Tram Wuppertal
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| Basic information | |
| Country | Germany |
| city | Wuppertal |
| opening | 1873 |
| electrification | 1896 |
| Shutdown | May 30, 1987 |
| operator | Wuppertaler Stadtwerke AG |
| Transport network | Rhein-Ruhr transport association |
| Infrastructure | |
| Formerly the largest route |
175 km |
| Gauge | 1000 mm (until 1970), 1435 mm |
| Stops | 57 |
| Depots | 1 |
| business | |
| Lines | 5 |
| Line length | 49.9 km |
| vehicles | Duewag articulated wagon , GT8 type Dortmund |
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The tram Wuppertal was the tram system of the city of Wuppertal ; the originally extensive and supra-regional network existed until 1987.
history
Electric tram Barmen - Elberfeld AG
Horse tram
From September 18, 1854, a horse-drawn bus service operated by the haulage company W. Hoewing ran four times a day between the two cities of Elberfeld and Barmen , which was discontinued after about a year due to unprofitability.
On March 30, 1862, the city authorities signed a contract with the entrepreneur Johann Kürten from Cologne , which provided for the renewed operation of a horse-drawn bus route between the two places. For this purpose he acquired a piece of land in Elberfeld. Around 100 horses and numerous vehicles were housed there. These traveled the same route between Elberfeld-Wall and Oberbarmen- Rittershausen as W. Hoewing's six years earlier.
On March 26, 1872, the Berlin civil engineer Büsing received a 20-year concession to build and operate a standard-gauge horse-drawn railway . This should lead from Elberfeld-Westend via Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, formerly Königstraße, Hofauerstraße, Wupperstraße and Hofkamp in Elberfeld and the Alleestraße, Alter Markt , Werther Straße and Berliner Straße in Barmen to Rittershausen. This concession passed on October 29th to the German Horse Railway Company in Berlin , which began construction of the double-track line on April 8th, 1873. Almost half a year later, on September 1, this company also took over the business from Johann Kürten and on September 15 set up a line between Alter Markt and Wichlinghausen . This route was driven every hour.
A special feature of this route was the perambulator operation required in the concession . This looked so that the wagons were equipped with wheels without flange . Between the front wheels there was another pair of wheels with flanges that could be raised and lowered using a crank. These wheels were usually used to keep the wagons on track. If there were obstacles on the route, these wheels should be raised so that the obstacles could be avoided. Beyond that you returned to the rails.
The German Horse Railway Company in Berlin filed for bankruptcy on October 16, 1873 . However, the construction of the line was continued by the bankruptcy administrator. After test drives on December 5 and January 16, 1874, the railway started operating on a section on April 10, 1874. On June 17 and October 2, 1874, the two remaining sections were opened. The train traveled the 9.5 km long route, for which it took around 70 minutes, every hour.
In the following time the company changed hands twice. On March 12, 1875, the entrepreneur Heinrich Quistorp acquired the horse-drawn tram from bankruptcy for 1,500,000 marks . The railway now ran under the name Westend-Berlin KG aA Heinrich Quistorp . Then it changed on December 8, 1875 in the possession of the Englishman John Weston . After a new concession was issued, the train ran through the city as Societé anonyme des Tramways de Barmen à Elberfeld, Brussels .
The new concession also no longer provided for perambulator operation . Since the wagons were built very lightly due to the way they were operated, it happened time and again that the stairs, railings and springs of the wagons broke. The resulting delays ultimately led to this section being removed from the concession. So all horse-drawn tram cars got wheels with flanges.
The new company began to separate the two-track line from May 23, 1876. The tracks no longer ran in the same street, but in parallel in two streets. In July of that year, the two-story wagons began to be replaced by lighter single-story wagons that could also be pulled by a horse.
The last wagons of the 'perambulator operation' were taken out of service on September 13, 1876, because the police had forbidden their use due to the frequent accidents. In order to cope with the growing traffic, a further line was set up from July 22, 1878 between Elberfeld, Breite Straße, and Barmen, Karlsplatz. This inner line reinforced the old route on this section. Finally, on May 9, 1889, the line from Elberfeld- Westend to Sonnborn was extended . This gave the track a length of almost twelve kilometers.
