Tram Hamm

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Tram Hamm in 1900

The tram Hamm was from 1898 to 1961 a part of the Stadtwerke Hamm and its predecessor companies.

founding

On June 15, 1897, the Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft (formerly Schuckert & Co. ) and the City Council of Hamm, represented by Mayor Richard Matthei and Councilor F. Cobet, signed a contract to establish the Hammer Tram. The Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft committed itself to "a tram from Hamm train station, under the railway overpass to Bahnhofstrasse, through this along Weststrasse, over the market, through Oststrasse and Ostenallee to the Schützenhofe of the Bürgererschützenverein (Bad Hamm) on the one hand and from the On the other hand, to establish and operate stations up to the Schützenhofe of the Westenvorstadt (Vorsterhausen). "

The planning of the tram was closely related to the " Bad Hamm " in the east of Hammer. The spa guests had to be brought there from the train station on Pelkumer Chaussee . Initially this was done with the help of horses. The electric tram, popularly known as " Electric ", replaced the old horse-drawn tram. Railway operations were initially limited to a single line. This was also still single-track; the trains could only go in one direction at a time.

From construction to the crisis after the First World War (1897–1923)

The track construction work on the meter-gauge Westenschützenhof-Osten (Kronenburg) line, which led from Vorsterhausen through the city center to Kronenburg, began in spring 1898 and was completed in the same year. The tram was unfamiliar to the people of Hammer, but it was not as much admired as the first train fifty years earlier. After all, it was sufficiently attractive that every Hammer citizen wanted to use the new means of transport at least once in the days after it opened.

A test drive on October 19 was successful, so that Elektrizitäts AG was able to start operating on schedule the following day. During the first year there were no fixed stops. Whoever wanted to go along gave the driver a sign or called out to him; he then stopped the car, the passenger got on and the journey continued. Only on August 31, 1899, the establishment of stops was announced.

Four days after commissioning, the Westfälischer Anzeiger read:

" The last few days have confirmed our long-standing view that the electric tram will pay off well here. The yield has far exceeded society's expectations, and anyone who witnessed the operation yesterday will have been amazed at the crowds - we can't call it any other way - want to make use of this beautiful and at the same time so cheap ride. If one can be so happy about the success, we don't want to hide the fact that some of the passengers may still find the cheap fare too high Because in the containers in which the 10 pfennigs are to be thrown, various buttons have been found. There is probably no need to point out that the tram administration has no use for such an equivalent value. So: whoever drives, do not avoid them but such cheap fares. "

The tram ride initially remained a matter of trust. There were only drivers, but no conductors. There were also no tickets. The tram contented itself with an offering box on the doors to the front and rear platforms.

Market square with tram 1910, on the right in the background Südstrasse with the route to the south

On May 15, 1901, another section of the route was put into operation from the market square in the city center to the south of the city. The municipal hospital on Werler Strasse, built in 1896, could be accessed by tram over the 2.5 kilometer long connection. At the same time a connection to the Ruhr-Lippe-Kleinbahnhof in Hamm-Süd (on the small railway line Hamm-Werl) was established.

In 1903 the company Siemens-Schuckert took over the business. On April 1, 1907, the city of Hamm bought the tram, along with the power supply, for 1,600,000 Reichsmarks. The city of Hamm also hired conductors because the collection boxes on the doors were voluntarily not filled sufficiently by the passengers. This additional expenditure on wages paid for itself after only one month. Despite the increased operating costs, the net profit was significantly higher than in the time without a conductor.

With the commercial success of the tram, the wagons became bigger and more comfortable. The first motor cars had wooden benches that stretched the length of the car along the outer walls. The passengers sat opposite each other and could only see each other; a look outside was difficult, if not impossible. Later, wagons were procured in which the benches were perpendicular to the direction of travel. In this way you could also take a look at the street and the passers-by. The standing room on the front platform was not particularly popular, especially in winter because the platform was not glazed. It happened often enough that hats or other lightweight items were lost in sudden gusts of wind.

Another special feature were the open summer wagons , popularly known as Abyssinian wagons, which were mainly used in the summer months and on Sundays when festivities lured the citizens of the Hammer Osten. The benches were placed in the summer carriages so that the passengers sat back to back lengthways and thus had a good view of the street. The side outer walls of these summer cars consisted only of a meter-high latticework, over which the car roof floated like a baldchin. When the Westphalian gymnastics festival took place in Hamm in 1910, this type of construction proved to be very useful; the gymnasts simply swung themselves over the side wall to get out. This was made possible by the relatively low speed of the tram, which was a maximum of 18 km / h in the city center. However, with the growing business, the use of summer cars became more and more problematic. That is why they started to use trailers that, like the motor vehicles, could be used in any season and in any weather. Both types of car were extended. As a result, they were significantly heavier and were therefore quieter on the train, and they also offered more seats. Both together led to a significant increase in comfort during the journey.

In the following years the tram network was expanded several times. This should take into account the increased transport needs. On October 10, 1910, the route from Westenschützenhof to Wiescherhöfen was opened with a length of around 3.26 kilometers. On September 16, 1913, a section that was separated from the rest of the network and led from Nordstrasse via Münsterstrasse to Heessener Strasse was put into operation. On August 4, 1917, this line was extended to the northern suburbs; the second section from Münsterstrasse to the Radbod colliery in the Lüdinghausen district was opened to traffic. A continuous tram line from Nordstrasse to Radbod colliery was not yet possible, as the state railway at that time crossed Münsterstrasse at the same level and the railway administration did not allow trams to cross this route at the same level. Therefore, the tram route was initially divided into two parts. An additional wagon hall had to be built on Bockumer Weg (on Tondernstrasse) for the northern route in the section Münsterstrasse-Zeche Radbod. In 1921 the Hamm-Bielefeld railway line was then raised. Only then, in November 1921, could a continuous connection between Nordstrasse and Radbod colliery be installed.

