Palatinate Railways
The common management and administration of all private railway companies in the area of the Palatinate (Bavaria) , which existed from 1844 to 1908, is called the Palatinate Railways (often short Pfalzbahn ) . The railway directorate was initially located in the provincial capital Speyer and was later relocated to Ludwigshafen am Rhein .
The company was created with the construction of the Palatinate Ludwig Railway by the company of the same name . With the Maximiliansbahn built since 1855 , the management and administration of the Maximiliansbahn-Gesellschaft was also taken over. The management and accounting for the Neustadt-Dürkheimer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (NDE) was added in 1862. The same happened with the company of the Palatinate Northern Railways , which took over the NDE in 1870.
In 1869 all shareholders' meetings finally agreed to a merger of the administration, whereby the individual companies remained legally independent and separate books were kept. The shares in Neustadt-Dürkheimer Gesellschaft were taken over by the Nordbahnen company on January 1, 1870. At the same time, the three remaining companies received new concessions and a uniform interest rate guarantee.
From 1905 the Bavarian state asserted its right of first refusal. On January 1, 1909, the then largest private railway company in Germany was incorporated into the Bavarian State Railways as the Royal Bavarian Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen . With the end of the monarchy , the title “royal” ceased to exist. According to the armistice agreements , the management was occupied on December 4, 1918 by a French field railway department.
history
prehistory
With a look at the political and economic conditions at the time of the founding of the Palatinate Railways, many of the problems with which the advocates of the new means of transport had to struggle in the border region of the Palatinate become visible.
As Bayern after the defeat of Napoleon in the struggle with Austria as compensation for the lost territories einhandelte the new province of Salzburg, interior and Hausruckviertel 1816 it first was named Rhine district. It was not until January 1, 1838, that this province on the left bank of the Rhine bore the name Pfalz (Bavaria) . Speyer was designated as the capital of the new Bavarian district . At 5,320 square kilometers, the Palatinate was the smallest of the Bavarian districts around 1816, but its population of 429,625 inhabitants made it the most densely populated district. In 1830, around 100 residents per square kilometer were also expected in the Palatinate, while the average in the remaining 39 states of the German Confederation was only 45 residents. 80% of the population of the Rhine district lived from agriculture, trade and industry, on the other hand, were only poorly developed. The commercial economy was dominated by the iron industry, there were also noteworthy cloth manufacturers, paper mills and breweries.
The Palatinate themselves accepted the incorporation into the German association of states with certain reservations, having enjoyed the advantages of the Civil Code, which is much more liberal than the jurisprudence in the German states, for almost a generation. And the freedoms they had once acquired were unwilling to give up without a fight, which was ultimately shown in the violent revolts of the years around 1848 . However, the Bavarian state government sent the most capable officials to the new province at the beginning. But without suggestions and impulses from outside, no train would have traveled in the Palatinate in the first half of the 19th century.
Economic development of the railway network until 1869
As the immediate neighbor of the Prussian part of the Saar region and the French Alsace , the Palatinate was not spared from the armed conflicts of 1866 . Although there were no direct military actions, the export ban on Prussian coal issued on June 18, 1866 - which remained in force for over two months - meant a loss in sales of 217,772 guilders for the Ludwigsbahn - and a loss of 22,686 guilders and 25 Kreuzers for the Maximiliansbahn . In addition, the Neustadt-Dürkheimer Bahn was affected to a considerable extent by the absence of visitors to the Dürkheim brine baths . There were no shutdowns. Diplomacy to the royal Prussian administration in Saarbrücken enabled the Saarbrücken-Neunkirchen-Homburg-Ludwigshafen line to be kept open as the only connection between the enemy alliances . Nevertheless, there was an increase in freight traffic, which between October 1, 1865 and December 31, 1866 totaled 45.5 million quintals of goods and coal. This increase was apparently the result of the improved connection to Baden through the trajectory in Ludwigshafen and the ship bridge near Maxau .
The rapidly growing freight traffic and the direct connection to neighboring railway companies made the desire for direct wagon traffic to the destination of the transport to grow. This required extensive coordination, not only of a tariff, but especially of a technical nature. With the "Association of German Railway Administrations" founded in November 1847 (originally "Association of Prussian Railway Directionen", from December 1847 "Association of German Railway Administrations") had founded a society that had taken up the cause of "promoting one's own interests and those of the public through joint consultations and actions" , to serve this goal and to promote the conditions for the car transfer between the societies united in the association. The Palatinate Railways joined this association in February 1851.
However, the coexistence of several railway companies proved to be a hindrance to railway operations. For this reason they decided at a general assembly that took place on October 20, 1869, the effective merger to form the United Palatinate Railways on January 1 of the following year . This acted as an operating and income community. Bavaria agreed to grant interest guarantees until December 31, 1904. It also reserved the right to acquire the Palatinate route network from January 1, 1905. Otherwise the license would expire on January 1, 1969.
