Geilenkirchen circular path

Alsdorf – Tüddern

Schierwaldenrath station during
a day of operation of the museum railway (2013)

Route number (DB) :

9242 Gillrath – Schierwaldenrath

Course book section (DB) :

245q (1946)

Route length:

37.7 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Maximum slope :

20 ‰

Legend

	37.7	Tüddern
	35.2	Weir (Geilenkirchen district)
	34.0	Süsterseel
	30.4	Gangelt
	28.2	Kreuzrath

	26.8	Schierwaldenrath formerly Langbroich-Schierwaldenrath

	25.2	Birgden
	24.0	Gelindchen (since 1971)
	22.3	Stahe (since 1950)
	21.4	Gillrath
	18.7	Bellyem

	16.3	Geilenkirchen Kreisbf today siding in Geilenkirchen station

		Aachen – Mönchengladbach railway line
	14.2	Jakobshäuschen
	11.3	Immendorf
	9.8	Floverich-Apweiler (temporarily)
	15.2	Puffendorf (GKB)	108 m above sea level NHN
		former Jülich circular path to Jülich (standard gauge)
	6.4	Setterich
	4.8	Baesweiler Jülicher Strasse
	3.8	Baesweiler
	6.4	Setterich
	4.8	Baesweiler Jülicher Strasse
	3.8	Baesweiler
	3.3	Oidtweiler
	1.7	Neuweiler
	0.7	Schaufenberger Strasse
		Aachen small train
	0.0	Alsdorf Kleinbahnhof former state railway

Swell:

The Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn - also called Geilenkirchener Kreisbahnen due to the separate management of its two branches - was a 38 km long, meter- gauge small railway in the west of today's state of North Rhine-Westphalia . The operational focus was the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahnhof, from which two branches opened up the structurally weak and rural Selfkant and part of the Jülich country with the northern part of the worm area . The operation of the railway was gradually abandoned after around 50 years from 1953 and completely stopped in 1973.

A meter-gauge museum railway is operated today under the name Selfkantbahn on a remaining section of 5.5 kilometers in length of the branch in the Selfkant .

history

Ownership and management

The Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn (GKB) was created as an independent operation of the former Geilenkirchen district in the Prussian Rhine province , which was merged with the neighboring district to form the Selfkantkreis Geilenkirchen-Heinsberg in 1932 . By merging with the former Erkelenz district , today's district of Heinsberg was created in 1972 .

The district financed the construction of the railway and commissioned the West German Railway Company to build and operate the railway , its successor, the Vereinigte Kleinbahnen AG in Frankfurt am Main , since 1928 . From 1951, the owner took over the management himself through Kreiswerke Geilenkirchen-Heinsberg GmbH .

The owner company of the railway was merged into WestEnergie und Verkehr GmbH (west) in 2003 , whose business activities consist mainly of the operation of intercity bus routes and whose railway activities are limited to the infrastructure maintenance of the museum Selfkantbahn route and the handling of goods at the standard-gauge Geilenkirchen freight station.

Development of the rail network

From a planned 1900 light railway network in meter track, on the one hand on the Dutch limit and on the other hand to the Brohltal should extend only were Bergheim circular paths , Brohltalbahn , Cologne-Bonner Kleinbahnen , Euskirchener circular paths , Geilenkirchener circular path and the Mödrath-Liblar- Brühler Eisenbahn realized. The route of the Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn ran from Alsdorf to Tüddern .

The 37.7 km long, consisting of two branches distance the Aachen coal area on Geilenkirchen with the rural region of Selfkant Association, was organized by the West German railway company in Cologne, a subsidiary of Szczecin firm Lenz & Co. built, . An originally planned extension from Tüddern to the neighboring Dutch town of Sittard was not approved for political reasons.

The meter-gauge small railway was put into operation on April 7, 1900. Despite the start of the route kilometrage in Alsdorf, the starting point and operating center was the small train station (later the district train station ) of the district town of Geilenkirchen, a terminus station near the state train station on the Aachen – Mönchengladbach line. From Geilenkirchen, a 17 kilometer long branch ran through part of the western Jülich country in a south-easterly direction to Puffendorf, where there was a connection to the Jülich circular railway , and then on to Alsdorf Kleinbahnhof in the northern part of the Aachen coal district. There was a possibility to change to the tram line via Mariadorf to Eschweiler . The Alsdorf state train station was 800 meters away on the Herzogenrath – Stolberg line.

The other branch from Geilenkirchen opened up the Selfkant , the western tip of the district, via Gillrath - Langbroich-Schierwaldenrath - Gangelt to its end point in Tüddern (22 kilometers). The last section from Süsterseel was intended for a "Selfkantbahn" of the then Heinsberg district that had never been built and only became the property of the Geilenkirchen district in 1905.

