Viennese light rail car

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Viennese light rail car
Passenger car Cu 9424 Vienna light rail around 1900 (1) .JPG
C u 9424 manufactured by Ringhoffer in 1898 in the Technisches Museum Wien
Genus: B u C u CD u
Car class: II. III. III.
Number: 147 541 176
of which owned by the kk state railways: 099 348 045
of which owned by the Commission for Transport Facilities in Vienna: 048 193 131
Numbers: 4200-4346 6094–6100
6122–6200
9000–9272
9400–9556
10316–10339
9053 II 		12000-12173
12009 II
12087 II
Manufacturer: Ringhoffer : 293 pieces (62 B u , 217 C u and 14 CD u )
Graz : 244 pieces (152 C u and 92 CD u )
Nesselsdorf : 162 pieces (68 B u , 79 C u and 15 CD u )
Simmering : 155 Pieces (17 B u , 93 C u and 45 CD u )
Brünn-Königsfeld : 10 pieces (10 CD u )
Year of construction (s): Prototypes: 1895
Series cars: 1896–1902
Replacement buildings: 1899 and 1911
Top speed: 60 km / h
Gauge : 1435 mm
Length over buffers: 10,000 mm
Long beam length: 9630 mm
Base length: 8800 mm
Wheelbase : 5000 mm
Height: 3812 mm
Total width: 3150 mm
Car body width: 2870 mm
Section length: 7600 mm 7400 mm 7700 mm
Platform length: 900 mm 1000 mm Compartment: 900 mm,
luggage compartment: 800 mm
Empty mass: 10.6 t 10.1 t 10.5 t
Seats before renovation: 40 48 40
Seats after conversion: 36 44 40
Standing space in the aisle: 15th 15th 12
Standing space on both platforms together: 16 16 ?
Unit price in Austrian guilders : 6724 5274 5574

The Vienna rail cars were a series of 864 standard gauge railway - passenger cars with wooden body and open platforms. The two-axle were in 1895 to 1911 by five different manufacturers exclusively for the 1898 opened Wiener steam rail built and were specially designed for the city train operation designed. 492 of them were owned by the Austrian State Railways , while the remaining 372 belonged to the Commission for Transport Systems in Vienna , the owner of the Stadtbahn. There were three different variants, whereby the superscript sub- generic sign u stood for underground traffic or underground operation :

The open-plan cars with a central aisle , at that time still called intercommunication cars according to the American system , had a number of features and comfort features that were largely unusual at the time and - in contrast to the class 30 light rail locomotives built for them - proved themselves very well. They were therefore reproduced for the Austrian and Czechoslovak state railways until 1924 .

description

Advantages of the open seating car over compartment cars

In contrast to Berlin and London , where compartment cars were initially still used on the corresponding city high- speed railways, the planners of the Viennese Stadtbahn made a conscious decision to use cars with passage and transition options based on the New York model . In Germany in particular , the compartment wagons had not proven their worth in local traffic , but in Austria, too, the state railway had similarly unfavorable experiences in the 19th century on the Franz-Josefs-Bahn and the Westbahn . On the other hand, in addition to being cheaper to maintain and maintain, the operator hoped that the open-plan car would provide a weight advantage and better distribution of passengers on the train. This was to prevent individual compartments from being overcrowded and neighboring compartments almost empty. In order to prevent individual cars from being overcrowded, the car crossings were also made particularly wide and closed on the sides. The use of the transitions by travelers was expressly desired in Vienna.

Direct comparison of entry-level relationships in Berlin and Vienna

With the open-plan carriages in Vienna - as in New York - passenger switching times of 15 seconds should be made possible. In contrast, it was 30 seconds in Berlin and London at the time. The arrangement of the steps, for example, ensured that the station stays as short as possible. In Vienna it was decided to use three steps with a height difference of 23 centimeters for 55 centimeter high platforms , while in Berlin - from lower platforms - there were only two 35 centimeter high steps. In order to make the stairs as little steep as possible, the main girders had an L-profile, which, compared to the otherwise usual C-profile, gained the width of the upper girder flanges for the step width. Independently of this, three stages corresponded to the standard version of Austrian railways. Another measure to shorten station stays was low window parapets at a height of only 790 millimeters above the car floor. As a result, the interior could easily be overlooked from the platform while looking for free spaces.

