Brunswick State Railway Company
Encyclopedia
Duchy of Brunswick
Brunswick was a historical state in Germany. Originally the territory of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the Holy Roman Empire, it was established as an independent duchy by the Congress of Vienna in 1815...
, a former German state centred around the city of Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
(German: Braunschweig).
It was founded on 27 June 1884 by the Frankfurt bank of Erlanger & Söhne and Gebrüder Sulzbach with the aim of building and operating railways of secondary importance in the Duchy of Brunswick and the adjoining territories.
The Brunswick State Railway Company is not the same as the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway
Duchy of Brunswick State Railway
The Duchy of Brunswick State Railway was the first state railway in Germany. The first section of its Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line between Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel opened on 1 December 1838.-Opening:...
or the Brunswick Railway Company which did not exist when the BLE was founded.
History
In its first two decades it built a total of 108 kilometres of standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
railways. They provided rail access for about 50 commercial firms and around one hundred warehouses in the city of Brunswick using a ring railway. The BLE lines also opened up the largely agricultural areas around this Residenz
Residenz
Residenz is a very formal, otherwise obsolete, German word for "place of living". It is in particular used to denote the building or town where a sovereign ruler resided, therefore also carrying a similar meaning as the modern expressions seat of government or capital...
city as far as the foothills of the Harz
Harz
The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...
. In this area the transportation of potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
, which was mined there, played an important role for the railways and continued to do so until the 1920s.
The departure point for the Braunschweig–Derneburg railway, the first BLE line, built on 18 July 1886, was Braunschweig Nord railway station, where the management and centre of operations was based. From here it ran to Braunschweig West (Wilhelmithor) and southwards to Hoheweg, where on 17 October 1886 a 4 km long branch to Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Oker river about 13 kilometres south of Brunswick. It is the seat of the District of Wolfenbüttel and of the bishop of the Protestant Lutheran State Church of Brunswick...
turned off. The main line swung westwards and reached Derneburg station on the Hildesheim–Goslar railway via Lichtenberg and Osterlinde in what later became the Salzgitter
Salzgitter
Salzgitter is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven Oberzentren of Lower Saxony...
industrial estate.
In the years that followed the Derneburg–Seesen railway from Derneburg – which again ran southwards – reached Bockenem
Bockenem
Bockenem is a town in the district of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany that was founded in 1154. It is located on the German Framework Road.-Surrounding villages:*Jerze*Königsdahlum*Bornum*Mahlum*Schlewecke*Ortshausen*Volkersheim*Hary*Störy...
in the Nette
Nette
Nette can refer to:* Nette , a river in Lower Saxony, tributary to the Innerste.* Nette , a river in Rhineland-Palatinate, tributary to the Rhine.* Nette , a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, tributary to the Niers....
valley on 27 May 1887, Groß Rhüden on 1 October 1887 and finally the railway hub of Seesen
Seesen
Seesen is a town and municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range, approx...
on 1 May 1889. Apart from the construction of the northern section there was now a pause of about a decade. During this time the network was expanded with short link lines – some only for goods traffic – on 1 September 1886 from Braunschweig West station to the Hauptbahnhof and by turning the BLE stations into state railway stations on 1 January 1890 at Seesen and on 20 September 1890 at Wolfenbüttel.
On 11 November 1901 the line was opened from Braunschweig Nord via Gliesmarode (West) to Gliesmarode Ost, where the route of the newly built Braunschweig-Schöningen Railway (BSE) began, initially opened for goods traffic but from 15 February 1902 for passenger services as well. At first the BSE's trains started and terminated at the BLE's Nordbahnhof as well.
In Gliesmarode Schuntertalbahn branched off, forming a link to the Lehrter Bahn. It was opened on 31 August 1902 as far as Brunsrode-Flechtorf and on 1 November 1904 to Fallersleben by the BLE. This terminal, like two sections of the line at Derneburg and Bockenem was not in Brunswick territory, but in Prussia. In fact a total of 36 km of line was on Prussian territory – one third of the total track length.
The importance of the railway can be seen from the number of steam locomotives that was constant at around 25, whilst there was only one Benzol
Benzol
Benzol may refer to* Benzole* Benzene* Phenol* British Benzol, which was one of the largest independent oil distributors in the UK. It went into administration on 16 August 2005...
railbus. On 1 December 1927 two bus lines supplemented the passenger services.
About 10 years later the independent railway company was taken over. The creation of a large industrial complex in the area of Salzgitter required a fundamental change and expansion of the railway network there. The Reich government wanted to give this task to the state railway. So the BLE was merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
on 1 January 1938, who rebuilt or closed some of the routes.
Fleet
In 1936 the BLE had 26 steam locomotives, 2 railcars, 49 passenger coaches, 12 post vans and 725 goods wagons.| BLE number | DRG Class | Axle arrangement | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1...28 | 89 7531 | C n2t | Prussian T 3 Prussian T 3 The Prussian Class T 3 steam locomotives procured for the Prussian state railways were 0-6-0 tank locomotives. Together with the Prussian T 2 they were the first locomotives that were built to railway norms. The first units were delivered by Henschel in 1882.... |
| 7–10 | B n2t | ||
| 3II, 5II, 9II, 29 | 53 7001–7004 | C n2v | Prussian G 4.2 Taken over by the Reichsbahn in 1922 |
| 30 | 92 1081 | D n2t | |
| 31 | 92 421 | D h2t | |
| 32 and 33 | 91 201–202 | 1'C h2t | ELNA Class 5 |
| 34 | 89 7541 | C n2t | Prussian T 3 Prussian T 3 The Prussian Class T 3 steam locomotives procured for the Prussian state railways were 0-6-0 tank locomotives. Together with the Prussian T 2 they were the first locomotives that were built to railway norms. The first units were delivered by Henschel in 1882.... |
| 35 and 37 | C h2t | Prussian T 8 | |
| 36, 39 to 43 | 91 131–136 | 1'C n2t | Prussian G 9.2 Prussian T 9 The Prussian T 9 was a class of German steam locomotive which included several types of tank engine, all with six coupled wheels and two carrying wheels operated by the Prussian state railways.-T 9.1:... Taken over by the Reichsbahn in 1929/1930 |
| 38 | Unused | ||
| 44 BLE No. 44 Locomotive No. 44 of the Brunswick State Railway was a tank locomotive for mixed passenger and goods traffic. The locomotive, built in 1934 by Krupp, had a 2-8-2T wheel arrangement and a two-cylinder superheated engine. Leading and trailing wheels were housed in a Bissel bogie... |
79 001II | 1'D1' h2t | |
| 45 to 49 | 75 601–605 | 1'C1' h2t | |
| T1 | 137 237 | (1A)(A1) | |
| T2 | 137 238a | 2'2' + A1A + 2'2' |
External links
- Overview of locomotives
- There is a relevant English-language forum at Railways of Germany