Wädenswil-Einsiedeln railway
The Wädenswil-Einsiedeln-Bahn (WE) was a railway company founded in Switzerland in 1870 . It was the owner and operator of the Wädenswil – Einsiedeln railway line in the canton of Schwyz, which still exists today . In 1890 the company became the property of the newly founded Swiss Southeast Railway .
history
prehistory
In 1867 Wädenswil , which had gone through a change from a farming to an industrial village, called for a better connection to Einsiedeln . They turned to the Zurich cantonal engineer Kaspar Wetli , who was in charge of roads. He recommended dropping the idea of a new road to Einsiedeln and building a railroad instead. At that time Wetli was not only responsible for road construction, but also a specialist in railway construction. Then the political forces in Wädenswil and Einsiedeln issued a public call for a people's assembly on January 1, 1870. The idea of building a railway line between the two villages was well received by the population. Only in Richterswil and Wollerau was there displeasure, as these communities feared a collapse in their traffic situation.
The foundation of the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln railway
The founding committee was appointed on January 3, 1870 in Einsiedeln. The founding committee included politicians and manufacturers from Einsiedeln and Wädenswil, but also Kaspar Wetli. A license application was immediately submitted to the cantons of Schwyz and Zurich . A loan of 3000 Swiss francs was also approved and Wetli was commissioned to work out a project. The necessary licenses were obtained within a year .
However, due to the outbreak of the Franco-German War in 1870/1871, the work of the founding committee was suspended. It was not until May 1, 1871, that the technical report was submitted with a cost calculation. The estimate was based on construction costs of three million francs and a net income of 140,000 francs annually. A route with a 5 percent gradient and the Wetli roller wheel system was proposed.
Since the left bank of the Zürichseebahn , which would provide connections in Wädenswil, had not yet been built, two camps were formed. Some wanted to wait until the railway reached Wädenswil to start construction, while others preferred to start construction immediately in order to accelerate the construction of the Zurichseebahn on the left bank. The immediate builders were able to prevail. Wetli had first-class connections to large English construction companies with financial strength who were also prepared to act as general contractors and take over the pre-financing. The company itself planned to raise the funds as follows: The share capital should be issued for two million shares. The third million was to be covered by a loan from the municipalities of Wädenswil and Einsiedeln in the form of a 4.5% obligation. Raising funds for the financing turned out to be difficult, so that in the end most of the money came from public and semi-public institutions in Wädenswil and Einsiedeln.
Wetli introduced the English railway builder William Napier to the founding committee. Napier brought the bank director and consul Theodor Kuchen with him from Frankfurt as partner and financier . WE signed a construction contract with the two of them, which, however, was to prove difficult for the two general contractors. Because the railway company only took over the purchase and expropriation of the land, while Napier and Kuchen had to take care of the construction and procurement of the operating material. The two had to deposit 200,000 francs in securities on the municipal treasury of Wädenswil as security. It was planned to complete the construction work in the summer of 1873.
It was also planned not to run the business himself. An operating contract was concluded with the Swiss Northeast Railway (NOB), which should also buy the locomotives and the remaining rolling stock on their own account.
The whole work was rather resinous, so the expropriation of the railway line was repeatedly hindered by objections from Richterswil and Wollerau. Even before construction began, it became clear that the work would be more expensive than estimated. Nevertheless, the Board of Directors was appointed on December 22, 1871, and Benedikt Gyr-Benzinger became its first President. Most of the members came from the founding committee. The management consisted of engineer William Napier, the Wädenswil mayor Heinrich Baumann and the hermit district commander Carl Birchler. The construction supervision was entrusted to the engineer Kaspar Wetli.
Wetli roller wheel system
In 1868 Kaspar Wetli had under the title of a new locomotive system for mountain railways outlines the Walzenradsystem developed Wetli. It was a roller wheel system that works similar to a gear system . On the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln railway, it was supposed to be used on the 50 per thousand gradient between Wädenswil and Schindellegi, because there were justified doubts about the technical feasibility of a pure adhesion railway with this gradient.
The first test locomotive with a roller for the Wetli system was delivered by the Winterthur locomotive factory in 1874 . It had to be rebuilt several times and never really convinced, especially because of the excessive pressure drop in the roller system. The test drives were therefore limited to a little bit above Wädenswil. Nevertheless, based on the experience gained, the system could be regarded as functional.
However, the delays in the construction of the railway did not allow test runs to be started along the entire route until late autumn 1876. Based on the experience gained with the test locomotive, the Schweizerische Nordostbahn ordered three steam locomotives with a drive roller for the Wetli system from the Esslingen machine factory .
Construction of the route
At the end of 1871 the first seven construction lots were awarded, but with bad piecework contracts . Since the payments by the general contractor were also slow, some of the construction lots were canceled at the end of 1872. Further discrepancies led to ever greater disaffection, so that the construction contractors stopped their work entirely in May 1873. At that time, Kuchen's funds were exhausted, he was released from further work and the securities deposited were confiscated. Then the work was suspended for almost a year.