In winter, open-plan cars could be heated more easily because only two doors lead out from one open-plan compartment - which also benefited the desired high level of passenger comfort on the tram. Furthermore, trains with a passage need fewer toilets because not all cars in the train had to be equipped with one. Ultimately, the Viennese light rail trains initially had two toilets in the first and last car, after which only one in the first and one in the last car. The abortions were mainly necessary due to the transition of the light rail trains to the Westbahn and the Franz-Josefs-Bahn, which resulted in travel times of one to two hours.

Underframe

According to the agreements of the Association of German Railway Administrations , the Viennese light rail vehicles had to be transferable on all connecting lines of the state railway . This flexibility, however , prevented central buffers , automatic couplings , lower car floors to reduce the entry height or other facilities that were advantageous for the intended purpose. The pulling device consisted of normal pulling hooks, normal main couplings and safety shear hooks.

The light rail cars had a low dead weight and still had a large capacity. The lightweight construction was important because the light rail with maximum gradients of up to 25 per thousand partially had the character of a mountain railway. In addition, the close distance between stations, which is common in city traffic, required correspondingly frequent acceleration and braking processes with a close train sequence . In order to still guarantee the desired high capacity, a special construction was used for the construction of the façon iron floor frame. The long girders consisting of Z-profiles were, as far as the regulations at that time permitted, extended 415 millimeters over the chest pieces or head sills consisting of U-profiles and served with eye bearings at the same time as a guide for the rod buffers . The entry platforms were also pulled over the chest pieces. The buffers mounted on the solebars were thus projected from the platforms up to 180 millimeters behind the buffer level in order to utilize the length over the buffers as optimally as possible. Compared to the conventional design, this arrangement resulted in a length saving of over eight meters in the ten-car trains commonly used on Vienna's Stadtbahn, but according to another source, the reduction was only 600 millimeters per car.

In order to gain the necessary space for the wagon coupler with the chosen construction , the middle part of each platform was designed to be hinged to a depth of 160 millimeters and a length of 900 millimeters.

Axles and wheels

For better cornering, the tram cars had radially adjustable club steering axles , so that even the smallest curve radii found in the tram network could be negotiated without any problems. The longitudinal play of the axle box bearings in the axle holders was 16 millimeters in each direction, so that the axles could still be perfectly radial even in bends with a radius of 150 meters and even smaller radii of up to 120 meters could be traversed without problems. The transverse play of the bearings was measured at ten millimeters in each direction in order to achieve a completely free play of the axle bearings and to transfer the shocks that the wheels received to the box as little as possible. The axle bearings were designed as bracket bearings with a lining made of red metal and white metal cast. The pairs of wheels had full wheel disks made of fluoro iron , because they stirred up the dust less than spoked or star wheels.

suspension

The deep leaf springs gave the car good running characteristics for speeds of up to 60 km / h. The suspension springs were made of crucible mild steel, each with ten blades, each 13 by 92 millimeters thick and 1910 millimeters in main blade length measured from eye to eye. The elastic depression was 59 millimeters per ton. The vertically adjustable spring suspension irons made it easy to set and compensate for the buffer height of up to 50 millimeters. The free mobility of the suspension springs was achieved through the use of 130 millimeter long support rings made of fluoro iron on cast iron rollers that were hardened in use.

Brakes

As brake a dual action on both axles, automatic, served air suction - Quick brake with switchover easily Hardy brake , such vacuum brakes found previously only in cars of long-distance use. The cars of the types B u and CD u also had a handbrake designed as a spindle brake . Part of the CD u was also equipped with driver's brake valves. The planned formation of trains using only light rail vehicles, i.e. only trains with automatic braking , made the roof-mounted signal lanyards or drum stands superfluous.

The brake linkage was arranged to swing freely. In order to ensure even pressure distribution on both pairs of wheels, the braking force was transferred from the main pull rod to the brake linkage of the two pairs of wheels by means of a compensating lever. The actuating device for switching off the brake or for switching to simple or automatic brakes was located on the subframe or the main beam. The respective position was made easily recognizable to the staff by pointers and the inscriptions "Autom.", "Abgesp." And "Einfach".

