Lauenburg – Hohnstorf route
The Traject Lauenburg-Hohnstorf ( Lauenburg-Hohnstorfer Elbe Traject-Anstalt ) was a train ferry on the Elbe between the left bank Hohnstorf in the former Kingdom of Hanover (since 1866 Prussian province Hanover) and Lauenburg with the then with Denmark in personnel union connected same Lauenburg right the Elbe. The ferry bound from 15 March 1864 to 1 November 1878, the railway line Lübeck-Lauenburg with the route Lüneburg-Hohnstorf. Both are sections of the Lübeck – Lüneburg railway line that merged with the construction of the bridge in 1878 .
prehistory
A continuous railway connection from Hanover to the Baltic Sea was already being considered in the early days of railway construction in Germany . It was incorporated in a non-binding form in the State Treaty of June 27, 1847 between Denmark and Lübeck on railway construction in the Duchy of Lauenburg. Interest in it increased with increasing traffic between northern and central Germany . The division of Germany into many independent small states and the non-binding nature of the connection in the State Treaty delayed implementation.
Originally, a bridge was to be built, one third of which was to be financed by the kingdoms of Hanover and Denmark and a joint stock company that had yet to be founded . The negotiations on the Elbe Bridge between Hanover, Denmark, Lübeck and the participating railway companies, in which other states were involved, lasted over ten years. During this time a bridge moved more and more into the background in favor of a ferry connection. In addition to financial, political and military reasons also played a role. The Elbe was viewed by the states as natural protection in the event of war.
On December 4-6, 1860, the Hanover General Directorate of Railways and Telegraphs and the directorates of the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company and the Lübeck-Büchener Railway decided to build a joint train station. The last permits were available in August 1862 and construction work began in the same year.
The facilities on the banks of the Elbe were completed in October 1863. The completion and transfer of the ferry from Magdeburg to Lauenburg was delayed, so that a trial run was only possible in January 1864. On March 15, 1864, the Lauenburg-Hohnstorfer Elb-Traject-Anstalt officially started operations.
Participating railway companies
Three railway companies were involved in the construction and operation of the trajectory . The Royal Hanover State Railways were in charge with a stake of 50 percent . The Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn held a 37.5 percent stake, the Berlin-Hamburg Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft the remaining 12.5 percent.
The Hannoversche and Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn pursued the economic interest of connecting the Kingdom of Hanover to the Baltic Sea region via Lübeck with the connection over the Elbe. Denmark had abolished the Sundzoll in 1857 and lowered the Lauenburg transit tariff. This made trade across the Baltic Sea particularly interesting economically for the Kingdom of Hanover.
The Berlin-Hamburg Railway operated the branch line Büchen-Lauenburg, but had no personal interest in the Elbe crossing. At the request of Hamburg and Mecklenburg , both shareholders in the railway company, it had to have its participation approved by its general assembly. Hamburg wanted to prevent a traffic connection that bypassed their city and Mecklenburg feared economic disadvantages for the Berlin-Hamburg railway and lower customs revenues.
Railway lines
The Büchen – Lauenburg line of the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company was opened on October 15, 1851, with a full length of 12.3 kilometers. It branched off from the Berlin – Hamburg railway line in Büchen . The Berlin-Hamburg Railway had undertaken to build and operate the Büchen – Lauenburg railway so that it could run the Berlin – Hamburg route via Schwarzenbek . The Lauenburg privilege goes back to this obligation . To the branch line of the Berlin-Hamburg Railway that one day joined in Büchen later opened 47.2 km long route to the Lübeck Lübeck-Büchen Railway Company at.
The 15.9-kilometer-long branch line Lüneburg bank loading point Hohnstorf of the Hanover State Railroad was the last railway line to go into operation 13 years later on March 15, 1864 at the same time as the trajectory. It branched off in Lüneburg from the Hanover – Harburg railway line opened in 1847 .
Ferries
The representation of the ferries used is contradictory. A contemporary description from 1866 tells of two steam ferries of different sizes. In the journal of the Lübeckische Geschichte und Alterthumskunde from 1888, 1868 is only mentioned as the year of purchase for the second ferry. A publication based on the annual reports of the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn names the mechanical engineering company of the Hamburg-Magdeburger Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft as the shipyard for the first ferry, built in 1863, and the Reiherstieg Schiffswerft & Maschinenfabrik for the two ferries, built in 1867 and commissioned in 1868 . Both ships are said to have been used at the same time.
In a self-presentation by the Hamburg Federal Railway Directorate on the occasion of its 100th anniversary in 1984, two ships are described with which the ferry traffic is said to have been handled. The Elbe-Traject-Anstalt therefore owned a paddle steamer ferry called Lauenburg and a small screw steamer called Hohnstorf .
The Lauenburg railway ferry was used to transfer freight cars and people . The ship was delivered by the Hamburg-Magdeburger Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, the price was 46,000 thalers . The Lauenburg was a double-ended ferry with two paddle wheels , which were driven by a steam engine with an output of 150 hp. The ship could transport five freight cars. There were two cabins below deck for passenger transport . One cabin was reserved for first and second class passengers, the other for third class. Rooms for the captain, a mail clerk, and the crew were next to the paddle wheel boxes. The ferry did not have a wheelhouse. The rudder was on a superstructure in the middle of the ship.
