Esslingen – Nellingen – Denkendorf tram

Railcar number 4 in the former Zuffenhausen Tram Museum

Route length:

11.6 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Dual track :

Pliensauturm – Weilstrasse and
Zollberg – Mutzenreisstrasse

Legend

	City line from Charlottenplatz
	Esslingen Schelztor
	Passage line from Stuttgart-Obertürkheim


0.0	Esslingen Bundesbahnhof (formerly Reichsbahnhof)	237 m
	Through line to Oberesslingen
0.3	Esslingen Pliensauturm , Stuttgart – Ulm railway line
	Pliensau Bridge , steel bridge over the Neckar
	Pliensau Bridge, stone bridge over the Bundesstrasse 10
0.6	Esslingen Weilstrasse	239 m
2.3	Esslingen Zollberg	335 m
2.8	Esslingen Mutzenreisstrasse (formerly Waldheim)	362 m
3.2	Linde Berkheim (formerly Berkheim (Linde))	370 m

4.0 0.0	Nellingen Hindenburgstrasse	353 m
	Nellingen Depot Schillerstrasse
4.5	Nellingen Rosenstrasse	349 m
5.6	Denkendorf Stadium	345 m
6.1	Thinking village ox	326 m
0.5	Nellingen Riegelstrasse
1.8	Scharnhausen Krähenbach (formerly Grasiger Weg)
2.3	Scharnhausen Lenzhalde	328 m
2.7	Scharnhausen Bridge	300 m
	Korsch
4.0	Hagenacker	346 m
	Federal motorway 8
4.8	Neuhausen Im Häusle	338 m
5.2	Neuhausen Bridge	316 m
5.5	Neuhausen Bahnhofstrasse

Railcar 2 in Esslingen

Railcar 2 in the Neuhausen terminus; the TW stops on the track facing away from the road.

Ticket from 1943 with the stop names valid at the time

The Esslingen – Nellingen – Denkendorf (END) tram was an intercity tram that ran from Esslingen am Neckar to Nellingen and from there on two separate routes to Denkendorf and Neuhausen . It started operating in 1926 and was shut down in 1978 and replaced by bus lines . The former operating company Straßenbahn Esslingen-Nellingen-Denkendorf GmbH existed until December 31, 2015 as the bus company END Verkehrsgesellschaft .

history

1926 trunk line

After Esslingen had been served by the Esslingen am Neckar tram since 1912 , the overland route to Nellingen also went into operation on December 18, 1926. It began in Esslingen on the forecourt of the station, crossed the Neckar on the Pliensau bridge and reached the Zollberg with the settlement of the same name via the serpentines of Zollbergstraße . The difference in altitude was around 100 meters over a 1.7 km route. As far as Nellingen on the Fildern , it overcame a total height difference of around 130 meters from Esslingen. It continued to Denkendorf on the edge of the Körschtal . The center of operations was the car hall with workshop in Nellingen.

1929 Branch Nellingen – Neuhausen / F

Three years later, on September 21, 1929, a route extension branching off in Nellingen via Scharnhausen to Neuhausen / Filder was opened. When the then Reichsautobahn Stuttgart – Munich (today's A 8 ) was built in 1937, the tramway was laid in an incision in the area of the autobahn in order to cross under the autobahn.

Later minor changes

From the start of operations in 1926 until 1943, there was a direct rail connection to the large network of Stuttgart trams via the tracks of the municipal Esslingen tram. With the suspension of the Esslingen tram, the END was separated from its "big brother".

As old postcards of the Denkendorf and Neuhausen terminus show, the trains stopped there for many years to get on and off the roadside track. The track facing away from the road served as the transfer track. In the mid-1950s, they were exchanged, probably for safety reasons due to the increasing amount of individual traffic, and the roadside track was now used to move.

Also during this time, together with the construction of the Wendeschleife directly on the Esslingen station forecourt, the previously single-track route over the Pliensau Bridge was expanded to two-track so as not to become an obstacle to individual traffic.