The pistons of the brake cylinders had a diameter of 456.5 millimeters and a lifting height of 220 millimeters; with a vacuum of 50 centimeters in the main line, a lifting force of around 1000 kilograms was generated. The transmission ratio of the brake linkage from the brake piston rod to the brake pads was 1: 8.1, so that a brake pressure of 8100 kilograms, i.e. around 80 percent of the car's weight, could be achieved. The hand brakes in turn had a gear ratio of 1: 580.

Structure and equipment

Type CD u with luggage compartment and toilet
Sections and floor plan of a C u

The box frame of the light rail cars consisted of oak or pitch pine wood; the outside was provided with a vertical teak board cladding made of tongue and groove . This was not painted with oil paint , but was only embedded with linseed oil varnish and coated with coach paint . Visually, the Viennese Stadtbahn followed the London model, otherwise the wood paneling was more of a trademark at that time of cars that were in luxury trains , such as the sleeping and dining cars of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits . The planking with the noble wood should make the light rail trains visible in the city area, especially on the viaduct routes , appear as attractive as possible in accordance with the zeitgeist of the time. The roof arches in turn consisted of glued lamellas made of ash wood, with every second one being reinforced with iron angles. To protect against the effects of heat, all of the enclosing walls as well as floors and ceilings had double wooden cladding.

Other special features of the car were the decorative and cover strips made of walnut or dark oak, the high-quality interior fittings made of brass and the etched panes of the small skylights above the five lowerable double windows on each side, which were framed in a dark-colored wooden frame. The light rail cars were therefore considered to be a real observation car for the time . The windows could only be opened so far that the upper edge of the window frame protruded 250 millimeters above the window parapet in order to prevent the passengers from bending over too much and the associated danger from railway objects. The inwardly foldable skylights also served as ventilation flaps , and the ceiling lamps also had a ventilation device. In strong sunlight, passengers could also pull out curtains .

The wooden floor in the interior was covered with linoleum and painted with oil paint in the luggage compartment. Coconut or straw mats were placed between the seats. In the toilets, the floor was covered with zinc sheet and paved with terrazzo or flagstone on a cement layer. The lower half of the side wall cladding was made of enamelled zinc sheet, the toilet bowls were free-standing made of porcelain and the water tanks were made of copper sheet. Valve boxes with vertical valve pulls were attached for flushing the toilet . Removable disinfection vessels were located under the downpipes of the toilets .

In addition to the 28 regular seats in the open-plan compartment, the CD u , which ran at the end of the train, had twelve additional seats on a total of six folding bench seats in the luggage compartment.

Hand luggage could be stored in the 900 millimeter wide luggage nets made of hemp cord , which were attached parallel to the bench seats . The arrangement of longitudinal luggage racks above the windows, however, was not used because they would have been more difficult to reach for passengers sitting in the middle of the car, had a smaller storage space and would also have covered the ventilation windows.

Car classes

Interior view of a B u , original document from the manufacturer Ringhoffer, in the font characteristic of Otto Wagner
Interior view of the C u 9424 in 1977, which at that time was no longer in its original condition

II.  Car class had padded benches on 2 + 2 arrangement at the end on arms possessed. Both the seats and backrests were covered with green buffalo leather . In the III. First class, ash wood benches were installed in a 3 + 2 arrangement without armrests, which were covered with maple veneer on the outside and fastened with brass screws.

The inner side wall cladding below the window edge consisted of pressed leather in the second class, above the window edge, on the ceiling and on the front sides, bright, patterned oilcloth wallpapers were used. Decorative strips, window frames and seat frames were made of walnut, the seats were upholstered with wire spiral springs and horsehair , and the back and armrests were only upholstered with horsehair. In the III. The interiors, however, were only painted with oil paint, with the walls being oak-colored and the ceiling white. The pilaster strips , moldings and window frames were made of ash or teak. In addition, the second class was better lit. Another difference concerned the protective grilles on the entrance doors. They were made of brass in the II. Class , in the III. Class, however, only made of black lacquered iron.

