Timișoara horse-drawn tram

Timișoara horse-drawn tram
The horse-drawn tram connected the inner city with Josefstadt (left) and the factory city (right).
Route length:	6 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Note: the intermediate stops are not recorded, only terminal stops and diversions are shown Prințul Turcesc Depot at the Piața Aurel Vlaicu (from 1874) former Mühlkanal Depot on the Seilerwiese (until 1874) Piaţa Romanilor former Mühlkanal former wooden canal , now Bega Bulevardul Loga / Strada Beethoven Timișoara – Caransebeș railway line (from 1876) Transylvanian Gate Piața Sfântul Gheorghe Peterwardeiner Gate Timișoara – Caransebeș railway line (from 1876) Timișoara – Jasenovo railway line Bulevardul December 16, 1989 Podul Traian on the Bega Bulevardul December 16, 1989 Strada Iancu Văcărescu Podul Eroilor over the Bega Siding to the Pannonian steam mill Gara de Nord

The history of the Timișoara horse-drawn tram began in 1869 with the opening of the Timișoara tram and ended in 1899 with its electrification . The standard- horse tram in today Romania belonging Timişoara - Hungarian Temesvár and then part of the Kingdom of Hungary - was approved by the corporation Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya Részvénytársaság - abbreviated TeKöVa Rt. , German: Temesvar roads Railway Company - operated. From 1897 it was called Temesvári Villamos Városi Vasút Részvénytársaság (TVVV), today it operates - again as a stock corporation - under the name Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara , abbreviated to STPT

history

prehistory

Already on November 15, 1857, still in Austrian times , what was then Timişoara received a connection to the railway network of the private Austro-Hungarian state railway company . At that time a new line from Szeged reached the capital of the Banat . However, the new Timisoara train station - today's Gara de Nord - was in the Josefstadt district and thus far outside the city center. Between the inner city and the Josefstadt train station (later Józsefvárosi pályaudvar ) was the fortress foreland that was still undeveloped at the time . From the central parade square (later Jenő Herceg tér , today Piața Libertății ), for example, around two and a half kilometers had to be walked to the train station.

The extension of the railway to Karasjeszenö , today Jasenovo in Serbia , went into operation on July 20, 1858 . From then on, this led past the inner city just a few hundred meters south of the massive fortress walls , but no station was set up there for strategic military reasons. The extension did not change anything about the poor accessibility of the railway.

In addition, in the course of the beginning of industrialization, the lack of a transport connection between the inner city and the also peripheral factory town became increasingly noticeable. Independent of the numerous industrial companies there, the factory town was also the largest part of Temesvár at the time; In 1850, 70 percent of the population lived there.

Granting of the concession and start of construction

Heinrich Baader, director of the tram from 1869 to 1918

To improve the urban traffic conditions, the later horse-drawn tram operating company was founded on November 3rd, 1867 - a few months after the Austro-Hungarian settlement . On December 11, 1867, the new company received building permit number 11,981 for the construction of the plant. It submitted the building plans on February 12, 1868, and on February 20, 1868 the concession, originally issued for a period of 50 years, followed .

However, the competing offer from the two entrepreneurs J. Krammer and A. Herzberg from the then Hungarian capital Pest remained unsuccessful . The city council recognized in March 1868 that their offer was cheaper. However, since the approval had previously been given to the local company, the new application was rejected. In return, this benefited the city on several points; For example, the company accepted the subsequent shortening of the concession period from 50 to 40 years. This was done by the responsible building ministry in Pest on July 15, 1868 by decree number 6530.

On October 29, 1868, construction work finally began on the railway, known in Hungarian as lóvasút for horse-drawn railway . In April 1869, the engineer Heinrich Baader was entrusted with the further management of the construction work and shortly thereafter, on July 1, 1869, was appointed director of the company. In May 1869, the company concluded a land use agreement with the city. In addition to the usual clauses, this contained an agreement according to which the horse-drawn railway company had to pay a quarter of the costs for the construction and maintenance of the bridges it used.

