Fichtelberg suspension railway
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Lift fichtelberg cable car |
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| View of the Fichtelberg with the cable car mountain station | |
| Location | Oberwiesenthal |
| design type | 45-seater cabin cable car |
| Construction year | 1924 |
| Valley station | Oberwiesenthal 50 ° 25 '24 " N , 12 ° 58' 5.9" E |
| Mountain station | Fichtelberg 50 ° 25 '43.9 " N , 12 ° 57' 17.9" E |
| Height of the valley station | 911 m |
| Height of the mountain station | 1214 m |
| Height difference | 303 m |
| length | 1175 m |
| Travel time | about 212.4 seconds |
| dare | 2 |
| Maximum transport capacity | 44 people / hour |
| website | www.fichtelberg-ski.de |
The Fichtelberg suspension railway is the oldest cable car in Germany and leads from Oberwiesenthal to the Fichtelberg . In doing so, a height of 303 meters is overcome over a length of 1175 meters.
history
Prehistory and construction
With the construction of the Cranzahl-Kurort Oberwiesenthal narrow-gauge railway , tourism began in Germany's highest town. The main aim of the guests was the Keilberg and Fichtelberg surveys . Shortly after the railway line went into operation, the idea of building a cable car to the highest Saxon peak arose. The Helios-Electricitäts-Aktien-Gesellschaft from Cologne-Ehrenfeld wanted to build a funicular from the Roten Vorwerk via the "Himmelsleiter" to the summit. This project, as well as another one with a more favorable location to the city, was rejected by the Dresden ministries.
In 1912 the two Annaberg lawyers Fischer and Dr. Weigel made another attempt. At the Leipzig company Adolf Bleichert & Co. they had a project for an aerial cableway - known at the time as a cable car - designed. The route already corresponded to the one carried out later. This project was also rejected by the Saxon government.
After the First World War and after the inflationary period , Oberwiesenthal hoteliers picked up the idea again. On August 6th they founded the Sport- und Schwebebahn-Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft (SUSVAG). In addition to the already existing Bleichert project, Allgemeine Transportanlagen-Gesellschaft mbH, Maschinenfabrik (ATG), also from Leipzig, prepared an offer. The cable car was supposed to be opened for the 1924 winter season. ATG was awarded the contract. The design was much more rudimentary than that of the competing project. So only 5 instead of 6 supports were planned, and the electrical equipment was missing from the offer.
Construction began on September 1, 1924, although the Annaberg authorities did not issue the building permit until the 8th. The order for the mast foundations and the station buildings went to the Plauen company Gustav Richter AG, the electrical equipment was supplied by Siemens-Schuckertwerke . However, the necessary approval from the Saxon Ministry of the Interior was missing for the project. In addition, SUSVAG was only entered in the commercial register on October 22nd. On December 16, 1924, the company finally received the ministerial charter confirming the right to build and operate the railway for 50 years.
Instead of the estimated 70,000 Reichsmarks , at the end of 1924 300,000 RM had been used up. In addition to capital increases, SUSVAG also had to take out loans.
The planned commissioning on December 21, 1924 did not take place because the plant was not yet operational and the permit was therefore refused. Nevertheless, there was an opening ceremony at which one of the cabins drove 20 meters from the valley station. Even at the second acceptance date on December 27, the track was not yet ready. The signaling system, the emergency brake, a bearing and a gearwheel in the hoisting machine were still missing. Nevertheless, operations started on December 28th. Finally, on December 29th, the government commissioner Weidner approved the cable car on condition that all deficiencies were eliminated.
In total, the construction cost 354,000 RM, plus 26,000 RM for a toboggan run that was built at the same time. With this attraction passengers should be attracted.
1924 to 1948
In the first year of operation, 90,000 people took the train. The year 1926 was much worse. On April 25, 1926, a storm covered the roof of the mountain station. The pull cables had to be replaced in September. On December 27th, a tension rope broke and a tension pulley broke. Since the cabins were currently in the stations, there was no personal injury. Because of the bad weather of the year, the number of passengers fell to 49,000.
After the pull ropes were changed again in August 1927, Dr. Ruby by Adolf Bleichert & Co. Rat. Then some improvements were made to the technology. The company tried to cover the running costs with additional contributions from the shareholder Küttner and a share consolidation . It was hoped to achieve further savings with lower wages and plant closures in the spring and autumn of 1929. During the shutdown periods, the employees carried out the repairs and rope changes on their own in order to save the costs of external companies. As the number of passengers decreased (in 1930 there were only 11,000), even these measures could no longer compensate for the lack of income. In order to reduce energy costs, a separate power supply system - consisting of a Junkers diesel engine with generator - was built in the mountain station from 1932 to 1934 .
