Lauenburg–Hohnstorf ferry

The Traject Lauenburg - Hohnstorf ( Lauenburg - Hohnstorfer Elbe Traject -Anstalt ) was a railway ferry across the Elbe between the linkselbischen Hohnstorf in the former Kingdom of Hannover ( since 1866 Prussian province of Hannover) and Lauenburg in that time belonging to Denmark eponymous Duchy of Lauenburg right of the Elbe. The ferry association of 15 March 1864 to 1 November 1878, the railway line Lübeck- Lauenburg with the track Lüneburg- Hohnstorf. Both are sections of the 1878 zusammengewachsenenen with the bridge rail route Lübeck- Lüneburg.

Prehistory

A continuous rail link from Hanover to the Baltic Sea was planned already in the early days of railway construction in Germany. It was recorded in non-binding form in the state agreement dated June 27, 1847 between Denmark and Lübeck for railway construction in the Duchy of Lauenburg. The interest increased with increasing traffic between northern and central Germany. The division of Germany into many independent small states and the non-binding nature with which the compound had been added to the State Treaty, the implementation was delayed, however.

Originally a bridge should be built, which should be funded one-third each of the kingdoms of Hanover and Denmark, and a yet to be established corporation. The negotiations on the Elbe bridge between Hanover, Denmark, Lübeck and the participating railway companies in which in turn further states participated, lasted over ten years. During this period a bridge moved in favor of a ferry service more and more into the background. In addition to financial, political and military reasons played a role. The same was considered by the entities as natural protection in the event of war.

At 4 to 6 December 1860, the Hanover General Direction of railways and telegraphs and the directorates of the Berlin- Hamburg Railway Company and Lübeck- Büchener Railroad decided to build a common Trajektanstalt. The last permits were available in August 1862 and the same year the construction was begun.

The facilities at the Elbufern were completed in October 1863. The completion and transfer of the ferry from Magdeburg to Lauenburg was delayed so that a trial run until January 1864 was possible. On March 15, 1864, the Lauenburg - Elbe Hohnstorfer Traject Institution officially took on its operation.

Participating railroads

On the construction and operation of Trajektanstalt three railway companies involved. In charge with a stake of 50 percent were the Royal Hanoverian State Railways. The Lübeck- Büchener Railroad held a stake of 37.5 percent, the Berlin -Hamburg Railway Company, the remaining 12.5 percent.

The Hannover and Lübeck- Büchener Railroad pursued by the connection via the same economic interest to join the Kingdom of Hanover via Lübeck to the Baltic Sea region. Denmark had in 1857 abolished the Sundzoll and lowered the Lauenburg transit customs. Thus, the market across the Baltic Sea to the Kingdom of Hanover was economically very interesting.

The Berlin- Hamburg Railway operated the spur track Büchenberg -Lauenburg, but had no personal interest in the Elbe crossing. She had to the participation to the efforts of Hamburg and Mecklenburg, both share owned by the railway company, get approval of its General Assembly. Hamburg wanted a transport connection that bypassed their town, prevent and Mecklenburg feared economic impact on the Berlin- Hamburg Railway and lower tariff revenues!.

Railway lines

The railway line Büchenberg -Lauenburg of the Berlin- Hamburg Railway Company was opened in full on 15 October 1851 by 12.3 kilometers. They branched off in Büchenberg of the railway line between Berlin and Hamburg. The Berlin- Hamburg Railway had undertaken to build the railway Büchenberg -Lauenburg and operate, so that they could lead the route Berlin- Hamburg Schwarzenbek. In this commitment, the Lauenburg privilege goes back. Joined the branch line of the Berlin- Hamburg Railway in the Büchenberg a day later opened at 47.2 km long distance to the Lübeck Lübeck- Büchener railroad.

The 15.9 km long railway branch Lüneburg- shore loading point Hohnstorf the Hanoverian State Railways was taken as the last railway 13 years later on March 15, 1864 to coincide with the ferry in operation. They branched in Lüneburg on the railway line opened in 1847 Hannover- Harburg.

