Göhrde station
Encyclopedia
Göhrde station is a railway halt on the Dannenberg–Lüneburg railway in the northeastern part of the German state of Lower Saxony
. The former through station in Breese am Seißelberge in the municipality of Nahrendorf
was the destination station for imperial hunts in the nearby state forest of Göhrde
. It was built in 1874 by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company on the old Wittenberge-Buchholz line at kilometre stone 196.3 and is a protected monument.
The station was originally called Breese, but its name was changed in 1875 to Staatsbahnhof Göhrde (Göhrde state railway station) because of its importance to the imperial hunts which took place from 1871 to 1913 in the Göhrde. The station was also popularly known as the Kaiserbahnhof Göhrde or ("Emperor Station, Göhrde"). Since 1979 the station building has been home to the Göhrde Station Child and Youth Training Centre (Bildungsstätte Kinder- and Jugendzentrum Bahnhof Göhrde). In 1989 the station facilities were downgraded to a single track used by passenger trains only. Since then Göhrde has no longer been a station (Bahnhof) according to German railway regulations, but a halt (Haltepunkt). The halt is on timetable route (as at: 2008) and, since 2004, has been the eastern limit of the Hamburg Transport Network (Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
), or HVV, on regional route 31. It is classified as a category
6 station (local halt), its facilities equating to those of a bus stop.
was imminent in October 1873, the first designs for a station at Breese were unfolded by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway. It was intended from the outset as the reception station for the emperor's hunting parties and was built in the following year, 1874. The station was ceremonially opened on 26 November 1874 on the occasion of the first visit by the German Emperor
.
The construction of the railway and the station at the northern end of the former Rundling
village of Breese am Seißelberge, along with its associated road that ran parallel to the railway, changed the appearance of the village and gave it a rectangular shape.
With the end of the monarchy
in Germany in 1918, the heyday of the station was over and no more hunting parties or high-ranking personalities arrived. From then on the station, and particularly the station building, were fully used for railway operations and were modified several times thereafter. During the time of the Third Reich the Nazi leadership and the Reichsbahn management certainly had further plans to use the station for high-ranking occasions and thus to double the size of the station buildings, but they did not come to fruition. Allegedly Hermann Göring
did not consent to hunting in the Göhrde.
During the Reichsbahn era
the station was an operating point that reported to the railway office at Wittenberge
and belonged to the Hamburg Reichsbahn division. It was grouped into the fourth and lowest category (by comparison Lüneburg
was a first class station, Dahlenburg
third class and Dannenberg
Ost second class).
After the Second World War, through traffic over the river Elbe
was severed and the importance of the line shrank to a regional railway, just serving Lüchow-Dannenberg district. At the same time the use of private transport gained increasing momentum. In the post-war years the Deutsche Bundesbahn
concentrated on the functional preservation of the station and on simplifying railway operations. The preservation of the historic buildings faded into the background.
In 1979 the Deutsche Bundesbahn sold the station building in a run-down state to the Göhrde Station Child and Youth Training Centre. The station was placed under conservation protection in 1981 and work began on its restoration in 1983. The interior of the station building was converted into a training centre and restored to its original historic appearance externally.
In 1989 the last downgrading of the station facilities was carried out. Its goods facilities were closed and Göhrde became no more than a passenger halt. In 2004 the district of Lüneburg joined the Hamburg Transport Network (Hamburger Verkehrsverbund or HVV). Since 12 December 2004 the halt has been the easternmost railway station in the HVV's fare zone.
, a station that lay on the Hanover–Hamburg railway
about 24 kilometres from the hunting lodge at Göhrde. The last part of the journey had to be made by coach
.
The Wittenberge–Buchholz branch was opened as far as Hitzacker
on 15 December 1873. From 1874 the imperial hunting party no longer travelled to the Göhrde via Bevensen, but via Wittenberge
and Breese, as the station for the Göhrde was originally called. Breese station is about 4.5 kilometres from the hunting lodge. This final part of the route was initially traversed by coach and, later, by motor vehicle
.
The first imperial hunting part travelled on 26 November 1874, before the official opening of the whole line on 31 December 1874. For that reason the section from Hitzacker to Breese am Seißelberge was taken over by the police on 20 or 24 November 1874. The royal train, comprising three passenger coaches and a luggage van left Berlin at 14.30 and crossed the bridge over the Elbe at Dömitz at 17.25. At Dannenberg
and Hitzacker the train halted briefly for official receptions.
