Hamburg tram

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1971 in front of the Altona train station

The Hamburg tram was one of the oldest and largest German tram networks . The first horse-drawn railway line was opened in 1866 and the first electrically operated line in 1894. The Senate of the Hanseatic City decided in 1958 to shut down the entire network, the last line was switched to bus operation in the autumn of 1978.

history

Perambulator car of the Hamburg-Altona horse-drawn railway company

After the lifting of the Hamburg gate at the end of 1860 and as a result of industrialization , the city of Hamburg expanded significantly. The population rose from 290,000 (1870) to 559,000 (1890) only in the old Hamburg area (i.e. excluding Altona and Wandsbek). In addition, 20,000 people lost their apartments in the city center as a result of the construction of the Speicherstadt. This required increasing public transport . However, the first horse-drawn bus operations were inadequate, as the journey on the stone pavement turned out to be too uncomfortable. For the development of suburbs in close proximity to Alster (especially Winterhude ) is a powerful route network developed from 1859 and steamers that were faster then over their competition from horse-drawn carriages and -omnibussen. The wheel-rail principle with its incomparably higher degree of efficiency prevailed, so that Hamburg, beginning in 1866, was provided with a horse-drawn railway network to all the more important suburbs. Some of the operating companies used vehicles in perambulator operation that could leave the route if necessary.

Horse tram

Altona and Hamburg around 1892
(green lines: horse-drawn tram routes)

August 16, 1866 to December 27, 1922

From 1866 to 1875 the first horse-drawn trams operated by the PEG Horse Railroad Company to Wandsbek, Barmbek, Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft and Hamm were opened. In 1878 the Hamburg-Altona horse-drawn railway started its business. From 1880 the street railway company came on the scene, which opened up Eppendorf, Winterhude, Horn and Rothenburgsort in quick succession and already in 1880 opened a line to the new cemetery in Ohlsdorf via Alsterdorf. The road rail company (SEG or StEG) then became the determining operating company in Hamburg after the PEG and some other smaller companies were taken over by it and only the Hamburg-Altona horse railway remained as a competitor.

The network of routes grew continuously until 1894. The route length grew from 1879 with 28 km to 1881 with 66 km by 1896 (already in the electrification phase) to 100 km.

From 1894 the horse-drawn tram lines were electrified. This conversion was completed in the inner city on December 11, 1898 with the Altonaer Ring. Until 1908 there was still a horse-drawn tram feeder from Flottbek and until December 27, 1922 a loop line in Marienthal. Electrification could only take place here after a railway underpass had been built, as the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn (LBE) did not allow its tracks to cross their tracks with the contact wire at ground level .

Steam train

Steam tram to Wandsbek, June 22, 1897

May 13, 1878 to June 22, 1897

The only line was the Rathausmarkt - Steindamm - Wandsbeker Chaussee - Wandsbek-Zoll route with steam locomotives (first PEG, from 1880 SEG). Usually two double-decker sidecars were pulled by a steam locomotive. Because of the squat shape of the latter, the vernacular called them "flat irons". The steam operation in 1897 was replaced by electric railcars .

Electrical operation

On March 5, 1894, the SEG began electrical operation on a double-track ring line (from 1900: Line 26) around the city ​​center in the course of Glockengießerwall - Klosterwall - Dovenfleet - Vorsetzen - Glacischaussee - Gorch-Fock-Wall - Esplanade - Lombard Bridge - Glockengießerwall. The supplier of the electrical equipment was Union Electricitäts-Gesellschaft (UEG) based in Berlin , which u. a. held the patent for pantographs . To supply the electricity , the UEG had to conclude a contract with the Nuremberg company Schuckert & Co. , the sole holder of the concession to supply Hamburg with electrical energy. The nominal voltage was 500 V, the voltage level could only fluctuate between 490 V and 540 V. The spanning of the Lombard Bridge with the overhead line over a length of 104 m was considered a technical masterpiece of that time .

The first line planned from the outset for electrical operation was completed on April 11, 1895, later line 6 via Fuhlsbüttler Strasse from Barmbek (Zoll) to Ohlsdorf.

The traffic from Gänsemarkt to Rathausmarkt was led in both directions through the narrow street Poststrasse - Gerhofstrasse. Therefore, in 1900 the decision was made to lay one of the tracks over Jungfernstieg to relieve the Poststrasse. This regulation remained until the closure of operations in 1978. The masts of the overhead line on the Jungfernstieg were constructed particularly elaborately, on their second boom they carried candelabra . In 1912, the heavily used route over the Great Burstah was less expensive . Here the track was laid to the west through the Mönkedamm. Only line 7 ran west over the Great Burstah until 1924, only then over Mönkedamm.

The electricity was first supplied by the HEW An der Stadtwassermühle power station, built in 1893 . The vehicles were built in the Falkenried vehicle workshop in Hoheluft .

Expansion of the line network

From September 3, 1900
, the tram lines were
numbered according to the following scheme:
line  to
1-3 Wandsbek
4-5 Eilbek
6-9 Barmbek
10-16 Eimsbüttel
17th Hamm
18-19 Ring lines around the Alster
20-25 remaining lines
26th Ringbahn around the city center
27 Altona Ring
28 Ohlsdorf via Winterhude
29-30 in Altona
over 30 each new line got a
higher number
Line network 1908
(with the planned elevated railway lines)

By the turn of the century, the main part of the inner-city network had been completed. The road railway company had gradually taken over smaller companies and in 1900 operated the lines "1" to "30". Ten more lines were added by 1914, so that this company then operated lines "1" to "40". In addition, there was the Zentralbahn, which emerged from the Hamburg Altonaer Pferdebahn and offered the lucrative traffic Berliner Tor - Steinstraße - Reeperbahn - Altona - Ottensen, in Altona and Ottensen with two branch lines, the red line via Königstraße and the green line via Große Bergstraße.

Some of the tram routes reached far into the surrounding area and also into the Prussian communities, e.g. B. 1903 to Harburg, 1907 to Stellingen, 1912 to Schnelsen, 1913 to Tonndorf, Wandsbek-Gartenstadt and Eidelstedt and 1914 to Billstedt. The surrounding communities themselves awarded the concession for a line in their place, so that the narrow borders of Hamburg had hardly any negative effects in this regard until 1937. Often a construction subsidy was paid to the SEGH in order to be connected to the tram network.

In the meantime, in 1909, the length of the tram network in Hamburg was 167.17 km.

Competition with the rapid transit system

Until 1907, the tram alone carried the bulk of the traffic. Due to the Stadtbahn (later S-Bahn) and from 1912 the Hochbahnring with the branch lines to Eimsbüttel (Hellkamp), Ohlsdorf and Rothenburgsort, the relative share of the tram in the transport performance (excluding shipping lines) fell from 100% in 1907 to 60.95 % in 1918, but the absolute output of only the tram rose during this time from 156.174 million to 218.060 million per year. Total traffic on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and tram was 357.788 million people per year in 1918 and has therefore more than doubled in these eleven years. A relief or an expansion of the tram network was therefore urgently required. In addition to expanding the elevated railway network to Langenhorn and the Walddörfer in 1909 and 1919, it was planned not only to expand the tram in the inner city, but also to lay further routes in the surrounding communities (e.g. to Bramfeld).

