Kleinmachnow lock
| Kleinmachnow lock | ||
|---|---|---|
 View of the double lock from the east, from the upper water |
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 52 ° 23 '42 " N , 13 ° 12' 33" E | |
| Country: | Germany | |
| Place: | Kleinmachnow | |
| Waters: | Teltow Canal | |
| Water kilometers : | km 8.34 | |
| Data | ||
| Owner: | Teltow Canal AG | |
| Operator: | Control stand by a shift supervisor | |
| Responsible WSA : | Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt Berlin outskirts Neukölln | |
| Start of planning: | 1900 | |
| Construction time: | 1902-1905 | |
| Start of operation: | 1906 | |
| Renovation: | 2005 | |
| Modification: | 1939-1940 | |
| Shutdown: | 1945-1981 | |
| Listed since: | Yes | |
| lock | ||
| Type: | Twin lock and north chamber (1940) | |
| Category: | Waterway class IV | |
| Usable length: | 85 m | |
| Usable width: | 12 m | |
| Height upstream : | 32.1 m above sea level NN | |
| Average height of fall : |
2.86 m | |
| Upper gate: |
Folding gate (north chamber) lifting gate, vertical Rifle lifts |
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| Lower gate: |
Stemmtor (north chamber) lifting gate, vertical Rifle lifts |
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| Fill chamber; to empty: | 30 min | |
| Others | ||
The Kleinmachnow lock is the most striking structure on the Brandenburg - Berlin Teltow Canal . It is a sight and is a listed building . The foundation stone of the lock was laid in 1901 and five years later, in 1906, the opening ceremony by Kaiser Wilhelm II took place.
The double lock forms the Kleinmachnow canal level with the Freigerinne in its central wall and the northern lock from 1940, whereby the so-called southern chamber has been out of service since the Second World War. The Berlin Waterways and Shipping Office is responsible for operation and maintenance .
The architectural design of the superstructures of the lock in the area of the Teltow Canal - kilometer 8.34 near Kleinmachnow fits in with the almost mid-mountain landscape of the Teltow . The lock is located southeast of the hill of the Seeberg and to the east almost within reach of the Machnower See , to the south is the nature reserve Bäketal , and to the west there is a view of the Teltow Canal, which disappears into the forest - these are the scenic "trademarks" of the lock area in close proximity to the southwest Berlin and northeast Potsdam city limits.
Balance between the Spree and Havel
The approximately 38 kilometers long Teltow Canal was built between 1901 and 1906 on the initiative of the district administrator of the Teltow district, Ernst von Stubenrauch . It connects the Spree-Oder waterway, on the one hand, from the Dahme , a good 2 km above its confluence with the Spree near Köpenick , and, on the other hand, from the Treptower Spree via the Britzer connecting canal, which was built at the same time (until 1992: Britzer Zweigkanal ), with the Lower Havel. Waterway (Potsdamer Havel). As a federal waterway , the canal runs through the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg and partially forms their state border. The height difference between the water level of the middle Spree and the Potsdamer Havel is overcome thanks to this single lock of the Teltow Canal. It separates the Spree from the Havel and takes care of the descent of the ships from east to west or the ascent from west to east with an average fall height of 2.86 meters.
Buildings
The superstructures over the lower and upper heads of the lock from 1906 form an architecturally exemplary system and are the characteristic feature of this lock. As with the entire canal project, the planning and construction management was in the hands of the architectural duo , the Royal Building Councilors Christian Havestadt and Max Contag from Wilmersdorf .
Chambers of the double lock from 1906
The Kleinmachnow lock was built as a double lock and therefore consists of two adjacent chambers, each 67 meters long and 10 meters wide. The two are separated by a 12 meter wide platform. The width of the chamber allowed two Finow barges coupled side by side to be sluiced into the vessel. Both chambers are connected to each other by a transverse channel located at the head of the head and could thus be operated in economy mode (technically speaking, it is a twin lock ), i. H. one chamber served the other as a saving basin , with one channeling upwards and the other downwards. So there was a water level adjustment. In this way the water withdrawal from the upper section was reduced by half. This was particularly beneficial on dry summer days. The chambers are filled by means of longitudinal circumferences of 2.46 square meters each in the chamber walls, which are provided with nine branch channels on each side of the chamber, so that the water rises evenly during filling and the ships lie very quietly in the chamber. The circulation against the upper and lower water and, earlier, the chambers against each other, are completed by the so-called Hotopp's jack .
