Small train Opladen – Lützenkirchen
| Opladen – Lützenkirchen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 4.2 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 750 V = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kleinbahn Opladen – Lützenkirchen was a local transport company of the former Rhein-Wupper district and operated passenger transport as well as freight transport. The wagons provided the railways of the lower district of Solingen , which also belonged to the district . From January 1, 1952, a tram concession was valid for passenger traffic.
history
On March 22, 1913, the Solingen district was granted a 99-year concession to build and operate a regular- gauge small railway for the 4.2-kilometer regular-gauge line from Opladen to Lützenkirchen (now part of Leverkusen ) . The opening of the line, a "branch line-like small railway with goods traffic" took place on April 9, 1914. On April 15, it was supplemented by an almost 400 meter long siding.
The operator was initially the RWE , from 1936 the Rheinisch-Westfälische Straßen- und Kleinbahnen GmbH . After this company had terminated the lease, Stadtwerke Opladen became the operator on July 1, 1942. From July 1, 1947, this task was taken over by the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis as the owner. On August 1, 1929, the Solingen district had been transformed into the Solingen-Lennep district and from 1931 was called the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis.
In the first year the freight transport amounted to 19,202 t and 983,064 people were transported. In 1938/39 almost 275,000 people and 9,452 tons were carried. Between 1911 and 1955, the railroad carried around 125 million passengers and covered 132 million kilometers.
After bombs and shell hits, the route was interrupted from March 6 to September 17, 1945. The two freight locomotives, the locomotive shed and the waiting hall in Lützenkirchen were badly damaged. On January 1, 1952, the train was re-licensed as a tram.
The electrically operated railway remained unchanged until it was discontinued on July 11, 1955. The Deutsche Bundesbahn then carried out connecting services to Neucronenberg for a while. The tracks between Feldstrasse and Lützenkirchen were soon removed as part of the expansion of Lützenkirchener Strasse, and they remained on the line between Neucronenberg and Opladen for a few years longer.
Route
The standard-gauge line with a track width of 1435 millimeters (4 '8.5 ″) and overhead lines began in Opladen in what was then Rennbaumstraße at the confluence with Düsseldorfer Straße, close to St. Remigius Church and St. Joseph Hospital and the Marienschule . In the immediate vicinity there were connections to the Opladen-Immigrath-Ohligs tram and the Mülheimer Kleinbahn to Cologne-Mülheim , later line O of the Cologne transport company . The line to Lützenkirchen crossed the two railway lines through the still existing underpasses and led in an approximate west-east direction over Lützenkirchener Strasse through Quettingen to Lützenkirchen Ort, where it ended near the St. Maurinus Church .
At the level of today's Werkstättenstraße there was a rail connection to Opladen station, via which transfer trips to the Reich and Bundesbahn were handled. At the level of Feldstrasse, an approx. 1 km long, non-electrified factory connection branched off to the northeast, into "Tillmanns Loch" in Neucronenberg (J. I. Tillmanns & Sons' screw factory). As a result, the previous railway connection of the Tillmanns company to the Opladen-Burscheid railway line ("Balkan Express"), which had to deal with a greater difference in altitude, could be abandoned. In 1927, Lützenkirchen received an "electrical freight yard" at the terminus.
vehicles
Passenger traffic was carried out with electric railcars of the Opladen – Ohligs tram ; with hourly traffic, one railcar was usually sufficient. A two-axle electric locomotive from AEG was available for freight transport when operations began , and in 1924 another locomotive from the Mülheimer Kleinbahn was added. The factory connection to Neucronenberg was usually served with diesel- powered small locomotives .
See also
literature
- Rolf Müller: Upladhin - Opladen. Stadtchronik , Opladen 1974, pp. 316–319
- Dieter Höltge: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany. Volume 5: Bergisches and Siegerland. EK-Verlag, Freiburg i.Br. 2000, ISBN 3-88255-333-2 .
- Gerd Wolff and Lothar Riedel: German small and private railways, Volume 5 North Rhine-Westphalia (northwestern part) . Freiburg 1998, ISBN 3-88255-662-5 , pp. 20-30