Wolfgang Bäseler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wolfgang Bäseler (born November 29, 1888 in Arnstadt , † August 14, 1984 in Gauting ) was a German railway engineer .

Life

Wolfgang Bäseler (1888–1984)

Bäseler was the son of a government architect of the Kgl. Erfurt Railway Directorate , who built the Arnstadt – Saalfeld railway line with the viaduct over the Ilm from 1891–1893. Bäseler studied from 1906 to 1911 at the Technical Universities of Aachen and Munich and then also began his service at the Kgl. Erfurt Railway Directorate, where he was employed as a government construction manager in railway construction. On July 9, 1913, he completed his training with a doctorate in engineering. and was used in the field railway service in World War I. On October 27, 1914, Bäseler was married to Else Winkelmann in Erfurt; she was the daughter of the Jena rector and physics professor Adolf Winkelmann and his wife Mimi geb. Sträter from Aachen. The marriage produced three daughters.

After the end of the war he took over the construction management of the Oberweißbacher Bergbahn , with which he wanted to enable the needy population in some communities on the heights of the Thuringian Slate Mountains to transport the raw materials they needed and the goods they produced. He considered the construction of this technically unique (see below) mountain railway to be his best achievement for a lifetime. Appointed government building officer in 1924, in the same year he invented optical train protection (see OPSI protection system below) for main railways and one year later he was appointed head of a development office of the then German State Railroad Company (DRG) in Munich, where he did free research could be active. After the Second World War he taught - as a substitute - the subject of railway engineering at the TH Munich ; In 1945 he was appointed honorary professor. As a director of the study society for combined transport , he developed further ideas and suggestions. In 1991 a street in Arnstadt was named after him.

Inventions and Proposals

Drive and conveyor system of the "Oberweißbacher Bergbahn"

Instead of other solutions (e.g. cog railway), Bäseler and the Saarbrücken company Heckel implemented a funicular with two different types of car. A normal stepped funicular car (for people) and a wedge-shaped transport car with a flat loading area meet in the middle of the route. The latter can transport normal freight or passenger cars over the steep section. This makes the Oberweißbacher Bergbahn the steepest railway in the world for normal railroad cars. The specialists in Swiss mountain railway construction, who completely renovated the Oberweißbacher Bergbahn in 2002, were amazed at the technical features of this mountain railway, "downright building blocks".

Crossover switch type "Bäseler"

Double crossing switch system “Bäseler” on the west end of Heidelberg train station

The “Bäseler” design, in contrast to conventional crossings, enables a larger radius of the branch track and can therefore be driven on at higher speeds. This is achieved in that the tongues are outside the "crossing square". With the turnout forms common in Germany and Austria, the branch track radius of 500 m allows travel at 65 km / h, in contrast to 40 km / h of the crossover points with internal tongues. It can be designed as a single or double crossing switch. As with all crossing points, installation is nowadays avoided as much as possible because the maintenance effort is higher than with corresponding simple points.

OPSI security system

In 1924, Bäseler and Carl Zeiss Jena developed an optical system with light barriers as control means to secure the routes on fast-moving railway lines . It could not prevail against the magnetic resonance-based INDUSI system of the then United Railway Signal Works (VES) , which is still used today as a standard in Germany and Austria.

Eddy current brake

An important invention of Bäseler was the further development of the eddy current track brake , which he had the idea for while still a student and which he then presented at the first major traffic exhibition in Munich in 1925 .

Combined traffic

The topic of "combined transport" occupied Bäseler from his student days until he was old. Even as a student he developed approaches to "container traffic", which he pursued throughout his life. In 1962 the "runway" was added. The aim of combined transport is to "combine all internal and inter-company transports via various types of transport into one overall transport process (continuous transport chain)".

Container traffic

For container traffic, this means "the complete reorganization of rail freight traffic on the basis of the generally - or at least as widely-used as possible - container, primarily by eliminating shunting". This reorganization would make it possible for goods to get on, off and transfer like people.

Runway

The main purpose of the “taxiway” was to relieve long-distance traffic on the motorways. It was initially only intended for very busy long-distance connections between large traffic hubs. Between such traffic hubs, a new broad-gauge rail network with its own train stations was to be created on the outskirts of the big cities, at which motorists could drive in their vehicles into very fast trains that run every minute and which they can take to the desired distant with little or no stops on the way Should bring a transport hub, and inexpensive.

Rail fastening spring

Bäseler Feder in Munich Central Station

In old age, Bäseler still developed a spring for fastening the rail to the sleeper, which was manufactured by the Schmitthelm company in Heidelberg and used for B. was installed in the subway in Munich.

"Booster" drives for train transport

Bäseler suggested adding unmanned “booster” drive units to the locomotives on inclined routes in order to increase the efficiency of the routes. In the USA, such additional drives were occasionally used ( integrated in steam locomotives or as an independent "B-unit" in diesel locomotives ). The idea was not well received in Europe.

Rail travel as a sport

Bäseler was an enthusiastic railroad worker and often surprised those around him with unconventional ideas. He even advertised his understanding of rail travel in specialist literature, especially from the driver's cab of a locomotive. Many railroad enthusiasts will find their own feelings there again ( praise of the route view . In: Reichsbahnrat Dr.-Ing. Bäseler: Eisenbahnfahren als Sport, magazine of the Association of Central European Railway Administrations 1933, p. 65).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Lohr, G. Thielmann: Die Oberweißbacher Bergbahn , Bahn und Bild Verlag, Berlin 1991, p. 63.
  2. ^ Klaus Rheinhold: Chronicle Arnstadt, 704-2004. 1300 years of Arnstadt . Third part http://www.arnstadt.de/content/chronik/teil5.pdf , p. 393.
  3. H. Lohr, et al., P. 9.
  4. s: Copy of Dr. Bäseler from March 1, 1923 on the opening of the mountain railway
  5. H. Lohr, et al., P. 63.
  6. H. Lohr, et al., P. 4.
  7. Hans Borchert: Down into the valley, up to the mountain. In: DB Mobil October 2004, pp. 40–42.
  8. G.Berg, H.Henker: Weichen, transpress, 1986, pp. 22 and 37.
  9. Angela Keim: Contouring and critical appreciation of the container concept for freight traffic by Wolfgang Bäseler. Diploma thesis, LMU Munich, 1978, p. 2.
  10. Keim, p. 4.
  11. Quoted from Keim, p. 4.
  12. Quoted from Keim, p. 5.
  13. Wolfgang Bäseler: “Taxiways make the traffic situation easier.” Explanations of a new type of project. In: Transport and Warehouse . Kirschbaum Verlag, Bad Godesberg 1962.

literature

  • HK Abendroth: Born on rails. In: Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung May 7, 2008.
  • Angela Keim: Contouring and critical appreciation of the container concept for freight transport by Wolfgang Bäseler. Diploma thesis, LMU Munich, 1978.
  • H. Lohr, G. Thielmann: The Oberweißbacher mountain railway . Bahn und Bild Verlag, Berlin 1991.
  • Ralf Roman Rossberg : History of the Railway . Sigloch, Künzelsau 1984, ISBN 3-8003-0217-9 .
  • Regio Netz Verkehrs GmbH: Folder The Oberweißbacher Bergbahn - The Schwarzatalbahn .

Web links