Borkumer Kleinbahn

The Borkumer Kleinbahn is a 900 mm (2 ft 11 716 in) narrow gauge railway on the German island of Borkum in the North Sea. It is the oldest island railway (German: Inselbahn) in Germany, beginning operation in 1888.[1]

Borkumer Kleinbahn
Borkum narrow-gauge railway
A diesel locomotive hauled train in May 2012
Technical
Line length7.4 km (5 mi)
Number of tracks2
Track gauge900 mm (2 ft 11 716 in)

Line

The 7.5 km (5 mi) long line connects the port with the town of Borkum.[1] It is double tracked since the early 20th century.[2]

History

In 1879, tracks for a horse-drawn railway line were laid for the construction of a new lighthouse. The tracks were converted for locomotive-hauled trains about 10 years later,[2] and the line opened in 1888 as a successor of the horsedrawn line.[3] The network reached its peak length in 1938,[2] with a track length of about 45 km (28 mi).[1] The line celebrated its 125th anniversary on June 15, 2013.[4]

Rolling stock

The fleet consists of multiple passenger cars, diesel locomotives, steam locomotives and a Wismar railbus, which was built in 1940.[1] A steam locomotive from the Bäderbahn Molli is scheduled to run on the line in summer 2019.[5] Both Bäderbahn Molli and the Borkumer Kleinbahn have the same 900 mm (2 ft 11 716 in) track gauge.[6]

References

  1. "Borkum: Am Anleger wartet die Kleinbahn" [Borkum: The light railway is waiting at the pier]. ndr.de (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. March 26, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  2. Funck, Nicole; Narten, Michael; Hanewald, Roland (2017). Reise Know-How Borkum [Travel know-how Borkum] (in German) (11th ed.). Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump GmbH. p. 74, 75. ISBN 978-3-8317-4161-8.
  3. Museumsbahnen: 250 historische Eisenbahnstrecken in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz [Museum railways: 250 historical railway lines in Germany, Austria and Switzerland] (in German). Bassermann Verlag. 2012. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-641-68964-3.
  4. "Großer Bahnhof zum Jubiläum der Borkumer Kleinbahn" [Anniversary of the Borkumer Kleinbahn]. focus.de (in German). FOCUS Online. June 12, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  5. "Molli-Lokomotive zum Urlaubsdienst nach Borkum" [Molli locomotive on vacation service to Borkum]. ostsee-zeitung.de (in German). OSTSEE-ZEITUNG GmbH & Co. KG. December 12, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  6. "Nostalgische Dampflok von der Ostsee macht Urlaub auf Borkum" [Nostalgic steam locomotive from the Baltic Sea goes on vacation on Borkum]. welt.de (in German). Axel Springer SE. December 12, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
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