Tram Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt

		from Friedrichshafen
	0.00	Ravensburg train station
		to Ulm
	0.83	Ravensburg Frauentor
	1.10	Ravensburg falcons
	1.59	Ravensburg Holy Cross
	2.14	Ravensburg power plant
	2.46	District boundary
	2.50	Ravensburg Unterburach
	3.10	Weingarten (Württ) Municipal Hospital
	3.61	Weingarten (Württ) lamb
		Joke
		Branch of the old route until 1910
	4.10	Weingarten (Württ) Charlottenplatz
	4.56	Weingarten (Württ) Post
	4.90	Weingarten (Württ) grape
		Weingarten locomotive station
	5.13	Weingarten (Württ) freight yard
	5.40	Beginning of the three-rail track
	5.89	Grape farm
	6.24	End of three-rail track
		after bending down
	6.30	Baienfurt South
	6.38	District boundary
	6.56	Baienfurt place

The Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram - more rarely also the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt narrow-gauge railway - connected the three places mentioned as a meter-gauge regional tram until 1959 . It was opened in 1888 by the private Lokalbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft (LAG) and initially operated as a steam-powered secondary railway to Weingarten . It was electrified in 1910 and extended to Baienfurt in 1911 . The original name was Local Railway Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt - LRWB .

In 1938, the railway , also popularly known as Zügle , Mühle , Bähnle or Bodensee- Blitz , was nationalized and officially classified as a tram in accordance with the ordinance on the construction and operation of trams (BOStrab) that came into force in the same year . After 1938, the line was the only tram company owned by the Deutsche Reichsbahn , and after the Second World War the only tram company owned by the Deutsche Bundesbahn .

history

prehistory

1849: Altdorf is passed over

As early as November 8, 1847, the Upper Swabian town and today's district town of Ravensburg was connected to the southern railway from Friedrichshafen . On May 26, 1849, this was finally extended to Biberach an der Riss , and Ulm was reached on June 29, 1850 . There the gap was closed with the already existing Filstalbahn from Stuttgart . Contrary to the original expectations of the population and the tradespeople, Altdorf - later Weingarten - was not connected to this important main line of the Royal Württemberg State Railways in the course of the extension to the north . On the one hand, the kingdom, which did not have coal deposits, wanted to run its locomotives on the shortest possible route to Lake Constance, and Biberach was even threatened with bypassing it in the short term. On the other hand, the then Altdorf mayor Adolf Prielmayer in particular proved to be a vehement opponent of a direct connection. As a result, the southern railway passed the town two and a half kilometers away to the west, but the old market towns of Waldsee and Tettnang as well as Baindt and Baienfurt were not connected at the time.

To make matters worse, no train station was set up at the point closest to Altdorf. Today's Weingarten / Berg stop near the city was only opened in 1998 by the Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn . As a result, the closest train stations to Altdorf on the Südbahn were about four kilometers (Ravensburg) and three kilometers (Niederbiegen) away. Altdorf was only about half the size of neighboring Ravensburg in 1849 with 3267 inhabitants, but the place has always been known nationwide as a place of pilgrimage thanks to the Benedictine Weingarten Abbey and the St. Martin Basilica .

1865–1888: Vineyard in the shade of traffic

The Württemberg railway network in the 1860s, in addition to the town of Altdorf, also includes the Weingarten monastery

In 1865 Altdorf took the name of the Benedictine abbey and was renamed Weingarten. At the same time, the place was granted city rights. At the same time, during the course of industrialization , Weingarten also developed into an important industrial location. In particular, Maschinenfabrik Weingarten AG , which was also founded in 1865 - today's Schuler AG - and the spinning mill that was set up in the following year played an important role. Due to the rapid development, the number of inhabitants also rose sharply, so on December 1, 1880 there were already 5232 people in the city. The lack of a railway connection therefore had an increasingly unfavorable effect, the city - in contrast to Ravensburg - was still in the traffic shadow. In addition, there was already a corresponding need for local transport between Altdorf and Ravensburg. After all, Weingarten owned an 800-man garrison from 1868 , but in contrast to Ravensburg only a few industrial jobs.

To improve the poor situation, Weingarten it applied retrospectively it, by building a as a branch line running branch line still a connection to the Württemberg State Railways to obtain. The driving force here was the Weingarten trade association with its active secretary , the evangelical teacher Christoph Klein. In 1879 he was able to win over the Zurich railway engineer Theodor Lutz for the project. Remarkably, the route over Frauentorplatz in Ravensburg was already planned. However, a critical investigation by the Weingarten city council revealed that Klein had calculated that the radii of the standard-gauge railway, which was built into the street, were technically far too tight and economically far too high a handling volume and thus a return. So it stayed with the planning.

After the Kingdom of Württemberg lost interest in the railway, the construction of a private railway was pushed as an alternative . Privately operated lines were still a fairly new phenomenon at that time, at that time there were only three non-state railways in Württemberg. These were the Kirchheimer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft since 1864, the Ermsthalbahn-Gesellschaft since 1873 and the Filderbahn-Gesellschaft since 1884. The train to Weingarten was to become the fourth private railway in Württemberg.

Rescheduling to the narrow-gauge steam tram

In the spring of 1886, the Augsburg engineers Theodor Lechner and Viktor Krüzner from the local railway construction and operating company Lechner & Krüzner , who were active in the railroad sector, also identified a corresponding need for transport between the two up-and-coming cities of Ravensburg and Weingarten, which the construction of a steam tram could take into account. In October 1886, the company therefore applied to the government of the Kingdom of Württemberg for a planning license to build the railway.

In 1887, the two engineers finally presented the city administrations of Ravensburg and Weingarten with a concept for a meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway . It should lead from the Ravensburger station forecourt over the Schussenstrasse to the Frauentorplatz, then straight on the Ulm – Friedrichshafen state road to the Scherzachbrücke in Weingarten. There Lechner and Krüzner did not want to take part in the sharp bend around the former forest house and today's youth center and planned the track from the Stadtösch stop (later Lamm) straight through the orchard of the Sonnenwirt to the terminus at the intersection of Waldseer Straße / Schloßstraße, today Abt- Hyller-Strasse or Charlottenplatz. In contrast to the standard gauge planning that had failed a few years earlier, this line could easily adapt to the given settlement axes. The routing in the public road space also allowed lower construction and operating costs compared to a mostly independently routed classic railway .

The concept by Lechner and Krüzner convinced the civil committees of the two cities involved, both in terms of technology and profitability, although in Weingarten more than in Ravensburg, where people were always less open to the railway. The state government in Stuttgart also agreed after realizing that the new railway did not pose a serious threat to the capacity utilization of its route between Ravensburg and Aulendorf . This could not be taken for granted because the state had the rail monopoly in the kingdom . If he allowed a private railway, then only on the condition that the line could be bought back after a certain number of years of operation, at the total asset value.

The conditions around Ravensburg and Weingarten were so acceptable that Lechner and Krüzner were able to win over the powerful Munich railway industrialist Georg Krauss for the project. He was the owner of the Krauss & Co. locomotive factory , which specialized in local railway locomotives, and saw an opportunity to increase sales in the planned route. Lechner, Krüzner and Krauß founded the private local railway company (LAG) on February 9, 1887. This received the building permit for the new railway and was also the client . Construction began in August 1887, according to another source on September 3 of the same year. The Württemberg state issued the operating license on November 15, 1887, while the licensing of private railways was still subject to the respective state law.

Early days

Local railway Ravensburg – Weingarten

Legend

		from Friedrichshafen
	0.00	Ravensburg state train station
		to Ulm
	0.83	Ravensburg Frauentor
	1.59	Ravensburg Holy Cross
	2.46	District boundary
	3.1	14 helpers
	3.61	Weingarten Scherzach Bridge
		Joke
		Branch of the new line from 1910
		depot
	4.18	Weingarten city

The train drove through Schussenstrasse in the direction of the Frauentor. To this day, two overhead line rosettes at the machine factory bear witness to this

Alignment of the Green Tower, taken in 1910 - the year of electrification. In the background the Frauentor station building. The cross fountain in the foreground had to give way to traffic in 1981 and was moved a few meters.

The Heilig Kreuz station at kilometer 1.59 still exists today as a bus stop of the same name

Today's Weingarten Hospital bus stop emerged from station 14 emergency helpers; instead of the bus bay, there used to be a siding here

In Weingarten, the railway turned left after the Scherzachbrücke and followed today's Waldseer Straße in a northerly direction

The final stop at Weingarten Stadt around 1905

opening

The new train to Weingarten should have opened on December 22, 1887 actually inaugurated be, but the track was not finished. When this was the next scheduled date on December 29, 1887, it could not be inspected by the responsible official from Stuttgart because a snowstorm caused it to sink centimeters deep. In the end, passenger traffic could not begin until January 6, 1888, with no opening party being scheduled. The operation took place from 6:50 in the morning to 10:10 in the evening. A lunch break for the staff was taken into account, so that a total of eleven courses were offered. The trip over the entire route took 20 minutes and cost III. Class on wooden seats 20 pfennigs for adults and ten pfennigs for children up to ten years. Children under three years of age were allowed to travel free of charge, provided they did not occupy their own seat. The tickets were each valid for one day, and double the price had to be paid for the return journey. The use of the second class, which was equipped with upholstered seats, was half more expensive and was mainly reserved for officers of the Weingarten garrison and their relatives. Tickets were only available at the counter in Weingarten ; the train driver sold them at the other stations. In addition, some merchants and businesses in both Ravensburg and Weingarten functioned as additional sales outlets.

The inclusion of freight transport followed more than six months after start-up, on 15 August 1888. The superstructure consisted of flat bottom rails with a weight per meter of 24.77 kg. Larger engineering structures were not required, which explains the short construction time of the route. The management and the depot were based in Weingarten.

The 4.18 kilometer long connection was the first line of the newly founded LAG, the Feldabahn , which had existed since 1879, did not come to the LAG until 1891. The award of the concession to the Bavarian LAG was remarkable in that it concentrated all further activities almost exclusively on Bavaria. However, only a few years after the steam tram started operating, the LAG established a second mainstay in the Upper Swabia region when it opened the Meckenbeuren – Tettnang line in 1895, only about ten kilometers south of Ravensburg .

From a technical point of view, the former steam tram to Weingarten largely corresponded to the Chiemsee Railway , which is still steam-powered today , even if it runs continuously on its own route. The Chiemsee Railway was opened on July 9, 1887, just a few months before the Weingarten route. She still uses a locomotive that is identical to the machines used in Upper Swabia at the time.