The breakthrough of Mönckebergstrasse was connected with the construction of the elevated railway ring. From March 18, 1910, lines "1" and "4" were the first to use this new connection. Until 1928, however, the Hermannstrasse – Ferdinandstrasse road retained its importance for traffic. The Zentralbahn crossed the old town on the parallel stone street.

Without the HVV tariff association that we are used to today , the S-Bahn, Hochbahn, SEGH and Zentralbahn trams were in direct competition with each other. As early as 1912, the new elevated railway meant that some reinforcement lines in the direction of Barmbek were no longer available.

Between the world wars

From January 1, 1920, the HHA (Hamburger Hochbahn Aktiengesellschaft) took over the tram operation of the SEGH and from January 1, 1923 also the operation of the Zentralbahn. In September 1920, all trains that ran through the main station or Stephansplatz were equipped with letter boxes. Express letters, telegrams and other urgent mail could be dropped into the boxes attached to the rear of the railcars .

The first new line to the Stadthalle am Stadtpark (1921) was followed by lines to Hochrad (partial reactivation of the Blankeneser Bahn), to the Trabrennbahn in Farmsen, to Jüthorn, to the Horner Rennbahn and to Billbrook after overcoming inflation. Line 21 was offered as a new cross-connection from Barmbek to Rothenburgsort. Traffic in the center has been concentrated in Mönckebergstrasse since the late 1920s. From 1925 the first permanent bus routes were established, so that z. B. in the course of the Mansteinstrasse no more tram line was built. Suburbs such as Bramfeld and west of Altona were also partly connected by bus lines instead of tram lines.

During the National Socialist rule, only an approx. 600 m long extension was added to the tram network in Hammerbrook through Süderstrasse to the Brown Bridge. Since the previous night buses to the Wehrmacht were withdrawn during the Second World War , the tram then also took over night traffic on certain lines.

The 1955 tram network

Destruction and rebuilding

After the bombing of Hamburg at the end of July 1943, tram traffic was no longer possible except in Harburg. While operations on the main lines started again after a few days or weeks, some lines only came under contact wire after months or even years. Some routes (e.g. in Altona, St. Pauli, Hammerbrook and Hamm as well as line 21 from Barmbek via Eilbek to Rothenburgsort) were not put back into operation. Nevertheless, in 1947 a network with the most important lines was available again.

The new line to Bramfeld came into operation as early as 1948. Line 16 reached Jenfeld on July 4, 1954, and Lurup was finally connected to the tram network on October 29, 1955. The route network had thus reached its greatest expansion after the Second World War. But on August 30, 1954, the conversion of tram lines to bus services began with the 44 (previously 38) in Harburg.

When the line names of the HHA were reorganized on May 5, 1953, in which the bus lines were also designated with numbers instead of letters, the previous Harburg lines 34 and 38 received higher line numbers (42 and 44). Harburg was given the 1940s decade. From 1954, the 30s decade for tram lines was abandoned in order to use them for an express bus line network. In order to achieve this goal, line renaming took place in 1955 (line 31 in 1) and 1957 (line 30 in 17). From 1961, the 20s decade also passed to the express bus sector.

The network of routes from May 17, 1955 onwards in the greatest expansion after the Second World War
1 Lurup - Bahrenfeld-Trabrennbahn - Bahrenfeld Steindamm - Altona Station - Palmaille - Landungsbrücken - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Hbf. - Berliner Tor - Billstedt (until October 19, 1955 as line 31 from the Trabrennbahn, then extended to Lurup and renamed)
2 Schnelsen - Niendorf - Hoheluftbrücke - Dammtor - Gänsemarkt - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Central Station - Berliner Tor - Horner Rennbahn; at night: Schnelsen - At the Schlump
3 Eidelstedt - Langenfelde - Osterstr. - Dammtor - Gänsemarkt - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Main station - Steindamm - Wandsbek-Markt - Tonndorf; night and day
5 Langenfelde - Lappenbergsallee - Shoulder Blades - Feldstr. - Kaiser-Wilhelm-Str. - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Main station - Steindamm - Wandsbek market - Wandsbek garden city - Hellbrook
6th Othmarschen, Hochrad - Ottenser Hauptstr. - Bf. Altona - Gr. Bergstrasse - Reeperbahn - Steinwege - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Central Station - Long Row - Mundsburg - Hamburger Str. - Barmbek Station - Fuhlsbüttler Str. - Ohlsdorf; at night: Bleickenallee (Ottensen) - Ohlsdorf
7th Bf. Altona - Gr. Bergstrasse - Reeperbahn - Steinwege - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Central Station - Berliner Tor - Billstedt
8th Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Central Station - Long Row - Mundsburg - Hamburger Str. - Dehnhaide - Friedrich-Ebert-Damm - Farmsen Trabrennbahn
9 Airport - Alsterdorf - Winterhuder Markt - Maria-Louisen-Str. - Mittelweg - Dammtor - Gänsemarkt - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Hbf. - Lange Reihe - Mundsburg - Hamburger Str. - Fabriciusstr. - Bramfeld (from October 30, 1955 via Barmbek - Pestalozzistr.)
11 Bahrenfeld Trabrennbahn - Stresemannstr. - Feldstrasse - Lombard Bridge - Amsinckstr. - Norderelbbrücke - Veddel - Wilhelmsburg, Mengestr. (- Bf. Harburg) (only on weekdays, no late-night traffic)
12 Bahrenfeld-Volkspark - Bahrenfeld Trabrennbahn - Stresemannstr. - Feldstrasse - Lombard Bridge - Amsinckstr. - Rothenburgsort; at night: Bahrenfeld Trabrennbahn - Stresemannstr. - Hein-Hoyer-Str. - Reeperbahn - Glacischaussee - Lombard Bridge - Süderstraße - Billhorn - Freihafenstraße
13 St. Pauli - Glacischaussee - Lombard Bridge - Amsinckstr. - Norderelbbrücke - Veddel - Wilhelmsburg - Harburg - Rönneburg; night and day
14th Landungsbrücken - Hein-Hoyer-Str. - Schanzenstrasse - Bismarckstrasse - Lehmweg - Curschmannstr. - Martinistr. - Eppendorfer Markt - Winterhuder Markt - Mühlenkamp - Winterhuder Weg - Mundsburg - Kuhmühle - Berliner Tor - Heidenkampsweg - Elbbrücken - Veddel - Freihafen / (- Wilhelmsburg, Mengestr.)
15th Hohenzollernring - Bf. Altona - (Max-Brauer-) Allee - Shoulder Blade - Eppendorfer Weg - Gärtnerstr. - Martinistr. - Eppendorfer Markt - Winterhuder Markt - Mühlenkamp - Winterhuder Weg - Mundsburg - Landwehr - Hammer Landstr. - Hamm, Diagonalstr.
16 Hagenbecks Tierpark - Osterstr. - Dammtor - Gänsemarkt - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Main station - Steindamm - Wandsbek-Markt - Rodigallee - Jenfeld
18th Groß Borstel - Eppendorf Market - Rothenbaumchaussee - Dammtor - Gänsemarkt - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Central Station - Long Row - Hofweg - Mühlenkamp - Winterhude Markt - Lattenkamp; at night: Eppendorfer Markt - Bismarckstr. - Schanzenstrasse - Hein-Hoyer-Str. - Reeperbahn - Steinwege - Rathausmarkt - Mönckebergstr. - Central Station - Long Row - Hofweg - Mühlenkamp - Winterhuder Markt - Eppendorfer Markt
19th (Mundsburg -) Berliner Tor - Heidenkampsweg - Süderstr. - Billbrook
27 New Town Hall - Altona Station - (Max-Brauer-) Allee - Schlump - Hallerstr. - Alsterchaussee (taken over by the extended line 8 from October 30, 1956)
30th (Hochrad -) Bf.Altona - (Max-Brauer-) Allee - Kieler Str. - Langenfelde (renamed to line 17 on May 4, 1957)
42 Heimfeld (Vahrenwinkelweg) - Harburg station (previously line 34)
Mönckebergstrasse in May 1977