Inauguration (July 1869)

Horse tram passage at the Transylvanian Gate with a wooden bridge over the moat, in the background the former Palais Mocioni

The overland route to the factory city, in the background the inner city

Horse-drawn railway track in Andrássy út , today's Bulevardul 3 August 1919; in the foreground the bridge over the Mühlkanal, drained in 1909, in the background the Piaţa Romanilor

On Thursday, July 8, 1869, horse-drawn tram operations finally began, initially only between the inner city and the factory town. After New York (1832), Montbrison (1839), Paris (1855), Boston (1856), Mexico City (1857), Havana and Santiago de Chile (1858), Rio de Janeiro (1859), Birkenhead (1860), London , Sydney and Toronto (1861), Geneva (1862), Buenos Aires , Alexandria , Cape Town , Copenhagen , Saint Petersburg and Valparaíso (1863), Berlin and Vienna (1865), Hamburg and Pest (1866), Buda and Stuttgart (1868 ) and Brussels (May 1869) Temesvár with its then 32,725 inhabitants was among the first cities in the world to open a horse-drawn tram. As in almost all other cities, the planners in Timișoara opted for the standard gauge, only Santiago de Chile, Rio de Janeiro and Valparaíso (all colonial gauge of 1676 millimeters) and Saint Petersburg ( Russian broad gauge of 1524 millimeters) had different gauges at that time .

The terminus in the inner city was on today's conveniently located Piața Sfântu Gheorghe , then called Szent György tér or Sankt-Georgs-Platz. The square is only about 100 meters east of the central Piața Libertății and 200 meters south of the Piața Unirii , the second central square in the inner city. In the factory town the terminus was on today's Piaţa Romanilor, formerly Piaţa Coronini or in Hungarian Coronini tér. However, this name did not appear until the 1880s, which is why in most sources the inn to the Queen of England - in Hungarian Angol Királynő - is given as the first terminus of the horse-drawn tram. This was the corner house on the northeast side of the square, today Piaţa Romanilor number 1. This first route was 1896 meters long and differed in two places from the current tram line. In these two sections, the horse-drawn tram ran south of today's route:

• From the starting point, the route first led in a south-easterly direction through Strada Enrico Caruso to the main gate of the former Transylvanian barracks , from there again in a north-easterly direction through the Strada Carol Telbisz, which was partly built over in the 1960s by the Bega department store, to today's route . This was reached in 1989 at the confluence of Strada Martin Luther and Bulevardul Revoluţiei din, i.e. in front of today's Hotel Continental .

• Between the former Transylvanian Gate ( Erdélyi kapu , located at today's Hotel Continental ) and the entrance to Parcul Poporului (city park, Városliget) in the factory town, the connecting road and thus the tram route originally ran further south than it is today. It followed - across the then undeveloped Postpalais site - today's streets Ludwig van Beethoven and Martir Leontina Bânciu. The Bega then went - before their channeling - a little further south and did not have to be overcome by the horse track. Instead, the road and tram crossed the so-called wooden alluvial canal , a former branch of the Bega, about 100 meters south of the Decebal Bridge, which was only completed in 1909 . The horse tram only reached the current tram route at the Neptunbad .

The railway crossed the moat on a wooden bridge ; the city wall itself was passed through a two-winged railway fortress gate . In the event of a siege , the tram company, according to a contract signed on September 7, 1868, would have had to dismantle the bridge and restore the wall to its original state within a maximum of 24 hours at the request of the military. In the area of ​​the fortress foothills, the rails ran for more than a kilometer, similar to an overland tram, through largely undeveloped areas.

Initially, 1  inspector , 6  conductors , 7  coachmen , 3  track guards , 5 passenger cars and 15 pairs of horses were available in terms of personnel and resources, of which 1 car and 3 pairs of horses served as a reserve. This means that 3 horses were assigned to each course, but only 2 of them were needed to pull the wagon at the same time, while the third paused at the end.

As a special feature, the horse-drawn tram vehicles initially had two carriage classes , as was the case with the railways at the time. The passenger compartment was divided in the middle, but the passage between the two compartments was open. On August 16, 1869, a fatal traffic accident occurred near the fortress wall ; the last course in the direction of the factory town ran over an allegedly intoxicated person at around 9:00 p.m.

Expansion into Josefstadt (October 1869)

Three and a half months after the opening - on Monday, October 25, 1869 - Josefstadt finally got its connection to the new horse-drawn tram. From then on, a second line ran between the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe and the Wilder Mann Inn (Hungarian Vad-ember ) at the northern end of today's Strada Iancu Văcărescu, i.e. at the confluence with today's Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu. The T-junction there on the left bank of the Bega acted as a provisional terminus because the bridge over the Bega, the later Bem-híd and today's Podul Eroilor , required to connect the Josefstadt train station , could not be completed in time.