However, on August 22, 1934, bankruptcy was finally filed . The outstanding receivables were far above the value of the plant. The bankruptcy trustee Kurt Scherl continued operations because scrapping was unsuccessful. The largest creditors were the Neudorf entrepreneur and shareholder of the Küttner cable car and his wife, who demanded around 70,000 RM. In 1935, compulsory administration was requested. As a result, the name of the company was changed to Fichtelberg-Schwebebahn . In May 1936 the cable car was auctioned. Küttner acquired it for 10,000 RM. The rights and obligations were then transferred by the Saxon government to a Küttner company. In 1938, Küttner's daughter received the cable car as a wedding present .
After the low number of passengers, the numbers rose again in the 1930s and reached 100,000 for the first time in 1940. To cope with the passenger volume, two new cabins with a larger number of seats were acquired. A petrol engine was installed as emergency operation, which could be coupled directly to the hoisting machine.
As a result of the referendum in Saxony on June 30, 1946 on the expropriation of Nazi and war criminals, the Fichtelberg suspension railway also became public property . The city of Oberwiesenthal was designated as the legal entity. Because of the low maintenance during the Second World War , the overall condition of the plant was very poor. After the suspension ropes on the sleeves were discarded in autumn 1948 and repairs were not seen as a priority, operations were stopped.
1948 until today
Gradually, tourism began to recover after the war. The hotels had become FDGB holiday homes and the BSG Traktor took over the winter sports facilities. For the repair of the cable car 600,000 marks were made available to the German central bank . The VEB loading and transport equipment Leipzig (VTA) began on 1 August 1955, the overhaul. On February 17, 1956, the plant was put back into operation. Passenger numbers rose quickly, and in 1958 500,000 passengers were carried.
From August 1961 to November 1962, the VTA converted the system to increase the conveying capacity. Among other things, the cable car received a new hoisting machine and a semi-automatic control system. In addition, the driving speed could be increased to 3.5 m / s through further modifications. The Flugzeugwerft Dresden supplied two cabins made of lightweight construction.
Shortly afterwards the cable car had its most difficult mission. On February 25, 1963, a fire broke out in the Fichtelberghaus . The only way to get to the top was by cable car because the access road was impassable due to snowdrifts . The fire fighters from Oberwiesenthal and the surrounding area were transported by cable car. By morning the train ran 48 times. However, the building could not be saved because there was not enough water to extinguish the fire.
There were further unusual missions in February and March 1965, when Oberwiesenthal was declared a disaster area after heavy snowfall. The objects located on the mountain were supplied by cable car and sledges; Parcels were roped off to a vacation home on the mountain.
In 1965 and 1966 further renovations were carried out. The valley station has been completely renewed and modernized. In 1969 the system was overhauled by the Czech company Tramontaž from Chrudim . By 1971 the number of passengers rose to 855,000. In the same year the railway became the VEB Fichtelberg suspension railway .
In 1983, the railway had largely reached its capacity limit with one million passengers carried. In the early 1980s, the Polish company Krakowskie Biuro Projektow Budownictwa Przemysłowego was commissioned to develop a renovation project. Ultimately, it became a new building, as new pillars were erected at new locations. In addition, the entire drive system was renewed.
Work on the column foundations began in 1984. After the end of the 1984/1985 winter season, operations ceased on March 31 and the plant was shut down. In 1986 the cable car was put back into operation.
After the reunification , the VEB was converted into a GmbH owned by the city of Oberwiesenthal. In addition to the cable car, the company also operates the tow lifts in the ski area and the Viehtrift and Schönjungferngrund chair lifts . In 1999, a private company opened a four-seater chairlift next to the cable car.
As the operating permit for the facility was about to expire in 2011, the project also included repairing the facility, dismantling the lift and building a modern alternative (large cable car or multi-person chairlift). The city council of Oberwiesenthal decided on July 6, 2010 to erect a new building. In September of that year, the city council decided to build an orbit with 8-person cabins. However, the realization of this project was delayed due to a lack of funding.
Since there was still a lack of state funding of 2.5 million euros for a new building at the beginning of July 2011 and many citizens were committed to maintaining the old cable car, the city council of Oberwiesenthal passed a new resolution. The new building was discarded and the old cable car was completely renovated for a planned 1.2 million euros. The measure took place from April 2012 until the start of the 2012/2013 ski season.