The Hohnstorf took over the ferry service when the Lauenburg had failed. The freight cars were then loaded onto a wooden platform that could hold three cars. The boat was maneuvered across the Elbe alongside the screw steamer.
Trajektbetrieb
| year | people | Goods in tons |
|---|---|---|
| 1864 | 29,662 | 16,421 |
| 1865 | 35,294 | 23,648 |
| 1866 | 30,966 | 22,134 |
| 1867 | 43,984 | 42,251 |
| 1868 | 39,317 | 54,822 |
| 1869 | 44,243 | 84,386 |
| 1870 | 26,598 | 102.082 |
| 1871 | - | 150.818 |
| 1872 | - | 190,709 |
| 1873 | - | 169,480 |
| 1874 | 27,357 | 178,611 |
| 1875 | 21,497 | 115.317 |
| 1876 | 21,443 | 134,626 |
| 1877 | 23,287 | 142.132 |
| 1878 | - | - |
The rail ferries carried freight cars and passengers, the passenger cars themselves were not transferred. Twelve double trips were carried out during a ten to twelve hour period of use. A single crossing took eight to ten minutes. The wide ferries were slow and had to travel across the current, making them difficult to steer.
The passengers could stay on deck or in the cabins provided for this purpose. Loading and unloading the ferries was time-consuming. The freight wagons were lowered or pulled up over a ramp with a gradient of 1: 9 using a cable winch powered by a steam engine .
There were repeated business interruptions and accidents. As early as December of the first year of operation, the ferry leaked through the ice on the Elbe and sank. The recovery and repair led to the suspension of the ferry service until mid-January 1865. The hull of the ferry was also reinforced at the same time in order to better withstand the ice pressure in the future. The winch chain broke several times and the freight cars crashed into the Elbe. Operations then had to be stopped until the wagons were recovered. Low water in summer and autumn and ice in winter regularly affected operations.
The Trajekt-Anstalt did not develop economically as hoped and was a subsidy operation for the railway companies . After a reduction in tariffs in 1868, freight traffic rose sharply and led the ferry operation to its limits, but there was no regular financial profit from the ferry traffic.
The accession of Mecklenburg to the German Customs Union in 1868 and the opening of the railway bridge between Harburg , at that time still an independent city, and Hamburg in 1872 had a disadvantageous effect on traffic via the Trajekt-Anstalt . The continuous rail connection between Harburg and Hamburg withdrew a large part of the passenger traffic. Mecklenburg's accession to the German Customs Union had a negative impact on freight traffic because it eliminated the customs duties that had to be paid in north-south traffic through Mecklenburg over the Elbe bridge Wittenberge and the Magdeburg – Wittenberge railway line .
Railway bridge
→ Main article: Lauenburg Elbe Bridge
The logistical limits that the ferry traffic had encountered were important reasons for the construction of a permanent Elbe crossing, in addition to operational downtimes, accidents, damage to rail freight and complaints from customers. The railway line to Lübeck had developed into an important rail link for Hanover, and it was also the shortest route to the Baltic Sea. With the incorporation of the Duchy of Lauenburg into the Schleswig-Holstein province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1876, the political and military strategic reasons that originally spoke against the construction of a bridge became obsolete.
Between 1876 and 1878 the Lauenburg Elbe Bridge was built by the Prussian State Railways . The Prussian State Railways assumed half of the construction costs, the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn two sixths and the Berlin-Hamburg Railway one sixth. Rail traffic over the bridge and the new 4.38 kilometer section Lauenburg - Echem began on November 1, 1878. The trajectory ceased operations on the same day. Continuous passenger and freight traffic has been carried over the Elbe bridge since then. Only local freight traffic was handled over the section between Echem and Hohnstorf.
literature
- Günther Meier: The Lauenburg-Hohnstorfer Elb-Traject-Anstalt . In: Press service of the Federal Railway Directorate Hamburg (Ed.): 100 years Railway Directorate Hamburg. 1884-1984 . Hamburg 1984, p. 221 .
- Lorenz Steinke: The importance of the Lübeck-Büchener Railway for the economy of the Hamburg-Lübeck region in the years 1851 to 1937 . Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2006, ISBN 3-7950-0483-7 , p. 309–317 ( Publications on the history of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. Series B, 43), (Simultaneously: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2005).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Federal Railway Directorate Hanover (Ed.): 1843–1983. 140 years of the Hanover Railway Directorate . Hanover 1983, p. 22 .
- ^ Uwe Thiede: The Lauenburg privilege . In: Press service of the Federal Railway Directorate Hamburg (Ed.): 100 years Railway Directorate Hamburg. 1884-1984 . Hamburg 1984, p. 223 .
- ↑ a b Deutsche Reichsbahn (ed.): The German railways in their development 1835-1935 . S. 30-31, 56-57, 130-131 .
- ^ Otto Glagau: Walks through Lauenburg and Lübeck . Verlag von Lemke & Co., Berlin 1866, p. 43 .
- ^ Association for Lübeck history and antiquity (ed.): Journal of the association for Lübeck history and antiquity . tape 5 . Lübeck 1888, p. 113 .
- ↑ Lorenz Steinke: The importance of the Lübeck-Büchener railway ... p. 312-313 .