Marburg tram

Marburg tram
Route length:	Main station – south station: 3.64 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	550 volts  =
Legend Connection to the freight yard 0.00 Central Station Elisabeth Bridge over the Lahn Furthstrasse Remise Main post Elisabeth Church Rudolphsplatz Heumarkt (1904; 1913-14) City halls Evasion Philip's House Branch Workshop 2.48 Wilhelmsplatz Schückingstrasse Gisselberger Strasse depot Schützenpfuhlbrücke over the Lahn 3.64 Südbahnhof (from 1934)

The Marburg tram was a tram in the central Hessian city ​​of Marburg an der Lahn from 1903 to 1951 . It was a horse-drawn tram until 1911 when it was electrified.

Planning and construction

The first plans for a tram began at the end of the 19th century. Since the opening of the main train station in 1850, traffic in the city has increased steadily. The local haulage company Schaaf set up a taxi service with horse-drawn cabs as early as 1878 to create a convenient connection to the city with its university , which has prospered since the annexation of Kurhessen by Prussia in 1866 .

A horse-drawn bus line with a timetable of ten journeys per day from and to the train station was privately operated by the haulier Heppe from 1892. He was replaced in 1899 by the haulage contractor Deckmann. In the first few years, the end point in the city was the stop on Kasernenstrasse (today Gutenbergstrasse). After 1896, the newly built Universitätsstraße made it possible to extend the line to Wilhelmsplatz. The tracks for a horse-drawn tram were laid on this route in 1903. In addition, a branch line from Wilhelmsplatz to Heumarkt was built.

Horse tram

Horse-drawn railway tracks in Universitätsstrasse (1905)

At the beginning of 1903, those responsible in the city decided to introduce a tram in Marburg. It should lead from the train station to Wilhelmsplatz with a branch line to the Heumarkt. The tracks were laid in meter gauge in September of the same year. A privately operated horse-drawn tram should run on the rails. The hauliers Deckmann and Heppe had applied to take over the horse-drawn tram. The latter received the contract with a term of five years.
According to the operating contract, Heppe obtained four used horse-drawn tram cars in Heidelberg , where they had become superfluous after the tram was switched to electrical operation. Two years later another two cars were bought. On October 1, 1903, the first journey between the main train station and Wilhelmsplatz took place and four weeks later the branch line to the Heumarkt was also put into operation. The connection to the Heumarkt was closed again after just under six months in April 1904. Due to the low number of passengers, Heppe obtained approval for decommissioning. The tracks stayed where they were hoping to resume operations. The city had built two carriage sheds. One of them was on Wilhelmsplatz, where the last tracks in a courtyard entrance are still today. Only horse-drawn tram cars were parked here overnight. The second depot was on Furthstrasse. A 650 m long depot track led from Bahnhofstrasse via Rosenstrasse and Furthstrasse to the depot. The last car was driven into this shed that evening. The horses were also in the stables at this point. After the horse-drawn tram had made its last run at the end of 1911, the city wanted to convert the horse-drawn carriages into trailers for the "electric". Because of the high costs, this was not realized and the six horse-drawn tram cars were sold from the building yard in March 1912. They were then mostly used as garden sheds.
On the single-track route, the carriages at the Elisabethkirche , the Schlachthofbrücke and the city halls (“museum”) could avoid each other.

Electric tram

Planning and first years of operation

Even before the horse-drawn tram opened, the city of Marburg had received an offer to build an electric tram. Presumably because of the higher investments , the city decided not to offer it and decided to run the railway with horses. This decision was soon regretted, however, and in 1906 planning began for an electric tram, which opened on November 23, 1911. The operation was now carried out by the city itself, which only had the existing track systems reinforced in the more heavily used curves for the heavier vehicles. The alternative point at the Schlachthofbrücke used by the horse-drawn tram was relocated to Universitätsstraße (“Museum” stop, Stadtsäle).

The manufacturer of the five two-axle wagons operated with 550 volts direct current was the Kasseler Waggonfabrik Credé & Co. The beige-painted vehicles initially had open platforms that could be locked with grids, which were later replaced by folding doors. In 1912 the tram route was extended to Gisselberger Straße, where the city set up a new depot , these buildings now serve as a recycling center for Praxis gGmbH. The existing line to the upper town was also electrified and reopened on April 1, 1913. But it was not profitable even now and was discontinued on August 1, 1914.

In connection with the extension of the route in 1912, five more railcars were procured, which were almost identical to the vehicles of the first series. In addition, a freight car was purchased in 1914 and the old horse-drawn tram cars were converted into additional transport cars. In 1915 a siding was laid to the freight yard. Since then, freight traffic on the tram has increased.

