Strausberg-Herzfelder Kleinbahn
| Strausberg-Herzfelder Kleinbahn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Course book section (DB) : | 107b (1951) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 13.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Strausberg-Herzfelder Kleinbahn AG was founded on November 18, 1905 under the company "Brandenburgische Kleinbahn-AG", which it only ran until December 22 of the same year. The railway construction company Lenz & Co. and the industrial companies based in this area acted as shareholders . Here, in what was then the Niederbarnim district to the east of Berlin, numerous brickworks had settled because of the extensive clay deposits that made bricks for the constantly growing capital of the Reich.
history
Kleinbahn-AG took over the standard-gauge railway line opened by Lenz & Co. with its own capital in autumn 1896, which ran from Strausberg Kleinbahnhof on the Prussian Eastern Railway via Hennickendorf to Herzfelde (9 km). In addition, on May 1, 1913, there was a branch line Hennickendorf – Stienitzsee (4 km), on which, in addition to the freight trains, a pair of passenger trains was only run on weekdays in the summer of 1914.
Finally, in 1931/32 the main line from Herzfelde to Möllensee Hafen was extended by 5 km. Here, too, mainly goods traffic took place, and there was also little excursion traffic. A total of 16 km of routes - plus numerous connecting railways to industrial companies and brickworks - have now been traveled.
The main workshop set up in Herzfelde in 1922 for 27 Lenz railways scattered across central and eastern Germany was also significant. It existed until 1945, when Lenz & Co GmbH also had to give up management of the small railway; because after the end of the war this was subordinated to the state railway administration in the province of Brandenburg, the later state, and from there in 1949 came to the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
Passenger traffic on the railways was stopped in 1935 and taken over by the company's own bus route Strausberg - Herzfelde - Möllenhorst - Liebenberg. But as early as 1939 - after the beginning of the Second World War - the small railway began to transport people between Strausberg and Herzfelde, and even on Sundays to Möllensee. This branch of business continued until 1962. The increasingly important freight traffic, which also included the transport of rubbish and rubble from Berlin, was discontinued on the Kleinbahntrasse from Strausberg in 1967 after the VEB Zementwerk Rüdersdorf factory line had established a connection from the Fredersdorf - Rüdersdorf Reichsbahn line to Herzfelde, which is still today is in operation.
Forerunner of the small train
It should also be mentioned that before the opening of the Strausberg – Herzfelde Kleinbahn there were already two companies that operated rail transport in this area.
In July 1872 the manor owner Otto Oppenheim (1841–1908), son of Adolph Oppenheim zu Rüdersdorf near Berlin, opened a 12.5 km long industrial line between the Stienitzsee and the village of Herzfelde in the narrow gauge of 750 mm, which was used exclusively for goods traffic and connection to the brickworks in Herzfelde. From June 25, 1904, it was also used with an electric battery locomotive.
The Pferdeeisenbahn AG zu Herzfelde, which was put into operation on April 1, 1874 by the Salomon brickworks in Herzfelde for storage at the Möllensee, also only served goods traffic . It was 9 km long and had a track width of 600 mm. This was shut down on January 3, 1913.
literature
- Erich Preuß: Brandenburg / Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (archive of German small and private railways). transpress, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-344-70906-2 .
- Hans Schweers, Henning Wall (arrangement): Railway Atlas Germany. Edition 2007/2008 . Schweers + Wall , Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-89494-136-9 .