Driver's Eye View (German Narrow Gauge Steam) - Part 1 - Bruchhausen-Vilsen to Asendorf

The “Deutscher Eisenbahn-Verein (German Railway Society)” or “DEV” was founded in November 1964 as the “Deutscher Kleinbahn-Verein (German Kleinbahn Society)”. It was set up to preserve a working branch line as an open air museum including all the equipment associated with operating such a line including buildings, rolling stock and locomotives.
The term “Kleinbahn” was a Prussian term that referred to branch lines with low expected volumes of traffic requiring minimum construction standards when compared to main lines or regular branch lines, “Kleinbahnen” were mainly found in northern Germany, although one can't help drawing comparisons with the Colonel Stephens empire of ramshackle railways in Great Britain.
On the 2nd July 1966, the first train ran on the narrow gauge section of line between Bruchhausen-Vilsen and Heiligenberg operated by “Verkehrsbetriebe Grafschaft Hoya (Hoya County Transport Company)” , using the steam locomotive “Bruchhausen” and one coach. Apart from a number of short-lived trials, this was the first heritage railway in Germany.
Since then the Lower Saxony “Kleinbahn Museum (Niedersächsisches Kleinbahn-Museum)” has emerged running trains at weekends from May to September with additional Christmas services in December. Services on the Bruchhausen-Vilsen - Asendorf route are predominantly operated with steam traction. Under the name “Hoyaer Eisenbahn”, a connecting service is operated on the Eystrup - Hoya - Bruchhausen-Vilsen - Syke route. In Bruchhausen-Vilsen station, standard gauge vehicles can if required be transferred to the narrow gauge section by means of “rollbocks (Rollböcken)” or “transporter wagons (Rollwagen)”.
The history of two gauges of railway in Bruchhausen-Vilsen station -
On 6th June 1900, a 29-kilometer-long, meter-gauge railway line from Syke via Heiligenfelde and Bruchhausen-Vilsen to Hoya was opened along with an eight-kilometer branch line between Bruchhausen-Vilsen and Asendorf. On 1st June 1905 a three-kilometre connection was added between Hoya and Bücken, bringing the meter-gauge network up to 40 kilometres.
It was to be a further 50 years before through traffic could use the HSA Syke - Hoya line when it was converted to standard gauge.

Map - 0.33 - Google Earth/Maps

Map - 0.46 - https://www.openrailwaymap.org/

Track gauge - Metre-gauge

Filmed – 20.04.2024

Tour - Continental Steam Safari - arranged by “The Railway Touring Company”. To find out more or to book your own adventure, please click on this link - https://www.railwaytouring.net/holidays

To learn more about this railway, please click on this link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch...

Museum Website - https://www.museumseisenbahn.de/index...

Places of interest listed by @volodymyrkarpyak4158
01:31 Bruchhausen-Vilsen
05:58 Vilsen Ort
08:30 Wiehe Kurpark
11:05 Vilser Holz
22:10 Heiligenberg
30:05 Arbste
35:30 Asendorf