Platforms and entrances

Staying on the platforms was expressly permitted in Vienna's light rail traffic in order to increase transport capacity, but only if there were no more seats on the train. At the C u , the platforms had an area of ​​three and a half square meters. This requirement required a redesign of the stage railings and the platform locks; easily manageable and securely locking devices had to be selected.

Instead of simple bars, a triangular folding device was installed to secure the platform at the side. It could be locked in the open as well as in the closed position by latching a freely hanging hook. The front end of the platforms was formed by a massive railing made up of gas pipes. From 1906, this arrangement became the general design for kkSt.B. wagons with open platforms.

Car crossings

The transition from one car to the other was provided by hinged transition bridges made of ribbed sheet iron, which were attached to a platform part that could be rotated upwards by 90 degrees. On the console parts of each platform railing located on the side of the level buffer, a sheer railing was suspended, which, together with the corresponding sheer railing of the adjoining car, formed the side protection for the car crossing. The Scheer railings were covered with tarred canvas to prevent fingers and the like from getting caught.

For greater safety, the bridge plates were 230 millimeters wider than the clear distance from the Scheer railing. In order to still be able to unfold the metal sheets without problems when coupling the wagons, the bracket parts located at the middle openings of the platform railings were arranged to be rotatable by 90 degrees around the actual platform railings. These bracket railing parts were held in the desired position by the fact that the flat iron beams of the brackets rested on a square part of the railing pillars and the bracket parts could only be rotated if they had previously been lifted by about 25 millimeters, so that the square holes on the cylindrical continuation of the Pillars arrived.

The Scheer railings were secured against removal at one end on the associated car with a nut and split pin , the second end was hooked into the eyes of the console railing of the neighboring car using long hooks. For the final car, the bridge and the Scheer railing were used to close the opening in the middle of the platform. For this purpose, the console railings were lifted, turned outwards, the bridge was set up in the vertical position, secured with two grippers, then the console railings were lifted again, turned back, lowered onto the square and the shear railing hooked into the eyes of the second console railing of their own car.

roofs

Top view with the canvas roof and the boards for the maintenance staff mounted on it

Typical of the light rail cars were the barrel roofs that were drawn in at the ends and were covered with light canvas made of linen impregnated with oil paint and painted light gray, almost white. For maintenance work, there were roof running boards and step boards mounted on flat iron on the roofs. A ladder , only available on the CD u carriages, was used to climb these boards . This was sufficient because every train carried at least one such wagon in regular operation.

Bulkhead doors

Since wing doors of the customary design at that time were a hindrance when boarding, if the ascent was on the side where the hinges were, and sliding doors were stiff and only inadequately sealed, those responsible for the Viennese light rail vehicles opted for double-rotating front wall doors . These were so-called changing doors or double - hinged doors based on the Belcsak-Rohrwasser or Friedrich Hermann systems, that is, they had two door handles and were hung on two hinges. If the door was opened with the right handle, it turned around the hinge on the left; if the door was opened with the left handle, it turned around the right hinge. Thanks to this special principle, the doors could be opened both to the left and to the right. Because this method did not interfere with passengers getting on or off the platform - regardless of the platform side - the platforms were narrower and in return four additional seats could be offered per car.

A pin lock was attached under both pawls, with which the pawl above could be determined. The two door locks were connected to each other by a connecting rod, so that one was always locked when the other was opened. In order to prevent passengers from opening the doors incorrectly, the door handles were locked on the opposite side of the entry side, as indicated by the corresponding addresses on the inside.

With the Belcsak-Rohrwasser patent , the door frame did not form the immediate frame of the door. Rather, there was an iron frame, which could be rotated around hinges in the door frame and in which the hinges for the actual door, on the side opposite the first-mentioned hinges, were attached. Depending on whether the door was opened with the right or left handle, either the door alone or the door in conjunction with the movable frame was simultaneously set in rotation.

In the case of the Friedrich Hermann patent, however, the door was directly framed by the door frame, but the pivot pins of the door hinges could be moved vertically using the door handles on the same side and thus lifted out of their pans attached to the door frame . If, for example, the left handle was pressed down on such a door, the pivot pins on the left side were lifted vertically out of their bearings and the door could then be turned around the pins on the right.

