Lingen repair shop
From 1856 until the end of the 20th century there was a railway repair shop in Lingen (Ems) . On June 23, 1856 the Hannoversche Westbahn with the connection Löhne - Osnabrück - Rheine - Lingen - Emden was put into operation. In Lingen in the Emsland region , the royal train station workshops for reconditioning damaged vehicles were opened after a two-year construction period.
Original plant
The structures were set up in a U shape. This shape resulted from the central location of the power plant , in which a shaft was driven by a steam engine , from which other machines were operated via transmission belts , which were arranged on the left and right along this shaft, for example a lathe shop or the coppersmith .
The wagon hall was set up in the southern side wing of the complex , opposite the locomotive hall in the northern wing . The forge and locksmith's shop were housed in a central building .
The relatively small dimensions of these halls (as well as the entire plant) at that time can be seen if you imagine that the components that have been preserved to this day (forge, metalworking shop) are part of the original plant. These are completely alien in their appearance - especially in the roof area - but the lower area is still historical building fabric.
Construction in the Prussian period
Due to the involvement of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 , the main workshop in Lingen came under Prussia's sphere of influence . The name was then changed to Royal Prussian Railway Main Workshop Lingen (Ems) .
The following period can be regarded as the construction phase of the plant: From 1870 a much larger wagon hall was built south of the existing facilities, and in 1875 a new locomotive hall was built, which ended roughly where the northern end of Halls 1 and 2 is today. North of it again was 1878/1880 a big roundhouse .
In 1880, the plant started training apprentices in order to secure the next generation of skilled workers in the otherwise predominantly agricultural environment. The rooms required for this were created in the middle section of the U-shaped component.
In 1884 the eye-catching building of the magazine was built, which many years later found a new use as a wash house and was only demolished in March 1992 together with the administration building.
In 1897 the factory got its own boilermaker's shop, which was located along the then still narrow and quiet Kaiserstraße and stood there until May 1989.
The new locomotive hall from 1875 quickly became too small for the steadily growing stock of damaged vehicles and so space had to be made available in 1908: The so-called "new booth" was created and turned the 33-year-old locomotive hall into the "old booth". This "new booth" was later converted into the main warehouse and is now known as Hall 4.
On August 25, 1910, the car workshop was set up in addition to the existing plant on a site a few hundred meters south on the other side of the railway line. As a result, both plants were renamed as Werkstättenamt A (for the maintenance of the locomotives) and Werkstättenamt B (for wagon maintenance ).
During the First World War , the largest expansion in the entire history of the plant took place: Between 1914 and 1918, the 55,000 m² locomotive repairing halls 1 and 2 were built, in which 100-tonne cranes introduced continuous production in the Lingen plant. To do this, a large part of the existing plant had to be removed: the old power plant - the former core of the entire plant -, the turning shop, the old water tower and other buildings fell victim to the new locomotive repair halls.
These workshops were relocated and were given more spacious buildings in other areas of the plant or were relocated to existing buildings. The parts of the building that have survived to this day, such as the forge and the metalworking shop, are actually just the heads of the former facility, which was shortened to the east wall of the large Halls 1 and 2.
At that time the following buildings were rebuilt: in 1915 the representative administration building, in 1916 the new plant water tower on the northern section and in 1917 the plant fire brigade (initially as a public bath ). In 1919 the boiler shop was expanded to include side extensions.
On April 1, 1920, the Deutsche Reichsbahn was founded and the plant was then renamed Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk Lingen (RAW Lingen).
During the time of National Socialism , the new, very spacious training workshop was built in the style of the time in 1939 - factual and sober, but with historicizing elements and pathetic details, especially in communal spaces such as the dining room.
During the Second World War , air raids, especially on February 21 and November 21, 1944, caused severe damage to the Lingen repair shop.
Post war and closure
After the Second World War, security work was mainly carried out on the damaged buildings. From then on, design quality was no longer required. All buildings that were built after the war have hardly any architectural value and should be simple, functional and inexpensive.
This is how the sandblasting workshop in sand-lime brick masonry , Hall 3 and the factory's kitchen and canteen were created in the post-war period.
In 1948 the factory was renamed the Eisenbahnausbesserungswerk (EAW), then three years later the Bundesbahnausbesserungswerk (AW).
On June 23, 1956, the 100th anniversary of the railway repair shop in Lingen was celebrated.
In 1969, apprenticeship training in the Lingen repair shop was discontinued and the plant was converted into a repair shop (AWSt).
With the slow disappearance of the steam locomotives from the Emsland line , the maintenance of these steam locomotives in the factory was also discontinued and operations were switched to freight wagon maintenance . In 1972 the last steam locomotive ( 051 696-3) left the Lingen halls.
In 1977 the steam locomotives were finally removed from the rail network of the Deutsche Bundesbahn . On September 28, 1980, electrical rail traffic was started on the Emden – Rheine line.
In 1983 the freight wagon maintenance in the factory was also stopped. From then on, large areas of the plant were rented out as storage space. There was practically no backup and maintenance. Large parts of the site fell into disrepair, hall roofs were leaking, and storage areas were reclaimed by nature.
From 1980 in the last halls still in use, fire extinguishers , car ceilings, stanchions of all kinds, stamps, etc. were manufactured by only a handful of people.
In 1984 old times came back to life again: Historic steam locomotives were prepared for the museum-appropriate presentation in the anniversary year 1985 (150 years of the railway in Germany).
On April 30, 1985, the Central Office for Workshop Service (ZW) was dissolved. Since that year the workers still employed here disappeared more and more. The last employees disappeared imperceptibly. This process dragged on for years. It is difficult to determine precisely who ultimately switched off the light .
After the city of Lingen acquired the building around 1990, a general restoration of the listed buildings began. In 1997, the Lingens Art Association opened the largest art hall in western Lower Saxony in Hall 4 and has been hosting exhibitions and the like since then. Other parts of the restored building were later rented out, including to the Ems-Vechte-Welle , which has been broadcasting from there since 1997, and to the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences , Lingen, which was able to significantly expand its capacities.
Temporarily used as a go-kart track , the Lingen University of Applied Sciences has been located in Lokrichthalle I / II, which has been completely renovated in several years, since the 2012/13 winter semester .
