Prinz-Wilhelm-Eisenbahn
Encyclopedia
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Prinz-Wilhelm-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, PWE) was the first horse-drawn railway
Wagonway
Wagonways consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam powered railways. The terms "plateway", "tramway" and in someplaces, "dramway" are also found.- Early developments :...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was originally founded as the Deil Valley Railway Company (Deilthaler Eisenbahn Aktiengesellschaft) in 1828 and renamed in 1831. It built a narrow gauge line that ran for a Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n mile (7,532 metres) along the Deilbach valley from a point near Kupferdreh Old Station in Hinsbeck, a suburb of Kupferdreh (now part of Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
), to Nierenhof
Velbert-Nierenhof station
Velbert-Nierenhof station is located in the city of Velbert in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr line and is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station....
near Langenberg (now part of Velbert
Velbert
Velbert is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Langenberg, a district of Velbert, is well known as the location of the Sender Langenberg transmitter site.-Geography:...
). This route is now part of the Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr railway
Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr railway
The Wuppertal-Vohwinkel-Essen Überruhr Railway is a 30 km long, continuous two-track electrified main line. It is known as the Prince William Railway, the first railway linking the valleys of the Wupper and the Ruhr....
and served by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn line S9 trains.
On 20 September 1831 the railway was opened by Prince William
Prince Wilhelm of Prussia
Prince Wilhelm of Prussia was the son of Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.- Life :...
, the brother of the King of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
at the time, and renamed in honour of the prince. It operated as a horse-drawn railway carrying coal until 1844, but from 1833 it also carried passengers. In 1847, it was converted to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
, extended north to Steele
Steele, Germany
Steele became a city in the Ruhrgebiet in 1578. In 1929 it became a suburb of Essen.Steele is bordered on the south by the Ruhr river. It is bordered by the cities of Kray in the north, Leithe in the northeast, Freisenbruch in the east, Horst in the southeast, Überruhr in the south, Bergerhausen...
Süd and south to Vohwinkel (in Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
), converted to steam operation and renamed the Steele-Vohwinkler Eisenbahn.
Background
Friedrich Harkort had an early interest in improving the transportation of coal from the Ruhr in the Bergisches LandBergisches Land
The Bergisches Land is a low mountain range region within the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over 20 artificial lakes...
to Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
. He therefore visited England to study the first railway projects and wrote in 1825 in the journal Hermann an article on "Railways". He sought the interest of donors to realise such a project. He finally found interest mainly in the mining trades in the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
. In 1826 he had built a small test track, as a monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
following a design of the Englishman Henry Robinson Palmer
Henry Robinson Palmer
Henry Robinson Palmer was a British civil engineer who designed the world's first monorail system and the first elevated railsystem...
. This was a precursor to the Wuppertal Schwebebahn finally built 74 years later. On 9 September 1826 he advised the Elberfeld Council two routes for the construction of such a railway from Elberfeld
Elberfeld
Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929.-History:The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "elverfelde" was in a document of 1161...
via Uellendahl, Horath and Herzkamp to Hinsbeck or from Elberfeld via Horath to Langenberg
Langenberg
Langenberg is a quarter in Velbert, a German city. Located in this district is the famous Sender Langenberg transmission site, which transmits MW, FM, and TV broadcasting signals....
. In 1826 and 1827 surveying
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
were carried out in these districts.
Another railway pioneer, school teacher Peter Nikolaus Caspar Egen, however, favoured the construction of a normal rail railway. While Egen and Harkort fought out their differences, and even before an application for a concession was made, opposition began to surface from carters and horse drivers engaged in coal transportation. Meanwhile, the neighboring city of Barmen
Barmen
Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which in 1929 with four other towns was merged with the city of Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. Barmen was the birth-place of Friedrich Engels and together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the...
was also active with its own plans, as it felt disadvantaged by Elberfeld’s plans.
The time was not ripe for such a project using completely new technology. People were reluctant to invest their money in it. Even the king of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
who ultimately had to approve any plans, did not understand the proposals.
Deil Valley Railway Company
But in order just to make a start, Harkort then proposed a "stripped down" version. He founded the Deil Valley Railway Company, the first German railway joint stock companyJoint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
in 1828 with his brother, the industrialist Ludwig Mohl, Peter Nikolaus Caspar Egen, Dr. Voss (a physician and miner from Steele, now part of Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
) and Reichmann and Meyberg (merchants from Langenberg
Langenberg
Langenberg is a quarter in Velbert, a German city. Located in this district is the famous Sender Langenberg transmission site, which transmits MW, FM, and TV broadcasting signals....