The new line was around 2.9 kilometers long; in the inner city, it used the existing infrastructure in the direction of the factory city for the first 100 meters. It wasn't until the main gate of what was then the Transylvanian barracks that the two routes split. From there they led over the Piața Iancu Huniade and the Piața Victoriei , before they met today's tram route at today's Cathedral of the Three Holy Hierarchs . The fortress at the Peterwardeiner Tor (Péterváradi kapu) was again passed by means of a quickly removable wooden bridge and its own gate. Then the route to Josefstadt ran for about one kilometer as an intercity tram across open fields.

An operational specialty of the new section was the level crossing with the railway line to Karasjeszenö, which had existed since 1858. The two modes of transport crossed exactly at the level of today's cathedral. For better development of Josefstadt, the horse-drawn tram route from Piața Alexandru Mocioni took a detour via the intersection of Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989 with Strada Iancu Văcărescu. In the inner city you had to change between the two radial lines in the factory city and in the Josefstadt.

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  From October 1869 the horse-drawn tram also passed the Peterwardeiner Tor; on the right the wooden bridge with the railway fortress gate, in the background the city ​​theater completed in 1875

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  Still within the fortress walls, the streetcar tracks leading into the city on Josef Castle Hunyadi past

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  Horse-drawn railway track in Strada Carol Telbisz, in the background the Gleisdreieck at the confluence of Strada Enrico Caruso

Extension in the factory town (October 1869)

On October 26, 1869, the existing factory town route was finally extended. The extension was about 650 meters long and led to the large intersection at what is now the Prințul Turcesc (Turkish Prince) stop , formerly known as Împăratul Turcesc or in Hungarian Török Császár or German Turkish Emperor in the times of the horse-drawn tram . The terminal was still in today's Strada Titu Maiorescu. This route did not correspond to today's tram route either, but ran south of it. Accordingly, it did not take the direct route over the Piața Traian , but led diagonally over the Piața Romanilor and then reached Strada Ștefan cel Mare via a private plot of land owned by the horse-drawn railway company, about 60 meters long . This house square with the conscription number  15, today Strada Ștefan cel Mare number 22, which was rebuilt after the horse-drawn tram was closed , was bought by the company in 1868 from the previous owner Krausz for 7,500 guilders . At the former Gasthaus Zum Schwarzen Bären , the train crossed the current tram route at a right angle a little north of the brewery - from here on again on public land. Then the horse-drawn tram crossed the Mühlkanal one more time on the elongated Piața Aurel Vlaicu - at that time Rózsa tér or Rosenplatz - and finally followed today's Strada Titu Maiorescu to the end.

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  On the left edge of the picture the turnout on today's Piaţa Romanilor; At the bottom right the horse-drawn tram crossed today's Ștefan cel Mare at a right angle.

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  The train left the company's private property through the vacant lot to the right of the Zum Schwarzen Bären inn .

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  The horse-drawn railway track in today's Strada Titu Maiorescu, looking out of town

Extension in Josefstadt (1871)

A horse-drawn tram drives from left to right over the Bem-híd, completed in 1871, towards the train station. On the right bank the state tobacco factory, at that time the largest employer in the city.

After completion of the elaborately constructed Bem-híd - at the time the first steel bridge over the Bega - the Josefstadt line was extended by around 700 meters on Friday, September 29, 1871. This gave the Josefstadt train station a direct connection to the horse-drawn tram. The expansion was urgently needed because the station was upgraded from a simple through station to a railway junction with the opening of the line to Arad on April 6, 1871 . North of the new bridge, the tram led past the tobacco factory on a direct route to the train station, that is, through Strada Dimitrie Bolintineanu and then through today's ELBA factory premises . Then it turned right at the freight station into Strada Gării and ended directly in front of the main entrance of the reception building . With that, the horse-drawn tram - in terms of passenger traffic - was completed.

Planning not carried out

Further sections of the route were in the planning stage, but no longer went into operation or could only be implemented in the course of electrification in 1899. The city repeatedly asked the horse-drawn railway company to extend the factory city line by around 500 meters to Malom-tér , today's Piața Sarmisegetuza. However, the project did not appear to be profitable. In addition, the company did not carry out an approximately 200-meter-long extension from Piața Sfântul Gheorghe to Piața Unirii.

Apart from that, the company itself also tried to expand. In the autumn of 1873 she received approval for two branches from Piața Aurel Vlaicu to Podul Dacilor on the one hand and to the intersection of Strada Ștefan cel Mare with Calea Ioan Vidrighiu and Strada Petre Cermena on the other. However, in view of the economic crisis in which the Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya was now stuck, both routes could no longer be implemented. In addition, many citizens of the factory town expressed their protest against these routes. They feared the narrow streets and bridges in this area would not be suitable for horse-drawn tram operation.