The way to the cessation of operations

Sign indicating the end of operation

In 1958, the Senate decided to gradually discontinue tram operations and at the same time to expand the underground network . As early as 1954, a message appeared in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten that the city of Hamburg was planning to discontinue the tram within twenty years.

However, the planning for the suspension of the tram and the creation of conditions to enforce this against the Hamburg population began long before that. In the post-war years, the tram had absolute priority over omnibus traffic. Urban bus services in the inner city area were not reintroduced. Bus routes almost exclusively served as a feeder to the underground, suburban trains and trams. To change this, an express bus network was planned in the mid-1950s . The first express bus was introduced in 1956, in the following years was rapidly, a surcharge Paid bus network with diameter lines and a large half-ring. Since the tram was to be replaced by high-speed trains that required broken operations , express buses were to be offered as an alternative to connections without changing trains (which existed in the previous tram operation). The express buses ultimately also served as an argument that buses are more comfortable than the trams. However, the tram vehicles designed by Falkenried at the end of the 1940s were technically not up to date; they wanted to save development costs for a means of transport that was no longer considered modern. Express buses were not intended to directly replace trams, but it is curious that after line 31, which was renamed in 1955, towards Billstedt, an express bus line 31 followed on a similar route in 1958. In 1957 the last new tram cars were put into operation ( V7 ).

Lines 10, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 29, 32, 36, 37, 39 and 40 were already out of service in the wake of the Second World War. On May 10, 1959, lines 13 and 17 were closed. Since October 1960 (closure of Wandsbeker lines 3 and 16 due to the construction of the underground) a section has been shut down almost every year. Lines 22, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 38, 42 and 44 had already been closed or renamed.

On the night of September 30th to October 1st, 1978, the last scheduled cars of the last tram line 2 drove into the Lokstedt depot. On Sunday, October 1st, the still operational cars drove between Rathausmarkt and Schnelsen for the last time so that the passengers could say goodbye. Hamburg has been tram-free since October 2, 1978, and the tracks were removed immediately in order to set up bus lanes on this route in the middle of the Edmund-Siemers-Allee, Grindelberg, Grindelhof, Hoheluftchaussee and Lokstedter Steindamm streets .

The remaining line network in the 1960s / 70s and the network dismantling
1 Until September 28, 1968 : Schenefeld - Lurup - Bahrenfeld - Altona station - Landungsbrücken - Rathausmarkt - Hauptbahnhof - Burgstrasse - Billstedt
until June 2, 1973: Schenefeld - Lurup - Bahrenfeld - Altona station - Landungsbrücken - Rathausmarkt - Hauptbahnhof - Hofweg - Winterhude , Goldbekplatz
until September 28, 1974: Rathausmarkt - Hbf - Mundsburger Brücke - Goldbekplatz, then extended to May 21, 1977 : Rathausmarkt - Goldbekplatz - Lattenkamp
2 until September 30, 1978 as the last Hamburg tram line : Schnelsen - Niendorf Markt - Lokstedt - Grindelberg - Dammtor - Rathausmarkt (also - Hbf / ZOB until May 27, 1978). The line previously ran via Hbf to Burgstraße - Horner Rennbahn until January 1, 1967 and from May 22, 1971 to March 6, 1976 via Hbf - Veddel - Wilhelmsburg, Mengestraße as a replacement for line 12
3 until June 2, 1973 : Langenfelde - Osterstraße - Dammtor - Rathausmarkt - Hbf - Mundsburger Brücke - Winterhude, Lattenkamp, ​​until September 28, 1974 , then only: Rathausmarkt - Hbf - Mundsburger Brücke - Winterhude, Lattenkamp (then line 1)
4th (actually no "own" line, but only amplifier of line 2) until May 27, 1972 : Niendorf Markt - Lokstedt - Dammtor - Rathausmarkt (additionally until January 1, 1967: - Hbf - Burgstraße - Horner Rennbahn)
5 again from January 2nd, 1967 to September 25th, 1971 : Burgstrasse - Sievekingsallee - Horner Rennbahn
6th until May 29, 1965 : St. Pauli , Hamburger Berg - Großneumarkt - Rathausmarkt - Hbf - Mundsburg - Barmbek - Ohlsdorf
7th until May 30, 1970 : Othmarschen, Hochrad - Altona train station - Palmaille - Rödingsmarkt - Rathausmarkt - Hbf (also until May 27, 1967 - Burgstrasse - Billstedt)
8th until August 18, 1962 : Altona, Neues Rathaus - (Max-Brauer-) Allee - Schlump - Alsterchaussee
9 May 29, 1965 Adjustment: Main station - Mundsburg - Barmbek - Bramfeld; until May 25, 1974 : Airport - Winterhude - Mittelweg - Dammtor - Rathausmarkt - Hbf
11 October 27, 1963 changed route via Mönckebergstrasse, discontinuation of the route Lombard bridge - Glockengießerwall. Until May 30, 1970 : Schenefeld - Lurup - Bahrenfeld Trabrennbahn - Holstenstr. - Feldstrasse - Rathausmarkt - Hbf - Veddel - Wilhelmsburg - Harburg - Wilstorf - Rönneburg; from May 31, 1970 only: Lurup - Hbf / ZOB and from June 3, 1973 to June 28, 1975 further shortened only: Bahrenfeld Trabrennbahn - Hbf / ZOB
12 from May 31, 1970 to May 22, 1971 : Rathausmarkt - Hbf - Klostertor - Veddel - Wilhelmsburg - Harburg - Wilstorf - Rönneburg
14th October 29, 1961 Setting: Veddel - Freeport. Until September 23, 1967 : Millerntor - New Horse Market - Shoulder Blade - Gärtnerstr. - Eppendorf - Winterhude - Mühlenkamp - Mundsburg - Landwehr - Berliner Tor - Veddel; from September 24, 1967: train station Altona - (Max-Brauer-) Allee - shoulder blade - Gärtnerstr. - as before to Veddel; from September 27, 1970 shortened: Lattenkamp - Mühlenkamp - Veddel, from July 25, 1976 to May 22, 1977 divided into two sub-lines:

a) Lattenkamp - Mühlenkamp - Landwehr - Berliner Tor - Veddel
b) Grindelberg - Hoheluftchaussee - UKE - Eppendorf - Winterhude - Mühlenkamp - Landwehr - Burgstr.
in the evening after 8 p.m. and on Sundays until 12 p.m.: Lattenkamp - Burgstr.

15th until January 1st, 1967 : New Town Hall Altona - (Max-Brauer-) Allee - shoulder blade - Gärtnerstr. - Eppendorf - Winterhude - Mühlenkamp - Landwehr - Burgstr. - Hamm, Diagonalstrasse; from January 2, 1967 shortened to Burgstr .; from Sept. 27, 1970: Grindelberg - Hoheluftchaussee - Eppendorf - as before to Burgstr .; extended from Sept. 26, 1971 to March 6, 1976 Burgstr. - Horner Rennbahn (instead of line 5 there)
16 until April 27, 1963 : Hagenbecks Tierpark - Osterstr. - Dammtor - Rathausmarkt - Central Station - Mundsburg - Dehnhaide - Farmsen Trabrennbahn, from April 28, 1963: Hagenbeck's zoo - Central Station - Hofweg - Winterhude - Lattenkamp. The line was shortened from October 27, 1963: Lutterothstr. - Osterstrasse - Lattenkamp. On January 1, 1967 Line 16 has been set, the route to the Lattenkamp took M3.
18th until May 21, 1966 : Groß Borstel - Eppendorfer Landstr. - Rothenbaumchaussee - Dammtor - Rathausmarkt - Hbf / ZOB; from May 22, 1966 only: Eppendorfer Markt - Hbf / ZOB and from September 28, 1968 to May 31, 1969 only: Eppendorfer Markt - Rathausmarkt
19th until September 26, 1970 : (Landwehr -) Berliner Tor - Billbrook
Several depots were converted into building and grocery stores, such as on Max-Brauer-Allee in Altona
The final stop in Ohlsdorf serves as an art studio

The time after

Track remains at the tram stop on Straßburger Straße

The last tram depot on Alte Kollaustraße in Lokstedt became a hardware store. The largest former depot at Krohnskamp in Winterhude is now a supermarket. The final stop in Ohlsdorf an der Straße Im Grünen Grund is now used as a private art studio.

Of the type “V6” vehicles that were used until recently, one is still available today in San Francisco , one on Schönberger Strand (northeast of Kiel ) and in the Skjoldnæesholm tram museum in Denmark, as well as another one at the former depot on Alte Kollaustraße a renovation in 2012/13 of the Barmbek underground railway station of Hamburger Hochbahn.

A type “V7E” vehicle has been preserved and is accessible in the former depot at Krohnskamp.

The tram tracks were "expanded". Federal funds from the funding program to expand local public transport were used for this purpose.

Tram relics

Remains of the Hamburg tram on the federal highway
Dismantling of the tram tracks at the intersection of Max-Brauer-Allee and Holstenstraße, looking towards the northeast
Remains of the Hamburg tram in front of the Hochrad high school

Remnants of open tram tracks have almost completely disappeared from the streets of Hamburg since the 2000s. In very few places there are still a few meters of track where dismantling has so far not seemed economical for various reasons, e.g. B. at the pedestrian crossing in front of the Hochrad high school or on Straßburger Straße. Former tracks are still traceable in some - especially cobblestone - streets, as the pavement to be filled clearly traces the track lane, for example "At the Reitbahn" in Ottensen. In the inner city area, in Eppendorf, Altona and other parts of the city, there are still around 600 catenary rosettes on old buildings. Outside the city center, there are still the characteristic overhead line masts on many of the streets, to which the street lighting is now attached. A less obvious relic are dedicated bus lanes, which follow the large curve radii of the former tracks, especially at crossings.

After the closure of individual lines, the tram tracks embedded in the cobblestones were usually only covered with a new road surface for reasons of cost. It is only since the turn of the millennium that the rails and the surrounding cobblestones have been removed for reasons of stability when renovating roads. Overbuilt and forgotten tram tracks occasionally lead to delays in renovation work.

Planning for a renaissance of the tram

Since the mid-1980s, the GAL in particular has been campaigning for the reintroduction of the tram as " Stadtbahn " in Hamburg. A network designed in 1989 with two lines and thus four lines of rail coming out of the city center came in 2001 until shortly before the start of the planning approval procedure , but was fiercely opposed in particular by the Schill party and the CDU. As the winners of the citizenship elections at the time, they stopped planning and instead used the money that had already been budgeted for the construction of a U4 line to HafenCity . Completed in December 2012, this cost 323.6 million euros with only two new stations (Überseequartier and HafenCity University). The construction of the two light rail lines with a total of 49 stops and a depot near City Nord would have cost 485 million euros according to calculations by the building authorities.

Since 2007 there has again been a citizens' initiative that campaigns for the creation of a ground-level rail network in Hamburg that does not need power rails next to the rails like the S-Bahn and U-Bahn and can therefore do without rail lines that are underground or separated by fences.

With the coalition agreement of April 17, 2008 between the CDU and the GAL to form the Senate, a declaration of intent for the construction of a Hamburg light rail was confirmed. On January 8, 2009 the authority for urban development and the environment decided that the first new tram line should connect the districts of Bramfeld and Altona. The first part of the route was to be built from Bramfelder Dorfplatz via Steilshoop to the north-west of the Rübenkamp S-Bahn station via the City Nord to the Kellinghusenstraße underground station in Eppendorf. The Hochbahn, as the company responsible for planning, construction and operation, expected to complete the draft planning by mid-2010 and, if the following planning approval procedure went optimally, to start construction in early 2012. In 2014, the first section of the line should be put into operation. This first stretch, about 15 kilometers long, was to be the first part of a 50-kilometer-long light rail network.

In May 2011, however, the Hochbahn's supervisory board decided in a special meeting to discontinue the plan approval procedure.

