German Kleinbahn System - Werl Area

[CarltonA]

I resided in the Werl area in the 1980s and was intrigued by a street near Werl station called "An Kleinbahn". Embedded in the road near the level crossing were three rails long disused. It looked like dual standard and narrow gauge. I can find nothing in English but I found the following link which my German is too poor to make much sense of. Was this disused track in the road part of a system mentioned in the internet article?

RLK Geschichte - Eisenbahnfreunde Werl e.V.

www.eisenbahnfreunde-werl.de

 

[30907]

If you look in the section RLK - was ist geblieben (what survives), which is marked as "under construction," there are photos of mixed-gauge track, so I reckon you are almost certainly right.
There is also a section on the system in "Railway Holiday in Northern Germany" (WJK Davies/D&C, 1965ish) but it doesn't cover Werl.
I suggest contacting the EF Werl - in English will be fine.

 

[Gloster]

If you can read German, then there is an entry on the German Wikipedia on the AG-Ruhr-Lippe Kleinbahn. It looks as though the bit at Werl was metre gauge.

 

[CarltonA]

Thanks 30907 that "was ist geblieben" page shows a photo "Ein Stück 3 Schienengleis auf einem Fabrikgelände in Werl". That is probably what I saw in about 1983. I'm guessing there was a connection with the main line there for some purpose.

 

[Calthrop]

There is also a section on the system in "Railway Holiday in Northern Germany" (WJK Davies/D&C, 1965ish) but it doesn't cover Werl.

Davies's book, which I have -- published indeed in 1965 -- tells of a tour which he made, I think, the previous year. By inference from the several pages in the book, about the Ruhr-Lippe-Kleinbahn; plus material from the item linked-to by the OP: as at 1964, the only parts of the system then remaining in use were two standard-gauge sections, freight-only, respectively at its northern and southern extremities -- on the more northerly and longer of which (some 20km. running due east from Hamm), Davies travelled by special permission on a freight. The linked-to item tells of end of passenger service on the route through Werl in 1952 (together with that on most of the system): complete closure east of Werl in 1953, and north-west of Werl in 1962.

The linked-to item claims that as at 1936, with system at maximum extent: [approximately-rounded figures] of a total of 100 km., 25 km. were standard gauge, 20 km. three-rail, and 55 km. metre-gauge only. (For what it's worth, Davies gives different figures: one would be inclined, I feel, to give greater credence to the directly-German source.) Neither source gives a fully detailed breakdown of what was the gauge status re the entire system: it can be ascertained, though, that there were standard-gauge / mixed parts at system's southern end, quite close to Werl; I feel that it could be hypothesised that there might have been mixed gauge into Werl from the south and east?

 

[Gloster]

A quick skim of the German Wikipedia page, which is a bit difficult as there is no geographic map, suggests that although most traffic had ceased by the early 1960s a small standard-gauge section in Werl remained open for goods traffic until 1 August 1975. This connected with DB’s Dortmund-Soest line, but whether this was operated by the RLE or by DB is not clear.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Bahntrassenradeln.de reports that a 900 m stretch of the line east of Werl is now a cycleway.

 

[alex17595]

The Schweers and Wall rail atlas has an entry for it which translates (using google) to:

Ruhr-Lippe-eisenbahn (today RLG) gauge 1000 mm, from 1907 three-track or gauge change to 1435mm.

Seems they had a bit of a network:
Hamm-Ostonnen 23.3Km
Soest - Neheim 25.4km
Niederense - Mohnesee 5.7km
Hamm - Oestinghausen 24.9Km
Soest - Hovestadt 11.2km


Only Hamm to Lippborg-Heintrop remains in use, partly for freight and partly a tourist line.

 

[Gloster]

Bahntrassenradeln.de reports that a 900 m stretch of the line east of Werl is now a cycleway.

It runs from the DB line to Steinertor and is called Pengel-Pad.

 

[30907]

If you can read German, then there is an entry on the German Wikipedia on the AG-Ruhr-Lippe Kleinbahn. It looks as though the bit at Werl was metre gauge.

There are several photos and an early track plan on the site the OP linked under "Bahnhöfe/nördliche Bahnhöfe."
Between Werl and W-Steinertor (on the east side of the town) there was mixed gauge to serve a yeast factory; this stayed open after the n/g closed until the mid 60s. One photo shows a conventional German station shunter (Kleinlok) but another refers to s/g wagons being shunted by n/g steam locos.