Start of freight traffic (1872)

From 1871, the horse-drawn tramway crossed the Bega between the inner city and the Josefstadt over this bridge construction. Today it serves as a pedestrian bridge about 500 meters downstream .

The completion of the steel Losonczy híd in the course of 1871 , which replaced an older, dilapidated wooden bridge, made it possible in May 1872 to start freight traffic with the horse-drawn tram. The necessary license for this was already in place from the start, but it remained unused in the first few years of operation. With the direct connection of the train station to the horse-drawn tram line in the previous year, the demand for goods transport by horse-drawn tram increased enormously. Before, however, only pieces of luggage were carried. The most important goods customer was today's Timișoreana brewery in the factory town, which supported the horse-drawn tram project from the beginning and also made a financial contribution to it. There was a track triangle in front of the Transylvanian barracks especially for goods traffic , which allowed continuous journeys from the factory town to Josefstadt and vice versa without changing the direction of travel.

Abolition of the two-class system (1875)

Also in 1872, the horse-drawn railway company applied to the responsible authorities to abolish the two-class system in favor of a uniform tariff. Instead of the two car classes, they wanted to offer passengers a smoking and a non-smoking compartment. But this request was not answered until July 10, 1875. While the uniform tariff and thus the abolition of separate car classes came into force on July 21, 1875, the smoking compartments were not approved by the administration. Smoking in the car was therefore still prohibited. By law, the Hungarian authorities treated all vehicles equally, regardless of whether or not they were divided into the interior, like the two-class horse-drawn tram cars. For this purpose, half of the window panes were removed later in the summer months and replaced with curtains, similar to a summer car .

Three more level crossings with the railroad

On October 23, 1876, the new railway line from Temesvár to Karánsebes went into operation; this resulted in two more level crossings with the Austro-Hungarian State Railway Company. One of them was only a few meters north of the existing one with the route to Karasjeszenö, that is also by today's cathedral. The second was located between the inner city and the factory town, at today's intersection of Bulevardul Constantin Diaconovici Loga with Strada Ludwig van Beethoven. There are no longer any rails there today, both modes of transport have been relocated over the years - the railroad in 1902 and the later electric tram in 1909.

The new railway line aggravated the situation at today's cathedral in particular, where from then on significantly more trains obstructed trams and road traffic. A few years later , the lines to Buziaș (from 1896) and to Radna (from 1897) opened by the Hungarian state railway Magyar Államvasutak (MÁV) provided additional traffic . The accumulation of train journeys - at times the current cathedral had to handle up to 40 a day on both routes - caused long closing times.

In the 1880s, a fourth track crossing with the railway was added on the station forecourt. From there, the siding to the Pannonian steam mill , which was opposite the station building on the other side of the street, crossed the horse-drawn tram route at a right angle.

World's Fair (1891)

The main entrance to the world exhibition in Franz-Joseph-Park; in the foreground the track of the horse-drawn tram with the siding there

From June 19 to September 30, 1891, a world exhibition took place in Temesvár , the universal exhibition for industry and agriculture . The Franz-Joseph-Park , which was specially created for this event, was affected by the horse-drawn tram route into the factory town; the main entrance was at the intersection of the Buleverdul Constantin Diaconovici Loga with the Strada Ludwig van Beethoven, which resulted in a corresponding number of passengers. In order to be able to cope with the crowds, the company procured another five passenger cars in advance of the event. This meant that the four circuits of the Fabrikstädter line could henceforth be run three times if required, with the fifth car serving as an additional reserve car. The expo ultimately led to a passenger record; The horse-drawn tram carried 964,264 passengers in the entire year 1891 - it did not reach this figure until electrification.

Competition from horse buses (1894)

In order to connect the Alte Mayerhöfe district, which was incorporated into Timisoara in 1890 - called Elisabethstadt since 1896 - to the urban transport network, the city allowed another private entrepreneur to introduce horse-drawn buses in competition with trams. His company Temesvár – Majoroki Társaskocsi Részvénytársaság with core capital of 12,000 kroner served the route between the inner city and today's Piața Nicolae Bălcescu from October 24, 1894 . Then as now, this square was the center of Elisabethstadt, while the horse-drawn tram only touched the new district on its north-western side.

On May 27, 1895, the bus company finally received approval to introduce two more lines, which were to run between the inner city and the Josefstädter train station on the one hand and the Fabrikstädter train station on the other. The peripherally located Fabrikstädter Bahnhof, opened in 1876, had no transport connection at that time, it was located in then still undeveloped area north of the Fabrikstadt center, more than a kilometer away from the centrally located Piața Traian. In contrast, the direct connection to the more important train station in Josefstadt represented serious competition for the tram company, as their cars had to continue to take the detour through the southern Josefstadt.