Special regulations governed the transportation of royalty and VIPs. The railway staff were sworn to secrecy and all documents had to be destroyed after the journey. Reserve locomotives had to be made available at certain stations and these engines had to be facing the direction of travel of the train and ready to move as long as the royal train was in their district. The engine driver and fireman were not permitted to leave the locomotive during this time. During the journey, the train was not allowed to be subject to any impacts or heavy swaying movements. The place at which the train was to stop in the station was indicated by an official with an unfurled red flag or, during the hours of darkness, by a red light. The station was decorated ceremonially for the visit and a red carpet
was laid out from the platform through the west wing of the station to the exit on the station forecourt. There was always a large crowd of the local population because everyone wanted to see the emperor. The governor's office (Landdrostei) in Lüneburg was responsible for the safety of the imperial household. During the first visit of the emperor, two sergeants (Oberwachtmeister), seven mounted gendarmes
and four gendarmes on foot were employed as guards.
The last imperial hunt in the Göhrde region took place before the outbreak of the First World War on 30 and 31 October 1913. Emperor Wilhelm II had invited his sons - the princes Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
, Oskar of Prussia
and Joachim of Prussia
- the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
, the Reich Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, General Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke
and the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Ladislaus de Szögyény-Marich
. A very large number of staff were required for the two-day event. There was a total of 90 staff, of which half were part of the emperor's permanent house staff and half were drawn from the local villages. The imperial household had travelled for 2 or 3 days prior to the hunt. In addition the invited guests brought with them one, or at most, two, servants.
6). The goods facilities are mostly to be found north of the tracks and there are two signal box
es: one at the western and one at the eastern approach to the station. The entire station and its approach has been placed under protection.
West of the station building stood a small shed for handling express goods. East of the station building were three outbuildings: a toilet, a wash house and a stable.
The station building was modified several times over the course of the years, the first being in 1909. The attic of the east wing was partially upgraded to take 3 bedrooms. After 1918 the whole building could be used for railway operations or by the railway staff. In 1925/26 a -room flat was built for a gang foreman (Rottenführer, a Rotte was a gang of track workers) in the west wing, which in imperial times had been reserved exclusively for VIPs, and cellars were built under half the area of the wing. The public waiting room was converted in 1935 into a station restaurant and the reservable waiting room into the restaurant kitchen. A small beer cellar was established underneath. The usable area of the offices in the central section was halved and used as living quarters (Wohnraum) and a club room (Klubzimmer). In the wings, the dormer windows facing the tracks were replaced by bay windows, the open balcony
on the street side was closed in by windows and all the chimney tops were replaced.
The fourth modification took place in 1967 during the Deutsche Bundesbahn era and had the widest reaching consequences for the architectural style of the building. The preservation of the old structure took a back seat in favour of a simple functional design. This was most visible in the roof, where the slates were replaced by corrugated asbestos sheets and the dormers on the forecourt side removed. The doors to the balcony on the first floor were replaced by a single-casement window and the conservatories on the second floor were removed, all bar their support frames. Originally the balconies were to have been completely torn down, but for structural reasons that would have taken a great deal of work and so this did not happen on grounds of cost. The two-piece transom windows (Sprossenfenster) on the first floor were almost all replaced by simple single-casement windows.
At the end of 1983, the Göhrde Station Child and Youth Centre began restoration work on the station building and remaining outbuildings. The work was financially supported by the state of Lower Saxony
and the Federal Government and, largely under their own initiative, carried out by workshop projects for unemployed people or by interested individuals.
The first phase saw the west wing being restored. The attic was converted into a living and sleeping area for twelve people. On the forecourt and track sides two double-raftered dormers were built and the timber-framed facade and the rooms in the centre section were restored. In the centre section, the balconies were rebuilt and were given copies of the original doors based on an original blueprint. All the windows on the first floor were replaced in order to recreate its former appearance and chimney pots of the original design were added.
The old offices on the ground floor were restored to their original dimensions, the station restaurant was renovated and the roof was recovered with slates again.
stations and stops. A small smoking area with a sign at the end of the unmetalled footpath that leads from the approach road alongside private land to the halt, makes the point clear.
and a loading ramp designed for both side- and end-loading. On the loading ramp were cattle pens for loading cattle
. Both facilities were located at the end of a loading road, which could be accessed via a level crossing
at the western end of the station. Apart from the loading road, there was only an unmetalled farm track on the other side of the level crossing.
The loading area up to the old goods shed is still in the ownership of the Deutsche Bahn AG. The goods shed is now privately owned.
- track 2. Track 3 was another crossing and passing loop and track 4 was a storage siding
. Track 5 ran alongside the goods shed and loading ramp. Track 6 was a stub siding that ended at the head of the loading ramp. Track 7 was the loading siding alongside the loading road.
The first dismantling of the trackage took place in 1956 when the storage siding, track 4, was lifted. In the second half of the 1970s the crossing and passing loop, track 3 and the section of track 5 parallel to the loading siding (track 7) was removed. The goods siding, track 5, and the main running line, track 1, were lifted in 1989. The remaining track 2 was connected directly to the running line at both ends.
s between tracks 3 and 4, so that stored railway vehicles could not inadvertently roll onto the lines being used by through traffic. The level crossing to the loading road was originally gated.
