Tram Werder
The Werder tram was a horse-drawn tram in the Brandenburg city of Werder from 1895 to 1926 . It comprised a 2.8 kilometer stretch from the train station to the market square, which was supplemented by a 2.4 kilometer branch to Glindow from 1914 to around 1920 .
history
From 1879, the annual tree blossom festival took place in Werder , which at that time attracted around 12,000 to 20,000 visitors. At the same time, the population increased at that time. However, the existing train station was about three kilometers from the city center on the market square. From 1880, therefore, wagons took over the transport. From April 28, 1892 a regular horse-drawn bus line is said to have operated .
Since the bus line was not enough for the rush of passengers, the city decided to build a tram. Although the electric drive was already on the advance at that time, the horse drive was chosen because it fully met the requirements. In June 1895 the Werdersche Strassenbahn-Aktiengesellschaft zu Werder aH was founded, in which several local entrepreneurs participated; the total costs for the construction were put at 77,612 marks . The entry in the commercial register took place on August 24, 1895. On July 27, 1895, the standard-gauge horse - drawn railway started operating.
The railway was licensed for a period of 30 years. The operation was regulated by a local police ordinance issued by the mayor. The work, comprising a total of 45 paragraphs, prescribed a very detailed operational sequence. The horses had to be given ringing bells, the transport of loaded rifles and explosives was expressly prohibited, as was the use of the rails by conventional carts. After the end of operations, the wagons were also not allowed to be parked along the route.
The fare for locals was 10 pfennigs. Foreigners paid 20 pfennigs; this price was also valid on Sundays during the Tree Blossom Festival and partly on Sundays during the Schützenfest . The reason for the increased fare was that overuse of the material should be avoided. City police officers and messengers drove for free.
The timetable was based on the departure times of the suburban trains to Berlin , in the opening year this meant around 20 journeys a day. It took the horses 26 minutes to complete the 2.8 kilometer route. In the first year, the railway counted 161,000 passengers, in 1903 there were 227,940, i.e. around 625 passengers per day.
On July 13, 1911, the general assembly of the company decided to sell the railway for 115,000 marks to the city and the associated dissolution of the company. On July 19, the city took over the operation under the name Städtische Straßenbahn Werder aH , the regional council in Potsdam issued the final approval in January 1913.
On June 26, the city received approval to build a second line to Glindow, which was opened on June 15, 1914. As early as 1901, the company set up a horse-drawn bus line, which had to be discontinued in 1903 due to a lack of profitability. The new route increased the length of the route to around 5.2 kilometers. Since the connection was hardly in demand, the line was discontinued around 1920. It is not known whether a different fare was charged on the Glindower line.
The horse-drawn tram survived the inflation with various operational restrictions; The tracks and wagons were easily worn during this time.
On April 1, 1926, the city of Werder decided to set up a bus line along the horse-drawn railway line. The results of the bus were so good that on August 7, 1926, the train was shut down and switched to a bus. The tracks were dismantled in the following years, the last of them not until the 1980s.
Vehicles and depots
Only sufficient information is known about the fleet and its accommodation. At the opening there were six horses and four horse-drawn tram cars , including a deck seat car , a summer car , a single horse and a single horse with a luggage compartment. Around 1903 three more single horses were added to the stock. Furthermore, a car of an unknown type, a special car and a mail car are specified for 1914.
In 1924, what was probably the last new addition was a metropolitan tram from the Berlin tram to Werder. The car was built in 1883 for the Great Berlin Horse Railway and served as an electric sidecar after 1902. In Werder it was given the number 10. In 1981 it was rediscovered and recovered six years later, after which it was refurbished into a historic car by 1990. It was presented on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the tram in Berlin and is currently being looked after by the Berlin Heritage Association .
Some of the cars are said to have been sold to the Spiekerooger Inselbahn in 1928 . Others, such as car 10 or the illustrated car with an unknown number, came into private hands.
A wagon hall with attached stables was located on the site at Marktplatz 4 to accommodate the horses and wagons. In 1998 there were track remains in the hall. In Glindow, another car hall is said to have existed on the property of a later fire station .
literature
- Balthasar D. Otto: The Werdersche horse tram. A piece about a piece of city history . In: rail track. The story of the Werderschen horse-drawn railway . 1998.
- Heinz Jung, Hans-Ulrich Wetterhahn: The Werdersche horse tram . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . No. 6, 1976.
- Sybille Motzkus: Mr. Seiler's last ride on the horse-drawn tram . In: Community of local history and preservation of monuments, local group Werder (Hrsg.): Local history contributions . 1983.
- Carl-Christoph Weiland: The horse tram in Werder . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . No. 4 , 2020, p. 63 ff .
Web links
- Andreas Jüttemann: Werder horse-drawn railway (closed in 1926). 2008, accessed April 2, 2008 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Balthasar D. Otto: The Werdersche horse railway. A piece about a piece of city history . In: rail track. The story of the Werderschen horse-drawn railway . 1998.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Heinz Jung, Hans-Ulrich Wetterhahn: The Werdersche horse railway . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Volume 6, 1976, pp. 112-115 .
- ↑ a b c d Andreas Jüttemann: Horse Railway Werder (closed in 1926). 2008, accessed July 4, 2012 .
- ↑ Sidecar 573 of the Great Berlin Tram. Monument Preservation Association Berlin, September 28, 2009, accessed on July 4, 2012 .