Feldbahn

A Feldbahn, or Lorenbahn, is the German term for a narrow-gauge field railway, usually not open to the public, which in its simplest form provides for the transportation of agricultural, forestry (Waldbahn) and industrial raw materials such as wood, peat, stone, earth and sand. Such goods are often transported in tipper wagons, known in German as Loren, hence such a railway is also referred to as a Lorenbahn.

Military use

During the First World War, the enormous logistical demands of trench warfare led to the development of military narrow-gauge railway or Heeresfeldbahn networks, also referred to as trench railways. Throughout World War I, the British and French also used trench railways, called War Department Light Railways and Decauville railways respectively. However, the German approach was less improvised and more permanent. With each successful advance, the British and French forces faced ever lengthening supply lines, while the Germans retreated deeper towards their homeland. As a result, the Feldbahn was an organic growth of existing agricultural, industrial and mining railways. After the war, much remaining trackage and rolling stock was put to use in more conventional narrow-gauge applications throughout Europe.

General use

In the processing industry, these narrow-gauge railways once held an important role. As a result, Feldbahnen were frequently associated with refractory clay factories, brickyards, sugar factories and iron and steel mills. They were also used for pulling canal barges, transporting military materiel and personnel and removing materials from large-scale building sites and the rubble from ruined cities after the Second World War. Rail gauges were between 400 mm (15+3⁄4 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge.

The track (rails and sleepers) utilised, ranged from light, rail frames that could be carried and laid by two men and were often laid directly on the ground with no trackbed, to properly laid, ballasted lines for heavy loads and extended use. Tight curves enabled lines to be more easily routed, largely without structures being required, even in difficult terrain. Provisional track laid along the edges of ditches as they were being extended forward, often on soft ground, led occasionally to derailments. As a result, on many Feldbahnen, wooden planks and other lifting gear were carried. Turntables were usually operated by hand.

Simple and robust vehicles characterised everyday operations. Locomotives were not always available, so it was quite common for individual wagons - even when loaded - to be moved with horses or by human muscle power alone. In tight spaces or where access was difficult, the help of children and youngsters was enlisted to haul tipper wagons.

Frequently rolling stock was hand-built or was manufactured to order in small batches. Usually no signals were installed, the low speeds enabling trains to be driven by sight. At level crossings on larger roads, temporary bells or light signals were installed, that enabled trains to cross safely.

In the munitions depots of the German Federal Navy (Bundesmarine), narrow-gauge railways with a rail gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) were used to move ammunition and materiel. In the depot at Laboe type S 14 (14 kg/m or 28.2 lb/yd) rail profiles were laid and later changed to new S 20 (20 kg/m or 40.3 lb/yd) rails . One type DS 60 locomotive and 18 DIEMA DS 90 locomotives were used. The railway stock there also included a fire fighting train, a snow blower and even a rotary snow plough. Three seated coaches were available for the transport of personnel. The line at Aurich depot was closed in 1982 and last operations in Laboe took place in 1993. Finally, in December 1996, the Laboe railway was closed. Its total track length was 25 km (16 mi). A DS 90 locomotive, no. 9, is still in the depot at Laboe as a memorial.

Today's situation

The use of Feldbahnen declined dramatically in the late 20th century, as their tasks have been taken on by lorries and electrically driven conveyor belts. They are now used only where the ground conditions (e.g. moorland or peat bogs) or lack of space (mining) render the routine use of other means impractical. The Feldbahn is still widely used in Germany in industrial peat extraction, especially in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. In addition they are still used occasionally in brickworks and other industrial premises. As a result, increasing numbers of museums and societies dedicate themselves to the protection of historical Feldbahn railways. This includes efforts in many places to restore closed Feldbahnen again and to give them new life as museum railways.

Feldbahn museums and working lines

Germany

Baden-Württemberg

Bavaria

Fürstenfeldbruck: Fürstenfeldbruck Model Railway Club
Hengersberg
Nuremberg: Feldbahn-Museum 500
Rottau am Chiemsee: Bavarian Moor and Peat Museum
Sankt Oswald-Riedlhütte: Riedlhütte Feldbahn and Waldbahn, 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in), Length: 1 km (0.62 mi)
Petersaurach/Rügland (Ansbach district): Franconian Feldbahn Museum

Berlin

Berlin – FEZ Wuhlheide: 500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) Feldbahn project at FEZ Wuhlheide
Berlin – Britzer Garten: 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) museum railway (built from Feldbahn components on the former BUGA site, several vehicles are replicas of historic prototypes)

Brandenburg

Mildenberg: Mildenberg Brickworks Park, 2 clay tipper railways, 500 mm (19+3⁄4 in) and 630 mm (24+13⁄16 in)

Hesse

Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurt Feldbahn Museum
Eichenberg: Eichenberger Waldbahn
Bad Schwalbacher Kurbahn
Solms–Oberbiel: Feldbahn and Fortuna Pit Railway Museum
Bad Orber Light Railway: reactivated in 2002 with a Feldbahn track^{[citation needed]}

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Alt Schwerin: Historical Agriculture Museum
Bad Sülze: salt museum, peat railway