Development from 1870
In the war of 1870/71 the Palatinate was the immediate deployment area of the armies of the German Confederation and the Palatinate Railways were loaded to the limits of their capacity. All civil traffic was blocked between July 23 and August 13, 1870. In addition, the full night duty was introduced at this time, which was also retained in the aftermath. The outcome of the war with the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine into the German Reich meant that the Palatinate lost its status as a borderland and thus also gave up certain geostrategic considerations in relation to the direct neighborhood to France in the development of the north-south railways could become. On the other hand, it also meant that there was a direct connection between Saarbrücken and Strasbourg via Saargemünd. This means that part of the coal traffic to southern Germany and Switzerland has been withdrawn from the Palatinate routes. After the peace treaty, the Palatinate Railways experienced an unexpected boom in traffic, which was only slowed down by the founding crisis (1873 to 1876).
Planning and route construction
First aspirations
Before plans for an east-west connection through the Palatinate to the Prussian Saarbrücken existed, there was an exchange of letters between Hubert Engelhardt, France's representative at the Rhine Shipping Commission , and his Bavarian colleague von Nau about a north-south line along the Rhine as early as 1829 with a sideline to Saarbrücken to connect the coal-rich Saar basin. The aim was, on the one hand, to intercept the traffic of a planned Rhine side canal from Strasbourg to the Rheinschanze as well as the competition on the Mannheim – Basel route .
The earliest efforts to make use of the new rail transport for the region's economic upswing were made by a group of merchants in Saarbrücken at the beginning of the 1830s. Attempts were made to find out from both the Prussian and Bavarian governments their respective attitudes towards such planning. The Bavarian King Ludwig I was not a friend of the new traffic technology, especially since one of his most important advisers in the military field, Field Marshal Carl Philipp von Wrede , citing a confidential memoire of the Württemberg Quartermaster General, drafted the horror scenario of a French armed force rolling "into the heart of Germany" if a west-east connection through the Palatinate to the Rheinschanze would be created. Only when the Palatinate threatened to slip into a political sideline due to various activities on the part of Alsace, Prussia and Baden did Munich feel compelled to counteract this with its own rail project. With his resolution of December 21, 1837, King Ludwig I heralded the construction of a railway from Bexbach to the Rheinschanze. Because of the uncertain political and military situation in the border province, those responsible decided not to use the state railways and paved the way for private investments. As early as September 28, 1836, the Bavarian government laid down the fundamental provisions for all railway statutes in Bavaria, as well as the gauges of all railways.
Development up to the founding of the Palatinate Railways (1838–1870)
After the Bavarian Railway Company of the Palatinate / Rheinschanz-Bexbacher-Bahn (later Palatinate Ludwigsbahn ) had been founded in Speyer on March 30, 1838 , construction work took place in the years 1844 to 1849. From 1847 to 1849, the Palatinate Ludwigsbahn was named in stages Connection from Ludwigshafen to Bexbach opened. In 1850 the Prussian Neunkirchen was reached and two years later Saarbrücken. As early as 1847, at the same time as the Ludwigshafen – Neustadt section, a branch line to Speyer was created in Schifferstadt. Another branch line ran from Homburg to Zweibrücken from 1857 . From this, the so-called Würzbachbahn to St. Ingbert was built in 1866 and 1867 . The gap between Ludwigshafen and Mannheim was also closed in 1867.
The second company was founded on July 19, 1852, the Palatinate Maximiliansbahn , which was supposed to operate the construction of a railway from Neustadt an der Haardt to Wissembourg with a connection to the French network. This was opened in 1855. From 1862 to 1865 a line branching off from this in Winden to Karlsruhe was built . The line to Bergzabern was also built in 1870 .
The Palatinate Railways joined the Association of German Railway Administrations (VDEV) in February 1851 . This took into account the growing demands for cross-border traffic. As a result, the retrofitting of the wagon and locomotive park, which was necessary due to the technical specifications of the association, was carried out. This related in particular to the clutches and the buffers.
At the instigation of local interested parties, the Neustadt-Dürkheimer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft was established on October 22nd, 1862 to connect Dürkheim to the emerging railway network. Finally, on June 18, 1866, the Society of the Palatinate Northern Railways was founded after a state treaty concluded with Prussia in 1865 enabled the route from Hochspeyer via Alsenz to Münster am Stein with a connection to the Saarbrücken railway via Bingen to Mainz , which was opened in 1870 and 1871 . The northern railways had already opened the Landstuhl – Kusel railway in 1868 to develop the quarries in the area around Altenglan.
