Loessnitzbahn

This article deals with the narrow-gauge tram between Dresden and Radebeul. For the crossing narrow-gauge railway from Radebeul to Radeburg see Lößnitzgrundbahn .

Loessnitzbahn
In front of the corner house on the far left is a Lößnitzbahn (1898) at the terminus
Gauge :	1000, from 1930 1450 mm
Power system :	600  =
Maximum slope :	34.8  ‰
Dual track :	Mickten – Radebeul West
Legend City track 1450 mm (status: 1994) from Altpieschen to Übigau ("Echoweiche") Entrance Strbhf. Pecked Mickten (right meter gauge) Entrance Strbhf. the Loessnitzbahn Entrance loop Wurzener Straße Dreyzigerplatz loop Alttrachau Rankestrasse At the Trachau train station Leipzig – Dresden railway line Coupling terminal at Geblerstrasse City border Dresden / Radebeul (since 1903) Geblerstrasse Motorway A4 Forest road Radebeul Ost loop Zinzendorfstrasse Main road Schildenstrasse Wasastrasse White horse Narrow-gauge railway Radebeul Ost – Radeburg Loessnitzbach Wine grape route Zillerstrasse Dr.-Külz-Strasse Borstrasse Moritzburger Strasse Radebeul West Radebeul West loop Start of single-track line Wackerbarth's calm only towards town Johannisbergstrasse Terminal Zitzschewig (Meter gauge) Gerhart-Hauptmann-Strasse Railway bridge Berlin – Dresden railway line Radebeul / Coswig city limits Radebeuler Straße formerly "Feldweiche" town hall Entrance Strbhf. Coswig, exit track loop Depot Entrance to the track loop Strbhf. Coswig Salt Road Auerstrasse Steinbacher way City limits Coswig / Weinböhla Köhlerstrasse Weinböhla reversible loop Weinböhla branch line

Lößnitzbahn routes and adjacent tram routes.

The Lößnitzbahn , also popularly known as the "Lößnitzschaukel", was a narrow-gauge (meter gauge ) interurban tram from Dresden via Radebeul to Kötzschenbroda until 1930 . Beginning in 1914 and then in 1919/20, the extension to Zitzschewig took place . In 1929 the connection with the line coming from Coswig was established in Dresden city gauge (1450 mm) and in the following period the meter gauge was converted to city gauge.

Today the route is used by line 4 of the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe .

Planning and construction

Gasthof Golden Grape with Loessnitz swings , lithographic postcard 1904. From there to the station grape is 500 m. (The composition of the picture is not correct, as the inn is actually to the left of the Lößnitzgrund mountain cut)

Lößnitzbahn in Serkowitz (postcard 1904)

In the second half of the 19th century, the landscape of the Loessnitz was more densely populated, in particular several residential areas emerged. Since 1838 the region was connected by the railway line from Dresden to Leipzig , but there were only three stations in Radebeul (from 1860), Weintraube (from 1838) and Kötzschenbroda (from 1840). So the area was poorly developed. Therefore, in 1880, the localities of Lößnitz asked the government to set up a horse-drawn tram. The petition was not answered, however, and in 1882 only a horse-drawn bus line was opened from the “Vier Jahreszeiten” inn in Radebeul to the Postplatz. In 1893 the Tramways Company's application to build a route from Dresden to Kötzschenbroda was also rejected.

In 1895 the Dresden entrepreneur Oskar Ludwig Kummer applied for permission to build an electric tram from Pieschen, where the urban tram ended, to Kötzschenbroda in consultation with the Lößnitz towns. For the operation of the railway, he built the Niederlößnitz power station , which started operations on January 1, 1896 and initially only supplied the towns with electricity for lighting. According to the new Saxon tram policy, however, the state took over the construction of the now meter-gauge line on the basis of Kummer's plans in order to prevent competition with the railroad. On November 13, 1897, the Dresden tram company ("Yellow") was given the management and maintenance of the railway.

The first section from the Mickten tram transfer point to the “Weißes Roß” inn at the entrance to the Lößnitzgrund was put into operation on August 21, 1899. For the electric train, the Niederlößnitz power plant was expanded from 340 to 680 kW and switched from night to all-day operation. By October 12, 1899, the extension to Kötzschenbroda to the corner of Meißner Strasse / Moritzburger Strasse, near the local Kötzschenbroda train station . The tram waiting room was in the Wettin-Haus restaurant .