But the ingenious system of changing doors did not prove itself in practice, if passengers pressed each of the two handles simultaneously from inside and from the platform, the door would fall off its hinges. For this reason, the cars that were newly delivered from 1900 onwards were fitted with sliding doors, and those built with converting doors were converted from 1927 onwards.

Heating

The Viennese light rail vehicles were heated with a steam heater fed by the locomotive . The steam line couplings were made with metal hoses that had normal sealing cones and bracket attachments. The steam pipe had an outside diameter of 42 millimeters and, as it ran through the car body, was also used as a heating pipe with a heating surface of around 1.15 square meters. Above the steam pipe was a heating battery made up of two tubes, each 52 millimeters in diameter, with a total heating surface of 3.5 meters, and an identical heating battery on the opposite side wall surface. The heating pipes were connected to a shut-off valve or steam distribution valve that could be operated by the train crew from the platform in such a way that either the two heating batteries were shut off or steam flowed through one or both of them.

The interior of the car could be heated accordingly with 1.15, 3.45 or 5.75 square meters of heating surface. The construction chosen allowed the temperature to be regulated well and avoided the formation of air pockets as a result of the constant flow of steam. In addition, the condensation was always drained away. The parts of the heating batteries arranged between the seats were encased in perforated sheet metal cladding to avoid touching the hot pipes.

In the CD u cars , the heating device was divided into two series because the outer walls were interrupted by the loading doors, which were designed as sliding doors. In the passenger compartment and on the toilets, the arrangement was the same as for the C u , and regulation was also carried out from the platform. For the luggage compartment, on the other hand, a heating battery was attached to the right and left between the front wall and loading door as well as to the partition wall inside the car. The control lever for these heating batteries, which were fed from the steam pipe, which was routed under the floor on the CD u , was located on the front wall of the compartment.

lighting

Sketch of a C u , the elongated gas container for the lighting is mounted between the axes

Another advantage of open-plan cars was that they could be illuminated more easily; this was done by gas lighting on the Vienna Stadtbahn . The oil gas used for this was carried along in containers made of flux iron with welded longitudinal seams and welded-in bottoms, which were suspended from the base frame. These had a volume of 1080 liters for the B u , 850 liters for the CD u and 720 liters for the C u . The resulting lighting duration was around 33 hours, with the gas lamps also being permanently on during the day due to the numerous tunnel sections. Refilling took about seven minutes at an overpressure of six atmospheres , and the pressure regulator between the container and the lamp line corresponded to the standards of the state railway. There were seven ceiling lamps for the B u , six for the CD u and five ceiling lamps for the C u , two of which were under the canopies to illuminate the platforms and car crossings. The lamps in the passenger compartments used 30 liters of gas, while those on the platforms and in the toilets were more economical with a consumption of only 15 liters. All lamps had so-called intensive reflectors, which supplied the flames with preheated air and thus increased their luminosity. The light intensity was twelve for the stronger lamps and five normal candles for the weaker ones .

The lamps were operated from inside the car or the platforms. For this purpose, the glass bells of the lamps could be opened, and each burner had a stopcock . The main shut-off valve for all lamps was switched on in a housing on the front wall of the car in the gas pipe. Below tap I was a tap II with which the gas flow to the lamps could be throttled so that all lamps in a car could be switched to "dark" or "light" at the same time. When set to "Dark", all lamps burned only with small flames with a gas consumption of around four liters per hour. The dark place was done by turning the valve II by 90 degrees, whereby the gas did not pass directly through the large central bore of the valve II, but through an annular recess and a small transverse bore, which could be throttled with a regulator screw, to the bore of the Hahnes I and the lamps. This facility made it possible to keep the lighting burning on a low flame at low cost, and if necessary, all the lamps in a car could be set to "bright" at the same time with one movement. The weight of the entire gas system in a car was 260 to 300 kilograms.

The electrical lighting of the cars by means of light bulbs and accumulators was also considered in advance, but this had to be dispensed with because of the significantly higher installation and operating costs. In addition, it would have been more difficult to operate due to the supply and replacement of the batteries.

End-of-train signal

The wagons with hand brakes also had normal lantern supports on the lowest running boards of the ascents for attaching the two lanterns. These were arranged so that the engine driver could see them from the machine. In addition, clip-on blocks were attached to the underside of the transition bridges, to which a third final signal could be attached when the bridge was up. Alternatively, the gas lamp on the platform of the respective end car served as the third train end signal.

