Saarbrücken Park Railway
| Saarbrücken Park Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 2.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 600 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Parkeisenbahn Saarbrücken is the park railway with a gauge of 600 mm in the German-French Garden (DFG) in Saarbrücken . It is also referred to there as a small train .
history
The German-French garden was designed jointly by German and French garden architects. It should be understood as a symbol of the friendship sought between France and Germany. On April 23, 1960, this first and only “German-French garden show” was opened by the then German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the French Prime Minister Michel Debré . At the same time, there was no (further) Federal Horticultural Show in 1960 . The equipment of the facility followed the standards set by previous federal horticultural shows - and this also included a park railway. It was built from 1958 to 1960, opened together with the garden show with three trains and transported around 500,000 people during the garden show.
After the rush of visitors in 1960, the railway continued to operate, albeit on a reduced scale, both in terms of infrastructure and the number of trains.
Infrastructure
The train runs on a circuit of 2.1 km in length. There are two train stations and one stop along the route . The north station is also only operated as a stopping point. The second track is no longer used, one of the two points that originally connected it to the main track has been expanded. There is also a storage hall for the trains, which is connected to the route via a track triangle .
Trains
In addition to a blue, a red and a yellow train, another green train was borrowed. The trains were built in 1959 by the Sollinger Hütte . The locomotives were similar in design to sports cars of the time and were therefore also referred to as " Porschelokomotives ". After the rush in the opening year, the number of trains that were used was reduced. The yellow and red trains were sold. While the yellow train has been on the Schlossgartenbahn Karlsruhe since 1967 , the red train was scrapped.
Today there is a more modern red and white train with a locomotive and up to three cars, which is mainly used. Another blue train is kept as a reserve.
Web links
- Information about the Parkbahn on the homepage of the city of Saarbrücken.
- Historical photo (approx. 1960) on the homepage of the city of Saarbrücken.