Towing railway

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Towbars on the Panama Canal

A towing train is a rail-bound system for pulling (" towing ") ships on waterways .

prehistory

Tow path carved into the rock near Bouziès on the Lot

Ships were initially towed upstream by human strength or draft animals . It has been documented on the Rhine since the 8th century. With the construction of canals , towing became necessary along these artificially created waterways and their locks and tunnels . Paths were usually laid out on both sides, which are called towpaths or towpaths .

With the invention of the steam engine and the advent of steam locomotives , the replacement of the previous process by mechanical drives began in many places. While stationary systems could only pull ships over limited distances, tugs and locomotives carried the boats over longer distances.

The towing locomotives ran on tracks that were laid on the towpaths. The first tow locomotives were used on the French Canal de Bourgogne in 1873 . They were equipped with a steam engine and only ran on one side of a rail, while the other side, similar to locomotives, ran on a track. Between 1898 and 1901 a corresponding electric towing locomotive from Siemens was tested on the Finow Canal . Although the machine developed by Carl Köttgen had proven itself, it was decided against this system after the end of the tests.

Instead of rail-bound vehicles, electrically powered tractors called Cheval électrique (electric horse) were used in France from 1896 to 1904 for towing . In 1911 there were trials with a tractor on the Canal de Bourgogne, later diesel tractors, mainly from the commercial vehicle manufacturer Latil , and from the 1930s on , rubber-tired electric tractors were also used on the eastern section of the Canal de la Marne au Rhin .

History and description

Electric towing locomotive from Siemens as a memorial at the Niederfinow ship lift

Treidelbahnen are dedicated systems that are not connected to the rest of the railway network. The track systems are limited to what is necessary, including storage space for the vehicles and, if necessary, systems for operating the steam locomotives. Therefore, in addition to locomotive sheds and points, there are usually systems for the power supply of electric locomotives ( overhead lines , substations ).

Initially, small steam locomotives running on narrow-gauge tracks were used to pull the ships . In 1890 a two-axle steam locomotive ran on 900 mm wide tracks on the Oder-Spree Canal , which reached a towing speed of 7 km / h with up to seven towed barges. But there were also regular-gauge railways such as the towing railway built in 1916 at the Iron Gate on the Serbian bank of the Danube . It was built by the German Reserve Railway Construction Company No. 25, had two tracks in sections and was initially operated with Prussian-style railway tank locomotives .

Electric locomotives came into use from the early 20th century. For the Niederfinow lock staircase , which opened in 1914, Siemens-Schuckertwerke built eight 12-ton machines in 1913 that ran on meter gauge rails. One of these locomotives is preserved as a memorial at the Niederfinow ship lift .

Especially in France , where numerous navigable canals were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, tow lifts were built. In 1904 the first electric towing locomotive was presented, in 1907 the electric towing operation was licensed between Béthune and the Bassin rond over a length of 80 kilometers. In the 1920s, all major inland waterways of receiving region Nord-Pas-de-Calais Treidelbahnen. In 1926, the Compagnie Générale de Traction sur les Voies Navigables (CGTVN) was founded, which bundled the activities of several previously independent operators. From 1931 towing railways were also laid on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin in Lorraine and Alsace .

In 1936, an electric train was built near Demange-aux-Eaux to pull the Péniches on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. Since the locomotives could run in multiple traction, they were given pulling and bumpers (couplings and buffers ).

With the advent of motor ships, the importance of the towing railways waned and the systems were shut down. A tow locomotive was last used at the Niederfinow ship lift in April 1978.

Treidelbahnen (selection)

Teltow Canal

On June 2, 1906, shortly after the completion of the Teltow Canal , the associated towing railway was inaugurated in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II . The towing served to protect the sandy bottom and the bank and to avoid smoke nuisance from tugboats. First, following a suggestion from Siemens & Halske for electrical operation, an approximately 1.3 kilometer long test section was built within the lower canal section from Albrechts Teerofen to Griebnitzsee .