Electric tram
In 1894, voices were raised in the two cities calling for an electric tram to be installed. On May 9, 1895, the Societé anonyme des Tramways de Barmen à Elberfeld, Brussels, was bought by the UEG , the Union Electricity Society from Berlin, for 2,960,000 marks. The concession was transferred from the municipalities to the UEG and extended until 1939.
After the test drive was successful on November 9, 1896 the horse-drawn tram service between Westende and Schwarzbach was stopped and taken over by the electric tram . The section to Sonnborn followed on February 5, 1896.
After the Wuppertal suspension railway was put into operation in stages from 1901 to 1903 , it pulled numerous passengers off the tram. This competition probably also prevented the planned extensions to Loh , to the main train station in Barmen and to Vohwinkel . It was not until 1909 that the number of passengers increased again. From June 7, 1913, an operating community was agreed with the Schwebebahn-Gesellschaft and Bergische Kleinbahn AG , which was converted into a collective bargaining agreement on January 1, 1914.
In 1925, the Bergische Kleinbahn AG acquired the line from Tannenbergstrasse to Gabelpunkt . This meterspurige line was added to a third track to this section with the normalspurigen be able to drive the car. In 1926 an operating track was built between Weiherstrasse and the depot in Schwarzbach, which was also used by a line in the same year. On January 1, 1940, the Barmen - Elberfeld AG electric tram went into the Wuppertaler Bahnen AG .
Ronsdorf-Müngstener Railway
Electric tram Elberfeld - Cronenberg - Remscheid
In 1896 the Union-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft from Berlin received a concession for the construction and operation of a meter-gauge, small-scale branch line from Elberfeld to Cronenberg . Construction work began in 1899 and the railway was completed on August 10, 1900. After test drives, the route was opened on August 15th and put into operation on August 18th. In places the railway had gradients of up to 10%. The power supply was taken over by the electricity works in Elberfeld .
The route began at Brausenwerther Platz and led past Döppersberg station over Bahnhofstrasse to the Blücherbrücke . After crossing the bridge on its own track, she walked along Kleeblattstrasse, Grifflenberger Strasse, Blankstrasse, Augustastrasse, Jägerhofstrasse, Friedenshain , Hahnerberger Strasse, Cronenfeld , Cronenberg , Berghauser Strasse, and Oberheidter Strasse to Sudberg . At Cronenfeld a branch branched off over the Hastener Straße to the Ronsdorf-Müngstener Railway .
Then the extension to the Remscheid tram began. Since the railway could not go through the tight curves of the steep road, switchbacks were set up for them , where they had to change the direction of travel. For safety reasons, derailment switches were also arranged, which had to be manually set for passage by the conductor during the crossing . On August 15, 1901, this line was put into operation. The Ronsdorf-Müngstener Railway was crossed on this section , which, as mentioned above, was not allowed to be run over by passengers. It was not until October 23, 1902, after a signal tower and signal systems had been set up, that the route could also be crossed with passengers. A connection to the Remscheid tram came about in 1929 due to a ban on the Reichsbahn as a supervisory authority.
On January 1, 1905, the Elberfeld – Cronenberg – Remscheid electric tram was taken over by the Solinger Kreisbahn AG . From 1908 onwards, it converted the hairpin bends into hairpin bends , so that the change of direction could be omitted. On January 1, 1909, the Barmer Bergbahn AG bought the railway for 1,446,000 marks from the Solinger Kreisbahn AG .
On April 1, 1912, the Barmer Bergbahn began building the line from Cronenberg to Solingen . The line, commissioned on August 4, 1914, was 7.3 kilometers long and had a 188 meter long tunnel. In order to connect the line to the rest of the network at another point, the track section between Gelpetal and Friedenshain , which was built by Bergische Kleinbahn AG but not put into operation, was leased.
Barmer tram
City lines
The Barmer streetcar AG was on 16 April 1894 as a standard gauge tramway founded by the city Barmen. The company Siemens & Halske was commissioned an approximately 2.4 km long track from Barmer theater after Heckinghausen to build.
This line was opened on September 1, 1894. On November 8, 1895, the second line from Barmen, Alter Markt to Beckacker was inaugurated. On September 1, 1897, the so-called cross line followed , which connected the two previously built lines.
