Solingen North station
| Solingen North | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Data | |||
| Design | Through station | ||
| abbreviation | KSN | ||
| opening | 1890 | ||
| Conveyance | 1995 | ||
| location | |||
| City / municipality | Solingen | ||
| Place / district | Solingen center | ||
| country | North Rhine-Westphalia | ||
| Country | Germany | ||
| Coordinates | 51 ° 10 '46 " N , 7 ° 5' 10" E | ||
| Height ( SO ) | 213 m above sea level NHN | ||
| Railway lines | |||
| Railway stations in North Rhine-Westphalia | |||
The Solingen Nord train station was a train station in the north of Solingen , which was located southeast of Schlagbaum on the disused Solingen-Wuppertal-Vohwinkel railway .
history
prehistory
After the nationalization of the nominally private railway companies, the Prussian State Railways decided to connect the cities of Solingen and Vohwinkel across the Bergisches Land . The first construction phase connected the Vohwinkel train station via Gräfrath with Wald as early as 1887 , after a branch line had led from the newly built Ohligs-Wald train station (now Solingen main train station ) to Weyersberg since 1867 . The construction work for the section connecting the two stretches between Solingen (center) and Wald was delayed for various reasons and could only be started much later.
Opening of the train station
So that the city of Solingen could also get a connection to the newly built railway line, the plans were based on two stations from the outset, one south of the old town ( Solingen Süd station ) and one in the predominantly industrial north of the city called Solingen-Nord station should. The latter was embedded in a valley between the city slaughterhouse and the rows of houses on Haumann and Van Meenen Strasse. Although the cramped location precluded any major expansions in advance, the site was owned by the city of Solingen before construction began, so there were no costs for purchasing the land . The site, which was previously used for agriculture , had to be adapted to the needs of the train station through considerable earth movements.
The construction work for the station building of the north station began in April 1888. Its design was even less representative than that of the south station. Like the first building of the south station, the north station was a coherent complex of waiting hall and goods shed in half-timbered construction . Since a significantly lower volume of traffic was expected for the north station, its dimensions were around a third smaller than at the south station. In April 1889 the tracks were laid at the station, followed by the remaining work.
With the completion of the line between Solingen and Wald on February 12, 1890, the north station also opened its gates on the so-called corkscrew railway due to its winding course. The opening of the station took place without any major celebrations, although it was quite significant for economic development in the middle of the industrial north of the city.
Years of operation
Even at the opening there was fear that the capacity of the north station might not be sufficient. These worries soon came true; the goods shed had to be enlarged to double its length in 1891. But even this approach was not able to solve the problems sustainably:
“Today the situation is such that the goods handling department has the burden of bringing all incoming goods under one roof in a proper manner. (...) The loading and unloading tracks have not been sufficient for the ever-increasing traffic for years. Storage spaces, which should be provided for at every train station, are not available at all or only in very small numbers. Companies domiciled near the north train station have to go back to the old Weyersberg train station due to a lack of suitable storage space and, as a result, have to leave their truckloads from there. "
The car capacity was around 40 while there was a need for around 60 cars. So it came about that in the following period all available space reserves were used for additional loading tracks. This was the procedure in particular on the south-east side of the station, as the area between Cronenberger Strasse and the two denominational cemeteries had not yet been built on. However, this meant that the wagoners had to travel long distances to the station building. The city of Solingen also complained to the railway administration in 1912 about the conditions at the north station. A particular bone of contention was the joint use of the tracks to the municipal slaughterhouse by the railway. When the tracks were so ailing that they had to be renewed, the city first had to persuade the railway to bear the costs.
From November 4, 1914, there was also a connection at the Nordbahnhof to tram line 5 of the Barmer Bergbahn , which connected Elberfeld to Mühlenplatz in Solingen via Cronenberg and Kohlfurth . From August 1, 1927, the Barmer Bergbahn also took over the transport of goods to the North Station for the agricultural machine parts manufacturer Rasspe , whose factory , which is unfavorably located in the Stöcken Valley, had previously had to be laboriously transported by horse-drawn vehicles. Rasspe then had his own shed built at the Nordbahnhof to make it easier to reload goods between road and rail. As recently as 1953, 1,200 tons were handled at this shed, 70 percent of which in shipping and 30 percent in reception.
Decline and shutdown
Passenger traffic on the corkscrew railway was officially stopped on November 2, 1942. However, special passenger trains followed years later. The brisk freight traffic at the North Station had a massive cut in 1958. The Wuppertaler Stadtwerke (successor company of the Barmer Bergbahn) had massively raised the freight rates, so that the Rasspe company terminated its contract with the company. The freight traffic on the tram was finally stopped on October 1, 1958 and the Nordbahnhof lost an important customer.
Nonetheless, freight traffic continued to stimulate day-to-day business at the Nordbahnhof. The former connection to the slaughterhouse was used by a box and wooden pallet manufacturer from February 1, 1964. This connection was used until 1994. The empty goods shed was rented by a haulage company in the 1960s. Burglars started a fire there on September 9, 1971. Thanks to the rapid intervention of the Solingen fire brigade , the station building could be saved from the flames spreading. However, the building was demolished in 1979. In place of the burned down warehouse, the forwarding company built the hall that is still standing today, which was still in regular service until the route was finally closed on March 31, 1995.
In the course of the Regionale 2006 , the route of the former railway line was converted into a railway cycle path , the corkscrew route . The area around the old north station was built in the second construction phase from the bridge Kasinostraße to Carl-Russ-Straße by summer 2005. A playground, a football field and a snack bar were built on the site of the former north station.
literature
- Kurt Kaiß, Michael Zimmermann: The corkscrew railway - on branch lines from Solingen to Vohwinkel , Rheinisch-Bergische Eisenbahngeschichte Volume 2, Verlag A. Kaiß, Leichlingen 1998; ISBN 3-9806103-0-6