Spor fra æ' Kleinbahn, Jels

A little north of the square in Jels – actually, where Enghavevej runs today – there was once "Æ kleinbahn", and where Torvet is today, there was the station.

The Æ Kleinbahn was a narrow-gauge railway that ran from Haderslev to Skodborg. It was built in 1905 and gave Jels growing pains. Many of the town's houses are from that time and some contained functions that belong to a larger urban community – pharmacy, doctor, etc.

»Ækleinbahn« was in operation for a fairly short time. In 1934, the last train departed, after 30 years with a deficit in all the years. The tracks were – as the name says – narrower than other railways – about 80 cm. This meant lower construction costs and lighter trains. The Kleinbahns are an important part of the story of how the area south of the Kongeå developed as a distant German province. There was a need to connect the smaller towns with the larger market towns in the area, and therefore the county railway was built. Both passenger and freight transport to the rest of Germany was needed – and the two tasks were taken over by the cars relatively quickly.

The line through Jels By
the railway went where Enghavevej is now and continued along the current Ørstedvej, over the main road towards Sommersted. Here you can meet the track as a nice path. To the north out of Jels town, the railway line went over a small piece of bog to Jels Overby. You can still find this stretch between Jalrsvej (where the path goes to Storkeengen) and out to Slotsgården and Overbygade. Here you can still see approx. 300 m of the original traché - but without rails. After Overbygade the line continued out to Haraldsholm.

Station in Jels
As such, no actual station building was built in the town of Jels, but in the then newly built Jels Hotel, a wooden veranda was made at the western end, where a small waiting room and railway expedition were furnished. Here, travelers could stay while waiting for the train.