Cuxhaven

During the time it was in operation from July 6, 1914 to August 2, 1914, Cuxhaven was part of Hamburg.

operator

Horse Railway Company (PEG)

Center: SEGH horse tram on the Stadthausbrücke

The Horse Railway Company started operations in 1866 as the first horse railway company. Its lines and those of the other horse-drawn railway companies replaced the horse-drawn buses introduced in 1839 , which could not be operated profitably in competition with the horse-drawn railway. The PEG switched its line to Wandsbek to steam operation in 1878. As early as 1881 the company was incorporated into the Road Railroad Company .

Hamburg-Altona Horse Railway Company (HAPf)

Founded in 1878, with electrification in 1896 it was renamed Hamburg-Altonaer-Centralbahn (later “Zentralbahn”).

Road Railway Company (SEG or SEGH)

The road and rail company was founded in Hamburg in 1880 . The SEG was the first company in Hamburg to experiment with a line (to Barmbek) with a battery drive in 1885. From March 5, 1894, the electrification of their lines began. The SEG took over some smaller railway companies like the GrHAS and the HAT by 1900 (see next paragraphs) and was the main tram company in Hamburg until the end of its operational management in 1919. With a contract dated July 11, 1918 - retroactively to January 1, 1918 - it was taken over by the HHA, but operated its lines until December 31, 1919.

Hamburg-Altonaer Trambahn-Gesellschaft (HATG or HAT)

Founded in 1882 as "Hamburg-Altona North-Western-Tramway Co." (HANWTC), this company operated lines from Rödingsmarkt to Altona and Eimsbüttel, and from 1898 also to Bahrenfeld. Financially restructured, it called itself Hamburg-Altonaer Trambahn-Gesellschaft from 1892, as it said on its car. In 1900 it was taken over by the SEG.

Large Hamburg-Altona tram (GrHAS)

From 1887 to 1891, despite its promising name, this company only operated two horse-drawn tram lines from St. Georg to St. Pauli and to Klopstockstraße in Ottensen. Their short-lived existence ended with the takeover by the SEG.

Spielbudenplatz
Zug of the HAC

Hamburg-Altona Central Railway (HAC)

Founded in 1878 as Hamburg-Altonaer Pferdebahn (HAPf), it was renamed Hamburg-Altonaer Centralbahn (later “Zentralbahn”) when it was electrified in 1896. Until December 31, 1922, this company operated the financially lucrative connection Berliner Tor - Millerntor - Ottensen. Because of its yellow-painted wagons with a pagoda-shaped roof, it was popularly known as the "Chinese Railway". It was taken over by the HHA in 1923.

Electric railway Altona – Blankenese (EBAB)

This tram started operating in 1899. The company's terminus was on Elbchaussee on Mühlenberg . Due to competition from the Stadtbahn (today S-Bahn), a later renewal of the track became unprofitable and the line was discontinued in 1921. This was preceded by the insolvency of EBAB, so that Helios-Elektrizitätsgesellschaft, main shareholder of EBAB, stopped supplying electricity, which had to lead to the cessation of operations.

Nine railcars of the EBAB were sold to Hanover in 1921 , seven railcars to the Utrecht municipal tram in the Netherlands and ran there until 1938.

From 1924 onwards, part of the route up to the high wheel was reactivated for the HHA tram.

The EBAB was renamed Verkehrs-Aktien-Gesellschaft-Altona (VAGA) in 1925. After the acquisition of “automobile omnibuses”, operations were started on three lines and continuously expanded. When Hamburg merged with Altona in 1937, the transport license fell to Hamburger Hochbahn AG.

Hamburger Hochbahn Aktiengesellschaft (HHA)

With effect from July 11, 1918, with retroactive effect from January 1, 1918, the city-owned Strassen-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft was incorporated into the HHA.

On December 31, 1922 the concession of the Hamburg-Altonaer Centralbahn-Gesellschaft expired and their vehicles, track material and land were sold to Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HHA), which continues to operate the routes. Since then, the HHA has also operated the entire tram network in Hamburg and suburbs.

politics

First of all, it was the landowners who could expect good income from good transport links and who therefore took care of the financing of the facilities. Municipalities such as Lokstedt also contributed financially to the railway construction in order to have a good connection to Hamburg.

After the first power plants went into operation, their operators were interested in a rapid expansion of the line network. Industrial companies were connected to the direct current lines of the tram. The struggle of the electricity companies for the better system was ultimately decided in favor of alternating current . When AC power lines were laid everywhere after the First World War , the electricity industry lost its interest in expanding trams.

In the 1930s, the automotive and petroleum industries began to see the tram as a competitor. The tracks laid in the streets prevented the use of asphalt as a road surface .

In the 1950s, trolleybus routes were set up in Harburg . The planning before the war provided for trolleybuses instead of trams.

While the 1954 tram routes to Horner Rennbahn and Billstedt offered a daily space of 122,200 and the lines to Wandsbek only offered 73,400, the underground line from Jungfernstieg via Messberg to the main station in the direction of Wandsbek was still being built, because this way, not only lines “3 "," 5 "and" 16 "on Wandsbeker Chaussee , but also" 6 "," 8 "and" 9 "on Hamburger Straße. The eastern part of the subway ring line was to be relieved by the Wandsbeker subway so that it could also accommodate the traffic of the tram lines to Barmbek. Only then did the Billstedt underground line be built.

The subway construction to the Wandsbeker Marktplatz (station name: Wandsbek-Markt), Hagenbeck's zoo and Billstedt in the 1960s was a prerequisite for the cessation of tram operations. Because of the small capacity of the buses used at the time, a 1: 1 replacement with these would have clogged the city center. For the transport of 200 people with the tram it was calculated with 180 square meters of street area, but with buses with 230 square meters. Only the construction of underground lines seemed to be the most suitable way of relieving the roads. The promised further expansion of the underground network failed due to a lack of funding.

For this reason, no further underground lines were built at first. B. a route from Hauptbahnhof Nord to Uhlenhorst and Winterhude to City Nord ( U4 old ). Today, routes that were previously planned as the subway are served by Metrobus lines. Due to the high number of passengers on these lines, the bus fleet was expanded to include further articulated buses and even double articulated buses .

The development of modern light rail vehicles - on the surface or partially as underground light rail in tunnels - has led to the fact that the tram is returning to the cities as light rail, as it is much cheaper to build and operate than underground lines; In addition, existing stops on the surface can be reached by passengers much more quickly than underground stations. The passengers cannot “experience” the cityscape in the tunnel, they drive “blind”.

Since the railways plan to use their own lane whenever possible, public protests often arise out of fear of losing parking spaces.

vehicles

Two-axle

SEGH's two-axle vehicle at the Hafenthor

A total of 842 two-axle electric railcars were built for the Hamburg tram company between 1894 and 1926.

Road Railway Company (SEG), type Z1

(Name from the 1940s)

SEG built the first electric railcars in Hamburg itself in its main workshop in Falkenried , which is still reminiscent of the street Straßenbahnring today : (1894 = 105 cars, 1895 = 169, 1896 = 84, 1897 = 29, a total of 387 cars). In 1919, 375 of these were taken over by the HHA. The two-axle cars were originally 8.09 m long, 2.0 m wide, with a wheelbase of 1.7 m over buffers.

