Martin Luther steam locomotive
| "Martin Luther" steam locomotive | |||
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National monument in Namibia 
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| Monument type | Industrial monument | ||
| location |
 at Swakopmund
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| Geographic coordinates : | 22 ° 40 '19 " S , 14 ° 33' 10.3" E | ||
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| Emergence | before 1896 (built in Germany) | ||
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Recognized by the National Heritage Council |
March 31, 1975 | ||
| Deprivation | |||
| Sponsorship | Swakopmund municipality | ||
| Website | NHC Namibia | ||
The steam locomotive "Martin Luther" is an industrial monument on the B2 national road near the Namibian city of Swakopmund . It is according to the reformer Martin Luther, as he said: “Here I stand, I can't help it, God help me. Amen. "
background
In 1896, Edmund consolation was a lieutenant colonel of the German protection force provided by the Maschinenfabrik Dehne in Halberstadt made in Germany Lokomobile through the port of Walvis Bay by German South West Africa bring. He hoped to accelerate the transport of materials for the construction of a railway line through the Namib desert , which previously had to be laboriously and time-consuming with ox carts .
Due to its heavy weight, the steam locomotive sank regularly in the desert sand on its way from the port to the planned place of use and had to be made ready for use again through a long excavation. The high water consumption of the mobiles and the associated problems of water procurement in the Namib were also problematic. The Mobile therefore only managed around 25 kilometers in three months and was therefore significantly more inefficient than the conventional ox wagon.
For a time, the steam locomotives were only used as excursion vehicles for wealthy Swakopmund residents and only drove about 15 kilometers into the desert.
The Martin Luther Museum is open to interested visitors free of charge, but was closed from 2014 to May 2017.
restoration
The steam locomotive with the current name "Martin Luther" got stuck in the sand at its current location and increasingly fell apart. In the mid-1990s, the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) in Arandis began restoring the steam locomotive and, after completion, it was moved to its original location. A small museum building was erected here for protection.
literature
- Andreas Vogt : National Monuments in Namibia. An inventory of proclaimed national monuments in the Republic of Namibia. Gamsberg Macmillan, Windhoek 2004, ISBN 9789991605937 .
Web links
- www.dampflokomobile-martin-luther.de
- Mr. Troost and the steam locomotive "Martin Luther" ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )