North German Feldbahnen

[Hector Bell]

Those of you who know me from the old days will know that I spent some time working in Germany in the car design industry and whilst at Wolfsburg in Northern Germany I found myself often crossing little railways. As in narrow gauge.  They were possibly a little broader than 600 mm gauge , but the one that I often had to stop at was a line which crossed the main road from Wolfsburg to Gifhorn, not far outside of Gifhorn.
To place it easier, it was near the lovely windmill museum where one can eat like a lord and hire a rowboat to tour the windmills.  My sons fell in out of a canoe!
Now this is pure curiosity.  I'm not about to start breaking the habit of a lifetime and model overseas stuff, but I loved my time in Germany and would dearly like to know the background to this little railway that came out of a wood, crossed the road at a level crossing and sauntered of into a shrubland beyond.

Many thanks,
Martin

[Alan Rees]

There was a peat railway network at Sassenburg-Westerbeck which is not far from the location you have indicated. However, it doesn't look like this railway crossed the Gifhorn - Wolfsburg main road.


http://home.arcor.de/bahnhobbyseiten2/Torfbahn.htm

http://www.merte.de/BE/archiv/38524-01.htm


A short stretch of this line is now operating as a tourist attraction.

[BKLN]

Martin,
this GERMAN webpage below is devoted completely to the railway history of the Gifhorn area.
http://www.bernd.schurade.com/html/arbeitskreis_eisenbahngeschich.html

I assume that this line was either related to farm use (most likely Sugar Beets), or more likely for the Peat yards, which can be found all over North Germany.

Here is the link to the Feldbahn-Museum Hildesheim:
http://www.feldbahnmuseum-hildesheim.de/html/die_exponate.html

It actually mentions the use of Feldbahnen for the Peat ("Torf" in German) in the Gifhorn area.

[BKLN]

I just found this one:

http://home.arcor.de/bahnhobbyseiten2/Torfbahn.htm

Turns out that this peat line might still seems to be in use.

[Hector Bell]

Thanks for looking for me and I will follow those up.  I wonder if I could Google streetview the area.
Gifhorn was a popular watering hole for us Brit contractors on a Friday night.  And sometimes I'd escape Vole's design emporium on a Sunday and go sight seeing, hence the restaurant and windmill museum near Gifhorn.
Failing street view, I will consult a map.

The other narrow gauge was when I was doing my best contract ever near Sontra in Hessen.  I worked at the Brodberg, a disused copper mine, now an industrial estate. I lived in a superb country hotel in Weissenhassel and the street between the two was called Kupferstrasse.  At the bottom of the steep, slippery drive up to the studio was a loco and wagon, definately 600mm gauge, just on a short stretch of track on display.  In this sorry land they'd have been wrecked or stolen in a week.  In Germany, they were oiled and polished by a local man from Hornel every week.  The loco was an O&K. Steam outline, but diesel powered.
There was a level terrace in the hillside opposite which I was sure had been a railway line, perhaps connecting with standard gauge which had ceased when I was there, but went right into the Brodberg at a fairly high level.

If you drive a Volvo, Peugeot or Mercedes, we made your parcel shelf and door cards!!

Martin