Supplier of chassis was the Bergische steel industry , therefore the type designation B . Initially, the cars had only one engine, later series got two engines and the first car was retrofitted, especially when two sidecars were permitted from 1901. The power per engine increased from 1894 with 10.2  kW z. B. 1920 to 37.0 kW.

The passenger cell had five "arched windows" and the driver's cab was open. The driver had to operate the drive switch while standing. Glazing of the platform was not permitted until the mid-1920s for safety reasons.

The underframes later manufactured in Falkenried's own workshop were given the generic letter N, the further developments then N1 to N6. In 1902 a splinter type of four transverse seat cars was added (with 2.04 m instead of 1.92 m inside car width), from 1901 to 1902 there were 32 three-tier cars, in 1904 and 1906 a total of 125 again five-tier cars. In the series from 1909 to 1913 with 70 cars, the wheelbase was 1.85 m and the length over buffers was 8.78 m. The 20-piece type N3 built in 1914 and 1915 then had a length of 9.06 m over buffers, a weather protection cover for the driver and, as the first model, an electric route light. All 251 new buildings from 1901 to 1915 were taken over by the HHA.

Z1u and Z2B
Z2u and Z2Bu at the final stop in Ohlsdorf ,
VVM museum vehicles

Hamburger Hochbahn Aktiengesellschaft (HHA), type Z2

After the takeover of the 638 railcars from SEG, the HHA modernized and converted the cars. In the 1920s, some of the wagons were given new chassis with a 2.2 m wheelbase (type N6, otherwise type N5 with 2.0 m wheelbase). Car designation from the 1940s was then Z1 (2.0 m wide) or Z2 (2.15 m wide).

In 1921 the HHA built 25 new type N4 cars with a length over buffers 9.07 m, 2.20 m wheelbase and 2.15 m width. This was the later model for the conversions according to type N6. In 1926, a series of 50 vehicles (N6) came into operation as the last new two-axle vehicle.

415 two-axle railcars were still available after the Second World War, 227 of them from the first construction phase. Corresponding modifications and upgrades were carried out in each case, but also the first decommissioning. In 1955, 35 cars were used for the VG trains, and the Z1 cars were taken out of service around 1959; the Z2 cars were carried out from 1961 to 1965.

Hamburg Altona Central Railway (HAC)

The first 40 HAC railcars were built by Waggonbau Busch in 1896 and another 20 in Falkenried in 1898 . Busch built 20 sidecars in 1897 and another 25 in Falkenried in 1898 . The length over the buffers was 8.4 m, the car body width 2.0 m and the wheelbase 1.7 m (2.2 m with some modifications). Four railcars were later converted into sidecars. In 1923 the HHA took over 46 railcars and 51 sidecars. By 1929 some cars were converted into work cars, the rest were scrapped.

The car bodies initially had two large arched windows and the roof was shaped like a pagoda. Therefore, and because of its yellow color, the Central Railway was also called the "Chinese Railway".

Hamburg-Altonaer Trambahn-Gesellschaft (HAT)

HAT had its electric railcars and suitable trailers manufactured by Busch in Eimsbüttel. In 1897 80 and in 1899 another two railcars were built (car body 5.18 m long, 2.0 m wide, wheelbase 1.7 m, two engines each 20 hp). All 82 cars were taken over by SEG in 1900 and by HHA in 1919. From 1927 to 1931 the cars were used as work cars or some of them were demolished.

Electric Railway Altona-Blankenese (EBAB)

For the 1913 season, Falkenried procured seven new two-axle railcars in order to be able to operate more economically than with the four-axle vehicles from 1899. After the cessation of operations on January 9, 1921, the railcars were sold to the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Four-axle

Between 1897 and 1956 a total of 387 four-axle electric railcars were built for the Hamburg tram company.

Road Railway Company (SEG), type V1

In 1897 Falkenried built the first ten four-axle vehicles, and by 1901 50 of this type were in service. The length over the buffers was 11.2 m, the pivot spacing 4.6 m, the bogie 1.6 m center distance. In 1919, HHA took over all 51 wagons, including a converted three-axle vehicle. They were in passenger traffic until July 1943. After 18 wagons were destroyed, the rest were converted into freight wagons in autumn 1944. 24 cars survived the Second World War and served as work cars for various purposes until the 1950s.

Electric train Altona-Blankenese (EBAB), type V1

In 1899, 16 railcars came from Falkenried , which were designed according to the same drawings as the four-axle SEG. From 1913 onwards only occasionally used due to the high power consumption, these railcars were sold to the Hanover tram in 1918.

HHA, type V2

30 four-axle vehicles were built at Falkenried from 1928 (V2T), and from 1936 to 1939 another ten railcars (V2U) were made from V2 sidecars. Later conversions and modernizations to V2U, V2U50 and V2U2 took place. Three vehicles were adapted to the requirements of the railroad and used on the remaining EKV operation between Ohlstedt and Wohldorf - also operated by the HHA - and operated as the only Hamburg wagons with pantographs. 27 V2Ts and all ten V2Us survived the war, went into amplifier operation from around 1958 and were decommissioned from 1963 to autumn 1967. Their length over buffers was 11.94 m, the pivot spacing 4.6 m and the wheelbase in the bogie 1.6 m. The clear width of the car was 2.0 m.

Two V6 railcars. The series 3601–3660 (originally 3001–3060) was built by Falkenried in 1951/52 and was the first of this type.
Tram railcar V3 of the Hamburg tram as a museum vehicle on Schönberger Strand (May 27, 2017)
V7 3200 built in 1953/54 from O&K on the drive over the Norderelbe via Veddel and Wilhelmsburg. The tram had its own track on the bridge and crossed under the motorway in the Veddel tram tunnel .

HHA, types V3, V4 and V5

Five railcars of the V3 were manufactured at Falkenried from 1937 to 1940 (length over buffers 12.3 m; width 2.2 m, pivot spacing 5.2 m, axle spacing bogie 1.6 m). Only two cars survived the Second World War, were used for reinforcement trips from 1958 and remained in service until January 1967.

Three test railcars were designated as V4 , one of which each was manufactured by Westwaggon and the Uerdingen wagon factory . The length over the buffers was between 14.48 and 14.60 m, the chassis dimensions corresponded to the V3. All three cars were destroyed in 1943.

21 type V5 railcars were delivered by the Uerdingen wagon factory in 1943 (length over buffers 14.71 m, width 2.2 m, chassis dimensions as V3). Eleven cars survived the war and remained in passenger traffic until the end of 1968.

HHA, PCC car

As a test car, the PCC car 3060 ran as a single car on line 8 until 1958, before reaching Copenhagen and later on to Brussels .