Barmen - Schwelm - Milsper tram
On August 7, 1896, a contract was signed between the communities of Barmen , Langerfeld and Schwelm for the construction of a standard-gauge tram between these communities. The license for the Barmen-Langerfeld-Schwelmer Straßenbahn AG was granted on October 26, 1896. On September 1, 1897, the mostly single-track line was put into operation.
The Barmen-long field Schwelmer tram and the Barmer tram used after the opening of the lines of Barmen to Schwelm a common fleet of vehicles.
On January 18, 1907, the route was extended by 3.3 km from Schwelm to Milspe . A few days later, on February 24th, it was connected to Voerde and Gevelsberg with the opening of the Gevelsberg-Mühlinghausen-Milspe-Voerde tram . The company was renamed Barmen – Schwelm – Milsper Bahn AG .
Kleinbahn Loh - Hatzfeld
In 1894 the city of Barmen built a railway line between the Loh Reichsbahn station and the Barmer slaughterhouse . This line was extended on September 1, 1911, when the line was extended to Hatzfeld . On December 1, 1920, the line in Hatzfeld was extended to the water tower . Passenger traffic on the route was handled by the Barmer tram , the route was owned by the city.
Route extensions with the Barmen - Schwelm - Milsper Bahn and Barmer Tram
The two companies planned to extend the route from Wichlinghausen via Hiddinghausen and Bommern to Witten . On December 16, 1908, the first section from Beckacker via Hottenstein to Haßlinghausen was put into operation. On October 1, 1911, it was extended to Hiddinghausen . The continuation to Witten failed at the beginning of the First World War . In 1912, on July 13th, the cross line was expanded to the forester's house . A further extension of the network went into operation on August 6, 1914, from the valley railway to the municipal hospital , before the First World War stopped the remaining extensions of the network.
The railway took on numerous additional tasks in the course of the war. Ambulance transports and supply trips were carried out. For this purpose, some of our own wagons were converted, and some wagons from the Ronsdorf-Müngstener Railway were used.
The two tram companies were transferred to Wuppertaler Bahnen AG on January 1, 1940 .
Bergische Kleinbahn AG
Tram in Neviges
The Bergische Kleinbahn AG was on June 21 in 1897 by the Continentale society for electrical enterprises in Nuremberg based in Neviges founded. On June 23, 1897, operations began on the route between the Neviges branch and Velbert , which was built by the Continentale Society for electrical companies since August 11, 1896 . On July 12, 1897, operations began on the route from Elberfeld to Neviges. The following routes were in operation by 1899:
- January 26, 1898: from Neviges to Velbert, monument
- April 10, 1898: from Velbert, memorial to Velbert, cemetery
- March 5, 1899: Velbert, cemetery to Werden
- May 2, 1899: from Neviges to Langenberg , town hall
- October 11, 1899: from Velbert to Heiligenhaus
Small train between Heiligenhaus and Hösel
The steam-powered small railway line between Heiligenhaus and Hösel was opened on October 15, 1899. In Heiligenhaus it had a direct connection to the electric trams of the Bergische Kleinbahn AG . The electrification of the railway, which was initially planned, was never implemented due to the large distance to the headquarters in Neviges and the resulting voltage drop in the power supply. The railway was shut down on January 26, 1923. In the following years it was completely dismantled and scrapped.
Niederberg trams
On August 4, 1902, the line from the Dessau Bridge in Elberfeld to Lichtscheid was opened. Since the concession forbade a track system in the Barmer area, the 258 meter long Gelpetal tunnel was built for the route. In Lichtscheid there was a connection to the tracks of the Barmer Bergbahn AG .
In Ronsdorf, on August 26, 1902, the route between the technical school and the hospital was inaugurated. After the construction of a connecting curve at the technical school to the Ronsdorf tram route of the Barmer Bergbahn was realized, an agreement was reached between the two companies that made it possible to use both routes in Ronsdorf together.
A route planned since 1897 between Elberfeld-Döppersberg and Gabelpunkt was put into operation on November 29, 1902. Thereupon the line between fork point and Steinbeck train station was sold to the city of Elberfeld. However, the right to use this route was retained, as there had been a depot on this route since February 6, 1902.
