Thielenbruch Tram Museum
The Thielenbruch Tram Museum depicts the history of rail-bound urban transport in Cologne . It is located in the Dellbrück district of Cologne and was opened in 1997. The collection of vehicles of the Cologne transport company , which has gradually been built up since the 1960s / 1970s, is presented in a car hall from 1906 on the eastern outskirts of Cologne . With around two dozen tram vehicles, some of which are operational , it provides an overview of the development of this means of transport from horse-drawn trams to articulated vehicles . The “Historic Tram Cologne” association runs the museum on a voluntary basis. The guest house in the museum is also located in the building complex.
collection
The collection currently includes 25 vehicles.
Horse tram
The oldest vehicle is the horse-drawn tram No. 211, which was built in 1884 by the manufacturer Herbrand in Cologne-Ehrenfeld and renovated in 1950 while largely preserving the original structure.
First electric
The first electric tram car in Cologne bears the number 407. It was built in 1902 by van der Zypen & Charlier . It originally comes from the Bonn tram, where it drove as car number 7. It was taken out of service there in 1961 and came into the possession of the Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe in 1971, which optically adapted it to their railcars of that time.
"Finchen"
The so-called "Finchen" train set is the oldest representative of the Cologne suburban railway. It ran from 1914 for the Cologne-Frechen-Benzelrath Railway (KFBE) on the suburban railway line F to Frechen . Contrary to the popular assumption that the line designation F derives from the name of the destination (this type of line designation was only used much later), the F only meant that it was the sixth Cologne suburban railway line opened. (The first was line A, the second was B, etc.) The match came about purely by chance. The train was built by the manufacturers Herbrand, Siemens-Schuckert and van der Zypen & Charlier. It consists of the railcars 1285 + 1286, the suburban railway sidecar 1257 and the baggage car 5321.
Round car
These trains were purchased by Westwaggon / Siemens-Schuckert towards the end of the 1930s to replace the still running cars from the original equipment of the Cologne tram (a là Tw 407). They were mainly needed for the circular route 18. In 1942, identical cars were ordered again so that they could also be used elsewhere. The cars in the museum (Tw 1824 + Bw 2825) come from the 1939 series.
War tram cars
The war tramway car No. 1732 from the year of construction 1948 is currently still being refurbished . The KSW was a vehicle commissioned by the Reich government , which was developed in 1943 and delivered to many tram operators in the German Reich from 1944, where some of the barely countable im War should replace destroyed trams. So also in Cologne. It was characterized by its astonishingly large capacity, as well as by its simple and robust construction, in which numerous individual parts of destroyed tram cars were used. Production took place at the Fuchs Waggonfabrik in Heidelberg .
Body car
The 1872 superstructure car is also a temporary solution. Built by Westwaggon in 1950, electrically equipped by the BBC and SSW , it was intended, just like KSW, to compensate for the deficits in the vehicle fleet that arose during the war - in Cologne there were still 37 of around 1000 trams after the war. The chassis of the seven built cars of this type came from the so-called barrel roof cars, none of which survived the Second World War. The exterior corresponded optically to the KSW in many respects, but there were serious differences technically and in the interior. Together with the sidecar 2825, the car is in working condition in the museum.
Samba car
Just like the “Finchen”, the samba wagons were procured in various versions for the Frechen suburban railway. In addition to the individual wagons, such as the Tw 1019 exhibited in the museum , there were also railcars with only one driver's cab , which, similar to the light rail cars of the 2200 series, were coupled rear-to-rear today. In addition, they had different design features inside and out. They were given the name "Samba" because of their calm, occasional swaying characteristics. Car 1019, built in 1957, is one of the last of this type to be purchased. When the suburban railway network was integrated into the city network towards the end of the 1960s, the end of these cars was already in sight. The last one disappeared in 1975, although not all of the wagons were scrapped, but some came to the Linz Local Railway in Austria . Only car 1019 has been preserved in Cologne as a work car, party train and finally a museum car to this day.