HHA, types V6 and V7

As a further development of the V5, after a test car from the Falkenried workshop in 1949, 62 V6 railcars came into operation from 1951 to 1953, and another 100 railcars came from Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) in 1951 and 1952 . LHB delivered 50 railcars of the V7 from August 1953 to March 1954 and another 40 cars in 1956.

Externally, there were only minor differences for the 2.2 m wide cars (V6: sliding doors, V7: revolving doors) - the most important point for the sidecar was the lower vehicle weight of the V7 types due to the extensive use of aluminum . From January 1966 to April 1969, the vehicles were converted for use without a conductor (V6E, V7E): double door at the front, a single door at the rear. In the next few years, one-man cars were recognizable to passengers by a wide beige-colored stripe around the bow and stern.

These wagons were popularly called "Samba wagons" because standing passengers were often forced to dance step-like movements when cornering quickly.

The V7 railcars were taken out of service between 1970 and 1976, while the V6 railcars last converted to one-man cars were in passenger service until the end of 1978. After the decommissioning, the V7E vehicles were in such poor condition that they could no longer be repaired even for a museum . The steel-aluminum construction had caused considerable corrosion damage.

HHA, type VG

Four-axle articulated trolley type VG

This was a series of articulated wagons with a floating middle section , each built on two chassis, mostly two-axle vehicles destroyed in the war. Because of their poor running properties (converted to a 2.5 m wheelbase) they were called "rail milling machines" and were only used for amplifier drives. After a test car in 1954, 30 units were delivered by DWM Berlin between September 1955 and February 1956, but withdrawn again between February 1965 and March 1967. With a length over sheet metal of 17.275 m, they were Hamburg's longest tram vehicles.

sidecar

The use of sidecars at the Straßen-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (SEG) to increase passenger capacity during rush hour was there from the beginning. Initially and until 1926, up to 271 horse-drawn tram cars that were no longer needed and adapted for electrical operation were used.

The "Zentralbahn" from 1896 and the Hamburg-Altonaer Trambahn-Gesellschaft (HAT) from 1897 immediately used sidecars built by the Busch wagon factory in Eimsbüttel to electrify their lines. The HAC had 45 sidecars and the HAT 24. The HAC wagons were 8.4 m long (over buffers) with a 2.2 m wheelbase. After the HAT was taken over by the SEG (1900), the HAT sidecars were retired from 1907 to 1917, after the HAC took over by the HHA (1923) the HAC sidecars were broken off in 1929.

From 1902 two-axle sidecars were also built for SEG in the main workshop in Falkenried . From initially 1.7 m or 1.6 m wheelbase to 2.2 m and length over buffers from 7.6 m to 8.44 m, the types A1 to A5 built between 1902 and 1919 (A1 and A2 after conversion in 1926 then A7) with a total of 447 cars later combined into class Z1B (car body width 2.0 m). 234 of these vehicles were available after the Second World War. The scrapping began in 1951 and was decommissioned by 1955.

In 1923/1924 HHA had 50 more sidecars made in Falkenried and another 100 in Bautzen and at Hawa Hanover . These 150 type A6 cars were 2.15 m wide with a 2.0 m wheelbase. 1925 to 1927 followed the similar series A8 with 310 cars (60 of them Falkenried and 250 different external companies). A6 and A8 cars were later combined to form the type Z2B . 343 wagons came through the war. Scrapping began in 1962, but could still be seen in passenger traffic until 1965.

In 1950, an order went to the Lower Saxony Waggonfabrik Joseph Graaff in Elze for the construction of ten type Z3B sidecars with 3.0 m wheelbase for operation with Z2 converted railcars, mainly on line 33 to Harburg. These cars were retired in 1961.

Type Z4B came on the Hamburg rails in 1958 with 30 cars (2.5 m wheelbase) (also Graaff in Elze). It was intended as a sidecar for the VG articulated trains. Except for five cars, they were already parked around the turn of the year 1966/1967. The remaining five drove behind V6 or V7 railcars until October 1967.

Motor car V6E with sidecar V7B, first car with " Popreklame " (full advertising paintwork) around 1970

In the early 1940s, 14 four-axle type V5B sidecars were built near Uerdingen , eleven of which survived the war. These cars were retired by 1969.

From 1951/1952 LHB built 100 sidecars for the V6 multiple unit ( V6B ) and for the V7 multiple unit from Orenstein & Koppel in 1953/1954 first 30, then in 1955 another 5 and in 1956 another 45 sidecars ( V7B ) came into operation, a total of 80 Dare. 60 of the V6 sidecars were eliminated in 1968/1969, the rest in 1970/1971. From 1970 the V7 sidecar was taken out of service. The tram operation in Hamburg has been carried out by single multiple units in recent years.

Wagon stocks

  • 1890 SEG = 360, Zentralbahn: 53 (horse-drawn tram)
  • 1900 SEG = 591, Zentralbahn: 105
  • 1910 SEG = 1327, Zentralbahn: 105
  • 1923 HHA = 1472, of which 837 railcars, 645 sidecars
  • 1928 HHA = 1725, of which 836 railcars, 889 sidecars (of the railcars 81 four-axle units)
  • 1943 HHA = 1612, of which 766 railcars, 846 sidecars
  • 1945 HHA = 1090, of which 484 railcars, 608 sidecars (of the 415 railcars two-axle), war-related losses: 522, of which 282 railcars, 238 sidecars
  • 1955 HHA: 1107, of which 469 railcars (265 2x, 204 4x), 638 sidecars (479 2x, 159 4x)
  • 1955: 1036 vehicles
  • 1965: 494 vehicles

Coloring

While the Zentralbahn drove with yellow cars, the SEG vehicles were painted dark green. From 1922, the HHA used a cream-colored paint for their cars. Already at the end of the 1930s, the four-axle vehicles were painted red (RAL 3000) under the windows and still cream-colored (RAL 1001) above. After the Second World War (until approx. 1948) this color scheme was also used on the two-axle vehicles. This paint scheme - based on the Hamburg city colors red and white - was then worn by the Hamburg cars until they ceased operations in 1978, unless a different appearance was created through advertising.

technology

The track network of the Hamburg tram was designed in standard gauge .

Track construction

When electrifying the lines, not only was the contact wire tensioned, but the track was also reinforced in order to cope with the higher axle load of the electric railcar compared to the horse-drawn tram. Lines in the nearer suburbs were usually expanded to double tracks. Single-track routes only led to more distant destinations.

As early as 1900, people began either to tie through lines (e.g. lines that had previously ended at Rathausmarkt) or to create reversing loops in order to avoid moving the trailers. However, this dragged on into the 1920s. At the terminals Tarpenbekstrasse, Osterbrook (Süderstrasse), Billbrook and Rönneburg , turning triangles were set up instead of reversing loops.