Between 1907 and 1908 the following sections of the network were put into operation:
- May 2, 1907: from Langenberg train station to Leberhof
- May 18, 1907: from Langenberg train station to Langenberg, Markt
- September 1, 1907: from Leberhof to Kupferdreh , town hall
- September 13, 1907: from Kupferdreh , Rathaus to Kupferdreh, Bergstrasse
- November 24, 1907: from Kupferdreh, Bergstrasse to Steele
- September 17, 1908: from Langenberg, Markt to Langenberg, town hall
You had contact with numerous tram companies. Between Ronsdorf and Lichtscheid there was a common route with the Barmer Bergbahn AG, in Steele the railways from Essen and Bochum met ; in Hattingen you could switch to the BOGESTRA and from 1914 to the Hattinger Kreisbahn and in Tönisheide you met the Mettmann tram .
In addition to the agitated topography , which increased the travel time considerably through artificial lengthening of the route to reduce the gradient, there were other adversities.
- When crossing the Ruhr Bridge in Essen-Steele, each passenger had to pay two pfennigs bridge fee.
- In Elberfeld there were complex right of way regulations that granted the north-south railway and the circular railway privileges.
- The Reichsbahn's need for security forced many a delay.
- In the narrow local passages in Neviges and Langenberg, the conductor had to walk in front of the train to secure the route.
- The end point in Werden was downhill and had only one switch. This meant that the railcar had to uncouple the sidecar. Then the railcar drove into a track. The sidecar was then allowed to roll into the other track so that the railcar could then hitch it up again. This procedure was very unsafe and, although there were fatal accidents, it was continued until 1951.
From 1910 the following expansions of the route network were planned, but these were prevented due to the First World War, lack of capital or missing permits:
- from Gelpetal via Hasten to Remscheid
- from Elberfeld via Nützenberg and Wieden to Vohwinkel
- from Lichtscheid to Küllenhahn
- from Dönberg to Neviges
- from Werden to Essen-Bredeney
- from Hattingen via Blankenstein , Herbede and Heven to Witten
Benrath tram network
In order to connect the Bergische Kleinbahn AG with the Ruhr area and the Rhineland , another head office was set up in Benrath . From here the following routes were opened:
- September 12, 1898: from Benrath to Hilden
- December 12, 1898: from Düsseldorf- Oberbilk to Benrath
- January 12, 1899: from Hilden to Ohligs
- March 25, 1899: from Hilden to Haan
- July 10, 1899: from Haan to Vohwinkel
Furthermore, expansions were also planned here, which could not be implemented due to the First World War, the difficult financial situation and a lack of permits:
- from Tönisheide to Vohwinkel and the connection to the rest of the network
- from Oberbilk to Düsseldorf City Hall and the harbor
- from Oberbilk via Eller to Gerresheim
This network was bought by the city of Düsseldorf on October 1, 1911 and leased to Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG, founded in 1896 ( Rheinbahn since 2005 ).
Bergische Kleinbahn AG from 1911
On January 1, 1914, the Barmen - Elberfeld AG tram was bought by Bergische Kleinbahn AG . In order to simplify the use of the railways in the area of today's city of Wuppertal, the suspension railway company , the trams of the city of Elberfeld , the electric trams Barmen and the Bergische Kleinbahn AG formed a consortium. This made it necessary to give the ten lines operated by the Bergische Kleinbahn new numbers.
In the course of the First World War, the small train had to increasingly take over the transport of goods. This was also continued during the occupation of the Ruhr . Freight traffic was maintained until 1932.
Since the connection from Werden to Bredeney was not realized, the Bergische Kleinbahn operated a direct connection from Elberfeld to Essen-Steele every three hours from April 1, 1924. From April 15, this was extended to Viehofer Platz in downtown Essen , but this connection was abandoned on February 14, 1928 due to low occupancy. An attempt at express traffic from February 15, 1928 between Elberfeld and Essen-Werden, and from February 14, 1929 only between Elberfeld and Velbert, was discontinued on October 4, 1931.
In the 1920s, the Bergische Kleinbahn operated a total of five lines. When it went up in the Wuppertal Railways on January 1, 1940 , there were already seven again.
