Altstätten – Berneck tram

Altstätten – Berneck tram
Ce 2/2 5 in Berneck, 1933
Route of the tram shown on a map from 2020
Route length:	15.047 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	up to 1911: 600 volts = from 1911: 1000 volts  =
Maximum slope :	52  ‰
Minimum radius :	25 m
Operator:	until 1915: Altstätten – Berneck electric tram 1915–1958: Rheintalische Strassenbahnen (RhSt) from 1958: Rheintalische Verkehrsbetriebe (RhV)
Opening:	Altstätten Rathaus– Berneck : April 6, 1897 Altstätten Rathaus – Altstätten City : June 26, 1912 Heerbrugg - Diepoldsau : October 12, 1915
Shutdown:	Altstätten Rathaus – Heerbrugg : June 30, 1940 Heerbrugg – Berneck : September 01, 1940 Heerbrugg – Diepoldsau : March 3, 1954 Altstätten SBB – Altstätten Rathaus : June 2, 1973

The tram Altstätten-Berneck was from 1897 to 1975 existing tram operation is enabled in St. Gallen Rhine Valley in Switzerland . The meter-gauge overland tram was partially replaced by the Altstätten – Berneck trolleybus , which existed from 1940 to 1977. The transport company responsible in both cases was the Altstätten – Berneck electric tram , which was called the Rheintalische Strassenbahnen (RhSt) from 1915 and the Rheintalische Verkehrsbetriebe (RhV) from 1958 . The railway was also known as the Altstätten – Berneck Railway (ABB).

history

Share in the Altstätten – Berneck electric tram from 1895

In 1889 Jacob Schmidheiny began to plan a tram. The route should lead from Hohenems via Diepoldsau and Au - Heerbrugg to Berneck . The line was not built for economic reasons and because the Rhine was a safety risk at the time. In 1890 Jacob Schmidheiny presented a new proposal. This time the route was supposed to run from Altstätten via Berneck, Au, Rheineck and Thal to Rorschach ; this route could not be realized either. In 1892, the engineers from Zurich commissioned by Schmidheiny presented a plan for a tram from Altstätten to Berneck. In 1896 the construction of the route began. As the first section, ABB opened the section from Altstätten Rathaus via Heerbrugg to Berneck on April 6, 1897 , which was initially operated with 600 volts direct current . A short branch line opened up the SBB Altstätten station from the start .

In 1911, the Altstätten-Gais-Bahn (AG) opened its Altstätten – Gais railway line , which is partially equipped with a rack , and ABB has also taken over management of its operations. On June 26, 1912, the Altstätten Stadt – Altstätten Rathaus section closed the gap between the railway line to Gais and the tram. The trains from Gais ran from now on continuously to Altstätten SBB, in return the trams from Berneck to Altstätten Stadt.

On October 12, 1915, the branch line from Heerbrugg to Diepoldsau was added, with which the tram reached its greatest extent. For technical reasons, however, the new line was operationally separate from the main line. The passengers had to cross the Chur – Rorschach railway line on foot at the level crossing at Heerbrugg station . The vehicles used on the route to Diepoldsau were pulled over the SBB route with a cable pull if necessary.

Triggered by the global economic crisis , there were considerations to replace the tram with buses . In 1936 it was decided to cease operations, but this was rejected by the supervisory authority because there was no substitute operation. In 1937 it was decided to convert the Altstätten – Berneck route to trolleybus operation and to keep the tram on the remaining routes . The Altstätten – Berneck line was discontinued on June 30, 1940 on the Altstätten Rathaus – Heerbrugg section and on September 1, 1940 on the rest of the line. The trolleybuses did not run between Altstätten and Heerbrugg until September 7 and on the whole route from September 24. The start of operations was delayed because of the Second World War . The shortage of tires caused operational restrictions during the war years. The Altstätten – Berneck trolleybus had an overhead line voltage of 1000 V and was thus the first high-voltage trolleybus system in the world. Nevertheless, it was converted to bus operation in 1977.

