1897-1920 Edit The Wangerooger Inselbahn was opened in 1897 in meter gauge by the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Railway (GOE). The operation was carried out from the beginning by steam locomotives, not as a horse-drawn train as on some neighboring islands. The route led from the newly built investor in the southwest of the island to the center of the island village in the middle of the island. For the 3.5-kilometer route, a train took about 20 minutes at a top speed of 30 km / h. These times are still valid today, even if the route has changed several times. In 1901, the navy built a 1.9-kilometer branch line from the half-way saline to the west of the island to connect military bases.
In 1905 the east pier was built as a second feeder and connected to the station in the island village by a 5.4 km long rail connection. In order to meet the growing traffic flows, in 1906 a new, large-sized railway station was built on what was then the southern edge of the village. The two tracks were spanned by a station concourse. This station essentially still exists today.
In 1912, a new west feeder, which lay just to the east of the old West Anlegers, went into operation. He was connected by a new, approximately parallel to the existing route running route with the branch Saline. The other investor in the southwest went out of service and the associated railway line was subsequently dismantled. The purpose of this measure was to expand Wangerooges as a fortress with a powerful rail network. In the course of the First World War, numerous sidings were laid to military facilities. There were up to four sections of the island railway on the small island with a maximum of 24 sidings.
1920-1945 Edit In 1920, the island railway came in the course of the summary of the country railways to the German Reichsbahn.
There, the previously designated as No. 3 to 5 steam locomotives were run as series 99.02, a collective name for narrow-gauge steam locomotives. Mid-1920s, a track triangle was established at the Saline, which in turn had mainly military purposes, such as the faster transport of guns. This track triangle was umtrassiert several times and finally dismantled in 1969. Also in the mid-1920s, the first four-axle passenger cars were purchased, and twice a week a coffee train drove from the village station to the station west and back.
The number of spa guests - and therefore passengers - stagnated at a low level around 1930, but rose to six-fold with 65,500 passengers by 1939, of which two thirds arrived via the east landing stage.
From 1939 to 1952 drove a box steam locomotive 99 081 on Wangerooge, which was called because of the heat development in the cab of the staff "greenhouse".
During the Second World War Wangerooge was once again of great strategic importance, since the island is located in the estuary of the Weser and near the then war-important city of Wilhelmshaven (see: Military History Wangerooges). On April 25, 1945, there was a heavy air attack on Wangerooge with significant bombardments. The route between the salt works and the village, the station concourse and numerous passenger and freight cars were also destroyed.
From 1934 to 1947, the west tower had a connection through the short extension of the section Saline (Gleisdreieck) - west.
Since 1945 edit
Locomotive 329 502 in 1983 at the feeder Wangerooge The destroyed route was rebuilt after the war. In 1952, the now leading German Federal Railways began with the introduction of diesel locomotives. First diesel locomotive was a Gmeinder locomotive. In 1957 the traction change was completed. In 1955, a minibus-type draisine was procured.
The number of passengers who arrived at the east pier and drove the eastern island railway line was very high after the Second World War, as the popular tourist island Helgoland was still British occupied. After 1952 Helgoland was again accessible to Germans, so that the traffic over the eastern investor fell sharply. In 1958 he and thus the eastern section of the island railway was mined. In the village, the tracks are still about 200 meters to the east and serve as Auszieh- and siding.
From a conversion program in 1959 four-axle passenger cars were purchased for the island railway, which resembled the then frequent Umbauwagen the standard gauge. They were originally painted dark green, but received from 1972 advertising paint or bi-color paints that strongly based on the experimental pop livery of the German Federal Railroad.
In 1969, the track triangle, which previously had direct drives between port and west accounted for.
Between 1952 and 1971, a total of four diesel locomotives of the DB 329 series were procured. In 1977, the trolley was replaced by a newer model. In 1981, a class 699 railcar and some cars were added, which had previously been in use on the neighboring island of Spiekeroog until the closure of the local island railway.
In 1990, two more diesel locomotives were procured, this time from East Germany from the former Mansfeld Combine. In the following years, 14 new cars were added from the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (Raw) Wittenberge, which were painted in Fernblau / Lichtgrau, analogous to the so-called product colors of the Interregio trains, and completely replaced the previous passenger cars.
As of January 1, 1992, two years prior to the founding of Deutsche Bahn (DB), locomotives of the class 329 were redesignated in series 399.1. In 1995/96 the tracks were renewed.
From 1997 on, there was a museum steam locomotive operation on Wangerooge for a few years each summer. For this, the locomotive "Franzburg" of the DEV was brought from the mainland to the island.
In 1999, DB AG procured two new diesel locomotives from the manufacturer Schöma (399 107 and 399 108), which have since been used primarily in passenger train service. As a result, the four oldest diesel locomotives (399 101-104) could be turned off and the operations of the damage-prone Romanian locomotives (399 105 and 106) reduced.
Edificio molto bello e punto di arrivo della ferrovia dell'isola, che va dal molo occidentale attraverso le saline fino alla stazione nel villaggio dell'isola.
Alla stazione ferroviaria dell'isola nel centro della città, i vacanzieri hanno raggiunto la destinazione del viaggio combinato in traghetto e treno dell'isola per Wangerooge.