Saarlouis tram
The Saarlouis tram was an almost 60 kilometer long tram system in Saarland . The responsible transport company was called electric trams and small railways in the Saarlouis district .
history
The district town of Saarlouis had been connected to the railway network by the state-owned Saarbrücker Railway since 1858 . The train station (since around 1954: Saarlouis Hauptbahnhof ) was about two kilometers away from the city center on the right bank of the Saar . Numerous other places where coal mines or ironworks were built initially remained off the railroad. The aim was to consolidate the transport network with small trains and trams, as was the aim of the Prussian Small Railroad Act .
In 1897 the city of Saarlouis began building small railways. She entrusted the construction and operating company Vering & Waechter in Berlin with the execution . After completion, this also took over the management, which was transferred to Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebsgesellschaft AG in 1899 . As of April 1, 1910, the city took over management of the business on its own.
The Eisenbahnbau-Gesellschaft Becker & Co GmbH built electric trams in Berlin for the Saarlouis district and opened in 1913. The city and district brought their railways, all of which were laid out in standard gauge, to the Kraft- und Verkehrswerke AG Saarlouis (KRAVAG) founded on October 31, 1922. The new company then expanded the network further.
After the departure of the Becker company and some small shareholders, the Saarlouis district retained 79% of the shares and the city of Saarlouis 21 percent. As a result of the name change of the city and district, the AG traded as Kreisverkehrsbetriebe Saarlautern AG from September 27, 1940, and then again as Kreisverkehrsbetriebe Saarlouis AG after the end of the Second World War. The inclusion of the city of Dillingen in the circle of shareholders led to the reallocation of the capital: the Saarlouis district now owned 60 percent and the cities of Saarlouis and Dillingen each owned 20 percent of the shares.
Development of the route network
Small railways of the city of Saarlouis
The city of Saarlouis's first project was the Ensdorf – Saarlouis– Wallerfangen railroad , which opened on July 30, 1897. It began at the Ensdorf state train station on the right bank of the Saar, where the handover to the state railroad's freight traffic took place. Then it led in an arc via Lisdorf to the small train station in the center of the district town and further north-west to the neighboring town of Wallerfangen (6.5 kilometers).
Starting from the Kleinbahnhof, the city of Saarlouis opened a second steam train route in a north-easterly direction over the Saar to Fraulautern (3.2 kilometers) on January 30, 1899. There was the Saarlouis state train station, which was relocated about 500 meters west in 1911 to the town of Roden , which has belonged to the city of Saarlouis since 1907. The aim was to immediately connect this new station to the tram network. There was a long-term dispute about this with the Fraulautern community, which feared a worse connection.
In 1912, the route to Fraulautern, on which - in contrast to the Ensdorfer route - passenger traffic was considerably more important than goods traffic, was handed over to the district. After some changes, he added it to his electric tram network, which was under construction.
On June 20, 1913, the city of Saarlouis opened another small railway line that ran from the city center west to Felsberg (4.8 kilometers). In 1914, the imperial course book contains the following routes with a 1435 mm gauge :
- Ensdorf - Lisdorf (2.0 kilometers) - Saarlouis Kleinbahnhof (3.5 kilometers) - Beaumarais halt (5.8 kilometers) - Wallerfangen (6.5 kilometers)
- Saarlouis Kleinbahnhof - Felsberg (4.8 kilometers)
The small railways of the city of Saarlouis were still operated with steam locomotives. Six locomotives, eight passenger cars, two baggage cars, two mail cars and four freight cars were in use on the eleven-kilometer route.
With effect from October 1, 1918, the district acquired all of the city's small railways.
Saarlouis circular path
The Saarlouis district opened tram lines in 1913, which were electrified from the start. The company ran the railway construction company Becker & Co GmbH in Berlin, which had also carried out the construction.
On May 20, 1913, an electric tram was able to run on the former urban small train to Fraulautern, which also touched the new state train station directly.