).
In 1830 and 1831 the Deil Valley Railway was built up the Deilbach valley from Hinsbeck, a suburb of Kupferdreh (now part of Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
), to Nierenhof near Langenberg (now part of Velbert
Velbert
Velbert is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Langenberg, a district of Velbert, is well known as the location of the Sender Langenberg transmitter site.-Geography:...
). This line was already called a "railway" because it had iron wheels on iron rails. It was built on oak sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
, on which two 3.30 m long planks called Straßbäume, ("street trees") were secured with wooden nails. The Straßbäume were covered with a running surface of 40 mm thick iron, known, using British terminology as a plateway
Plateway
A plateway is an early kind of railway or tramway or wagonway, with a cast iron rail. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later....
. The line ran for a Prussian mile (7,532 meters), and its gauge was 820 mm (narrow-gauge).
The railway was built to be operated by relay. The route was divided into three 700 Prussian rod (3.766 metres) long (2.636 km in total) relay sections and four 25 rod (94 m) long transitional sections. The transitional sections were at the beginning and end of the line, at "Kupperdrehe" and Eisenhammer in Deilmannhof im Deilbachtal. At these passing places the horses were changed so that the horses that had pulled up the full wagons were unhitched and attached to empty wagons for their return. A total of seven horses were required. On the flat track next to the Ruhr only one or two horses were needed for the coal train. On the uphill route to Nierenhof, in contrast, three or four horses were required.
Prince William Railway
On 20 September 1831 Prince William of Prussia, the youngest brother of King Frederick William IIIFrederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
, officially opened the railway. On this day the prince and his family travelled on coal wagons lined with carpets. The railway was allowed to call itself the Prince William Railway afterwards.
Until 1844, the Prince William railway was operated by horse-drawn wagons to transport coal. After one year of operation passengers were also transported, in particular on the return journey from Nierenhof to Hinsbeck, for which no cargo was available. By 1833 there were some coaches available for “pleasure”.
Steele-Vohwinkel Railway
As the operation of the railway satisfied its shareholders, it was decided to extend it in 1840. On 23 August the company wrote to the district administration to request a concession for the extension. On 29 June 1844 the Treasury gave permission for the company to build an extension in the north to Steele and in the south to Vohwinkel.To get the necessary funds, it needed to issue new shares. It offered purchasers of shares the guarantee of favourable freight rates, but the mining companies rejected this. Eventually it procured sufficient capital and on 29 July 1844 construction started.
The line was rebuilt as standard gauge of 1,435 mm and extended in both directions. The 32 kilometre-long railway line opened as the "Steele-Vohwinkel Railway" on 1 December 1847 as a steam railway from Überruhr
Essen-Überruhr station
Essen-Überruhr station is located in the district of Überruhr in the city of Essen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the Wuppertal-Vohwinkel–Essen-Überruhr line and is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station....
(south of the Ruhr, opposite Steele) to Vohwinkel via Kupferdreh, Langenberg and Neviges.
Between Neviges and Vohwinkel the trains had to climb a slope, which at this time could only be climbed with the aid of a zig zag
Zig Zag (railway)
A railway zig zag, also called a switchback, is a way of climbing hills in difficult country with a minimal need for tunnels and heavy earthworks. For a short distance , the direction of travel is reversed, before the original direction is resumed.A location on railways constructed e.g...
. At the terminal station (German: Kopfstation, literally head station) built in 1847 in the Siebeneick Valley trains had run in to the station before reversing on to the other line out of the station. This arrangement was eliminated in 1862 when a new alignment was built, but the whole area still bears the name Kopfstation.
Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company's acquisition of the company
On 13 March 1854 the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (German: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME) took over the operation of the route. Under an agreement of 6 December 1862 the BME legally acquired the Prince William Railway Company on 1 January 1863. The BME connected the line to its network and extended it over the Ruhr to Steele (now Essen-Steele-Ost). After the BME was taken over by the Prussian state railwaysPrussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
in 1882 trains stopped serving the old station at Kupferdreh.