Despite the proximity of the Ferdinand Gabriel factory to the railroad station, the delivery of coal and raw materials as well as the removal of finished products to the goods shed to the station, which was about 150 m away, had to continue to be carried out by handcarts or horse-drawn vehicles from 1911.
It was not until thirty years later and after the transfer of the factory to the Koenig family around 1930 that the factory railroad with a track gauge of 600 mm was built in 1940/41 at a time when the factory owner Eberhard Koenig was on military service.
On the factory premises, there were multiple-track trains to various loading and unloading stations. On the way to the Eslohe station, the Salweybach was crossed with a wooden bridge, and the factory railroad track continued over the country road to the loading track and freight shed at the station.
After the foundation of the Eslohe Museum of Machinery and Local History on the factory premises in 1981, the locomotives came under the museum's care. Today it is known as the "DampfLandLeute Museum Eslohe". There were also sporadic trips with the works railroad. In 2001, the expansion as a museum railroad took place through the new installation of the track network on the factory premises and the adjacent Salwey valley. Two passenger trailers were purchased for this purpose. The museum railroad still runs with the steam locomotive on special occasions and with a diesel locomotive at regular times in summer.
This factory transport with the Krauss steam locomotive, built in 1898, was maintained for about twenty years and later replaced by truck use. The steam locomotive and the diesel locomotives acquired later formed the basis of Eberhard Koenig's private machine collection.
Picture 1: Eberhard Koenig and his steam locomotive around 1970 on the factory premises (Photo: Archive Museum Eslohe)
Picture2: Eberhard Koenig drives his steam locomotive over the country road at Eslohe station in the early 1960s (Photo: Archive Museum Eslohe)
Picture3: Museum railroad with Koenig's steam locomotive in the Salwey valley in 2006 (Photo: Marietta Heinz)
Picture4: Tracks in the factory area in 1942 (Photo: Archive Museum Eslohe)
