a narrow-gauge railway line from Walkenried via Wieda to Braunlage from the following year . The decisive impetus for the realization was provided by Louis Degen from Charlottenburg , who was involved in railway construction and saw it as a lucrative construction project. The government in Braunschweig signed a contract with Degen in 1896 for the construction of a narrow-gauge railway that he had planned, between Walkenried and Braunlage, with a branch to Tanne, and entrusted him with the project as “ Generalentreprise ”. Degen undertook to found a railway company to which the concession to build and operate was to be transferred.
On June 10, 1896, the committee met in Walkenried and decided to found a stock corporation with a share capital of 2.3 million marks. The foundation of the "Südharz-Eisenbahn-Actien-Gesellschaft" with its seat in Walkenried took place on April 28th, 1897. On June 4th of that year it received the "Concessions-Certificate" for construction and operation.
Entry and takeover by Herrmann Bachstein
The entrepreneur Herrmann Bachstein , who in particular acts as an operator or partner in railway companies , undertook to take over all preferred shares with a nominal value of 1.3 million marks and was given the management of the company for 20 years. Louis Degen died in the middle of the construction of the railway line in October 1897. The " Centralverwaltung für Secundairbahnen Herrmann Bachstein (CV) " took over the further construction on its own. In addition, CV gradually took over all the shares in the Südharz-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and thus became the sole owner.
The Südharz-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft was obliged to put the lines into operation within two years after the license was issued. However, this could not be kept, only at the beginning of August 1899 were the systems made ready for acceptance. On August 15, 1899, operations between Walkenried and Braunlage could begin after the state police inspection held three days earlier did not reveal any objections.
After the Second World War
Since July 1945, the border between the British and Soviet occupation zones cut through the branch line to Tanne and, above all, caused the freight volume to drop considerably, since the Tanner Hütte was not available as a freight customer. The operating company reoriented itself and set up a road between Braunlage and Goslar in the summer of 1945 . Initially, this was only served by a makeshift bus, created by converting a kitchen cart.
At the beginning of the 1950s the economic situation of the company deteriorated noticeably. In general, the traffic flows changed to the detriment of the railway, as the next largest railway junction in Nordhausen was across the border. The steadily expanding bus operation in the western Harz caused the number of passengers to drop and motorized private transport slowly increased . The remaining freight traffic offered no expansion potential. From 1960 onwards, only limited rail operations were carried out. Officially, all rail operations ended at the end of July 1963, after passenger traffic was stopped on September 30 of the previous year.
Changeover to omnibus traffic and change of name
After the rail traffic was discontinued, the company operated a motor transport route between Braunlage – Wieda – Walkenried. From now on, goods traffic from Walkenried was handled by trucks, and express goods were also still transported. Together with another omnibus company and the Federal Post Office, a motor transport line between Braunlage and Bad Harzburg was served .
In spring 1973 the name was changed. The "Südharz-Eisenbahn-GmbH" (in 1933 the Bachstein transport company was converted into a GmbH) was renamed and continued into "Harzer Verkehrsbetrieb Braunlage GmbH".
Traction vehicles
| Road no. | old name | design type | Construction year | Manufacturer | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | KARL | B n2t | 1896 | Krauss & Co | Used for track construction, sold in 1912 |
| - | BERLIN | B n2t | 1897 | Krauss & Co | Used for track construction, sold in 1912 |
| 51 | WURMBERG | B'B n4vt | 1898 | Arnold Jung locomotive factory | 1934 to WRE |
| 52 | STOEBERHAI | B'B n4vt | 1898 | Arnold Jung locomotive factory | 1934 to WRE |
| 53 | ACHTERMANN | B'B n4vt | 1898 | Arnold Jung locomotive factory | 1936 to WRE |
| 54 | BROWN POSITION | B'B n4vt | 1901 | Arnold Jung locomotive factory | 1925 to WRE |
| 55 | - | B'B n4vt | 1904 | Stock corporation for locomotive construction Hohenzollern | 1913 from RLE , 1914 to Heeresfeldbahn |
| 55 1 | - | B'B n4vt | 1916 | Arnold Jung locomotive factory | 1926 to WRE |
| 56 | - | B'B1 n4vt 2 | 1925 | Henschel & Son | 1930 conversion to Luttermöller axle drive , retired at the end of the 1950s |
| 57 | - | B'B1 n4vt 2 | 1925 | Henschel & Son | 1930 conversion to Luttermöller axle drive, last steam locomotive operated by SHE, retired in 1961 |
| 61 | - | E h2t | 1928 | Orenstein & Koppel | Retired in the late 1950s |
| Road no. | Axis formula | Construction year | Manufacturer | Remarks | image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VT02 | Bo'2 ' | 1931 | Self-made | While the route was being dismantled, the vehicle collided with an oncoming dismantling train driven by the VT14 and was seriously damaged in the process. The vehicle was parked in Wiedaer Hütte and scrapped on site. |
|
| VT07 | (1A) (A1) | 1927 | DWK | In 1935 by KBE , the modernization started in the late 1950s was not completed, after the line was closed it was scrapped half-finished in Braunlage |
|
| VT14 | B'B ' | 1960 | MAN | 1963 to Württembergische Nebenbahnen AG, today in refurbishment at the Härtsfeldbahn in Neresheim , the only still existing locomotive of the SHE |
|
literature
- Manfred Bornemann : The South Harz Railway . 3. Edition. Ed. Piepersche Druckerei, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 1991.
- Franz Ausleitner: Southern Harz Railway . In: Wolf-Dietger Machel (ed.): Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany . GeraNova Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, 1994, ISSN 0949-2143 .
- Gerd Wolff: Lower Saxony 3 - South of the Mittelland Canal . In: German small and private railways . tape 11 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88255-670-4 , p. 225-247 .
- Winfried Dörner: The Südharz Railway - a region and its railway line . Ed .: Museumsgesellschaft e. V. Braunlage. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Dörner-Medien-Verlag, Bad Salzdetfurth 2012, ISBN 978-3-944110-00-4 .
- Winfried Dörner: The Südharz Railway - a region and its railway line . Ed .: Museumsgesellschaft e. V. Braunlage. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Dörner-Medien-Verlag, Bad Salzdetfurth 2018, ISBN 978-3-944110-02-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . 3. Edition. Ed. Piepersche Druckerei, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 1991, p. 7-8 .
- ^ A b Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 8 .
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 44 .
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 11 .
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 62 .
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 66-70 .
- ^ A b Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 70 .
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 29-32 .
- ^ SHE steam locomotives on G. Schlender's private homepage , accessed on November 22, 2013
- ↑ Manfred Bornemann: The South Harz Railway . .. p. 36-40 .
- ^ List of SHE vehicles on the private homepage of G. Schlender , accessed on November 23, 2013