Horse-drawn railway Budweis – Linz – Gmunden

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The horse-drawn railway Budweis – Linz – Gmunden ( Czech Koněspřežná dráha České Budějovice – Linec – Gmunden ), opened in sections between 1827 and 1836, was the second public railway line on the European mainland (after the Saint-Étienne – Andrézieux line ) and was mainly used for the transport of salt from the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut to Bohemia . It was switched to steam operation between Linz and Gmunden in 1855 and 1856 . On the mountainous route between Linz and Budweis ( České Budějovice ), this changeover was not possible due to excessively narrow radii of curvature and steep gradients. Therefore, by 1873 a replacement line with mostly a different route was built between Linz and Budweis, which allowed steam operation. The horse-drawn tram was stopped in December 1872.

Routing of the Budweis – Linz – Gmunden horse-drawn railway with the stations

prehistory

First plans

Mathias Schönerer (1807–1881) was the second site manager responsible for the construction of the south ramp and the route to Gmunden
Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner (1756–1832) planned the building. Engraving by J. Passini (1833)
Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner (1796–1840) was the first site manager to erect the north ramp

The salt trade between the Salzkammergut or Salzburg and the inhabitants of the Bohemian Basin can be traced back to the Bronze Age . The important mineral, which was initially carried on the back, was later dragged by horses along narrow mule tracks such as the Goldener Steig or Linzer Steig to the Vltava . In the Middle Ages , when the demand for salt increased, roads were laid. In 1530 the House of Habsburg blocked the previously dominant salt imports from the Prince Archbishop's Salzburg to the Austrian hereditary lands because they wanted to promote production in the imperial salt pans of the Salzkammergut. Since the salt trade was also nationalized, the “white gold” marketed in Budweis in the 17th and 18th centuries also came mainly from the brewing huts in Hallstatt , Bad Ischl and Ebensee . From there it was transported by water over the Traun and Danube to Linz or Mauthausen , where it was loaded onto the horse-drawn vehicles of the - mostly Bohemian - salt farmers and brought via Freistadt to the storage area in Budweis (České Budějovice). With an annual transport volume of 17,000 tons, around 350 vehicles were in use every day at the end of the 18th century. From Ceske Budejovice, most of the salt reached Prague via the Vltava River to Prague and, in some cases, beyond the Elbe .

Since carriage transport made the product immensely more expensive, there were already plans in the Middle Ages to connect the Danube and Vltava with a navigable canal . In the 1370s, the powerful Rosenberg trading company made an offer to Emperor Charles IV (1346–1378) to advance the money to the court for a shipping canal. Preparatory work was actually started in 1375 on behalf of the emperor, but the early death of the ruler brought the project to a standstill. Later it was Rudolf II (1576–1612) who brought the woodruff master Thomas Seeauer , who had become famous for his regulation of the Traun, to Bohemia for a canal project. Even under Maria Theresa there were plans such as those of the navigation building director Joseph Walcher (1719–1803), who wanted to lead the canal from the Moldau near Hohenfurt ( Vyšší Brod ) via Bad Leonfelden and the Haselgraben to Linz. Ultimately, he too failed due to the circumstances of the time.

Ultimately, a purely private canal project was implemented. According to the plans of the Fürstlich Schwarzenbergischen engineer Joseph Rosenauer (1735-1804), Prince Schwarzenberg had the Schwarzenbergsch Schwemmkanal built for logs , which in the border triangle between Germany, Bohemia and Austria flowed into the Große Mühl above Haslach an der Mühl , over which the wood to the Danube and via it to Vienna . This canal was 52 km long, fed by 27 brooks and crossed by around 100 bridges. An originally 419 m long tunnel was only built after Rosenauer's death between 1821 and 1823. The log flood to the Danube was in operation until 1891. Since this alluvial canal was unsuitable for shipping purposes, the problem of freight transport to Bohemia remained unsolved.

The solution

The reasons for the failure of the historical canal projects were not least due to the fact that the costs of such a project with a mountain character could not be calculated with sufficient accuracy. To remedy this deficiency, the Bohemian Hydrotechnical Society was founded in 1807 , which commissioned the Prague professor of higher mathematics Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner to carry out precise level calculations and to present a traffic route solution with cost estimates. After several months, Gerstner came to the conclusion that operating the canal would be uneconomical even on the cheapest route suggested by Josef Walcher. Instead, he suggested making the Vltava from Budweis to Joachimsmühle navigable and from there a railway line to Katzbach (near Linz). Detailed cost calculations then led to a pure railway project with a shortened route. The route should now run from Budweis via Freistadt to Mauthausen. Gerstner's plans were approved in 1808. Shortly before the start of the alignment work there was another campaign against Napoleon , which meant the end of the project.

More than a decade passed before the Vienna Commercial Court Commission (read: Ministry of Economics) took up this transport project again. The reason was the petition of ten Elbe states who asked the emperor to build a Vltava-Danube Canal after they had agreed on free navigation on the Elbe. In 1820 Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner , the son of Franz Josef von Gerstner , received the order to implement this project . Gerstner initially resigned from his professorship for surveying at the Vienna Polytechnic . After familiarizing himself with the local conditions, he went on a study trip to Great Britain to find out about the latest developments in the canal and railway system in what was then the leading industrial nation. In his report to the court, like his father, he rejected all canal projects and also suggested building a railway. In 1824 he applied for a concession to build and operate a timber and railroad from Budweis to Mauthausen, which was granted to him for a period of 50 years. In order to arouse interest in co-financing this innovative project, he published a brochure and also had a 225 m long test run built in the Prater amusement park in Vienna , which was received with great interest by the public and the press. It was then also possible to win the Geymüller , Sina and Stametz banks for the project, which in 1825 led to the establishment of the kk privileged Erste Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft as a public limited company. The company was able to raise the sum of 850,000 guilders , which was just below the estimated construction costs of 900,000 guilders. The equivalent of one guilder from this period is around EUR 15. The company acquired Gerstner's concession on March 12, 1825, gave him the preliminary work, granted him appropriate remuneration and guaranteed a generous success fee if he was able to build the railway within three years at the estimated price. His father became a consultant .