Development under the Palatinate Railways (1870–1908)
With the approval of the merger agreement of the railway companies on January 1, 1870, they were given an extensive catalog of routes to be built in the name and for the account of the sub-companies. The Ludwigsbahn built the Landau – Zweibrücken railway including the Biebermühle – Pirmasens branch line and, a few years later, the Bliestalbahn Zweibrücken – Saargemünd as its continuation . Through the latter, a larger section within the realm of Alsace-Lorraine fell under the jurisdiction of the Palatinate Railways. The Maximiliansbahn was responsible for the Germersheim – Landau line and the gap between Germersheim – Baden and the extension of the Schifferstadt – Germersheim line to Wörth, including its continuation to Strasbourg . The northern railways extended the route to Dürkheim via Grünstadt to Monsheim in Hesse . The Eistalbahn connected Eisenberg with Grünstadt. The Freinsheim – Frankenthal railway was supposed to link this with the Mainz – Ludwigshafen railway . The Donnersbergbahn connected Kirchheimbolanden and Alzey and the Zellertalbahn connected the Alsenz line with Worms. The Kaiserslautern – Enkenbach railway line served as its access route, bypassing Hochspeyer. Workshops were located in Kaiserslautern , Ludwigshafen and Neustadt .
The routes built in the following decades were mainly of regional importance. The Lautertalbahn Kaiserslautern – Lauterecken , which opened in 1883, was explicitly designed as a branch line . From 1890, a narrow-gauge local railway network was also established in the Ludwigshafen area in the form of the Frankenthal – Großkarlbach , Ludwigshafen – Frankenthal and Ludwigshafen – Dannstadt connections .
For strategic reasons, the Würzbachbahn between Würzbach and St. Ingbert was given a new route via Rohrbach in 1895. In 1904 the shortest possible route between Homburg and Saarbrücken was created with the direct connection Homburg - Rohrbach . In the same year, the last major railway project of the Palatinate Railways was the Glantalbahn Homburg – Münster , which was built in parts in 1868, 1896 and 1897 and which was also intended to serve primarily military purposes. Due to the irregular course of the border between Bavaria and Prussia in the middle and lower Glan valley , they were responsible for sections outside the Palatinate. The last line opened under the direction of the Palatinate Railways was the Speyer – Neustadt local railway, which opened in two stages in 1905 and 1908 . The Geinsheim – Neustadt section, completed in 1908, was already realized at the expense of the Bavarian state due to the nationalization of the Palatinate railway network .
From 1909
On January 1, 1909, the Palatinate Railways finally became the property of the Bavarian State Railways . From then on , it operated within the latter as the Royal Bavarian Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen am Rhein . Since the essential routes necessary for transit traffic had already been built, only a few projects were implemented after the Palatinate Railways were taken over by the Royal Bavarian State Railways. These were, on the one hand, route extensions and, on the other hand, additional branch lines in the local railway area.
- On January 23, 1909, the Lambrecht – Elmstein line was opened and is now operated as a museum railway
- On December 1, 1911, the Hinterweidenthal – Bundenthal lines went into operation, as did the Otterbach – Otterberg line
- on August 1, 1913, the Waldfischbach – Kaiserslautern line and thus the continuous Pirmasens-Kaiserslautern line opened
- on December 15, 1913, traffic began on the Zweibrücken – Hornbach line
- on October 15, 1914, the Otterbach – Weilerbach line was put into operation
- on October 1, 1916, the first traffic took place on the Hornbach – Brenschelbach line
- and on June 21, 1920 on the Weilerbach – Reichenbach route
As a further consequence of the First World War and the abolition of the monarchy, the name was from December 1918 only Bavarian Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen am Rhein and from May 1920 Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen (Rhine) . On March 10, 1920, it also ceded its western route network, which became part of the newly created Saar area . The Homburg – Neunkirchen railway and parts of the Mannheim – Saarbrücken , Homburg – Zweibrücken , Landau – Rohrbach , Bliestalbahn , Glantalbahn and Hornbachbahn lines were affected . The constitution as Reichsbahndirektion Ludwigshafen took place on July 6, 1922. With their gradual dissolution in 1936 and 1937, the former structures of the Palatinate Railways were finally dissolved.
administration
Until the merger, the individual companies had dedicated administrations, essentially for the construction phase. The supervisory boards of the individual stock corporations sent elected representatives to the administration and management. This included the members appointed by the state government. A special supervisory body was the commissioner appointed by the king as a representative of the Bavarian state government. This function was carried out by the director of the Chamber of Finances at the Speyer regional council.
The merger
At the extraordinary general assembly of all Palatinate railway companies on October 20, 1869, the merger of the four existing companies as a "union of the Palatinate railway companies, to a community of operations and income, for the purpose of expanding the Palatinate railway network, to eliminate the competition and to Simplification of administration ” decided. This application made by the administration was accepted after a lengthy discussion by the members of the Ludwig Railway with 642 votes against 22 votes. The members of the Maximiliansbahn, the Nordbahn and the Neustadt-Dürkheimer Bahn unanimously accepted the proposal.
