Tramscape Tramway Photographs

Kassel : Herkulesbahn
On the ridge of a wooded hillside high above the city lies the Herkules Monument from where excursionists get a magnificent view of the water cascade down through ornamental gardens to the Wilhelmshohe Castle below and a panorama view of the whole of Kassel itself. The monument, almost 400 metres above the plain below, dominates the view along Wilhelmshoher Allee and other roads running westwards from the city centre.

A century after the castle and gardens were established, the area had become a favoured tourist destination and the first steam tramway was opened along Wilhelmshoher Allee to the foot of the attractive hillside in part to cater for this traffic. By 1900, the city tramways, now electrified, had been extended to Mulang and passengers were able to be taken deeper into the wooded hillside, but not to the Herkules itself as the gradients involved were too steep for a conventional service.

With one eye on the potential tourist trade, but with more interest in the transport of locally mined coal, Gustav Henkel, after several years of trying, obtained a concession to build a light railway linking his own electicity generating works at Palmenbad with a number of coal mines (and later stone quarries) in the Druseltal area and also the main line railway at Wilhelmshohe. In 1902, a single-track metre gauge line, financed by Henkel, was opened for goods traffic between Wilhelmshohe and Herkules, with a short branch to the power Station from Donche. In April of the following year, passenger services were introduced from Palmenbad, where the line terminated close to the city tramway's route to Mulang, to Herkules.

The network was extended to Brasselsberg and, at the peak of it's extent in 1925, to Hohe Gras, with sidings at the Herkules coal mine and a basalt quarry. The potential for passenger revenue was recognised early as in 1909, the line was extended towards the city centre along Kohlenweg to a new terminus alongside Wilhelmshoher Allee at Kirchweg. This led to the Herkulesbahn running in direct competition with the "Grosse Casseler" tramways between Kirchweg and Palmenbad and with the added advantage of being able to carry passengers deep into the Druseltal woodlands.

Competition intensified when the city tramway was extended to it's Druseltal terminus, close to the Herkulesbahn junction at Luisenhaus, in 1925, but the situation was short-lived. In February 1927, with the city authorities under pressure to approve the Herkulesbahn's plans to extend it's reach into the city centre, the "Grosse Casseler", with city support, purchased the majority shareholder in it's competitor. It was operated as a semi-independent subsidiary of the city's tramway until final incorporation in 1960 (with retrospective effect from October 1959).

The first action of the new owners was to re-gauge the short spur from Palmenbad to Donche to provide a connection with the city network, allowing Herkulesbahn cars to be loaded on to standard gauge low loaders for transfer to Wilhelmshohe depot for overhaul. The spur had been out of use for two years, having struggled since the closure of the power station in 1914. Very little changed until the closure of the outer part of the line, from the Herkules coal mine to Hohe Gras, in 1940. The Palmenbad branch was taken out of operation in 1957 and four years later, both the coal and the basalt traffic ceased. It was still intended to continue with passenger services, to Brasselsberg and Herkules, and a start was made on preparations for re-gauging the remaining track. With escalating costs, especially in view of the need to double some of the tracks, the operator's policy changed . The last run to Brasselsberg was made on 30th November 1965. A shuttle service between Luisenhaus and Herkules continued until 11th April 1966.
Kassel