The Feldbahnfreunde Schermbeck-Gahlen e.V. association, which is responsible for the preservation of the historic Feldbahn vehicles, laid the 600 mm gauge field railway tracks next to the road at the edge of the field. Some of them can be seen at the north-west end of the little street on the grounds of the Haferkamp farm.
On the history of the Feldbahn we read on Wikipedia: "From 1908 to 1936, lorry trains drove the clay from the pits to the Lippe, from where the clay was reloaded onto a freight cableway and transported to the factory. From 1936 the trains drove directly to the factory. [...] It was one of the oldest surviving field railways in Germany and had a varied route."
At the beginning of the 20th century, the brick industry flourished around Schermbeck, as large clay deposits of high quality could be found in the region. The enormous demand for building materials arose above all in the steadily growing Ruhr area. Around 20 field railways were built in the Schermbeck area, connecting the respective clay pits with the brickworks. Some of the trains also transported gravel to the nearby Schermbecker station. With the closure of the brickworks in the second half of the 20th century, the railways were also dismantled and thus disappeared from the landscape and from public awareness.
The field railway of the Idunahall brickworks was built in 1908 and fulfilled its task until 2002 with transporting clay from the Gahlen clay pits to the brickworks. The section of line between the canal bridge and the Heisterkamp that has been preserved today has been in operation for 103 years with only a few changes, making it one of the oldest surviving field railway lines in Germany.
At the end of 2005, the brick factory was finally closed. A group of friends of the field railway have devoted their free time and as much as they could to the maintenance of the track and the vehicles since the field railway operation was discontinued in 2002. In February 2007, some of the active members founded the Feldbahnfreunde Schermbeck-Gahlen e.V.
The route, which is still preserved today, begins at the parking lot at the Lippe Bridge, runs along the Maaßenstraße and crosses the Lippe and the Wesel-Datteln Canal on a common bridge. Behind the canal bridge and the restaurant "Hohes Ufer" it crosses under the Hünxer Straße and leads along the meadows and through the forest to the Heisterkampstraße. This is where the drivable section ends. The rest of the route is still clearly visible.
Translated by Google •
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