Route description

The trains to Weingarten - and later to Baienfurt - departed from Ravensburger Bahnhofplatz, the LAG station was officially called Ravensburg State Station to separate it from the existing Ravensburg station. The car was entered from the side of the sidewalk opposite the station building of the state railway; the previous stop was directly in front of the main post office. The steam tram first ran for about 100 meters parallel to the southern runway in a northerly direction, and then turned in a sharp 90-degree bend in an easterly direction at today's bus station . On the Schussenstrasse, at kilometer 0.83, she reached the Ravensburg Frauentor stop near the “Green Tower”. Due to its close proximity to the old town of Ravensburg, it was the second busiest stop on the railway after the start stop. After passing another 90-degree bend on Frauentorplatz, the route turned again in a northerly direction and followed Gartenstrasse towards Weingarten.

The rails in Gartenstrasse were on the right-hand side of the street when looking out of town. In the urban area of Ravensburg they were initially laid in the road subgrade, then in the outer area on a separate route to the right of the road. The Gartenstrasse used to be the most important traffic axis in the region, it was part of the then Württemberg State Road 49. This was associated with a correspondingly high volume of individual traffic, especially in later years . Another stop in the Ravensburg city area, called Ravensburg Heilig Kreuz, followed in the course of Gartenstraße. The name comes from the former tavern Holy Cross from which in turn after 1826 demolished Siechenhaus Cross Holy was named. The stop was particularly important for the transport links to the neighboring St. Elisabeth Hospital .

At kilometer 2.46 - at the level of today's Ravensburg district of Burach, which was still spelled Burrach at the time - the train passed the border to the neighboring town of Weingarten and continued on the state road called Ravensburger Straße from here on. At the time, the route ran through largely undeveloped areas in the area before and after the municipal boundary. In 1908, there was still a gap of around two kilometers between the two cities. Furthermore, the connecting road was not yet developed at that time; it was only paved between Ravensburg and Weingarten between 1916 and 1926 .

About half a kilometer after the boundary, the train reached stop 14 Nothelfer, the first of three stations in the Weingarten area. It was named after the hospital for the 14 emergency helpers , at the entrance of which the bus stop was located. As the only stop of the steam tram, this stop had no local suffix, because the eponymous hospital - as a former leprosarium - was at that time still a little outside the development of Weingarten.

The railways then reached the southern outskirts of Weingarten after about 500 meters, where the Weingarten Scherzachbrücke stop was located. Shortly afterwards the route crossed the Scherzach together with the road. After the bridge, the railway turned left, crossed Ravensburger Strasse and headed north through an area that was still undeveloped at the time. The route in this area corresponded to today's Waldseer Strasse, but this was only re-routed in later years based on the local railway. At the confluence of what is now known as the Promenade, the railway again reached the state road in the direction of Ulm and followed it on the left. The route then passed the railway depot and soon reached the final stop at Weingarten Stadt. It was a little south of what was then Charlottenstrasse, today's Abt-Hyller-Strasse.

The track was always single track , train crossings were at the two passing places held Ravensburg Holy Cross and 14 helpers. This was sufficient, because the steam tram was operated with only two train sets.

Train or tram - try to clarify the terms

From a legal point of view, there was no differentiation between a tram and a railway at the time of the opening of the line under discussion in the Kingdom of Württemberg - unlike in neighboring Bavaria , Prussia or Saxony . From a legal point of view, the line under discussion here was initially a railway - for the simple reason that the Württemberg laws of that time did not yet explicitly recognize trams. Nevertheless, the name tram was of course also known in Württemberg. And regardless of the legal situation described, it was used not only colloquially, but also officially. Nevertheless, the LAG did not commit itself, rather it referred to its Ravensburger branch of operation sometimes as a local train and sometimes as a tram. For example, the first tariff regulations from December 1, 1887 are still overwritten with the Ravensburg – Weingarten local railway , while the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tramway already appears on the timetable from December 1, 1920 .

Even in later years this legal gray area led to definition problems, for example Wolfgang Hendlmeier writes that the route was mostly included in the statistics for railways, except in the years 1933 to 1938. In his opinion, the distinction was often made arbitrarily. In the following, a railway or local railway is used until 1938, and a tram from 1938 (introduction of the BOStrab). Furthermore, the term steam tram in this text only describes the type of operation - however, it has no legal relevance.

After the turn of the century

Weingarten continues to grow

In the long run, the narrow-gauge local railway was no longer able to meet the increasing demand for transport, especially because Weingarten's population continued to grow rapidly, a development that was accelerated by the significantly improved transport connections since 1888. On December 1, 1900, 6,678 people lived in the village, while on December 1, 1910 there were already 8,077 inhabitants. In addition to the increased demand in passenger transport, the - albeit very sparse - freight transport by narrow-gauge railroad proved to be problematic. On the one hand, the goods at the Ravensburg State Railway Station had to be laboriously reloaded from the narrow gauge to the standard gauge, on the other hand, the goods from Weingarten had to be transported through the center of Ravensburg beforehand. Above all, the desired expansion of freight transport by rail was not possible with the existing infrastructure .

1889	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910
719	679	816	1371	1524	1859	1988	2387	2660	2400	2210	2277	2020	2231	2439	2656	2790	3035	3078	3000	3000	2673

This table according to Kolb shows the development of goods traffic with the narrow-gauge railway. The figure shows the annual transport performance in tonnes , excluding luggage. Notes: No information is available for the opening year 1888, the information for 1908 and 1909 are estimated values, and no information is available for 1911 (the last year of narrow-gauge freight traffic). The continuous increase in freight volume over the years can be clearly seen. At around 3,000 tons per year (exceeded for the first time in 1906), however, the performance limit of the narrow-gauge railway was reached.

Baienfurt is also developing into an industrial location

In addition, the northern neighboring town of Baienfurt also developed into an industrial location with a certain delay to Weingarten. When the southern line was extended northwards from Ravensburg in 1849, Baienfurt only had 800 inhabitants. Accordingly, the place was just as neglected as Altdorf in the alignment at the time. In later years, however, industrialization also ensured a corresponding growth in Baienfurt. At the center of this development was the Baienfurt paper mill , built between 1870 and 1873 , which remained the largest employer in the area until it closed in 2009.

At the turn of the century, Baienfurt was in a similar situation to Weingarten until 1888. The next train station on the Südbahn - Niederbiegen station - was two and a half kilometers from the town center, and the end of the steam tram in Weingarten was also just under two and a half kilometers. This gave rise to the urgent need for an improvement in the traffic situation in Baienfurt, especially because the horse-drawn vehicles of the paper mill couldn't keep up with the supply of wood or the removal of the finished paper via bending down.

Ravensburg expands to the north

The Falken stop was retrofitted in 1910 on the occasion of electrification

In the years around the turn of the century, Ravensburg also continued to grow, the population increased from 10,550 in 1880 to 15,594 in 1910. However, because there was only limited living space in the core city, this led to an expansion of the built-up area including to the north. The Nordstadt district was built there on the road towards Weingarten , and the existing hamlet of Burrach was also settled into a district. This means that the local railway to Weingarten also became increasingly important for inner-city traffic in Ravensburg. In order to meet the changed needs, however, new stops first had to be set up - until now the railway only served the Ravensburg Heilig Kreuz stop in the section north of the core city. However, the steam tram would only have been suitable to a limited extent, as each additional stop was associated with a lengthy start-up process and would have led to corresponding travel times on the entire route.

Expansion plans

In order to further improve the traffic situation for the three towns involved, a good twenty years after it was opened it was therefore decided to comprehensively expand the infrastructure of the local railway. In addition to the extension to the north and the establishment of new stops in Ravensburg, electrification was also considered, because running a steam-powered train through built-up streets was already considered out of date. In addition to the existing inner-city route through Ravensburg, this also applied in particular to the planned northern extension. This should also lead through the center of Weingarten, also directly past the basilica. In addition, the electric traction was an advantage for the intended shortening of the distance between stops in the Ravensburger Nordstadt; because this made it possible to keep the time losses during the start-up processes within limits.

At the turn of the century, the LAG was considered a pioneer in terms of the electrification of railway lines in Germany. It was able to gain experience with electric rail operations at an early stage on five of its routes :

At the Ravensburger Kraftwerk, too, a new stop was built in 1910, including a siding

Meckenbeuren – Tettnang (opened in 1895, electrified from the start)
Türkheim – Wörishofen (opened in 1896, electrified from the start, operated by the LAG since 1905)
Bad Aibling – Feilnbach (opened in 1897, electrified from the start)
Isar Valley Railway (electrified in 1900)
Murnau – Oberammergau (electrified in 1905, although operated with alternating current)

Furthermore, electric trams had already been established in numerous German cities by this time, in the state capital Stuttgart since 1895, in nearby Ulm since 1897. So it was only logical to switch the steam tram to Weingarten to electric traction .

The infrastructure was modernized and expanded step by step. In parallel to the expansion of the narrow-gauge railway, the construction of the standard-gauge Niederbiegen – Weingarten railway line and the Abzw Baienfurt West – Baienfurt Gbf railway line, which is also standard-gauge, were planned. On the one hand, the two new lines were supposed to take over the freight traffic to and from Weingarten from the narrow-gauge railway and on the other hand, Baienfurt was supposed to be connected to rail-bound freight traffic for the first time in its history. On August 21, 1909, the Württemberg state finally granted the license for the extension. In contrast, the two standard gauge lines were only approved on May 14, 1910.

Modernization and expansion in 1910 and 1911

Since 1910, the train in the direction of Weingarten Güterbahnhof has also passed the basilica directly

Weingarten Güterbahnhof shortly after its opening, the tram stop was in the foreground on the station forecourt

Electrification, first extension and new stops

Electric operation began on September 1, 1910, although steam operation was not finally stopped until September 1911. The voltage of the electrical supply was initially chosen to be 700 volts DC , only in later years was it increased to 750 volts. At that time, a transformer station was built halfway to feed the catenary . Simultaneously with the electrification, the superstructure was modernized and the route was extended by 950 meters and three new stops. The railway now led to the northern outskirts of Weingarten, the provisional terminus was on the station forecourt of the freight yard that was under construction . The freight yard itself was not put into operation until the following year. In addition, some 300 meters of the existing line in Weingarten were re-routed.

