Rösslitram
Rösslitram is the Swiss German name for a horse- drawn tram or a horse-drawn bus . The word Rössli is the diminutive form of the Swiss German word Ross , which is used for horse .
history
In the eight Swiss cities of Basel , Bern , Biel , Geneva , Lucerne , Neuchâtel , Winterthur and Zurich , Rösslitrams operated as urban local transport. The oldest operations were the tram, which opened in Geneva in 1862, followed by the tram in Biel in 1877 - the second tram in Switzerland. In Zurich there was a horse-drawn bus service from 1865, which was replaced by a horse-drawn tram in 1882. From 1871 horse-drawn bus routes called Tram-Omnibus operated in Bern , followed in 1881 in Basel and in 1885 in Winterthur. The horse trams in Neuchâtel and Lucerne were emergency operations that only existed for a short time.
In Davos and Mürren , Rösslitrams operated as tourism-oriented businesses. The Rösslitram in Davos was a carriage service that operated from 1883 and operated as a horse-drawn sleigh in winter . The Rösslitram in Mürren was a horse-drawn tram that served as a hotel shuttle and operated from 1893.
In the Knies Children's Zoo in Rapperswil SG , a horse-drawn tram circuit has been in operation for zoo visitors since it was founded in 1962.
Horse tram
Biel
On September 17, 1875, the Compagnie des Tramways de Genève received federal authorization to build a horse-drawn tram in Biel . The company therefore changed the name of its company and was now called Compagnie générale des Tramways suisse . Operations began on August 8, 1877 on the route from Bözingen to Nidau and the standard-gauge track corresponded to the Geneva model. The carriages had a central entrance with twelve seats along the walls and enough standing room in the central aisle. There were no seats on the roof, the carriages were built lighter than the Geneva carriages and could also be driven as a single horse. The Tramways de Bienne owned ten cars and operated a half-hourly timetable. In 1902 it was replaced by an electric tram.
Car No. 5
Summer car no.108
Geneva
The first rail-bound horse-drawn tram in Switzerland started operating in Geneva on June 19, 1862 . This 2.85 km long horse-drawn tram , like the line from Paris, did not run through the actual city center, but connected the suburb of Carouge with Place Neuve on the edge of the city center. It was a standard-gauge railway with a turnout in the middle of the route and two Vignol rails were placed close to each other and embedded in the pavement. The wagons of the first Swiss tram were relatively heavy and therefore had to be pulled by two horses and offered 14 seats on longitudinal benches in the passenger area and a further 12 seats on the roof on a central double bench. Since the vehicles were built symmetrically, the horses only had to be re-harnessed at the end stations without the need for turntables. In 1864 a second line followed between the Cours de Rive and the Temple de Chêne-Bourgeries. In 1875 the two independent lines merged to form the Compagnie des Tramways de Genève and in 1876 the connection of the two routes through the city center could finally be realized. In September 1876 a third horse line came into operation, from Molard to Cornavin station in Geneva, which remained with the horse company until the transition to narrow-gauge electrical operation in 1902.
Car number 16 in Cornavin
Place du Molard around 1880
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Lucerne
A Rösslitram only operated a short time in Lucerne, namely in June 1910 on the occasion of the great lake flood. A provisional horse-drawn tram was set up with trailers 50 and 51 of the Lucerne electric tram across the Schweizerhofquai .
Rösslitram during the 1910 flood
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Murren
With the opening of the Lauterbrunnen – Mürren (BLM) mountain railway in 1891, it was easier for tourists to travel to Mürren . In 1893, the hotelier Sterchi of the Kurhaus Grand Hotel des Alpes had a 455 m long horse roller runway built from his hotel to the train station in Mürren. The system was built by the Oehler company from Wildegg , which later became a well-known supplier of cable cars and ski lifts. Shortly after it opened, the Mürren tramway had to be stopped again because Sterchi had failed to apply for a license to the Federal Council. The operating license for the 50 cm track gauge was received on April 13, 1894, so that operations could be resumed. The Rösslitram stopped operating between 1914 and 1923 because the tourists stayed away because of the First World War . The Great Depression was the end of the horse runway. The whereabouts of the two baggage cars are unknown, but one passenger car has been preserved and is on display in the BLM station building.