The realization

The Budweis – Linz route

Route overview Budweis – Linz
Track width 1106 mm
North ramp: Budweis – Kerschbaum
South ramp: Kerschbaum – Linz
Stop ... - start of the route
0.0 Station place Budweis
Station, station
20th Station place Holkau (Holkov)
Station, station
40 Station square Angern ( Bujanov )
Station without passenger traffic
54 Passage 8, middle station Trojern (Trojany)
   
60.6 Dodge 9 (Leopoldschlag)
Station, station
64.6 Station place Kerschbaum
   
69.8 Dodge 10
Station without passenger traffic
75.6 Passage 11, Oberschwand middle station
   
83.2 Dodge 12
Station, station
87.1 Station place Lest (near Neumarkt )
Station without passenger traffic
98.8 Turnout 13, Bürstenbach middle station
   
102.7 Turnout 14 (Hattmannsdorf)
Station, station
108.5 Station area Oberndorf
   
113.0 Dodge 15
Station without passenger traffic
117.2 Turnout 16, middle station Treffling
   
123.0 Dodge 17
Station, station
127.8 Station place Urfahr
Station, station
128.8 Station place Linz main toll office
Route - straight ahead
Route to Gmunden (see below)

The first groundbreaking at Netrowitz (south of Budweis) took place on July 25, 1825, i.e. in the same month as the first horse-drawn railway in France. Numerous problems faced Gerstner and the up to 6,000 workers. In addition to overcoming technical difficulties and overcoming a difference in altitude of 540 meters, it was necessary to live with the resistance of the local population, who were mostly directly or indirectly involved in the salt transport by horse-drawn cart and feared for their source of income. In addition, tensions soon arose between the project management and the client.

The construction of the north ramp

When the first 11.5 km had been completed after 16 weeks in a very elaborate construction method - for horse trams - the trial run ran flawlessly, but the state control commission determined that in the sense of "a truly eternal duration" of the traffic structure in the case of insulation only the tracks, but the entire track bed would have to be underpinned. This considerable additional cost factor, in connection with the sharp rise in wage and material costs, forced a revision of the construction costs from 910,000 guilders to 1.2 to 1.5 million guilders as early as the late summer of 1825.

Gerstner was able to resolve the resulting first crisis of confidence with the obligation to contribute his own share package worth 100,000 guilders to the company's assets if the limit of 1,200,000 guilders was exceeded. In the winter of 1826/1827 Gerstner undertook another study trip to Great Britain. The steam-powered line between Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees had already been in operation there since September 27 , where locomotives owned by the “locomotive pope” George Stephenson pulled coal trains weighing up to 90 tons. However, this service was only performed on the flat, the only major incline was overcome with a steam-powered stationary cable. As a result of the study trip, Gerstner did not propose a steam operation, but suggested changing the destination station from Mauthausen to Linz, as Linz would be the more important trading center. There is also a bridge over the Danube, over which the tracks could be laid and a route to the Zizlau salt port at the mouth of the Traun. This proposal was accepted.

"Pictures from the first Austrian railway, based on watercolor sketches by the chief official Fr. Hölzlhuber"
First class passenger transport on the Linz – Budweis route, drawing by A. Krúzner
Passenger traffic III. Class and freight transport in a contemporary graphic

Immediately after the snowmelt in 1827, Gerstner had construction work started and in view of the dwindling time and dwindling funds increased the pressure to perform, which now also led to tensions within the construction company. On September 7, 1827, the 50 km long section from Budweis to Zartlesdorf (Rybník a place in the Dolní Dvořiště municipality ) was opened, but operations were discontinued at the end of November due to a lack of freight. The salt farmers turned down the offer to take over the railway operation for a lease and also refused to deliver goods to Zartlesdorf. At the end of November 1827, further construction came to a standstill due to lack of money. The shareholders refused to make further payments because an expert opinion prepared without Gerstner's involvement had shown that the cost of the north ramp would be 100,000 guilders and the costs of the entire project 300,000 guilders higher than Gerstner's forecast cost limit.

Gerstner did not give up yet and now brought in his share package. In order to minimize the dependence on the salt farmers, he now proposed the introduction of steam operation and brought in his positive impressions of the Stockton and Darlington Railway . The shareholders did not want to get involved in this risky additional investment and declined. Gerstner's suggestion that the Erste Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft should compete for the salt transport monopoly between Gmunden and Bohemia, however, was accepted and led to success. This pushed the salt farmers into the role of supplicants and raised the company's creditworthiness so that it was possible to issue another bond.

Although Gerstner also helped the company to obtain a considerable reduction in property tax, it turned out that the relationship of trust between him and the shareholders was irreparably damaged. Gerstner's arguments with his engineers, in particular the young sector construction manager Matthias Schönerer, also contributed to this. In the summer of 1828, the company took advantage of Gerstner's stay at a spa in Bad Ischl to disempower him as site manager. Some of the shareholders have now pleaded for the sale of the finished north ramp and the dissolution of the company, although the existing material should be installed beforehand. At a general assembly held at the beginning of 1829 without Gerstner, the decision was made to finish building the line, but in the most cost-effective way and thus renouncing the possibility of converting the line to steam operation later.

On February 27, 1829, the contract with Gerstner was canceled. He did not return to the university, but took part in railway projects in England and Russia, where in 1838 he built the first Russian railway line (27 km) from Saint Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo , the summer residence of the Tsar. He divorced in a dispute there, went to America and died on April 12, 1840 at the age of 44 in Philadelphia while working on a major railroad project.