Coming from the direction of Ravensburg, the railway crossed Waldseer Straße at the confluence of the promenade and followed it - now on the right-hand side - to today's Charlottenplatz. The previous terminus at Weingarten Stadt on the left side of Waldseer Straße has been closed. It has been replaced by the new Weingarten Charlottenstrasse stop on the right-hand side of Waldseer Strasse. The new station was located in the green area at today's bus stop Weingarten Charlottenplatz (out of town) and was designed as an alternative point. Immediately afterwards, the new route turned sharply to the right at a 90-degree angle and continued through Charlottenstrasse - today's Abt-Hyller-Strasse - initially in an easterly direction. After 500 meters, directly at the St. Martin Basilica, where the new Weingarten Post stop was located, the route again turned sharply to the north at a 90-degree angle. From here, after having passed the Weingarten Traube stop, it finally reached the provisional final stop at Weingarten Güterbahnhof.

The new operating center of the railway was also built at the Weingarten freight station. An approximately 40-meter-long three-tier wagon hall with additional sidings in front of and next to the hall and a six-part building with company apartments for the approximately 70 employees of the railway at the time were built. The latter was located at Baienfurter Straße 22-32 and was kept in the same architectural style as the station building of the freight yard. The old steam tram depot on Waldseer Strasse, however, was given up in 1910. At the same time, three new stops were set up in Ravensburg as planned in the area of the existing line:

bus stop	km	designation
Ravensburg falcons	1.1	After the former Falken inn , Gartenstrasse 30.
power plant	2.14	After the former Ravensburg power station, today the seat of the Tübingen regional council - Ravensburg branch.
Unterburach	2.5	Based on the former hamlet of Burrach (today's district of Burach). However, this is a little off the route and about 30 meters higher.

Of these, the Kraftwerk stop was designed as a further alternative, so the local electric railway had four opportunities to meet in total in 1910: Ravensburg Heilig Kreuz, Kraftwerk, 14 emergency helpers and Weingarten Charlottenstrasse. The Unterburach stop was already in the Weingartener district, but it served to develop the hamlet of Burrach, which belongs to Ravensburg. Because both Kraftwerk and Unterburach were still in the open at that time, they were not given a local appendix - as was the case with station 14 emergency helpers in 1888.

Electrification gave rise to the nickname mill for the entire railway. He was referring to the driving switch operated by the driver, which looked like the crank of a coffee grinder .

Second extension - Baienfurt is reached

The three-rail track used to be in this area. Before the level crossing on the left edge of the picture, the meter gauge track branched off to the right in the direction of Baienfurt Ort

A little over a year later, the second extension between the Weingarten freight yard and the northern neighboring town of Baienfurt was opened. The new line was built together with the standard-gauge Niederbiegen – Weingarten railway and was therefore partially designed as a three -rail track . The new meter-gauge section went into operation on September 13, 1911 - two weeks before standard-gauge freight traffic began on October 1, 1911 - and was exclusively used for passenger traffic from the start. The new terminal, which was designated as the Baienfurt site to separate it from the Baienfurt freight station to the north, was only about 250 meters from the historic center of Baienfurt. It was located immediately south of the bridge over the Wolfegger Ach , at what is now the Baienfurt Achtalschule bus stop. This increased the length of the route to a total of 6.56 kilometers, of which only the last 180 meters were within the Baienfurt district . The brief terminus at Weingarten Güterbahnhof was henceforth the fifth passing point on the still completely single-track line. After 1911, only trains entering or leaving began or ended there.

The Traubenhof stop

At the former Traubenhof stop, in the background the eponymous hamlet of Trauben

As part of the extension to Baienfurt, an additional intermediate station was set up around 200 meters south of the hamlet of Trauben, which belongs to Weingarten. At that time it was still in the open. The Traubenhof called breakpoint also served the enhanced accessibility of belonging to Baienfurt neighboring hamlet Neubriach, servant house, Briach and Köpfingen. The naming of this stop deserves special attention. On the one hand, the name Traubenhof is a self-creation of the LAG, because the associated hamlet was officially called Grapes in 1911. This was to avoid confusion with the Weingarten Traube stop, which was opened at the same time . This was only corrected in December 2007 when the corresponding bus stop was renamed from Weingarten Traubenhof to Weingarten Trauben . The Weingarten Traube bus stop was closed a long time ago, so that mix-ups are now ruled out. On the other hand, the Traubenhof stop never had the addition of Weingarten to its name when the railway was in operation, although it was already part of the Weingarten urban area at that time. The addition was only introduced for later bus services. The reason was that this was to avoid irritation with non-local passengers, whose destination was one of the four hamlets belonging to Baienfurt.

The abandonment of narrow-gauge freight traffic

With the commissioning of the standard gauge line Niederbiegen – Weingarten on October 1, 1911, freight traffic by narrow-gauge railway could finally be abandoned as planned. The goods for the machine factory and the other goods customers in Weingarten were from now on delivered directly from Niederbiegen in standard-gauge freight cars . This measure proved to be a complete success: while in 1910 the narrow-gauge railway carried just 2673 tons of freight, in 1914 the standard-gauge railway had already carried 111,594 tons of freight. This corresponds to an increase of more than forty times, but it now also includes the goods to and from Baienfurt.

Operation on the three-rail track

At the southern exit of Baienfurt, the meter gauge coming from the left from the direction of Baienfurt Ort merged into the standard gauge

The three-rail track became a characteristic of the railway in the course of the newly opened route section. The section in question was almost a kilometer long and was located between the exit from the Weingarten freight yard and the southern outskirts of Baienfurt. In the direction of Baienfurt, the right rail of both gauges was used. This was useful in two respects: On the one hand, because the platform edge of the Traubenhof stop was also on the right-hand side and, on the other hand, because only two instead of four frogs had to be installed. Between the start of standard-gauge freight traffic to Weingarten on October 1, 1911 and the cessation of remaining trams on the northern section on June 30, 1959, both meter-gauge electric passenger trains and steam-powered standard-gauge freight trains, occasionally also passenger trains, ran on the same track in this area. The section was double kilometers , i.e. for the tram from south to north and for the standard gauge in the opposite direction. Consequently, the three -rail track later had two separate VzG route numbers , namely 4522 for the tram and 4520 for the railroad. From a legal point of view, after 1938 the trams in the area of this short section continued to operate in accordance with the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations (EBO) and not, as on the other sections of the route, according to the then newly introduced BOStrab.

The common section of the route was secured with the help of a special signal board; stationary signaling did not exist. Only the train whose staff was in possession of the only one-time signal board was allowed to use the section of the route. Train journeys on the normal-gauge route had to be announced by telephone to the management in Weingarten. The operations manager there only gave his consent if he had the signal board. This principle is similar to the tension rod system that used to be frequently used on single-track trams , as it is still used today, for example, on the Kirnitzschtalbahn .

Furthermore, the electric vehicles on the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt route had classic railway wheel tires . These were a little wider than the usual trams. This ensured that they could also pass the section in the area of the three-rail track without any problems. This was especially true for the two frogs when threading in and out.

No competition from the standard gauge

Although the non-electrified standard-gauge line from Niederbiegen to Weingarten was built primarily for freight traffic, there were occasional scheduled passenger trains on it from 1914 onwards. These trains ran in addition to the electric narrow-gauge trains to Ravensburg and gave passengers a shorter connection in the direction of Ulm or the state capital Stuttgart than via Ravensburg. However, this traffic has been very sparse over the years, and the number of passengers has always lagged far behind that of the local electric railway. In 1914, for example, only 16,519 people were transported on the standard-gauge railway, in contrast to 839,865 passengers on the narrow-gauge railway in the same year. Even in later years, the Niederbiegen route never became a serious competitor for the local electric railway to Ravensburg. Passenger traffic on the freight railway was also temporarily suspended, for example from 1922 to 1925. In 1938 this was finally given up completely.

Difficult interwar period

Timetable from December 1, 1920 - officially known as a tram even then. Six of the twelve stops were demand stops

1920s: economic problems and temporary shutdown

As on many other railway lines, in the first half of the 1920s the operation of the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt local railway ran into economic difficulties due to the recession . At times there was even a threat of the route being closed . The LAG, in financial distress, therefore demanded subsidies from the two cities involved . When these were not granted, the LAG actually ceased railway operations on November 1, 1923. Nevertheless, the city of Ravensburg stuck to its decision. Instead of the unpopular railway operation, which largely eluded urban influence because the decisions were always made in distant Munich, she favored a bus operation and thus hindered the further development of the railway. Although the railway also performed an important inner-city function in the urban area of Ravensburg - there were at least five stops in the urban area of Ravensburg, without Unterburach - the establishment of additional crossing stations in Ravensburg, for example, was never mutually possible. Only when the city of Weingarten gave in by granting an annual subsidy could the railway continue to operate from January 15, 1924. This reopening was initially intended as a one-month trial run. Due to the success - the new deficit was not as high as feared - the company could continue to operate even after the probation period had expired.

Temporary stabilization in the 1930s

Regardless of its economic problems, the LAG continued to invest in rail operations. For example, against the resistance of the city of Ravensburg in 1931, the central Ravensburg Frauentor stop was expanded into a sixth crossing station. This was also connected with a re-routing, seen in the direction of Baienfurt, the trains drove past the Kreuzbrunnen on the left. With loans from the Deutsche Reichsbahn, a capital reduction and waivers by the states of Württemberg (because of the two Upper Swabian LAG routes) and Bavaria, the LAG was again restructured in 1934, but it only postponed the end. In the mid-1930s (before 1936), the LAG finally abolished the distinction between wagon classes . Previously, the two middle compartments of the four-axle railcars and the end compartment of the only two-axle railcar were designated as 2nd class ("upholstered class"), while the remaining seats in the railcars and most of the sidecars were 3rd class ("wood class") . This differentiation was in any case highly atypical for a tram-like operation with comparatively short travel times. This enabled the capacity to be increased slightly. For example, the large railcars now had 48 seats instead of the previous 44. However, the spatial separation from the compartments of the former 2nd class was not removed. From then on, it served as a separation between smoking and non-smoking areas. In 1937, just one year before the company was liquidated , two new four-axle sidecars were purchased.

First conflicts with road traffic

Motorization increased significantly between the two world wars . In the past, carriages and wagons were still in circulation , but now the automobile dominated . In 1934, Württembergische Staatsstrasse 49 became Reichsstrasse 30. Not least because of this, it continued to gain in importance. As early as 1936 to 1942, there were first plans for a bypass road for the towns of Ravensburg, Weingarten and Baienfurt.

