Wallücker Willem
| Wallücker Willem | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Postcard circa 1900
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| Course book section (DB) : | ex 189f (1936) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 17 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 600 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 33 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| State: | North Rhine-Westphalia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Wallücker Willem (actually: Wallückebahn ) was a small railway operated from 1897 to 1937 between the East Westphalian towns of Kirchlengern and Oberlübbe (today the municipality of Hille ). It had a track width of 600 mm and was used to transport goods and people .
history
The Georgs-Marien-Bergwerks- und Hüttenverein (GMBHV) in Georgsmarienhütte near Osnabrück initiated the construction of the small railway in 1896 in order to be able to transport the iron ore extracted from the Wallücke quarry near Oberlübbe (today near the municipal border with the city of Bad Oeynhausen ) . The Herford and Lübbecke districts supported the construction financially and allowed the route mainly along the Kreischausseen , but made it a condition that the railway should also serve other goods and local passenger traffic.
The railway line led over the area of today's municipality of Hüllhorst (Struckhof, Schnathorst, Tengern) and the city of Löhne (Halstern to Obernbeck) to Kirchlengern, where it was connected to the Löhne – Rheine railway line . The railway was inaugurated on September 25, 1897. In wages a stitch track existed until the Werre bridge to passenger near the lying on the other side Werre State station wages at the Hamm-Minden railway to arrive.
Since it reduced the previous seclusion of the neighboring villages and was very comfortable and harmless at a maximum speed of 25 km / h, the train quickly became very popular with the population and was nicknamed "Wallücker Willem". In addition to the stops mentioned, there were also some stops on demand. The train stations and stops were mostly located near restaurants, because this way the innkeepers could take over the ticket sales. Annually 15,000 t –20,000 t ore were transported, the number of travelers rose from 50,000 to 125,000 per year. In 1909 the line was relocated in the Löhne area, so that the branch line to the station was shortened from 700 m to 100 m. This made operations easier, as the locomotives on passenger trains did not move, but instead pushed one run each time they drove on the branch line.
Since ore mining was stopped in 1917, the GMBHV applied for closure. From 1923 to 1925 the company ceased. A newly established Wallückebahn district company in the Lübbecke, Herford and Minden districts took over operations in 1925 until the small railroad finally stopped operating on November 25, 1937 due to a lack of profitability .
Between Kirchlengern and Löhne, the Else-Werre cycle path leads in parts over the old railway embankment . At the end of the route near Wallücke, an information board illustrates the history of the railway. Another display board and a short piece of track are located at the location of the former Obernbeck stop at the intersection of the Wallücker Bahnweg and Bahnhofstrasse.
Former station building in Kirchlengern (street view)
Former station building in Kirchlengern (view of the route)
First run of the Wallückebahn on September 29, 1897
Locomotive 1 on the opening day
literature
- Heimatverein Löhne, City of Löhne (Ed.): 1000 years of wages. Contributions to the local and city history. Brackmann, Löhne 1993, ISBN 3-922911-00-5 .
- Bernhard Uhle: The Wallücke Railway. A typical small train. 6th edition. Uhle & Kleimann, Lübbecke 1991, ISBN 3-922657-62-1 .
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways. Volume 6: North Rhine-Westphalia, northeastern part. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2000, ISBN 3-88255-664-1 , pp. 101-112.
- Lothar H. Hülsmann: The Georgsmarienhütter railways . Lokrundschau Verlag, Gülzow 2000, ISBN 978-3931647117 ( review online ).
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