Ultimately, the Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya successfully objected to the expansion of the new means of transport, because it made the expansion of the tram network more difficult. As early as June 1895, the city council largely withdrew its approval. As a result, the second bus line - following the horse-drawn tram - only ran on the short Piaţa Romanilor - Gara de Est route, the third never came about. Ultimately, the new company with this rump operation could not prevail economically, which is why the Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya bought the bus company at the end of 1896. The tram company then served the shorter line in the factory town itself, while the longer connection to Elisabethstadt was completely omitted at the time.

Route corrections in the factory town (1896) and the Josefstadt (1897)

The horse-drawn railway next to the Millennium Church, which was only used for three years; in the middle of the picture the turnout, also laid in 1896

The new terminal opened in 1897 in front of the new station building

The new construction of the Millennium Church , which was built between 1896 and 1901 on the previously undeveloped Piaila Romanilor, required a route correction in the factory town three years before electrification. In order to clear the construction site, the horse-drawn tram finally circled the square on its northern and eastern sides instead of crossing it diagonally as before. This lengthened the route slightly, and the siding there also had to be relocated to the eastern flank of the square.

The new construction of the Josefstadt station building that took place between 1897 and 1899 also led to a further route correction on the station forecourt. The original terminal from 1871, which was located directly next to the station building, was located north of today's Strada Gării and was reached via a small bridge over the canal that used to run there. The new terminal - ultimately only used for two years - was in the middle of the forecourt, in direct extension of the route from the city center. This means that both the former S-curve and the canal bridge have been eliminated.

Before electrification (1897)

After lengthy negotiations between the city and streetcar company, the Ministry issued in Budapest on June 5, 1897, the license for the electrification, whereupon the company July 21 the same year in Temesvári Villamos Városi Vasút Részvénytársaság to German Timisoara Electric tram-stock company renamed. In addition to converting the existing routes, the company had the obligation to advance the expansion of the network. In particular, the residents of Elisabethstadt, who had been without a transport connection since the suspension of the horse-drawn bus route there in 1896, had long been demanding to be connected to the tram network as well. Just as urgent was the connection to the Fabrikstadt train station, which was not adequately accessible by horse-drawn bus.

The need for transport had also risen sharply over the years and could only be partially satisfied with the horse-drawn tram. The population of Temesvár had almost doubled when the horse-drawn tram was in operation, in 1900 there were already 59,229 people living in the city. Furthermore, towards the end of the 19th century, a horse-powered tram was no longer considered appropriate. In the capital Budapest , for example, there had been electric trams since 1887, in Vienna, the other capital of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy , since 1897.

Start of electrical operation (1899)

The network of 1899; the abandoned sections of the horse-drawn tram are marked in green

→ see main article Conversion to electrical operation

In July 1898, construction work began on the new line network, and on Thursday, July 27, 1899, electrical operation was finally started. At the same time, the network was expanded from around 6 to 10.315 kilometers. Instead of the two horse-drawn tram lines - which had no line numbers - the five electrically operated lines I, II, III, IV and V ran from then on. Only the two sections of the route Piața Romanilor – Piața Balaș and Oper – Piața Alexandru Mocioni were changed over directly, i.e. around 2 , 4 kilometers. In the run-up to electrification, these two sections were also double- tracked at the same time . The majority of the network operated from 1899, on the other hand, consisted of completely new routes.

The conversion was also associated with a massive increase in traffic performance. While the horse-drawn tram carried 874,901 passengers in 1898, the electric tram in 1900 had already 2,397,492, which is more than two and a half times as many.

The two former horse-drawn tram routes - apart from the route corrections over the years - have remained the main axis of the Timișoara tram to this day. The route Fabrikstadt - Innere Stadt - Josefstadt is today mainly served by lines 1 and 2. This applies in particular to main line 1, it serves both endpoints of the former horse-drawn tram.

As a special feature, however, the night course to the Josefstädter Bahnhof and back operated as a horse-drawn tram until 1904, because the company's own power station initially did not work at night. It was not until the same year that the tram was localized and the associated connection to the municipal power station finally ended the horse-drawn tram operation in Timișoara.

Operation and infrastructure

The four-track terminal of the horse-drawn tram on today's Piața Sfântul Gheorghe with a view of the former seminary church

The city-side terminal from the opposite angle with the Sparkasse in the background

After completing all sections, the length of the horse-drawn tram was about 6 kilometers. The length of all tracks used for passenger traffic - that is, including all switches - was 6630 meters. The total track length including all depot tracks and the side tracks required for freight traffic was 7584 meters.

