Kleinbahnen

Facts

South Jutland's narrow-gauge railways

By Flemming Sørensen, Arkitekt og leder af Museum Sønderjyllands bygningskontor (3 stories)

In 1892, the Prussian parliament decided to build Kleinbahnen" (small railways) in Schleswig-Holstein. The railways expanded the transport network fairly quickly and reasonably economically. The narrow-gauge railways had limited security and service but were cheaper than main lines. The "Kleinbahnen" were built at the end of the 19th century. The tracks were 100 centimetres wide, unlike the normal 143.5 centimetres. They ran from the towns of Sønderborg, Aabenraa and Haderslev bringing transport and development to the farthest corners of the districts. Many detours and often long transport times resulted in nicknames such as "Kringelbahn" (Pretzelbahn) and "Pearl". "

Not a public place

Selected entry

Idyllic station in life and death

Story written by Flemming Sørensen

Time / Periode 1892 1939

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Over Åstrup Station is a fine example of a Kleinbahn" station: A small German national romantic building with a corner tower. The station was designed by Baurat Jablonowski in 1898 with a half-timbered top storey over a brick ground floor. Over Åstrup Station housed the station master's home and an inn that helped him make ends meet. Many kleinbahn stations had inns. Later the coaching stable was converted into a meeting house. In its best year, 20,000 passengers travelled on the railway but the number fell to 6,000 in the 1930s. The building hit the local headlines many years ago when one of the residents was tracked down and arrested for a grisly murder involving a taxi driver in Vesterris. The Kleinbahn railways continued as district railways but the Haderslev line closed in 1939. Over Åstrup Station and its warehouse still stand in surprisingly good condition despite the murder and replacement windows. "