From then on, the vehicles on the remaining tram route to Diepoldsau had to be transported by road to the depot in Altstätten if necessary. For this purpose, a roller stool was built that could be pulled by trolley buses. To load the vehicles, the low-level vehicle had to be lifted with winches on one side until the rear part lay on the tram tracks . The tram car could then carefully drive onto the trailer on its own. At the level crossing in Heerbrugg, the trailer was pulled by trolleybuses to the Heerbrugger side by means of wire ropes and when the trams returned to the Diepoldsauer side. The roller stool was last used in 1967 when the Ze 2/2 31 was transported to Heerbrugg, where it was loaded for transport to the Blonay – Chamby museum railway .

In 1949, considerations began to replace the Heerbrugg – Diepoldsau route with a bus line. In the spring of 1951 a gyrobus operated on an experimental basis for five weeks , which did not work. Due to road construction work in Widnau , the tram was discontinued on March 3, 1954 and replaced by buses, so that only the short section between Altstätten Stadt and Altstätten SBB station remained as a tram. On June 2, 1973, the last remaining section of the tram service was shut down and replaced by a bus line. Until May 31, 1975 the trains of the St. Gallen-Gais-Appenzell-Altstätten-Bahn (SGA) used the section Rathaus-SBB-Bahnhof, only when the SGA route Altstätten Stadt-Altstätten Rathaus was closed and canceled.

In Diepoldsau, the street names Tramstrasse and Trambrücke , an alternative name for the cable-stayed bridge , are reminiscent of the railway, like the Tramstrasse and the Bahnstrasse in Berneck .

vehicles

All passenger railcars on the tram had a car body from MAN from Nuremberg and electrical equipment from the Alioth electricity company from Münchenstein near Basel , which was taken over by BBC in 1911 . Up until the end of operation in 1973, all railcars only had a handbrake as a mechanical brake . As a special feature of a tram, all of the cars had smoking and non-smoking compartments. In the years 1910 to 1911, the tram was switched from operating with roller pantographs to operating with lyra bar.

Two-axle railcars

In the beginning there were seven two-axle railcars available. Only number 1 had two traction motors, all others had only one driven axle. The twin-engine car was intended for a possible trailer operation. The cars have been rebuilt and improved several times. In 1904 all but number 3 received two traction motors.

In the years 1914 to 1916, the electrical equipment for cars 1 to 3 was installed in new cars built in the company's own workshop, which also received new underframes. Two of these cars served the line to Diepoldsau, one was stationed in Altstätten. They were canceled after the Diepoldsau line had ceased operations.

The remnants of the old wagons left over after the new construction of wagons 1 to 3 were used without a drive as trailers C 14 to 16. They were only used on busy days and were canceled after the main route was switched to trolleybus operation.

Cars 5 to 7 only received new underframes and were broken off after the Altstätten – Berneck line was closed. Number 6 was given a new car body in 1930 and was in operation until the line in Altstätten was closed, after which the railcar was placed on the playground at the Schützenhaus restaurant in Altstätten.

The undercarriage of car no. 4 was used for the construction of the Ze 1/2 mail motor car , which was built in 1914. It was used to transport mail from the SBB train station to the post office in Altstätten. In 1941 the car received a second drive motor from the broken off car 5 or 6. After the post office in Altstätten had been rebuilt, the mail transports were moved to the road in 1959 and the railcar was no longer needed. In 1967 it was one of the first vehicles to join the Blonay – Chamby museum railway .

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  Ce 1/2 6 upon delivery

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  Ce 1/2 No. 3 and a Ce 2/2 in the center of Heerbrugg around 1905

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  Ce 2/2 No. 3 and another Ce 2/2 in Heerbrugg ready for the journey to Diepoldsau

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  Ze 2/2 31 mail railcar

Four-axle railcars

The railway also had four four-axle railcars. The first four-axle vehicle was the Ce 2/4 20, which was purchased in 1907. It served the peak traffic and offered 36 people space. When it was delivered, it was almost 14.5 m long and was the largest tram vehicle in Switzerland. After ceasing to operate on the main line, the car was only used on market days in Altstätten and was demolished in 1966.

In 1911 two more four-axle Ce 2/4 11 and 12 came to the tram, which were probably taken over from Germany as used. A luggage compartment was arranged between the two passenger compartments, which also served as a standing area. After the Altstätten – Berneck conversion to trolleybus operation, the cars were sold to the Centovalli Railway , which used them as a tram in Locarno. In 1960 they came to SSIF , which serves the Italian part of the railway in Centovalli . The former Ce 2/4 11, after being scrapped by the SSIF, was installed at the train station in Santa Maria Maggiore .