1920 to 1945

Electrified tram route in Schwanallee

Because of the difficult economic situation of the tram as a result of the global economic crisis , two vehicles and catenary material had to be sold to the Netherlands . After the company's economic recovery, it was possible to recondition the track system in 1925 and 1926, which was severely damaged due to the light horse-drawn tramway construction. The two railcars sold were replaced in 1927 by four-axle vehicles from Credé . After the Schützenpfuhlbrücke was widened due to the relocation of the Reichsstraße west of the Lahn (construction of the Hindenburgring / extension of the Krummbogen), the route was briefly extended from Gisselberger Straße to the barrier at the Südbahnhof. In addition, a 7.5-minute cycle was reintroduced
to connect the Tannenberg barracks, which were built outside the city as part of the National Socialist armament , in 1940 the first diesel bus line was set up by the Newel bus company. Diesel operation was only intended as a temporary solution, however, because the city of Marburg decided to stop tram operations in 1941 and ordered ten trolleybuses and five trailers for an expanded line network as successor vehicles. However, the vehicles were no longer delivered due to the war, so the conversion plan had to be dropped.

1945 until the end of the tram service

It was only after the end of World War II that the change from trams to trolleybuses could be tackled. On May 17, 1951, the trams ran for the last time over the ailing tracks, the renewal of which would have required high investments. The vehicles, some of which were forty years old, should have been replaced. The trams running in the middle of the street were an obstacle to the increasing road traffic, which one could get rid of by switching to bus traffic.
The two-axle vehicles were scrapped after the end of tram operation, while the four-axle railcars that were subsequently procured were sold to Darmstadt . They drove there until the mid-sixties.

After hiring

Relics of the former horse-drawn tram on Wilhelmsplatz

Two days after the last tram ride, the Marburg trolleybus started operating. He drove on the same route as the tram, but the overhead line was relocated so that the trolleybus ran on Deutschhausstrasse and Biegenstrasse instead of the Pilgrimstein. The tracks were largely dismantled. Only in the depot and the workshop did the tracks initially remain, but were then gradually expanded there. After the end of the trolleybus operation in 1968, the depot was initially continued to be used for the diesel buses of Stadtwerke Marburg, later the municipal building yard was housed there. The former car hall of the Marburg trams and trolleybuses has changed its face significantly after numerous renovations, the original use is hardly recognizable. Today there is a recycling center there.

Relics

The only thing left is a 90 meter long section of track from the former horse-drawn tram in a courtyard entrance on Wilhelmsplatz. This was once the access to the coach house, which was built by the city in what was then the "orphanage garden". The remise at the end of the track section also still exists in its original form (open at the front). With the introduction of the electric tram in 1911, the existing turnout for the entrance was removed. Initially, only the depot in Furthstraße was used for the electric tram cars (later: construction of the tram depot in Gisselberger Straße). There are no more relics.

future

Since the beginning of the 1990s there have been demands to build a new tram in Marburg. An application by the citizens of Marburg (BfM) to have the construction of a new tram checked in the city parliament was rejected with a narrow majority. The planning provided for two variants:

• A tram on the route of the trolleybus with extensions to the larger parts of the city.
• A regional train that starts in downtown Marburg, connects some parts of the city and then uses the existing railway lines in the area. The RegioTram Kassel is a similar system .

Today there are still demands for a new tram, which should open up the city center and the closer parts of the city. However, it is unlikely that this project will be implemented in the near future.

Web links

Commons : Tram Marburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Photos of the horse-drawn bus, the tram and the trolley and omnibuses in Marburg ( Memento from March 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
• Photos of the tram
• History of the horse-drawn tram in Marburg

literature

• Karl-Heinz Gimbel: The Marburg tram, part 1: The horse tram, 1903-1911. Marburg 2011, Kleine Reihe von Marburg, Volume 4. (Short form: Die Marburger Pferdebahn ) ISBN 978-3-89703-763-2
• Karl-Heinz Gimbel: The Marburg Tram, Part 2: The "Electric", 1911-1951. Marburg 2011, Kleine Reihe von Marburg, Volume 5. ISBN 978-3-89703-772-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information about the trams in Hessen
2. ^ Karl-Heinz Gimbel: The Marburger Horse Railway , Marburg 2011, p. 40
3. ^ Goodbye to trams ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Oberhessische Presse online May 16, 2011 
4. ↑ Sale of vehicles 1 and 3 to Darmstadt
5. ^ Karl-Heinz Gimbel: The Marburger Horse Railway , Marburg 2011, pp. 40–42
6. ^ New tram in Marburg