Tram of the Mürren tram
Neuchâtel
In the tram Neuchatel reversed from 1894 Rösslitram. The meter-gauge Neuchâtel- Saint-Blaise line, opened in 1893, was to be operated with gas-powered vehicles. Due to technical defects in the vehicles, the company had to switch to the horse business in 1894. The company procured six small, light wagons that were operated as single horses . This emergency operation lasted until 1897 and was then replaced by an electric tram. A trailer is preserved in the Musée des transports urbains, interurbains et ruraux near Paris.
Rösslitram 1894
Preserved pendant in the museum
Zurich
In the city of Zurich , it was the city authorities themselves that took charge of building a network. A special purpose association was founded with the neighboring communities of Riesbach , Enge and Aussersihl , which were still independent at the time , and the standard-gauge horse-drawn tram lines Tiefenbrunnen - Nordostbahnhof - Paradeplatz -Enge and Helmhaus -Paradeplatz-Aussersihl began operations in September 1882 .
The Zurich Rösslitram had light wagons and was only pulled by one horse. In the interior of the car there was space for 12 people on longitudinal benches, and there was standing room on the platforms at the ends of the car. The horse-drawn tram lines were single-track and had passing points for the trains to cross. In 1900 the standard gauge lines were converted to meter gauge and electrified.
The last Rösslitram in Zurich on August 5th, 1900 in front of the "Friedensburg" restaurant in Seefeld
The Rösslitram No. 13 crosses Zurich's Paradeplatz at the end of the 19th century.
The Zurich Paradeplatz at the end of the 1880s with horse-drawn trams and cabs
Horse omnibus
Basel
The Rösslitram, which started running in Basel on July 1, 1881 , was a horse-drawn bus and was also known as the city bus and tram bus. The line was a private company of the Basler Fuhrhalterei Settelen and had a permit or concession from the government of the canton of Basel-Stadt . In the beginning, there were six cars available, all of which ran in two horses between the Badischer Bahnhof and the Centralbahnhof . The wagons with the odd numbers 1, 3 and 5 carried a round plaque with a painted F above the front edge of the roof and traveled via "Freie Strasse" (Badischer Bahnhof-Clarastrasse- old Rhine bridge- Eisengasse-Marktplatz-Freie Strasse-Aeschenvorstadt-Aeschengraben-Centralbahnhof) ), and the cars with the even numbers 2, 4 and 6 had a sign with the designation G, which meant via Gerbergasse (Badischer Bahnhof-Clarastrasse-old Rheinbrücke-Eisengasse-Marktplatz-Gerbergasse-Barfüsserplatz-Steinenberg-Elisabethenstrasse-Centralbahnhof). In the upper part of Freie Strasse and on Steinenberg, the carters had to harness a third horse to the wagon. The leader horses were so used to their daily work that they each went back to their starting point unaccompanied and there quietly waited for the following car to arrive.
In the first few years, the wagons were in operation from seven in the morning to eight in the evening with a 10-minute interval / cycle, and the journey took 25 to 30 minutes. The wagons were operated by the driver and the conductor , and if requested , and especially when women, older men and children got on and off, the driver had to stop his vehicle. The Rösslitram could take 24 people and the journey from station to station cost 30 cents and for shorter distances 10 or 20 cents, for which they received a ticket from the conductor.
As early as 1881, the trucking company expanded its route network and served the Milchhäuslein on Missionsstrasse from the city casino and drove from the landing stage to St. Johanns-Tor, but both lines proved to be unprofitable and were discontinued in 1882 and 1883 respectively.
The city bus operated with eight cars in 1883 and ten in 1891 and remained in existence until 1895. The last hour struck on May 6, 1895, when the Basel tram , now on rails and with twelve electric motor vehicles, started operating.