organization structure
With the establishment of the common parent company Palatinate Railways in 1870, a changed organizational structure was set up. Since it was a private railway and the director of the railway had to account for every issue to the shareholders, the number of senior officials always had to be limited to what was necessary. Here is an example of the administration and organization from 1873:
| Board of Directors | consisting of |
|---|---|
| 12 government appointed members 12 elected members from the boards of the three companies |
|
| Directorate | consisting of |
| Director Deputy Director (also Obermeister) |
|
| Senior officials | Upper machinist (OMM) chief cashier chief engineer upper goods inspector top operating supervisor |
| offices | Architectural office Technical office Complaint office Control office Car management office Machine foreman , assistant to OMM (second OMM from 1874) |
| Railway maintenance and supervision |
consisting of |
| 9 district engineers with 6 assistants and 21 railway foremen Telegraph foremen in Ludwigshafen train stations and stations |
|
| Workshops: Ludwigshafen Kaiserslautern Neustadt ad / Haardt |
1 foreman, 1 foreman, 2 foremen 1 foreman , 1 foreman, 4 foremen 1 foreman with a total of 750 workshop workers |
| Central magazine in Ludwigshafen | |
| Coal agency in Neunkirchen | |
| Ship bridges in Maximiliansau and Speyer |
each with a bridge master |
| Driving service | 3 train inspectors, 114 locomotive drivers , 17 apprentices, 103 stokers, 76 train drivers, 108 conductors, 42 freight train brakes and 32 coal train brakes |
| Railway construction | Section engineers |
| Quarries in Weidenthal, Rammelsbach and Königsbach |
each with a supervisor |
This structure remained until the nationalization and was only adapted to the increasing number of staff. The number of seven to eight senior officials remains constant until it is integrated into the KBStE. Only with nationalization did this number triple.
Personnel
Timeline of the directors and senior technical officers of the Palatinate Railways.
| year | Senior technical officer of the management (from 1880 title "Directorate Council") | Deputy director | director | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| construction | business | Chief Engineer | ||||
| 1844 |
Paul Camille Denis , railway engineer, later construction director 1844–1849 |
Albert Jaeger , sub-director 1844–1856 |
Maximilian de Lamotte , Railway Director 1844–1849 |
|||
| 1845 | Eugen Mündler, mechanical engineer 1845–1856 |
|||||
| 1849 | ||||||
| 1850 | ( Paul Camille Denis )? | Paul Camille von Denis, first company director or director 1850–1856 |
||||
| 1856 | Casimir Basler, chief engineer management and operation 1856–1880 |
Eugen Mündler at the same time chief engineer 1856-1883 |
Albert v. Jaeger , director 1856–1884 |
|||
| 1874 | Franz Westhofen, chief engineer 1874–1880 |
|||||
| 1880 | Jakob Hamm, Board Member , Construction Advisor 1880–1883 († 1883) |
Casimir Basler, board member, company officer 1880–1887 |
||||
| 1883 | Valentin Mühlhäußer, Senior Engineer 1883 Board Member 1884 Construction Advisor 1883–1894 |
Franz Westhofen, board member 1880–1889 |
Alexander Gayer master machine manager 1882 master machine operator 1883–1886 |
Jacob Lavale 1883/1884 |
||
| 1884 | Carl Müller, Senior Engineer 1884 Member of the Board of Directors 1889 Operations Officer 1887–1904 |
Gustav Hessert 1884–1886 († 1886) |
Jakob v. Lavale 1884-1908 |
|||
| 1886 | ||||||
| 1887 | Carl Becker 1887–1905 († 1905) |
|||||
| 1889 | ||||||
| 1894 | Hermann Kaerner, Board Member for Construction 1894–1906 († 1906) |
|||||
| 1896 |
Wilhelm Staby , head machine engineer 1896 Workshop clerk 1897–1908 Board member 1899 |
|||||
| 1900 | ||||||
| 1904 | ||||||
| 1905 | Friedrich Rünnewolf since 1907 Kgl. Government Council |
Alexander Gayer 1905–1908 |
||||
| with the 1st January 1909 takeover of the Palatinate Railways by the Kgl. Bavarian State Railway | ||||||
| 1909 | Alexander Ritter von Gayer President of the Ludwigshafen Railway Directorate 1909–1917 († 1917) |
|||||
Vehicles standard lane
In terms of vehicles, a distinction must be made between those of the standard gauge of 1435 mm and the narrow gauge with 1000 mm gauge, which is also used on the Pfalzbahn .
The registration number of all vehicles was Pfalz B. until December 31, 1908 , then until they were taken over by DR K.Bay. Sts.EB together with the coat of arms with a blue and white diamond pattern and the management code "Ludwigshafen". The wagons of the jointly managed Palatinate companies were initially listed in a common numbering system. The first and second class passenger cars began with the number 1, those of the III. Class with the number 101, the baggage cars and horse-drawn carriages with the numbers from 201 onwards. At the beginning of the wave of procurement from 1870 onwards, this number set proved to be too tight and was replaced by the following numbering concept:
- No. 1 to 3000 for the Ludwigsbahn carriages
- No. 3001 to 5000 for the Northern Railway wagons
- No. 5001 to 5999 for the Maximiliansbahn cars
- No. 6000 and following for Ludwigsbahn wagons and finally for all new additions without subdivision to one of the companies.