The construction of the south ramp

Emperor Franz I with his wife Karolina Augusta at the opening of the Linz – Budweis horse-drawn tram near St. Magdalena in Linz (1832). Site manager Matthias Schönerer explains the project from the back seat. - Painting by A. Bayer

When Gerstner left, the railway to Kerschbaum was completed, the material for the further construction to Lest (near Neumarkt ) was on site, so more than half of the project had already been completed. On a trial basis, the construction management was entrusted to the 21-year-old engineer Mathias Schönerer , father of the German national Austrian politician Georg von Schönerer , who had provisionally managed the construction since the summer of 1828. He resumed traffic on the Budweis – Trojern – Untersteindörfl section on October 10, 1828, and in December expanded operations to Pramhöf (north of Kerschbaum). In February 1829 work began on the Pramhöf – Lest section. When the salt freight monopoly came into effect on April 2, 1829, the railway was also fully utilized for the first time. However, this capacity utilization quickly declined again when the emperor had to release the salt trade in Bohemia on November 1, 1829, which meant that the transport monopoly also fell. The state partially compensated for the damage to the railway company by selling its salt supplies in Linz, Mauthausen and Budweis to the company, which now began trading in salt. The fact that this trading privilege was also passed on to the company's legal successor, the Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn ( Westbahn ), led to the curiosity that in the 20th century , in the railway stations of the later Cisleithan state network, salt was still being sold in addition to tickets.

On April 28, 1829, Mathias Schönerer was officially appointed as construction manager, as he had also proven himself as the organizer of the overall project and was fully on the line of the shareholders with regard to a simplified construction. After the Lest – Budweis railway operations began on June 1, 1830, the question of whether the route to Linz should be taken or the shorter route to Mauthausen was discussed again. In August 1830 the decision was made in favor of Linz. To finance this section, additional shares were issued for subscription, which brought in the 450,000 guilders that had to be sufficient to complete the project. In order to minimize costs, extensive realignment was necessary. Where Gerstner had planned radii of curvature of 180 m, Schönerer generally went down to 38 m, in some places even down to 20 meters. Wherever possible he avoided cuts and the building of dams with their expensive wall core. Bridges were mostly built using wood. As far as the inclines were concerned, the north ramp showed 8 ‰ (once 10 ‰), while in the south up to 21.8 ‰ was accepted. The Lest – Urfahr line was completed in early summer 1832. After the ceremonial opening run by Emperor Franz I and Empress Karolina Augusta on July 21, the entire route was opened for freight traffic on August 1, 1832.

The pure construction costs on the south ramp were around half of those on the (somewhat longer) north ramp, the final billing resulted in total construction costs of 1,654,322 guilders.

The Linz – Gmunden line

Route overview Linz – Gmunden
Route - straight ahead
Route from Budweis (see above)
Station, station
0.0 Station place Linz main toll office
Stop, stop
0.5 Basdargarten seating area
   
4.5 Zizlau port branch line
Station without passenger traffic
15.0 Substation new building
Station, station
24.3 Station place Maxlhaid
Station without passenger traffic
29.2 Wels substation
Station, station
43.9 Station place Lambach
Station, station
65.3 Station area Englhof
Stop ... - end of the route
67.9 Gmunden main square

The history of this traffic route also began with a canal project. Since the maintenance of the Traun waterway to transport salt consumed considerable funds every year, the court chancellery considered building a shipping canal from Stadl near Lambach to Zizlau at the mouth of the Traun in 1814 . However, the plan was abandoned because of the high costs, and the saltworks authority suggested a horse-drawn tram instead. In 1818, the Imperial and Royal Building Director Ferdinand Mayr (1767-1832) submitted a corresponding draft to the state government, the cost being estimated at 285,000 guilders. However, the money could not be raised.

In 1829 Franz Zola (1795–1847), a former engineer of Franz Anton Gerstner and father of the writer Émile Zola , had acquired the privilege to build the Linz – Gmunden railway. Zola had previously served as an Austrian officer of Italian descent in Lombardy and had continued his studies at the local university during his garrison in Padua , where he had made a name for himself with a thesis on ground leveling. In 1819 he resigned from the army and accepted a post with the state cadastral service in Trieste . From there he let Gerstner recruit him for the railway construction and left the company with him.

Zola ran the Linz – Gmunden line at his own expense, but did not find any financial backers within two years, so the privilege expired. The disappointed Zola now left Austria and settled in the south of France. After him, the investors in the Linz – Budweisbahn (the Geymüller, Sina and Stametz banks) applied for the concession and were awarded the contract in 1833. Since Schönerer had good experience as a site manager, he was also given this task for this construction phase. Measurements were carried out in the spring of 1834, and construction began in the summer of 1834. Since the terrain was hardly difficult, progress was made quickly. Only from Traundorf to Gmunden was there an incline of 39 ‰.

In order to connect the new line with the line to Budweis, tracks were laid over the wooden Danube bridge to the main toll house in Linz in 1835, giving the line to Budweis its final length of 128.85 km. By 1836 the line to Gmunden including a 2.5 km long branch line to the port of Zizlau had been completed. Only in Gmunden could the town hall square be fixed as the definitive end point in 1842.

The coal train

Route overview Breitenschützing – Kohlgrube
Track width 1106 mm (3 Austrian feet 6 inches)
   
0.0 Breitenschützing 393 m
   
4.3 Fourth
   
6.0 Wufing
   
Wufinger T. (330 m)
   
7.8 Albertsham
   
8.9 Friesam
   
10.7 Kohlgrube (Hauxmoos) 606 m

In the Hausruck area, the transport of ( brown ) coal was a major mining problem from the very beginning, and according to the profitability calculations, the transport with horse-drawn carts was uneconomical because it would have made the price of coal very expensive. The experience of the first European railroad Linz-Budweis with salt transport brought the solution. In 1854 (commencement of operations May 8, 1854) the Wolfsegg-Traunthaler coal works and railway company built a 10.7 km long, steam-powered coal railway from 1877, the privilege (concession) for this was granted on January 25, 1853. Like the Niederstraßer-Bahn, it could do without any power source. This was only needed for the way back and consisted of horses until 1877. In the 1870s there were decisive improvements in the entire Hausruck area, among other things, 4 steam locomotives with 45 hp were stopped in the Wolfsegger area on September 1, 1877, which meant the end of the horse train from Breitenschützing to Kohlgrube. The locomotives were built by the Krauss company in Munich.

