Central Zürichbergbahn

Zurich Mountain Railway Headquarters (ZZB)
Car No. 2 of the Central Zürichberg Railway
Route 1896. Main line Branch line
Route length:	3.61 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	550  =
Maximum slope :	70  ‰
Minimum radius :	12 m
Dual track :	Bellevue - peacocks
Legend 0,000 Bellevue 412  m above sea level M. 0.485 Peacocks 427  m above sea level M. 1,150 Plate post 454  m above sea level M. 0,000 0.475 Polytechnic 475  m above sea level M. 0.925 Rigistrasse 499  m above sea level M. Gloriastrasse 483  m above sea level M. 2,040 Fluntern Church 511  m above sea level M. Depot with power station

The Zentrale Zürichbergbahn (ZZB), also called Centrale Zürichberg-Bahn until around 1901 , was a tram company in Switzerland that operated in the urban area of Zurich . It was founded in 1894 and was one of eight predecessor companies of today's Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ). The ZZB developed the Fluntern and Oberstrass quarters on the western slope of the Zürichberg . On December 3, 1905, the city of Zurich bought the ZZB, and its infrastructure was integrated into the Zurich tram network .

history

Bellevue – Pfauen – Rämistrasse – Church of Fluntern

In 1893 the doctor Ausderau received a concession to build a tram from Bellevue via Rämistrasse to the Fluntern church with the option of continuing on to the Zürichberg . The Zurichbergbahn AG headquarters was formed for the construction of the tram . Their goal was to develop the suburb of Fluntern as a residential area and the Zürichberg as a local recreation area for city residents. The Zürichbergbahn also offered to supply other trams that crossed the Zürichbergbahn at Pfauen with electricity from its power station.

Construction work began in October 1894. On February 16, 1895, the meter-gauge Pfauen – Kirche Fluntern route was opened, although it did not yet follow the current route of line 6. The route ran from Pfauen through Rämistrasse to the level of today's Kantonsschule stop , then turned into Zürichbergstrasse and followed it to the intersection with Plattenstrasse, which it followed to Gloriastrasse. On Gloriastrasse, she briefly followed today's line 6 to the intersection with Moussonstrasse, which she followed until it merged into Gloriastrasse again. After that, the route corresponded to today's line 6 to the Fluntern church, where the depot was located.

The route through Moussonstrasse had to be chosen because the physics building of the Polytechnic at Gloirastrasse 35, completed in 1890 , should not be disturbed by the electric tram. The current route has only existed since 1919. In 1928 the Zurichbergstrasse – Plattenstrasse route was replaced by the one at the Universitätsstrasse / Gloriastrasse intersection. Both changes were made when the ZZB had already been taken over by the Zurich urban tram .

From Bellevue to Pfauen, the ZZB used the route opened the year before by the Zurich Electric Tramway (ESZ). The tram line from Bellevue to the Fluntern Church was 2 km long. The carriages ran from Bellevue to the present stop at Platte every six minutes, and on the line to Fluntern Church every 12 minutes.

Polytechnic – Oberstrass

The construction company Grether & Co. had acquired large plots of land on the hillside above the village of Oberstrass , but did not find enough interested parties for the construction of residential buildings. A new tram line should connect the area with the city and make it interesting for potential buyers. A first application for the construction of a 75 cm steam tram from the Polytechnic to Oberstrass and on to the Geissberg ⊙ was submitted in 1892, but was postponed by the canton because it first wanted to commit to a uniform gauge for the tram network. The canton was responsible for the tram lines, as they extended beyond what was then the municipal area of ​​the city of Zurich. After the canton had committed to the meter gauge, Grether again submitted a license application for a tram line that was to be operated with steam motor vehicles. In 1893, however, the federal government did not respond to Grether's request because, on the one hand, there was no license from the canton to use the road and, on the other hand, Grether himself wanted to change the application from steam to electrical operation.

After Zurich had incorporated several suburbs, including Oberstrass, in 1893, Grether & Co. received the concession for the construction of the electric tram from Tannenstrasse, where there was a connection to the Polybahn , via Universitätsstrasse to Rigiplatz , including the requirement to join to unite the central Zürichbergbahn. The central Zurich mountain railway AG had previously received a few months the license for a branch of the plate road to the southern end of the University Street, so a connection to the mainline Bellevue Church was Fluntern.

On November 1, 1895, the 1.2 km long route from the Platte to Oberstrass was opened. The final stop was at the intersection of Universitätsstrasse and Gloriastrasse about 160 m south of today's Rigiblick cable car stop . There was also a short branch in Tannenstrasse to the mountain station of the Polybahn, which was only in operation until August 1, 1896.

