Ottensener industrial railway
| Ottensener industrial railway | |
|---|---|
 Track remains in a courtyard entrance (Borselstraße 9)
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| Route length: | 1928: 11.23 km |
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) |
The Ottensener Industriebahn is a former narrow-gauge railway system ( gauge 1000 mm ) in Hamburg . It was used exclusively for freight traffic in the inner-city industrial areas of the districts of Bahrenfeld (until 1950, North Ottensen or Ottensen-Bornkamp) and Ottensen . The wagons were handed over to the state railway in the stations Borselstraße I (for the southern district) and Borselstraße II (for the northern district), which were located south and north of the Altona-Blankeneser railway , east of the Bahrenfeld station , to which the standard-gauge transfer tracks were connected .
Reasons to build
In the 19th century Ottensen became more and more an industrial location. Despite the sometimes very closely built-up areas, numerous companies settled in the period of industrialization . On the one hand, these had to be supplied with large quantities of raw materials and, on the other hand, the finished products needed a cheap transport route to markets around the world.
The winding streets in Ottensen only allowed a narrow-gauge railway. The complicated jacking up the standard gauge cars on the dollies are therefore had to purchase taken, but this was still cheaper than the transhipment to horse-drawn carts or trucks .
business
In 1898 the industrial line was opened by the Altona Municipal Railways , which also operated regular-gauge sidings in Altona and the Altonaer Hafenbahn . Originally it was licensed as a small railway , in 1899 the concession was converted into an industrial connecting railway . Initially, the jacked up freight wagons were moved by horse-drawn carriage, from the summer of 1904 engine locomotive operation with a Deutz engine was started, and a second locomotive was added in 1905. From 1910 there was also a more powerful steam locomotive . Increasing traffic made it necessary to build a second trolley pit in both stations. From the end of the 1940s, road tractors (from Kaelble among others ) were used, but a steam locomotive was also procured in 1949. In 1956 the operation with locomotives was stopped.
There were several intersections with tram tracks in the southern network. The delivery trips by locomotive were mostly pushed, with a shunter having to precede the train.
At the start of operations, only the area south of the suburban railway (southern district) was connected to the industrial railway; in the course of 1904, the area north of the suburban railway was also supplied (northern district, towards today's Langenfelde ). There, the industrial area could be planned and built on "the green field". As a result, the route was more straightforward and could partly be laid out alongside the road. From 1923 the northern district was served by the new connecting station in Ruhrstrasse, then Kruppstrasse. It was north of the Holstenkamp and had a standard gauge siding to the Eidelstedt station. This new handover was necessary because the Bahrenfeld station was overloaded.
Some of the affiliates gained supraregional importance and some are still known today, such as the ship propeller manufacturer Zeise or the construction machinery manufacturer Menck & Hambrock . The latter created spectacular situations when large excavators were transported through the narrow streets on jacked-up bogie wagons (on four trolleys). There were around one hundred connections in total, but they never existed at the same time.
In the best years, well over 10,000 wagons were transported annually (best value 18,163 in the years 1922/1923), which means a daily output of over 40 wagons. At the end of the day, the number of cars was reduced to around 1,400 (corresponds to around four cars a day). The last connections were Rommenhöller in Barnerstrasse (behind the factory ) and Gutmann in Völckerstrasse.
The operation management was incumbent on the AKN from 1952 until the closure in 1981 , in 1956 the AKN also leased the facilities from the city.
The End
The increasing individual traffic created more and more conflicts. Cars parked on or close to the rails often blocked the way, and goods transport by truck was also becoming increasingly popular. Some of the industrial companies closed completely or relocated (Meck & Hambrock moved to Ellerau in Schleswig-Holstein outside the gates of Hamburg ). Parts of the network were cut off as early as 1977 as a result of sewer construction measures and were therefore no longer accessible by rail. In order to be able to serve some of these connections, a road scooter was stationed in the transfer station Borselstrasse . In addition, the city of Hamburg planned to extensively renovate the district. This deprived the railway of its right to exist, especially in the southern district, due to the loss of the larger industrial companies. The shutdown took place on September 30, 1981. Most of the plants were dismantled in the following years.
Relics
Even today (2015) remains of the Ottensen industrial railway can be found in many places. Rails are mainly still available in renovated commercial yards, where they are often integrated into the architectural concept (e.g. in the Zeisehallen or Borselhof). On some streets, the course of the tracks can be recognized by embossing and patterns in the cobblestones.
Some roll stands have been preserved and can be viewed in the VVM museum station at Schönberger Strand .
particularities
The Borselstrasse I and Borselstrasse II stations were connected by a short distance until the Ruhrstrasse station opened. This crossed under the S-Bahn in the course of today's Daimlerstrasse. Due to the limited headroom, this section could only be used by locomotives and empty roller stands. The route can still be seen today (2015), as bike and footpaths are laid out on the former route.
A steam locomotive parked in the Borselhof has nothing to do with the Ottensen industrial railway (deviating track width of 900 mm), it is therefore only a design element.
Since July 2019, the new Ottensen S-Bahn station has been under construction at the former Borselstrasse freight station .
literature
- Dirk Oetzmann: The Hamburg narrow-gauge railways . Traffic history series: Hamburger Nahverkehrsmittel Nr. 27, Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-923999-77-4 , p. 45-78 .
- Philipp Reis: Relics of industry and industrial railways in their importance for urban upgrading processes - the example of Hamburg-Ottensen. 2010
- Carl-Boie Salchow: The Ottensener industrial railway and the other urban railway systems in Altona. Friends of the Railway eV, 1978
- Gerd Wolff: Schleswig-Holstein 2 (western part) . In: German small and private railways . tape 13 . EK-Verlag, Freiburg, ISBN 978-3-88255-672-8 , pp. 35-43 .
Web links
- Photos of relics from the Ottensen industrial railway (2002)
- Track plan of the Ottensener Industriebahn (1946)
- History of the Ottensener industrial railway from a street perspective
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dirk Oetzmann: The Hamburg narrow-gauge railways. Traffic history series: Hamburg local transport no.27, statistics page 67