Locomotive "Anna" of the coal railway Breitenschützing
Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

The route led from the Breitenschützing station, where it had a connection to the Kaiserin Elisabeth railway (opened on August 12, 1860), which had opened a few years earlier, up to Kohlgrube , a mining settlement near Wolfsegg founded in 1794 , which still bears this expressive name today . The Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn was built with a new route than originally planned because of the mining in the Hausruck. The coal railway (as well as the Thomasroith – Niederstraß line) took over the gauge of the horse-drawn railway and relied on the experience of the engineers of this project, was in operation for more than a hundred years and, with its rare gauge, was reminiscent of the First railway company and its railroad when they were already history (1903 to the state in accordance with the contract, but leased for another 50 years after negotiation; cessation of operations on March 10, 1966).

Wagon old gauge
wagon Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

The 13 km long Thomasroith – Niederstraß line was opened as a horse-drawn railway in 1850. In the direction of Thomasroith - Niederstraß , the trains on the narrow-gauge route (1106 mm) managed completely without a source of power due to the continuous gradient (up to 40 per thousand). For the way back, animals (oxen, horses) were first used, but then steam locomotives from 1870 onwards. The Thomasroither Bahn was replaced in 1877 by a 7.5 km long branch line with 580 mm gauge to the new Attnang-Ried-Schärding line to Holzleithen , which was later converted to standard gauge.

literature

  • Aschauer Franz: Upper Austria's Railways, Wels 1964.
  • Enderes Bruno: The timber and railroad Budweis-Linz, Berlin 1926.
  • Strong Karl: The development of the Thomasroith miners' colony. In: Coal and Steam. Catalog for the Upper Austrian state exhibition 06. - Linz 2006, p. 103 ff.
  • Weigelt Horst: Epochs of Railway History, Darmstadt 1985.
  • Christopher, Andreas: Kohlenbahnen im Hausruck, Verlag Peter Pospischil, Vienna: Dumjahn no. 0015286.

The railway operation

Notes for walkers on the railway line
Comparison of rail-road tractive effort
Busy operation on the Linz – Budweis route
Start of the excursion from Linz around 1840 (JVReim)

Even after the official opening of the Linz – Budweis railway line (128 km) on August 1, 1832, traffic was initially restricted to freight operations. It was to remain the main source of income by far (95.8%), especially on the route to Budweis, with salt transport accounting for 52% of the profit. However, the freight volume of the line initially fell well short of Gerstner's expectations. Instead of the forecast 1,060,000 WrZtr (Viennese hundredweight = 56 kg), only 405,400 WrZtr (22,702 t) were transported in 1834. The capacity utilization could be improved in the following years, but in the end it was only the continuation of the railway to Gmunden that brought the increase that corresponded to expectations. In 1843, 350,000 tons of salt and 325,000 tons of merchant goods were transported, with Bohemian coal increasingly playing a role in the latter , for which there were customers in the Linz area. In 1840 rail freight was already 60% cheaper than normal wagon transport.

The speed of the freight trains was on average 4 km / h, a maximum of 40 kilometers were covered per day. The tariff for goods from Linz to Budweis in 1840 was 30 kroner for 56 kg of salt (1 barrel), 32 kroner for 1  bucket of wine (around 57 liters), and 24 kroner for other goods. The whole year was basically driven.

The transport of people began with occasional excursions, the first scheduled transport was started in 1834 with special trains to the Easter market in Urfahr , transporting 2,379 people. The official permit to carry out passenger transports was granted on May 10, 1836. From then on, the “long-distance trains” left the two head-end stations every day at 5 a.m. At lunchtime they met at the apex of the line in Kerschbaum, where they had an hour to eat a menu in Europe's first train station restaurant. At 7 p.m. they arrived at the terminus. In addition to these "long-distance trains", which only run once a day, there were other passenger journeys from Linz to Lest (near Freistadt). The people of Linz also gladly took the train for trips to the suburb of St. Magdalen, for which cars were always kept ready at the station in Urfahr and later also at the toll house in Linz. 10,000 people were transported in 1840, a number that rose to 16,000 people by 1848. Average speeds of 10 to 12 km / h were reached in passenger traffic, and 15 km / h when traveling downhill. Passenger trains only ran from April to October. A traveler (around 1840) describes his impressions:

“There were a lot of formalities to do before we left. The railway official had to enter the destination station, the date, the time, etc. on the tickets ... The journey started punctually at 5 am. How pleasant it can be to travel on such a railroad! No rumbling, no bumping - you slide like in heaven. ... A second horse was harnessed on a steep incline. A little before Lest, our journey was unpleasantly interrupted by a train loaded with wine barrels. Since the route is single-track, we had no other choice - if we didn't want to drive back to the last passing point - than to lift our car from the rails together with the driver and let the counter train pass. ... "

While this traveler was fully satisfied with lunch in Kerschbaum, this was not entirely the case with the writer Franz Carl Wiedmann in 1837:

“Kerschbaum is the place for the communal lunch. Three large tables, already set, have been prepared in the dining-room. The company of all four cars that met here consisted of 42 people. ... The dish served consisted of soup, beef and two soups, roast and salad. The roast was divided into chicken and venison. The latter was completely inedible and gave off a terrible stench throughout the room. The other dishes were well prepared. You paid 3 kroner including a bottle of beer. Black coffee is paid extra. The game roast, which was immediately taken out by popular demand, was awarded to the courts. "

The triumphant advance of the steam-powered railway also spurred the First Railway Company . Since a changeover on the Linz – Budweis route was not possible, the conversion had to be limited to the Linz – Gmunden route. In 1854, the first test drives showed that the flat rails used up to now could not cope with the weight of the locomotives and not infrequently broke. Nevertheless, the Gmundner line was switched to steam operation with the EEG - Marchtrenk to Zizlau locomotives . The change in freight trains between Linz and Lambach took place on March 1, 1855, and passenger trains on May 1 of the same year. On June 1, 1856, steam operation to Englhof (now Engelhof) and on September 1 to Gmunden / Traundorf began. The connection from Traundorf to the main square in Gmunden was reserved for horses until the end because of the steep incline. When the number of broken rails increased during steam operation and accidents occurred, the decision was finally made to convert from flat rails (on wooden longitudinal and cross sleepers) to high rails and cross sleepers .

Flat grooved rails were also used in paved city streets (Linz, Budweis).