After the First World War , the operating situation became increasingly difficult as a result of the galloping currency inflation. Finally, in 1922, the southern line was completely shut down. Fares had to be adjusted to the increasing inflation in ever shorter time intervals. In mid-January 1923 a ticket for a section of the route, for which only ten pfennigs had to be paid before the war, already cost forty Reichsmarks. At the beginning of March 1923, 200 Reichsmarks had to be paid for the same ticket, in June 1923 1000 Reichsmarks. In July 1923 the price increased to 3000 Reichsmarks, on August 31, 1923 to 150,000 Reichsmarks, on September 22nd to two million Reichsmarks and finally, on November 21st, to 50 billion Reichsmarks. Due to the inflation that lasted until the end of 1923, passenger transport was finally stopped. In 1924 and 1925, the railway carried waste material from the De Wendel colliery to today's Otto-Kraft-Platz, where a former floodplain of the Ahse, which was relocated in 1913, was filled.

Re-start of operations until the end of the war (1925–1945)

At the end of 1923 the market began to stabilize. This started a slow upward trend. The double-track expansion of the city lines was continued from 1924. In addition, twelve new railcars were purchased. In 1925, lines 2 (Süd-Markt) and 4 (Radbod-Nordstraße) were extended to the station.

In 1925, four lines could be used to transport passengers. In 1926 an extension from Radbod to Bockum was put into operation; In June 1928 the completion of the line in Pelkum from the fishing route to the office building could be reported. Also in 1928, the double-track expansion of line 1 (Bad Hamm-Dabergsweg) was completed. In May 1931 , the Lippmann am Boll-Herringen line was connected to the network.

The economic development of the transport company between the two world wars and during World War II was very different. This can be seen from the transport numbers:

year Passengers year Passengers
1928 6,875,900 1940 9.220.500
1932 4,167,200 1941 1,152,800
1934 3,629,100 1942 14.953.100
1937 4,866,900 1943 17,139,500
1938 5,957,700 1944 7,466,200
1939 7,596,000 1945 2,978,200

For comparison: In 1982, 13,168,500 passengers were recorded on the bus routes that had previously replaced tram operations.

During the Second World War, the transport company was affected relatively often by the heavy air raids on Hamm. In 1941, fragments of bombs broke through the contact wire at the level of the large parade ground. This damage could be repaired relatively quickly. For other types of damage this was more tedious and costly. During the summer of 1944, the Hammer Police ordered the transport of rubble and building materials by tram. Load trailers were used for this. The tram's rail grinding car served as the pulling element. On November 29, 1944 , operations had to be completely stopped and could only be resumed after the end of the war.

1945 until it was closed

After the end of the war, tram traffic could be resumed on June 15, 1945 with the approval of the military government. From February 7, 1945 the sections Herringen - Augustastraße, Pelkum (Fangstraße) - Augustastraße, Nordstraße - Tondernstraße and Hamm-Osten - Kentroper Weg were reopened to a limited extent, but not on line 2 Hamm - Süd. The track material on this line was partially expanded and used on the other lines to repair the bomb damage.

As the first section, the Augustastraße - Pelkum market square went back into operation every 40 minutes. By March 31, 1946, 13.5 kilometers of the total of 31.3 kilometers were in operation again. On March 31, 1947, it was already 23.5 kilometers, and also 2.5 kilometers on the Markt - Süd bus route established on March 17, 1947. From March 1947, buses were used on the Markt - South route. Since the Lippe Bridge had been blown up in the last days of the war, line 4 still had to be partly served by buses. Various bus routes were added during the reconstruction; Stadtwerke took over other connections from private sources.

Line 4 to Bockum was finally closed on January 2, 1954, because after the Lippe Bridge was blown up towards the end of the war it no longer had a connection to the rest of the network and had become an island operation. There was never a planned changeover to trolleybus operation . The former tram line was served entirely by buses.

Since it was not expected that the license, which ran until 1957, would be extended, almost no investments were made in the years after 1950. The suburban lines were gradually discontinued. On March 1, 1957, the concession for all tram lines expired - it was granted in 1907 for fifty years. A further approval for the tram line 3 leading to Pelkum could not be obtained. The line therefore had to be used by buses from April 1, 1957 in the Lippmann - Pelkum section, as well as line 2 Hamm train station - Hamm south on June 1, 1958. At the same time, lines 2 and 4 were combined to form a diameter line.

Due to the sharp increase in car traffic in the city center and due to the narrow road conditions, but not least because of economic considerations, the city council decided on February 16, 1961 to switch tram operation entirely to bus operation from April 1, 1961 and only the concession of the railway still to be extended for discontinued operation. At that time, most of the rail network should have been renewed, and this also applied to the vehicle fleet. The investment would have been substantial. It was not easy for the citizens of Hammer to lose their trams. In politics, too, intense debates were held in the Council and in the committees. Appraisers checked the economic viability of both systems and carefully examined the local conditions. Ultimately, it was these decision-making aids that led to the cessation of tram operations. Many citizens were there when the remaining line was shut down on April 2, 1961 and the last tram drove from the east through the city center into the depot. The WDR took this trip as an opportunity to report about it on television.

Since then, Stadtwerke Hamm has been a pure bus company. Instead of trams, only buses with conductors ran on main lines 1 and 3. The changeover went smoothly, but it took the passengers to get used to the new mode of transport. In the course of the following years, further bus routes were added, depending on traffic requirements; others were extended.

literature

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