This numbering scheme remained for passenger cars after they were taken over by the State Railways and was used until the DR was renumbered in 1923. However, when they were taken over by the State Railways in 1909, the freight wagons were given new numbers.
The numbering scheme of the locomotives began with number "1" - the type 1A1 locomotive with the name "Haardt" built by Kessler in 1846 - and went up to number 410, whereby the numbers of decommissioned machines were reassigned and therefore multiple assignments were possible. A total of 315 Pfalzbahnen machines were still listed in the provisional redesignation plan from 1923. In the final of 1925 there were only 204 machines left.
Here is an overview of the development of rolling stock between 1883 and 1907, initially for the normal or regular gauge.
| 1883 | 1889 | 1899 | 1907 | 1913 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger cars | 368 | 408 | 621 | 844 | 937 |
| Van | 138 | 140 | 165 | 194 | 201 |
| Mail car | 14th | 18th | 30th | 35 | 50 |
| Freight wagons | 3,820 | 5,513 | 8,119 | 9,166 | |
| Railcar | 2 | 1 | 6th | ||
| Locomotives | 188 | 354 | 353 |
Traction vehicles
Steam locomotives
A compilation and listing of the steam locomotives used by the Pfalzbahnen can be found on the list of locomotives and railcars .
Railcar
In the time before the turn of the century in 1900, many railway companies recognized the need to make passenger traffic on less frequented routes more economical. It was planned to achieve these goals with the help of simple steam railcars or accumulator railcars in the so-called "omnibus operation" . The Palatinate Railways played a pioneering role. As early as the General Assembly of 1895, the management of the Pfalzbahnen had, among other things, a budget item approved for the “trial acquisition of a bus wagon with an electric or gas engine drive”. The good experience with this trial run then prompted the management to carry out “test drives with electric motor vehicles on standard-gauge mainline lines” in 1896. At the same time, the offer from Accumulatorenfabrik Hagen and the electricity company vorm was made. Schuckert & Cie. Nuremberg “for this purpose two passenger cars of the III. Class to set up as a motor vehicle free of charge ”.
The workshop of the Pfalzbahnen in Ludwigshafen carried out the corresponding work, so that in February 1897 the test drives with these two cars - numbers 226 and 5135 - could be carried out on the routes between Ludwigshafen and Neustadt or Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal. From May 1, 1897, both cars are in scheduled service from Ludwigshafen to Neustadt or to Worms. By the end of the year, 48,810 km had been covered and 51,282 people had been transported.
After the positive experience with the various accumulator railcars - both on narrow and standard gauge - the Palatinate Railways procured a steam railcar for the first time in 1904 from the company Ganz from Budapest, then known for this type of traction . This steam railcar with the number PBI was used on the "lower Glantalbahn" in the Lauterecken-Staudernheim section. It had classes II and III, a total of 33 seats and could carry up to two passenger or freight cars. However, the test operation did not meet expectations. Frequent damage and the fact that there was only one control stand - changes in direction at the end points had to be compensated for by turning the vehicle - led to very low annual mileages and thus poor profitability. Since the poor feed water supply in Odernheim was the cause of the frequent damage, the vehicle was relocated to the southern Palatinate in 1906. It was used there on the Neustadt - Winden and Landau - Annweiler sections . The annual mileage was also there like this - z. B. in 1906 only 27,428 kilometers and in 1908 only 11,349 kilometers - small that the administration refrained from further acquisitions of this vehicle type.
A compilation and listing of the railcars used by the Pfalzbahnen is included in the list of locomotives and railcars .
dare
A compilation of the different types of freight wagons - open wagons, covered wagons, special-design wagons, both standard gauge and narrow gauge - can be found on the list of Palatine freight wagons . A compilation of the different types of passenger cars - compartment cars, through cars, local rail cars, saloon cars, both standard and narrow gauge - can be found on the page List of Palatinate Passenger Cars.
Freight wagons
With the first order by v. Denis 1846 (80 people and a total of 300 freight wagons) was expressed which focus the Pfalzbahnen put on the transport of goods. After all, the planned removal of the coal from the mines around Bexbach was one of the reasons for the concession of the Palatinate Ludwig Railway.