The chambers are closed by lifting gates, large-scale vertical rifle lifts. This was chosen, due to the high tower structures required to accommodate the elevator, which were very expensive, to ensure a completely watertight seal in the chambers and to meet the requirements of the superior royal government in Potsdam to use the water of the Spree sparingly during times of low water flow . This has one advantage to this day: No movable structural part used to operate the lock is permanently under water. The gates are sealed using pine planks. The lower gates weighed 20 tons, while the upper gates weighed only 16 tons due to their lower height. Each of the gates is balanced by a counterweight so that it still has a ton overweight in the water against the buoyancy. All movement elements are operated by electric motors up to the present day.
Locking through the double lock from 1906
A lock was carried out as follows: the ships arriving at the lock moored on both sides of the 140-meter-long wooden tail units built in front of the middle wall in the upper and lower outer harbor . From there they were pulled into the chambers by electrically operated trolleys . The DC motors were designed so that they could move even the largest boat without problems. The trolleys were used to drag the barges in and out. Their use had the advantage that the laborious and dangerous winding and unwinding of the long ropes by an operating team was no longer necessary. The handling was carried out by the lock assistants, who switched on the trolleys from the signal tower after the gates had been opened and the signal tower had been given, after the pulling rope had been attached to the mast by the skippers. As soon as the barges were moored in the chamber and the rope connections were released, the “real” lock, the filling and emptying of the chambers, began. When this was locked, the barges left the chamber and a ship from the opposite direction could enter. If that did not happen, the lock had to be flooded empty or the water had to be drained. The lock master was in command of all operations and stayed on the platform between the two lock chambers for the best view.
The performance of the lock system is noted in contemporary specialist literature that the entire lock process took a maximum of 30 minutes. It included driving the trolleys in and out, closing the gates, reflecting the water levels between the two chambers, filling from the upper water or draining into the lower water of the residual water and lifting the gates. When the ships with their own propulsion were approved after 1945, the trolleys were superfluous and removed. Even before the start of construction in 1901, a calculated annual output of 8.64 million tons was determined without night, Sunday and public holiday operations, but this was never even close.
Additional north lock from 1940
The further expansion of the Reich waterways and the implementation of the "Speer Program", named after Albert Speer , the general building inspector for Berlin from 1937 to 1942, to expand the canal made it necessary to build an additional lock in steel sheet piling from 1939. The new northern chamber, as it is also called in relation to the entire canal stage, with dimensions of 85 meters in length and 12 meters in width, allows ships of up to 1000 tons to be locked. The shipyards on the North Sea coast were also served with supplies from Berlin. Pressure hulls for submarines manufactured in Berlin-Tempelhof were supposed to be shipped and channeled through the larger northern chamber. The designers did not use lifting gates for reasons of cost and time. A common mortise gate was used in the lower head and a folding gate in the head .
Since larger ships had to be expected after the opening of the Nordschleuse in 1940, which the existing towing capacities of the canal did not match, consideration was given to discontinuing towing using electrically operated towing locomotives. After weighing up the pros and cons, the traditional towing operation remained in order to protect the banks from waves and suction from self-propelled vehicles. However, from 1940 onwards, Teltowkanal AG could issue special permits for driving on with your own propulsion power. This permit could easily be obtained from the canal authorities when entering the canal.
After the bombs were dropped on the canal almost regularly from 1943 onwards, only the middle lock chamber remained in operation. In order to prevent a catastrophe if the lock system were to be hit by bombs , the newly built north chamber, which was only used for heavy loads for a few months, was filled with gravel and a sheet pile wall was placed in front of the upper gate of the south chamber. While the old Hakeburg, only eight hundred meters away, fell victim to a bomb attack in 1943, the lock system remained almost intact.
The lock area includes the lock bridge on the west side, which was formerly named after Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia. It was built in such a way that the general vehicle traffic on Stahnsdorfer Damm could flow as well as the "change" of towing locomotives on rails from one bank to the other. After it was blown up on April 20, 1945, a new temporary bridge was built, which was subsequently expanded for vehicle traffic.
