Small train in the Westfalenpark
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 46.5 ″ N , 7 ° 28 ′ 36.5 ″ E
| Small train in the Westfalenpark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 The small train below the Florian Tower
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| Route length: | 2.7 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 600 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 15 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kleinbahn in Westfalenpark is a park railway with a 600 mm gauge in Dortmund's Westfalenpark .
route
The railway system in Dortmund has existed in an almost unchanged position since 1959, the line is around 2700 meters long, single-track, closed in a loop and has a track width of 600 mm. It is only driven clockwise . The track body is designed with railroad-like rail profiles on wooden sleepers in gravel bedding.
Overall, the route comprises two stations with two tracks each, "Am Turm" and "Buschmühle", another stop , "Zum Spielplatz", a six-track depot, nine switches , including two double switches in the depot area and 31 crossings.
The depot is located in the northeast of the park. It was built in 1959 as a wooden structure with four tracks, and two tracks were added and rebuilt for the 1969 garden show. This building was renewed around 2005. For this purpose, the previous structure was demolished except for an outer wall and the current steel construction with sheet metal cladding was rebuilt. The petrol station in front of the hall, which was previously used for diesel locomotives, has now been dismantled, but can still be seen.
Since the branch switch from the route to the depot has to be driven against the direction of travel on the route, the trains can drive directly from the depot to use, but have to cover almost a whole lap before the start of the first trip. In order to enter the depot, however, you have to drive over the branch switch and then push back into the depot.
vehicles
Since the Federal Garden Show in 1991, the railway has been operated with five train sets, each consisting of a locomotive and three cars. These trains were developed by the Intamin company for the IGA 1983. The locomotives have been completely redeveloped. They get their drive energy from an accumulator, similar to those of locomotives used on mine railways. The exterior is appropriately designed with a front driver's cab with a large windscreen and a roof similar to that of the car over the entire length of the vehicle. The locomotives have an electric operating brake and a pneumatic holding brake, the maximum speed is 15 km / h. The main difference between the new wagons and the old design is that the superstructures are made of plastic. As an innovation from 1991, the trains offer space for two wheelchairs each. The five train sets plus the prototype of the battery locomotives as a reserve are used alternately in the Westfalenpark.
business
From May to the end of the year, the trains run every half hour from morning to early evening; operations can be stopped in bad weather. Special trains can also be used. Since the end of 2007, the small train has also been running on Sundays in January and February. A uniform fare is charged regardless of the place of boarding.
The starting point for the journey is the “Am Turm” train station directly below the Florian Tower . The route leads from here first to the northeast under the cable car, also built in 1959, through to the rose garden . After a few hundred meters you will reach the junction to the depot, then the route turns south and leads past the puppet theater in the direction of the Buschmühlenteich . After passing the stop “Zum Spielplatz” (formerly also “Am Spielbogen” ), the pond is bypassed on the south side. The station of the same name is also located directly at the Buschmühle entrance, but is currently not served. The route leads north again on an incline, past the awning to the north-western part of the park and there in a tight curve and an elongated straight back to the starting point of the journey.
history
The track was opened together with the Westfalenpark for the Federal Horticultural Show in 1959. As with the Reichsgartenschau 1938 in Essen with the Grugabahn , the following year at the Reichsgartenschau 1939 in Stuttgart with the Killesbergbahn and at the Bundesgartenschau 1957 in Cologne, the approx. 60 hectare exhibition area was opened up with a narrow-gauge railway line. This served as both a ride and an opportunity to explore the park. In contrast to the previous railways, however, no Liliput steam train was built in Dortmund on a 381 mm track, but a new type of park track system with 600 mm track gauge, on which the trains were pulled by modern diesel locomotives. Within the lawns of the park, the original car system was with turf tracks equipped.
New types of locomotives and trains were developed for the 1959 Federal Horticultural Show. Initially, four of the tractors known today as “ Porscheloks ” were in use. Three four-axle passenger cars were available for this. Another locomotive was delivered in 1959 and used as a reserve. The design of the front section of the locomotive was based on the optics of the Porsche 356 using components from the DKW 3 = 6 , and they were powered by a Porsche industrial engine with a displacement of 1,600 cubic centimeters and an output of 56 hp. Overall, the design was based on the TEE multiple unit , which was modern at the end of the 1950s . The railways were created based on an idea by the businessman Henry Escher. These were the first five of probably fourteen built locomotives of this type that ran on other garden show railways in later years.
The Dortmund train sets were temporarily used in other parks. Some trains drove in Hamburg in Planten un Blomen to the international horticultural exhibitions in 1963 and 1973. A complete train set of the first series of Dortmund trains has been in use in Amsterdam since the 1970s. As Amsteltrein , it runs on a circuit in the Amstelpark.
Park trains from Dortmund also drove on the exhibition grounds at the Federal Garden Show in Cologne in 1971. The trains running in Cologne were then transferred back to Dortmund. A preserved locomotive of the first series used in Dortmund from 1959 was sold in 2001 to the Kleinbahn in Rheinpark Cologne , where it is restored and runs on special occasions as a "Porsche Lok" in the Rheinpark. Another locomotive has been preserved at Intamin and is mostly inaccessible, but was on display in the Westfalenpark for the 50th anniversary of the park and railway.
After the garden show in 1959, the line was not dismantled like other garden show lines, but continued to be operated as part of the Westfalenpark by Henry Escher KG. It was therefore also used at the other federal garden shows in Dortmund in 1969 and 1991. The current train sets with accumulator drive have been in use since 1991. Today's operator of the railway has been Intamin Bahnechnik und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG since 1990 . Previously, it had taken over all systems and vehicles from the previous operator.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Porschebahn a Chronicle in Pictures, Dortmund 1959 , Wolfgang Schöneich, accessed on October 18, 2012
- ↑ Wolfgang Schöneich: The Porschebahn - A Chronicle in Pictures , http://www.saarwolf.com/html/saarbr_1960.html , accessed on December 27, 2011
- ↑ History ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. van het Amsteltrein (in Dutch), accessed February 8, 2016
- ^ Website of the Kleinbahn im Rheinpark - Cologne, Karlheinz Potrz, http://www.kleinbahn-im-rheinpark-koeln.de/ , accessed on December 27, 2011
- ↑ website of INTAMIN Railway Technology GmbH & Co KG. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 ; Retrieved December 27, 2011 .
