Bad Kreuznach – St. Johann

Bad Kreuznach-St. Johann
Railcar on Stadthausplatz, 1906
Route length:	15.8 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Dual track :	No
Legend 0.0 Bismarckplatz (today: Kornmarkt) to Bad Munster am Stein Bad Kreuznach train station 0.6 Bad Kreuznach train station Nahe Valley Railway Tram depot Bridge of Lammers Soap factory Prussia / Hesse 5.1 Bosenheim 7.9 Pfaffen-Schwabenheim Appelbach 9.8 Badenheim Badenheim train station Sprendlingen – Fürfeld railway line Rheinhessenbahn 13.3 Sprendlingen station Branch line to the station building Sprendlingen market 15.8 St. Johann

The Bad Kreuznach – St. Johann was a regional tram of the Kreuznacher trams and suburban railways , which was operated from 1912 to 1953.

Technical parameters

The route was meter gauge , electrified and 15.8 km long. Tram vehicles were used for passenger transport. Freight traffic was also offered. There were electric locomotives and trolleys to be able to transport standard-gauge freight wagons of the state railway .

Traffic geography

The route led from Bismarckplatz (today: Kornmarkt) via Bad Kreuznach train station in an easterly direction, past the tram depot, out of Kreuznach, crossed the state border between Prussia and Hesse and led to Badenheim (9.8 km). Here she crossed the Sprendlingen – Fürfeld railway , and in Sprendlingen the Worms – Bingen Stadt railway (Rheinhessenbahn). Arrived in St. Johann , the terminus, the route had climbed an incline of around 200 m.

history

Since 1906, the Kreuznach trams and suburban railways operated a tram in Kreuznach , which also ran over the southern outskirts to the neighboring community of Bad Münster . In 1911 line 2 with the Kreuznach – Langenlonsheim line was added.

construction

There was long discussion about a route to St. Johann, a cross-connection to the Hessian district of Alzey to the east . The discussion about the route dragged on. On the one hand, Sprendlingen offered resistance, on the other hand the idea was brought into the discussion as to whether a connection in standard gauge would not make more sense.

The result was a new line of almost 14.5 km in meter gauge, of which around 13 km had its own track . Like the other two, the line was built by Eisenbahnbau-Gesellschaft Becker & Co GmbH , Berlin. Their business model consisted with the necessary for the operation of the tram power plant , the neighboring communities with both electricity to power for the national grid. Therefore, when the line went into operation, the neighboring communities were provided with a public power supply and connected to the power station in Kreuznach.

business

The line began operating on November 7, 1912 to Badenheim and on December 21, 1912 to St. Johann as line 3 .

The wagons on line 3 had a white and red disk as a distinguishing mark. Pairs of trains ran around 15 to 20 times a day, but without a regular schedule. After the line to Langenlonsheim was given up in 1938, the connection to St. Johann was given line number "2". The timetable of the line was sometimes also printed in railway course books.

Freight traffic was also carried out on the route via regular passenger traffic : In Sprendlingen there was a trestle pit where standard-gauge freight cars could be loaded onto trolleys . The freight trains were pulled by electric locomotives. The track had a total of five private sidings of 1.89 km, among other things, Raiffeisen in St. Johann, as well as additional loading tracks on. The tram also carried mail between Bosenheim and Sprendlingen.

The route continued to be used during the Second World War . After air raids and the blasting of bridges in 1944/45, there were restrictions and operations were suspended from May to December 1945. In 1946, traffic was resumed. As in many other German cities, the outdated trams in Bad Kreuznach were increasingly viewed as a traffic obstacle. In addition, there was a lack of will and funds to modernize the vehicles and the infrastructure. The tram operation was therefore completely stopped on January 5, 1953 and replaced by omnibuses.

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

• Rudolf Brumm: The Kreiznacher [!] Electric in pictures . Nahetal, Bad Kreuznach 1989. ISBN 3-926421-01-0
• Rudolf Brumm: The Kreiznacher [!] Electric 1906–1953. A summary of the planning, construction and operation of the Kreuznach trams [!] And suburban railways […]. Rudolf and Rainer Brumm, Bad Kreuznach 2002. [Cited as: Brumm (2002)].
• Dieter Höltge: German trams and light rail vehicles 4 = Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland . Wolfgang Zeunert, Gifhorn 1981. ISBN 3-921237-60-2 , pp. 6-22.

Remarks

1. ↑ Previous edition: 1977.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information from Brumm (2002), pp. 6, 17, 65ff.
2. ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of December 18, 1915, No. 62. Announcement No. 819, p. 399: Approval of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate Mainz for trolley traffic between Sprendlingen and St. Johann.
3. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 78.
4. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 30.
5. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 41.
6. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 64f.
7. ↑ Höltge, p. 10.
8. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 70; Höltge, p. 10, names November 6, 1912 as the opening day.
9. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 74.
10. ↑ Brumm (2002), p. 41.
11. ↑ See for example: Kursbureau des Reichs-Postamts (Ed.): Reichs-Kursbuch. Overview of the rail, post and steamship connections in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland as well as the more important connections of the rest of Europe and the steamship connections with non-European countries . Berlin 1914. Reprint 1974, Table 209k.
12. ↑ Höltge, p. 10.
13. ↑ Höltge, p. 12.
14. ^ Brumm (2002), p. 123.