Reopening in 1981 and former expansion plans
German Unity Transport Project No. 17
The lock system remained unused until the Teltow Canal was reopened from the west in 1981. Amazingly, its movable functional parts were still so usable afterwards that only minor renovation work was necessary.
In 1992 the Council of the European Community made the recommendation to press ahead with the development of a uniform European waterway network. This project is also important for an efficient waterway network in eastern Germany and its seamless connection to the waterway expansion that has already taken place in the west.
In connection with the implementation of the German Unity Transport Project no. 17 (federal waterway connecting Hannover-Magdeburg-Berlin) of the Teltow Canal for the movement of large inland cargo vessels and pushed convoys should be extended to him to long to 185 meters pushed convoys on the way from Magdeburg to use to Berlin to be able to. That would also have required enlarging the north lock to the usable dimensions of 190 m by 12.5 m by 4 m. There were also plans for ship waiting areas 400 and 620 meters in length in the upstream and downstream of the lock. To the south of the newly built Stolper Weg residential area, around 40 meters of the alluvial forest would have had to be removed from the canal . Various environmental associations have protested since 1992 against the expansion of the lock because of the feared massive interference in the riverbank landscape. After a re-evaluation of the project, an expansion of the Teltow Canal beyond waterway class IV is no longer planned. As a result, plans to expand the Kleinmachnow lock were also abandoned. Instead, a refurbishment of the lock is planned. A lawsuit to expand the lock failed in January 2013 before the Potsdam Administrative Court.
Repair in 2000
In 1993, when entering the lock, an empty tanker rammed a bow bollard into a bridge girder in the pedestrian section of the lock bridge. This accident and signs of fatigue on the abutments led to the bridge being closed to vehicle traffic. Only pedestrians could still cross them. In the course of the preparation of the extension of the northern lock from 85 to 190 meters chamber length and due to demands of the residents, a new bridge was built, which is now a few meters west of the lock system. It was opened to public transport on May 20, 2005. The arcades of the old road bridge have been preserved for reasons of monument protection .
Early tourist orientation
Buildings for excursion traffic
In order to make the lock system attractive for day trippers from Berlin and the surrounding area, the Teltow district also had a lock tavern built. Along with its large gardens by the water, this had to give way to the extension of the lock system in 1939. Until then, the guest could comfortably watch the lifting and lowering of the heavy lifting gates, the filling and emptying of the 18,000 cubic meters of water in the lock chambers in two minutes.
To the north of the now third lock chamber, a replacement building was built for the demolished lock inn, which unfortunately does not fit the remaining ensemble architecturally. The construction work for this functional building erected in 1940 was carried out by the brothers Prof. Walter and Prof. Johannes Krüger . They became known through the Langemarck monument and the construction of the Protestant Johanneskirche in Berlin-Frohnau . This Schleusenkrug, built as a large inn, as can still be read today carved in wood above the entrance door, suffered major damage from bombs, which was completely removed by 1948. Two large halls and a farmhouse parlor were ready for the onrush of visitors. But the audience stayed away in the post-war years. So the decision matured to close the bar again in 1950 and to convert it for other purposes.
Today you can stop at the “Schleusenwirt” (Gasthaus zur Schleuse) on the opposite side in the forest. The inn was built in 1905 by the innkeeper Persch. From 1984 to 1991 the Lehmann family and from 1992 the Lasotta family ran this house.
Machnower Schleuse street is framed by other buildings that differ from the lock ensemble in terms of their architectural style and purpose. According to plans by the architect Prof. Starke, a facility for vocational training that opened on September 1, 1958 was created in the 1950s from the converted “Schleusenkrug” and new buildings. Today the Wasser- und Schifffahrtsdirektion Ost in Magdeburg maintains a vocational training center for hydraulic engineering with teaching buildings and residential units.
Bakeflow
From the lock bridge you have an excellent view of the entire facility. In the immediate vicinity, you can see the last few meters of the slowly flowing Bäke water, which once flowed through a glacial channel on the Teltow plateau . You can get to the Bäke from the lock bridge down the channel via the southern towpath. To the left of the path lies, within reach, the last part of the river, which is important for the canal, which has its source in Berlin-Steglitz and which has largely risen up in the Teltow Canal.
