Eberswalde wagon elevator
The Eberswalde wagon elevator is a lifting platform for railway wagons in Eberswalde -Kupferhammer. Wagon lifts are very rare technical equipment because they are too slow for the smooth running of a railway .
location
In the Eberswalde district of Kupferhammer there was once a horseshoe nail factory , of whose once extensive factory buildings only a wagon elevator and the factory's chimney have survived . The site is located in Kupferhammerweg 6/7, bounded in the north by the Finow Canal , in the east by the embankment of the Berlin-Stettiner Eisenbahn and in the southwest by Kupferhammerweg itself.
Work history
In 1871 Julius Moeller and Clemens Schreiber's four-year-old company moved its headquarters from Berlin to Eberswalde. It had developed a machine that allowed the efficient manufacture of horseshoe nails. Until then, horseshoe nails were still forged by hand all over Europe. The decision for the location in Eberswalde was made because of the good connection to the Finow Canal and the railway. Due to the rational production method, the plant was very successful, developed into the market leader in Germany and in 1914 employed over 1400 people. The economic downturn in the 1920s and increasing competitive pressure initially led to sales and in 1926 to closure. From then until 1939 the Reichsbahn used the site, and until 1945 the Wehrmacht . In 1946 the Soviet administration ordered the plant to be restarted and the much-needed horseshoe nails and nails to be produced. In 1971 the VEB nail and wire drawing plant was shut down, until the turn of the century the trade organization (HO) still used the site and the large halls. Since then, the factory site has fallen into disrepair, and all factory buildings have since been demolished.
Elevator
Designed in 1906 by Borsig in Berlin , the company was handed over in 1908. According to the literature, the lifting platform was only designed for one wagon with a maximum total weight of 30 t (on the elevator there is a sign with the maximum load of 25 t), the height difference between the two platforms is about 6 meters. The frame consists of a steel framework in the elevator section and a short steel bridge to connect to the upper part of the slope.
The transfer of a freight car downhill took five minutes, the other way around fifteen minutes. The electro-hydraulic drive was located at the bottom of the elevator and was protected by a corrugated sheet metal housing. Control panels could be operated from above and below.
The construction has counterweights on both sides of the elevator (similar to the Niederfinow ship lift ). Exact weight compensation was not possible depending on the loading condition of the lift, the drive had to cope with the uneven weight distribution. Above and below were turntables and of course further tracks that are no longer available today. The wagons were transported on the factory premises by means of horses and ropes. The rail connection was ensured via a siding from Eberswalde Hauptbahnhof .
The wagon elevator was used until the closure of the VEB nail and wire drawing works, after which the area was only approached by trucks and the siding at the station was separated.
The elevator is listed in the list of monuments of the state of Brandenburg, is not maintained and can no longer be used.
Web links
- Source of this article by Christoph Laska
- Website with additional content
Bibliography
- Rudolf Schmidt: History of the city of Eberswalde , Eberswalde, 1934, Volume 2, pages 248–249
- Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation: Monuments in the State of Brandenburg District Barnim City Eberswalde , page 222 ff
- The model railroader, March 1968 issue
- Eberswalder Jahrbuch 1996/1997, Verein für Heimatkunde zu Eberswalde e. V., Eberswalde, 1996, page 119, contribution by Wolfgang Dietze
- Eberswalder Jahrbuch 2013, Verein für Heimatkunde zu Eberswalde e. V., Eberswalde, 2013, page 150, article by Christoph Scholz
Coordinates: 52 ° 50 ′ 13.3 " N , 13 ° 47 ′ 52.5" E