The points
, signal installations and level crossing barriers were controlled by two signal box
es. The main signal box (Befehlsstellwerk), designated by the letters Gw, was located at the western end of the station next to the level crossing; and a subsidiary or "pointsmen's" signal box (Wärterstellwerk), designated as Go, at the eastern end.
In the late 1950s operations on the line were downgraded to a simplified branch line service by the Deutsche Bundesbahn
. As a result, the signal boxes, signals, point drives for the remotely controlled points and barriers were removed. The level crossing has since been protected by flashing lights. The entry turnouts were thrown, when necessary, by train crews using a lever apparatus located in a shelter by the station building.
(RB) trains on scheduled route 112 from Lüneburg to Dannenberg Ost, which at the same time is Regionalbahn line 31 to Göhrde on the Hamburg Transport Network (HVV). The other stops in the direction of Dannenberg are no longer within the HVV fare zone.
Since the turn of the year 1988/89 goods have no longer been handled at the station. The station has always been a stop for all passenger trains. The most important trains that stopped at Göhrde were the fast-stopping trains (Eilzüge
) in the 1960s to 1980s that ran through to Hamburg
.
, two pairs of passenger trains and a pair of mixed trains stopped at Göhrde station daily, enabling through connexions to Wittenberge and Buchholz. The number of train connexions did not change when the Berlin-Hamburg Railway was nationalised in 1884. Journey times in the early years were about 66 minutes to Lüneburg and 44 minutes to Dannenberg. The price of a single, second class ticket to Lüneburg in 1880 was 200 pfennig
s and a third class ticket was 130 pfennigs. A single to Dannenberg cost 120 pfennigs in second class and 80 pfennigs in third class.
At the beginning of the 1910s the branch in Lüneburg was split into two lines and through services to Buchholz ceased. The passenger trains stopping in Göhrde now started and finished their journeys at Lüneburg. After the Second World War the line was severed when the Russians dropped the bridge over the Elbe at Dömitz; through services to Wittenberge were now no longer possible. The passenger trains that stopped at the station were largely restricted to those working the Lüneburg–Dannenberg Ost route. The only exceptions were the occasional Eilzug
pairs that ran from the 1960s onwards, the so-called "semi-fast hedgerow trains" (Heckeneilzüge), that sometimes provided through connexions to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
. These semi-fast trains were withdrawn when the timetable changed in May 1988.
The number of passenger trains stopping at Göhrde varied during the 20th century between six and fourteen daily. On average five pairs of trains ran each day. Before the First World War there were seven pairs in the timetable; this number reduced during the war to five. The last timetable used before the Second World War had five pairs of trains in it, of two were dropped during the war years and the immediate post-war period. In the 1950s, ten passenger trains stopped at the station on workdays, just as many as in the winter timetable of 1988/89.
Currently five Regionalbahn trains pass each way on workdays, running every 3 hours. On Sundays and holidays they run every four hours; three trains working the line to Lüneburg and four to Dannenberg. The journey time to Lüneburg is 42 minutes and to Dannenberg, 26 minutes. The HVV fare for a single ticket from Göhrde to Lüneburg in second class is 2.60 euro
s and the normal DB fare for a single from Göhrde to Dannenberg is 4.90 euros.
Amongst the goods delivered to Göhrde were food, in the form of part-piece loads, and artificial fertiliser, briquets and coke, peat, sugar beet scraps and other feedstuffs in full wagon loads. Goods dipatched included eating and seed potatoes, sugar beet, straw, hay, pit props, oak, beech and spruce logs, animals for slaughter and for breeding. Even by imperial times, grain was loaded for dispatch to Berlin. In the 1920s wood for dolphin
s was delivered from Göhrde to Hamburg Harbour
and, in the post-war years, large quantities of pit prop
s were sent to the Ruhr
area. Sugar beet was loaded here until the late 1980s. In the last years before the goods facilities were closed logs were the only freight to be loaded at Göhrde.
From the end of the 1960s, goods were handled by a local goods train (Nahgüterzug
) that ran from Lüneburg to Dannenberg Ost. Although it did not stop at Göhrde station, the wagons were only transported as far as Dahlenburg. From Dahlenburg the freight was then delivered to Göhrde on a goods transfer train (Übergabegüterzug
), which was hauled by a light shunter of the Kleinlokomotive
or Köf type. Freight was dispatched again using a Nahgüterzug from Dannenberg Ost to Lüneburg, that returned again after reaching the Dannenberg terminus at the end of the line. In the 1980s, goods were transported exclusively by transfer trains to and from Lüneburg. During the sugar beet harvest, additional goods trains were laid on. These entailed a Köf, stationed in Dannenberg Ost, hauling a transfer train twice a week from Dannenberg to Göhrde and back.