1300 series
With 80 vehicles, the 1300 series open- plan cars are one of the largest vehicle series that Cologne has ever owned. They were built by Westwaggon from 1956 and caused a sensation in the professional world. Two fully operational cars (1321 and 1363) of this type are on display in the museum.
"Paula"
These vehicles were the last to be purchased for the suburban railway. The year of construction is 1958, the cars have the numbers 1155 and 1159. In contrast to the samba cars that were up to 5 years older, they were built according to the typical suburban railway scheme, i.e. with a central entrance. In 1968, after the separate fleet of vehicles for the suburban railway was given up, the only 10-year-old wagons, which were technically extremely unfavorable in city traffic, were no longer used. After initially searching in vain for a buyer for the wagons, they found what they were looking for with the Wiener Lokalbahnen , after which the first wagons had inevitably been scrapped. In 1993 they finally returned to Thielenbruch.
No. 3501
The last tram vehicle built in Cologne was the Tw 3501, designed by Westwaggon in 1960. Due to their inadequate motorization, they were retired in 1973 after a comparatively short period of service of only 13 years. Previously, some vehicles in the series were expanded to eight-axle 3900 series. In the museum, it is used to present model trams on a small system next to the vehicle and to simulate tram driving on the PC inside. The software used is Microsoft Train Simulator with add-ons tailored to the KVB.
"Eight-axle"
The “eight-axle” ( Duewag articulated vehicle ) shaped the image of the Cologne tram like no other vehicle for several decades. There is no line that has not been used by him, apart from the routes to Bonn. Their use began in 1963 with the first six-axle vehicles, which were later expanded to eight-axle vehicles, and ended in 2006. In the museum there is car 3764, as well as the A-part (front part) of the Tw 3209. As a noise protection wall and storage room, the Tw 3212 on a siding behind the platform hall, but was pulled there due to vandalism damage.
Work cars and goods transport vehicles
Finally, two electric locomotives (No. 6108/6113), which mainly pulled freight trains , but occasionally also passenger trains made up of suburban railway trailers, are on display in the museum. They were built in 1921 and 1925 by van der Zypen & Charlier. A matching open freight car with a loading capacity of 10 tons and the so-called " rubble truck " 6734, 16 of which were purchased in 1948 to clear mountains of rubble in Cologne, can also be viewed. When this task was finished, they were used as work cars until the 1980s - some of them rebuilt several times . Until Easter 2008 there was also a rail grinding car from the Hanover city railway in the museum. This had to be abolished to make room for the 2012 B-car . He was transported to Hanover.
Car 2012
Just in time for the 10th anniversary of the museum, the “Wagen 2012” was handed over to the museum on September 9, 2007. This represents the first B light rail car preserved in a museum . Two prototypes of this series were initially delivered in 1973 , and series production of 57 vehicles began in 1976. For use as a museum car , the vehicle was extensively restored to its original paintwork by the KVB. Details such as couplings and substructures were even taken into account. Almost all window panes have been renewed. However, since the car was unfenced, let alone guarded, in front of the museum hall for a whole week after the anniversary celebration due to lack of space, it suffered serious damage from vandalism . The KVB repaired the car, but the museum will only get it back when enough space has been created in the hall. For this it is necessary to get rid of two work cars in the museum. Until then, the car will be used by the KVB for driving school trips.
Vehicle parade
Most of the museum cars were last used in 2002 when the Cologne transport company celebrated its 125th anniversary. All drivable cars, plus a traction from a Cologne and Bonn B-car of the first series, a K5000 and various special vehicles of the KVB drove in convoy from Rudolfplatz to Neumarkt . Around the same the horse tram turned its rounds. At this point in time, the K5000 was not yet approved for passenger operation; for him, the celebration was also the first public presentation.
Other uses
The museum hall is at the same time Cologne’s event hall furthest away, in which (mostly jazz ) concerts and flea markets take place. An inn between the museum and platform hall with an attached beer garden takes care of the physical well-being .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 41.1 ″ N , 7 ° 5 ′ 5 ″ E