Catenary rosette of line 42 (1907–1957)

Contact wire (overhead line)

For electrical operation, Hamburg first used 500 V, later 550 V direct current . The power was generally supplied through the contact wire ( overhead line ). The catenary system was attached to masts in broader streets and to the house walls in narrower streets. First, the anchoring on the house walls was hidden by special cast-iron catenary rosettes so that the attachment point had a more pleasing appearance. Even after the contact wire was removed, the rosettes often got stuck on the house wall, so that in 2007 around 600 of these relics from former tram routes could still be seen.

Pantograph

The Hamburg tram was the last operation in Germany to run with pantographs , they were used until they were closed.

In the bidirectional vehicles originally used , the rod that pressed the pick-up roller against the contact wire could be rotated manually depending on the direction of travel. With the introduction of equipment vehicles could use liners that allowed pulling down (by hand) the (press contact) rod following a derailment of the role of the current collector.

In order to have good contact, the pantograph rod was pressed against the contact wire with the roller. To prevent the pantograph rod from springing up too far when the pulley derailed and thereby damaging the overhead line system, the rod was controlled via a line by another spring system, which triggered the rod when it jerked up and pulled it back below the level of the contact wire.

lighting

The carbon filament lamps available at the beginning of electric tram operation were unsuitable and expensive due to the vibrations that occurred. Only the target sign lighting on the roof was electric. For this purpose, two hexagonal lanterns were used on the left and right, which were fitted with different colored glasses depending on the line. When it got dark, a kerosene lamp was first hung on the car as a "headlight".

It was only after the First World War that the railcars were equipped with an electric route lamp and the sidecar with electric lighting .

Line marking

From 1894 onwards, the electrified lines usually had a roof symbol (roof symbol, badge) in the front and back in the middle of the roof, which was typical for the line, which made the line recognizable from a certain distance. The wagons carried this roof symbol until around 1935, even when line numbers had long since existed. At night, from 1897 onwards, the wagons were recognizable by two hexagonal lanterns of different colors depending on the line.

As the first city in the German-speaking area, Hamburg introduced line numbers in the summer of 1900 (until September 3, 1900). First the line number hung under the roof edge, until 1905 the right hexagonal lantern in the direction of travel was replaced by the line number. This inevitably simplified the color code through the lanterns. The line number of the regular lines was shown in black letters on a white background. From the end of the 1920s and until around 1948, there were reinforcement and special lines that showed their number in white letters on a red background, the so-called "red" lines . From 1906 to around 1930, supplementary lines were also designated with letters, as were the night lines in World War II (P to Z).

It was not until 1947 that the second hexagonal lantern on the two-axle railcars was replaced by a second box with the line number. The line number has since appeared in white letters on a black background. From around 1966, red line signs indicated one-man railcars where to get on at the front, and black line signs indicated trains with sidecars that were manned by conductors and into which the cash payers should get on.

literature

  • Rolf Heyden: The development of public transport in Hamburg from its beginnings to 1894. Museum for Hamburg History, Hamburg 1962.
  • Hermann Hoyer: The Hamburg tram: the car park. Association of Traffic Amateurs and Museum Railways eV - Hamburg (historical series of the Association of Traffic Amateurs and Museum Railways eV Hamburg, volumes 4 to 6) 1. 1894–1921 (1977) 2. 1921–1945 (1978) 3. 1945–1978 (1994).
  • Horst Buchholz: The Hamburg tram: Development of the line network 1866–1978. Association of Traffic Amateurs and Museum Railways eV - Hamburg (Historical series of publications by the Association of Traffic Amateurs and Museum Railways eV Hamburg, Volume 7) (2008).
  • Peter Sohns: Line chronicle of the Hamburg tram 1866–1978, focus tram Berlin 2000
  • Erich Staisch: Goodbye to the tram. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1978.
  • A journey through six decades with the electric tram. Hamburger Hochbahn AG, Hamburg 1954.
  • Dieter Höltge, Michael Kochems: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 11: Hamburg. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-88255-392-5 .
  • tram-TV: Hamburg's local transport in the 1960s. tram-TV Verlag, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-943846-23-2 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Trams in Hamburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. a b Six becomes one in: Straßenbahn Magazin 9/2019, p. 60 ff.
  2. ^ E. Möller: Metropolitan traffic problems. Hamburg 1949.
  3. On the Osterbek , the border between Hamburg-Barmbek-Süd and Hamburg-Barmbek-Nord , at that time the customs border between Hamburg and Prussia
  4. Boshart: trams. Berlin 1911
  5. ^ E. Möller: Metropolitan traffic problems . Hamburg 1949
  6. ^ Alfred B. Gottwaldt: Trambahn Album . 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-613-01296-0 , p. 180 .
  7. Source: Hamburger Nahverkehrs-Nachrichten . In Hamburg these reports were initially denied.
  8. Data and facts about the construction of the new U4 on hamburg.de ( Memento from 23 August 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  9. Hamburg: Course of the first tram route decided , press release from January 12, 2009 on www.Eurailpress.de
  10. ↑ Planning approval procedure for the Hamburg Stadtbahn stopped ( memento from September 19, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Strassenbahn-Hamburg.de, May 10, 2011.
  11. see section history
  12. ^ H. Buchholz: Line history of the Hamburg tram. P. 140.
  13. History of the Hamburger Hochbahn: July 16, 1918 - the city is a major shareholder in HHA ( Memento from May 15, 2016 in the web archive archive.today )
  14. see Senate memorandum from 1955 "Reorganization of Hamburg's urban traffic"
  15. A trial run with double-deckers was canceled after several collisions with bridges
  16. also Senate memorandum “Reorganization of Hamburg City Traffic” from 1955, page 29
  17. Numbers and dimensions determined from Hermann Hoyer, Wagenpark, 1st to 3rd part (see bibliography)
  18. ^ The vehicle workshops in Falkenried were a subsidiary of SEGH, today HHA
  19. Hermann Hoyer probably meant the 387 cars from 1894 to 1897.
  20. Number of items and dimensions determined from Hermann Hoyer, Wagenpark, Volumes 1 to 3 (see bibliography)
  21. ↑ Period of use of the V5 car
  22. ^ NDR: "The-history-of-the-Hamburg-tram"
  23. In the Schönberger Strand museum there is one motor car and one side car of this type (V7E / V7BE).
  24. Number of items and dimensions determined from Hermann Hoyer, Wagenpark, Volumes 1 to 3 (see bibliography)
  25. Holstein, Dr. Kemmann: The Hamburger Hochbahn Aktiengesellschaft. Hamburg 1928.
  26. ^ War losses presented by Mr. Stein, board member of the HHA on December 28, 1945 at a board meeting; quoted in H. Hoyer, Wagenpark, Volume 2 (see bibliography)
  27. ^ HHA brochure: A century of public ... Hamburg 1966.
  28. Hermann Hoyer, Wagenpark part 2 (see bibliography)
  29. Horst Buchholz: Sources on the identification marks of the Hamburg tram lines , horstbu.de