The old station building has overnight accommodation, toilets and bathrooms, kitchens and common rooms for up to 45 people. Its facilities includes a film and photographic laboratory
, a screen printing facility, workshop, beehive
, a vegetable garden and fruit orchard and a multi-purpose field.
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
. The former through station in Breese am Seißelberge in the municipality of Nahrendorf
Nahrendorf
Nahrendorf is a municipality in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
was the destination station for imperial hunts in the nearby state forest of Göhrde
Göhrde State Forest
The Göhrde State Forest is the largest contiguous mixed forest region in North Germany. It lies in the districts of Lüchow-Dannenberg and Lüneburg.- Description :...
. It was built in 1874 by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company on the old Wittenberge-Buchholz line at kilometre stone 196.3 and is a protected monument.
The station was originally called Breese, but its name was changed in 1875 to Staatsbahnhof Göhrde (Göhrde state railway station) because of its importance to the imperial hunts which took place from 1871 to 1913 in the Göhrde. The station was also popularly known as the Kaiserbahnhof Göhrde or ("Emperor Station, Göhrde"). Since 1979 the station building has been home to the Göhrde Station Child and Youth Training Centre (Bildungsstätte Kinder- and Jugendzentrum Bahnhof Göhrde). In 1989 the station facilities were downgraded to a single track used by passenger trains only. Since then Göhrde has no longer been a station (Bahnhof) according to German railway regulations, but a halt (Haltepunkt). The halt is on timetable route (as at: 2008) and, since 2004, has been the eastern limit of the Hamburg Transport Network (Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund is a company coordinating the public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide the user with a unified fare system, requiring only a single ticket for journeys with transfers between different operating companies, and to further...
), or HVV, on regional route 31. It is classified as a category
German railway station categories
About 5,400 railway stations in Germany that are owned and operated by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Station&Service are assigned into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station....
6 station (local halt), its facilities equating to those of a bus stop.
History
A railway halt at Breese am Seißelberge was first mentioned in August 1869 in an explanatory report about preparations for the construction of the Wittenberge-Buchholz branch. At the time only a halt was planned – and it would have been the only one on the line; all the other stopping points were stations. When the construction of the line was already well under way and the opening of the section to HitzackerHitzacker
Hitzacker is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Elbe, approx. 8 km north of Dannenberg, and 45 km east of Lüneburg. The 2007 population of Hitzacker was 4,982, and its postal code is 29456. The mayor is Karl Guhl...
was imminent in October 1873, the first designs for a station at Breese were unfolded by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway. It was intended from the outset as the reception station for the emperor's hunting parties and was built in the following year, 1874. The station was ceremonially opened on 26 November 1874 on the occasion of the first visit by the German Emperor
German Emperor
This article is about the emperors of the German Empire. For full list of German monarchs before 1871, see List of German monarchs.The German Emperor was the official title of the Head of State and ruler of the German Empire, beginning with the proclamation of Wilhelm I as emperor during the...
.
The construction of the railway and the station at the northern end of the former Rundling
Rundling
A Rundling or place village is a primitive form of circular village, typical of Slav settlements in Europe in the Early Medieval period....
village of Breese am Seißelberge, along with its associated road that ran parallel to the railway, changed the appearance of the village and gave it a rectangular shape.
With the end of the monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
in Germany in 1918, the heyday of the station was over and no more hunting parties or high-ranking personalities arrived. From then on the station, and particularly the station building, were fully used for railway operations and were modified several times thereafter. During the time of the Third Reich the Nazi leadership and the Reichsbahn management certainly had further plans to use the station for high-ranking occasions and thus to double the size of the station buildings, but they did not come to fruition. Allegedly Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
did not consent to hunting in the Göhrde.
During the Reichsbahn era
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
the station was an operating point that reported to the railway office at Wittenberge
Wittenberge
Wittenberge is a town of twenty thousand people on the lower Elbe in the district of Prignitz , Brandenburg, Germany.-History:...
and belonged to the Hamburg Reichsbahn division. It was grouped into the fourth and lowest category (by comparison Lüneburg
Lüneburg
Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...
was a first class station, Dahlenburg
Dahlenburg
Dahlenburg is a municipality in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km east of Lüneburg. Dahlenburg has a population of 3,449 ....
third class and Dannenberg
Dannenberg (Elbe)
Dannenberg is a town in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the river Elbe, approx. 30 km north of Salzwedel, and 50 km south-east of Lüneburg...
Ost second class).
After the Second World War, through traffic over the river Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
was severed and the importance of the line shrank to a regional railway, just serving Lüchow-Dannenberg district. At the same time the use of private transport gained increasing momentum. In the post-war years the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
concentrated on the functional preservation of the station and on simplifying railway operations. The preservation of the historic buildings faded into the background.
