Pneumatic post in Hamburg

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Stamp of the Hamburg pneumatic post with 10-minute indication

The Hamburg pneumatic tube was put into operation on October 24, 1864 . Little is known about the route and the maximum extent of the Hamburg urban pneumatic tube network. It was replaced in the 1960s by the Hamburg tube post (see below).

The Hamburg Telegraph Office's stamps (inscription Eilbriefe , Zug 1 etc.) were set to a 10-minute cycle early on because, in addition to the pneumatic post, there was also a network of trams equipped with letter boxes , which delivered mail for further processing in time with the tram timetable whose timely processing had to be documented. These tram lines performed pneumatic post functions for postal customers where there were no pneumatic post lines.

Express letters could be thrown into the tram mailbox without any additional surcharge and ordinary mail with a surcharge of 5 pfennigs. These shipments (especially express and airmail shipments) were then forwarded, if necessary, by pneumatic tube according to the connections to be reached. This means that there are mail items that have both the Hamburg pneumatic post and the tram post stamps.

Case study: express delivery Oslo – Hamburg

International letter by airmail, express courier and registered mail from Oslo to Hamburg on January 30, 1942
Stamp of the Hamburger Rohrpost and the Trampost on the back

In the case of the letter shown, it is a foreign registered mail from Norway by airmail and express courier. The journey from Oslo to the recipient in Hamburg can be reconstructed from the transport and handling notes on the front and back of the letter.

First, the letter was sent to the censorship center responsible for international mail in Berlin. Adhesive tapes, red censorship stamps and groups of numbers on the front are evidence of the censorship treatment. Then the letter was presented to the customs office in Berlin, which released it for further transport.

In the night of February 2 to 3, 1942 the letter reached Hamburg and was stamped with the tube post minute stamp of the Hamburg telegraph office in the first hour of the day. From there it was transported to Hamburg 1, where it was stamped on the reverse by the letter deregistration at 8 a.m. It was returned to the telegraph office for the purpose of delivery for express delivery, the processing there being documented by the hard-to-read stamp on the reverse of a TA stamp.

At 11:30 a.m., however, which is evidenced by the cancellation of the pneumatic tube minute stamp on the reverse, the letter was sent again to Hamburg 1 by the telegraph office, as the addressee lived or worked in the area of ​​responsibility of the Hamburg 1 PA. It is likely that the letter was forwarded to Hamburg 1 because it made it to the next normal delivery earlier than if you had waited for the express and telegram messenger to start on the next delivery trip.

The letter was evidently sent to Hamburg 1 by tram mailbox or a mailbag sent with the tram, because it was processed by the department responsible for the content of the tram mailboxes in Hamburg 1 in 12 hours, as indicated by the Hamburg 1 tramway postmark on the back . The letter was then brought to the addressee by normal delivery the same day after the request for express delivery had been canceled. However, he was away and the letter was only delivered after the addressee returned after February 4, 1942.

Large pneumatic tube

Contrary to the general trend towards the closure of pneumatic tube systems since the 1950s ( New York , Vienna ) and 1960s ( Berlin , Munich , Marseille , Algiers), the systematic expansion of pneumatic tube systems in Hamburg as a large pneumatic tube system with a tube diameter of 45 cm was pursued. The cars had a length of 1.60 m and could be equipped with up to 1000 items. The starting point of the considerations for the construction of the large pneumatic tube was the increasingly important individual traffic on the roads, which hindered the rapid transport of mail between the offices. Only a transport system that worked independently of the other traffic flows seemed to do justice to the new task. The Hamburg trial was intended to serve as a pilot project for other cities in the Bundespost traffic area. The construction of the Hamburg tube post, which was initially supposed to connect the PÄ Hamburg 1, Hamburg 11 and Hamburg Airport, began on October 1, 1960. However, the expansion was significantly impaired and set back by the flood disaster in 1962 .

Planning of the Hamburg OPD on August 8, 1963 for the construction of the Hamburg tube post

In August 1963 the plans were so advanced that the construction of a total of 5 lines was in the planning stage:

  • Line I (Wandsbek Line): from Hamburg 1 via Wandsbek to Hamburg 22 = 7.6 km
  • Line II (airport line): from Hamburg 1 via Hamburg 22 to the airport = 12.24 km
  • Line III (Alster line): from Hamburg 1 via Hmb 36, Hmb 20, Hmb 33 and Hmb 22 back to Hmb 1 = 15.08 km
  • Line IIIa (Altonalinie): from Hamburg 1 via Hmb 36, Hmb Telegraphenamt, Hmb 19, Postsparkassenamt Hamburg = 11.8 km
  • Line VI (inner city line): from Hamburg 1 via Postscheckamt Hamburg to Hmb 36 = 2.465 km
Rohrpost-Eilboten-Orts-Brief dated May 23, 1967, sent by Hamburg's large pneumatic tube
Back of the letter, which shows the reworking of the shipment in the various stations by means of the postmarks

Despite the hindrances during construction, the plant was put into operation on May 23, 1967 as a ring plant. This enabled consignments to be sent in both directions at the same time. This made it possible to transport items that would have been on the streets of Hamburg for more than half an hour in the Postbus within 1:30 to 3 minutes. Since the vibrations from road traffic repeatedly damaged the system, operations were stopped after 16 years.

literature

  • Heck, Georg: Handband to the Hamburg pneumatic tube post. Short version of the development, construction and modification of the plant and a .; with special additions and footnotes , Oberpostdirektion Hamburg 1070.
  • Heck, Georg / Frerichs, Johannes u. W. Eske: The Hamburger Großrohrpost , Part I a. II. (= Series of publications from the journal Rohr, Rohrleitungsbau u. Rohrleitungsstransport, Vol. 1 and 4.), Baden-Baden: Vlg. For Applied Sciences 1965–1969.
  • NN pneumatic tube systems. Large pneumatic post, city pneumatic post, house pneumatic post . Hamburg 1967.
  • Ulrich Alexis Christiansen: Chapter about the pneumatic tube in the publication Hamburgs dark worlds. The mysterious underground of the Hanseatic city. Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 3-86153-473-8 .

Web links