Addresses

The side wall addresses of the light rail cars were designed differently from the "normality of the addresses" for the state railway. They had the property characteristic kkSt.B. in the left and the car inventory number in the lower right corner of the side wall. The class designations, particularly noticeable with 350 millimeter high Roman numerals , were white with a black shadow. The wagons belonging to the Commission for Transport Systems in Vienna were also marked with kkSt.B. labeled, but also had a sticker on the solebar below the entry platform with the inscription "VA".

history

Unclear authorship of Otto Wagner

Originally, the Viennese architect Otto Wagner , who designed essential parts of the Viennese Stadtbahn from 1894, even submitted drafts for their passenger cars, but these were not used. According to other sources, he probably or actually designed these. It is undisputed that in 1910 the architect designed the very similarly designed operating equipment for the Pressburger Bahn starting from Vienna . The design parallel in the vertical teak cladding reinforces the assumption that Wagner was indeed involved in the design of the rolling stock for the light rail.

Prototypes

In 1895, a prototype of each of the three types was ordered from the Nesselsdorf, Ringhoffer and Simmering wagon factories. These were initially named B i , C i and CD i , with the i standing for intercommunication car . Ultimately, the sub-generic sign u was not used until the production cars. Each company produced the wagons with different designs in a box body. The model cars from Ringhoffer and Nesselsdorf had wooden paneling and hinged windows above the side wall windows. The Simmering wagons, on the other hand, were clad with sheet metal and had their ventilation windows in the curve of the barrel roof. Various entrance door systems were also tested. In addition, the class numbers on the Ringhoffer cars were still made of brass, as was customary on high-quality cars.

Series production

When determining the series version, preference was given to the construction principles of the Ringhoffer wagons. The first delivery lot awarded on May 2, 1896, with delivery beginning in the summer of 1896, comprised 50 B u , 220 C u and five CD u , Ringhoffer, Nesselsdorf, Simmering and Graz were responsible for this. The C u 9144 from Graz was the first production car to be handed over to the State Railways on September 2, 1896. Ringhoffer delivered the B u 4206 and 4207 on January 22, 1897 , Simmering on February 13, 1897 the C u 9084–9099 and Nesselsdorf finally the B u 4228–4237 on March 20, 1897 . The five CD and this order left on 29 April 1897, the production halls of Ringhoffer.

The cars B u 4340 from Simmering and the C u 10320 and CD u 12164 from Graz were also presented to a wide audience at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 .

Adaptations for electrical test operation

Four-part electric test train in 1901
Ten-part electric test train in 1902

A total of ten Viennese light rail vehicles were used for the first attempt at electrifying the transport system, which was carried out between Heiligenstadt and Michelbeuern between 1901 and 1902 . For this purpose, Siemens & Halske provided them with the appropriate electrical equipment for busbar operation during construction at the Simmering wagon factory . The electrical multiple control used for this from just one driver's cab was still new technical territory at the time and had its premiere in Austria on the Vienna Stadtbahn. The model here was the Földalatti in Budapest , where the world's first multiple control system was used as early as 1895.

At the beginning of the Vienna test in July 1901, a four-car train was first tested, consisting of the cars CD u 12152, C u 6145, C u 6167 and C u 10316. In the luggage compartment of the CD u there was the switching mechanism with series resistors and a driver's cab installed. The first axis was equipped with a pantograph and the second with a 60 kilovolt shunt motor of type B 30/45. The engineers hoped that this would bring the advantages of a simple speed control and a considerable recovery of electrical energy when traveling down the numerous inclines of the light rail. In addition to the normal hand brakes, the continuous suction air brake was available to brake the train. In addition, the engines were equipped with a resistance brake based on the tram design. The three C u also each received a pantograph and an engine, two of them functioning as guided railcars , while a driver's cab was also built into car 10316. From September 1901 a second appropriately adapted CD u was available with car 12153 , with which a five-car train could be formed. All motor vehicles had electrical heating and lighting, only the headlights were conventional.