This development also increasingly influenced the operation of the tram. In the 1930s it became more and more noticeable that the road-flush route chosen in 1888 could only be partially reconciled with the requirements of modern road traffic . It became more and more evident that the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurter Bahn is more of a tram, and thus a means of transport that also actively participates in road traffic. For example, the steps on the trains turned out to be a problem. They protruded 20 centimeters above the actual clearance profile of the railway and sometimes endangered road traffic. In the last few years of the LAG management, the steps were therefore bevelled towards the end of the vehicle. In addition, in those years the railcars - but not the sidecars - each received four direction indicators (colloquially: "blinkers"). In doing so, the railway adapted to the regulations of the then newly introduced road traffic licensing regulations , which came into force on November 13, 1937.

The new Baienfurt Süd stop

The Baienfurt Süd stop at km 6.3 was subsequently introduced for better development of the residential area north of Baienfurter Friedhofstrasse. As a result, the total number of tram stops increased from 14 to 15, and the average distance between stops decreased from 505 to 469 meters. It was the only stop that was re-established between electrification in 1910 and closure in 1959. The date of its opening is not known. However, it is not yet included in the timetable of December 1, 1920.

Strangely enough, it was still in the urban area of Weingarten, as the district boundary to Baienfurt ran a little further north of the station. At the same time, there was a stop at Baienfurt Süd almost a hundred meters to the west - already located on the standard-gauge route towards Baienfurt - since 1914. In contrast to the jointly operated Traubenhof stop, these two stations were completely separate from each other.

Directed by the state railway

Historic tram tickets - at times a distance-dependent tariff applied, at other times a flat rate. The station abbreviations on the blue ticket are: Ra for Ravensburg Bahnhof, Fr for Frauentor, Fa for Falken, Kz for Heilig Kreuz, Kf for Kraftwerk, Ub for Unterburach, Nh for 14 emergency helpers, La for Lamm, Ch for Charlottenplatz, Po for Post, Gü for freight yard and Bf for Baienfurt.

Course book table from 1939, not all intermediate stops are listed

Course book table for the year 1944, now referred to as the electric tram and without any explicit reference to single-class operation

1938: from the LAG local train to the DR tram

After the economic situation of the LAG did not improve, the nationalization of the LAG was finally decided in the Reich Law Gazette number 23 of June 20, 1938. With effect from August 1, 1938, the entire assets of the Lokalbahn AG were transferred to the German Reich . On this date, the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) took over the management of all LAG routes, including the tram-like operation of Ravensburg-Weingarten-Baienfurt. From then on, the line belonged to the Reichsbahndirektion Stuttgart . The LAG depot in Weingarten became the Weingarten locomotive station . This was subordinate to the Friedrichshafen depot as a branch.

The meter-gauge line to Baienfurt was a specialty for the Deutsche Reichsbahn. From then on, it was operated as the only German state railway line according to the regulation on the construction and operation of trams (BOStrab) that came into force on April 1, 1938. Also in the Reich curriculum from the 1943 annual timetable this is explicitly indicated with the reference to electric trams in the header, while the general reference to electric operation was found in the same place in the winter edition of 1941/42 . From 1944 onwards, there was finally no notice - common on all other single-class branch lines - All trains only 3rd class , that is, the uniform carriage class was taken for granted for a tram.

However, the Deutsche Reichsbahn had already been responsible for operating the Neuötting – Altötting steam tram, which was closed in 1930, for ten years . When it was founded in 1920, it had taken over from the Royal Bavarian State Railways . In contrast to Württemberg, under Bavarian law a clear distinction between a tram and a railroad was already possible before 1938. The Deutsche Reichsbahn also owned the Deuben State Railroad, which was also licensed as a tram . It was built by the Royal Saxon State Railways , but operated by the Dresden tram .

The classification as a tram had the consequence, among other things, that the tram to Baienfurt and the railway were still not dispatched continuously, even though they had been one and the same company since 1938. The passengers could not buy one-way tickets from train stations of the Reichsbahn to destinations on the tram. Conversely, the conductors in the trams did not sell tickets to destinations beyond Ravensburg. The same applied to luggage transport. Continuous checking in of luggage was not possible. Regardless of this, there was a general restriction in baggage transport on all trains . Furthermore, the change from the local railway to the tram was also noticeable externally: the railcars were then equipped with the destination signs prescribed by the BOStrab. There it says under § 32: "The first vehicle of a scheduled train must have a destination sign at the front that is clearly visible even in the dark."

New stop names

In addition, after taking over the line in 1938, the Deutsche Reichsbahn introduced new names for some stops. These changes were probably made at the first timetable change after the takeover, i.e. at the beginning of the winter timetable 1938/39 - valid from October 2, 1938:

old	New
Ravensburg state train station	Ravensburg train station
power plant	Ravensburg power plant
Unterburach	Ravensburg Unterburach
14 helpers	Weingarten (Württ) 14 helpers in need
Weingarten Scherzach Bridge	Weingarten (Württ) lamb
Weingarten Charlottenstrasse	Weingarten (Württ) Charlottenstrasse
Weingarten Post	Weingarten (Württ) Post
Vineyard grape	Weingarten (Württ) grape
Weingarten freight yard	Weingarten (Württ) freight yard

With the addition of the name (Württ) for Württemberg, confusion with the train stations Weingarten (Baden) or Weingarten (Palatinate) should be avoided. The background to the renaming of Weingarten Scherzachbrücke to Weingarten Lamm is not known. Lamm is the name of an inn in the neighboring Liebfrauenstrasse 53 that still exists today under the name Hotel Lamm . Regardless of this, the Traubenhof stop was still run entirely without the addition of Weingarten or Weingarten (Württ). The Unterburach station was given the addition of Ravensburg to its name, although it was located in the Weingarten district. This is due to the fact that the eponymous district Burach belongs to Ravensburg. In addition, the city limits in this area run right next to the former railway line.

National Socialism and other renamed stops

During the time of National Socialism , Weingarten was incorporated into Ravensburg on April 1, 1939. With the exception of the northern terminus at Baienfurt Ort , all tram stops were now in the Ravensburg urban area. In this context, two stops were renamed in Weingarten. This probably happened with the beginning of the summer timetable on May 15, 1939:

old	New
Weingarten (Württ) Charlottenstrasse	Weingarten (Württ) Horst-Wessel- Strasse
Weingarten (Württ) 14 helpers in need	Weingarten (Württ) Municipal Hospital

In the first case, the renaming is obvious; because in the old town of Ravensburg there was already a Charlottenstraße, which is still called that today. In the second case, the Christian addition to the name 14 Nothelfer should be eliminated for political reasons. The Weingarten hospital itself, however, was not renamed, it still bears its Christian name affix and operates today under the name of Krankenhaus 14 Nothelfer GmbH . Paradoxically, the Weingarten stops were still prefixed with Weingarten (Württ) , although Weingarten did not even exist on paper at that time.

Second world war and occupation

During the Second World War, the tram was allowed to drive even in the event of an air raid . Unlike the municipal-run streetcars in other cities it was under a so-called path of public transport to the railway luftSchutz . This emerges from a letter that the responsible DR works office in Friedrichshafen wrote on February 22, 1941.

There was no serious war damage to the tram, so it could run continuously even during the war. It was not until April 23, 1945 that operations were stopped because the Wehrmacht had anti-tank traps set up. On April 28, 1945, the French armed forces marched into Ravensburg. The barriers were leveled again. From then on, the city and trams belonged to the French occupation zone . However, operations continued to be inactive for the time being. However, on June 18, 1945, the French military governor of the Ravensburg Steiner district ordered the railway to be restarted. After a little over two and a half months of business interruption, it was back to normal on July 11, 1945. In order to ensure regular railway operations, the new rulers founded the head office of the German railways in the French-occupied zone on January 8, 1946, with its headquarters in Speyer . From then on, this was also subject to the tram to Baienfurt. On June 25, 1947, this was finally merged into the company association of the Southwest German Railways , whose general management was also in Speyer.

On April 1, 1946, the two cities of Ravensburg and Weingarten were separated again. The Horst-Wessel-Straße became the Abt-Hyller-Straße. The stop itself was renamed Weingarten (Württ) Charlottenplatz . The name of the Weingarten (Württ) Städtisches Krankenhaus stop , however, was not changed during the tram era.

The era of the Deutsche Bundesbahn begins

In the post-war period , the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram shared the fate of the other railway lines in the French-occupied zone. With the company association of the South-West German Railways, they passed into the ownership of the Deutsche Bundesbahn at the latest on the basis of the Federal Railways Act of December 18, 1951. From then on, Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt was not only the only tram operator operated by the German Federal Railroad, but also still the only tram operator owned by the German state. Because the parallel existing Deutsche Reichsbahn in the German Democratic Republic did not have a tram service despite numerous nationalizations. The former electric narrow-gauge railway Klingenthal – Sachsenberg-Georgenthal of the Deutsche Reichsbahn was operated under similar circumstances as the line to Baienfurt, but it was still legally classified as a railway - regardless of the use of only slightly adapted tram vehicles.

Economic miracle and traffic problems

In the course of the economic miracle , not only the number of passengers increased in the 1950s, but also the individual motorized traffic in Ravensburg and the surrounding area. This so-called mass motorization also caused increasing problems for the tram. The conflicts already known from the 1930s intensified. Especially in the inner city of Ravensburg and on the sections of the federal road 30 , which emerged from Reichsstraße 30 in 1949, the railway was increasingly perceived as a traffic obstacle. As a result of the rail line being laid sideways, the trams traveling in the direction of Ravensburg came head-on towards road users traveling to the north in the passages of Ravensburg and Baienfurt. Particularly problematic in this context were the old construction vehicles of the railway, which are comparatively 2.5 meters wide. In terms of structure and size, they corresponded more to a small train or local train than a classic tram. Among other things, this led to the fact that in the curves of the route the trucks driving on the road protruded into the clearance profile required by the tram. The asymmetrical structure of the old vehicles made matters worse . They were wider in the area of the passenger compartments than in the area of the boarding platforms. The space they actually needed could therefore only be estimated from the front with great difficulty.