In the spring of 1874, the test locomotive was delivered together with the sample rail material. One ray of hope was that on July 4, 1872, the Nordostbahn decided to build the Zurichseebahn on the left bank, but its board of directors had also split into two parties. Some wanted to build and operate the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln Railway under their own organization, while the others would have preferred to take over the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln Railway and finish building the line under the direction of the Nordostbahn. After all, the fact that the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln Railway ceded most of the station in Wädenswil to the Nordostbahn resulted in a contract for the Nordostbahn to participate in the construction, operation and management of the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln Railway. In order to be able to secure the building, new share and bond capital was created. In July the tender for the remaining four construction lots of the still unfinished Saturdayern – Biberbrugg – Einsiedeln line took place. But the work under the supervision of the Nordostbahn was not a good star either. Due to bad weather and strikes, there were repeated delays, so that the test drives could not be carried out until the winter of 1876.
The total construction costs of the line came to 3.7 million francs, with an estimate of 3.1 million.
The misfortune
On November 30, 1876, the main rehearsal of the Wetli system was announced. The ascent with locomotive 253 was promising. When the locomotive arrived in Schindellegi, due to malfunctions, the roller, which engaged in the track sections, was uncoupled. The brakes failed on the descent to Wädenswil without the rollers intervening. An investigation report comes to the conclusion that leaked oil must be the cause of the ineffective brakes. The accident was foreseeable, so that some of the people on board tried to get to safety by jumping. Everyone was injured and a member of the board of directors was thrown out and killed.
When entering the Wädenswil station, the train had an estimated speed of 120 kilometers per hour. When entering, the locomotive overturned, killing another person in the station. After this incident, no one was willing to continue testing the Wetli gear system, so that it had no chance of being used at all. As a result of the accident, the Nordostbahn resigned from its construction obligations, as it strongly questioned the expediency of the Wetli system and consequently did not want to carry out any further tests.
The opening
After this new debacle, the board of directors had to take on the matter again and clean up the finances again. The engineer Tobler, the builder of the Uetlibergbahn , was responsible for completing the almost finished route . He had collected the necessary experience when operated with eight percent incline railway, and so the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln-Bahn was now as pure adhesion line on April 28, 1877, the building approval take. The railway was opened on May 1, 1877. Because of the accident, there were no major celebrations.
The first timetable of the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln railway included four pairs of trains with a journey time of 1 hour 10 minutes; During the summer months, two additional pairs of trains were used on Sundays and public holidays.
The railways developed satisfactorily, the annual operating surplus fluctuated between 100,000 and 150,000 francs. Dividends were paid for the first time in 1885, with 5% on priority shares and 2% on common shares.
The merger with the Südostbahn
On August 12, 1889, the merger agreement was signed with the Zürichsee Gotthard Railway Company , the initiative committee for the Biberbrugg railway construction to Arth – Goldau, and the initiative committee for the connecting line from Pfäffikon to Saturdayern to the Swiss Southeast Railway. All four merger partners had the same goal, a connection to the Gotthard Railway . This goal was also achieved by the Südostbahn on July 31, 1891. At the Extraordinary General Meeting on November 5, 1889, the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln Railway was dissolved; on January 1, 1890, the entire railway became the property of the Südostbahn. At the time of the merger, the Wädenswil – Einsiedeln railway had a book value of 4.2 million francs.
Locomotives and wagons
For operation on the Wetli cogwheel system, the Nordostbahn procured three Ed 2/2 locomotives from the Esslingen machine factory for the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln railway . These were given the numbers 251 to 253. After the serious accident, the rollers were removed from the two remaining locomotives. In 1892 they got a drive axle instead of the roller. As a result of the withdrawal of the Nordostbahn, these were only used on loan. The two locomotives later came to the SBB and were given the numbers 8661 and 8662.
Due to the accident and the resulting termination of the contract with the Nordostbahn, the WE was left without locomotives and rolling stock. So she was forced to rent locomotives and rolling stock from the Nordostbahn. In addition to the two E 2/2 locomotives mentioned, the Uetlibergbahn E 3/3 number 1 was also leased. Eleven passenger cars and ten freight cars were also rented from the Nordostbahn. This means that operations began on May 1, 1877.
With the number 1 WAEDENSWEIL and the number 2 EINSIEDELN , the first two own locomotives were delivered in 1878, whereupon the two rental locomotives of the Nordostbahn were returned. In 1880 a third locomotive with the name GOTTHARD was procured. The number 4 SCHWYZ followed in 1887, which was installed as a monument locomotive in Wädenswil for a long time and was restored by the Zürcher Oberland Steam Railway Association from 1996 to 2007 and has now found a new home on the Bauma - Hinwil route . The locomotives with an operating weight of 32 tons and a maximum speed of 35 kilometers per hour were all manufactured by the Esslingen machine factory. The purchase price was 42,500 francs.
When it was taken over by the Südostbahn, the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln-Bahn had the following in-house rolling stock :
- 4 steam locomotives Esslingen E 3/3
- 2 2nd class passenger cars with 36 seats
- 3 passenger cars 2nd / 3rd Class to 45 seats
- 13 3rd class passenger cars with 50 seats
- 2 luggage trolleys
- 2 boxcars
- 8 gondolas
See also
literature
- G. Oswald and K. Micher: The southeast railway, history of a private railway. Orell Füssli Publishing House. Zurich 1991. ISBN 3-280-02048-4 .
- Alfred Moser: The steam operation of the Swiss railways 1847–1966. Birkhäuser Verlag. Basel 1967, 4th edition.