The end of the horse-drawn train

With the construction of the Empress Elisabeth Railway (Western Railway), the horse-drawn railway gradually came to an end. When granting the Westbahn concession, the Hofkammer had already taken into account the fact that problems could arise in the Linz area, where the “First Railway Company” was protected from competing routes with “exclusive privileges ”. For example, it was stated in Section 6 of the concession document that the two companies should strive for an amicable solution. Should this agreement not be reached, the opposing parties would have to submit to an arbitration ruling by the court chamber. Such negotiations were not inconvenient for the shareholders of the “Erste Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft”, as their company was in any case not viable in view of the growing competition from the 'real' railroads without extensive modernization. They therefore refused compensation for the partial violation of their privilege and insisted on taking over the entire company. Since no consensus could be reached on this, the court chamber decided. The Westbahn had to acquire both the Linz – Budweis (1824) and the Linz – Gmunden (1832) privilege, whereby the purchase price exceeded the paid-up share capital of the old company by 80%. There was also the requirement that the Linz – Budweis horse-drawn tram should be upgraded to a modern, i.e. H. to convert standard-gauge locomotive trains.

Linz – Budweis

After transferring the purchase price, the "First Railway Company" dissolved on June 30, 1857 in satisfaction. The inferior 'Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn' also had to deal with the ' Kronprinz Rudolf-Bahn ', which was a north-south connection from the Adriatic via Villach , St. Michael , Selzthal , St. Valentin to Budweis to the Kaiser Franz Joseph Bahn should lead. The court chamber, however, transferred the production of the St. Valentin – Budweis connection to the Elisabethbahn, as half of this route could also be used by the Linz – Budweis line. The Elisabethbahn decided to merge the two lines to Budweis near Gaisbach – Wartberg. The implementation of these two projects required the construction of two new bridges over the Danube, since the old wooden bridge in Linz, which was located on the site of today's “ Nibelungen Bridge ”, was neither suitable for modern train traffic nor was it compatible with the new route of the railway. The new bridge at Mauthausen was set up on two tracks due to the expected massive transit traffic on the Prague-Adriatic line, which should prove to be a bad investment due to political developments. The new St. Valentin – Gaisbach / Wartberg –Budweis building was completed in 1871, and the “reconstruction” of the Linz – Gaisbach / Wartberg line two years later. For the Linz / St. Valentin – Budweis then became known as the “Budweiser Railway”. The last scheduled train of the horse-drawn railway ran from Linz to Lest on December 15, 1872. Today there is no connection from St. Valentin to Gaisbach / Wartberg. The entire railway traffic is now carried on the Linz - Gaisbach / Wartberg ( Summerauer Bahn ) route.

Linz – Gmunden

After the opening of the Linz – Lambach section of the Elisabethbahn, the former horse-drawn railway line between Linz Südbahnhof and Alt-Lambach (today: Stadl-Paura) including the Zizlau branch line was shut down and dismantled in 1859. In Linz the Südbahnhofmarkt still reminds of the former existence of the Südbahnhof. A connecting track was built between Alt-Lambach and the Westbahn station Lambach. The Lambach – Gmunden line was run as a branch line of the Western Railway. After the nationalization, the Gmundner Bahn was introduced to the Rollbock operation , whereby the wagons with standard gauge were placed on narrow-gauge chassis (" Rollbocks "). In 1903 the line was converted to standard gauge . Today only goods traffic takes place there, which is mainly characterized by the paper mills in Laakirchen and Steyrermühl. The old route is only used for passenger traffic between the old Englhof station (now Engelhof) and the Gmunden Seebahnhof, where it is used by the Traunseebahn (Gmunden – Vorchdorf local train).

Technical details of the horse-drawn railway

The route

Partially (atypical) reconstructed superstructure of the horse-drawn railway

The single-track line with numerous diversions had a length of 128.8 km (17 ½ Austrian miles) from Budweis to the main toll house in Linz. It was a further 67.9 km from the main toll house to the main square in Gmunden. The stretch to Budweis had the character of a mountain. From Linz (254 m above sea level) the railway first had to reach the Kerschbaumer Sattel (714 m above sea level). As far as Budweis, the route fell to 385.5 m. ü. M. from. The maximum gradient was 21.8 ‰.

The superstructure

When creating the superstructure on the ground, wooden longitudinal sleepers ("track trees") were placed on which the forged or cast iron flat rails were nailed (hence the name "mixed wood and railroad"). The track width was 1106 mm. Initially there were no cross sleepers, this had the advantage that the space between the trees - ballasted and covered with a layer of sand - could serve as a comfortable stairway for the horses. In the city or when crossing streets, cast-iron 'fish belly rails' were used, which rested in U-shaped stones (see picture), which were paved in to prevent lane changes. At dams, Gerstner had built stone walls, so-called “track walls” below the “track trees”, which were left out on the south ramp. Later, wooden cross sleepers were laid, especially in the curve area, the distance between the sleepers was a fathom (1.9 m).

The rolling stock

Freight wagons

Illustration of a goods transport train

The railway company last had around 1000 freight cars. These were two-axle low side cars with mass, with a very short wheelbase due to the strong curvature of the track. They were loaded with 2.5 to 3.5 tons, depending on the route. For example, 40 barrels of salt weighing 56 kg each could be transported on such wagons. Special wagons were only used later. There were high-sided gondolas with a sheet metal cover for sensitive goods, as well as four-axle vehicles for the transport of long timber, coal and stones.

Since the dead weight of the British wagons with their cast or wrought iron wheels limited the loading capacity too much on mountain routes, Gerstner opted for wooden wheels in which iron was only used for the hub, the fitting of the tread and the wheel flanges. Although this increased the susceptibility to defects, the loading capacity increased by over 25%.

Passenger cars

1st class passenger car, used on the Budweis – Linz route
2nd class passenger car for summer use, 1855

At the beginning of passenger transport, there were no car classes, only covered and uncovered cars. Later a distinction was made between classes. A first class car had 4 to 9 inside and outside seats on the line to Budweis, the Gmunden route had 4–12 inside and 4–8 outside seats. In 2nd class there were 6 outside and 6 inside seats, on the Gmunden route 12 to 24 inside and occasionally 8 outside seats. Covered trucks were also used for the third class. There were only two classes on the train to Gmunden. In 1857 the railway had 96 passenger cars of various types. Those of the first and second class were modeled on stagecoaches (see picture). You could also take your own carriage with you; it and its passengers were loaded onto a so-called Equipage car . It was also possible to take horses with you in other wagons.