The last four-axle vehicle was the Ce 2/4 40, which was added in 1920. It was similar to cars 11 and 12, but had no luggage compartment and therefore 36 seats again. The vehicle was in use until it ceased operations in 1973 and then went to a children's home near Steinebrunn in Thurgau.

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  In Santa Maria Maggiore capped former Ce 2/4 11

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  Ce 2/4 40

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  Trams at the Heerbruggerhof in Heerbrugg. Front to back: Ce 2/2 5, Ce 2/4 40, a trailer, Ce 2/4 20

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  Market in the center of Heerbrugg in 1919 by tram

list

The following list shows the data on delivery:

Type	Construction year	Manufacturer	Numbers	length	Weight	power	Places	Vehicle type
Ce 2/2	1897	MAN , Alioth	1	7.5 m	10 t	32 hp	24	Tram cars
Ce 1/2	1897	MAN , Alioth , MFO	2-7	7.5 m	10 t	25 hp	24	Tram cars
Ce 2/4	1911	MAN , Alioth	11, 12			64 hp	24	Tram cars
Ce 2/4	1907	MAN , Alioth	20th	14.5 m	18 t	50 hp	36	Tram cars
Ce 2/4	1920	MAN , BBC , RhST	40	12.8 m	16 t	64 hp	36	Tram cars
Ze 1/2	1914	SIG , BBC , RhST	31	7 m	5 t	22 hp		Mail railcar
C.	1897	Conversion of the RhST	14-16	7.5 m			24	pendant

literature

• Martin Schweizer: Local electrical traffic in the Rhine Valley . Prellbock Druck & Verlag, Leissigen 2003. ISBN 3-907579-15-1
• Jacob Schmidheiny, Rheintalische Verkehrsbetriebe: 50 years of the Rhine Valley trams . 1947, p. 20 .
• Hans Waldburger: Swiss private railways: Rhine Valley trams . In: Railway amateur . 1978, lexicon pages in numbers 2, 4 and 8.
• Johannes Zacharias: Electric trams . A. Hartleben, Vienna, Pest, Leipzig 1903, Altstätten – Berneck tram, p. 184-190 ( archive.org ).

Web links

Commons : Tramway Altstätten – Berneck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Jürg Ehrbar: Rheintalische Verkehrsbetriebe RhV (ABB). In: discontinued railways in Switzerland. 
• An electric tram as a feeder. Political community of Balgach 
• Tram line April 1897 Altstätten to Berneck SG. In: YouTube Video. (German). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Maurizio Polier: RhV Rheintaler Verkehrsbetriebe. 
2. ↑ Altstätten-Berneck electric tram. Friends of Historic Securities (FHW), accessed on February 5, 2020 . 
3. ↑ An electric tram as a feeder. Balgach community, accessed on December 23, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Otto Frei, Dr. Benedikt Fehr, Hans Fehr: Widnau - past and present . Ed .: Political community Widnau, local community Widnau. Rheintaler Druckerei und Verlag AG, Heerbrugg 1982, Die Strssenbahnlinie Heerbrugg Diepoldsau, p. 147 .
5. ↑ ^{a b} Waldburger. EA No. 4/78
6. ↑ ^{a b} Hans Waldburger
7. ↑ Politische Gemeinde Berneck (Hrsg.): Berneck 1100 years after the first documentary mention . Rheintaler Druckerei und Verlag AG, 1992, p. 73 .
8. ↑ Waldburger. EA No. 8/78. Chapter company car
9. ↑ Waldburger. EA No. 4/78. The vehicles
10. ^ Zacharias, p. 187
11. ↑ ^{a b} Waldburger. EA No. 4/78. Chapters Ce 1/2 and Ce 2/2 1–7
12. ↑ Waldburger. EA No. 4/78. Chapter C 14-16
13. ↑ Waldburger. Caption in EA No. 4/78
14. ↑ Waldburger. EA No. 4/78. Chapter Ze 1/2 31
15. ↑ Waldburger. EA No. 4/78. Chapter Ce 2/4 20
16. ↑ Waldburger. EA No. 4/78. Chapter Ce 2/4 40