Furthermore, the following routes went into operation on October 18, 1913:
- a) State train station - Dillingen (Saar) - Diefflen - Nalbach
- b) Saarlouis - Ensdorf - Schwalbach (on an additional route between Saarlouis and Ensdorf)
- c) Fraulautern - Saarwellingen
- d) Fraulautern - Ensdorf - Bous
- e) Lisdorf - Wadgassen
In 1914, the district's own tram network comprised 37 kilometers of electrically operated routes. 28 railcars, a sidecar and two baggage cars were available for this.
In 1916 the tram lines were designated with the numbers 1-8:
- 1 Saarlouis Staatsbahnhof - Roden (1.5 km) - Dillingen (4.2 km)
- 2 Saarlouis Kleiner Markt - Lisdorf (0.6 km) - Ensdorf (2.9 km) - Schwalbach (6.4 km)
- 3 Saarlouis Kleiner Markt - State train station - Fraulautern (3.1 km) - Saarwellingen Ende (7.6 km)
- 4 Saarlouis Kleiner Markt - Staatsbahnhof - Fraulautern (3.1 km) - Ensdorf (5.6 km)
- 5 Saarlouis Small Market - Lisdorf - Wadgassen (7.3 km)
- 6 Saarlouis Kleiner Markt - Lisdorf - Ensdorf (2.9 km) - Bous (6.5 km)
- 7 Dillingen train station - Diefflen (3.9 km) - Nalbach Ende (5.9 km)
- 8 Saarlouis Small Market - State Railway Station (2.0 km)
Kraft- und Verkehrswerke AG
Kraft- und Verkehrswerke AG continued the expansion of the network on April 1, 1922 with the electrification of the small railroad sections Saarlouis - Felsberg and Saarlouis - Wallerfangen, which were then designated as tram lines 9 and 10. The Felsberg route was extended to Kreuzwald ( Creutzwald ) on September 1, 1925 , although the end point was in Lorraine. The owner of the La Houve mine financed the almost two kilometer long section on French territory and leased it to the railway company. Until it was discontinued, this line was also considered a small railway for passenger traffic; therefore up to six sidecars could be carried in rush hour traffic.
On August 13, 1927, tram line 4 was run by Fraulautern on a new line to Hülzweiler (3.2 km), but line 6 went to Bous via Fraulautern.
It was not until November 22nd, 1932 that the "main line" of the small railway between Saarlouis and Ensdorf was electrified for freight traffic. From 1933 to October 6, 1934, tram line 11 also served passenger services here.
A small expansion of the rail network took place in Dillingen in 1935, where a 350 m long junction with a turning loop was opened at the station.
The largest expansion of the network was reached at around 59 km. In 1933 the following lines were used:
- 1 Saarlouis Small Market - State Railway Station - Dillingen (6.2 km)
- 2 Saarlouis Small Market - Lisdorf - Ensdorf - Schwalbach (8.4 km)
- 3 Saarlouis Small Market - Fraulautern - Saarwellingen (7.6 km)
- 4 Saarlouis Small Market - Fraulautern - Hülzweiler (6.3 km)
- 5 Saarlouis Small Market - Lisdorf - Wadgassen Bf (7.3 km)
- 6 Saarlouis Small Market - Fraulautern Bf - Ensdorf - Bous (9.2 km)
- 7 Dillingen - Diefflen - Nalbach (5.9 km)
- 8 Saarlouis Small Market - Saarlouis State Train Station (2.0 km)
- 9 Saarlouis Kleiner Markt - Felsberg - Berus - Überherrn - Creutzwald (15.5 km)
- 10 Saarlouis Small Market - Wallerfangen (3.0 km)
- 11 Saarlouis Kleinbahnhof - Lisdorf - Ensdorf (3.5 km)
As early as October 6, 1934, tram traffic on the line 11 used for light rail traffic ended, while goods traffic remained there until operations were completely shut down in 1963.
In 1936 the principle of making the Kleiner Markt the terminus of all lines was abandoned; rather, some lines were now connected to form larger diameter lines.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the tram lines operated with only a short night-time break from 2:30 a.m. to 3:40 a.m. due to the numerous shift workers among the passengers.
statistics
The statistics from 1928 show that of the total of 59.4 kilometers of routes, only 3.1 kilometers were double-tracked. The vehicle fleet comprised 4 steam locomotives, 32 electric railcars, 21 sidecars and 3 passenger cars, 2 pack, 4 freight and 6 coal cars. That had changed little by 1939; however, the four steam locomotives had been replaced by two electric locomotives.
