The Heide–Karolinenkoog railway was a now closed line in the

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...

district in the German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, connecting the district seat of

Heide Heide (; Holsatian: ''Heid'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Dithmarschen. Population: 22,000. The German word ''Heide'' means "heath". In the 15th century four adjoining villages decide ...

via Weddingstedt with the ferry over the

Eider The eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks and some other ducks and geese are used to fill pillows and qu ...

Karolinenkoog Karolinenkoog is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. In 1800 the municipality was named after the polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological ...

. A section of the line north of Heide, a few kilometres long, is now part of the Heide–Büsum railway.

Geography

The line runs branched off from the

Marsh Railway The Marsh Railway () is a main line in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany that links the stations of Elmshorn in the south and Westerland on the island of Sylt in the north. It is part of long route from Hamburg-Altona to Westerlan ...

in Heide station and later passed under it. In Karolinenkoog there was a steam ferry port to Tonning. In satellite images the line can still be clearly seen because in followed a dead straight path. The route of a section of the line is now used by part of federal highway 5 running between the end of Autobahn 23 at Heide-West via Hemme to the Eider bridge at

Tönning Tönning ( German; Low German ''Tünn'', ''Tönn'' or ''Tönnen''; Danish: ''Tønning''; North Frisian: ''Taning'') is a town in the district of Nordfriesland in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. History Tönning was destroyed in the ...

Operations and history

The Heide–Karolinenkoog railway was opened, together with the Neumünster–Heide railway, on 22 August 1877. It was built and operated by the West Holstein Railway Company (''Westholsteinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''). The Wesselburen–Heide Railway Company (''Wesselburen–Heider Eisenbahngesellschaft'') opened a branch from Weddinghusen to the town of

Wesselburen Wesselburen () is a small town in the district of Dithmarschen in the German Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein. It is situated near the North Sea coast, approximately west of Heide. Wesselburen is part of the '' Amt'' ("collective municipali ...

on 1 November 1878 and to Büsum in 1883 (for freight from 1 November and for passengers from 15 November)—this route, the Heide–Büsum railway, still exists today. The Karolinenkoog–Karolinenkoog Eider ferry section was opened on 1 June 1886. From there, a steam ferry operated for passengers and freight over the Eider river to Tonning. The Western Holstein railway company was taken over by the

Prussian state railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the state of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

on 1 July 1890. The line to Karolinenkoog survived only until 20 January 1940. On this day the last train ran to the Karolinenkoog landing ramp, which was destroyed by bombs on this day. Passenger services were cut back to Hemmerwurth on 1 November 1942 and to Weddinghusen at the timetable change on 23 May 1954. Freight traffic to Hemme ended on the last day of 1958. Freight traffic operated to Weddinghusen until 30 April 1968.

Notes

References

* * (reprint of Deutsche Reichsbahn presentation of 1935) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heide-Karolinenkoog railway Railway lines in Schleswig-Holstein Railway lines opened in 1877 Dithmarschen 1877 establishments in Germany