Horse-drawn bus wagon no.12 around 1883
Horse bus at the Centralbahnplatz
Roesslitrams in front of the Badischer Bahnhof in the 1890s
Bern
In 1871, the first horse-drawn bus routes from Bärengraben to Linde (crossing at what is now Inselspital ) and from Bern to Muri bei Bern were put into operation by the driver Benteli. In 1879, the Bärengraben - Mattenhof - Wabern line was operated regularly. The horse-drawn bus line Bärengraben - Bahnhof - Friedhof ( Bremgartenfriedhof ), which Fuhrhalter Bietenhard operated from 1885, had to be discontinued in 1889 due to a lack of passengers.
Horse bus to Wabern 1885
Davos
The Rösslitram von Davos was a carriage service that operated between Davos Platz and Dorf (Dörfli) on behalf of the Dutch hotelier and railway pioneer Willem Jan Holsboer . It was the forerunner of today's transport operations in the Davos community . The Rösslitram brought guests from the various hotels to Holsboer's Konversationshaus in today's Hotel Europe and back home again.
On January 25, 1883, the Rösslitram started operations. The fare for a one-way trip was 40 cents. Initially, the vehicle caused a stir. It was therefore jokingly called the “Flying Dutchman” or “Noah's Ark”. The spacious and windowed car body rested on runners and was pulled by four horses. The interior was designed for fourteen people with two long rows of seats.
Rösslitram in front of the Bélvèdere
Rösslitram sledge in Davos
Winter horse litram
Winterthur
In Winterthur there were horse buses of the Tram-Omnibus-Genossenschaft Winterthur for two years . The four wagons were parked in the old riding school, the old barracks served as stables for the 24 horses and depot for the wagons. On July 1, 1885, the Winterthur Tram-Omnibus Cooperative opened its first horse-drawn bus line. Other lines followed, but were closed again by 1887 at the latest. In 1898, the Rieter company opened the first electric line on the Winterthur tram to Töss .
Zurich
From 1865 there was a horse-drawn bus service in Zurich that operated between Tiefenbrunnen and the main train station . The service ran until 1877. Another horse-drawn bus line was planned in 1875. It should be planned from Zurich via Waid to Höngg . The project did not materialize, the task of transport was taken over by the Zurich Electric Tramway , which opened in 1898 .
Horse buses in front of the main train station
literature
- The Basel Rösslitram. Edited by the Original Tram Basel association. VOTB, Basel 1990.
- Martin Tiepner: From the Rösslitram to the articulated bus. 75 years of buses and 120 years of local public transport in Davos. Tiepner, Zizers 2003, ISBN 3-9522748-0-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Cornelia Bauer, Hanspeter Rebsamen, Jan Capol: Zurich . 1992, p. 282, 287 , doi : 10.5169 / SEALS-10931 ( e-periodica.ch [accessed on January 19, 2020]).
- ↑ Hans Heimann: Beginning and end of the Rössli tram . Ed .: Berner Zeitung. ISSN 1424-1021 ( bernerzeitung.ch [accessed on January 18, 2020]).
- ↑ Knies Children's Zoo Rapperswil Zurich: Attractions. July 10, 2019, accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Hans Heimann: Beginning and end of the Rössli tram . In: Berner Zeitung . April 13, 2019, ISSN 1424-1021 ( bernerzeitung.ch [accessed January 19, 2020]).
- ^ Zürcher Strassenbahn Gesellschaft, 1882 - 1896. May 21, 2006, archived from the original on May 21, 2006 ; accessed on January 18, 2020 .
- ^ The Basler Rösslitram - Part I. Settelen, accessed on January 18, 2020 (Swiss Standard German).
- ↑ The Basel Rösslitram - Part II. Settelen, accessed on January 18, 2020 (Swiss Standard German).
- ↑ History: 19th century. In: Tram-Bus-Bern. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007 ; accessed on January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Davos Transport Company: History. Retrieved January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Deutweg bus depot. Building history. IG Busdepot Deutweg, accessed on January 18, 2020 .