The sweeping steps on the old vehicles also caused problems again at the beginning of the 1950s. The bevel that had already taken place during the LAG times could not solve the problem in the long run. In the first half of the 1950s, the German Federal Railroad therefore decided to lock the doors on the west side permanently as an emergency measure. The annoying steps on the side of the vehicle, that is to say towards the federal highway 30, could be completely removed. This conversion was only possible because all platforms of the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram were on the same side - namely on the east side. In this way, it was also successfully prevented that passengers alight directly on the lane side and are endangered by road traffic there. This very rare form of bidirectional operation with one-sided doors can still be observed today, among other things, with the Kirnitzschtalbahn , the Drachenfelsbahn , the Gmunden tram or the Italian railway line Trieste – Opicina , even if the reasons for this lie partly elsewhere in the companies mentioned.

1953 to 1955: Hesitant modernization and cycle schedule

At the beginning of the 1950s, the number of passengers on the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram rose suddenly. While around two million passengers were carried annually in the immediate post-war period, in 1951 there were already 3,192,650, with the trend continuing to rise. The tram to Baienfurt developed into a means of mass transport at that time. Despite the massive traffic problems, the German Federal Railroad did not initially consider converting the route to bus operation. In order to meet the increasing demand for traffic, a fixed 20-minute cycle was introduced all day long from 1953, and every 30 minutes in the evenings after 9:00 p.m. It replaced the previous demand-oriented timetable. Before that, however, the entire tram fleet had to be converted from the classic manually operated trumpet coupling to the more modern automatic BSI compact coupling . This rationalization measure simplified the maneuvering process considerably, in particular the relocation at the end points was made easier. This was necessary because only comparatively short turnaround times were planned for the new cycle timetable . From now on, only three minutes in Baienfurt and only four minutes in Ravensburg were allotted for the repositioning process. In order to still guarantee punctual operation , it was therefore essential to avoid delaying the departure of the return train, especially in the case of delays .

But at the same time the city of Ravensburg pushed the plan to convert the railway to bus operation. To this end, a first meeting between Ravensburg and the Deutsche Bundesbahn took place on June 12, 1953 - without Weingarten and Baienfurt participating. Due to the growing motor vehicle traffic, it was planned to widen federal highway 30 - at the expense of the railway line - to four lanes. In addition, the previous Ravensburger city bus service was considered to be in deficit due to its short routes and should become more economical with the inclusion of the longer route to Baienfurt. The Deutsche Bundesbahn joined in and - for reasons of cost - from now on also demanded diesel bus services. In contrast, Weingarten and Baienfurt formed an alliance of rail supporters and had appropriate counter-reports drawn up.

After the number of passengers continued to rise in the following years, the Deutsche Bundesbahn decided shortly after the introduction of the regular timetable to intensify the intervals. For this purpose, it acquired two modern large-capacity railcars for its unusual branch of business in 1954 . The number of vehicles increased from six to eight railcars. They were necessary to be able to travel every ten minutes between Ravensburg train station and Weingarten Charlottenplatz during rush hour . This renewed expansion of the range was introduced in 1955. With this, the Deutsche Bundesbahn continued the modernization of the railway that had begun in 1953 - albeit very hesitantly. At ten-minute intervals, the railway reached the limit of its capabilities; because the line continued to be a single track even after 1955. The increase in frequency was, however, also associated with a sharp rise in tariffs, with fares rising by 40 percent on October 1, 1955.

1956 to 1957: class reform and triple headlights

Summer timetable 1957: the intermediate journeys introduced in 1955 are not explicitly listed

With the so-called class reform - meaning the abolition of the former 1st class - the tram cars between Ravensburg and Baienfurt were also “upgraded” with the start of the summer timetable on June 3, 1956. From now on, the timetable therefore consistently stated: All trains only 2nd class . In practice, however, the Deutsche Bundesbahn - like the Deutsche Reichsbahn before it - did not have the appropriate labeling of its tram vehicles. In contrast to the other vehicles of the two state railways, they were not provided with the corresponding class numbers. The change from 1956 was therefore only on paper.

Regardless of the traffic problems described above, the railcars of the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram were also fitted with an additional headlight in the roof area in 1957 . This ensured the so-called triple headlights . Its introduction was required by the legislature in order to better distinguish rail vehicles in the dark from the constantly growing number of road vehicles. However, the introduction took place nationwide in accordance with the Road Traffic Licensing Regulations and had nothing to do with the explicit safety problems on the route covered here.

1957 to 1958: Fatal traffic accident and controversial recruitment plans

In the second half of the 1950s the mutual hindrances between the tram and the increasing motor vehicle traffic no longer seemed tolerable to those responsible. Not least because of a series of traffic accidents between 1956 and 1958, these repeatedly forced the company to cease operations. In contrast, the local population was in favor of maintaining rail operations, among other things because they feared higher fares in the event of a switch to bus operation. As an example, the opponents brought the existing bus connection from Ravensburg to Eschach into play, on which a ticket cost two and a half times as much as a tram ticket on the roughly equal distance to Baienfurt. The Deutsche Bundesbahn admitted the threatened tariff increase, but pointed out that "this increase could not be avoided even if rail operations were to be maintained" .

On July 3, 1957, there was another serious traffic accident, including one fatality for the first time. At that time, a long timber truck on the way to Weingarten collided with a tram at the Ravensburg Kraftwerk stop - three passengers were injured and a 58-year-old woman died. Although the truck driver was initially acquitted on June 11, 1958, the Ravensburg Regional Court overturned the judgment on September 24, 1958 and sentenced the driver - at the same time, however, the railway was also complicit in the accident. This revision of the judgment was taken as an opportunity to limit the maximum speed of the tram by order of October 9, 1958 from October 13, 1958 from 25 to only ten kilometers per hour. Furthermore, the protruding passenger compartments of the old construction vehicles described above were given a makeshift warning markings with red and white stripes in autumn 1958.

As a result of the speed limit of ten kilometers per hour, on the one hand travel times were extended, on the other hand, due to the limited number of intersections, the ten-minute intervals introduced in 1955 could no longer be offered during rush hour. As a result, the already comparatively slow tram lost even more of its attractiveness in comparison to competing individual transport - or rather the envisaged bus operation. For example, the students and workers could no longer drive home during the lunch break. Massive protests by citizens and companies followed, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry considered a strike. As a replacement for the canceled repeater trips between Weingarten and Ravensburg, the Deutsche Bundesbahn temporarily used omnibuses during rush hour, these alternating with the trams, which now run at most every 20 minutes.

Because under the given conditions, competitive operation was no longer possible, the German Federal Railroad presented the Baden-Württemberg state government with a choice: Either the state should pay the difference of 1.97 million marks between the costs of a bus operation and the higher costs of a safe one Carrying out the tram route - or agreeing to switch to buses entirely . As a result, the state government in Stuttgart decided to switch to bus operation. In addition, after the railway was closed, the federal highway 30 between Ravensburg and Weingarten was to be expanded to four lanes for a total of 2.8 million German marks. Initially, however, only a widening of 35 centimeters - which could be implemented at short notice - was planned, which was necessary for the future bus traffic to run smoothly. This measure was transferred to the cities of Ravensburg and Weingarten. At the same time, it was decided against the bypass road for Ravensburg, which had already been specifically planned at the end of the 1950s. In Upper Swabia, too, the then modern concept of the so-called car- friendly city was pursued , named after the book of the same name, which was published locally by Ravensburger Otto Maier Verlag in 1959, the year the railway was discontinued .

1959: Gradual conversion to rail replacement services

Bus schedule from July 1, 1959: Although it is still a rail replacement service, the route is already officially known as the railway bus route

As early as October 27, 1958, the Stuttgart Federal Railway Directorate ruled: "Large-scale buses will take over traffic between Ravensburg and Weingarten until further notice. On the Weingarten - Baienfurt route, the previous 20-minute traffic service will be resumed." As a result of an administrative complaint from the city of Weingarten and the municipality of Baienfurt, which, in contrast to the city of Ravensburg, continued to plead for maintaining the railway, the state railway was initially unable to implement its project as planned. Ultimately, the protest from Weingarten and Baienfurt had no effect. In January 1959, the President of the Stuttgart Federal Railway Directorate, Kurt Hagner, announced the changeover to bus operation, and on February 12, 1959, the Tübingen Regional Council announced that from February 23, 1959, the trams would only run between Weingarten Charlottenplatz and Baienfurt Ort. The Deutsche Bundesbahn published its timetable only two days earlier, on February 21, 1959. However, the bus service introduced as a substitute between Ravensburg and Weingarten was initially only of a provisional nature. Because of the administrative complaint that had not yet been resolved, it was declared as so-called emergency traffic . De jure, it was initially a rail replacement service . For the passengers from Baienfurt, this was temporarily associated with a transfer obligation in Weingarten.

When enough buses were available after a further four months, the 2.5-kilometer-long remaining operation in the northern section of the Weingarten – Baienfurt route could finally be converted to bus operation. The trams last ran on Tuesday, June 30, 1959. The buses to Baienfurt also operated de jure initially as a rail replacement service, regardless of this, the Deutsche Bundesbahn officially designated the route as a railway bus route from July 1, 1959 . However, there was no specific line designation at that time , the typical four-digit line numbers in rail bus traffic were only introduced by the Deutsche Bundesbahn a few years later. This bus service, introduced in 1959, was initially only of a provisional nature. For example, the Ravensburg Unterburach, Ravensburg Kraftwerk, Traubenhof and Baienfurt Süd stops could not be served due to a lack of suitable stopping places. In addition, two stops were renamed with the introduction of the rail replacement service in 1959:

old	New
Weingarten (Württ) Municipal Hospital	Weingarten (Württ) Hospital
Baienfurt place	Baienfurt Town Hall

On the other hand, the change also led to significant improvements in the traffic situation. In Baienfurt, for example, the buses ran beyond the previous terminus to the Baienfurt fire station and thus also served the center of Baienfurt. The timetable was also expanded, but this improvement was primarily a result of the lower capacity of the buses compared to the trams:

The intermediate trips between Weingarten and Ravensburg were no longer only offered during rush hour, but all day until around 9 p.m. In addition, compared to the intermediate trams that were abandoned in October 1958, they not only ran to Weingarten Charlottenplatz, but also to Weingarten Güterbahnhof. In the morning rush hour (from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.), the intermediate trips even ran to Baienfurt. This was the first time that ten-minute intervals were also offered over the entire route.

The tram's basic 20-minute cycle has also been extended into the evening hours after 9:00 p.m. From then on it was valid until the end of operations.