In 1979 the Deutsche Bundesbahn sold the station building in a run-down state to the Göhrde Station Child and Youth Training Centre. The station was placed under conservation protection in 1981 and work began on its restoration in 1983. The interior of the station building was converted into a training centre and restored to its original historic appearance externally.
In 1989 the last downgrading of the station facilities was carried out. Its goods facilities were closed and Göhrde became no more than a passenger halt. In 2004 the district of Lüneburg joined the Hamburg Transport Network (Hamburger Verkehrsverbund or HVV). Since 12 December 2004 the halt has been the easternmost railway station in the HVV's fare zone.
Imperial station
From 1871 the German emperor, Wilhelm I, went hunting every year with a large entourage in the Göhrde. In the early years he and his hunting party travelled from Berlin via Lehrte to BevensenBad Bevensen
Bad Bevensen is a town in the north of the district Uelzen in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated to the east of the Lüneburg Heath . The Ilmenau river, a tributary of the Elbe, flows through Bad Bevensen...
, a station that lay on the Hanover–Hamburg railway
Hanover–Hamburg railway
The Hanover–Hamburg railway is one of the most important railway lines in Lower Saxony and Germany. It links the Lower Saxon state capital of Hanover with Hamburg, running through Celle, Uelzen and Lüneburg.- History :...
about 24 kilometres from the hunting lodge at Göhrde. The last part of the journey had to be made by coach
Coach (carriage)
A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...
.
The Wittenberge–Buchholz branch was opened as far as Hitzacker
Hitzacker
Hitzacker is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Elbe, approx. 8 km north of Dannenberg, and 45 km east of Lüneburg. The 2007 population of Hitzacker was 4,982, and its postal code is 29456. The mayor is Karl Guhl...
on 15 December 1873. From 1874 the imperial hunting party no longer travelled to the Göhrde via Bevensen, but via Wittenberge
Wittenberge station
Wittenberge station is the railway station for the Brandenburg town of Wittenberge in Germany. About 5000 passengers use the station daily and it is served by around 100 trains per day.- Infrastructure :...
and Breese, as the station for the Göhrde was originally called. Breese station is about 4.5 kilometres from the hunting lodge. This final part of the route was initially traversed by coach and, later, by motor vehicle
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...
.
The first imperial hunting part travelled on 26 November 1874, before the official opening of the whole line on 31 December 1874. For that reason the section from Hitzacker to Breese am Seißelberge was taken over by the police on 20 or 24 November 1874. The royal train, comprising three passenger coaches and a luggage van left Berlin at 14.30 and crossed the bridge over the Elbe at Dömitz at 17.25. At Dannenberg
Dannenberg (Elbe)
Dannenberg is a town in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the river Elbe, approx. 30 km north of Salzwedel, and 50 km south-east of Lüneburg...
and Hitzacker the train halted briefly for official receptions.
Special regulations governed the transportation of royalty and VIPs. The railway staff were sworn to secrecy and all documents had to be destroyed after the journey. Reserve locomotives had to be made available at certain stations and these engines had to be facing the direction of travel of the train and ready to move as long as the royal train was in their district. The engine driver and fireman were not permitted to leave the locomotive during this time. During the journey, the train was not allowed to be subject to any impacts or heavy swaying movements. The place at which the train was to stop in the station was indicated by an official with an unfurled red flag or, during the hours of darkness, by a red light. The station was decorated ceremonially for the visit and a red carpet
Red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.- History :...
was laid out from the platform through the west wing of the station to the exit on the station forecourt. There was always a large crowd of the local population because everyone wanted to see the emperor. The governor's office (Landdrostei) in Lüneburg was responsible for the safety of the imperial household. During the first visit of the emperor, two sergeants (Oberwachtmeister), seven mounted gendarmes
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
and four gendarmes on foot were employed as guards.
The last imperial hunt in the Göhrde region took place before the outbreak of the First World War on 30 and 31 October 1913. Emperor Wilhelm II had invited his sons - the princes Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
Prince Eitel Friedrich was the second son of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein...
, Oskar of Prussia
Prince Oskar of Prussia
Prince Oskar of Prussia was the fifth son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.-Education:...
and Joachim of Prussia
Prince Joachim of Prussia
Prince Joachim Franz Humbert of Prussia was the youngest son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, by his first wife, Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.-Candidate for thrones:...
- the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...
, the Reich Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, General Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger
Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke , also known as Moltke the Younger, was a nephew of Field Marshal Count Moltke and served as the Chief of the German General Staff from 1906 to 1914. The two are often differentiated as Moltke the Elder and Moltke the Younger...
and the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Ladislaus de Szögyény-Marich
Ladislaus de Szögyény-Marich
Ladislaus Freiherr von Szögyény-Marich von Magyar-Szögyén und Szolgaegyháza , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat of Hungarian origin who was a long serving Ambassador at Berlin.- Life :...
