Wehlau – Friedlander Kreisbahnen
| Tapiau – Friedland (Ostpr) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Course book range : | DR 120 g (1940) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 21.4 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tapiau – Labiau | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Route map
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| Course book range : | DR 120f (1940) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 28.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tapiau – Possinders (–Königsberg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course book range : | DR 120f (1940) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 21.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Wehlau – Friedländer Kreisbahnen had been part of the Ostpreußische Kleinbahnen AG since 1924 and were operated by the East German Railway Company in Königsberg .
history
The former East Prussian district of Wehlau - located on both sides of the Pregel - ran through the Insterburg – Königsberg line of the Prussian East Railway from 1860 , on which the station of the district town of Wehlau was also located. Before a branch line branched off from there via Allenburg to Friedland in 1911 , the construction of narrow-gauge railroads to develop rural areas began. Your starting point was the town of Tapiau am Pregel with 6,000 inhabitants at the time, which was also served by the Insterburg – Königsberg main line and was the seat of the small railway company.
The Prussian state, the province of East Prussia and the railway construction company Lenz & Co GmbH founded the Wehlau-Friedländer Kreisbahn-AG on March 21, 1898. Most of the lines in the narrow gauge of 750 mm were opened on April 9, 1898.
From the small train station in Tapiau, which was 300 m from the state train station, a 21 km long route led south to the town of Friedland (3,000 inhabitants) in the neighboring district of the same name, whose district office was in Bartenstein. To the north, a route led two kilometers to the Tapiau Plantage train station and then split: a connection led to the west via Podewitten to the border (17 km) of the Königsberg district, where the track continued from Königsberger Kleinbahn AG via Prawten to Königsberg Königstor train station has been. Since 1900 there were also continuous small railroad trains from Königsberg to Tapiau.
The route ran north from Tapiau Plantage to Klein Scharlack (19 km) in the Labiau district . Only on December 13, 1909, was it extended by seven kilometers to the district town of Labiau (4,600 inhabitants) near the Curonian Lagoon. The network of the small train was 66 kilometers long.
The volume of traffic was modest on all routes; A parallel bus line was set up between Tapiau and Labiau.
On June 30, 1924, the Wehlau-Friedländer Kreisbahn-AG was incorporated into the Insterburger Kleinbahn-AG, which was then called Ostpreußische Kleinbahnen AG .
In 1939 the following vehicles were available: five steam locomotives, seven passenger cars, three packing cars and 122 freight cars.
literature
- Siegfried Bufe (Ed.): Railways in West and East Prussia . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-24-1 , ( Ostdeutsche Eisenbahnen 1).