For the tram, which was still operating on a network of 29 kilometers in 1958, there were 26 multiple units and 20 sidecars. In 1961, five railcars and seven sidecars were sufficient for the last passenger transport route that went to Creutzwald. In addition, the two electric locomotives that came to Dillinger Hütte after the cessation of operations were used for freight traffic until the very end.
Suspension of passenger traffic by rail
When the Second World War began in 1939, the Saarlouis district was in the front line, which is why the civilian population was evacuated. All tram traffic was idle for months until the residents were allowed to return to their hometowns in the summer of 1940. These events were repeated towards the end of the war.
Despite the considerable destruction caused by air raids and fighting when the Allied troops marched in, the tram and light rail network was almost completely rebuilt. Only the direct route from the city center via Lisdorf to Ensdorf was not repaired. More and more defects soon became noticeable, which made a fundamental renewal of the routes and vehicles urgently necessary. But the procurement of new vehicles was difficult and was also seen by many as no longer appropriate. So it was decided to cease operations in the coming years.
The network gradually shrank due to the discontinuation on the following sections:
- May 18, 1953: Lisdorf –Wadgassen and Ensdorf - Bous
- July 30, 1953: Saarlouis Small Market - Lisdorf, Rosenthal
- November 30, 1953: Saarlouis Small Market - Wallerfangen
- September 4, 1955: Dillingen - Nalbach and Fraulautern - Saarwellingen
- May 31, 1957: Saarlouis main station - Dillingen
- June 1, 1959: Fraulautern - Ensdorf - Schwalbach
- February 29, 1960: Saarlouis Small Market - Central Station - Fraulautern - Hülzweiler
- February 28, 1961: Saarlouis Kleinbahnhof - Felsberg - Creutzwald (La Houve)
Bus lines
All connections were gradually served by the company's omnibus lines. On March 1, 1928, it had already opened an additional bus service with a line 7.7 km in length. In the years 1932/33, some tram lines in the southeast (Schwalbach, Bous and Wadgassen) were converted to bus operation on an experimental basis; However, this did not prove itself at the time. In 1939, six overland lines with a total length of 78 km were in operation alongside the tram network. In 1958 212 km of bus routes were used and in 2000 it was 702 km.
The number of buses rose from one in 1928 to eight in 1939, 47 plus seven trailers in 1958 and to 95 in 2000.
Freight transport
Freight traffic was operated by the Saarlautern / Saarlouis roundabout under the name Kleinbahn Ensdorf – Saarlautern / Saarlouis – Wallerfangen – Felsberg on the Ensdorf – Saarlautern – Wallerfangen and Saarlautern – Felsberg – Kreuzwald routes (a total of 22 km).
The transport of coal from the La Houve mine in Lorraine to the Dillinger Hütte was particularly important; in the opposite direction mine wood was transported to Lorraine.
After the electrification of the (old) line to Ensdorf in 1932, steam locomotives were no longer used on the circular track.
The freight traffic ended in the years 1953 to 1963 as the last part of the rail traffic in Saarlouis on the two remaining routes:
- November 30, 1953: Saarlouis - Wallerfangen
- December 31, 1960: Saarlouis - Felsberg - Creutzwald
- December 31, 1963: Saarlouis - Lisdorf - Ensdorf
literature
- Dieter Höltge: German trams and light rail vehicles, Volume 4: Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland . Zeunert, Gifhorn 1981, ISBN 3-921237-60-2
- UP Ipsen and Herbert Sommerfeld: The Saarlouis regional railways . in: Tram Magazine 1984, Issue 52, Stuttgart 1984
- Rolf Löttgers: The former tram in Saarlouis . in: Der Stadtverkehr, 1984, issue 8
- Gerd Wolff: German small and private railways, Volume 1 Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland . EK-Verlag Freiburg 1989, ISBN 3-88255-651-X