Prince William Railway Company
The Prince William Railway Company ( short PWE ) is the oldest railroad corporation on German soil. It was founded in 1828 as " Deilthaler railway company" and was allowed after the visit of the Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Karl of Prussia on September 20, 1831 as " Prince William Railway " call. On 14 February 1844, the corporation was re-established with a capital of 1.3 million thalers and changed its name now legally as " Prince William Railway Company". She remained until February 18, 1863 consist and was then sold to the " Bergisch- Märkische Railway ".
De PWE built from 1844 to 1847 the route of the " Prince William Railway " railway line from Vohwinkel after Überruhr (now neighborhoods of Wuppertal and Essen) from. This first railway line between the valleys of the Ruhr and Wupper was planned by Friedrich Harkort and is still (as S -Bahn line 9 of the S- Bahn Rhein -Ruhr between holders and Wuppertal) in operation.
Prehistory
Friedrich Harkort had recognized very early the need for Transportmöglickeit the coal from the Ruhr to the Bergische Land and to Wuppertal. He therefore saw in England the first railway projects and wrote in 1825 in the journal " Hermann" the article "Railways. ( Railroads. ) " He was looking for donors and prospects for such a project to be realized. Such finally he found mainly in the mining trades in the Ruhr.
In 1826 he had built a small sample web which has been designed by the Englishman Henry Robinson Palmer as a monorail train. This path is certainly regarded as a model of the Wuppertal suspension railway, he presented together with the Bergrat Heintzmann the public. On September 9, 1826, the Council of Elberfeld deliberated on two routes for the construction of such a railway from Elberfeld on Uellendahl Hoerath and Herzkamp after Hinsbeck at the Ruhr or from Elberfeld to Langenberg on Hoerath an der Ruhr. 1826-1827 survey work for these pathways were performed.
Another railway pioneer, the high school teacher Peter Nicholas Caspar Egen, favored the construction of a "normal" rails railway. While Egen and Harkort fought out their differences, and even before an application was made for a concession, the resistance of carters and horse drivers that operated until then, the business of carbon transport suggested. Meanwhile, the city of Barmen with his own plans was active because they felt disadvantaged by the activities in their neighboring city.
Many people were afraid of such new technical projects and were reluctant to invest their money here. The king of Prussia, who ultimately had to approve the thing was averse.
Deilthaler Railway
To get into the business against the resistance of that time at all, Harkort changed his plans to a " stripped-down " version. He founded in 1828 together with his brother, the industrialist Ludwig Mohl, Peter Nicholas Caspar Egen, the doctor and mine trades Dr. Voss from Steele and the Langenberg merchants Reichmann and Meyberg the " Deilthaler railroad corporation ," the first German railway corporation.
In the years 1830-1831 the Deilthaler railway was built, led by Unterbyfang out, up through Hinsbeck an der Ruhr, now part of food Kupferdreh by the Deilbachtal after Nierenhof in Langenberg. The original horse railway connected the sky Fürster Erbstolln, the Zeche Prinz Wilhelm ( Essen), mine Steingatt, Zeche Prinz Friedrich, mine Schwarzer Adler (Essen), mine Cocordia (Essen), mine eagle and the Zeche Victoria ( food) with the carbon trails in the southern Ruhr valley.
This track already had the designation railway because she went with iron wheels on iron rails. The superstructure consisted Description According to an oak sleepers, on which two so-called road trees were secured with a length of 3.30 m with wooden nails. The road trees were covered with a tread of 40 mm thick iron, according to the English nomenclature so it was still a Plateway. The total distance was a Prussian mile ( 7,532 meters), the gauge first 820 mm.
The railway was built for the Relaisebetrieb. For this purpose, the distance in three sections ( The relays ) each of 700 rods, and four Relaisewechseln of 25 rod length was divided. The Relaisewechsel Pferdebahnstraße were at the beginning and end of the track on the " Kupper Turn " and the Deilbachhammer in Deilbachtal. At these passing places the horses were changed, so that the horses always had only on a part back and the empty withdraw the full car. A total of 7 horses were to needed as draft animals. On the flat track at the Ruhr one to two horses for the coal train were sufficient. On the rising distance of Nierenhof three to four horses had to be clamped.
Prince William Railway
On September 20, 1831 the route through Prince William of Prussia, the youngest brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm II, inaugurated. The prince and his family sailed on this day the railways in a worn-out carpets with coal car. The train was allowed to call since " Prince William Railway ".
Until 1844, the Prince William Railway was operated as a horse-drawn railway to transport coal. Already after one year of service life but also passengers were transported, especially on the return trip from Nierenhof after Hinsbeck; because for these trips no freight was available. Already from 1833 on were some cars " of pleasure because of" available.
Steele Vohwinkler Railway
Since the operation of the railway ran to the satisfaction of the shareholders, it was decided in 1840 to expand the web. On August 23, followed by a letter to the District to support the application for the concession. On June 29, 1844 Ministry of Finance granted permission to build an extension after Steele in the north and in the south Vohwinkel.
To get the necessary funds, they wanted to issue new shares. To this end, we made the owners an offer, according to which a guarantee has been made to favorable transport prices along with the acquisition of shares. The mines declined such an offer from but. The distrust founded in the bankruptcy of the Rhein- Weser -Bahn short time before. Eventually but to raise the necessary capital, and you could July 29, 1844 to begin construction.
The railway line was converted to standard gauge of 1,435 mm and extended in both directions, while it was divided into 81 phases of construction with a length of 100 rods. Under the name " Steele Vohwinkler Railway " was the 32 -kilometer-long railway line on December 1, 1847 steam-powered railway line back into operation, they now led by Überruhr (south of the Ruhr, across from Steele ) to Vohwinkel about Kupferdreh, Langenberg and Neviges.
Between Neviges and Vohwinkel the trains had to overcome a slope that could only be managed with the help of a hairpin at the time. At the 1847 -built head station in Siebeneicker valley trains first " head making" had, this forced stop but was in 1862 removed by a realignment, but the whole area still bears the name " head station" ( 51 ° 18 ' 16 "N, 7 ° 7 ' 12 " O51.3045052183337.1200740336111 ).
The road hub in Essen- Ruhr to remind of the first terminal station, south of the Ruhr in Überruhr located ( the railway bridge after Steele was not built until 1863). There the locomotives had to be turned on a turntable for the return trip.
Takeover of the Company
On March 13, 1854, the "Royal Directorate of Bergisch- Märkischen railway to Elberfeld " took over the operation of the route. By an agreement dated 6 December 1862, the Prince William Railway Society went to the January 1, 1863 and legally on the Bergisch- Märkischen Railway Company ( BME).
The BME integrated the route in its route network and extended the distance over the Ruhr addition to Steele (Hauptbahnhof, today Essen-Steele Ost ). From the time of the Prussian state railways derived no longer approached, historic buildings of the Old Station Kupferdreh.