Passenger cars
While the Württemberg State Railways operated with four-axle through cars in the early days of car procurement , at the Palatinate Railways, as with other southern German railway companies, compartment cars became the carrier of passenger transport. The first procurement series for the opening of the Ludwig Railway still showed wagons based on the "English system", that is, two-axle vehicles with coach bodies in the shape of a stagecoach. But the next procurement series already showed the classic design of the south German compartment car with slightly retracted side car walls, a slightly arched roof and no skylight structure . The fourth class open car that was initially still in existence was taken out of service as early as 1851. From 1861 the second generation of 2-axle wagons came into use. By 1890, around 407 new cars were purchased, with 284 cars focusing on 3rd class cars. This total contains 24 combined wagons of the type CPost with 2 or 3 compartments. Type AB was represented with 3 to 4 compartments with 112 cars. The last 2-axle compartment wagons were procured from 1892 onwards, and these were exclusively 3rd class cars with different compartment and toilet facilities. These wagons had a domed roof (barrel roof). The first three-axle compartment cars were purchased from 1890/91. These were AB wagons with a skylight structure and barrel roof according to sheet 007. A total of 513 wagons were procured by 1915, most of them with classes C3 and D3 (from 1907). The D3 cars corresponded to the Prussian models, but they did not have a skylight structure. For use in the express trains, which have been more popular since the turn of the century, the Palatinate Railways had to procure 4-axle compartment wagons for exchanging wagons with neighboring companies. There are a total of 22 cars of the categories AB4 and C4. The body of a former two-axle passenger car from 1872/73, which was initially used in the third and from 1901 in the fourth class, has been preserved and is now part of the inventory of the Neustadt / Weinstrasse Railway Museum . It is one of the oldest vehicles of the Pfalzbahn that has been preserved.
Passage cars - i.e. those with side aisles and closed passages with bellows - were only acquired from the Palatinate Railways with the advent of the express trains around 1900. Between 1898 and 1911, a total of 50 cars of the categories AB4ü and C4ü, i.e. four-axle through cars, were procured.
There were two-axle through cars only in the area of the local railways, and there with open end platforms and crossings. A total of 14 pieces were procured from the Palatinate Northern Railways as part of the construction of the Lautertalbahn Kaiserslautern - Lauterecken as so-called "intercommunication cars" and were of the types BCiL, CiL, PiL and PPostiL.
Van
The Pfalzbahnen did not differentiate between the baggage cars and whether they were intended for use in freight or passenger trains. With a few exceptions, they were based on the types of wagons of the Königl. Bavarian State Railways . For the three-axle wagons according to sheet 084, the Prussian wagons according to pattern sheet IIa 1 were the inspiration, while for the four-axle cars according to sheet 87, the Prussians according to pattern sheet DIIa 9 were the inspiration.
Mail car
The transport of mail in the Bavarian province on the left bank of the Rhine was under the control of the Royal Bavarian Post and not the Imperial Post. As early as April 15, 1853, rail mail routes operated on the Ludwig Railway between Ludwigshafen and Bexbach. This operation was based on an agreement with the Bavarian postal administration dated April 11, 1853. It says:
“The company assumes the obligation to produce its own wagons designed for the service and provided with the necessary adaptations for the transport of the mail items and for setting up the railroad posts, and the Königl. To provide the postal service at their free choice [...] "
The company received a reimbursement of costs for this. This reimbursement of costs granted to the Gesellschaft der Pfalzbahnen was the reason for the BOB to insist on equal rights and equal pay. Since the fleet of the Pfalzbahnwagen was expanded early on with wagons from Bavaria on the right bank of the Rhine, it essentially comprised only two types:
- the wagons according to sheet 69, built around 1872
- the wagons according to sheet 72, built around 1887–1902
Combined baggage and mail wagons were procured for the meter-gauge local railways, as the volume of mail for these routes alone was not large enough for a separate type of wagon.
Combined wagons
Particularly on routes with a low volume of mail or packages, the railway companies tried to use the respective wagon types as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible by using wagons with combined types - i.e. passenger and baggage cars, or passenger and mail wagons as well as packing and mail wagons. From the very beginning, such wagons were used on the Kaiserslautern - Lauterecken or Landstuhl - Altenglan (Kusel) local railway lines.
The main railway wagons were of the types CPost and PPost, i.e. mail wagons with compartments of the third class or combined baggage and mail wagons, while the local railway wagons were of the type PPostL. The number of pieces of the individual types was small, sometimes only one car.
Narrow gauge vehicles
With the Bavarian Local Railway Act of April 1882, the Palatinate created the legal basis for the development and construction of secondary railways in the hinterland of the rapidly developing industrial cities of Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal. More and more people from the surrounding communities found work in the up-and-coming industrial sites. Since these communities were located off the existing railway lines, this meant long walks for workers in wind and weather to get to work. So there was a greater need for suitable means of transport. It was only the growing interest of foreign companies in the construction and operation of such secondary railways that prompted a rethink among the Pfalzbahn companies themselves to build and operate such railways. This prehistory shows that the focus of early procurement for the narrow-gauge railways was on passenger traffic and freight traffic only played a subordinate role.
The Pfalzbahn operated a total of four narrow-gauge lines:
- the local railway from Ludwigshafen via Dannstadt to Meckenheim , opened in 1890
- the local railway from Ludwigshafen to Groß-Karlbach , opened in 1891
- and the local railway from Speyer via Geinsheim to Neustadt a / Haardt - opened to Geinsheim on August 26, 1905, opened to Neustadt on October 31, 1908 - all of which were built by Ludwigsbahn
- the local railway Alsenz to Obermoschel , opened on March 1, 1903 - which was built by the northern railway.
