Theodor Pekol

Theodor Pekol (born June 22, 1888 in Horumersiel ; † May 1, 1958 in Oldenburg (Oldenburg) ) was a German bus manufacturer and transport company .

In 1914, Pekol opened an inn with an attached general store in Sillenstede . He had to give this up, however, because he was drafted for World War I and used as a driving instructor . After the war he opened a bus line , for which he received official approval in Jever in 1920 . As a bus served trucks - chassis of war stocks to which a wooden body has been set. The lines were extended to Wilhelmshaven and Emden .

Oldenburger Vorortbahnen Pekol GmbH

Oldenburg branch

Since November 1, 1925, Bremer Vorortbahnen GmbH (BVG) has operated regular regular services in Oldenburg . However, after the global economic crisis of 1929 and the introduction of an additional tax by the Free State of Oldenburg , the BVG withdrew. In 1932 the city of Oldenburg asked Pekol to take over the line. The contracts were signed on January 18, 1933, and the new company was named Oldenburger Vorortbahnen Pekol GmbH . Pekol streamlined operations and replaced gasoline-powered buses with diesel-powered ones , which enabled him to make a profit despite lowering fares. The new buses came from Daimler-Benz , Krupp and MAN .

In search of further improvements, Pekol introduced trolleybuses in Oldenburg in 1936 . He had seven lightweight cars built by Daimler-Benz based on his own designs. In July 1936, Pekol bought a 1.7-hectare plot of land on Alexanderstraße from the city of Oldenburg, which subsequently served as a depot with administration and workshop, but this was also where the Pekol family lived and where the construction and later parts were made housed. The Oldenburg trolleybus ran on five lines that were served by around 20 vehicles. From the central stop on the market square, the 4.1 kilometer long line 1 ran to Nadorst from September 26, 1936 and the 4.2 kilometer long line 2 from October 24, 1936 to Kreyenbrück. This made Oldenburg the first German city to have a trolleybus network consisting of several connected routes. Line 3 connected the airport from February 3, 1937. Since none of these lines touched the train station, a car shuttled on the 1.5 kilometer stretch of line B between the market and the train station. When the 3.9 kilometer long line 6 from Markt to Eversten went into operation, the trolleybus network had a total length of 18.3 kilometers. At the end of the war, on May 7, 1945, the depot, 27 buses and one trolleybus as well as the workshop equipment and spare parts fell victim to the flames. As a result, parts of the workshop were relocated from Jever to Oldenburg.

After the Second World War , a change in traffic management in the city center was planned. This would have required extensive relocation of overhead lines , so the decision was made to shut down. Operation on line 3 ended on September 15, 1955, and in the following year the shuttle service to the station. Lines 1, 2 and 6 remained in place until October 26, 1957.

In 1985, the Oldenburger Omnibusverkehr, which until then had been carried out by Pekol, was taken over by Verkehr und Wasser GmbH (VWG).

Older Oldenburgers still know the characteristic advertising announcement from the Pekol buses from the past: " Whether bus, train, plane or ship - Pekol travel agency: a fixed term ".

Jever – Wilhelmshaven branch

From 1944, the Pekol company also operated an overland trolleybus line from Jever to Wilhelmshaven, 18.6 kilometers away, and also used the catenary of the city's trolleybus service there. Even before it was shut down, on September 30, 1954, Pekol closed the Jever trolleybus service.

vehicle construction

Pekol also excelled as a designer of buses. Above all, weight should be saved and the vehicle length better used. A collaboration was established with the bodywork factory Traugott Golde AG in Gera . This acquired the patent from the Swiss engineer Arquint for the “light steel frame”. From 1938 onwards, four Pekol touring buses were built in lightweight steel construction using Daimler-Benz chassis and diesel engines that were installed in the rear instead of the front. The war initially stopped development. After the war, bus trailers were first made. Some chassis of burnt out and bought old buses were rebuilt, also with a rear engine and front-link body. A Henschel / BBC trolleybus of nominal size II with eight tires was converted into a hybrid bus by Gräf & Stift in 1947 by installing a 120 hp diesel engine . In 1947/1948, Pekol tested the independent suspension with coil springs on a minibus based on an old Horch car.

From 1950 onwards, concrete projects emerged from the further developments. The new developments of the express bus P 2 with its self-supporting, lightweight steel passenger cell with a low center of gravity, independent wheel suspension, single tires and a top speed of 100 km / h have been registered for patent . Five P 20s were built. In 1951 the type P 30 was further developed, a touring coach for 22–30 people with independent suspension and a rear Daimler-Benz diesel engine that forms a block with the gearbox and differential. In 1954 a patent was applied for the light-duty bus , which was the first bus to have a payload that exceeded its own weight. The rear engine of this bus was supplied by Henschel. The motors were installed on slide rails so that they could be exchanged quickly. This self-supporting shell construction with ring frames made of light metal and riveted planking had individually suspended wheels all around and a floor height of only 50 centimeters for the time.

In 1951/1952, Pekol signed a license agreement with the Lower Saxony wagon factory Joseph Graaff GmbH in Elze and the Orion bodywork in Eschwege . The two companies exhibited their copies at the 1953 IAA in Frankfurt: Orion WH 153 (city bus), Orion WH 154 (intercity bus) and the Graaff Ultra (coach). The latter had as opposed to the "original" P 30 has a body in aluminum -Leichtbau-shell construction, the construction consisting of the aircraft coming Dr. Krossek was responsible, and a Henschel engine in the stern. With its good road holding, this bus reached a speed of over 120 km / h during test drives on the autobahn, which at that time most cars could not achieve. The fuel consumption was only 13.5 l / 100 km.

Pekol granted the license for series production to Karl Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke in Ulm , which started series production of the bus as Kässbohrer Setra SP from 1955. A version one meter longer was called the Setra SPL. A second license was given to the truck manufacturer Fried. Krupp engine and vehicle factories in Essen awarded.

Honors

• 1953 Theodor Pekol received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Steckkreuz)

• In the former depot of the bus company on Alexanderstraße in Oldenburg, there was a museum in honor of Pekol until October 18, 2009, in which 16 Pekol buses were kept. The new operator of the facility arranged for the evacuation; the whereabouts of the buses is unknown.

• There is a Theodor-Pekol-Platz in Jever and a Theodor-Pekol-Straße in Oldenburg.

literature

• Ulrich Cramer: Ingenious ideas in bus construction · The achievements of entrepreneur Theodor Pekol . In: Jahrbuch Omnibusse 2020 , Podszun-Motorbücher, Brilon 2019, ISBN 978-3-86133-929-8 ; Pp. 62-94
• Werner Stock: Trolleybus systems in Germany. Bielefeld 1987
• Ingo Harms: Biologism · On the theory and practice of a powerful ideology. Oldenburg 2011
• Katharina Hoffmann: Forced labor and its social acceptance in Oldenburg 1939–1945. Oldenburg 2001

Individual evidence

1. ↑ City of Oldenburg, street name study 2013. (PDF) Retrieved on January 16, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Trollibus-oldenburg.eu
3. ↑ Ulrich Cramer: Ingenious ideas in bus construction · The achievements of the entrepreneur Theodor Pekol . In: Jahrbuch Omnibusse 2020 , Podszun-Motorbücher, Brilon 2019, ISBN 978-3-86133-929-8 ; P. 65
4. ↑ The Pekol Museum in Oldenburg ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 5, 2016 
5. ↑ The former Pekolmuseum in Oldenburg Section D, accessed on January 5, 2016