North-south railway and circular railway of the city of Elberfeld
On February 17, 1896, the meter-gauge north-south railway of the city of Elberfeld was opened in Elberfeld. The railway was 4.3 kilometers long and ran from the Viehhof over Viehhofer Strasse, Weststrasse, Blücherbrücke , Johannisberg , Elberfeld Hauptbahnhof , Döppersberg , Wall , Neumarkt , Gathe , Kohlenstrasse to Uellendahler Strasse in Mirke . The narrow, winding and incline-rich route had a bank gradient of up to 6.25% in places, which meant that individual cars were used every ten minutes. At the Neumarkt and on Wall which was streetcar Barmen - Elberfeld crossed.
After an expansion on November 11, 1900, the so-called circular track was put into operation. This route was also driven in both directions every ten minutes. She used parts of the Bergische Kleinbahn AG . On January 15, 1902, a curved track was built into this line at Johannisberg ; the circular track could reach the cattle yard from both directions.
In the same year, on November 29, the north-south railway was extended by around 1½ kilometers to the Uellendahler Brunnen and on December 24, 1912 by a further 1.6 kilometers to Dönberg in the north. In the south, on November 14, 1903, around 0.9 kilometers were added to Ravensberger Strasse.
In the years up to the First World War, some sections of the route were expanded to double tracks. This included the line from Theaterstrasse to Ostersbaum , which was leased to Solinger Kreisbahn AG from July 12, 1908 . On January 1, 1909, the Barmer Bergbahn AG became a joint tenant. In 1914, the north-south railway and the circular railway were bought by the Barmer Bergbahn AG .
Trams of the suspension railway company
In 1927, the suspension railway company began building the standard gauge railway from Varresbeck to Schliepershäuschen . Since the electric tram Barmen - Elberfeld AG allowed the use of its tracks, the line from Elberfeld via Varresbeck to Schliepershäuschen went into operation on February 19, 1928. On March 30, 1929, the extension from Schliepershäuschen to Wieden followed , where there was a connection to the Mettmann tram .
Wuppertaler Bahnen AG
With retroactive effect to January 1, 1940, the trams in the area of the city of Wuppertal were merged. A total of seven standard-gauge and 14-meter-gauge tram lines were combined under one roof. In addition, a line was bought from the Rheinbahn from Düsseldorf. Efforts to buy more lines were unsuccessful. In total, Wuppertaler Bahnen AG owned 61.62 km of standard-gauge lines, 111.78 km of meter-gauge lines, 1.6 km of rack railway and 13.3 km of suspension railway. There were six depots for the standard gauge and eight for the meter gauge.
During the Second World War there were numerous damage and operations shutdown. A total of 22 railcars , 14 sidecars and 6 rack and pinion rail cars were destroyed. After operations were stopped by the American troops on April 14, 1945, operations were gradually allowed to resume from May 1945.
Wuppertaler Stadtwerke AG
The traffic department of the Stadtwerke emerged on March 1, 1948 from the Wuppertaler Bahnen AG , which was reorganized on that day into Wuppertaler Stadtwerke AG . With a length of the tram network of a good 175 kilometers, the Wuppertaler Stadtwerke owned the sixth longest tram network in Germany. Only the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) with around 573 kilometers, the Hamburg trams ( HHA ) with about 217 kilometers, the Vestische Straßenbahnen GmbH with almost 191 kilometers and the Rheinbahn from Düsseldorf with almost 183 kilometers had a longer route network. In the heyday, trams led to Essen -Werden, Ennepetal , Hattingen , Mettmann , Remscheid , Schwelm , Solingen , Sprockhövel , Velbert and Wülfrath .
Despite the size of the network, attempts were hesitant to adapt the tram in the city to the changing traffic conditions after the war. Even the generous expansion of federal highway 7 , in which the tram was given its own track in the middle of the street, could not stop the gradual closure of the tram network. The lines were gradually converted to operation with buses . First, the extensive overland routes were dismantled, and finally the cities of Wuppertal, Solingen and Remscheid also became tram-free. The rack railway was discontinued on July 4, 1959 and the last meter-gauge tram on July 31, 1970. Only the 3.2 km long section Wuppertal- Kohlfurth - Wuppertal-Cronenberg of the overland line 5 has been preserved. Since 1992, the Bergisches Straßenbahnmuseum has been running museum tram traffic on this .
