Local railway Ludwigshafen – Frankenthal
| Ludwigshafen – Frankenthal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 11.2 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum slope : | 25 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius : | 70 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 15 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ludwigshafen – Frankenthal railway was a single-track, meter-gauge local railway that connected Ludwigshafen am Rhein with Frankenthal (Pfalz) in the Palatinate. It was part of the Ludwigshafen local railways, which also included the Ludwigshafen – Meckenheim and Frankenthal – Großkarlbach lines .
history
The rapidly growing city of Ludwigshafen am Rhein with its expanding industry led to increasing transport needs in the surrounding area at the end of the 19th century, which prompted the Pfalzbahn to build several meter-gauge lines into the surrounding area.
The preliminary planning for the Ludwigshafen – Dannstadt and Ludwigshafen – Frankenthal routes was completed in 1887. In 1888 the routes were approved by the Bavarian State Government, in 1898 the land was purchased and construction began in spring 1890. The routes were intended primarily for workers' traffic and therefore largely used the existing roads and led through the middle of the villages. There were protracted arguments about the form in which the track system should be embedded in the road or run along it. It was also discussed whether a steam tram would be appropriate for an up-and-coming city like Ludwigshafen, a discussion that even resulted in the resignation of the mayor of Ludwigshafen. Meanwhile, the wagons that had been built in the Ludwigshafen wagon factory were ready in August 1889. Both lines were opened on October 15, 1890. It was emphasized that the planned construction costs were undercut. The lines were connected to each other at Ludwigshafen Central Station, the common depot was Ludwigshafen Depot. However, there were no through trains from Dannstadt to Frankenthal. In 1903 a route for the Mannheim / Ludwigshafen tram to Friesenheim was built; it used part of the route together with the local railway.
On July 1, 1891, the line from Frankenthal to Großkarlbach was extended, with a level crossing of the Mainz – Ludwigshafen line, but the trains on both lines usually ended in Frankenthal.
In 1912 negotiations began to lease or sell the lines to the Rhein-Haardt-Bahn , but they did not make any progress. After the First World War , the railway management in Ludwigshafen made an offer to sell to the cities of Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Frankenthal in 1918. These in turn had their own report drawn up. Even then, the closure of the line through Ludwigshafen and the electrification of the remaining lines were planned. In 1920 the Reichsbahn made another purchase offer. Negotiations continued until 1929 without reaching a result.
The last trip on the Ludwigshafen – Frankenthal route took place on October 7, 1933. It was then shut down. The common tram route in Ludwigshafen and the standard-gauge track to the port in Frankenthal have been preserved.
traffic
Five pairs of trains operated in the opening year . There was no connection to the local railways in Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal.
All trains carried the 2nd and 3rd carriage classes . Even after the introduction of 4th grade in 1907, it stayed that way. There were no toilets. A 3rd class carriage was run as a women's carriage . All passenger cars had spindle and Körting brakes as well as steam heating.
In 1913, 834,201 passengers were carried, 579,000 of them in worker and school traffic. In 1913, freight traffic was 18,306 tons. Of this, 13,773 tonnes were transferred to or taken over by the main line. In 1915 there were 1,194,000 and in 1916 1.3 million passengers between Ludwigshafen and Großkarlbach.
After the opening of the standard-gauge freight track in the foreland of the Rhine in 1916, freight traffic on the local railway between Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal was practically suspended. There were also losses in passenger traffic because BASF took over the workers' train traffic between Ludwigshafen and Oppau on this route with its own vehicles. In 1927 a tram line to Oppau went into operation, after which traffic between Ludwigshafen and Oppau-Eddigheim was almost completely stopped.
vehicles
The initial stock of the two Ludwigshafen railways were seven locomotives of the later L 1 series . They were stationed in Ludwigshafen Depot, Dannstadt and Frankenthal. The locomotives were housed in the engine shed in Frankenthal even after the Ludwigshafen routes were closed in 1933. On the occasion of the extension of the route and due to the growing traffic, locomotives were built several times, the last in 1910. In 1913 there were 13 steam locomotives. The locomotives got around the whole network through inspections and repairs. From 1923 three more modern locomotives from the Palatinate Pts 3/3 H were procured.
In 1896 experiments were made with a benzene railcar . Unfortunately, details are not known. A gas locomotive was tested in 1896. In 1896, operation with two two-axle battery-powered railcars from the Kummer & Cie company in Niedersedlitz near Dresden with 16 seats and 16 standing places was started. The engine output was twelve horsepower. These were replaced in 1898 by two four-axle units from the Gastell brothers' wagon factory in Mainz . These railcars were used for 22 intermediate journeys on the route to Mundenheim. The parallel construction of a tram to Mundenheim made the railcars superfluous. In 1904 the railcars were converted into normal passenger cars.
The traffic started with 30 passenger cars, in 1891 another 20 passenger cars were added, in 1900 another 15 were added. In 1913 there were a total of 94 passenger cars and 118 baggage and freight cars. In 1923–1929, 42 new passenger cars, ten baggage cars with mail compartments and six boxcars were procured. These cars are likely to have run mainly on the routes to Meckenheim and Großkarlbach.
When hiring, many vehicles remained on the Frankenthal – Großkarlbach route or were transferred to other meter-gauge railways.
literature
- Günter König: From the history of the meter-gauge local railways in the Ludwigshafen am Rhein area . In: The Museum Railway . 1/1999 to 3/1999, ISSN 0936-4609 , p. 1/1999: 10-29; 2/1999: 14-38; 3/1999: 16-31 .
- Wilhelm Distler, Jochen Glatt: The local railways in the Vorderpfalz. On narrow-gauge tracks between Meckenheim, Ludwigshafen, Frankenthal and Großkarlbach . Pro Message, Ludwigshafen 2010, ISBN 978-3-934845-43-5 .
