Förderstedt
Germany
Gauge : 500mm
Status : Ceased by 1993
(Click on images for full size picture)
This small 500mm gauge railway was situated just outside Stassfurt, at Förderstedt,
and served a concrete works which included two line kilns. There were two locos here, which had a small shed at the end of the line.
In February 1993, one of the two NS1 LKM 4wDM locos was driven out of the shed to be photographed. The other loco was at the back of the shed, and could only be started with the help of a battery. Previously there had been 4 of these locos here, but two had been sent for scrap a short time earlier.
One branch of the short 0.25km line went around two large lime kilns, where the lime was discharged into waiting skips underneath.
The tracks descibed a figure of eight around the kilns with a crossover between the kilns. At this date, the railway was only active for about an hour early in the morning, and only had 4 workers. In more prosperous days this works had employed over 50 people.
The kilns were charged by a skip tipping into a metal bucket which was raised to the top of the kilns by two elevators. This length of track was isolated from the rest of the system.
The other branch of the line travelled a short distance to the works complex where the cement was processed. A couple of other short sidings existed, such as here before the line entered the cement works.