The traction means

The company has 600 horses in full operation, almost exclusively Noriker , who have proven to be strong and frugal. Attempts with oxen , which would have been cheaper to run ( hay instead of oats or maize ), failed mainly because of early exhaustion and slow pace. Details from the experience report from 1846:

"... The ox is by its natural constitution not very docile, also not as sensitive as nobler animals, therefore its gait is insecure, awkward and stubborn, it is often frightened by insignificant objects, passing people, umbrellas etc. and therefore often goes off track which is why the servants must pay special attention. Since our servants are completely ignorant of the German language, it goes without saying that they also cannot pronounce those expressions of the mountain people that these oxen are used to and do not even know ... "

On a level stretch, two horses stretched one behind the other could pull four fully occupied passenger wagons with around 60 people or three to four freight wagons, each weighing 2520 kg (45 hundredweight Vienna). Up to three horses were harnessed or the train was divided on inclines.

The infrastructure

The train stations, then called station places, were approx. 20 km apart on the line to Budweis and around 15 km on the Gmundner line. These distances were chosen so that a horse could get from one station place to the next as a daily workload and from there back to its own stable with a counter train. Thus the responsibility of the station commandant ("expeditor") for his horses was given as a rule. In addition, he was responsible for the smooth running of operations, which primarily included regulating train traffic. He also had to issue driving certificates, take over the luggage and freight and arrange for them to be transported. The station places were equipped as crossing, transformer and loading places with service, living and guard buildings, stables and feed magazines for 25 to 100 horses, magazines for goods and a forge. A leased restaurant was also attached.

In addition to the station spaces, there were transformer stations that were used exclusively for changing horses in passenger traffic, and there were also transport station spaces that were reserved exclusively for freight traffic. In order to make the traffic more flexible, there were intermediate stations between the station spaces , which were used to shunt the trains, and there were also switches on the open route. For passenger traffic there were also “boarding points” for which no structural measures were taken. The routes between two train stations were called stations . For the inspection and maintenance of the route, guard houses were erected at intervals of two to three kilometers. The Budweiser line owned 51 guard houses, the Gmundner line 21.

The communication

The single track of the line led to problems with unexpected oncoming traffic, despite numerous evasions. This problem could only be satisfactorily solved with the introduction of the telegraph , which, however, did not take place until the late 1850s.

The staff

Linz, Südbahnhof
Lambach station (Stadl-Paura)
Engelhof station building

Since the operation of the railway was leased, ten employees and a few salt binders (people who made salt barrels) were initially sufficient. After the lease had expired, there were 495 people in 1829.

The wage level was quite different. So included monthly:

  • Local director of Linz: 160 guilders
  • Office manager with debt collection: 100 guilders
  • Clerk at passenger clearance: 33 guilders
  • Expeditor (station position commander): 80 guilders
  • Clerk: 15 guilders
  • Railway and station attendants: 10 guilders
  • Wegmeister: 30 guilders

(where 1 guilder ~ 10 €)

The operation of the railway was initially leased. The kk shipmaster Karl Adalbert Lanna from Budweis appeared as the tenant . He was responsible for the provision of all personnel and the necessary repair work. When no agreement could be reached on the lease schilling in 1846, the company took over the operation on its own on November 1, 1846, initially with 482 horses.

The employees of the railway were equipped with lanterns and tools for horse fitting and quick repairs on the route service. Basically, they weren't in uniform. However, for special occasions they received a gala hat ( shako ), which was equipped with a silver ribbon and a horse tail. The golden service cord with tassels and gauntlets made of suede complemented this equipment and ensured a dignified appearance. The staff was urged to be extremely polite towards the passengers, which was mostly observed because of the expected tip. The railway servant Leopold Viertbauer achieved local fame. He entertained his passengers by playing zithers and singing and always had a bottle of schnapps on hand. When he retired, his savings were just under a million euros. If there were justified complaints from the passengers about the staff, if necessary the long-time manager's assistant ("managerial factor") Leonhard Baumgartner, known as Rotschädl, was called in, whose physical penetration was mostly convincing.

The passengers

1st class ticket Budweis – Linz

In 1846, the personal tariff for an Austrian mile (7.59 km) was:

1st class: 10 2/3 cruisers
2nd class: 7 cruisers
3rd class: 5 1/2 cruisers

The travel costs on the route to Gmunden were around 30 percent lower due to the lower effort (opening credits) and the higher occupancy.

If you compare these prices with the wages and salaries quoted above, it quickly becomes clear that traveling by train was not exactly cheap, especially since there were no social tariffs . The common citizen was usually content with short journeys. The typical long-haul train traveler was civil servant or officer, businessman, wealthy educated citizen and better-off farmer or trader.

Time comparison

The horse-drawn railway between the Vltava and the Danube in imperial Austria was built at the same time as a chain of three railway lines between the Rhone and Loire in France, Saint-Étienne – Andrézieux (built from 1824, completed May 1 and opened June 30, 1827), Saint-Étienne– Lyon (construction started in 1827, section operated from June 28, 1830, total section October 1, 1832) and Roanne – Andrézieux (section opened August 1, 1832, completely November 15, 1833). Locomotives have been used regularly on parts of this route chain since 1831, and on the entire route since 1844.

Traces and places of remembrance

Museums

The following are to be mentioned at permanent memorials:

  • Budweis Horse Railway Museum : Exhibition in the old railroad keeper's house
  • Bujanov (Angern): Small museum in a station keeper's house
  • Kerschbaum: Museum in the former stables of the station area, 500 m reconstructed horse-drawn railway line
  • Maxlhaid (Wels): Horse-drawn railway museum Bahnzeit-Stall (in an annex of the Maxlhaid inn)
  • The original Hannibal passenger car can be admired in the Vienna Technical Museum .
  • In the Deutsches Museum in Munich , the new traffic center of the Linz-Budweiser horse-drawn railway is dedicating a bunk with faithfully reproduced passenger cars, reproduced pictures and drawings.