Ferries

The presentation of the ships engaged is contradictory. A contemporary description from 1866 tells of two steam ferries of different sizes. In the journal of the Association for Lübeckische history and antiquities from 1888 is only mentioned 1868 as the year of acquisition for the second ferry. One is based on the annual reports of the Lübeck- Büchener Railroad publication cites Shipyard for the first ferry, built in 1863, the Engineering Institute of the Hamburg- Magdeburg Steamship Company and for the two ferry, built in 1867 and commissioning in 1868, the Reiherstieg Shipyard & Machine Factory. Both vessels reported to have been used simultaneously.

In a self-representation of Bundesbahndirektion Hamburg occasion of its 100th anniversary in 1984 two ships are described, with the ferry to have been settled. The Elbe- Traject -Anstalt had therefore a paddle steamer ferry named Lauenburg and a small screw steamer named Hohnstorf.

To translate freight wagons and passenger railway ferry Lauenburg was used. The ship was delivered by the Hamburg- Magdeburg Steamship Company, the price was 46,000 dollars. The Lauenburg was a Doppelendfährschiff with two paddle wheels, which were driven by a steam engine with a power of 150 hp. The ship could carry five wagons. For passenger transport two cabins below deck were present. A cabin was reserved for the passengers of the first and second class, the other of the third class. Spaces for the team captain, a postal clerk and were located next to the boxes of the paddle wheels. The ferry had no wheelhouse. The control was on a deck in the ship's center.

The Hohnstorf took over the ferry service when the Lauenburg had failed. The freight cars were then loaded onto a wooden barge, which could accommodate three cars. The barge was towed alongside the screw steamer on the Elbe.

Trajektbetrieb

The train ferry transported freight cars and passengers, the cars themselves have not been set. During a ten -to twelve- hour mission time twelve round trips were conducted. A single crossing took this eight to ten minutes. The wide ferries were slow and had to go across to the flow, which is why they were difficult to control.

The passengers could stay on deck or in the designated booths during the crossing. The loading and unloading of the ferry was consuming. The freight cars were lowered or hoisted with a winch, which was powered by a steam engine on a ramp with a slope of 1:9.

There were repeated interruptions and accidents. Back in December of the first year suggested the ferry through ice on the same leak and sank. The salvage and repair led to an adjustment of the Trajektbetriebes until mid-January 1865. The hull of the ferry was on the occasion also equal strengthened to withstand ice pressure better in the future. Multiple of the chain hoist is torn and the freight cars crashed into the Elbe. The operation had to be then set up to recover the car. Low water in summer and autumn and ice in the winter affected the operation regularly.

The Trajectory institution economically developed as hoped, and was for the railway companies a grant operation. Freight traffic increased by a reduction of tariffs in 1868, although strongly and led the ferry to its limits, regular financial gain from the ferry traffic failed to materialize.

The disadvantage to the traffic on the ferry -Anstalt, the accession of Mecklenburg to the German Zollverein in 1868 and the opening of the railway bridge between Harburg, then still a separate town, Hamburg had an impact in 1872. The continuous rail link between Harburg and Hamburg took a large part of the passenger traffic. The accession of Mecklenburg to the German Zollverein had a negative impact on freight transport from because it accounted for the duty which was payable in the north -south traffic through Mecklenburg over the Elbe bridge Wittenberg and the railway line Magdeburg- Wittenberg.

Railway bridge

→ Main article: Elbbrücke Lauenburg

The logistical limits to which the ferry was encountered, were next to operational failure, accidents, damage to the rail freight and customer complaints of important reasons for the construction of a fixed Elbe crossing. For Hanover, the railway line had developed to Lübeck became an important rail link, besides, she was the shortest way to the Baltic Sea. With the incorporation of the Duchy of Lauenburg in the province of Schleswig -Holstein of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1876 were also the political and military-strategic reasons, which originally spoke against the construction of a bridge become obsolete.

Between 1876 and 1878 the bridge over the Elbe Lauenburg was built by the Prussian state railways. The Prussian State Railways took over half of the construction costs, the Lübeck- Büchener Railroad two sixths and the Berlin- Hamburg Railway sixth. Rail traffic on the bridge and the new 4.38 km long section Lauenburg - Echem was taken on November 1, 1878. The ferry made ​​on the same day an operation. The through passenger and freight traffic has since passed over the bridge over the Elbe. About the section between Echem and Hohnstorf only the local freight was settled.