. A very large number of staff were required for the two-day event. There was a total of 90 staff, of which half were part of the emperor's permanent house staff and half were drawn from the local villages. The imperial household had travelled for 2 or 3 days prior to the hunt. In addition the invited guests brought with them one, or at most, two, servants.
Railway facilities
The station has an imposing station building on the southern side of the tracks which is accessed via a cobbled approach road from Göhrde's station road (KreisstraßeKreisstraße
A Kreisstraße is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a Kreis or district or between two neighbouring districts. In terms of importance, the Kreisstraße ranks below a Landesstraße , but above a Gemeindestraße or "local road"...
6). The goods facilities are mostly to be found north of the tracks and there are two signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
es: one at the western and one at the eastern approach to the station. The entire station and its approach has been placed under protection.
Station building
The three-storey station building comprises a centre section with a gable frontage, and two wings, one and a half storeys high, with gables at the ends. It was built in brick with timber framing. Its wooden carvings were intended to give it the appearance of a hunting lodge. The offices are in the centre of the building. The west wing was reserved for VIPs, and there were two waiting rooms in the east wing. One waiting room was available to all travellers, while the other could be reserved in order to avoid having to mix with ordinary people. On the first floor of the centre section was a flat for the stationmaster and on the second floor were two flats for the signalmen. Other station staff lived in the neighbouring village of Pommoissel.West of the station building stood a small shed for handling express goods. East of the station building were three outbuildings: a toilet, a wash house and a stable.
The station building was modified several times over the course of the years, the first being in 1909. The attic of the east wing was partially upgraded to take 3 bedrooms. After 1918 the whole building could be used for railway operations or by the railway staff. In 1925/26 a -room flat was built for a gang foreman (Rottenführer, a Rotte was a gang of track workers) in the west wing, which in imperial times had been reserved exclusively for VIPs, and cellars were built under half the area of the wing. The public waiting room was converted in 1935 into a station restaurant and the reservable waiting room into the restaurant kitchen. A small beer cellar was established underneath. The usable area of the offices in the central section was halved and used as living quarters (Wohnraum) and a club room (Klubzimmer). In the wings, the dormer windows facing the tracks were replaced by bay windows, the open balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
on the street side was closed in by windows and all the chimney tops were replaced.
The fourth modification took place in 1967 during the Deutsche Bundesbahn era and had the widest reaching consequences for the architectural style of the building. The preservation of the old structure took a back seat in favour of a simple functional design. This was most visible in the roof, where the slates were replaced by corrugated asbestos sheets and the dormers on the forecourt side removed. The doors to the balcony on the first floor were replaced by a single-casement window and the conservatories on the second floor were removed, all bar their support frames. Originally the balconies were to have been completely torn down, but for structural reasons that would have taken a great deal of work and so this did not happen on grounds of cost. The two-piece transom windows (Sprossenfenster) on the first floor were almost all replaced by simple single-casement windows.
At the end of 1983, the Göhrde Station Child and Youth Centre began restoration work on the station building and remaining outbuildings. The work was financially supported by the state of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
and the Federal Government and, largely under their own initiative, carried out by workshop projects for unemployed people or by interested individuals.
The first phase saw the west wing being restored. The attic was converted into a living and sleeping area for twelve people. On the forecourt and track sides two double-raftered dormers were built and the timber-framed facade and the rooms in the centre section were restored. In the centre section, the balconies were rebuilt and were given copies of the original doors based on an original blueprint. All the windows on the first floor were replaced in order to recreate its former appearance and chimney pots of the original design were added.
The old offices on the ground floor were restored to their original dimensions, the station restaurant was renovated and the roof was recovered with slates again.
Halt
The present-day halt is located immediately west of the old station building. On the former home platform stands a wooden passenger shelter and a timetable poster. Passenger trains stop at what used to be platform 2 and is now platform 1. The platform has a usable length of 142 metres. The halt can be accessed on foot without the use of steps, but the poorly surfaced platform is too low to enable entry to the coaches at the same height. There is a smoking ban at the halt as at all other Deutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
stations and stops. A small smoking area with a sign at the end of the unmetalled footpath that leads from the approach road alongside private land to the halt, makes the point clear.
Goods facilities
Opposite the station building there used to be a goods shedGoods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train.A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door...
and a loading ramp designed for both side- and end-loading. On the loading ramp were cattle pens for loading cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
. Both facilities were located at the end of a loading road, which could be accessed via a level crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
at the western end of the station. Apart from the loading road, there was only an unmetalled farm track on the other side of the level crossing.