The remaining standard-gauge tram lines were also gradually discontinued. In the years 1984/85 initially the lines 602, 608, and finally on May 30, 1987 the lines 601 and 611. B. to Schwelm (line 608) or Haßlinghausen (line 602) were never implemented. The cessation of tram operations on the last normal-gauge routes was mainly due to their route: Shorter branches branched off from the well-developed valley axis between Elberfeld-Westende and Oberbarmen to Wieden, Elberfeld Nord, Barmen, to the Barmen Clinic, to Langerfeld and Heckinghausen. Due to the narrow streets (without their own railway body) and the steep gradients to be overcome when leaving the valley, these branch lines could not be operated economically. In the 1980s, it was not conceivable to expand trams in particular, giving preference to local public transport over private transport. The valley axis itself was well developed, but ran parallel for 8 kilometers and thus in direct competition with the suspension railway. So the decision had to be made in favor of just one high-performance means of transport. The end of the tram accelerated the S8 S-Bahn line , which was introduced in 1988. The tram, as the city's main means of transport, would certainly have been economically viable, but the suspension railway could not be shut down due to its function as a symbol of the city and a technical monument. A reintroduction of the tram is therefore not to be expected.
Line network (standard gauge)
Lines 1980
| line | Route | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 601 |
Wieden Loop - Varresbecker Strasse  - Westende - Robert-Daum-Platz - Elberfeld Bf - Regional Court - Police Headquarters - Loher Strasse - Barmen Bf - Alter Markt - Brändströmstrasse - Heckinghausen, Lenneper Str. 
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| 602 |
Barmen Clinic - Loher Bridge - Loher Strasse - Barmen Bf - Alter Markt - Oberbarmen Bf , Berliner Platz - Weiherstrasse
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| 606 |
Elberfeld Bf - Regional Court - Loher Straße - Barmen Bf - Alter Markt - Oberbarmen Bf - Weiherstraße
|
only during peak hours |
| 608 |
Barmen Clinic - Loher Bridge - Loher Strasse - Barmen Bf - Alter Markt - Oberbarmen Bf, Berliner Platz - Rauentaler Bergstrasse - Langerfeld Markt - Dieselstrasse Loop
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| 611 |
Fork Point - Telecommunications Office - Robert-Daum-Platz - Elberfeld Bf - Regional Court - Police Headquarters - Loher Straße - Barmen Bf - Alter Markt - Brändströmstraße - Oberbarmen Bf / Rauental - Rauentaler Bergstraße - Langerfeld Markt - Dieselstraße Loop
|
601
Line 601 was the longest of all standard gauge lines with a length of 15.3 kilometers. The starting point of the route was at the Wendeschleife in Wieden, where it was originally possible to change to Mettmann and Düsseldorf. The first section of the line from the Sandfeld stop to Varresbecker Straße was the last section of the standard gauge network to be single-track. The branch line to the Sonnborn loop branched off at Varresbecker Strasse until 1982, and was only used in stadium traffic at the end. Most of the line ran from Varresbecker Strasse on the middle lanes of Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse at the foot of the Nützenberg, where the Bayer factory was developed. At Robert-Daum-Platz it converged with the branch of line 611 and ran from there on its own track . At the Ohligsmühle, the single-track bypass of the Elberfeld city center originally branched off via Neumarkt and Hofkamp, which was only used for diversions. The line continued on Friedrich-Engels-Allee to the Alter Markt, where the line at Clef led to Heckinghauser Straße. The line ended at Lenneper Straße, where the cars turned over a block bypass .
The line finally ended at the Walterstrasse stop, which was turned around at the depot.