The railway comprised two sections with a total of 26 electric locomotives , most of them with just one driver's cab . From the upper end of the Griebnitzsee to the Kleinmachnow lock , a length of about 5 kilometers was traversed. At the level of the Machnower See , the continuation of the railway line was not possible due to the impassable terrain. The ships were pulled on there by the electrically operated tugboat Teltow . The second treid stretch led from Machnower See to the upper canal mouth near Grünau and was around 28 kilometers long. With a gauge of 1000 mm, the rails made of Vignole rails were laid on the towpaths on both sides. So that the locomotives could run in ring operation, they crossed the canal on bridges at the end of the line. Further bridges were built over the entrances to the port basins designed as docks.

The towing railway was not spared from the destruction in the Second World War . Soviet occupation troops were entrusted with the dismantling and transport of the remains between 1949 and 1952. Only the vehicles with the numbers 2 and 26 remained. No. 2 is now erected as a memorial on the Emil-Schulz-Brücke, No. 26 is on display in the German Museum of Technology in Berlin .

  • Teltow Canal with towing railway, 1912

  • Towing locomotive on the Teltow Canal

  • Bridgehead of the former Teltow shipyard bridge with rails of the towing railway

Canal Liège-Maastricht

On the Belgian canal from Liège to Maastricht there was a towing railway, the locomotives of which were operated with three-phase alternating current .

Iron gate

Miami and Erie Canal

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Miami and Erie Canal in the USA received a towing train with a standard gauge. The engines of the 18 t, two-axle locomotives were fed with three-phase alternating current. In 1913 the canal was abandoned after an extraordinary flood.

Panama Canal

Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal with cogwheel towbars

The rack railways of the locks of the Panama Canal are considered to be the most famous tow railways in the world . Their locomotives can pull seagoing ships from one lock chamber to the next on ramps that are up to 45 degrees steep .

Web links

Commons : Tow Locomotive  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Gérard Bianchi: Les Cahiers du Musée de la Batellerie. La traction mécanique sur berge en France . Association des amis du Musée de la Batellerie, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine 2015, ISBN 2-909044-69-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Treidelbahn Finowkanal, 16248 Niederfinow at bahn-express.de, accessed on February 24, 2019
  2. ↑ Traction mécanique depuis la berge sur les voies navigables at papidema.fr, accessed on February 24, 2019
  3. ↑ Les photos des Tracteurs Latil de halage at avant-train-latil.com, accessed on February 24, 2019
  4. ↑ Tracteur Latil au Guétin (Cher) at avant-train-latil.com, accessed on February 24, 2019
  5. ↑ Traction mécanique sur les voies navigables dans les années 50 at papidema.fr, accessed on February 24, 2019
  6. ↑ Gérard Bianchi: Les Cahiers du Musée de la Batellerie. La traction mécanique sur berge en France . Association des amis du Musée de la Batellerie, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine 2015, ISBN 2-909044-69-6 , p. 43 .
  7. ↑ Traction mécanique sur les voies navigables - annexe (2) at papidema.fr, accessed on February 25, 2019
  8. ↑ Gérard Bianchi: Les Cahiers du Musée de la Batellerie. La traction mécanique sur berge en France , p. 39.
  9. ↑ Bord à Bord Fluvial at bab.viabloga.com, accessed on February 24, 2019
  10. ↑ Information board about the tunnel de Mauvages near Demange-aux-Eaux
  11. ↑ Traction mécanique depuis la berge sur les voies navigables - Exploitation at papidema.fr, accessed on March 7, 2019
  12. ↑ History Teltowkanal at wsa-b.de, accessed on February 24, 2019
  13. ↑ a b 100 years of the Teltow Canal at wsa-b.de, accessed on February 24, 2019
  14. ↑ Treideln at wsa-b.de, accessed on February 24, 2019
  15. ↑ Traction mécanique sur les voies navigables - annexe (2-1) at papidema.fr, accessed on February 25, 2019
  16. ↑ Traction mécanique sur les voies navigables - annexe (2-3) at papidema.fr, accessed on February 25, 2019