For many years these lines were without competition and thus protected in their existence. With the emergence of motorized mail in the 1930s, there was often direct competition between bus lines and local railways. This resulted e.g. B. on June 11, 1933 for the suspension of local rail traffic between Ludwigshafen Central Station and Mundenheim. The routes were often used for the seasonal sugar beet traffic.
On December 24, 1955, the local railroad in the Vorderpfalz came to an end after 65 years with the last sugar beet train. The routes were dismantled and no longer exist today.
Traction vehicles
Locomotives
A compilation and listing of the narrow-gauge locomotives used by the Pfalzbahnen can be found on the page List of Palatinate Locomotives and Railcars .
Railcar
With the decision of its general assembly in 1885 to “purchase an omnibus wagon”, the Pfalzbahnen once again demonstrated its flair for technically meaningful innovations. Their pioneering work in the use of the new technology and the successful operation of the various battery cars only prompted the neighboring Mainz directorate of KP u. GH for the procurement of such cars.
The two test cars procured in 1896 were returned in 1897 after a total of 36,285 km of mileage, and two new, 4-axle tram motor cars for 50 people were procured for the first time. They are put into operation in 1898 with the numbers I and II. These two cars were followed in 1900 by the 2-axle tram III. In the autumn of 1904, the "electric motor vehicle operation" on the Ludwigshafen - Mundenheim route was discontinued, as the Ludwigshafen city tram opened a new line in parallel. Cars I and II were dismantled into passenger cars in the Ludwigshafen workshop, which were transferred to the Alsenz – Obermoschel local railway as reserve cars . Car III remained in service until 1910 and was taken out of service.
dare
A total of 238 cars were built for the narrow-gauge lines in the Vorderpfalz and the Alsenz-Obermoschel local railway by 1907. In addition, 20 narrow-gauge trolleys were procured to transport standard gauge wagons . The development of this car fleet and its distribution among the different types took place between 1899 and 1907 as shown in the following table:
| Car type | Status 1892 |
Status 1899 |
As of 1907 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger cars | 56 | 70 | 111 |
| Van | 6th | 8th | 14th |
| Freight wagons | 64 | 109 | |
| Railcar | 2 | 1 |
The wagons were all equipped with central buffers and all - with the exception of the long timber wagons - had a uniform wheel base of 2700 mm. The passenger cars were equipped with Körting type air brakes. The lighting was either candles, oil or kerosene; they were heated with steam. With the advent of diesel locomotives after the Second World War, this led to the operational curiosity that the passenger cars had to be heated using specially procured steam storage cars.
Freight wagons
Although the focus of procurement was on passenger transport, the basic equipment of the local railways in the Vorderpfalz included thirty open freight cars, eleven covered wagons and four for transporting logs. By 1911, another forty-seven open and eleven boxcars were added. These cars were all equipped with two axles. The majority of the wagons consisted of the open high-sided gondolas of the type OwL (later OL), which were used to transport bulk goods such as coal, fertilizers, fodder, building materials and, above all, sugar beets. In particular, the seasonal transport of sugar beet to the sugar factories in the Upper Palatinate region became the main mode of transport in the later years.
The covered freight wagons of type GwL (later GL) corresponded to the box-shaped wagon type widespread at the time of procurement with a slightly rounded barrel roof, front brakeman's platform with hand-spindle brake and sliding doors on the side. The replica of this car, procured in 1911 and 1914, was a bit higher and had lockable ventilation flaps on the side. With these wagons everything was transported that was dependent on the weather and could not be transported in open wagons. The transport of animals was also permitted. For the transport of milk, some wagons specially equipped with shelves and long side running boards were procured.
The turntable wagons of the class HwL (later HL) procured for the transport of long timber had a shorter wheelbase of only 1800 mm than the other narrow-gauge wagons and were always used in pairs. With a total wagon length of 4800 mm, it was possible to transport up to 8000 mm long logs up to a weight of 15.0 t.
Freight and passenger wagons all had four-digit serial numbers that they kept after switching to the state railway and after being taken over by the DRG. Details on the various wagon types, procurement data and wagon numbers can be found on the page List of Palatinate Freight Cars.
Passenger cars
Between 1889 and 1907, a total of 109 passenger cars and 14 combined baggage and mail cars were procured for the three railways first mentioned in the list of the Palatinate narrow-gauge lines, and two passenger cars and two combined baggage and mail cars for the Northern Railways local line. In addition to these wagons, 111 freight wagons and 200 “transporters” - that is to say roll stands - were procured.