602
Line 602 was the shortest line at 5.9 kilometers. It connected the Barmen Clinic (today Helios University Clinic Wuppertal ) with the Barmens Center, for which purpose a generous double-track turning loop was created at the Barmen Clinic. The first section of the particularly steep line was laid out on the middle lanes of Schönebecker Strasse and Rudolfstrasse as far as Loher Bridge. On Loher Strasse, the tracks were led on the bus lanes until they were led onto the main line's own railway at the intersection of Loher Strasse and Friedrich-Engels-Allee. It followed the course of the trunk line to the Alter Markt, where it ran on its own track in the middle of the 7 federal highway . From the Wupperfeld stop , where the line had a stop in the immediate vicinity of the Old Church in Wupperfeld , it ran together with the buses on the middle lane. At Berliner Platz the line finally turned onto Schwarzbach Street , ending at the Weiherstraße stop after a steep incline. The wagons turned at a loop that was unique at the time, for which a row of houses consisting of three slate houses was bypassed at the rear. Today there is a parking lot on the loop grounds, the other side of the row of houses was built on with a row house. A restaurant located there is still reminiscent of the former Wendeschleife with the name "Loop".
After the closure of the Berliner Platz - Weiherstrasse branch to Berliner Platz, the line was withdrawn; since then, only bidirectional vehicles have been used on the line. In 1985 it was finally shut down together with the Loh - Heusnerstraße branch.
606
Line 606 only ran on weekdays during rush hour . It led from Elberfeld station (today Wuppertal main station ) via Alter Markt and Oberbarmen Bf / Berliner Platz to Weiherstrasse. It was deleted without replacement as the first line of the standard gauge network in 1984.
608
The 8.1 kilometer long line 608 connected the Barmen Clinic with the Langerfeld district . It ran parallel to line 602 from Barmen Clinic via Schönebecker Straße and Rudolfstraße to Loh , from there on via Friedrich-Engels-Allee and the Alter Markt to Oberbarmen / Berliner Platz station. In the middle of the street, after an incline on the Rauental bridge, east of Oberbarmen station, it crossed the tracks of the Elberfeld – Dortmund railway line . At the Rauentaler Bergstrasse it met with the line 611 coming from Heckinghausen and ran from there on the Langerfelder Strasse to the Langerfelder Markt . From there, the line continued on the middle lanes of Schwelmer Straße to the Langerfeld industrial area In der Fleuthe , where it ended at the combined tram and bus turnaround loop on Dieselstraße. Originally, you could change there to the tram in the direction of Schwelm , and an extension of the route there was recently considered, but not implemented.
The line was shut down in 1985 together with the Loh - Heusnerstraße branch.
611
Line 611 was 13.6 kilometers long and was the second longest in the network. Its course began at the fork point on the Elberfelder Brill on a loop of track with storage space, which is still used today as a bus turning area. It ran on the first section to the Bayreuther Strasse stop on its own track body, in order to run to the Elberfeld telecommunications office in the middle of Briller Strasse. From there she used the two-lane Briller Strasse together with private transport, which only became multi-lane again on Sadowastrasse at Deweerth'schen Garten . At Robert-Daum-Platz, the route converged on its own track body with line 601 coming from the direction of Varresbeck, with which it ran parallel from there. Lines 601 and 611 only separated again at Werléstraße, where line 611 continued northwards via Rauentaler Bergstraße and the Oberbarmen Bf / Rauental stop east of Oberbarmen train station. At the Rauentaler Bergstraße it met with the 608 line, from there to cross the Langerfeld town center parallel to it and end at the Dieselstraße loop.
In 1985 the line was withdrawn with the closure of the Werléstrasse - Dieselstrasse section to Werléstrasse. From there, due to the closure of the block loop, Lenneper Strasse took line 601 to Walterstrasse to turn around on the premises of the depot. It was finally shut down in 1987 together with line 601 as the last piece of the tram network.
Suspension railway replacement service
Originally, the tram, most recently under line number 60, took over the function of suspension railway replacement traffic - today called suspension railway express. It could only run as far as the Elberfeld train station, where it was necessary to change to buses in the direction of Vohwinkel. Nevertheless, due to its independence from individual transport, the tram was almost as fast as the suspension railway, which cannot be achieved with today's replacement bus services. With the closure of the section to Oberbarmen, the suspension railway replacement traffic was taken over by buses over the entire length.
| Suspension railway stop | Corresponding replacement tram stop |
|---|---|
| Oberbarmen Bf | Oberbarmen train station / Berliner Platz |
| Wupperfeld | Wupperfeld |
| Werther Bridge | Werther Bridge |
| old market | old market |
| Eagle Bridge | Barmen Bf / Opera House |
| Loher Bridge | Loher Strasse |
| Völklinger Strasse | Oberbergische Strasse |
| district Court | district Court |
| Döppersberg | Elberfeld station |
vehicles
In the course of its existence, many different vehicle types were used on the normal and meter-gauge network, sometimes also in mixed operation with the vehicles of the adjacent tram companies. In the following only the more modern vehicles of the late standard gauge network are discussed.