Since a connecting curve between the two branches of the route remained unrealized despite the relevant planning, a continuous journey on the entire route required a change of direction of the train in the Geilenkirchen district station.

Decline of the narrow-gauge railway and development of the intercity bus network

The last remaining operational building on the circular path is the former goods shed in Gangelt.

During the Second World War , on September 9, 1944, a train was shot at by a low-flying aircraft as it entered the Schierwaldenrath train station. The attack killed 30 people. After this event, the railway only ran passenger trains during the night for a short time, until operations were finally ceased on September 13, 1944 due to the approaching front, according to an order from the district leader.

After the war, the railway was badly damaged. The bridges over the Wurm and Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse in Geilenkirchen had been blown up, the locomotive sheds and workshop as well as all the corrugated iron stalls at stations on the way had been completely destroyed, and the other buildings were more or less severely damaged. Most of the rolling stock was no longer operational, including all four locomotives and the railcar.

But despite the extensive war damage, the Kreisbahn soon resumed rail operations. Baesweiler could be approached again on February 1, 1946, and Alsdorf on February 11. After a two-year interruption, operations on the Tüddern branch began again on September 6, 1946. For this purpose, the locomotive 2 ^lm had to be transported by road scooter from the Geilenkirchen district station to the Tüddern branch, as there were trains until January 11, 1947 after the destroyed worm bridge was rebuilt could only run from and to Bauchem, but not to the district station. When the Selfkant was placed under Dutch administration in 1949, the railway operations between Gangelt and Tüddern had to be discontinued by order of the Dutch authorities - it was no longer taken up in 1963 when the Dutch mandate administration ended.

While the GKB experienced an absolute record demand for passenger transport in the first post-war years, the number of passenger trains transported fell just as quickly after the currency reform to previously unknown levels. As a result, rail operations were gradually abandoned. Passenger traffic was suspended on the Geilenkirchen – Alsdorf section on May 17, 1953, between Geilenkirchen and Gangelt on October 1, 1960.

The increasing motorization of commercial enterprises and farmers in the post-war period also led to the abandonment of freight transport . New, more powerful tractors or trucks were able to transport the harvested crop directly from the farm to further processing (cooperative or sugar factory). Freight traffic on the southern section between Puffendorf and Alsdorf ended on May 17, 1953, between Jakobshäuschen and Puffendorf on December 22, 1963, and on the remainder on November 30, 1966. On the section in the direction of Selfkant, operations were stopped between Langbroich- Schierwaldenrath and Gangelt on December 4, 1969 and finally on July 1, 1971 completely. Until the conversion of narrow-loading tracks to standard gauge in 1973 meters still remained at a few hundred in Geilenkirchen initially a radical operation to regelspurige from DB port freight cars on dollies to maneuver for GKB-loading track.

District works Heinsberg

After the rail transport was discontinued, passenger transport was taken over by the local railway's own bus company , which had opened more and more lines since December 4, 1949. This was a response to the passengers' increased need for comfort, because the poor superstructure of the railway line barely allowed trouble-free operation. Furthermore, buses could be used more flexibly and were cheaper to operate.

For example, as early as 1953, a bus line was able to serve the cross-border extension of the Geilenkirchen - Gangelt - Tüddern connection to Sittard in the Netherlands (today's Schnellbus 3).

In parallel to the development of GKB motor traffic, the Erkelenz GmbH transport company (also known as transport company for short ) was established in the Erkelenzer Land in 1934 , and by 1938 it had eleven buses on seven lines. In 1965 a separate depot was built in Erkelenz.

After the Geilenkirchen and Erkelenz districts were merged to form the new Heinsberg district on January 1, 1972, the two municipal bus companies were also merged. For example, on January 1, 1975, GKB's motor traffic was merged with the Erkelenz motor vehicle and together with the power supply company to form the company Kreiswerke Heinsberg GmbH . On July 1, 1993, all freight traffic, which until then had been carried out by around ten different trucks, was stopped.

present

Merger of Kreiswerke Heinsberg to form WestEnergie und Verkehr GmbH

West bus in Ratheim

The West Energy and Transport GmbH (west) was established in 2003 from the merger of Kreiswerke Heinsberg (KWH) and Westdeutsche light and power plants (WLK). This also brought the Heinsberg District Works, the former Kreisbahn, to WestEnergie und Verkehr . In 2009, WestEnergie und Verkehr supplied around 100 buses of its own to a 689-kilometer route network in the Heinsberger Land. When the energy division was spun off in 2015, the company was renamed WestVerkehr GmbH.

The railway activities of WestEnergie und Verkehr, through its wholly owned subsidiary West-Gleis GmbH , are limited to the infrastructure maintenance of the Wegberg Klinkum – Prüfcenter Wegberg-Wildenrath railway line , the handling of goods at the regular-gauge Geilenkirchen freight station and, until 2012, the infrastructure maintenance of the museum's Selfkant railway line .