For the track construction, the company mainly used Loubat grooved rails with a mass of 23 kilograms per meter, which were mounted on oak sleepers . Only on the two shorter portions of the overland portions between the inner city suburbs and the two came on a ballast bed laid flat bottom rails having a mass of 16 kilograms per meter are used, the gap was filled with sand:

• about 400 meters between the Siebenbürger Tor and today's intersection of Bulevardul Constantin Diaconovici Loga with Strada Ludwig van Beethoven
• about 300 meters between the Peterwardeiner Tor and the former level crossing at today's cathedral

The rails were manufactured by the steelworks in Reșița , and they cost 18 forints per cubic meter. Both lines of the horse-drawn tram were single-track throughout; Viewed from the inner city, the track was on the right-hand side of the street in the direction of Fabrikstadt and on the left in the direction of Josefstadt. The section through Strada Enrico Caruso, which was around 100 meters long and served by both lines, was designed as a shared turnout. This switch in turn led to a four-track transfer station on the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe, where the horses were also changed. The two lines used the switch in the inner city with a time delay; that is, first of all, there was the overturning of the Fabrikstädter line, and then 6 minutes later the overturning of the Josefstadt line. This resulted in a transition time of 6 minutes in both directions . Overall, the travel time over the entire length of the horse-drawn tram - including the changeover - was 45 minutes in each direction.

In addition to the shared turnout in Strada Enrico Caruso, the two horse-drawn tram lines had six other opportunities to meet:

On the 2.6 kilometer long factory town branch:	at the right angle to the intersection of today's Bulevardul Constantin Diaconovici Loga with today's Strada Ludwig van Beethoven, east of the former level crossing there
	on the Piaţa Romanilor, in the place of today's Millennium Church
On the 3.6 kilometer long Josefstädter branch:	on Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989, between the former level crossing and Podul Traian
	on Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989, between Strada Alexandru Odobescu and Strada Constantin Brâncoveanu
	in Strada Iancu Văcărescu, between Bulevardul Regele Carol I and Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu
	in the area of ​​the double-track terminus on the forecourt of Gara de Nord

The dodges were about 950 meters apart and were each about 70 meters long; that is, they made flying crossings possible . After completion of the expansion, the two lines with a total of ten courses were served every ten to twelve minutes, the average travel speed was around nine and a half kilometers per hour. Six circuits were planned on the Josefstadt line, or only five until the extension in 1871. On the Fabrikstädter line there were four from the start. Operations began at 6:00 a.m., and the last course left the factory town at 10:00 p.m. This in turn had a connection to the last car of the day to Josefstadt in the inner city. In addition, there was a special night-time train to Josefstädter Bahnhof at around 3:30 a.m. , which drove back from there at 4:00 a.m. It offered a connection to a train going to Budapest at this time and another train coming from there.

Although, according to the concession agreement with the city, there were clearly defined stops in Timișoara, passengers could - as was common on many horse-drawn trams at the time - request to stop at any time by calling from inside the car or by waving from the roadside. This practice only ended with electrification.

When there was a large rush of passengers, three additional cars were available for both lines, which - for example, as so-called theater cars after theater performances - spontaneously reinforced the regular courses and were also kept ready on the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe. If necessary, every second course on the Josefstädter line and even three out of four courses on the Fabrikstädter line could be run twice. The additional wagons ran directly behind the regular train in the follow-up train operation, so oncoming courses always had to let both wagons pass in the siding. In the rush hour it was even possible with the total of 21 cars to run all courses twice and to keep one car in reserve.

It would not have been possible to increase the cycle times on the continuous single-track infrastructure without the construction of double-track sections or further diversions. With the acquisition of five more cars for the world exhibition of 1891, the courses on the Fabrikstadt line could even be run three times if there was enough demand.

Operations building

First depot from 1869

When operations began in the summer of 1869, the city gave the horse-drawn railway company a free depot area on the south side of the Piața Romanilor, today's property at Piața Romanilor number 11. At that time, the western edge of the factory town was located there, the depot itself was already on the so-called Seilerwiese , that means on the then undeveloped area between the connecting road from the inner city to the factory town (today Bulevardul 3 August 1919) in the north, today's Piaţa Romanilor in the east, the Bega (today Strada Joseph Nischbach) in the south and the wooden flood canal ( today Strada Episcop Joseph Lonovici) in the west. In place of the former imperial-royal bed camp, the company built a wooden carriage hall there by the end of 1869, which was 27  fathoms (51.2 meters) long and eleven fathoms (20.8 meters) wide. The three-track coach house was accessible via a turntable and offered space for all 24 cars that were available at the time.