At the turn of the year 1901/02 a second set was finally ready, which consisted of the end cars CD u 12154 and 12155 and the intermediate cars C u 10317-10319. From the spring of 1902, either two five-car trains or - as with steam operation - a ten-car train were available for the tests. After the end of the test drives in July 1902, all of which took place without passengers, all ten cars were converted back to regular steam light rail cars.

In the first World War

Interior of a light rail car adapted for transporting the wounded, circa 1916

Immediately after the outbreak of World War I , the Vienna Stadtbahn had to hand over 413 cars to the military. In October 1914, 461 light rail vehicles were already in service with the army. At the suggestion of the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry , the Ministry of Railways provided the Austrian Red Cross with twelve ambulance trains made of light rail material, each with 25 cars. These state railway sick trains consisted of III. Great, they were able to transport 72 lying and 225 seated wounded on inserted field stretchers. The patients were invited through two window openings in the side walls, which were closed by a flap.

Interwar period

Most of the light rail vehicles given to the war zones returned to Austria after the end of the war. Only a small part had to be decommissioned or written off as a war loss. As of November 3, 1918, the then 850 wagons were finally distributed as follows: 793 for the Austrian State Railways, 23 for the Italian State Railways , 20 for the Romanian State Railways , seven for the Polish State Railways , five for the Czechoslovak State Railways and two for the Yugoslav State Railways . The sick trains and disinfection trains that had stopped in the eastern war zones also came back in 1922 and 1923.

In the absence of further demand in and around Vienna, apart from the suburban line , the steam light rail service largely ended on December 8, 1918 due to a lack of coal, from 1918 onwards many light rail vehicles migrated to other routes throughout almost all of Austria, although the greater Vienna area continued to be the preferred area of ​​operation. From then on they were to be found nationwide on suburban lines, local railways and in passenger trains on main lines . Often they drove in thoroughbred tram sets, but also mixed with a wide variety of other types, since in the meantime a conversion of the brakes to the "Automatic Vacuum Rapid Brake 1902" had begun. The cars now also had an emergency brake . In the inter-war period, the roofs were also laminated and the gas lighting was replaced by electric lighting.

16 C u converted the main workshop in St. Pölten and the Salzburg train transport center in cooperation with AEG in 1921 into eight type ET 21 accumulator railcars and eight associated sidecars of the type C ut . This was followed in 1924 by another C u from the main workshop in Floridsdorf ( Jedlesee ) , which mutated into an internal combustion engine on a trial basis and was given the new designation VT 30.01 .

When the assets of the Commission for Transport Systems in Vienna were redeemed by the federal government on July 1, 1934, 328 of the 372 wagons they had procured were still available. In 1941 the Deutsche Reichsbahn still registered 706 trams of the Stadtbahn type, whereby most of the B u had meanwhile been downgraded to C u .

After the Second World War

The museum-preserved C u 9424 on the open day in the main workshop in Floridsdorf , October 20, 1977
The B u 10325 last used at Stern & Hafferl with a modified window division in Strasshof, 1981
The B u 4311 in Strasshof last used at Stern & Hafferl , 2016

After the Second World War , some light rail vehicles remained abroad, including in the German Democratic Republic , Yugoslavia and Romania . In Austria, on the other hand, when the two-class system was converted in 1956, only 163 C u were left , which at that time mutated to the genus B u . While the Austrian Federal Railways completely decommissioned their last light rail vehicles by 1961, the copies lent to the private Stern & Hafferl Verkehrsgesellschaft from 1939 onwards , over the years a total of 24 C u and two CD u , remained on the Lambach – Haag line at Hausruck until 1975 in action. Twelve other light rail cars were also leased to the Graz-Köflacher Bahn (GKB) between 1942 and 1949 .

Museum preservation

Of the six cars parked around 1970, the C u 9424 and CD u 12003 remained operational and in 1979 were first brought to the Austrian Railway Museum (ÖEM). As a result of its outsourcing, they came into the holdings of the Technisches Museum Wien as early as 1980 . When a third car was needed in 1987 for the special trips to restart the suburban line and the 150th anniversary of the railway in Austria , the main workshop in Simmering finally rebuilt the B u 4294. It previously served the ÖBB as a workshop car , based on the construction drawings, many parts were made from scratch and the interior was reproduced in the manner of a third-class car for reasons of cost.