The loading area up to the old goods shed is still in the ownership of the Deutsche Bahn AG. The goods shed is now privately owned.
Track layout
The station used to have seven tracks in all. Tracks 1 and 2 were used for passenger trains, tracks 5 to 7 for goods traffic. Track 1 was the main running track on the line and ran alongside the home platform in front of the station building. Between tracks 1 and 2 there was an island platform from which passengers could access the crossing and passing loopPassing loop
A passing loop is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at a station, where trains or trams in opposing directions can pass each other. Trains/trams in the same direction can also overtake, providing that the signalling arrangement allows it...
- track 2. Track 3 was another crossing and passing loop and track 4 was a storage siding
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
. Track 5 ran alongside the goods shed and loading ramp. Track 6 was a stub siding that ended at the head of the loading ramp. Track 7 was the loading siding alongside the loading road.
The first dismantling of the trackage took place in 1956 when the storage siding, track 4, was lifted. In the second half of the 1970s the crossing and passing loop, track 3 and the section of track 5 parallel to the loading siding (track 7) was removed. The goods siding, track 5, and the main running line, track 1, were lifted in 1989. The remaining track 2 was connected directly to the running line at both ends.
Signalling and safety equipment
The station was protected by ten semaphore signals. At both ends of the station there were a twin-armed entry signal and a distant signal. Exit signals were installed at both ends of tracks 1 to 3. All exit signals were single-armed until the end of the 1930s. The signals on the crossing and passing loops, tracks 2 and 3, were then given a second arm so that the "proceed slowly" aspect could be displayed. Tracks 4 to 7 were secured by derailerDerailer
A Derailer may be* A Derail * A Derailleur A device for changing the gear ratio of a bicycle....
s between tracks 3 and 4, so that stored railway vehicles could not inadvertently roll onto the lines being used by through traffic. The level crossing to the loading road was originally gated.
The points
Railroad switch
A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
, signal installations and level crossing barriers were controlled by two signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
es. The main signal box (Befehlsstellwerk), designated by the letters Gw, was located at the western end of the station next to the level crossing; and a subsidiary or "pointsmen's" signal box (Wärterstellwerk), designated as Go, at the eastern end.
In the late 1950s operations on the line were downgraded to a simplified branch line service by the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
. As a result, the signal boxes, signals, point drives for the remotely controlled points and barriers were removed. The level crossing has since been protected by flashing lights. The entry turnouts were thrown, when necessary, by train crews using a lever apparatus located in a shelter by the station building.
Services
The halt is currently served by RegionalbahnRegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
(RB) trains on scheduled route 112 from Lüneburg to Dannenberg Ost, which at the same time is Regionalbahn line 31 to Göhrde on the Hamburg Transport Network (HVV). The other stops in the direction of Dannenberg are no longer within the HVV fare zone.
Since the turn of the year 1988/89 goods have no longer been handled at the station. The station has always been a stop for all passenger trains. The most important trains that stopped at Göhrde were the fast-stopping trains (Eilzüge
Eilzug
An Eilzug is a type of passenger train in German-speaking countries which roughly equates to a British 'fast-stopping train' or 'semi-fast train'.-Germany:...
) in the 1960s to 1980s that ran through to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
Passenger services
Following the opening of the Wittenberge–Buchholz branch to Buchholz in der NordheideBuchholz in der Nordheide
Buchholz in der Nordheide is the largest town in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km southwest of Hamburg.-Geography:Buchholz is home to the Brunsberg, the region's highest mountain...
, two pairs of passenger trains and a pair of mixed trains stopped at Göhrde station daily, enabling through connexions to Wittenberge and Buchholz. The number of train connexions did not change when the Berlin-Hamburg Railway was nationalised in 1884. Journey times in the early years were about 66 minutes to Lüneburg and 44 minutes to Dannenberg. The price of a single, second class ticket to Lüneburg in 1880 was 200 pfennig
Pfennig
The Pfennig , plural Pfennige, is an old German coin or note, which existed from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002....
s and a third class ticket was 130 pfennigs. A single to Dannenberg cost 120 pfennigs in second class and 80 pfennigs in third class.
At the beginning of the 1910s the branch in Lüneburg was split into two lines and through services to Buchholz ceased. The passenger trains stopping in Göhrde now started and finished their journeys at Lüneburg. After the Second World War the line was severed when the Russians dropped the bridge over the Elbe at Dömitz; through services to Wittenberge were now no longer possible. The passenger trains that stopped at the station were largely restricted to those working the Lüneburg–Dannenberg Ost route. The only exceptions were the occasional Eilzug
Eilzug
An Eilzug is a type of passenger train in German-speaking countries which roughly equates to a British 'fast-stopping train' or 'semi-fast train'.-Germany:...
pairs that ran from the 1960s onwards, the so-called "semi-fast hedgerow trains" (Heckeneilzüge), that sometimes provided through connexions to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof for the German city of Hamburg. It was opened in 1906 to replace 4 terminal stations. Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is operated by DB Station&Service...