Lower Saxony

Baltrum: island railway for luggage transportation, 1949–1985
Burgsittensen: Burgsittensen Moor Railway
Deinste: German Feldbahn and Kleinbahn Museum
Diepenau: Uchter Moor Railway
Drochtersen–Aschhorn: Moorkieker Moor Railway
Essern: Essern Moor Railway
Fredenbeck-Wedel: Wedel Feldbahn
Freistatt–Heimstatt: deaconry
Flögeln: Ahlenmoor Moor Railway
Goldenstedt-Arkeburg: Nature information centre
Groß-Hesepe: Emsland Moor Museum
Hildesheim: Hildesheim Feldbahn Museum
Minsener Oog – Minsener Oog Coastal Defence Railway (Lorenbahn for light goods traffic)
Neustadt am Rübenberge
Ostercappeln-Hitzhausen: museum for narrow-gauge industrial railways
Sassenburg-Westerbeck: moor railway and Euflor Peat Works (part of the moor nature trail at www.moorlehrpfad.de)
Saterland–Ramsloh: moor railway services, Koch Peat Works
Wiesmoor: Peat and Settlers Museum

North Rhine-Westphalia

Lengerich Lengerich Railway Society
Lage: Feldbahn in the WIM »Lage Brickworks«
Oekoven: Feldbahn museum
Witten-Bommern: Theresia Mine Pit and Feldbahn Museum
Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum
Schermbeck-Gahlen Feldbahn
Eslohe Mechanical and Local History Museum

Rhineland-Palatinate

Feldbahn on the Serrig farm (former *Feldbahn* of the state vineyard estate in Serrig)

Feldbahn at the brickyard museum Sondernheim

Bad Ems: Pit railway in the Ems Mining Museum
Guldental
Ramsen (Pfalz): Waldbahn stub line
Serrig: estate
Sondernheim: brickyard museum (Ziegeleimuseum Sondernheim)

Saxony

Chemnitz: Feldbahn in the Saxon Railway Museum
Glossen bei Oschatz: Feldbahn viewing point
Leipzig-Lindenau: Museum 'Feldbahn, 800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Lindenau (Radebeul): Radebeul-Lindenau sawmill Feldbahn
Löbau: Werner‘s Garden Railway
Lohmen: Herrenleite Feldbahn Museum, Dresden Historic Feldbahn
Niederwürschnitz (bei Chemnitz): "Old Brickworks" Feldbahn

Saxony-Anhalt

Elbingerode: pit railway
Bennstedt: Feldbahn under construction
Schlanstedt: Schlanstedt Historic Feldbahn
Bad Dürrenberg: 1836 opening of the Tollwitz–Dürrenberger Feldbahn (4.5 km or 2.8 mi) with the first German railway tunnel (133 m or 145 yd)

Schleswig-Holstein

Aumühle near Hamburg: 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) Feldbahn on the terrain of the Verein Verkehrsamateure und Museumsbahn:de:
Bad Bramstedt
Bad Malente Gremsmühlen
Neritz-Flogensee, chicken farm, 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in), length 300 m (330 yd)
Tolk-Schau in Tolk near Schleswig (Stadt)
Nordstrandischmoor island: Lüttmoorsiel-Nordstrandischmoor island railway
The line to the halligs of Oland and Langeneß are built to a 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) gauge which is uncommon amongst Feldbahnen. (however the definition of a Feldbahn is not a question of gauge, but rather of purpose and operation.)
Buchhorster Waldbahn, as museum railway operated remaining line of the former brickworks and matchworks near Lauenburg an der Elbe.

Thuringia

Ilfeld – Netzkater: pit railway
Ilmenau: in the Volle Rose Show Mine
Lichtenhain: Waldeisenbahn
Trusetal: Hühn Pit – pit railway

Austria

Lower Austria: Freiland in Türnitz, Feldbahn and industrial railway museum
Lower Austria: Schwarzau im Gebirge, Rotte Naßwald: Naßwald Waldbahn (closed in 2008)
Lower Austria: Schwechat, Schwechat Railway Museum
Upper Austria: Wels, Scholz Feldbahn [1]
Vienna: Geriatriezentrum Am Wienerwald Feldbahn (closed 2011)
Salzburg: Diabasbahn Saalfelden (closed in 2008 and replaced by a standard-gauge line)
Salzburg: Großgmain Museum Feldbahn (rebuilt in 2009)

Austria/Switzerland

Lustenau: International Rhine Control Railway (Bahn der internationalen Rheinregulierung)

Switzerland

Steam locomotive *Emma* of the Schinznach Nursery Railway in autumn 2008 (www.schbb.ch)

Schinznach-Dorf: Schinznach Nursery Railway (www.schbb.ch)
Otelfingen: Swiss Feldbahn and Werkbahn Society

Belgium

Pairi Daiza zoo passenger steam train.^[1]

Czech Republic

Kolínská řepařská drážka: sugar beet line (Rübenbahn)

Norway

Kristiansand Kanonmuseum. Former ammunition railroad to Marinenküstenbatterie 6./502 "Vara" (Norwegian name: Mövik fort). Built around 1941-1942, partially decommissioned around 1960. Restored back to running order in June 2016.

References

^ "The Steam Train". Pairi Daiza.