Excursion traffic today
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Following the long tradition of the Teltower Kreisschiffahrt , the Stern und Kreisschiffahrt offers excursions from their landing stage. From Treptow over the Spree, the Britzer connecting canal and the Teltow canal, after the lock in Kleinmachnow, the route continues downhill, past Babelsberg Palace , through the Glienicke Bridge and with a view of Glienicke Palace over the Jungfernsee to Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam and on over the Havel and the Spree now uphill through Berlin to Treptower Hafen. This excursion with many interesting impressions leads through almost all southern Berlin districts .
When the weather is good, numerous onlookers come to watch the lock process in Kleinmachnow, because the lock chambers are particularly easy to see from the road bridge and the publicly accessible parts of the old pedestrian bridge. Since May 2008, every Sunday and public holiday there has been an additional opportunity to step onto the platform between the two old lock chambers and have the technology explained by employees of the Waterways and Shipping Office. There are also guided tours through the lock buildings on the first Sunday of each month (registration required).
Chronology of the lock system
- 1901: laying of the foundation stone
- 1902: Start of construction - excavation of the soil to the foundation floor; the sheet piling is knocked down and the base is concreted in the dry state.
- 1903: Construction of the chamber walls, the base and bank fortifications of the outer harbors and this itself.
- 1904: Completion of the lock masonry and the gate towers. Structural work on the sluice yard completed.
- 1905: Assembly of the doors and counterweights as well as installation of the electrical equipment and the door operator.
- 1906: Opening of the lock by the Kaiser and the dignitaries of the Teltow district.
- 1939: Demolition of the sluice yard and start of construction of the north sluice designed for 1000-ton ships.
- 1941: Completion of the north lock except for the installation of the lock gates.
- 1945: Removal of war damage.
- 1948: Lock operation ceased due to the closure of the Teltow Canal.
- 1981: lock operations resumed.
- 1993: The road bridge was closed to vehicle traffic due to damage to the abutments set in 1905.
- 1999: Implementation of the planning approval procedure to enlarge the Nordschleuse.
- 2005: May 20, opening of the newly built lock bridge for public road traffic.
- 2006: Ceremony on the occasion of 100 years of the Teltow Canal on June 2nd at the lock system with a historic ship convoy; Festival week from June 6th to 11th at the lock system and other places along the waterway.
See also
- To the Teltow canal precursor Bäke and to the Bäketal Kleinmachnow with maps and detailed descriptions: Bäke (Telte)
literature
- Horst Köhler: The Teltow Canal. A lifeline in the south of Berlin. Stapp Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-87776-036-8
- Nicola Bröcker, Celina Kress: Settle southwest. Kleinmachnow near Berlin - from a villa colony to a town house settlement. Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2004 (2nd edition 2006), ISBN 3-936872-30-9 , pp. 66-69
- Peter Hahn and Jürgen Stich: Teltow Canal - Stations, Paths, Stories. Editor Oliver Flint. Oase Verlag, Badenweiler 2006. ISBN 3-88922-059-2
- H.-J. Uhlemann, Berlin and the Märkische Wasserstraßen, DSV-Verlag Hamburg 1994, pp. 125–127
Web links
- Waterways and Shipping Office Berlin: lock Kleinmachnow
- New waterway construction office in Berlin: lock Kleinmachnow
- Electronic waterway information system (ELWIS): Kleinmachnow / Teltow Canal lock (TeK)
- Kleinmachnow lock. In: Structurae
Individual evidence
- ↑ Indication of the height of the upper water at the lock Kleinmachnow, km 8.34, map of the state survey of Brandenburg
- ↑ Wasserstraßen-Neubauamt Berlin: Plan for the expansion of the north chamber in Kleinmachnow (PDF; 203 kB; accessed May 14, 2013)
- ↑ Printed matter 17/511. (PDF; 100 kB) German Bundestag, January 26, 2010, accessed on December 25, 2012 .
- ↑ Potsdamer Latest News: No new construction of the Kleinmachnow lock , January 26, 2013 (accessed May 14, 2013)