The stables for the horses were initially - spatially separated from the depot - in the neighboring house with the factory town conscription number 16, today Piața Romanilor number 10 or Strada Ștefan cel Mare number 20. The company had this on March 6, 1869 for 18,500 guilders Previous owner Carol Schiller bought it and rebuilt it according to its purposes until 1870. The administration, in turn, had rented the building of Lloyd's of London in the inner city.

The first depot, however, was only provisional; the tram company was required to look for its own depot property and, if necessary, to vacate the area left to it within six weeks. This termination took place on November 4, 1871, but the company was unable to comply with it. She entered into negotiations to buy the 468 square fathoms area from the city, which the city refused. Ultimately, it was only a court order in autumn 1873 that forced the company to liquidate its temporary depot on the Seilerwiese before the city finally built its first power station there in 1884 - on the occasion of the introduction of electric street lighting.

Second depot from 1874

The company's headquarters on Rosenplatz, completed in 1874, taken the year after the horse-drawn tram was closed. Through the gate, the horse-drawn trams reached the carriage hall in the back yard.

As a replacement for the first depot, the tram company bought the house with the factory town conscription number 400 from an Isabela Schmidt for 22,000 guilders on December 31, 1873. This building - today Piața Aurel Vlaicu number 4 - was on the north side of the above-mentioned square, between the facilities of the First Art Mill Society on the left and the Hotel Rosen on the right. The newly acquired building itself served the company as its new administrative headquarters from 1874, and in the same year it built a five-track shed in its back yard. For this purpose, the former Schmidt'sche Haus was given a wide gate, and the depot access was in turn connected to the main line via a turntable. There was a second turntable in the inner courtyard to connect the individual sidings .

The new depot also housed a blacksmith's shop , which was also completed in 1874 , while the horse stables were not finally finished until February 1876. Nonetheless, the tram company had sold its first stable building on the property with the conscription number 16 on October 13, 1875 for only 10,000 guilders; that is, it made a loss of 8,500 guilders within six years.

The company premises on Piața Aurel Vlaicu were given up with the electrification in 1899, at that time both the depot and the administration moved into the area south of the Bulevardul Take Ionescu, which is still in use today. The building itself, however, was retained - but was given a new entrance before 1928, which replaced the large old gate for the horse-drawn tramway.

Tariff

A single ticket between the factory town and the inner city or the inner city and the Josefstadt cost 10  kreuzers , that is, a six in the first and 8 kreuzers in the second class. For the entire route, double was to be paid. After the introduction of the standard class in 1875, the previous higher tariff for the first class was generally payable; at the same time, half-price tickets for children under ten were introduced, as were school tickets. From 1878 onwards, students also received a discount, provided they could show the relevant certificates. In 1879, the company also introduced discounted transfer tickets to 15 cruisers for a trip on both lines.

Regular passengers and commuters were offered trading cards for 50 trips. Initially, these were available as well as single tickets for both car classes, later for the single class. It was 20 percent cheaper than the price of a single trip, but had to be used within a month. This subscription consisted of a perforated paper, similar to a sheet of postage stamps . The conductor removed one section from this arch on each journey.

In 1895, highly discounted return tickets were also introduced. They only cost 12 cruisers and were a reaction of the horse-drawn railway company to the horse-drawn buses introduced in the previous year, which also only cost 6 cruisers per trip.

Passenger numbers

The transport performance of the horse-drawn tram is recorded as follows, no data is available for the other years:

1870	1889	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898
665,000	727.012	711.392	964.264	804.512	859.626	877.468	882.240	873.068	940.819	874.901

vehicles

Passenger cars

Detail of a Spiering cart

→ Main article : Spiering car on the Timișoara tram

In the opening year of the horse-drawn tram, the Kk state-authorized machine factory and carriage construction company Johann Spiering from Vienna delivered a total of 21 horse-drawn passenger cars to Temesvár. 5 of these Spiering wagons were already available when the company opened, the rest followed in the course of 1869. Two horses were harnessed to each wagon, and three when it was snowing. 10 of the 21 Spiering passenger cars were used as sidecars of the electric tram until 1919 .