Museum railway "Selfkantbahn"

Train of the museum Selfkantbahn during a Santa Claus ride

The remaining section of the former Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn is known under the name Selfkantbahn . The 5.5 km long route is the last remaining 1000 mm small railway in North Rhine-Westphalia . The current operator is the Tourismusbahnen im Rheinland GmbH as a railway company and, since 2012, also as a railway infrastructure company . The company belongs to the Association of Interest Group Historischer Eisenbahnverkehr e. V. (IHS).

In 1969 the first historical rail traffic began on the Geilenkirchen - Gillrath - Schierwaldenrath - Gangelt section, from which today's Selfkant Railway emerged . The original plan of the museum railway activists to electrify the route and use vehicles from the Aachen tram , which was soon closed , failed due to the high costs.

Since 1973 there has only been a museum operation with regular steam locomotives on the section between Geilenkirchen - Gillrath and Gangelt - Schierwaldenrath . The reason for this relocation away from the former production center of Geilenkirchen was that the superstructure of the line between Geilenkirchen and Gillrath was too poor for rail vehicles to travel regularly. In addition, when modernizing roads in the Selfkant area, the aim was to save costs for the construction of new level crossings.

Nevertheless, the IHS plans to extend the route west to Gangelt and east to the Geilenkirchen bypass. This is to achieve greater tourist attractiveness. For financial reasons these plans cannot be realized at the moment.

The free ride is also possible on this heritage railway; the train carries a so-called carriage for everyone .

Timetable and operation

The Regenwalde locomotive of the museum railway

The museum rail traffic takes place on Sundays and public holidays as well as reduced (a pair of trains with a train driver seminar) on certain Saturdays between Easter and the end of September and in the run-up to Christmas. The trips that are then carried out with the steam-hauled “St. Nicholas' trains” are very popular, so that over 10,000 passengers can be counted here every year.

The center of operations with workshops, coaling equipment (in real manual operation) and extensive storage facilities for locomotives and wagons is located in Schierwaldenrath.

The Stahe stop has a water catchment system ; the five-minute break on the way to Schierwaldenrath is designated as a photo stop.

aims

The IHS tries to represent as true to the original as possible the rural rail traffic in the middle of the 20th century. That was the time when many rural regions in Germany were opened up by small railways, which often belonged to the respective districts.

The Small Railway Museum Selfkantbahn now has an inventory of over 80 vehicles, some of which are used in museum traffic. The remaining vehicles are set up in a museum in the large car hall and are explained with information boards. In the meantime, a considerable number of vehicles from the former MEG (Mittelbadische Eisenbahnen AG) have been placed here , so that MEG train sets can be built in the proper style. The entire area with workshops, car shed and engine shed can be visited free of charge.

Vehicle fleet

railroad

Former GKB wagon 2nd wagon set up in 1948 by Talbot in Aachen

Former monument of a GKB trestle in front of the former Geilenkirchen district train station

The locomotives of the GKB were initially four two-axle steam locomotives of the Lenz type "h", which were replaced shortly after by four-axle mallet locomotives (types " lm " and " mm ").

In 1936 the steam locomotives were replaced by diesel traction vehicles with a Wismar light traction car type Frankfurt , which was classified as the VT 100. After another vehicle of the same type was ordered in 1939 but not delivered because of the war, the GKB bought an Eifel railcar from Talbot in 1950 (today the Selfkantbahn owns the VT 102, which came to the Selfkantbahn in 1999 from the Langeoog Island Railway another copy of the same type).

In 1955, two diesel locomotives from Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG were put into operation (company numbers V 10 and V 11 ). These locomotives were sold to Togo in 1973 . The V 11 came back to the Selfkantbahn on January 12, 2001, after an employee of the Selfkantbahn found the locomotive in the station in the Togolese capital Lomé in an unoperable condition and was able to buy it back very cheaply. The machine is being refurbished.

literature

Henning Wall: The Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn . Schweers + Wall, Aachen 1997, ISBN 3-921679-70-2 .
Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 4: North Rhine-Westphalia - southern part . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-88255-660-9 .

Web links

Commons : Geilenkirchener Kreisbahn - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .

↑ Information for the disabled

↑ selfkantbahn.de: Nikolausfahrten ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ The vehicle collection of the Selfkantbahn
↑ A picture of the not renovated locomotive on the German track in Roland Molz: Presentation of the Small Railway Museum Selfkantbahn, in industrial culture and technology history in North Rhine-Westphalia. Initiatives and associations. Edited by the German Society for Industrial Culture. Klartext, Essen 2001, pp. 97-100; Picture p. 100

[1] Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .

[2] Information for the disabled