Borkumer Kleinbahn

The Borkumer Kleinbahn is a 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 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+7⁄16 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]

  • A map of the island showing the railway line
    A map of the island showing the railway line

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+7⁄16 in) track gauge.[6]

  • The Wismar railbus in June 2009
    The Wismar railbus in June 2009
  • Steam engine Borkum in August 2015
    Steam engine Borkum in August 2015

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. pp. 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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