To accommodate a fixed 12/24 minute cycle, probably at the end of the 1950s, a new turnout had to be installed at the Scharnhausen-Krähenbach stop. Until then, there was only the Scharnhausen-Brücke siding on the Nellingen-Neuhausen route. However, this did not fit the rigid cycle and was then only needed in exceptional cases.

During the reconstruction of the Pliensau Bridge in 1964, the rail connection over the Pliensau Bridge was temporarily interrupted. The trains going to Esslingen turned around during this time by means of a simple turning loop that was created west of the southern bridge ramp. It also served as a provisional final stop.

Regular operation

In normal weekday operation there was a 12/24 minute cycle. The standard travel time for the Esslingen-Denkendorf route was 20 minutes, and the Esslingen-Neuhausen route was 30 minutes. From Esslingen to Nellingen the trains ran every 12 minutes. In Nellingen they drove alternately to Denkendorf and Neuhausen, so that there was a 24-minute cycle on the routes from Nellingen. Two trains were used on the shorter Esslingen-Nellingen-Denkendorf route and three trains on the longer Esslingen-Nellingen-Neuhausen route. There were train crossings at the passing points Pliensauvorstadt, Zollberg and Nellingen-Hindenburgstraße. The trains to Neuhausen had another crossing point at the Scharnhausen-Krähenbach stop.

Every 12/24 minutes, the trains stayed in the turning loop at Esslingen station for six minutes, at the Denkendorf terminal for just two minutes and at the Neuhausen terminal for six minutes. One circuit in the Esslingen-Denkendorf route thus took 48 minutes, and in the Esslingen-Neuhausen route one hour and 12 minutes.

In the morning rush hour, two repeater trains were used on the Denkendorf-Esslingen route and thus ran every 12 minutes. From Nellingen these amplifier trains drove directly ahead of the regular trains coming from Neuhausen. Between Esslingen and Zollberg, a single shuttle railcar was used for reinforcement in front of the regular trains to and from Denkendorf. In total, a maximum of eight trains were in use.

In the late evening hours and on Sunday morning, there was a 30/60 minute cycle when two railcars were in use, one on the Denkendorf and one on the Neuhausen route. The two railcars met in Nellingen. At this rate there was no stopping time either in the turning loop at Esslingen train station or in the Neuhausen terminus. Only the Denkendorf trains had a scheduled stopping time of 12 minutes at the Denkendorf terminal.

1978 discontinuation

For economic reasons, the justification of which is questioned then as well as today, the entire operation was stopped on February 28, 1978. The tram operation was henceforth by the bus routes

ED (Esslingen – Denkendorf, since 1985 line 119) and
EN (Esslingen – Neuhausen, since 1985 line 120)

replaced. The management was handed over to the municipal transport company Esslingen am Neckar (SVE), which for the first time in its history (push) procured articulated buses of the new type O 305 G from Daimler-Benz especially for the operation of these two lines . It was the first commercial route for this type of bus.

Failed museum project

The depot in Nellingen and a large part of the vehicle fleet initially remained unchanged after the discontinuation, as the amateur association Straßenbahnmuseum Stuttgart e. V. (SMS) was pursuing plans to set up a museum tram on the Nellingen – Neuhausen section .

Winter timetable 1976/77

As early as April 1979, however, the Ostfildern municipal council decided to use the Nellinger Wagenhalle grounds for other purposes. To compensate for this, the SMS was offered an alternative site on the outskirts of Nellingen for the construction of a small carriage hall with a museum. Furthermore, the local council rejected the financial support of an END museum railway.

In May 1980, an alternative solution was discussed to start the planned END museum railway to Neuhausen only on the outskirts of Nellingen. In the meantime, the city of Ostfildern acquired the Nellingen depot and the municipal council decided to draw up a development plan for the area. At the same time, the redesign and expansion of the three Nellingen thoroughfares, i.e. Hindenburgstrasse, Esslinger Strasse and Denkendorfer Strasse, began.