There is also a well-preserved station space in Lest.

Monuments

In 1970 the remains of the horse-drawn tram in Austria were declared as cultural monuments and placed under monument protection. In addition to dams, cuttings, bridges, or bridge foundations and passages, there are several guard houses and stations. Lest (near Kefermarkt ) and Kerschbaum are well preserved and well worth seeing from the station places . A museum is housed in the restored station building in Kerschbaum.

The south station building has been preserved in Linz . The house at Gstöttnerhofstrasse 3 was a former guard house. There is no trace of a “memorial site” or “former guard house” today. The Federal Monuments Office has announced that the guard house No. 51 on Gstöttnerhofstrasse was demolished as early as the 1970s. At the beginning of the horse-drawn promenade there is also the horse-drawn railway monument that was previously erected in front of the Linz main train station; a section of track has also been reconstructed here. In the Haselgraben in Linz near Marienberg the remains of the eastern abutment of the Haselgraben Viaduct have been preserved. A memorial plaque on the roadside reminds of this.

In the central area between Linz and Wels , apart from a few buildings (Wagram, Maxlhaid), there are hardly any traces. The route between Wels and Lambach is partially visible. The Lambach station building in Stadl-Paura has been preserved. From Stadl-Paura, the standard-gauge railway uses the route of the former horse-drawn railway via Laakirchen. In this section, the station building of Englhof stands out, it is considered to be the oldest still in operation station building in Europe.

Horse-drawn train trail

Museum railway in Kerschbaum

In 1982 a horse-drawn railway hiking trail (marked PE) from Unterweitersdorf to the Austrian-Czech state border west of Leopoldschlag was opened, which in 1999 was extended across the state border to the former station in Bujanov (Angern). On September 26, 2000, the stretch from Unterweitersdorf to St. Magdalena (Linz) was also cleared. It is now possible to hike from Linz to Bujanov (Angern) on a marked path that largely follows the former route of the horse-drawn railway. From the museum, trips in historical wagons are possible on a short restored route. The city of Freistadt offers comprehensive information on routes and relics along the route from Linz-Urfahr to the state border.

At St. Magdalena in Linz, a section of track has been reconstructed on the horse-drawn promenade and the route leads over some well-preserved viaducts.

Others

In the urban area of ​​Linz, the Gasthof Stadt Budweis , the Gerstnerstrasse and the Eisenbahngasse reminds of the course and the existence of the railway, as well as the name of the nearby Südbahnhofmarkt .

Also in Linz is the “Scharlinzer Gleis”, a remnant of the Linz Südbahnhof  - Gleisdreieck line (= from there towards Zizlau and Gmunden ). From 1881 it was partly used by the Kremstalbahn , which then followed the Salzburgerstraße to Wegscheid . The horse-drawn railroad, however, had already turned further north to west. In the course of the construction of the Pyhrnbahn , the old exit of the Kremstalbahn was abandoned and replaced by the one that still exists today, via Untergaumberg . The old track was subsequently used as a towing train and, as part of the major Linz station renovation initiated in 1912, it was swiveled to the east in the upper part in order to establish contact with the new freight yard facilities. The Scharlinzer Gleis served various purposes over the decades: It established a rail connection to the Linz locomotive factory (closed in 1930), along with the state railroad heating houses. It was also of military importance (tank transports). The Linz brewery was also connected via a branch line. In the far south there was finally a scrap dealer. Due to the ÖBB land sales carried out from 2007 onwards, the Scharlinzer track only extends to Poschacherstraße ; its southern section has now been built.

In Ceske Budejovice, FA Gerstnera street commemorates the builder of the horse-drawn railway.

In 2012, the Austrian Post issued several special postage stamps under the title 175 Years of the Railway for Austria to commemorate the year of establishment in 1827. The value of 0.62 cents shows the treated horse track.

literature

  • Roland Anzengruber: The horse-drawn railway in old views. Publisher European Library, Zaltbommel (Netherlands) 1985, ISBN 90-288-3137-1 / CP.
  • Peter Csendes : Austria 1790–1948. Vienna 1987.
  • Bruno Enderes : The timber and railroad Budweis – Linz – Gmunden. In: The Locomotive . Feb. 1926, page 21 et seq., Vienna 1926 anno.onb.ac.at .
  • Fritz Fellner : Efforts in the 1950s to preserve individual monuments and construction sections of the horse-drawn railway. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets. 53, No. 3–4, 1999, pp. 188–194, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Franz A. Gerstner: About the advantages of a railway installation between the Vltava and the Danube. Vienna 1824.
  • Ivo Hajn: The horse-drawn railway Budweis - Linz - Gmunden. Bohumír Němec-Veduta Publishing House, České Budějovice 2006, ISBN 80-86829-16-2 .
  • Mathias von Schönerer : Map of the railway between Budweis and Linz to connect the Danube with the Vltava. Mannsfeld et Comp, SL (Vienna) after 1835, online at oldmapsonline.org.
  • Mathias von Schönerer (ed.), Franz von Weiss (lithograph): Map of the railway between Linz and Gmunden as a continuation of the railway from Budweis to Linz. Ludwig Förster, Vienna 1836.
  • Pfeffer / Kleinhanns: Budweis – Linz – Gmunden. Horse-drawn railway and steam operation on 1106 mm gauge . Slezak Verlag, Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-85416-082-8 and OÖ Landesverlag, Linz 1982, ISBN 3-85214-373-X .
  • Elmar Oberegger : The Iron Road to Bohemia. From the horse train to the Summerauer train. In: Upper Austrian state exhibition in Ampflwang (ed.): With coal and steam. Exhibition catalog. Linz 2006.
  • Elmar Oberegger: The Austrian Horse Railways. In: Publications of the Information Office for Austrian Railway History. 1, Sattledt 2007, 8 pages.
  • Elmar Oberegger: Brief history of the Budweiser Railway. Č.Budějovice - Gaisbach-Wartberg - Linz / St. Valentine. In: Publications of the Information Office for Austrian Railway History. 13, Sattledt 2007, 6 pages.
  • Elmar Oberegger: The First (Austrian) Railway Company and its Network 1824–1903. In: Publications of the Information Office for Austrian Railway History. 5, Sattledt 2008, 29 pages.
  • Franz Pfeffer : Upper Austria's first railways. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets. 5, No. 2, 1951, pp. 97–181, part 1 (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at, part 2 (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Franz Pfeffer (Ed.): Upper Austria's first railway in contemporary descriptions (FC Weidmann, Gustav Fobbe, Otto Prechtler). In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets. Linz 1962, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Erich Preuß : The Budweis – Linz – Gmunden horse-drawn tram - from its history on the preparation of museums. In: Yearbook for Railway History. Volume 31, 1999, ISBN 3-921700-81-7 .
  • Wilhelm Riehs: The horse-drawn railway Budweis – Linz – Gmunden. In: Yearbook of the Wels Museum Association 1969/70. No. 16, Wels 1970, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Hermann Savernik: The steam operation on the horse-drawn railway (Budweis -) Linz - Gmunden. ÖGEG, Linz 2009, ISBN 978-3-902709-15-8 .
  • Ulrich Schefold: 150 years of railways in Austria. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1986.
  • Johannes Sima: The horse-drawn railway Budweis - Linz - Gmunden. An example of the history of technology from the point of view of monument protection. Vienna 2008, dissertation from the Vienna University of Technology (PDF; 57.4 MB).
  • Anton Wilhelm, Wilhelm Freh and Fritz Czauczer: The Budweis – Linz – Gmunden horse-drawn tram. The Upper Austrian Railway History Collection. State Museum. Exhibition in Linz Castle. In: Catalogs of the Upper Austrian State Museum. Linz 1971.