→ Main article : Graz car of the Timișoara tram

For the five wagons that were subsequently delivered in 1891 on the occasion of the world exhibition , a new company was again awarded the production contract, this time the wagon and wagon factory, iron and metal foundry Joh. Weitzer from Graz . These vehicles were a little lighter than those in the first delivery and could therefore only be pulled by one horse at a time. They were retired due to electrification; none of them survived.

Baggage cart

In addition to the passenger cars, Spiering also supplied three baggage cars in the opening year , including two closed (poggyaszkocsi) for 820 forints each and one open ( poggyaszkocsialváz , literally translated baggage car frame ) for 520 forints. How long they were in use is not known; none of them survived either.

Freight wagons

→ Main article : Simmeringer car of the Timișoara tram

On the occasion of the start of freight traffic in May 1872, the company procured seven small open flat cars for the horse-drawn tram, which came from the Maschinen- und Waggon-Fabriks-Aktiengesellschaft Simmering and were in service until electrification in 1899.

staff

The horse-drawn railway company employed a total of 39 people, including the director, 2 inspectors, 10 conductors, 20 coachmen, 1 wagon master, 1  veterinarian , 2  stable masters and 2  shunters . Eight conductors were on duty every day, while two were off. There was one less conductor on each line than there were cars on the way. In other words, the conductors had to immediately return to the terminals on the opposite course waiting there, while the coachmen and horses each had a break of ten to twelve minutes. As a result, the first morning course of a line was manned by only one coachman.

Horses

A total of 70 horses were available to the company, which were changed every day at lunchtime on Sankt-Georgs-Platz.

literature

• Mihály Kubinszky , István Lovász and György Villány: Régi Magyar Villamosok . Budapest 1999.
• 60 de ani de la înființarea tramvaiului în Timișoara, monograph 1869–1929 . Timișoara 1929.
• Vasile Deheleanu, Sabin Indrieşu: Monografia întreprinderilor electromecanice municipale Timişoara . Timișoara 1944.
• Dorin Sarca, Gh. Radulovici: Centenarul tramvaielor din Timișoara, monograph 1869–1969 . Timișoara 1969.
• 1869–1994, 125 de ani de circulație cu tramvaiul în Timișoara, monograph . Timișoara 1994.
• Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869–1999, monograph . Timișoara 1999.
• Hometown community Temeschburg-Timisoara: Timisoara-Timisoara, a south-east European city in times of change . Karlsruhe 1994.

Web links

• A temesvári lóvasút és villamos (Hungarian)
• Tramvaiul cu cai din Timișoara (PDF document, Romanian) (970 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans-Heinrich Rieser: Timisoara: geographical description of the Banat capital . Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-7995-2501-7 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Kovácsyné dr. Medveczki Ágnes: Vidéki városaink tömegközlekedésének kialakulása és fejlődése 1914-ig, pp. 190–196, online at elektro.tudomanytortenet.hu, accessed on July 23, 2019
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} 60 de ani de la înființarea tramvaiului în Timișoara, monograph 1869–1929 . Timișoara 1929
4. ↑ Mihai Illés: The horse-drawn tram in Temesvár
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Mihály Kubinszky, István Lovász, György Villány: Régi Magyar Villamosok . Budapest 1999.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Plan of the royal free town and fortress Temesvár with use of the work carried out against the fortress in 1849 , published in 1853.
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Heimatortsgemeinschaft Temeschburg-Temeswar: Temeschburg-Temeswar, A Southeast European City in Times of Change . Karlsruhe 1994.
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Dorin Sarca, Gh. Radulovici: Centenarul tramvaielor din Timișoara, monograph 1869–1969 . Timișoara 1969.
9. ↑ Temesvarer Zeitung , edition of October 26, 1869
10. ↑ ^{a b} Hans Gehl : Timisoara and its old street names on banaterra.eu ( Memento from June 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
11. ^ Hans-Heinrich Rieser: The Romanian Banat - a multicultural region in upheaval. Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p. 79.
12. ↑ Parcul Rozelor din Timişoara on www.banaterra.eu, accessed on November 3, 2014 ( Memento from December 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
13. ^ Temeswarer Rosenpark is being redeveloped , Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung of September 30, 2011
14. ↑ Elisabeth, cartier vechi de 300 de ani
15. ↑ Exploatarea transportului în comun în Timisoara
16. ↑ The electric street lighting in Temesvar. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 257, 1885, pp. 143-149.
17. ^ ^{A b} Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869-1999, monograph. Timișoara 1999.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Borcea Liviu, Mihai Apan and Moisa Gabriel: De la o stație la alta. Editura Arca, Oradea, 2006, p. 41.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on March 29, 2009 in this version .