On December 2, 1981, the museum project finally came to an end, the Ostfildern municipal council stuck to its position of April 1979 and decided not to grant the SMS any financial support for the construction of an END museum. With the related end for the smaller car hall planned as an alternative on the outskirts of Nellingen, the plans for a museum route from Nellingen to Neuhausen were finally finished. The association moved some of the vehicles to Schönau in Baden , where it was dissolved in 1995 without replacement. The car shed in Nellingen was demolished. At the same place, a cultural center, the hall , was built according to the original building principles .

vehicles

The following list shows all passenger vehicles used at the END; existing vehicles are highlighted in gray.

number	Construction year	Origin, whereabouts and other remarks
1	1926	Scrapped in 1969
2	1926	Tram Museum Stuttgart (not operational, as it was in 1978)
3	1926	Originally erected as a memorial with BW 22 at Zollberg, since 1981 in the State Museum for Technology and Work in Mannheim, not accessible
4th	1926	Stuttgart historic trams (museum inventory, not operational, restored to the state of approx. 1930)
5	1926	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau , scrapped in 1995
6th	1927	1981 sold in exchange for the Reutlinger railcar 30 (formerly ESS 7) without engines to the Technikmuseum Marxzell , 200x scrapped
7th	1929	Scrapped in 1974
8th	1929	to the Hanover tram museum in Wehmingen, museum inventory (not operational), scrapped in 2012 due to poor condition
9	1929	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, scrapped in 1995. One of the front panels was salvaged by members of the Stuttgart Historic Trams Association and integrated into the Zur Rostigen Schelle museum bar .
10	1942	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, scrapped in 1995
11	1955	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, scrapped in the early 2000s
12	1958	on September 14, 1982 to the SSB center in Stuttgart-Möhringen, on November 23, 1982 to the Rittner Bahn , refurbished in 1991, since then in regular use (only at times of low traffic)
13	1958	on September 14, 1982 to the SSB center in Stuttgart-Möhringen, on November 29, 1982 to the Rittner Bahn, as a spare part donor in the Klobenstein Remise, was transferred to Stuttgart on December 18, 2012 and is to be made ready for exhibition again
20 I.	1903	1933 from Stuttgart (formerly SSB 300, so-called “Königwagen”), back to SSB in 1965, initially intended as a museum car there, but due to its condition, sold in 1967 for scrapping in exchange for SSB teaching vehicle 2002 (formerly 610) and broken off
20 II	1950	1965 from Stuttgart (formerly SSB 297), 1980 to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, received there the no. 2020, today in private ownership (Aachen / Euskirchen area)
21st	1926	Stuttgart historic trams (museum inventory, not operational)
22nd	1926	State Museum for Technology and Work in Mannheim, not accessible
23	1926	Stuttgart historic trams (not operational, Cafe Alteachse )
24	1926	Scrapped in 1972
25th	1926	to the Hanover Tram Museum in Wehmingen, museum inventory (not operational), scrapped in 1993 due to poor condition
26th	1926	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, scrapped in 1995
27	1926	Scrapped in 1972
28	1927	scrapped after hiring
29	1929	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, scrapped in 1995
30th	1929	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, where it was converted into a generator car No. 2230, scrapped in 1995
31	1929	197x to the riding and driving club Gärtringen; Scrapped October 2012; 1 set of wheels to the Nagold History Association for the Nagold – Altensteig narrow-gauge railway display
32	1929	Scrapped in 1972
33	1949	Scrapped in 1971
34	1949	Scrapped in 1973
35	1952	to the Stuttgart Tram Museum in Schönau, scrapped in 1995
36	1958	1982 to the Rittner Bahn, initially parked as a spare parts donor next to the Klobenstein Remise, scrapped in November 2009, a bogie received as an exhibit (Stuttgarter Historische Straßenbahnen e.V.)
37	1958	1982 to the Rittner Bahn, initially parked as a spare parts donor next to the Klobenstein Remise, scrapped in November 2009
41	1912	1951 from Stuttgart (formerly SSB 1182; previously ESS 22), 1965 back to SSB and redesigned for its company anniversary in 1968 to the nostalgic sidecar 70 without a historical model, 1995 dismantled to its original condition under ESS number 22, today in the inventory of the Stuttgart historic trams e. V. (not operational)

Note: The sidecars 21 to 28 originally had the numbers 6 to 13 in consecutive numbering to the first railcars, they were redesignated in 1927.