Web links

Commons : Horse railway Budweis – Linz – Gmunden  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Schefold 1986, p. 9.
  2. Salzburg State Exhibitions (Ed.): Salt. Accompanying book for the 1994 state exhibition. Salzburg 1994, pp. 142–145.
  3. The discontinuation took place because the need for firewood declined in favor of coal and the construction of the Mühlkreisbahn made the Große Mühl no longer passable for the Schwemme.
  4. ^ Peter Csendes: Austria 1790-1948. Vienna 1987, p. 206.
  5. ^ Franz A. Gerstner: About the advantages of a system of a railway between Moldau and Danube. Vienna 1824.
  6. Statistics Austria's old currency table.
  7. Bulletin d'Industrie agricole et Manufacture, publié par la Société d'Agriculture, Arts et Commerce de l'arrondissement de Saint-Étienne. Saint-Étienne 1826, p. 178 ff: Canaux - Chemins de Fer. Google Book .
  8. The question of the underpinning only arose because the tracks were not yet connected by cross sleepers, i.e. the weight was not evenly distributed over a larger area.
  9. The horse-drawn tramway from St.-Étienne to the then Loire port in Andrézieux , which is only 18.3 km long , went into operation on June 30, 1827, 100 days earlier.
  10. ^ Meyer's Konversations-Lexikon. Volume 7, Hildburghausen 1872, p. 698.
  11. Riehs 1970, p. 176.
  12. Walter Brummer: The Budweis – Linz – Gmunden horse-drawn railway ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: wabweb.net.
  13. Railway Atlas Austria: Rail Atlas Austria. Schweers + Wall publishing house, Cologne November 2010.
  14. https://www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik/19501-wtk-1106.htm
  15. https://www.xibit.info/objekt/?lang=1&xibitnr=623&ausId=79
  16. Riehs 1970, p. 177.
  17. Schefold 1986, pp. 16-17.
  18. Grooved rail of the Linz-Budweis horse-drawn railway technischesmuseum.at, Inv.Nr. 40081/1, accessed November 6, 2016.
  19. Law of May 23, 1869,  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. because of the redesign of the Linz-Budweiser horse-drawn railway into a locomotive railway with a branch line from Wartberg to St. Valentin. Retrieved June 16, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / anno.onb.ac.at  
  20. Agreement of June 30, 1869, based on the law of May 23, 1869 between the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Commerce and the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Finance  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 16, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / anno.onb.ac.at  
  21. Bruno Enderes: The wood and railway Budweis – Linz, the first work of German railway construction. Berlin 1926.
  22. Tabea Schwing: The horse-drawn railway from Linz to Budweis. The railway staff of the horse-drawn railway.
  23. ^ Museum of the Horse Railway in Bujanov . In: Online encyclopedia encyklopedie.ckrumlov.cz about Krummau (exhibition in Bujanov / Angern).
  24. Exhibition and museum trips in Kerschbaum on pferdeeisenbahn.at.
  25. Horse Railway Museum in Wels at bahnzeit.at.
  26. ^ Günther Kleinhanns: The Linz-Budweiser Railway. Starting point for international rail transport. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets. 36th volume, issue 3/4, Linz 1982, p. 256, entire article p. 250–259, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  27. in the Austrian map , version AMAP online.
  28. ( page no longer available , search in web archives: horse-drawn railway hiking trail )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bez-freistadt.at
  29. Entry on the Budweis – Linz – Gmunden horse-drawn railway in the Austria Forum  (as a postage stamp), accessed on October 30, 2012.
  30. https://www.google.com/search?q=briefmarke+175+jahre+bahn+in+%C3%B6sterreich&rlz=1C1AVNE_enDE694DE714&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=kr6JktbVjclBMM%253A%252Cafus_Mvet=%253A%252Cafus_Mvet=A251n&Cafus_MvetA251n&CafusMvetA251n& -kQPGRrCgm2rkLEKGeHko2a4ilTJEg & sa = X & ved = 2ahUKEwiD85iXnZzkAhXEaFAKHVy5B64Q9QEwBHoECAkQDA # imgrc = kr6JktbVjclBMM :
  31. Holdings of the Austrian Library Association - Schönerer 1835 .
  32. Holdings of the Austrian Library Association - Schönerer 1836 .
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on May 3, 2007 in this version .