Wilhelmshaven tram
The Wilhelmshaven tram was a tram in the naval city of Wilhelmshaven and its formerly independent neighboring town Rüstringen , it ran from March 17, 1913 to March 30, 1945.
history
With the opening of the Wilhelmshaven tram, the most important German naval port on the North Sea coast received a high-performance inner-city means of transport only shortly before the beginning of the First World War . The reason for this delay was that the tram should not only run in the then Prussian town of Wilhelmshaven, but also in the Oldenburg town of Rüstringen, which was established in 1911 . The two communities were closely connected spatially, but for a long time could not agree on the design of the new means of transport.
It was not until 1912 that the Wilhelmshavener Straßenbahngesellschaft mbH was founded . 98 percent of the capital belonged to the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (DEAG) in Frankfurt am Main, where the new company also had its formal headquarters. However, this only owned the Wilhelmshaven infrastructure; in Rüstringen the city itself was the owner. Together, DEAG ensured operational management until 1936. After the city of Rüstringen was incorporated into the city of Wilhelmshaven, which from then on belonged to the state of Oldenburg, the two tram companies also merged to form Verkehrsgesellschaft Wilhelmshaven mbH . Although the economic crisis had been overcome in the 1930s, the expansion of the network, which was necessary due to the rapid population growth, did not take place. The districts of Köpperhorn, Siebethsburg, Neuende, Schaar and Neuengroden and Fedderwarden , nine kilometers away , which had shown interest in a connection, were never connected to the tram network .
During the Second World War , the tram suffered severe damage from numerous air raids on the city and port, which in October 1944 led to the closure of almost all routes. From this point on, only the route from the main train station to Ahrstrasse was served. The attack on March 30, 1945, with the destruction of this line, led to the permanent cessation of operations because the reconstruction no longer seemed sensible. Such was no longer considered even after the end of the war.
Route network
On a single-track, standard-gauge route network of 11.5 kilometers in length - 2.7 kilometers of which in Rüstringen - five lines operated from 1913 , which were reduced to three lines in 1918.
Line 1: Friedenstraße (Wendeschleife via Leibnizstraße), Gökerstraße, Ebertstraße, Virchowstraße (main station), Marktstraße, Rüstringen train station (later Westbahnhof)
Line 2: Luisenstrasse (tram depot), Rheinstrasse, Valoisstrasse, Ebertstrasse (main station), Marktstrasse, Gökerstrasse, Rheinstrasse, Ahrstrasse, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke, Strandhalle (1st port entrance)
Line 3: Bismarck- / corner Gökerstraße (Bismarckplatz), Bismarck- / corner Jachmannstraße
vehicles
The Nordwaggon company in Bremen supplied 23 railcars and 18 sidecars , which already had closed platforms and interiors with wooden cross benches that were closed off by sliding doors. In addition, the trams differed in terms of equipment, structure and color. The Prussian railways had angular lantern roofs , electrical equipment from the Siemens-Schuckert works and a cream-colored paintwork. The Oldenburg railways had pulled-down roofs at the ends (so-called torpedo roofs), which looked sleeker and benefited the passenger compartment ventilation, as well as electrical equipment from the Sachsenwerk in Dresden - Niedersedlitz . The cars were given a dark brown color, which was also given the cream-colored paint in 1922, but retained the Rüstringer tram ownership notice . In the course of the 1930s, the railcars were fitted with pantographs instead of the pantographs (Lyrabügel).
Local traffic after 1945
After the tram was shut down , the Wilhelmshaven transport company operated several trolleybus and omnibus lines in the city, the Stadtwerke trolleybus operated until 1960. From 1944 to September 30, 1954, there was also a trolleybus line operated by the Oldenburger Vorortbahnen Pekol GmbH to Jever . In addition, the shipyard of the Kriegsmarine transported people between 1939 and 1960, including to Sande and Voslapp. After 1945 it operated as the Wilhelmshaven suburban railway .
literature
- Dieter Höltge: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany - Volume 2: Lower Saxony / Bremen. Freiburg 1987, p. 323ff.
- Werner Brune (Ed.): Wilhelmshavener Heimatlexikon . 3 volumes. Brune Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Wilhelmshaven 1986, vol. 3, p. 249ff.