Railcar 2 in the Stuttgart Tram Museum
Sidecar 23
Railcar 2 + sidecar 23
Railcar 2, interior view
Work car / rail grinding trailer
The former railcar 12 in use on the South Tyrolean Rittner Bahn

Relics

On this now demolished bridge, the END once crossed the tracks of the Stuttgart – Ulm railway line

A catenary mast on the former Nellingen-Neuhausen line near Scharnhausen

Pliensau Bridge

On the makeshift bridge over the Neckar, an approximately 50-meter-long piece of double track with grooved rails has been preserved. The bridge was built after the Second World War when the Neckar was expanded to become a shipping route. Since then, it has connected the Pliensau tower with the historical part of the Pliensau bridge, which leads over federal highway 10 .

Zollberg stop

In the area of the Zollberg stop, a short bus lane in the direction of Esslingen was set up on a piece of the former route . The former platform in the direction of Esslingen is also used in this way to this day, where the line 118 of the trolleybus Esslingen am Neckar and the bus lines 113, 119 and 120 run. The rectangular foundation of the former bus stop has also been preserved, it now surrounds today's glass shelter. The pedestrian underpass under Zollbergstrasse, which was created in the course of the double-track expansion and also serves as a stop access , is also still in use .

Replica of the Nellinger Wagenhalle

Due to its rare roof construction, the city of Ostfildern wanted to keep the 67-meter-long Nellinger Depot permanently even after the plans for a museum tram were abandoned. It was the so-called Zollinger roof lamella construction, named after the architect Friedrich Zollinger . However, because the original roof of the hall was in poor condition in the 1980s, it was decided to rebuild it according to the original plans. This was built between 1986 and 1989 and was integrated into the new Nellingen community center. The replica replaces the left part of the former depot, i.e. the half that was completed when operations began in 1926. However, the replica of the depot is also designed to be open on the former rear side facing Goethestrasse. To avoid drafts, four steel gates were installed on the former entrance side, which correspond in shape and size to the old wooden gates.

Own route between Nellingen and Neuhausen

Between the western outskirts of Nellingen and the northern outskirts of Neuhausen, the route has been completely preserved over a length of 3.7 kilometers. This section was the only one that was completely independent of the road network. From the outskirts of Neuhausen it has been built over a length of 1.4 kilometers with a railway cycle path in the direction of Scharnhausen . The previous route can be traced on the basis of this cycle path. The current bridge of the federal autobahn 8 over the route or over the cycle path, on the other hand, is a new building;

Expansion plans

Considerations were made to extend the Stuttgart light rail system , which now runs to Nellingen, to Esslingen, as reported again in the Esslinger Zeitung on August 30, 2013.

literature

50 years of the Esslingen – Nellingen – Denkendorf tram 1926–1976, official commemorative publication for the 50th anniversary
Gottfried Bauer, Ulrich Theurer, Claude Jeanmaire: Trams around Stuttgart . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen / Switzerland 1984, ISBN 3-85649-047-7 .
Christian Rilling: The Esslingen – Nellingen – Denkendorf tram. A contribution to the development of local transport in Esslingen and the eastern Filder. In: Esslinger Studies. Number 42/2003. Pages 163 ff. Esslingen am Neckar city archive, ISSN 0174-4445 .
tram-TV: Long-forgotten trams: Esslingen-Nellingen-Denkendorf & Reutlingen, DVD, publisher: tram-TV Cologne, ISBN 978-3-9813669-6-9
Andreas Illgen, The END. Tram Esslingen - Nellingen - Denkendorf: Trains and buses in and around Esslingen , 2019, ISBN 978-3837520941

Web links

Commons : Tram Esslingen – Nellingen – Denkendorf - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ http://tram-info.de/wagenp/wehmingen.htm
↑ Tailwind for Stadtbahn , Esslinger Zeitung, August 30, 2013

[1] ttp://tram-info.de/wagenp/wehmingen.htm

[2] Tailwind for Stadtbahn , Esslinger Zeitung, August 30, 2013