Düren railway station hub
The turntable at Düren station is a listed part of Düren station in North Rhine-Westphalia . Like the whole area of the train station, it has been under monument protection since 1989 with the number 1/070 in the monument list of the city of Düren . The location of the hub at Inselbahnhof is unique in Germany.
The Düren station was from 1864 terminus of the route Düren-Euskirchen and from 1869 also the Düren-Neuss railway were both connected on the east side of the station. The former Tender could locomotives only move forward at full speed and had to pay for the return trips ending trains are rotated, which is usually at the hub of a railway depot happened. In order to reduce the time lost by continuous trains between Neuss and Euskirchen , the turntable on tracks 17-19 was inaugurated in 1874 at the same time as the new station building. Since then, the trains have been entering one of the platforms 17 and 19. The locomotive was uncoupled and, on the signal "Sh 1" from the turntable attendant, slowly drove onto the 16 meter long track section of the turntable. Then the locomotive was rotated about 180 degrees. First this was done with a hand crank and later electrically. The locomotive then drove past the wagons on track 18 and drove over switches behind the end of the platform in front of the train on track 17 or 19.
On February 7, 1922, the air brakes on a passenger train failed due to the cold . The locomotive rolled over the turntable and only came to a stop in the station building. Four people were killed on the train in the accident and six others were seriously injured.
After the line to Euskirchen was closed in 1983 and the line to Neuss in 1995, the turntable was no longer used. In 2000 the tracks to the turntable were dismantled, in the following years the turntable fell into disrepair. The German railway was of the opinion that the monument relates only to the receiving station building and undertook despite the request of the Monument Protection Authority not to obtain the turntable. It was not until January 2013 that Deutsche Bahn recognized their monument status and justified their previous stance with incorrect information due to changes in responsibilities due to restructuring measures in the group. At the same time, she gave voluntary employees of the Düren City Museum permission for a restoration . Material donations from Düren companies and institutions as well as Deutsche Bahn, including sleepers, gravel and a safety stop signal, made the necessary renovations possible.
North side of the reception building with an unused turntable in 2009
Turntable bridge and guard house with protection signal in March 2007
Guard house and turntable pit during restoration in April 2015
Turntable during restoration in April 2015
Restored turntable on the Open Monument Day 2015
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Most of the work was completed on the Open Monument Day on September 13, 2015. The voluntary commitment was recognized with the honorary award for social commitment in the Düren district in 2017.
literature
- And it does turn , Dieter Fücker, Anne Krings in the yearbook of the district of Düren 2018, pp. 53–60, ISBN 978-3-942513-41-8
Coordinates: 50 ° 48 ′ 36.2 " N , 6 ° 28 ′ 57.5" E