Railway station of the Hessian Ludwig Railway in Mainz
The first station of the Hessian Ludwig Railway in Mainz was the first station on the left bank of the Rhine in Mainz and was in operation from 1853 until the opening of the new Central Station in 1884.
Beginnings
Mainz was the largest city in the Grand Duchy of Hesse , an important trading center since Roman times and thus an attractive starting and destination point for railways. The Ludwig Railway Company , founded in Mainz, obtained concessions for the construction of railway lines that started from Mainz. The first of these concessions was granted to her in 1846 for the Mainz – Worms – state border with the Palatinate (Bavaria) . The construction of the line was delayed due to the revolution of 1848/49 and the accompanying economic crisis. In 1847 the plans for the Mainz train station were in place by Ignaz Opfermann , who was responsible for the construction of the Hessian Ludwig Railway. This was a complicated project because of the military requirements for the construction of the train station in the Mainz Federal Fortress . Fortifications had to be broken through, rebuilt and partially rebuilt for the access track and station facilities. Construction began at the end of 1847 and was largely completed in 1852. The first scheduled train left the station on March 23, 1853, when the first section of the railway towards Worms went into operation.
railway station
Geographical location
This station was between the Rhine , the wooden tower and the caponier Fort Malakoff outside the city wall.
designation
Initially, the station was called Ludwigsbahnhof in order to distinguish it from the second station of the Taunus Railway in Mainz-Kastel , which had been in operation since 1840 . From 1858 it was called Centralbahnhof , which was transferred to its successor, today's Hauptbahnhof , in 1884 .
Reception building
Entrance building of the terminus station
The first station building for this station was built between 1847 and 1852 between the Rhine and the city. In addition, there were a number of operating buildings: three open car halls, a locomotive shed , a goods shed , a water tank and workshops. Due to a lack of money, building decorations were largely dispensed with on all buildings.
The first station building was designed as a typical terminus of the time: on the right and left there was a two-story pavilion built on a roughly square floor plan. These two buildings were connected by an open gallery. A wooden platform hall stood in front of the track side . The administration of the Hessian Ludwig Railway and the prince's room were located in the pavilion on the Rhine side, while the facilities for other travelers were housed in the city-side pavilion: a reception hall and three offices for ticket sales. The stationmaster's apartment was on the first floor .
Entrance building of the through station
This arrangement had to be partially abandoned as early as 1859 when the Bingen railway line was introduced from the north and the station was converted from a terminal to a through station : the river-side pavilion and the connecting wing had to give way to the new tracks and were demolished. Replacements for the lost space were created by buildings that were now erected parallel to the track south of the remaining pavilion. The preserved pavilion became the northernmost part of the reception building. It was three-axle, had a representative entrance on the north side and carried a clock tower as a roof turret. A single-storey wing followed to the south and a four-axis pavilion with a hipped roof as a counterpart to the northern one. This was done according to Justus Kramer's plans . The single storey intermediate building was designed as a gallery on the street side. It housed the luggage room, a waiting room for first and second class and another for third class, the station restaurant, staff rooms and the toilets. The administration moved into the southern pavilion.
In 1866, the building permit for a further renovation by Justus Kramer was available, in particular the main building should be given a third floor. However, this did not materialize. The administration building was probably demolished in 1873 - at least in part - the entire building was then demolished in 1885 after the new Centralbahnhof on the then western edge of the city went into operation.
Extensions
The station became the starting point for further railway lines :
- In December 1858, the Hessian Ludwig Railway started operating the Rhein-Main Railway to Aschaffenburg via the then state capital Darmstadt . It was now called Centralbahnhof . In the absence of a bridge, this initially ended on the right bank of the Rhine above the mouth of the Main . The travelers and their luggage had to cross the Rhine on the Mainz – Gustavsburg route . In 1860 construction began on the south bridge , which went into operation on December 20, 1862. This enabled the Rhein-Main-Bahn trains to enter the station directly. From 1863 the Mainbahn branched off from this route to Frankfurt am Main at Mainz-Bischofsheim station . Their traffic has now also been introduced into the station of the Hessian Ludwig Railway in Mainz.
- On October 17, 1859, the Mainz – Bingen line began operating. It initially ended in Mainz in its own terminus . It was also located outside the fortress walls in Gartenfeld, today's Neustadt , between Frauenlobstraße and Feldbergplatz , roughly where the Green Bridge now leads over Rheinallee. The connection to the first station of the Hessian Ludwig Railway in Mainz was soon established.
- The Alzey – Mainz line was the third to leave the Hessian Ludwig Railway station in Mainz. It was moved in 1871 along the company premises of the Gastell brothers' Chaissen and railway wagon factory and ran parallel to the line from Bingen into the train station.
- In addition, the Mainz – Kastel trajectory existed until 1863 , which made it possible to transfer freight cars to and from the Taunus Railway . Its pier on the left bank of the Rhine was also located in the area of the train station. To change trains, travelers had to cross the Rhine over the ship bridge
The End
The volume of traffic increased quickly. The space on the banks of the Rhine, between the river and the fortress, was very limited. The railway systems could soon no longer be expanded there because the Lauterenviertel was being built on with apartments. As early as 1858, the Mainzer Zeitung reported on plans to relocate the station. City architect Eduard Kreyssig suggested in 1873 that the station be rebuilt on the west side of the city. Ultimately, a building site was determined there that offered sufficient space for the project. The price for this, however, was that all the traffic coming from the south and east had to be routed through a tunnel , the Mainz railway tunnel . After this new Centralbahnhof opened in 1884, the first HLB station in Mainz was given up. Its access tracks were still used to operate the port facilities on the banks of the Rhine. The building and part of the railway system were torn down and replaced by the construction of a new garrison hospital and the garrison washing facility (today the “KUZ” cultural center). The riot police were housed in the former garrison hospital from 1959 to 1990. Today the shopping mall "Fort Malakoff Park" is located here. Only the neighboring Centrale locomotive repair workshop of the Hessian Ludwig Railway , today the Museum of Ancient Shipping, has survived .
literature
- Hans Döhn: Railway policy and railway construction in Rheinhessen 1835-1914 . Mainz 1957.
- Rosel Spaniol: Early railway systems in Mainz (then and now). A contribution to the city's history and archeology . Published by: DGEG , Karlsruhe 1979
- Silvia Speckert: Ignaz Opfermann (1799–1866): Selected examples of his construction work in the vicinity of the city of Mainz = housework to obtain the academic degree of a Magister [!] Artium. Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 1989. Typed. Volume 1: Text, Volume 2: Tables. Mainz City Archives: 1991/25 No. 11.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Speckert, p. 71.
- ^ Döhn, p. 83; Speckert, p. 71.
- ↑ Speckert, p. 71.
- ↑ Railway history : decorated with flags and in no time to Worms.
- ↑ Anton Maria Keim : Mainz - from the middle of the century to the middle of the century . In: Mainz - Photographic memories 1845-1945. Volume 1. ISBN 3-88-193-010-8
- ↑ Explanation on the intranet of the Mainz City Archives on photo: BPSF 702 B and Otto Westermann: Young Railway in 2000-year-old golden Mainz. From the good and bad days of the Mainz Railway . Bundesbahndirektion Mainz, Mainz undated [after 1962], p. 23, with reference to the business reports of the Hessian Ludwig Railway.
- ↑ Speckert, p. 72.
- ↑ Speckert, pp. 72f.
- ↑ Speckert, pp. 72f.
- ↑ Speckert, p. 73.
- ^ Speckert, pp. 71, 73.
- ↑ Döhn, p. 83.
- ↑ Water cannons in action Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, accessed on June 20, 2011.
Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 48.1 ″ N , 8 ° 16 ′ 51.2 ″ E