Power supply

Power station central Zürichbergbahn
Depot of the Zürichbergbahn, the power station was in the annex to the left of the depot, only the roof is visible
location
Zurich city
Coordinates	684 632  /  247 917 coordinates: 47 ° 22 '36 "  N , 8 ° 33' 33"  O ; CH1903:  six hundred and eighty-four thousand six hundred and thirty-two  /  247917
country	Switzerland
place	Zurich city
Data
Type	Gas engine power plant
Primary energy	coal
power	170 kW
owner	Central Zürichbergbahn
Start of operations	1895
Shutdown	1906
was standing	1906

Originally, the ZZB was to be supplied with electricity from an existing power plant in Dietikon or Bremgarten - the masts had already been erected up to the city limits. The project failed due to the resistance of the city, which did not want an overhead line in its area. The electricity was therefore generated in its own power plant at the depot in Fluntern. For this purpose, coal was gasified and processed with gas engines from Crossley Brothers from Manchester . These powered direct current shunt generators from Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), which generated the 550 V direct voltage for driving. When operations began, two 60 HP gas engines were installed, and a 120 HP gas engine was added later. The total output of the generators after the expansion was 170 kW. The company's own requirements were covered by a 15 HP gas engine that drove a 12 kW generator from Rieter for the 150 V supply. Lead accumulators, which had a capacity of 370 Ah with a discharge current of 370 A, were responsible for covering the peak energy demand .

The power station had enough power to supply the Leonhardsplatz  - Kreuzplatz line of the Zurich city tramway (StStZ) from 1899 to 1902 .

• 

  Machine room of the multi-gym

Development up to the merger with the StStZ

From the beginning, the ZZB was in deficit, so that from 1896 it received subsidies from the city and from 1899 was allowed to operate from Bellevue to Paradeplatz . Grether & Co. planned an extension of the tram line from Oberstrass through the steep Rigistrasse to the Germania hill in order to advance the development of the development area, which had been sluggish until now. The Fluntermer shareholders, who owned the majority, feared even greater deficits and defended themselves against this plan. Instead, Grether & Co. and the development company Rigiviertel AG built the Rigiblick cable car at their own expense . This funicular was opened on April 4, 1901. The ZZB was content with building a 300-meter-long connecting route to the valley station, which opened on the same day. With the funicular, intensive construction work began in the Rigiviertel, from which the tram also benefited. When the ZZB made a small profit for the first time in 1904, the city wanted to cancel the subsidies. The subsequent negotiations finally led to the takeover of ZZB by the StStZ on January 1, 1906. The power plant was taken out of operation at the end of January 1906 and the equipment was put out to tender. From then on, the electricity was drawn from the city of Zurich's electricity company . The former machine room was used by the Magneta watch factory .

literature

• P. Schenker: The Centrale Zürichberg Railway . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . 1896, doi : 10.5169 / SEALS-82307 .
• The central Zürichbergbahn . In: Illustrated Swiss craft newspaper . 1896, doi : 10.5169 / SEALS-578885 .
• Ulrich Weidmann: Local transport in Zurich - 90 years ago . In: Swiss engineer and architect . 1984, doi : 10.5169 / SEALS-75562 .
• Central Zürichbergbahn. Extension lines Platte-Polytechnikum and Seilbahn-Rigistrasse . Hofer & Burger, Zurich 1893, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-27443 (route map).

Web links

Commons : Zentrale Zürichbergbahn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Lorenzo Käser: Historical development of the Flunter tram lines from 1895. (PDF) Quartierverein Fluntern 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ S. Zurlinden: Hundred Years: Pictures from the History of the City of Zurich in the Period from 1814-1914 . Report house, Zurich 1915, ISBN 978-5-87370-648-8 , p. 389 ( google.ch ).
2. ↑ Message from the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on concessions for electric trams in Zurich. March 22, 1893, p. 99, 100, 108 ( admin.ch ).
3. ^ ^{A b} Hans-Rudolf Galliker: Tramstadt - Local public transport and urban development using the example of Zurich . Chronos Verlag, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-905312-02-6 , p. 104 .
4. ↑ Message from the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on concessions for electric trams in Zurich. March 22, 1893, p. 99 ( admin.ch ).
5. ^ Quartierverein Fluntern (ed.): The tram moves . ( zuerich-fluntern.ch [PDF] with map).
6. ↑ P. Schenker: The trams, in particular the newly opened electric tram in Zurich . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . 1894, p. 70 , doi : 10.5169 / SEALS-18653 .
7. ↑ Message from the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on concessions for electric trams in Zurich. March 22, 1893, p. 98 ( admin.ch ).
8. ↑ Lina Giusto: First city expansion 125 years ago - When Zurich became a big city. In: Limmattaler Zeitung. January 3, 2018 . 
9. ↑ P. Schenker, p. 1
10. ↑ P. Schenker, p. 5
11. ↑ The former power station of the central Zürichbergbahn. In: Gang dur Alt-Züri. 
12. ↑ Illustrierte Schweizerische Handwerker-Zeitung, p. 490
13. ^ H. Wagner: Sale of the machinery of the central Zürichberg railway . Listing. In: EWZ (Ed.): Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 46 , no. December 25 , 8, 1905.
14. ^ The Zurich Mountain Railway Headquarters (ZZB), 1894–1905. (No longer available online.) Tram Museum Zurich, October 12, 2003, archived from the original on September 1, 2011 ; accessed on May 13, 2014 . 
15. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. P. 105.
16. ↑ From the quarters: With clocks from flint in icy waters. In: Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich. Retrieved January 4, 2020 .