After 1987 the B u 4294 came to the Museums-Lokalbahnverein - Heizhaus Zwettl (MLV) and is parked in Waldkirchen an der Thaya . The C u 9424 found its way into the permanent exhibition of the Technisches Museum Wien and the CD u 12003 went to the Strasshof Railway Museum . In addition, the B u 4311 as well as the C u 9135, 9546 and 10325 still exist in Strasshof - in much worse condition .

literature

  • Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 95.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq K.k. Oberbaurath Victor Schützenhofer: The operating resources of the Viennese light rail. - II. Car of the Vienna light rail. In: Journal of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects, year 1897, number 39, pp. 549–553.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Wiener Stadtbahn. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 89.
  4. ↑ a b c d Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 91.
  5. ^ A b Hans Peter Pawlik, Josef Otto Slezak: Wagner's work for Vienna. Total work of art Stadtbahn (= International Archive for Locomotive History. Volume 44). Slezak, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-85416-185-9 , p. 147
  6. ^ A b Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 88.
  7. ↑ a b The Vienna light rail. In: The water supply as well as the systems of the municipal electricity works, the Vienna river regulation, the main collecting canals, the light rail and the regulation of the Danube canal in Vienna. On behalf of Mayor Dr. Karl Lueger worked on from the city building authority. Vienna 1901. Self-published by the Vienna City Council. Printed by Paul Gerin, Vienna. Chapter IV, pp. 227-243.
  8. ^ A b Journal of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects. Year 1897, number 2, pp. 17–26.
  9. ↑ a b c d The Vienna City Railways. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . Volume 39/40, issue number 6, Zurich, February 8, 1902, pp. 55–60.
  10. ^ Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 71.
  11. ↑ a b c d Helmut Petrovitsch: On two axes through Vienna. eisenbahn magazin , May 2016, p. 86.
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Wiener Stadtbahn. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 90.
  13. ^ A b Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 58.
  14. ↑ Passenger car of the Stadtbahn III. Class. On: technischesmuseum.at. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  15. ↑ a b c d e Stadtbahnwaggon Cu 9424 on bauforum.at, accessed on November 28, 2017
  16. ^ Hans Peter Pawlik, Josef Otto Slezak: Wagner's work for Vienna. Total work of art Stadtbahn (= International Archive for Locomotive History. Volume 44). Slezak, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-85416-185-9 , p. 148
  17. ^ Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 125.
  18. ^ Die Dampfstadtbahn (1898–1914) Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  19. ↑ Harald Marincig: 60 Years of the Vienna Electric City Railways 1925–1985 , Wiener Stadtwerke - Verkehrsbetriebe, Vienna 1985, p. 3
  20. ↑ Harald Marincig: 60 Years of the Vienna Electric City Railways 1925–1985 , Wiener Stadtwerke - Verkehrsbetriebe, Vienna 1985, p. 8
  21. ^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 25.
  22. ↑ Harald Marincig: 60 Years of the Vienna Electric City Railways 1925–1985 , Wiener Stadtwerke - Verkehrsbetriebe, Vienna 1985, p. 4
  23. ↑ a b c Martin Ortner, Franz Straka: The Vienna City Railway - With the GD and WD through Vienna . Publishing house Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3-902894-65-6 , p. 3.
  24. ^ History of the railways of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. VI. Volume by Hermann Strach: The Austrian Railway System in its General and Technical Development, 1898–1908. Pp. 417-418, Karl Prochaska Verlag, Vienna, 1908.
  25. ^ Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 132.
  26. ^ Die Zeit , October 21, 1914 edition.
  27. ↑ Medical trains . In: Viktor von Röll (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Volume 8: Passenger tunnel - Schynige Platte Railway . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1917, p.  304 ff.
  28. ^ Alfred Horn: 75 years of the Vienna light rail. "Between the 30s Bock and the Silver Arrow". Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-7002-0415-9 , p. 92.
  29. ^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 112.
  30. ^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 111.
  31. ^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 94.
  32. ↑ 2- and 3-axle standard-gauge passenger, luggage and mail wagons of the Austrian Federal Railways on tramways.at, accessed on February 12, 2020