GT8 type Dortmund
Originally, the Wuppertal Stadtwerke in Gelenkwagen had only one-way vehicles , which, however, and thereby shut off resulting shortage of used car bodies in 1983 and after for the next line closures Graz were sold, but where they were never used. As a replacement for those four-axle vehicles, eight eight-axle tram cars were bought from Dortmund in the spring of 1983, which were no longer needed there due to the ongoing conversion to light rail operations. Due to the greater width of the car bodies, adjustments to parts of the track network were necessary. They were delivered in the colors of the Dortmund public utility company, but gradually repainted in the Wuppertal color scheme of blue-orange, with some of the vehicles still being repainted in the old beige colors with decorative stripes.
Car 3829 had to be scrapped in July 1983 due to an accident, just a few months after its first use in Wuppertal. Car 3827 burned out completely on January 12, 1985 at the Sandfeld stop. However, since it was not possible to do without the car for the last two years, tram 222 was procured from the Karlsruhe tram . It was delivered on February 15, 1985 and repainted in blue-orange.
After the cessation of operations, none of the Wuppertal vehicles of this type remained.
Düwag open seating car
The open seating cars 1005-1020 were delivered to Wuppertal from 1953 to 1955. However, they turned out to be much too small for use on the high-demand routes, which is why they were extended in 1963 with a central section and re-classified under the numbers 8001-8016 (later renumbered 3801-3816). As such, the eight-axle vehicles were used on all lines of the network and were handed over to the Graz Tramway after operations were closed. Car 3813 is still there today as the last of the Wuppertal eight-axle vehicles to be preserved in a museum.
literature
- Wolfgang R. Reimann: Wuppertaler Bahnen: Development d. Local traffic in d. Wuppertal region, 1890-1940 . Eisenbahn-Kurier, Freiburg 1982, ISBN 3-88255-560-2 .
- Dieter Höltge: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany, Vol. 5, Bergisches and Siegerland from Wuppertal to Bonn . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 1996, ISBN 978-3-88255-333-8 .
- Bernhard Terjung (Ed.): Trams in Wuppertal . Kenning, Nordhorn 1997, ISBN 3-927587-74-5 .
- Herbert Günther: The Wuppertal tram . Sutton, Erfurt 2005, ISBN 3-89702-783-6 .
- Wolfgang R. Reimann (Hrsg.): A Bergische Tour: with line 15 from Wuppertal to Remscheid . VBN, Neddermeyer, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-933254-61-2 .
- Michael Malicke: Memories of the Wuppertal mountain railway and tram: please get on! 1st edition. Wartberg-Verl., Gudensberg-Gleichen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8313-1944-2 .
- Trams in the Bergisches Land: Wuppertal, Remscheid, Solingen and the surrounding area. In: Tram Magazine Special . Geramond-Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-89724-025-4 .
- Eckehard Frenz, Wolfgang R. Reimann: Tram-Revue Wuppertal 1952 - 1962 . Buchh. v. Mackensen, Wuppertal-Elberfeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-031531-2 .
- Jürgen Eidam, Wolfgang R. Reimann: On the go with 5 and 25: a tram journey through time from Wuppertal to Solingen . 1st edition. Wolfgang Reimann, Remscheid 2012, ISBN 978-3-9815166-1-6 .
- Herbert Cappel: Under the contact wire . Ed .: Wuppertaler Stadtwerke AG. 2nd Edition. Wuppertal 1987.
- tram-TV: Long-forgotten trams - The Wuppertal tram . DVD 2013, tram-TV Verlag , 2013, ISBN 978-3-943846-10-2 .