Technology and data
The Fichtelberg suspension railway is - despite its name - not a suspension railway, but an aerial cableway that hangs on the rope. It overcomes from the valley station at 905.5 m above sea level. NN to the mountain station at 1208.4 m above sea level. NN over a length of 1175 m and a height of 302.9 m. The average slope is 27.7%. The maximum gradient is 50%.
From 1924 to 1986 the railway had five pillars and two pillars known as trusses in the stations. Column No. 2 was the highest at 26.5 m. The largest span was 546 m. From 1986 the railway only had five pillars. At 35 m, the second column is now the highest. The largest span is now 562 m.
The aerial tramway was built in 1924 with two suspension ropes each 44 mm in diameter. The suspension ropes were made from five ropes connected by sleeves. This led to a rough ride and increased wear. The two traction ropes had a diameter of 25 mm, the two opposing ropes a diameter of 19 mm. From 1927 counter ropes with a diameter of 25 mm were also used. The traction sheave manufactured by ATG Leipzig had a diameter of 2.5 m. The drive supplied by SSW was operated with three-phase current. The engine had an output of 58.9 kW and was controlled by hand. A petrol engine was available as an emergency drive. A hand crank drive was also available to rescue the cabins.
The cabins manufactured by ATG Leipzig offered twelve seats and four standing places. The dead weight of a cabin was 4.6 tons. At a travel speed of 1.8 m / s and a travel time of 10.5 minutes, 80 people could be transported in each direction in one hour. The cabins manufactured by Bleichert in 1940 offered 40 standing places and weighed 1.94 tons. This enabled the transport performance to be increased to 200 people per hour and direction.
After the renovation in 1961/1962, the cable car only had a pull rope of 24 mm, a counter rope of 22 mm and 8 tension ropes of 39 mm. The traction sheave manufactured by VTA Leipzig had a diameter of 3.2 m. The electric motor manufactured by the Elbe Valley Works worked with 440 V direct current and had an output of 63 kW. The controller was using Ward-Leonard - converters semi-automatically. The machine operator only had to start the train - the rest of the operation was then automatic until it came to a standstill in the opposite station. A unit with 17 kW served as an emergency drive . As a result of the conversion, the travel speed could be increased to 3.5 m / s. This meant that a trip only took 6 minutes. The cabins manufactured by the Dresden aircraft yard offered 44 standing places and weighed 2.97 tons. This allowed 320 people to be transported in one direction in one hour.
Since the renovation in 1985/1986, the two suspension ropes are each 42 mm thick. The pull rope has a thickness of 24 mm, the opposite rope of 22 mm and the two tension ropes of 44 mm. The traction sheave was manufactured by POLMAG. Sachsenwerk supplied the 440 V direct current drive with an output of 190 kW . The thyristor control was again semi-automatic. The travel speed is now 7.0 m / s and a journey takes 3.5 minutes. With the cabins from 1962, it is possible to transport 640 people in one hour in one direction.
building
The valley station was initially very simple. The entry platforms were protected by a simple roof, as it still exists today. The space for the tie rods was a low, flat building. In 1932, the clamping room was built over to create a waiting room.
A major renovation of the valley station took place in 1965/1966. The clamping devices were rebuilt. In addition, new inputs and outputs have been created. Social and administrative rooms were created for the staff.
The structure of the mountain station largely corresponded to the valley station. The machine house was located behind the entry area. In a room between the platform and the machine house stood the operator who operated the drive switch and brake.
The rope guide for the pull ropes was not a good solution. The ropes were therefore used more than necessary. The suspension cable attachment was also inadequate. So it was not possible to slacken the ropes sufficiently to move the heavily loaded sections on the supports. As part of the first renovation measures in 1927, the rope routing of the pull ropes was changed, among other things, the guide rollers were enlarged from 500 to 1750 mm in diameter.
As part of the 1985/1986 renovation, the attachment of the suspension cables was significantly improved. The suspension ropes can now be slackened several times, which significantly increases the service life.
literature
- Mario Schatz: GDR cable cars. History • Technology • Operation. transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00159-0 , pp. 139–150.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Fichtelberg suspension railway. Archived from the original on December 8, 2006 ; accessed on March 11, 2014 .
- ↑ The old lady's days are numbered. In: Freie Presse from July 8, 2010
- ↑ Bahn on Fichtelberg floats there. In: Freie Presse from September 29, 2010
- ↑ No funding for a new gondola lift. In: Freie Presse from June 16, 2011
- ↑ But no new gondola lift in Oberwiesenthal ( Memento from July 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Free Press from July 1, 2011
Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 44.1 ″ N , 12 ° 57 ′ 18.5 ″ E