Lößnitzbahn facilities and operation

The line was double-tracked along its entire length and ran on the street, today Meißner Straße, which had been specially widened. Because of the planned freight traffic, the track spacing was 3.5 m and the contact wire was 6 m high. The greatest slope of 34.8 ‰ was north of the railway underpass. The depot was next to that of the municipal tram in Mickten. Eight tracks were available in two halls.

The route was operated by the Dresdner Straßenbahn AG, which received a third of the profit minus interest on the construction capital. The prices were set by the state and chosen in such a way that the direct connection to Dresden by rail was always cheaper than by tram. Nevertheless, there was a common tariff with the other routes of the Dresden tram and no special tickets for the Lößnitzbahn. The tram ran every 10 minutes until noon, then every 8 minutes until 9 p.m. and every 10 minutes until after midnight. The route with 19 stops was completed in a journey time of 28 minutes.

On September 16, 1901, the Lößnitzbahn received its operating rules. Among other things, this stipulated a maximum working time of 200 hours in three weeks for every driver, conductor and signalman and required an electrical signal system. The maximum speed was set at 20 km / h. In 1902 the Niederlößnitz power plant was transferred from the bankruptcy estate of the Kummer company to a community association. After the unification of the Dresden tram companies, the Dresden city tram took over the operation of the Lößnitzbahn on the same terms.

During the First World War , the clock was sometimes stretched to 15 minutes and the tariff changed several times, and increased towards the end to cover the increased costs. In the years after the war, operations were more often restricted by strikes or a lack of coal. When the Saxon State Railroad merged with the Reichsbahn in 1920, the state trams remained with the Free State of Saxony, which had the trams managed by the State Electricity Works. A 20-minute cycle was set up in the mornings and evenings, and every quarter of an hour in the afternoon, but this had to be thinned out again in the post-inflation period.

Expansion to Zitzschewig

Extensions of the route were planned as soon as the Lößnitzbahn was completed. However, a continuation via Naundorf and Niederwartha to the other side of the Elbe and from there to Cossebaude and Cotta failed due to the resistance of the local communities. They didn't want a narrow-gauge tram from which one had to change to the city lane. For economic reasons, the enlargement was also rejected by the state government. Various options were under discussion for an extension to Meißen : near the Elbe from Coswig via Sörnewitz ; close to the railway from Coswig via Neusörnewitz and Zaschendorf or via Weinböhla and Niederau . At that time there was already a meter-gauge tram in Meissen. From 1907 onwards, the Lößnitz communities petitioned for an extension to at least Coswig and a change of gauge to the city lane. After much political discussion, it was decided to extend the route to Coswig, but a change of gauge was rejected. The construction of the line to Zitzschewig began in May 1914 and was canceled due to the First World War .

From 1919 the work on the line to Zitzschewig continued and on December 25, 1920 the single-track extension was opened. The track ran behind Kötzschenbroda on its own track body next to the road, only the new end point was again in the middle of the road. With the endpoint there were five fallbacks. Every second train continued from Kötzschenbroda, but left the sidecar behind.

Transfer to the city network

In the 1920s, the tracks of the Lößnitzbahn and other trams in the Dresden area were in poor condition. In order to finance the rehabilitation of the routes and to develop a high-speed tram network around Dresden, all state trams were sold to the Loschwitz-Pillnitz GmbH tram in 1926, which has now been renamed " Dresdner Überland-Verkehr GmbH " (DRÜVEG). During the renovation of the routes, they should also be re-gauged to the Dresden tram gauge (1450 mm) in order to eliminate the need to change trains in Mickten.

For the expansion to Coswig and the gauging, a new depot was first built in Coswig and from there the construction of the new line began. This meant that there was no need to set up an interim depot when changing gauges. The new route ran north of the main road and independently of this, was designed for two tracks, but initially only one was built. At Johannisbergstrasse it joined the line to Kötzschenbroda, the track position of which was largely retained. The Coswig-Kötzschenbroda connection was inaugurated on July 20, 1929. The old route from Johannisbergstraße to the center of Zitzschewig was canceled.

Regarding the re-gauging of the Lößnitzbahn between Kötzschenbroda and Mickten in 1929/30, the DRÜVEG had developed its own technology that made it unnecessary to shut down the line - even in parts: initially only one track was re-gauged from meter gauge to city gauge from track change to track change (1450 mm). The Lößnitzbahn shuttled along the construction site on the remaining meter-gauge track. The second track was then re-gauged, while the city-lane track was now used to commute along the construction site. If necessary, temporary Dodge were using Aufliegeweichen built.

date	Type of Change	route	receipt
07/22/1929	Re-gauging (start)	Kötzschenbroda, Bahnhofstrasse in the direction of Serkowitz, Weißes Roß (meter gauge)
08/24/1929	Re-gauging	Kötzschenbroda, Bahnhofstraße - Kötzschenbroda, Borstraße (1450 mm, two-track)
09/10/1929	Re-gauging	Kötzschenbroda, Borstrasse - Kötzschenbroda, Goldene Weintraube (1450 mm, single track)
09/15/1929	Re-gauging	Kötzschenbroda, Goldene Weintraube - Radebeul, Weißes Roß (west of the narrow-gauge railway, 1450 mm, single-track)
10/12/1929	Re-gauging	Kötzschenbroda, Bahnhofstraße - Radebeul, Weißes Roß (west of the narrow-gauge railway, 1450 mm, double-track, complete)
03/10/1930	Re-gauging (resumption)	Radebeul, Weißes Roß in the direction of Trachau - Mickten (meter gauge)
04/02/1930	Re-gauging	Radebeul, Weißes Roß - Radebeul, Kiefernstraße (1450 mm, single track)
04/29/1930	Re-gauging	Radebeul, Weißes Roß - Radebeul, Kiefernstraße (1450 mm, two-track)
May 19, 1930	Re-gauging	Radebeul, Kiefernstraße - Trachau, Geblerstraße (1450 mm, single track)
06/12/1930	Re-gauging	Radebeul, Kiefernstraße - Trachau, Geblerstraße (1450 mm, single track)
06/28/1930	Re-gauging	Trachau, Geblerstraße - Mickten, depot (1450 mm, single track)
07/05/1930	Re-gauging	Trachau, Geblerstraße - Mickten, depot (1450 mm, two-track)

On June 28, 1930, at 0.04 a.m., the last meter-gauge Loessnitz railway car entered Mickten. From July 5, 1930, urban line 15 ran from Coschütz via Postplatz and Mickten continuously to Coswig. On November 14, 1931, the extension to Weinböhla was opened, line 15 was now the longest tram line in Dresden. It was supplemented by an express line that went to Coswig and only stopped at the important stops. A continuation of the tram to Meissen failed due to preparations for the Second World War .

Today the route is used by line 4 of the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe . Some of the former car halls of the Lößnitzbahn in Mickten as part of the Mickten tram station are still there. Today they are used by a supermarket .

literature

• Mario Schatz: Meter gauge trams in Dresden. Kenning Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-933613-76-0 .
• Heinz Hoffmann: Radebeul Railway History . In: Association for Monument Preservation and New Building Radebeul (ed.): Contributions to the urban culture of the city of Radebeul . Radebeul 2006.
• Gert Morzinek: Historical forays with Gert Morzinek . The collected works from 5 years “StadtSpiegel”. premium publishing house, Großenhain 2007.

Web links

Commons : Lößnitzbahn  - collection of pictures

• Dresdner-Stadtteile.de: Lößnitzbahn
• Stadtwiki Dresden: Line 4
• Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG: "Kultourlinie 4"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Radebeul Ost loop is completely outside the street in the Dresden district
2. ^ Frank Andert (Red.): Radebeul City Lexicon . Historical manual for the Loessnitz . Published by the Radebeul City Archives. 2nd, slightly changed edition. City archive, Radebeul 2006, ISBN 3-938460-05-9 .
3. ^ Mario Schatz: Meter gauge trams in Dresden. Kenning, Nordhorn 2007, ISBN 978-3-933613-76-9 , pp. 6-9
4. ^ Collective of authors under the direction of Gerhard Bauer: Tram Archive 2 - Room Görlitz - Dresden. transpress VEB Verlag für Verkehrwesen, Berlin 1983, without ISBN, p. 43.
5. ↑ Gert Morzinek: Historical forays with Gert Morzinek . The collected works from 5 years “StadtSpiegel”. premium Verlag, Großenhain 2007, p. 80-83 .
6. ↑ Gert Morzinek: Historical forays with Gert Morzinek. The collected works from 5 years "StadtSpiegel" . premium Verlag, Großenhain 2007, p. 4 ff.
7. ↑ Gottfried Thiele: Kötzschenbrodaer stories. (pdf; 336 kB) Part 9. Accessed July 2, 2011 . 
8. ↑ Schatz, 2007, pp. 12-18
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Schatz, 2007, pp. 19–22
10. ↑ Schatz, 2007, pp. 17-19
11. ↑ Loessnitzbahn
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Schatz, Meterspurige Straßenbahnen ..., p. 21.
13. ^ Schatz, Meter-gauge trams ..., p. 26.
14. ↑ Schatz, 2007, pp. 22-26