Electric overhead line automobile line Gmünd

A trolley car in front of the old train station

Route length:

2.880 km

Power system :

440 volts =

Maximum slope :

40 ‰

Top speed:

15 km / h

Legend

		Transition to the Franz-Josephs-Bahn
	0.000	Gmünd train station (1909 to 1916)
	0.200	Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways
	0.500	Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways
	0.600	Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways
	0.700	Gmünd train station (1907 to 1909)
	0.800	Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways
	0.800	left: until 1909 / right: from 1909
	2.200	today's border between the Czech Republic and Austria
	2.300	Lainsitz
	2.600	Gmünd Stadtplatz No. 4 (Post Office)
	2,880	Remise (Schremser Str. / Walterstrasse)

The Gmünd Electric Trolley Line , also known as the Gmünd City Electric Trolley Line , was a trolley bus company in Lower Austria . The 2.880 km long route connected the peripheral Gmünd train station in the Gmünd-Bahnhof settlement - today České Velenice in the Czech Republic - with the Gmünd city center. It was the first trolleybus system in Austria and at the same time the first in what is now the Czech Republic.

history

The bridge over the Lainsitz

As early as 1869, the city of Gmünd was connected to the Austrian railway network by the Franz-Josefs-Bahn . However, for strategic military reasons, the station was about two kilometers outside of the city; in the event of a war, they wanted to have enough expandable space for military transports. This created the need for a local means of transport to save the population having to walk to and from the train station. First the hoteliers Petter and Assmann set up a horse-drawn bus connection , after Gmünd later received an electricity station , in 1906 the idea of a trackless railway came up. This was introduced by the local council at the time against the will of the population, because back then there were no useful models. The city entrusted Austro-Daimler from Wiener Neustadt with the construction of the plant . The agreed construction costs were 33,000 Austrian crowns , which the municipality had to pay within three years of completion.

Scheduled operations began on July 12, 1907, when the trackless railway replaced the horse-drawn buses. On July 16, the official opening took place in the presence of Archduke Rainer Ferdinand of Austria , but excessive rainfall prevented an exit. The Gmünder Line was the first trolleybus operation in Cisleithanien , but not the first in Austria-Hungary . Because in the Transleithanien part of the country the trackless railway Poprád – Ótátrafüred and the trackless railway Sibiu operated as early as 1904 .

In addition to people, mail was also transported, which is why the operation was run by the city of Gmünd together with the Imperial and Royal Post. Not least because of this, the city-side terminus was in front of the post office at that time, the house at Stadtplatz number 4. The route was originally 2.2 kilometers long, but only 1.9 kilometers of it was covered with passengers. The last 300 meters were purely an operational route on the way to the car depot located off the actual line . No passengers were carried on the last section. The remise was located in Schremser Strasse on the corner of Walterstrasse, and it was an extension to the former administrative building of the city of Gmünd (town hall). The trackless railway operated the route between 5:40 am and 8:50 pm sixteen times in both directions. A trip cost 20 Heller , and multi- trip tickets for 50 trips were available for regular customers.

As a result of the relocation of the Gmünder train station in 1909, the overhead line automobile line also had to be changed. The first 100 meters of the route were abandoned and a new 800-meter section was built instead. The entire operating length of the facility was from then on 2880 meters, of which 2.6 kilometers were traveled with passengers. The catenary automobiles now crossed the tracks of the Waldviertel narrow-gauge railways three times (only once until 1909) (in the route from before 1950), but the previous crossing was abandoned.

Stop sign, 2011

However , just nine years after its opening, the Gmünder line had to be closed again due to the war , for example there was a shortage of car tires . Complex repairs and the lack of profitability were cited as further reasons. Last day of operation was the Friday, July 14, 1916. A re-opening after the war failed partly because the copper to be delivered -Oberleitung at the last year of the war in 1918 the Imperial and Royal Ministry of War had, it was a war important raw material of the arms industry supplied. To make matters worse, as a result of the lost war, a large part of the route was now in the then newly founded Czechoslovakia . The Gmünder Remise was then left to the local volunteer fire brigade . The last catenary mast stood on Československé legií street in České Velenice for forty years. As a further relic, a historical stop sign in the center of Gmünd has been preserved, which is now a listed building .

Infrastructure

Dare one encounters a steam railcar of NÖLB , there was at that time still left-hand traffic

The Mercédès-Électrique-Stoll system from Austro-Daimler, also known as the Elektro-Daimler-Stoll system , was used in Gmünd . This principle was first practiced in Gmünd, later 18 other similar systems were built based on the Gmünd model. Including other companies in Austria and some in Bohemia , the German Empire , France , Great Britain , Switzerland , South Africa and Hungary.

The Gmünder catenary automobile line was continuously single-lane, if the two cars met, they had to stop briefly - typical of the Mercédès-Électrique-Stoll system - and exchange the supply lines to the contact carriages. They then drove on with the pantograph of the oncoming car. There were also no turning loops or air switches . At the end points, the vehicle turned, but not the pantograph cart. This was simply withdrawn in the opposite direction. The catenary was mainly attached to wooden catenary masts, in the built-up sections by means of catenary rosettes on the buildings. 440 volts direct current was used as the driving voltage .

vehicles

Car 1 with the mail compartment

When the company opened in July 1907, there was initially only one motor vehicle with the number 1 available, it had 14 seats, ten standing places and a post compartment . In the fall of 1907, due to the great demand, a second car with the number 2 was reordered; it was delivered in January 1908. This was largely identical, but had four additional seats instead of the mail compartment, i.e. 18 instead of 14 - or two additional standing spaces, i.e. twelve instead of ten. The vehicles were five and 5.5 meters long, weighed 3.5 tons and reached a top speed of 15 km / h.

The wheel hub motors were particularly characteristic of the vehicles based on the Mercédès-Électrique-Stoll patent . In the case of the two Gmünder vehicles, these acted on the front axle, while in most other companies they used this system to drive the rear axle, and more rarely both axles. There was no trailer operation in Gmünd.

In 1921 - and thus only five years after the cessation of operations - the two motor vehicles were finally sold to the municipality of Wiener Neustadt, but there was no trolleybus system there. According to another source, the operator bought the cars, had them converted to gasoline engines, and used them for military purposes. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Replica of a car based on a historical model

The replica in České Velenice, July 2016

The hotel and museum operator Jiří Kovář started in 2014 on his own initiative with colleagues in a workshop in České Velenice with the reproduction of a railroad car from 1907. Its chassis was completed at the end of January 2016, the associated body was built near Pilsen. Since there are no longer any original parts, it is a completely new building. Only a steering wheel from that time could be found. The project was financed by the municipality of České Velenice, and the first trip took place in July 2016. The vehicle is a battery bus , just to illustrate the earlier principle, a shorter piece of non-functional catenary should be hung.

gallery

A single ticket for 20 hellers
The new station opened in 1909, in the picture two catenary masts
The city-side terminal was on the town square
End of overhead line in front of the administrative building of the city of Gmünd , on the right in the picture the entrance gates of the Remise