. These semi-fast trains were withdrawn when the timetable changed in May 1988.
The number of passenger trains stopping at Göhrde varied during the 20th century between six and fourteen daily. On average five pairs of trains ran each day. Before the First World War there were seven pairs in the timetable; this number reduced during the war to five. The last timetable used before the Second World War had five pairs of trains in it, of two were dropped during the war years and the immediate post-war period. In the 1950s, ten passenger trains stopped at the station on workdays, just as many as in the winter timetable of 1988/89.
Currently five Regionalbahn trains pass each way on workdays, running every 3 hours. On Sundays and holidays they run every four hours; three trains working the line to Lüneburg and four to Dannenberg. The journey time to Lüneburg is 42 minutes and to Dannenberg, 26 minutes. The HVV fare for a single ticket from Göhrde to Lüneburg in second class is 2.60 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s and the normal DB fare for a single from Göhrde to Dannenberg is 4.90 euros.
Goods traffic
Goods were handled at Göhrde station from the outset and data is available from the early years of the station's life. According to these figures, Göhrde station handled 23 tonne-kilometres (c.f. Lüneburg 1782, Dahlenburg 39 and Dannenberg 708 tonne-kilometres).Amongst the goods delivered to Göhrde were food, in the form of part-piece loads, and artificial fertiliser, briquets and coke, peat, sugar beet scraps and other feedstuffs in full wagon loads. Goods dipatched included eating and seed potatoes, sugar beet, straw, hay, pit props, oak, beech and spruce logs, animals for slaughter and for breeding. Even by imperial times, grain was loaded for dispatch to Berlin. In the 1920s wood for dolphin
Dolphin (structure)
A dolphin is a man-made marine structure that extends above the water level and is not connected to shore.Dolphins are usually installed to provide a fixed structure when it would be impractical to extend the shore to provide a dry access facility, for example, when ships are greater than the...
s was delivered from Göhrde to Hamburg Harbour
Hamburg Harbour
-External links:* * Port of Hamburg: Facts, figures, and outlook* * Currently under construction in the HafenCity* *...
and, in the post-war years, large quantities of pit prop
Pit prop
A pit prop or mine prop is a length of lumber used to prop up the roofs of tunnels in coal mines.Canada traditionally supplied pit props to the British market...
s were sent to the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
area. Sugar beet was loaded here until the late 1980s. In the last years before the goods facilities were closed logs were the only freight to be loaded at Göhrde.
From the end of the 1960s, goods were handled by a local goods train (Nahgüterzug
Nahgüterzug
A Nahgüterzug is the name given to a category of local goods train in German-speaking countries. It describes a type of goods train that, unlike the Durchgangsgüterzug - does not stay together for its entire journey; instead wagons can be added or dropped off at intermediate stations en route...
) that ran from Lüneburg to Dannenberg Ost. Although it did not stop at Göhrde station, the wagons were only transported as far as Dahlenburg. From Dahlenburg the freight was then delivered to Göhrde on a goods transfer train (Übergabegüterzug
Übergabegüterzug
An Übergabegüterzug is a goods train that moves individual goods wagons on the first or last stage of their journey i.e. from the start to the first railway hub or from the final railway hub to its destination. Between hubs the wagons are hauled by Nahgüterzüge , i.e...
), which was hauled by a light shunter of the Kleinlokomotive
Kleinlokomotive
A Kleinlokomotive or Kleinlok is a German locomotive of small size and low power for light shunting duties at railway stations and on industrial railways. It is usually powered by a diesel engine...
or Köf type. Freight was dispatched again using a Nahgüterzug from Dannenberg Ost to Lüneburg, that returned again after reaching the Dannenberg terminus at the end of the line. In the 1980s, goods were transported exclusively by transfer trains to and from Lüneburg. During the sugar beet harvest, additional goods trains were laid on. These entailed a Köf, stationed in Dannenberg Ost, hauling a transfer train twice a week from Dannenberg to Göhrde and back.
Training centre
The Göhrde Station Child and Youth Centre (Kinder- und Jugendzentrum Bahnhof Göhrde) has run a training centre in the station building at Göhrde and on the land south of the tracks since 1979.The old station building has overnight accommodation, toilets and bathrooms, kitchens and common rooms for up to 45 people. Its facilities includes a film and photographic laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
, a screen printing facility, workshop, beehive
Beehive
A beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young.Beehive may also refer to:Buildings and locations:* Bee Hive, Alabama, a neighborhood in Alabama* Beehive , a wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings...
, a vegetable garden and fruit orchard and a multi-purpose field.