Inventory and procurement:
| genus | number | Company numbers | procurement year |
comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BL | 6th | 9 301-9 306 | 1890 | |
| BL | 2 | 9 307-9 308 | 1895 | |
| CL | 60 | 9 321-9 380 | 1889-1895 | |
| PPostL | 8th | 9 381-9 388 | 1889-1894 | |
| CL | 3 | 9 389-9 391 | 1889 | |
| CL | 12 | 9 309-9 320 | 1900 | |
| CL | 5 | 9 392-9 396 | 1904 | |
| PPostL | 4th | 9 397-9 400 | 1905/07 | |
| BCL | 3 | 9 298-9 300 | 1904 | |
| BCL | 2 | 9 296-9 297 | 1904/07 | Conversion from I and II |
| CL | 15th | 9 276-9 290 | 1907 | |
| BCL | 1 | 9 295 | 1907 | |
| BCL | 2 | 4,281-4,282 | 1903 | for Alsenz - Obermoschel |
| PPostL | 2 | 4,285-4,286 | 1903 | for Alsenz - Obermoschel |
Combined wagons
Combined baggage and mail wagons were procured for the meter-gauge local railways, as the volume of mail for these routes alone was not large enough for a separate type of wagon. There were only cars of the combined type PPostL with a total of 3 types and 25 cars.
literature
- Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1st edition. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-8062-0301-6 .
- Albert Mühl: The Bavarian and Württemberg mail cars . In: Lok Magazin . Issue 102. Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1980.
- Wilhelm Diestler, Jochen Glatt: The local railways in the front Palatinate . 1st edition. proMESSAGE, Ludwigshafen 2010, ISBN 978-3-934845-43-5 .
- Jochen Glatt, Manfred Halkenhäuser: The Frankenthal - Großkarlbach Local Railway 1891-1939 . 1st edition. proMESSAGE, Ludwigshafen 2005, ISBN 3-934845-29-0 .
- Emil Konrad: The passenger coaches of the German national railways . 1st edition. Franck'sche Verlagshandlung W. Keller & Co., Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-440-05327-X .
- Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways (= publications of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science. Volume 53). New edition. pro MESSAGE, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-934845-26-6 .
- Michael Heilmann, Werner Schreiner : 150 years of the Maximiliansbahn . 1st edition. proMESSAGE, Ludwigshafen 2005, ISBN 3-934845-27-4 .
- Hans-Joachim Emich, Rolf Becker: The railways on Glan and Lauter . Self-published, Waldmohr 1996, ISBN 3-9804919-0-0 .
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ The Pfalzbahnen operated its own quarries both for their own use and for sale to third parties. For example, some of the splendid boulevards emerging in Paris were built with cobblestones from the quarries of the Palatinate Railway. The quarries in Rammelsbach are still active today (2015).
- ↑ It is about the dismantling of the accumulator cars I and II to BCL cars.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn , p. 36
- ↑ Heinz Sturm: The Palatinate Railways . 2005, p. 172 f .
- ↑ Newspaper of the Association of German Railway Administrations, issue no. 34 from 1871, Bavarian Main State Archives, digitized urn: nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10934040-7
- ^ Heinz Spielhoff: Locomotives of the Palatinate Railways. History of the Palatinate railways, express, passenger and freight locomotives, tender and narrow-gauge locomotives, multiple units . 2011, p. 19 .
- ↑ Minutes of January 20, 1836 in the Main State Archives Munich: HSta MH matriculation 13 209
- ↑ cf. Main State Archives Munich: HSta MH matriculation 13 227
- ↑ Newspaper of the Association of German Railway Administrations, issue 34, year 1871, Bay.HSTA, MatrikelNr.2 A.hydr.288-11
- ↑ Andreas Räntzsch: The railway in the Palatinate. Documentation of their creation and development . 1997, p. 12 .
- ^ Klaus Detlef Holzborn: Railway Reviere Pfalz . 1993, p. 8 .
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 33 .
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 39 f .
- ↑ bahnstatistik.de: Royal Bavarian Railway Directorate Ludwigshafen a. Rhine - Timeline: Establishments - Designations - Dissolutions . Retrieved December 14, 2013 .
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 5 .
- ^ Albert Mühl, Die Pfalzbahn , p. 18
- ↑ a b Report of the Direction of the Palatinate Railways in 1869, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, call number: 4 Bavar 271 f-1869
- ^ Albert Mühl, Die Pfalzbahn , p. 19.
- ^ Albert Mühl, Die Pfalzbahn , p. 22
- ^ Albert Mühl, Die Pfalzbahn, page 35 ff.
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn , p. 99
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 91 f .
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 92 .
- ^ Heinz Spielhoff: Locomotives of the Palatinate Railways. History of the Palatinate railways, express, passenger and freight locomotives, tender and narrow-gauge locomotives, multiple units . 2011, p. 182 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Emil Konrad, The Passenger Cars of the German State Railways, Volume II
- ↑ Jan Maier and Philipp Mandrys: In its full expressiveness . In: EisenbahnGeschichte 74 (February / March 2016), pp. 4–9.
- ↑ Michael Englram: the postal service in the Rhine Palatinate since 1816 , Speyer 1913
- ^ Albert Mühl: The Pfalzbahn . 1982, p. 91 .
- ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the figures are based on the inventory tables given in Albert Mühl, Die Pfalzbahn from p. 149.