In addition to the intermediate journeys, so-called express buses also ran during rush hour between Ravensburg train station and Weingarten freight station . On the way, they only stopped at the Ravensburg Frauentor, Weingarten Lamm and Weingarten Post stops. These courses were specially marked by a red slash in the signage, which means that it was a so-called crossed line signal .

Outdated vehicle fleet

In addition to the traffic problems, the very outdated railway vehicle fleet also played an important role in the decision to switch to bus operation. In 1959, the year it was recruited, the eight railcars had been in service for an average of 37.5 years, including the two new railcars from 1954. At that time, the five railcars purchased for electrification had each been in use for 49 years and were also worn out by two world wars . It looked even more critical with the eleven sidecars. Their average age was 56.1 in 1959. Six of them still came from the steam tram and thus from the year the railway was founded. These veterans were already 71 years old at the time. A further complication was the cycle schedule introduced in 1953 - it significantly increased the daily mileage of the vehicles - as well as the heavy use of the continuously increasing number of passengers. In the early years of the electric tram, the six railcars, together with the sidecars, only carried around one million passengers a year, but in 1954 there were already a total of almost five million passengers.

Zeitgeist and general trend

Almost 21 years after the takeover by the Reichsbahn, the second German state-owned tram after the former Neuötting – Altötting steam tram was history again. Regardless of the specific situation on the Ravensburg – Baienfurt route, the suspension of the railway followed a general trend in West Germany in two respects . On the one hand, many municipal transport companies switched their trams to omnibus or trolleybus operation. In 1959 alone, six other companies were closed ( Rheydt , Herne-Castrop-Rauxel , Minden , Solingen , Völklingen and Lübeck ). The weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT describes this zeitgeist in its edition of March 6, 1959 as follows: So the tram is finally on the extinction budget - here as elsewhere. But in the heat of the battle of Weingarten and Ravensburg it is difficult to make it clear to people that a new era is dawning here ...

On the other hand, the Deutsche Bundesbahn soon ceased passenger services on its other narrow-gauge lines. They were considered uneconomical due to the complex operation: 1960 on the Walhallabahn , 1964 on the two neighboring Upper Swabian lines, Öchsle and Federseebahn , 1966 on the Bottwartalbahn , 1967 on the Altensteigerle and 1973 on the Odenwaldexpress . Although the Zabergäubahn was re-gauged in 1964/65, it was finally converted to bus operation in 1986. Only the Wangerooger Inselbahn is the only DB narrow-gauge railway that has survived to this day.

Bus traffic from 1962 until today

A RAB bus designed by the Stadtbus Ravensburg Weingarten GmbH

Dismantling and final establishment of bus operations

The dismantling of the overhead line and the tarring of the rails began as early as 1961; they were completely removed between Ravensburg train station and Frauentor in August of the same year. Regardless of this, passenger traffic on the route was not officially stopped until December 31, 1961, that is, rail replacement traffic was canceled. Subsequently, the Deutsche Bundesbahn received a regular train bus concession for the route. Another two years later, on January 1, 1964, the tram route was finally formally closed and thus disengaged . The three-rail section of the route remained unaffected by this, it was used by the standard-gauge freight trains to Weingarten until October 26, 1999 and was finally officially closed on December 1 of the same year.

From the rail bus line to the city bus network

In the course of the decades, a regular city bus network developed from the railway bus line introduced in 1959. The direct successors of the tram are today's bus lines 1 and 2. Their routing is exactly the same as that of the former tram line. Both lines are, however, today diameter lines and operate in the southwest addition Ravensburger neighborhoods Schmalegg and West City . They also run in the north via Baienfurt to Baindt. In addition, new lines were introduced. They also serve the residential areas away from the former tram line, such as today's line 3 to Hegaustraße (at Sonnenbüchel) or line 5 to Schacherösch (to Baienfurt).

The former rail bus division of the Deutsche Bundesbahn - which took over the operation of the tram at the time - was dissolved in 1989, from which the DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (RAB), which still exists today, emerged. It was initially a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, since its privatization in 1994 it has been a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG .

The RAB cooperates closely with the cities of Ravensburg and Weingarten and the private bus companies in the transport area. Initially, this took place within the framework of the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Rundumbus Ravensburg Weingarten , which was established in 1996 , from which today's Stadtbus Ravensburg Weingarten GmbH emerged in 2004 . The RAB is a co-partner of the GmbH together with the Ravensburg public utility, the Weingarten public utility and two private bus companies. With 45.2 percent, it holds the largest share in the joint venture. In addition to its own lines, it also takes on the operational management of the lines that are licensed to the Ravensburg public utility and Weingarten public utility, which do not have their own buses. The execution of city buses by the Deutsche Bahn Group is comparatively rare and in this case can be traced back to the licensing of the earlier tram. As a rule, the companies of DB Stadtverkehr GmbH only operate regional buses .

Today's traffic situation

The former tram route has remained the main axis for local public transport in the cities of Ravensburg and Weingarten. Most of the bus stops correspond in their location to the 15 previous tram stops. Fifty years later, eight stops still have their old names, although the addition (Württ) is no longer used for the Weingarten stops. The stops in detail:

Former tram stops	Today's bus stops	Remarks	Bus routes ⁽¹⁾
Ravensburg train station	Ravensburg train station		1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 20
Ravensburg Frauentor	Ravensburg Schussenstrasse		20th
-	Ravensburg Gartenstrasse	Stop newly furnished	1, 3, 5, 10, 11
Ravensburg falcons	Ravensburg falcons		1, 3, 5, 11
Ravensburg Holy Cross	Ravensburg Holy Cross		1, 3, 5
Ravensburg power plant	Ravensburg power plant		1, 3, 5, 10, 20
Ravensburg Unterburach	Ravensburg vocational school center		1, 5
Weingarten (Württ) Municipal Hospital	Weingarten Hospital		1, 5, 20
Weingarten (Württ) lamb	Weingarten lens ⁽²⁾	Renaming in December 2007	1, 5
Weingarten (Württ) Charlottenplatz	Weingarten Charlottenplatz		1, 5, 6, 20
-	Weingarten Ev. City Church	Stop newly furnished	1, 6
Weingarten (Württ) Post	Weingarten Post		1, 6
Weingarten (Württ) grape	-	Stop abandoned
Weingarten (Württ) freight yard	Weingarten freight yard		1,
-	Haasstrasse vineyard	Stop newly furnished	1,
Grape farm	Weingarten grapes ⁽³⁾	Renaming in December 2007	1,
Baienfurt South	-	Stop abandoned
Baienfurt place	Baienfurt Achtal School		1,

⁽¹⁾Only city bus lines that serve at least two stops of the former tram are listed. In addition, the infrequently used deviating routes [school traffic] of lines 5, 6, 10 and 20 as well as the infrequent routes 16, 17 and 28 are also not included in this overview. Most of the stops are also served by national bus routes.

⁽²⁾Today's Weingarten Linse bus stop is north of the Scherzach, while the former tram stop was south of the bridge.

⁽³⁾Today's Weingarten Trauben bus stop is about 150 meters north of the former tram stop. It is therefore closer to the eponymous settlement.

Transport performance over the years

Ride offer

Compared to the later electric local railway or tram, the steam tram with its two train sets only ran relatively rarely in the early years of the railway. In 1897 only eleven trips were offered every working day, exactly as many as in the opening year 1888. This changed only later: With 37 (1906) or even 38 (1909) daily train journeys in each direction, the steam tram had reached the limit of its capabilities. After the electrification and extension of the route, the timetable was further condensed. In 1914 the six existing railcars were already running about every 30 minutes, on Sunday afternoons even about every 20 minutes. In economically difficult times (1927 and 1946), however, one train an hour had to be enough. But in 1934 or 1948 there were twice as many trains again. Until 1953, driving was largely demand-oriented; the travel times were primarily geared to the connections to and from the trains on the southern runway. It was not until 1953 that a fixed, all-day timetable was introduced (see above). The following data has been passed down over the years:

year	1888	1906	1909	1919	1920	1944	1946-1950	1957 ⁽¹⁾
Pair of trains on weekdays except Saturdays	11	37	38	67	33	37/35	43	58/59
Train pairs on Saturdays	11	37	38	67	33	37/35	43	59/62
Pairs of trains on Sundays and public holidays	9	37	34	70	31/32	32/31	48	58/61

⁽¹⁾ without intermediate journeys Ravensburg train station <> Weingarten Charlottenplatz

The individual journeys were differentiated by train numbers , these were - atypically for a tram - still used after 1938, for example in 1944. In the timetable from 1957, however, they are no longer listed. The courses in the direction of Baienfurt had even train numbers, the courses in the direction of Ravensburg had odd train numbers. At times the rush was so great that individual courses had to be reinforced with so-called benefits , these additional trains are not included in the table. Priority and main train then followed each other within sight , the privileges were accordingly signposted to ensure that the oncoming trains had to wait for the main train in the siding.

Operating time

The operating time also corresponded to the times usual for metropolitan tram companies, even in the war year 1944 they ran until shortly before midnight :

1920: from 4:55 a.m. to 11:05 p.m.
1944: from 4:52 a.m. to 11:55 p.m.
1957: from 4:23 a.m. to 1:06 a.m.

Travel times and speed

According to the timetable from 1920, most trains needed 33 minutes for the entire Ravensburg – Baienfurt route, which corresponds to an average speed of only 11.9 km / h. In later years the timetable was tightened somewhat, in 1944 and 1957, for example, most trains covered the entire distance in 26 or 27 minutes, i.e. at an average speed of 15.1 and 14.6 km / h, respectively.

Rounds

With the introduction of the rigid cycle timetable, the following vehicle requirements arose in the last six years of operation:

10-minute intervals (rush hour)	5 rounds	3 main circuits over the entire route 2 amplifier circuits between Ravensburg train station and Weingarten Charlottenplatz
20-minute intervals (during the day)	3 rounds
30-minute intervals (from 9:00 p.m.)	2 rounds

Passenger numbers

								1888	1889
								179,474	179,553
1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
204.496	213.164	204,874	220,522	234.907	243,660	243.508	253.144	263.034	265.484
1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909
289.831	289,939	309.219	319,869	352,399	364.502	374.743	471.018	518.737	556.823
1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
682.166	918.060	unknown	1,089,908	839.865	unknown	unknown	unknown	1,507,000	1,786,084
1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
1,859,260	1,444,678	1,487,251	781,650	763.361	1,069,338	991.761	1,063,477	1,078,284	1,134,416
1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
1,063,046	836.484	750,883	771.002	803.259	935.023	1.019.208	1,178,929	unknown	unknown
1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown	unknown	approx. 2 million	approx. 2 million	approx. 2 million	approx. 2 million
1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
approx. 2 million	3,192,650	unknown	unknown	4,920,000	4,392,000	5,035,263	4,733,370	unknown	unknown

vehicles

Procurements over the years

The Chiemsee-Bahn locomotive, which is still in operation today, is identical to the machines used in Weingarten at the time

Two box locomotives were procured for the steam tram for the opening of operations (LAG 1 and LAG 2 - serial numbers 1814 and 1818). They came from the company Krauss & Co., which was logical because it was a co-partner of the LAG. They were the LAG's very first locomotives. Shortly beforehand, Krauss also delivered a copy of the same type to the Chiemsee-Bahn (with the serial number 1813). Both railways were machines without engine cowlings. In contrast, the locomotives that were later delivered to the LAG sister companies Walhallabahn and Forster Stadteisenbahn were similar in appearance, but not identical in their dimensions. The machines used in Forst also had engine cowlings.

The steam tram had seven two-axle trailer cars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 16) and three freight cars (6, 7 and 17) available. The passenger cars were supplied by MAN , they weighed 5,000 and 6,050 kilograms, were 8.35 meters long and 2.50 meters wide, and their wheelbase was 3.90 meters.

A series 800–804 railcar with two sidecars on a company photo of the Esslingen machine factory

In order to start electrical operation, the vehicle inventory was extensively expanded. At that time, the LAG procured a total of five large four-axle railcars from Maschinenfabrik Esslingen ; their electrical equipment came from Siemens-Schuckertwerke (SSW). They were called elT (for electric multiple units) at the LAG and had the numbers 800 to 804. They were supplemented by three two-axle sidecars (832, 833 and 834), including a half- baggage car . In addition, however, the earlier sidecars of the steam tram continued to be used. From then on they ran behind the new railcars.

The small railcar number 875

In 1914 a smaller two-axle railcar with the number 875 was added, which later became known under the nickname Piccolo . Unlike the already existing four-axle vehicles, its electrical equipment came from the Oerlikon machine factory in Switzerland . In 1937 the LAG finally procured two large four-axle sidecars (921 and 922). In terms of capacity, they corresponded to the large railcars. In 1941, the Deutsche Reichsbahn introduced series designations for railcars and the associated trailer cars. At that time, the four-axle vehicles were given the series designation 196.0 (ET 196.0 or EB 196.0), the two-axle vehicles were grouped under the series 197.0 (ET 197.0 and EB 197.0).

With regard to the 1955 introduced clock compaction to and from Weingarten Charlottenplatz the German Federal Railroad purchased in 1954 at the Düsseldorf company Duewag two four-axle Duewag open seating car . Their electrical equipment came from Kiepe . They were put into operation on April 9, 1954. In principle, these were standard vehicles, as they were procured by many German tram companies at the time. They were classic bidirectional vehicles , but as a special feature - analogous to the old vehicles converted a few years earlier - they only had doors on one side from the start. Another characteristic of the two Duewag tram cars of the Deutsche Bundesbahn was the pantograph , which was arranged unusually in the middle of the car, and the missing line number boxes. Furthermore, due to the design, no smoking compartments could be shown in the new wagons - compared to the old wagons. The two railcars were added to the inventory as the ET 195 series (ET 195 01 and ET 195 02; serial numbers 26887 and 26888) and were sometimes used together in double traction . For technical reasons, however, because the electrical equipment was incompatible, they could not be used together with the older vehicles. The two new railcars became the main vehicles of the railway, but the old railcars were still indispensable. In particular during the ten-minute intervals introduced in 1955 and when there was a large crowd, in this case the older vehicles were preferred to be sent ahead of the new railcars as "advantages".

Painting schemes

Originally the LAG vehicles were painted uniformly dark green. A two-tone paint scheme was introduced around 1936, from then on the vehicles were painted lime green below the windows, the window band was "light cream". The two areas were separated by a dark green dividing line. Only shortly afterwards they were repainted by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in their common railcar livery and were now light red below the windows, the window band was still light cream.

The Deutsche Bundesbahn finally introduced another scheme and painted the vehicles - also analogous to their other railcars - dark red. This paintwork was supplemented by three circumferential white decorative strips in the roof area, at the level of the window sills and above the lower edge of the car body. As a special feature, however, the two open-plan cars from 1954 - unlike the rest of the tram fleet in particular and the other railcars of the Deutsche Bundesbahn in general - were painted lime green. This special paintwork was complemented by a surrounding decorative strip connected with a surrounding dark decorative strip - both just below the window band.

Vehicle table

No. LAG	No. DR / DB	Construction year	Manufacturer	Electrics	Seats	Axle formula / type	Retirement	Remarks
LAG 1	-	1887	Krauss & Co.	-	no	B n2t	1928	1910 to the Walhalla Railway
LAG 2	-	1887	Krauss & Co.	-	no	B n2t	?	1910 to the Walhalla Railway
1	-	1887/88	MAN	-	24	2 ×	before 1937	2nd class sidecar
2	EB 197 01	1887/88	MAN	-	32	2 ×	1959	3rd class sidecar
3	EB 197 02	1887/88	MAN	-	32	2 ×	1959	3rd class sidecar
4th	EB 197 11	1887/88	MAN	-	13 + 9	2 ×	1959	2nd and 3rd class sidecar with luggage compartment, later purely mail and baggage car, finally tower car
5	EB 197 12	1887/88	MAN	-	32	2 ×	1959	3rd class sidecar with luggage compartment
6th	-	1887/88	MAN	-	no	2 ×	?	open freight car
7th	-	1887/88	MAN	-	no	2 ×	?	open freight car
8th	EB 197 03	1887/88	MAN	-	32	2 ×	1959	3rd class sidecar
16	EB 197 04	1887/88	MAN	-	32	2 ×	1959	3rd class sidecar
17th	-	1887/88	MAN	-	no	2 ×	?	covered freight car
elT 800	ET 196 01	1908	MF Esslingen	SSW	32 + 12/48	(A1) (1A)	1959
elT 801	ET 196 02	1908/10	MF Esslingen	SSW	32 + 12/48	(A1) (1A)	1959
elT 802	ET 196 03	1908/10	MF Esslingen	SSW	32 + 12/48	(A1) (1A)	1959
elT 803	ET 196 04	1908/10	MF Esslingen	SSW	32 + 12/48	(A1) (1A)	1959
elT 804	ET 196 05	1910	MF Esslingen	SSW	32 + 12/48	(A1) (1A)	1959
832	EB 197 05	1910	MF Esslingen	-	24	2 ×	1959	Sidecar, with luggage compartment
833	EB 197 06	1910	MF Esslingen	-	32	2 ×	1959	sidecar
834	EB 197 07	1910	MF Esslingen	-	32	2 ×	1959	Sidecar, finally baggage car
elT 875	ET 197 01	1914	MF Esslingen	Oerlikon	24 + 6/32	Bo	1959	Nickname: Piccolo
921	EB 196 01	1937	MF Esslingen	-	48	4 ×	1959	Sidecar, sold in 1962
922	EB 196 02	1937	MF Esslingen	-	48	4 ×	1959	Sidecar, sold in 1962, still preserved
-	ET 195 01	1954	Duewag	Box	34	B'2 'g1t	1959	Sold in 1961, still preserved
-	ET 195 02	1954	Duewag	Box	34	B'2 'g1t	1959	Sold in 1961, still preserved

Location of the vehicles

2007: The two new railcars at RTM Ouddorp - the generator car that was added in the 1960s runs in the middle

1980 at the Zillertalbahn in Jenbach (still with tobacco advertising )

With the start of electrical operation, the two steam tram locomotives from 1887 were handed over to the Walhallabahn, which also belongs to the LAG, where similar locomotives were already in use. They were used there until the second half of the 1920s. Subsequently, LAG 2 was sold to the Regensburg pulp works in 1927 , its whereabouts are unknown. LAG 1 was retired in 1928.

All of the tram vehicles that were still in existence when operations were discontinued in 1959 were initially stored on the company premises in Weingarten. The majority of them were finally scrapped on the spot around 1962 after the line had also been legally closed. Only the four newest rail vehicles - the two sidecars from 1937 and the two railcars from 1954 - could be sold. Three of them have been preserved and are reminiscent of the Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram to this day, all three are in working order.

The two new railcars ET 195 01 and ET 195 02 - just five years old when they ceased operations - were sold by the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1961 to the Dutch railway company Rotterdamsche Tramweg Maatschappij , or RTM for short . There they were re-gauged and a generator car was added for operation on the RTM's non-electrified network . This diesel-electric multiple unit, henceforth known as the M 17 , came to the Austrian Zillertal Railway in 1967 . The train has been back in the Netherlands since 1999 and has been in regular service on the RTM museum train Ouddorp – Middelplaat Haven since October 2003 .

The two sidecars EB 196 01 (formerly 921) and EB 196 02 (formerly 922) came to the Austrian railway company Stern & Hafferl in 1962 , but only the EB 196 02 car was used, it was given the new company number B 20.221. Car EB 196 01, however, was scrapped in Austria without ever being used there. The remaining car B 20.221 (formerly EB 196 02) received a general inspection at Stern & Hafferl in September 1971 and was then used on the Gmunden – Vorchdorf local railway until 1976 . In October 1980 it was handed over to the Stuttgart Tram Museum, which - in view of the planned museum operation between Nellingen and Neuhausen - temporarily placed it in the former depot of the Esslingen – Nellingen – Denkendorf tram in Nellingen. After the museum plans failed, he finally joined the German Railway Association in June 1986 . After extensive restoration, it has been used by him since December 1990 on the Bruchhausen-Vilsen-Asendorf museum railway . Under the new road number 21, it is used either as a sidecar behind the railcar or "unfamiliar" in classic steam or diesel trains.

Relics

The tram depot built in 1910 now serves as a bus depot

The former station building Frauentor in August 2008, the shelter attached to the right was only added in later years and has since been demolished again

Opposite the Green Tower, this catenary rosette was retained on the building Schussenstrasse 2

Another relic of this type can be found at Haus Gartenstrasse 10

Apart from the three vehicles that have been preserved in a museum elsewhere, very little today reminds of the former tram from Ravensburg to Baienfurt, the meter-gauge sections of the route fell completely victim to the road expansion. For many years, the tracks in front of the Ravensburg train station were simply over-tarred, with the new construction of the bus station - which was built around the end of the 1980s or the beginning of the 1990s - these last remaining meter gauge tracks were finally removed. Nothing can be seen of the former three-rail track between Weingarten and Baienfurt either. The track, which was only closed in 1999, is still largely in place, but the rails and sleepers in this section have been replaced over the years by used track yokes from other standard-gauge lines. The following relics are still reminiscent of the tram:

In addition to the former station building of the standard-gauge line, the former tram depot building also exists at the former Weingarten freight yard. Today the hall is used as the depot of the RAB. In addition to the city buses for the Ravensburg Weingarten city bus , regional buses are also stationed there. The depot is the focus of the independent RAB Weingarten branch. Inside there is a bus wash facility, among other things . Buses are also parked on the former platform apron. Meter gauge tracks are no longer available there either. The site is therefore still owned by the state.

Two steel catenary masts have been preserved on the apron of the Weingarten depot . Today they are used as lanterns to illuminate the RAB premises.

At the former bus stop (since 1931 also an alternative point) Ravensburg Frauentor, today's bus stop Ravensburg Schussenstraße, the wooden station building has also been preserved. The little house attached to the Green Tower was built by the LAG around the turn of the century and used as a ticket sales point. Today it serves as a kiosk and is classified as a cultural monument.

The brackets for bracing the former overhead line have been preserved on the buildings along the route. In addition to simple wall hooks (for example in Weingartener Abt-Hyller-Straße) there are also seven artistically ornamented overhead line rosettes from the year of electrification. There is a catenary rosette at each of the buildings at Gartenstrasse 8, Gartenstrasse 10, Gartenstrasse 34, Schussenstrasse 2 and Schussenstrasse 18. Two more are located - also in Schussenstrasse - on the building complex of the former Ravensburg machine factory. Until a part of the building was demolished in 2008, there were four rosettes there.

At the western end of Weingartener Liebfrauenstrasse, the restaurant La Fermata ( Italian for the stop , house number 54, later Indian restaurant Shiva ) and on the other side of the street the Hotel Lamm (house number 53, demolished in 2013) were reminiscent of the earlier tram at the beginning of the 21st century -Stop Weingarten (Württ) Lamm . This was in the immediate vicinity. The station was renamed from Scherzachbrücke to Lamm in 1939, the name survived until recently as a name for the bus stop that was set up as a replacement in 1959. It was only in December 2007 that it was renamed from Weingarten Lamm to Weingarten Linse , from which the Kulturzentrum Linse e. V. at Liebfrauenstrasse 58.

Pageant at the Welfenfest 2013

At the pageant of the Welfenfest in Weingarten, which is celebrated annually in summer, a group of pageants commemorates the “Bähnle”. Schoolchildren disguised as passengers and conductors accompany a model of a tram car.

Reactivation plans

Time and again, politicians are calling for the former Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram to be reactivated as part of a modern regional light rail system, for example by Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen in August 2005. The PRO BAHN passenger association also supported it in a thesis paper from January 2003 one such project. The great success of the Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn, launched in 1993 under municipal management, also plays a major role in these considerations . Links with this have also been considered, for example connections from Weingarten or Baienfurt to Friedrichshafen. In the case of the former tram route, however, such a reactivation would amount to a completely new construction and would be correspondingly costly. Only the short section of the route in the course of the former three-rail track could be used for such a project, but it has also been formally devised since 1999.

Others

Parts of the traction power supply that were no longer needed after the tram was discontinued were sold to the Austrian Montafonerbahn . As a result, in 1965 it was able to increase the voltage of its Bludenz – Schruns railway line from 720 to now 900 volts DC. However, since 1972 it goes by with the Austrian Federal Railways conventional alternating current at a voltage of 15 kV, 16⅔ Hz. Thus, the originating machinery from Germany were again superfluous.

literature

Leonhard Bergsteiner: Federal Tram - The Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt line . In: BahnExtra . No. 3 . GeraMond-Verlag, 2008, ISSN 0937-7174 , p. 82-83 .
Hermann Bürnheim: Localbahn AG Munich . Zeunert, Gifhorn 1974, ISBN 3-921237-21-1 .
Raimund Kolb : Bähnle, mill, train and bus: the train in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 .
Raimund Kolb: Zügle, Mühle, Bähnle. The Ravensburg - Weingarten - Baienfurt railway . In: Raimund Kolb, Rolf Brüning, Bernhard Günzl: Bähnle, Öchsle, Hopfenexpress. Railway romance in Upper Swabia . DGEG Medien, Hövelhof 2005, ISBN 3-937189-12-2 , pp. 20-41
Gerd Wolff, Hans-Dieter Menges: German small and private railways, Volume 3: Württemberg . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1995, ISBN 3-88255-655-2 .
Kurt Seidel: Narrow gauge in Baden-Württemberg . Einhorn, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1977, ISBN 3-921703-19-0
Peter-Michael Mihailescu, Matthias Michalke: Forgotten railways in Baden-Württemberg . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0413-6 , p. 225-233 .

Web links

Commons : Tram Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Ludger Kenning: Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt, an electric DB narrow-gauge railway (historical photo documentation)
“Caution is moving!” In: Die Zeit , No. 10/1959 - Contemporary newspaper article to discuss the attitude
Illustrated route description on vergessene-bahnen.de
Gerhard Walter - Private documentation of the railway line and pictures of the preserved relics
Detailed history of the former sidecar EB 196 02 (922) - today in operation at the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Verein e. V.

Individual evidence

↑ When the “Bähnle” rattled through the Schussental . In: Schwäbische Zeitung, Ravensburg edition, published on February 7, 1979

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Wolf-Dietger Machel: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then & now. Loose-leaf collection. Volume 13 Baden-Württemberg: Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt

^ Revolution in the southwest - sites of the democracy movement 1848/49 in Baden-Württemberg. Published by the working group of full-time archivists in the Baden-Württemberg City Council. 2nd Edition. Info Verlag, Karlsruhe 1998, ISBN 3-88190-219-8 , pages 709-710.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e The archive of German diesel and electric locomotives, electric multiple units, DC multiple units of the LAG, map 10, Weltbild publishing group, Augsburg, 1990

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Gerhard Walter - Private documentation of the railway line and pictures of the surviving relics ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2

^ Horst-Werner Dumjahn: Handbook of the German Railway Lines: Opening dates 1835-1935, line lengths, concessions, ownership structure . Dumjahn, Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-921426-29-4 , page 176.

^ Local railway Ravensburg – Weingarten - Regulations and tariffs for the transport of people, luggage, live animals and goods. Valid from December 1, 1887. a. Transportation of people. To § 10.

^ Local railway Ravensburg – Weingarten - Regulations and tariffs for the transport of people, luggage, live animals and goods. Valid from December 1, 1887. a. Transportation of people. To § 9.

↑ ^a ^b ^c History of Bundesstrasse 30 from 3800 BC to 1959

↑ Wolfgang Hendlmeier: Handbook of German Tram History , Volume 1. Munich 1981, pages 97ff.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Raimund Kolb: Bähnle, Mühle, Zug and Bus: The railway in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 , pages 526-527.

↑ Raimund Kolb: Bähnle, Mühle, Zug and Bus: The railway in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 , page 214.

^ Stephan Kuchinke: The Localbahn Actiengesellschaft . transpress-Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 978-3-613-71125-9 , p. 97 and 101 .

↑ ^a ^b Raimund Kolb: Bähnle, Mühle, Zug and Bus: The railway in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 , pages 300-305.

↑ History of the LAG ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2

^ Stuttgart Railway Directorate - Establishments, designations and dissolutions

↑ Course book table from 1943

^ Course book table from 1941/42

^ Tram construction and operating regulations from November 13, 1937

↑ Imprint Hospital 14 Nothelfer GmbH ( Memento from December 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Raimund Kolb: Bähnle, Mühle, Zug and Bus: The railway in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 , page 363.

↑ Raimund Kolb: Bähnle, Mühle, Zug and Bus: The railway in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 , page 370.

↑ Raimund Kolb: Bähnle, Mühle, Zug and Bus: The railway in the middle Schussental . Wilfried Eppe, Bergatreute 1987, ISBN 3-89089-007-5 , page 374.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f “Caution moves!” In: Die Zeit , No. 10/1959; Contemporary newspaper article discussing attitudes

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e When the "Bähnle" came to the siding , Schwäbische Zeitung of October 31, 2007

↑ The triple headlights before Era III ( Memento from December 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

↑ maucher-mattes.de

↑ The "Bähnle" 1883–1959 - "You felt somehow mothered with her" . In: Schwäbische Zeitung, Weingarten edition, published on August 3, 1982

↑ The old tram cars are being scrapped . In: Schwäbische Zeitung, Weingarten edition, published on November 15, 1962

↑ Disused railway lines Germany (West) 1950–2005

^ Opening times of the railways in the area of the Stuttgart Federal Railway Directorate . In: Memories of the Swabian Railway . Volume 1: A collection of publications on the railways of yore. Federal Railway Directorate Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1978, p. 7-15 .

↑ Maschinenfabrik Esslingen - railcars, sidecars and control cars ( Memento from July 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 48.9 kB)

↑ ^a ^b De Tramkoerier des RTM Ouddorp, edition of October 11, 2003 ( Memento of November 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.9 MB)

↑ see Passenger Car 21 of DEV Bruchhausen-Vilsen

↑ New rails for the southwest - 100 green rail projects for a railway state in Baden-Württemberg ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 20 kB)

↑ Theses Paper - Future of the Rail Network in Baden-Württemberg ( Memento from August 30, 2005 in the Internet Archive )

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on December 18, 2008 in this version .

[1] When the “Bähnle” rattled through the Schussental . In: Schwäbische Zeitung, Ravensburg edition, published on February 7, 1979

[Machel-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Wolf-Dietger Machel: Secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany then & now. Loose-leaf collection. Volume 13 Baden-Württemberg: Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt

[3] Revolution in the southwest - sites of the democracy movement 1848/49 in Baden-Württemberg. Published by the working group of full-time archivists in the Baden-Württemberg City Council. 2nd Edition. Info Verlag, Karlsruhe 1998, ISBN 3-88190-219-8 , pages 709-710.

[Archiv-4] The archive of German diesel and electric locomotives, electric multiple units, DC multiple units of the LAG, map 10, Weltbild publishing group, Augsburg, 1990